Hey everyone. :) Happy New Year!

Enjoy the new chapter and let me know what you think.

Lula's POV

I know that RangeMan isn't normally like this, but I love the pressure and stress involved. I have never been in a position like this so when I find things when time is of the essence, I feel great. Right now, I'm reviewing some information about General Matthews and his family. We are on the lookout for anything out of place and I think I found something.

I knew Stephanie was in the conference room on the phone trying to get some information from the hotel, so I went to Tank. I knocked on the door and walked in when I heard Tank say 'Enter.'

"Hi Tank, I have found something but I'm not sure exactly what it means."

"Explain."

"Well, I was reviewing General Matthew's financials and it appears that his wife has some hidden money. I found a bank account in her name that has a substantial balance. The account was only opened a month ago so the timing made me a bit curious."

"Tell me about the General's wife."

"Missy is actually the General's second wife. His first wife died about 8 years ago. He and Missy have been married for 5 years and she is a lot younger than him. He's 59 and she's only 31 years old. She sounds like a gold digger to me, but the bank account jumps out to my fishy factor.

"I was unable to trace the origins of the money. It seems like it was deposited at the time the account was opened. I can confirm that the account was opened in person by Mrs. Matthews, so maybe she wasn't alone. If we can get access to the Bank's security footage, it might shed some light on this for us."

Tank smiled and said, "I know just who to call. Hold on a moment. If we do get access to the footage, you get the honours of reviewing it once it arrives. Hector would normally be involved but he's busy working on something else for Ranger. Hold on here a moment. I'll just make a quick call to find out if we can get access to that footage."

I sat and listened to the one side of the conversation. Tank was very professional and he was very polite when he spoke into the phone. I could tell from the tone of Tank's voice near the end that we would get access to the footage. Tank smiled, thanked his contact and hung up.

He grinned at me and said, "I will be getting an email within 20 minutes. It contains all surveillance footage from the bank on the day that Mrs. Matthews opened her account. I'm hoping that we will find her arriving, accompanying or leaving with somebody who might shed some light on this situation."

I stood and returned to my cubicle to review more of the search results. I read information about the General's daughter and found nothing that stood out. I also found nothing of interest in his son's information as well. I was just about to revisit the General's results when Stephanie came back to her cubicle.

"Did you find out anything of interest Steph?"

She looked at me and shook her head. The girl that took the booking has since transferred to a different hotel in the chain to be closer to her family. Nobody is 100% sure where she ended up or where she was from originally. It sounded like the poor girl never really settled in properly in Atlanta."

I sighed and turned back to my computer. I had a sudden thought and looked up at Steph who was still standing at the door of my cubicle. She looked lost in thought so I said, "Is something wrong Steph?"

She shook her head and looked at me expectantly. I looked at her and said, "How many Four Seasons hotels can there be? Maybe we can try to contact a few of them to see where this woman transferred. I can start with the one in New York. I know a guy who works maintenance there. He always flirts with the girls on the front desk so he'll know if this girl is there."

Steph nodded and said, "OK, give your friend a call and if she's not there, we'll take turns calling the various other Four Seasons hotels in the country."

I pulled out my personal phone and watched as Steph raised her eyebrows in an attempt to lift just one. "My friend won't answer if he doesn't recognise the number so I have to use my personal phone. Hopefully it won't be a problem for RangeMan if we need his information as part of our case."

Steph thought for a second and said, "Why don't you call your friend on your phone and then tell him that you'll call him right back from your work phone because your battery is about to die?"

I nodded and did just as she suggested. Duane answered and we spoke for a minute or two before I asked if I could call him back. He agreed and I dialled his number from my desk phone. I also pressed the button to record the conversation.

"Lula girl, how have you been?"

"I've been good Duane. I'm calling because I am looking for somebody. She may have transferred there from Atlanta recently."

"Would that be Bethany? She's new and I think she said something about Georgia."

I gave Stephanie the thumbs up so she rushed over to her own cubicle and called the Four Seasons hotel in New York to see if she could talk to Bethany. I on the other hand, stopped recording my conversation with Duane and spend 5 minutes trying to dissuade him from taking a trip to visit. He was an ex-boyfriend that I have stayed friendly with over the years, but I didn't want him hanging around or thinking I wanted to get back together with him. I finally persuaded him that I'd call if I wanted to see him again and got off the phone.

I could still hear Stephanie on the phone so I waited until she was finished. As soon as she hung up, I scooted around the corner and said, "What did you find out?"

She smiled at me and said, "I'm going to share it with Tank. Why don't you come along since it was your idea in the first place? I don't want to have to repeat the story a dozen times if I can avoid it."

I followed Steph to Tank's office. Once inside, Steph started talking. "Lula suggested that we should contact the various other Four Seasons hotels to find out where Bethany transferred to, and since she had a old friend who worked at the New York hotel, she called him and confirmed that Bethany now worked there.

"I then called the front desk and asked to speak to her, and as luck would have it, she answered the phone herself. I explained who I was and why I was calling and she was very forthcoming with information. She told me that the reservation was made in person and a credit card was handed to her to secure the room. I explained that all records of that credit card were no longer in the system and she was a bit perplexed. That must have happened after she left because she wouldn't have been so sloppy.

"She described the two men who made the reservation and one of them sounds a lot like the General. She also mentioned that the General looked nervous and kept looking behind him and all around the lobby. She gave me the date and the time so we might be able to find something on the surveillance footage if Hector has his hands on it yet."

Tank thought for a moment and said, "Steph, why don't you go and find out how Hector is doing. Now that we have a more precise date and time, perhaps he can focus on that. As soon as you find the footage, please let me know."

Steph nodded and walked out of the room leaving me alone with Tank. He smiled up at me and said, "I just received the bank security footage. I'll forward it to you now so you can see if Mrs. Matthews is accompanied by anyone during her trip to the bank."

Tank looked at me funny. I could tell that he wanted to ask me something and I was pretty sure it was related to the fact that I had called Duane. I smiled at him and said, "Yes, it was Duane I called. No, I'm not seeing him anymore. In fact, this is the first time in over a year that I have talked to him and I wouldn't have bothered except for this situation."

Tank looked relieved and said, "I know it's not really any of my business, but I'm glad you aren't seeing him anymore. He wasn't a good guy and you deserve a great guy."

I blushed at Tank's comments and waved as I left his office. I sat at my desk with headphones so I could block out the surrounding noise and focused on the security footage. We knew that she opened her accounts around 11 in the morning, so I watched the early morning footage in fast forward until around 10. I then slowed the speed down so it was slightly faster than real-time and waited for a sign of Mrs. Matthews.

At 10:48, a woman with a large hat and sunglasses approached the desk and was escorted back to some comfortable looking chairs in the waiting area. Moments later, she was joined by an older man who sat right beside her. He didn't touch her, but their interactions looked intimate enough. I paused the footage and riffled through until I found the search on the General. It was clear to me that the man in the footage was not the General, but I had no idea who he was.

I next looked at the photo of Mrs. Matthews. I compared it to the woman on screen and I couldn't be sure, but I didn't think that they were the same person. I resumed the tape and watched as the woman and the man walked to a desk. He handed the man what looked like a cheque and after 15 minutes and a couple of signatures, they were on their way out the door. There was no external footage so I had no idea if they left together, but something about this didn't sit right with me.

I pulled out the folder that contained the financial search on the Matthews' and I couldn't tell based on the information available that the money deposited into the account was from a cheque or not. It just didn't say. I thought that this was a bit fishy so I made a note to ask Steph to contact her friend in the bank to ask. I was surer than ever that there was more to this story than we were aware of, so we had to continue to dig for clues.

I needed to tell somebody what I found so I walked to Tank's office and knocked. I could hear Tank on the phone so I knocked and waited until Tank answered. Instead, he opened the door and motioned for me to follow him.

Well, not that this chapter is up, I should probably go and get the next one sorted out so I can post it. I can't guarantee when it will be up, but I do promise soon.

L.