Chapter 23
Five minutes after Hailey texted that she was ready, Peter pulled his car as close to the lobby doors as he could and scanned the area.
He’d already swung through the side parking lot to get an idea of who else might be in the building with Hailey—and to make sure no one suspicious was lurking just out of sight of the street.
Nothing had set off his internal alarms, so he’d returned to the front lot to pick her up.
His heart rate slowed when Hailey came into view. She was okay. He’d told himself she was, but apparently he’d needed to see it to believe it.
He watched her stride toward him. She pulled off the professional look well. But he’d seen her in casual clothing too, and he was convinced she’d look gorgeous no matter what she wore.
She offered him a smile as she removed her suit jacket and climbed inside, but she seemed distracted. Had he misjudged the situation?
“Did something happen?” He did a quick scan of her person. Other than the lingering bruises from Monday, she appeared unharmed. She didn’t answer immediately, and his apprehension ticked upward. “Hailey?”
She turned her cloudy gaze on him, blinked, then seemed to come to a decision.
“I think I may have discovered something big,” she said slowly.
She nodded toward the road. “Can we stop by my place before heading to my parents’ so I can pick something up?
I’ll tell you what I can on the way. I can’t name names, but I . . . need to talk to somebody.”
He complied. As they drove, she shared her suspicions about a possible money laundering scheme and embezzlement going on with one of her clients’ accounts. His gut clenched.
“How much money are you talking?”
Her head dropped against the seat back, and she covered her eyes. “All together? There’s a possibility that some of those payments are legitimate, but if I’m right about everything, I think somewhere between four and five hundred thousand dollars is being diverted annually. Possibly more.”
His jaw went slack. Had he heard her correctly? “Did you say five hundred grand?”
“Yes.” The word was more groan than enunciation.
He let her words settle, but his head was spinning.
That was a lot of cash. Enough to warrant the threats she’d received or even to kill for?
Probably. People had been murdered for far less.
As they neared her street, he stole a glance at her before sharing what was on his mind.
“Could this be what those warnings have been about? If someone knew you were on to them, that would be plenty of motive to get rid of you.”
She let her arm drop and turned her head to look at him.
“I can’t say the thought hasn’t crossed my mind.
It makes more sense than thinking this is some sort of late revenge for what my husband did.
But I haven’t told anyone about this. Until today, I wasn’t even sure why the records weren’t lining up—I thought maybe my former coworker had been slipping.
I don’t know how anyone would have discovered I had suspicions. ”
He added that detail to the others in his mental log, but he knew it didn’t rule out anything. Just because she hadn’t told anyone about her suspicions didn’t mean no one knew she was looking into things or that they weren’t acting preemptively to try to keep her from figuring things out.
Her calm voice broke into his thoughts. “Someone did access my computer the other day. I suppose if they knew what to look for and how to track my history, they might have been able to figure out I was paying too much attention to that client’s records, digging into older, already reconciled statements, etc.
That was after the incident with my tires though, not before.
” They pulled into her driveway, and Hailey used a remote opener on her keychain to raise her garage door.
Once they were safely inside, Peter shut off the car and turned to fully face her. “What are you going to do?”
She frowned. “I sent an email to the company’s CFO, letting him know I had some concerns and asking if we could meet to discuss some things if he’s still in town or schedule an online meeting if he’s already flown out.
I’m sure they’ll want to do their own internal investigation, and he’s likely the one who will need to head that up.
But it seemed too complicated to explain everything via email. ”
“What’s your boss think about all this?”
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to him. He left early to catch a plane.
He wasn’t supposed to be in today at all, but this morning’s meeting was crucial.
I did copy him on the email, but I have no idea if I’ll hear back until after his vacation, and I’m not comfortable letting this situation sit unaddressed for that long. ”
“Please be careful.”
“I’m doing my best.”
And what more could they say? Now more than ever, Peter knew Hailey needed professional protection, whether through him or through his former agency. Someone was making bank through this company, and they wouldn’t take kindly to her exposing their operation.
As he cleared the house while Hailey waited in the car, his mind continued to sort through the revelations of the last few days.
Finding out that one of his coworkers had been involved in Monday’s attack had floored him.
Had Jake and his friend been working alone, or had they been hired?
Maybe by someone involved in the illegal activities associated with Hailey’s problem client?
He didn’t know, but the whole situation left him feeling uneasy.
Jenna’s bedroom was the last he entered. He hadn’t been in here before, but there was no doubt it was hers. A border of soft, cartoon-style butterflies adorned lavender-painted walls, and stuffed animals were perched along the top of a short shelf lined with colorful board books.
The low toddler-sized bed left little room for an intruder to hide beneath, but he glanced under it anyway.
Only a few dust bunnies and a lone block caught his eye.
He moved to the closet and found it clear also.
Some of the tension finally eased from his shoulders.
No one was in the house, and he’d seen no evidence that anyone had been here since they left Monday night.
He returned to the garage and gave Hailey the all clear. While she went to grab whatever it was she needed to pick up, he stationed himself near the front windows. He scanned the large front yard, the empty street, the open field across the road. Nothing stuck out to him as abnormal.
Realizing he still hadn’t heard from Miguel, he pulled out his phone and sent his friend a quick text, asking him to call when he had a chance. Then he turned his attention back outside.
Though he still didn’t see anything that should set his alarm bells ringing, he felt unsettled.
Was he being paranoid? He’d always had good instincts, but they weren’t foolproof, as he well knew.
He’d spent the last two years afraid to trust them, afraid they’d let him down again.
Knowing Hailey was relying on him now, even in a small way, had left his stomach in knots all day.
Just thinking of it set his nerves tingling.
He forced himself to take several deep, calming breaths. He couldn’t let the anxiety win. If something really was off, he’d need to keep a level head to deal with it. After taking another moment to rein in his emotions, he ran through the immediate facts.
No one should know they were stopping by here.
But that didn’t mean someone wasn’t watching the house.
And they hadn’t been alone on the road, so he couldn’t rule out the possibility they’d been followed.
He didn’t think that was the case though.
There’d been nothing overtly suspicious about the two cars behind them.
Both had kept going when they turned into the driveway, and neither driver had seemed to be paying them any extra attention.
Still, he’d made a mental note of their appearance.
If he saw either of those cars pass by again before he and Hailey left or if he spotted them while on the drive to Hailey’s parents’ place, he’d know to take evasive action.
So far, that hadn’t happened. In fact, no one else had passed by since he’d cleared the house. Maybe he’d been on edge for nothing. Still, he’d be glad when they were out of here.
To his relief, Hailey reappeared a moment later with a garment bag slung over one arm and a couple of pairs of shoes in her other hand. She gave him a sheepish grin. “I packed better for Jenna than myself the other night.”
He chuckled, not surprised that had been the case. “Need me to carry anything?”
“Nope. I’ve got it. But you can get the door.”
“Of course.” He slid his phone into his pocket and hurried to beat her to the connecting door.
“Thanks.” She nodded toward a refrigerator in the corner of the garage. “Feel free to grab a drink for the ride.” She continued to his car and opened the rear passenger-side door to place her clothes inside.
A drink wasn’t a bad idea. Though his car had AC, the garage was hot and stuffy enough that he was already sweating.
Besides, hadn’t he heard somewhere that eating signaled safety to the nervous system?
Maybe a drink would do the same. Couldn’t hurt to try.
He crossed to the refrigerator and selected a soda.
“You want anything?” he called over his shoulder.
“Water, please.”
He grabbed a bottle of spring water and headed back to the car. They both climbed inside, and Hailey accepted the drink before digging the garage door opener from her purse once again.
Back out in the late-afternoon sunshine, Peter paused and watched the door slowly lower in front of them.
He wasn’t going to risk someone slipping inside when he wasn’t paying attention.
Not that there appeared to be anyone around or much reason for them to break in.
Still, the precaution only cost them a few seconds.
Once the door was closed securely, he cast another look around, then shifted into drive and started toward the road.
“Will you need a ride in the morning?” A large part of him hoped she’d say no, that she was going to take some more time off. But even after less than a week, he already knew her well enough to predict her answer.
She unscrewed the cap to her water bottle. “I need to go in, but I can ask my dad to take me. I hate that you’ve had to spend so much time helping me the last couple days. You really should try to get some rest before you have to go back to work.”
He stopped at the edge of the driveway and looked both ways before starting to pull onto the road. “I’m not worried about—”
Before he could finish, a loud crack sounded. Hailey’s window exploded inward.
GLASS PEPPERED HAILEY’S FACE, neck, and arms. The bottle that she’d just been lifting to her lips was ripped from her grasp, adding a spray of water to the pandemonium.
“Get down!” Peter grabbed her shoulder and yanked her forward before she had a chance to comprehend what was happening.
Another crack rang out, then another. Gunshots. They were being shot at, she realized. Pain sliced across her calf. “Agh!”
Peter gunned the engine and jerked them onto the road. She thought they’d turned in the opposite direction from where the bullets were coming from, but she couldn’t be sure. A second later, another shot sounded, decimating the back windshield this time.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
From her position, bent in half with one hand covering her head and the other gripping her wounded leg, she couldn’t see what was going on outside the vehicle.
She briefly considered releasing her seat belt and sliding onto the floor, but she wasn’t sure that was a good idea.
And what about Peter? He didn’t have the luxury of ducking out of sight.
She stole a glance his way. His expression was grim but determined.
He’d slouched just enough in his seat that he could still see without being so visible from behind.
But was that enough? If the shooter really wanted to hit him, they could use the seat back as a pretty good indicator of where his body was.
“Hold on,” Peter yelled.
Another series of shots began. Centrifugal force threw Hailey against the door of the vehicle as they took a turn at a much higher speed than usual. The car lurched and started to fishtail. Her head bumped the dash.
A loud flapping thump began to rise over the sound of the engine. One of the bullets must have hit a tire. Peter muttered something she couldn’t make out as he tried to wrestle the vehicle into submission.
“Get ready to run.”
“What?”
“I can’t keep driving like this. If they have access to a car, they’ll catch up to us before we reach safety.” The car bumped and jolted as they went off the road. Hailey bit back a yelp. “I’m getting us as close to the tree line as possible, then we’re going to have to try to outrun them on foot.”
She did as he said, but her mind raced as she unbuckled.
Could she run? She didn’t think the bullet had done more than graze her leg.
Fleeing in a knee-length suit skirt would be uncomfortable, but there wasn’t much she could do about that now.
She wished she had time to grab her sneakers from the back seat.
Of course, they might well be filled with glass shards at this point.
As soon as the car lurched to a stop, Peter threw his door open. “Move. Now!”
She was already in motion. Once she was out of the car and away from the broken window glass, she kicked off her pumps.
No way was she going to risk turning an ankle or face-planting with those things on.
The sound of an approaching vehicle sent a bolt of terror through her, but she didn’t have time to dwell on whether it was friend or foe.
Peter grabbed her hand, and they dashed for the woods.