She felt his strong presence behind her. Just like earlier in the day, she could feel him staring at her while she talked to Abby.

“Evan is meeting with clients, so I need your help. Accounting just notified me that Mr. Larson hasn’t paid his final installment. David’s team completed the installation two days ago and we should have received the money that day via wire transfer. Accounting checked with our bank; they don’t have anything pending.”

“Remind me how much the final payment is.”

“You’re not going to like this.”

“How much?”

“A million two.”

“Great. What’s the contract say about penalties?”

“Stan, in legal, said if they don’t pay today, there’s a five percent penalty.”

“Five percent on the final payment or the total?

“The total. Stan let George know what was going on, but Larson wouldn’t take his call. You’d think George, as CFO, could handle this problem, but he can’t get Larson on the line. Larson will only talk to you.”

“Has legal released the licensing agreement?”

“No. They said they never release them until the final payment is verified, same as all the other contracts.”

“I just wanted to make sure they hadn’t already sent it. Okay, tell Stan and George I’ll deal with this. Put me through to Mr. Larson’s office.”

Abby connected the call through to Larson Marketing. Sarah listened to it ringing, glanced at Luke waiting patiently, and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head, set the cooler down by the firepit, and took the seat beside her, relaxed and unbothered by the delay.

Larson’s assistant finally picked up. “Larson Marketing.”

“Connie, this is Sarah Anderson.”

“Hello, Sarah. I’m afraid Mr. Larson is in a meeting right now.”

“Get him on the line. Now. He’s given my staff and our CFO the runaround for two days. Tell him time’s up, or I shut him down.”

“Just a minute, please.” Sarah was sure she heard understanding in Connie’s voice.

Sarah only had to wait a few seconds before Tom Larson decided that his meeting wasn’t as important as talking to her.

“Sarah, it’s so nice to hear from you. I thought you were going to be here to do the final installation. You know how I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

“Tom, you knew very well I had no intention of being there.”

“Why are you hiding from everyone? I just want to meet you in person. You always send someone else.”

“Because I’m busy working on the next project. Now, you owe me one point two million dollars and you have,” she looked at her cell phone to check the time, “fifty-four minutes to make the transfer. If you don’t, you owe me another three hundred thousand and I won’t release the licensing agreement until I get paid.”

“Sarah, come on. The installation was just completed. Please be reasonable. At least give me thirty days, like any other accounts payable item.”

“I am not any accounts payable item. You knew that when you signed the contract. I’m the one who revamped your entire computer system, which I’m sure is working beautifully.”