Chapter 10 #2
Dani crunched numbers all morning, but her mind drifted. If it wasn’t reliving the game last night and the warm, fuzzy feeling that she was one of the Martinellis, she was wondering what was going on in the garage of the trucking company, or where she might find Colter McCord.
She’d reached out to old high school acquaintances, but no one was getting back to her.
As she looked over the reports in her solitary confinement, the numbers were frustratingly fitting into the categories they were supposed to.
The only weird thing was the two different accounts for the waste management, but once she’d accounted for the old code being used, it cleared up the problem right away.
So she was back to square one. And the thought of six months of this was already sucking her soul dry.
Her phone dinged.
She grabbed it. Maybe it was something on Colter.
Nope.
A text from Kumar.
Kumar
Need to talk. ASAP
That didn’t sound good.
Dani left her office and called over to Shirley that she was grabbing her sweater from her car. Technically, it was Lily’s car, borrowed until she could pick up Princess B, but either way, it was the one place she could talk freely and not have to be out in the icy wind that had kicked up today.
Dani sat in the driver’s seat and called the secure line to her new boss.
“Kim, why did I have to hear from a source at the Renegade Police Department that you were run off the road yesterday?”
Note to self: Don’t expect inane greetings or pleasantries from Kumar.
And find out who her source in RPD is.
Dani cleared her throat. “I, uh, didn’t realize it was something I needed to report. It was a thing with an ex—”
“I don’t care where the threat comes from. I need to know when one of my agents is in danger. And is this really a jealous boyfriend, or were you investigating more than the accounts at SL Trucking?”
Busted.
“I did make some contacts at Renegade Waste Management. Some of the numbers weren’t making sense at first—”
“I thought I made myself clear. Making contacts is not your job. You’re looking for evidence of embezzling.”
“But I think there’s more than embezzling. Why else would Jim Rodriguez threaten me?”
Kumar’s exasperated sigh coming through the line set Dani on edge. She’d heard it enough to know. She was in for it now.
“If you’re going to question everything I say, I guess we need a little more handholding here, so this is what we’re going to do.
You will give me a daily report. I want an account of your whole day.
Every bathroom break. Every spin class or book club meeting.
Everything. You can include in this report all those gut feelings and theories on what might be happening behind the scenes, and if I deem any of them worth investigating, I will have one of the other agents here look into it. Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. Because we’re putting together a case.
To do that, we need evidence. You are there to find it.
I don’t need you drifting into someone else’s lane and blowing your cover and messing up everything we’re working for.
Now, give me the name of this ex, and I’m running him through our databases.
If I find anything, I’ll pass it on to the police to follow up. Catch my drift?”
“Loud and clear.”
“Then show me. I’ll expect your report at end of day.”
Kumar ended the call before Dani could say more.
Dani fisted her hands and screamed under her breath. Not quite as satisfying as releasing it out loud, but better than nothing.
Handholding? Sticking to her “lane?” Yeah, Dani was new, but she wasn’t incompetent.
And she needed to show Kumar that.
She needed to get a handle on her jumping-before-looking impulses if she was going to make it here.
Even if the stifling of them killed her.
She’d been through a lot to get this job.
If she could put in her time, prove herself, then hopefully she could get her transfer and do the undercover work she wanted to do.
After her self pep-talk, Dani pulled on the navy sweater dotted with daisies and walked back into the office.
A jolly giant of a man, who resembled Santa Claus with his white beard and ruddy cheeks, stood by Shirley’s desk. Instead of a red suit, he wore an SL Trucking logo button-down, jeans, and cowboy boots.
“Who do we have here?” Santa asked.
Shirley beamed. “This here is Danielle. She’s fillin’ in for Connor and doin’ a fabulous job.”
“Welcome to the team, Danielle. I’m Silas Lochlear, owner of SL Trucking.”
“Nice to meet you.” She met his outstretched hand with a firm shake.
“And where are you—”
“Silas, did you RSVP for the charity event?” A tall, trim man marched out of the manager’s office. He stood out against all the jeans and casual wear in his khaki slacks and striped tie. “You know Continental Transport likes a good representation from all the companies in the corporation.”
“I’ve attended every other save-the-endangered-whatnot event they’ve had. They’ll be okay if we miss one.”
The new guy didn’t look happy with Silas’s response. “Can we talk in my office?”
Silas sighed but followed him into the office.
As soon as the door closed, Dani leaned over to Shirley. “Who was that, and what are they talking about?”
“That was Judd Downey. The manager.” By the sound of it, Shirley wasn’t a fan of his.
“There’s a fundraiser dinner our parent company is putting on.
This one is trying to save the Javan rhino.
Basically, everyone gets dolled up and eats expensive food and tries to show off how much money they have by outbidding each other in the auction. ”
“Like a gala?” Dani’s silly daydream of going undercover at an upscale event roared to life. Not that she had any reason to go, but it was a good reminder to keep her focus on the prize. Get this case closed and someday…
“If by ‘gala’ you mean ‘fancy party,’ then yeah.”
“You don’t look impressed.” Dani chuckled. “Not an animal person?”
“Oh, I love animals. Just not the human ones that think they’re better than everyone else.” She leaned closer and whispered, “Like Judd.”
Huh. Now Dani really wanted to look at his personnel file and see what kind of man he was. But Shirley wasn’t done. “If you ask me, it’s all about flaunting their wealth. Now, Silas is a good man. He donates to worthy causes.”
“Like what?”
“He finances a charity for at-risk youth and ex-cons. He offers them training in trade jobs and trucking. His wife works for a prison ministry. They’re the real deal. And they still go to these galas and probably contribute quite a bit, but it’s more out of obligation to Continental.”
“That’s the parent company?”
Shirley nodded. She opened her mouth to say more, but Judd’s office door swung open. Shirley dropped her gaze to her computer and started typing furiously.
Message received.
Dani scrambled to her own office. She wasn’t supposed to investigate people, but Kumar couldn’t say anything about assuaging her own curiosity and pulling up the Continental Transport website.
Oh, wow. Continental was worldwide and owned a bunch of smaller companies.
SL Trucking was only one of them. She scrolled down the list. They owned shipping companies, a railroad line, ocean liners, and other trucking outfits.
She clicked on the page labeled Worldwide Community News.
Multiple articles came up about the nonprofit branch and various events.
Pictures from past banquets rolled across her screen.
If the Save the Javan Rhino dinner was like all the rest, this was no backyard barbecue fundraiser. Shirley wasn’t exaggerating about flaunting wealth. In all the photos, men stood in tuxes and women in evening gowns, dripping with jewels. She’d never been to something so upscale.
Maybe someday she could go undercover like Gal Gadot in Red Notice, wear a killer red dress, sip champagne…
Stop daydreaming, Kim.
The words, weirdly enough, sounded like Clarkson’s voice in her head.
And boy did that rankle.
She sighed and closed the tab. She had an embezzler to find, and she’d better get to it. And she’d have to ignore anything else happening right under her nose if she wanted to keep her job.