Miranda Vaughn Mystery 01.00 - Chasing the Dollar by Ellie Ashe Page A
Authors: Ellie Ashe
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been here looking for him?"
He ran a hand through his hair and leaned forward. "Just a few days. I've gotten nowhere."
The silence hung between us.
"Why do you think the guys following us are bad guys?"
" Because I saw them at Bill's apartment two days ago."
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and rested his forearms on his knees, staring intently at the carpet.
"They'd trashed the place. It looked like his office. And now they know you're poking around. What name did you use to get into Patterson Investments today?"
I hesitated only a second before answering. "Lana Parker."
" Who is Lana Parker?"
" She's the stepdaughter of a Houston oil man who came into a large trust and needs assistance managing her wealth."
He gave me a hard stare. "That worked?"
He couldn 't have been more surprised than I was. "To an Englishman, I can sound Texan."
" Did you use your real name at all?"
" Of course, for my flight and the hotel," I said.
He nodded.
"They're looking for Lana Parker now, so ditch anything you have with that name on it. And they obviously figured out your real name."
" But how?"
" If I were heading their security team, I'd have asked the front desk clerk to identify you from a still from a surveillance video. That's not important right now. What matters is staying off their radar," Jake said. He tossed my report on the bedspread. "Why did you put together your case against Bill in a report like this? Seems like a lot of work to accuse someone of a crime."
" Well, that's your area of expertise, not mine," I snapped. "I researched a series of financial transactions and summarized my findings in a report. That's what I used to do at Patterson Tinker."
It was a familiar task, and somehow compiling the evidence as if it were a year-end report on one of Patterson 's investment funds distanced me from the true object of the report—the fact that someone used my name to funnel a ton of money off Patterson's books and into their own pockets.
" I don't know what you did or didn't do at that company," Jake said, standing. "But I'll help you."
I sat still in my uncomfortable chair, immediately suspicious. "Why would you help me?"
And did I even want his help?
"Well, the U.S. Attorney tried to convict you without success. Do you know what the odds are of that?"
I did know—something like ninety-six percent of cases indicted in federal courts end in conviction. Of the very small fraction of cases that didn 't, only a handful were acquittals after a jury trial. Rob had made sure I understood that I was nearly guaranteeing my conviction by going to trial.
" And I don't know if you're delusional. Maybe you're trying to recover the missing money for yourself. But I need to find Bill. And you're the only lead I have at this point."
He walked to the scarred white door leading to the closet and opened it, and pulled out a plastic bag and dumped an assortment of snack foods onto the bedspread.
My stomach growled at the sight of the food, and I realized that it had been a long time since my light breakfast at the Mandarin. Jake tossed me a bag of chips, which I ripped into without concern about the flavor indicated by the Chinese characters on the label. Turned out that salty potato chips are the same the world over, at least if you're hungry enough. The contents of the bag were gone in minutes. While I inhaled the chips, Jake paced and re-read the report I'd given him.
Finally, he paused and ran a hand through his hair and then rubbed his face. His expression was grave and exhausted. With a sigh, he sat on the edge of the bed and stared at me.
"It sounds like we both need to find Bill," he said. "It will be easier for both of us if we work together."
" I don't know how to find Bill," I said. "I only know where he works. I didn't have his home address, and I don't know where he hangs out."
" I think you know more than you realize," he said, nodding toward the two external drives that were resting inside the
He ran a hand through his hair and leaned forward. "Just a few days. I've gotten nowhere."
The silence hung between us.
"Why do you think the guys following us are bad guys?"
" Because I saw them at Bill's apartment two days ago."
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and rested his forearms on his knees, staring intently at the carpet.
"They'd trashed the place. It looked like his office. And now they know you're poking around. What name did you use to get into Patterson Investments today?"
I hesitated only a second before answering. "Lana Parker."
" Who is Lana Parker?"
" She's the stepdaughter of a Houston oil man who came into a large trust and needs assistance managing her wealth."
He gave me a hard stare. "That worked?"
He couldn 't have been more surprised than I was. "To an Englishman, I can sound Texan."
" Did you use your real name at all?"
" Of course, for my flight and the hotel," I said.
He nodded.
"They're looking for Lana Parker now, so ditch anything you have with that name on it. And they obviously figured out your real name."
" But how?"
" If I were heading their security team, I'd have asked the front desk clerk to identify you from a still from a surveillance video. That's not important right now. What matters is staying off their radar," Jake said. He tossed my report on the bedspread. "Why did you put together your case against Bill in a report like this? Seems like a lot of work to accuse someone of a crime."
" Well, that's your area of expertise, not mine," I snapped. "I researched a series of financial transactions and summarized my findings in a report. That's what I used to do at Patterson Tinker."
It was a familiar task, and somehow compiling the evidence as if it were a year-end report on one of Patterson 's investment funds distanced me from the true object of the report—the fact that someone used my name to funnel a ton of money off Patterson's books and into their own pockets.
" I don't know what you did or didn't do at that company," Jake said, standing. "But I'll help you."
I sat still in my uncomfortable chair, immediately suspicious. "Why would you help me?"
And did I even want his help?
"Well, the U.S. Attorney tried to convict you without success. Do you know what the odds are of that?"
I did know—something like ninety-six percent of cases indicted in federal courts end in conviction. Of the very small fraction of cases that didn 't, only a handful were acquittals after a jury trial. Rob had made sure I understood that I was nearly guaranteeing my conviction by going to trial.
" And I don't know if you're delusional. Maybe you're trying to recover the missing money for yourself. But I need to find Bill. And you're the only lead I have at this point."
He walked to the scarred white door leading to the closet and opened it, and pulled out a plastic bag and dumped an assortment of snack foods onto the bedspread.
My stomach growled at the sight of the food, and I realized that it had been a long time since my light breakfast at the Mandarin. Jake tossed me a bag of chips, which I ripped into without concern about the flavor indicated by the Chinese characters on the label. Turned out that salty potato chips are the same the world over, at least if you're hungry enough. The contents of the bag were gone in minutes. While I inhaled the chips, Jake paced and re-read the report I'd given him.
Finally, he paused and ran a hand through his hair and then rubbed his face. His expression was grave and exhausted. With a sigh, he sat on the edge of the bed and stared at me.
"It sounds like we both need to find Bill," he said. "It will be easier for both of us if we work together."
" I don't know how to find Bill," I said. "I only know where he works. I didn't have his home address, and I don't know where he hangs out."
" I think you know more than you realize," he said, nodding toward the two external drives that were resting inside the
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