Derek Holmes's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Derek Holmes had spent six weeks learning everything about the richest man in Oakbleed, and none of it mattered. He sat in his small rented house and spread his papers across the table. Bank fronts. Charity boards. A fake doctor's certificate with a gold seal, pressed and ready. He had the costume. He had the smile. He had no door. The billionaire trusted no one, met no one, signed nothing without a wall of lawyers. A man that scared keeps his money close. Derek just had to find the hand that held it. He went back through the gossip. A cook who'd quit. A driver fired for looking at a ledger. Every servant said the same thing. The old man didn't handle his own cash. Someone else did, quietly, behind locked doors. But no one could name her. Then Derek found a thread. A woman who checked her keys like a nervous tic. She lived modest, paid in cash, told the neighbors nothing. And the neighbors told Derek plenty for forty dollars. Her name was Kira Tomlin. He watched her house two nights. A compact place, clean, one light burning late. The neighbor leaned close over the fence. "She lives alone," the woman whispered, "but every night I hear two voices in there. Arguing. Numbers. Always numbers." Derek understood then. Kira wasn't hiding a roommate. She was hiding her work. She brought the billionaire's books home and read them aloud to herself, checking every line twice because one mistake would end her. The next morning Derek buttoned the borrowed coat and clipped the fake badges to his clipboard. He knocked. Kira opened the door three inches. The chain held. Her eyes had deep dark circles under them, and her thumb moved across her key ring, counting. "Health inspection," Derek said warmly. "Standard check. Five minutes." "I didn't request one." Her voice was flat. She didn't open the chain. "Mandatory this quarter." He held up the clipboard. She didn't look at it. She looked at his hands, his shoes, his smile, and Derek felt his pitch slide off her like water off glass. "You're not an inspector," Kira said. "Inspectors carry a scanner, not a clipboard." She started to shut the door. Derek dropped the voice. He had one second, so he spent it on the truth. "I know what you do for him. I know you bring the books home. I know you're the only person he trusts." The door stopped. The chain stayed up. Behind it, Kira went very still. "If anyone finds that out," Derek said softly, "it won't be me who ruins you." For a long moment she said nothing. Her thumb stopped moving on the keys. Then she unhooked the chain. "Come in," Kira said. "And keep your voice down. He'll hear you." Derek stepped inside. He had his door now. He just didn't know yet that she'd been waiting for someone exactly like him.