Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Nick’s dining room had officially become what Sawyer dubbed the war room. Paper covered nearly every surface. Madison let out a huge breath. They were finally piecing everything together, and this was the point of an investigation she liked the most.
Inspection reports, donation records, zoning approvals, screenshots of emails, business licenses, handwritten notes.
Neon green tabs stuck out from stacks in crooked little rows while copies of documents had been taped directly to the walls with blue painter’s tape.
Dates circled. Names underlined. Arrows drawn between people and payments.
The overhead light cast a golden glow over the organized chaos.
Madison stood at the end of the table, holding a highlighter between her teeth while flipping through files.
Nick leaned against the buffet beside her, nursing stale coffee, while Garrett sat at the table, sleeves rolled up, reading through invoices with the kind of focus he usually reserved for brewery contracts.
Sawyer barely looked up from his laptop.
“I still think war room sounds cooler than ‘Nick’s dining room,’ ” he muttered while typing furiously.
Nick snorted. “You’re enjoying this way too much. What have you done with my deputy? And how did you learn to do all this on the computer?”
Sawyer shrugged, still focused on his screen. “I spent a lot of time at the library reading and using the computers. Anything to get away from Uncle Morty.”
“You’ve really come far since I first hired you. I’m proud of you.”
Sawyer grinned and glanced at Nick. “This is fun. Our suspect is literally the mayor and my uncle. This is like Netflix-level stuff.”
“It’s only Netflix-level if we don’t screw it up,” Nick replied.
Madison pulled a file from the stack. “Okay, here’s another one.” She slid it toward Garrett. “Drive-by inspection failed.”
Garrett skimmed the page. “Didn’t donate?”
“Nope.” Madison pointed toward the highlighted section. “But look at the timing.”
Nick stepped closer. “Two days later, Benson’s reelection fundraiser was established.”
“Exactly.” Madison grabbed another neon tab and slapped it onto the page. “Every business that donated passed within thirty days. The ones that didn’t were hit with repeat inspections or violations.”
Sawyer let out a low whistle. “That’s incredibly dumb corruption.”
Nick folded his arms. “Most corruption is.”
Madison moved toward the wall of papers. “The problem is proving intent.”
Sawyer finally looked up, a smug grin spreading across his face. “Funny you should mention that.”
Nick narrowed his eyes. “What did you find?”
Sawyer rotated his laptop toward them. “Turns out my uncle uses the same password for everything.”
Garrett blinked. “Please tell me it wasn’t password123.”
Sawyer looked offended. “No. Worse.”
Madison crossed her arms. “How much worse?”
“MortyTheMayor#1,” Sawyer deadpanned.
Nick shook his head in disbelief.
“I got into his personal email,” Sawyer continued, tapping keys rapidly. “Then I found linked banking alerts.”
Madison moved closer beside him. “You accessed his financials?”
“Not directly,” Sawyer clarified quickly. “But enough to start tracing movement. Look at this.”
An email chain popped up on the screen. Monthly payments. Routing numbers. Large deposits.
Garrett leaned forward. “What am I looking at?”
Madison’s pulse picked up. “Shell transfers.”
Nick looked at her. “Meaning?”
“Money laundering.” She pointed toward the amounts. “He’s spreading money across multiple smaller accounts so it doesn’t trigger attention.”
Sawyer nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly. And the inspection company owned by his cousin keeps receiving ‘consulting fees.’ ”
Nick muttered a curse under his breath.
Madison straightened slowly. “I need Valerie.”
Garrett glanced up from the paperwork. “Who’s Valerie?”
“A forensic accountant I worked with in Virginia.” She walked back toward the table, already reaching for her phone. “She cracked two procurement fraud cases for our team in under forty-eight hours.”
Sawyer looked impressed. “I like her already.”
“She sees patterns most people miss,” Madison explained. “Dates. Transfers. Timelines. If there’s something buried in these accounts, she’ll find it.”
Garrett watched Madison carefully while she gathered files into piles. He loved that she was focused, sharp, and completely in her element. And somehow even more beautiful because of it.
She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and scanned documents, completely unaware he was watching her like she hung the moon.
He moved to her side. “What do you need?”
She glanced up, and for one dangerous second, he forgot what he had asked. He inhaled her scent, peppermint and spring. His pulse skipped stupidly. He knew she was just as affected by their closeness as he was.
“I . . .” She cleared her throat. “I need copies of everything with dates attached.”
His mouth twitched slightly as he ran a finger down her cheek. “I can do that.”
Nick looked between them. “You two gonna flirt or solve the case?”
Garrett grabbed the nearest highlighter and threw it at him.
Sawyer chuckled, eyes not leaving his laptop screen.
Hours slipped by without any of them noticing. The light outside shifted slowly from bright afternoon gold into dusky blue.
Garrett had ordered pizza a while back. It now sat, half-eaten, in the open box in the middle of the table next to empty coffee cups and assorted highlighters.
Madison rubbed at her eyes while scanning another spreadsheet.
She thought back to the numerous cases she’d worked.
When they were close to solving one, she’d purposely set her watch so it would beep—what everyone called a Sophie reminder.
She’d stop what she was doing and call her daughter to let her know she’d be late getting home.
Though Sophie had a live-in nanny, she didn’t like missing dinner or their bedtime ritual.
Garrett brought her out of her reminiscing by placing a paper plate with a slice of pizza onto the stack of papers in front of her, along with a napkin.
“Eat.”
She blinked up at him. “Bossy.”
“You haven’t taken a break in six hours.”
She opened her mouth to argue.
He raised one brow, and she sighed dramatically and grabbed the slice. “You’re annoying.”
“You like me anyway.”
“Unfortunately, yes. Very much.”
An hour later, Kate arrived carrying dessert. “I brought much-needed sugar,” she announced.
Sawyer immediately reached for a brownie, and Nick went for the apple turnover.
Madison barely noticed because she was too focused on a timeline Valerie had emailed back with three sections highlighted. “Gotcha!”
Nick looked up. “What?”
Madison pointed toward the laptop screen. “The transfers increase every time the inspection company lands a large commercial project.”
Garrett leaned over her shoulder. “Meaning?”
“Meaning Benson’s getting kickbacks.” Madison’s voice sharpened with adrenaline. “Valerie thinks we’re close. Really close. She’ll keep looking when she has more time.”
Sawyer suddenly sat straighter. “Wait.”
His fingers flew across the keyboard again.
“What now?” Nick asked.
“I put a tiny camera outside the detached garage.”
Nick froze. “You WHAT?”
Sawyer winced slightly. “Not admissible. I know. He won’t find it.”
Then he opened a video file and a grainy live feed appeared on-screen. Everyone in the room went silent as they stared at the screen over Sawyer’s shoulder. A large black truck rolled slowly into the frame.
Madison’s stomach dropped. “That’s the truck that struck me.”
The driver stepped out wearing a ball cap low over his face.
Nick grabbed his phone. “Stone,” he barked the second the call connected. “Get out to the mayor’s place, stay on the road, and don’t let him know you’re there.” He filled her in on what they were watching. “Bring Larson from State Patrol.”
Garrett looked at Madison. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I want that bastard.”
Nick ended the call. “We don’t move on Benson yet. Not until we have enough to lock this down completely.”
The room fell into tense silence.
Then, thirty-seven agonizing minutes later, Nick’s phone buzzed.
Everyone froze.
Nick checked the text, and a slow smile spread across his face. “Stone has him.”
Madison’s breath left her all at once.
Nick looked up from the screen. “Truck’s impounded. Driver’s in custody. There was clear evidence of damage to the front end.”
Sawyer pumped a fist into the air. “YES.”
Garrett turned toward Madison, one hand settling against the small of her back.
Nick looked around the disaster zone they’d created in his dining room.
The war room.
And for the first time in weeks, it finally felt like they were winning.