Chapter 15 #2
Her head jerked upright. “Why would you do that?”
“I have no beef with you, Nat. I always knew you got suckered into working for J.R. You weren’t the first to fall under his spell, and you weren’t the last. Hell, I fell for it too.”
“You?” she scoffed.
“Yep. I fell for his bullshit hook, line, and sinker. Until I wised up.”
“I took too long to wise up. He had me doing legit stuff in the beginning, and then he gave me something questionable—but insisted everything was on the up and up. By the time I realized what was really going on, he told me I was in too deep to quit. That he’d ruin me.
” Her breath caught. “I have two kids. I couldn’t risk ruining my professional reputation, so I kept doing his books. ”
“He wouldn’t have stopped at ruining your reputation,” James said. “He would have had you killed. He wouldn’t risk his secrets gettin’ out.”
She inhaled sharply.
“You didn’t realize that?” he asked.
“I’d always suspected, but I told myself I was overreacting.”
“You weren’t,” he said flatly. “But Simmons is gone. He can’t hurt you. And I’ll make sure Knox won’t hurt you either. I’ll have a team watching you within the hour.”
“You mean for a price,” she said bitterly.
“No,” James said, holding her gaze. “I’ve possibly put you at risk, and that’s not fair to you or your family. I’ll make sure you’re protected until this is all said and done.”
Disbelief covered her face. “That could be months … years.”
“But if you can get me the accountant’s name,” James said as he stood, “this will take days. You have my word.”
“You can’t guarantee that,” she said in a bitter tone.
I had to agree with her there.
“You hold up your end, and I’ll hold up mine.” He started for the door, leaving me to follow. “My attorney, Carter Hale, will be in contact with you within the next half hour about your security detail.”
“I don’t know that I’ll be able to get the accountant’s name.” Panic filled her voice. “What happens if I can’t get it?”
He paused, his hand on the doorknob, as he turned to face her. “Are you asking if I’ll pull your detail if you don’t get it? No. But like I said, the sooner I get that name, the sooner the potential threat to you is gone.”
He opened the door, and she called out, “Why are you being so nice to me?”
He gave her a sad smile. “Because J.R. Simmons put you in a difficult situation that wasn’t your doin’.
By showin’ up here today, there’s a chance I tossed you back in it.
You didn’t deserve it before, and you sure as hell don’t deserve it now.
But I wouldn’t put you at risk if I didn’t think you could help. ”
“And if I get the name,” she said. “What do I do then? How do I contact you?”
“Carter’s gonna give you his contact info. You pass the information on to him and he’ll tell me.”
Then he left the room.
I started to follow, but Natalie called after me, “Who are you, and why are you with James Malcolm?”
I realized neither one of them had addressed the fact I was there, and James had never introduced me.
“We have the same goal—to shut Knox down.”
She squinted at me. “You look familiar. Who are you?”
“I’m Harper Adams,” I said, preparing myself for her potential disgust. “You probably saw me on the news.”
Surprise flickered in her eyes. “The police officer who shot that boy. Did you really shoot him?”
I drew in a breath. “Yeah, I shot him, but he really did have a gun.”
She nodded, pressing her lips together. “You must have really pissed one or more of your coworkers off to get them to set you up like that.”
“You believe he had a gun?”
She made a face. “I know how some of those detectives work.”
I did a double take. “What do you mean?”
“Simmons had some on his payroll. He had state police on his payroll too.” When she saw my look of disbelief, she added, “Honey, I wrote the checks. We called it donations or some other nonsense, but I knew exactly what they were—bribes.”
I stared at her in shock for a few seconds before I came to my senses. “Do you remember any of the detectives’ names?”
She shook her head. “No.”
I didn’t believe her, but I couldn’t bring myself to threaten someone who’d been caught in a mess that was out of their control. I started to walk out the door.
“What did you do to piss them off?” she asked.
I turned back. “Why do you think I pissed them off?”
A grim smile twisted her lips. “I may just be the accountant, but I’ve heard things.
They had cops on the payroll to look the other way or help things along, but every so often, there’d be a cop who asked too many questions or refused to go along with what Simmons wanted.
” She paused a beat. “They usually didn’t last long. ”
“He got them fired?” I asked.
“Or killed.”
I stared at her, then shut the door. This wasn’t a conversation that should be overheard. “I can’t see how they could get away with killing a cop in the line of duty.”
She released a bitter laugh. “Harper, that would be too suspicious. They usually took care of it when they were off the clock. A heart attack or a car accident. I’m pretty sure one guy ‘accidentally’ fell off a ladder.
” She used air quotes around accidentally.
“When I heard about your case, I instantly thought you’d pissed someone off.
Maybe it wasn’t planned, but they sure saw an opportunity and took advantage of it. ”
While I’d come to believe that I’d been set up, Natalie Crowe’s evaluation threw me.
“What?” she asked with a bitter laugh. “You don’t believe me?”
I shook my head as I came back to my senses. “No. I believe you. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”
“This seriously never occurred to you?” she asked in disbelief.
“Not the way you put it.”
“Girl, you better watch your back,” she said. “As big as Gerald Knox is, he’s bound to have cops on his own payroll—probably the same ones Simmons used. If they find out you’re trying to bust the source of their bonus money, they won’t stop until you do.”
A shiver ran down my spine. “Thanks. I think.”
She folded her hands on the desk in front of her. “I’ll see if I can dig up some of the cops’ names, but it might take me a while. I hid Simmons’s involvement with the police from the Feds. That information may not be readily accessible now.”
“Why didn’t you hand it over?”
“Because there was every chance the agents I was dealing with were dirty. Maybe they weren’t on J.R.’s payroll, but they could have been on Knox’s or someone else’s. It’s hard to trust anyone with a badge when you realize how many cops are working for drug czars and crime lords.”
I grimaced. “How many are we talking about?”
“Depends on if you’re talking about street cops or detectives. The higher level? I’d say five to ten percent.”
I gasped. “No.”
She made a face. “I’ll try to get access to those records. We’ll see if you recognize any of the names.”
“Thanks,” I said, still shocked at her admission.
“Yeah. I’ll pass this info on to Carter too.”
I nodded in acknowledgment, then left her office to catch up to James, my mind still reeling.