Ellie Ashe - Miranda Vaughn 02 - Dropping the Dime (4 page)

"This is Special Agent Bethany Boylan," Jake said. "She's going to be assisting on this case, so you may be working with her if Finn and I are unavailable."

His new partner gave me a stiff and unpracticed smile. She recognized my name.
Lovely
.

Once we were seated, Jake handed Rob an envelope. "This is from Donna Grayson. It's the immunity agreement. If it's acceptable, go ahead and sign it, then I'll take it back to her."

Rob quickly scanned it and took a pen from his pocket. While the paperwork was underway, I busied myself by straightening my yellow legal pad and two blue pens, glancing up at Jake who was sitting across from me. He looked relaxed. Which made me fidget more. When our eyes met, he gave me a smile that melted my insides. At his side, Bethany Boylan stiffened when I smiled back.

I was starting not to like her.

"Well, then, let's get started." Rob said, signing the bottom of the agreement and directing Kathryn to add her signature next to his.

Jake shifted and my eyes lingered on how well his jacket fit his frame. I shook myself to rid my mind of the image of Jake without the suit and tie, and focused on the blank page in front of me. Not the time or place for those memories.

Finn leaned forward with a charming smile and addressed Kathryn directly.

"Why don't you start by telling us how you came to work at Leonidis Developments, Miss Hammond?"

His questions mirrored Rob's inquiry and Kathryn's answers were identical. I took notes and tried to keep my mind focused on the meeting, not on the man across the table from me. Finn's questioning was gentle and seemed designed to coax the shy accountant into revealing more. Jake took notes, not asking questions unless he wanted to clarify Kathryn's answers.

"I brought these documents, which shows all the costs associated with each house. It's a sample escrow document for a Leonidis home," Kathryn said, pulling papers from the stack in front of her. "I thought it might help you understand the flow of income and expenses."

She edged closer to the table and pointed to some figures on the next page. "These are all the amounts going to taxes, utility liens, the different vendors who are owed money out of escrow. And here—" She flipped the page over and pointed to the bottom of the next paper. "Here is what Leonidis gets paid out of escrow."

Jake's eyebrows rose slightly. That figure caught his attention.

"On each house?"

"Oh, that's just for the small model in River Valley community," Kathryn said, nodding.

"What are these amounts for?" Finn asked, picking up the first page again.

"They go to the infrastructure bonds," she said.

"Bishop Ranch Water District?" he asked.

"It's to pay off the cost of bringing water to the subdivision or water rights or something," Kathryn said.

"And this one here, the Bishop Valley School District?"

"We had to construct three new schools to accommodate the growing population."

"So you're basically building a town from scratch," Finn said.

"Sort of. I mean the subdivisions are in the city limits of Newbury, but the town didn't have the services for so many new residents."

Kathryn pushed her glasses up her nose and smiled shyly. She pulled out another folder then unfolded a map that spread over a good portion of our conference room. It showed the roads, the plots, the parks, and the commercial property that ringed it and linked the property to the old town of Newbury. The town was indicated by a small box drawn on the map with no features, while the 4,200-acre Leonidis developments were labeled and color-coded.

Jake tilted his head and studied the map. "How many families have moved into these developments?"

"The plan calls for 15,400 homes when it's built out. We're still a few years away from that. The housing crash put us behind schedule."

My eye was drawn to the road that went through Newbury, past the entrance to Bishop Valley development, with its large lots that backed up to a riverside equestrian park. On the other side of the river, a vast empty space on the map with a small, typed label: Bishop Ranch.

That led me to thoughts of the sexy cowboy with the shady past. And that reminded me that I'd be seeing Quinn this weekend at the ranch centennial party, since Sarah wasn't letting me off the hook. What did one wear to a party at a ranch? Semi-formal cocktail wear? Jeans and boots? Is it better to be overdressed at an event hosted by people I didn't know? Or underdressed in case I stepped in something? It was a party at a ranch, after all.

"Miranda?" Rob asked, jarring me from my thoughts.

"Boots," I said, then shook myself. "Sorry, I mean, yes, what?"

Jake raised an eyebrow at my unconventional response.

"I asked if you would walk the agents through the spreadsheets you created," Rob said, giving me a worried look.

"Yep, you bet." I jumped up and plugged the laptop into the cord that would let me project my recent handiwork onto the huge TV screen on the wall. The screen flickered to life and was filled by my multipage financial analysis.

"Spreadsheets." Jake's voice could not have been less enthusiastic. I bet when he joined the FBI he envisioned himself chasing down bad guys and busting in doors, not sitting in a crowded conference room going through financial data.

"Hey, I like spreadsheets," I said. "They're very useful for organizing complex data."

You don't get dual degrees in economics and finance without knowing your way around a spreadsheet. I was so used to relying on that particular tool, it was almost a comfort when I could use it to wade through voluminous information.

Jake shook his head and frowned, but Finn laughed. "A girl after my own heart," he said. "You know us IRS investigators are just accountants with guns, right?"

I returned his smile as Jake snorted.

"You leave Miranda alone. We nerds have to stick together," Finn said, and raised his hand in the Vulcan salute.

Great
. I was probably losing ground with Jake by the minute.

My handiwork filled the screen and Jake let out a low whistle at the graphs. "Nice work, nerd."

I laughed, despite myself. "Thanks, I guess."

"Using the raw information that Kathryn had provided me, I rebuilt the profit and loss tables and did an analysis of the money flow. Everything was on the up-and-up, from an accounting perspective, except for the very out of place payments to Acadia Street, Inc. The company is paying its vendors, its taxes, and its employees. It's profitable and the family shareholders are getting wealthy. Or wealthier, since it sounds like they'd been rich for a long time."

Finn studied the tables intently. "Can I get a copy of these?"

"Yes," Rob said.

I flipped to the next screen. "These are the taxes and fees to government agencies for various services and licenses."

"Why did you single those out?" Jake asked, leaning in to study my laptop screen, even though the spreadsheets were on the huge screen on the wall. This brought him closer to me and my entire body flushed hot at the nearness.

"Well, if the IRS were interested in Leonidis, I figured taxes would be the first stop on your investigation."

Finn nodded. "Yeah, and Leonidis does not like paying taxes. He had a run-in with the service about fifteen years ago that went up to the appellate level. He lost and he's begrudged every penny paid to the IRS since then."

"Was it a criminal tax problem?" Rob asked.

"No, but it was close. It was settled without having to bring criminal charges," Finn said. "It was one of my first cases."

Rob took a few notes and then asked to see the next screen. I obliged, explaining that this screen was a chart of profit margins.

"You can see that the company's profits narrowed in 2007 and it was operating in the red for two years, starting in 2008. It's recently rebounded and if you look at this—" I switched to the last screen in my collection. "Here you can see that the company is on track to make record profits this year. Even better than the housing boom prior to the crash."

"That's the profit?" Bethany asked.

Kathryn nodded. "Yes, the developments have really taken off. We had to bring in outside contractors to build homes because we just couldn't keep up with the demand. But the company still makes a profit on each of those houses sold, too."

Finn studied the graph with a serious look on his face. I got the feeling that the good ol' boy act charmed a lot of tax-evading suspects right into legal trouble. But behind that rascal's smile was a sharp mind.

Throughout the meeting, Bethany Boylan sat ramrod straight, peering down her nose at the frumpy witness who sat behind the stack of documents, with Rob and me at her side.

"What I don't understand, Miss Hammond," she finally said, her voice imperious and stern, "is why you waited this long to bring this to the attention of the authorities? I mean, didn't you go along with this for quite some time? You kept issuing checks to these sham corporations, right?"

I bristled at her tone and saw Kathryn sink back in her chair, tugging her sweater closer around her, like a turtle retreating into her shell. Her eyes blinked behind the thick lenses.

Rob leaned forward a fraction of an inch, toward the agent. "If you read the proffer memorandum that I provided to Ms. Grayson, you'd have seen that Miss Hammond didn't have any proof to bring to the government before now. She wouldn't have wanted to raise an alert unnecessarily."

His voice was measured but left no doubt as to his message:
Do not fuck with my client
.

I had to suppress a smile at the younger agent's sniff.

Finn gave Kathryn an easy and reassuring smile. "Of course not. We appreciate that it was not easy for Miss Hammond to come to the decision she made. Let's go back to the checks."

He thumbed through the paperwork and I snuck a glance at Jake. My eyes met his and I realized I'd caught him staring at me. The thought momentarily warmed me, then he gave me a wink and I had to look away, flustered.

Damn it
. That man was going to be my undoing.

Kathryn recounted her job, the roles of the other Leonidis family members, and the paper trail that led her to this situation. I focused on the words, taking copious notes and tried to forget about the man across the table. It was a relief when the meeting started to wrap up.

"If you need to meet with Miss Hammond again, just get in touch and we'll set up another meeting," Rob said, standing.

"And what is Miss Vaughn's role in your representation?" Agent Boylan asked, giving me that look she'd given Kathryn earlier. Suspicious. Superior.

My eyes narrowed and I raised my chin to meet her cold stare.

"Miranda has degrees in economics and finance and an expertise in corporate finance," Rob said.

"Yes, I've heard."

The room suddenly felt airless at Agent Boylan's condescending words.

You'd think I'd get used to the snide comments, the curious looks. The not-guilty verdict had done little to erase the suspicion. And there would be many people who would never look at me the same, never again trust me or my judgment.

The beautiful FBI agent staring at me with a tight smile was one of those.

"I think we're done for the day," Rob said.

"There's one more thing," Jake said. "This is great information, Ms. Hammond, but we need more than this."

Kathryn had just brought them all the financial records of a privately held corporation, something they'd normally have to get with a warrant or a subpoena. And that would have tipped off the Leonidis family that they were being investigated. What more did the FBI want from her?

"What did you have in mind?" Rob asked.

Jake turned to Kathryn. "Would you be willing to wear a wire and record your boss?"

Rob shook his head, his mouth tight in a line, but Kathryn was already nodding. "Sure, yes. I could do that."

"We'll talk about it. No promises," Rob said.

"Getting Leonidis on record trying to explain the payments could be helpful," Jake said. "But we should go before Miranda breaks out more spreadsheets. I've had just about enough excitement for today."

He gave me a wink and a smile and I tried to keep my heart rate at a reasonable pace.

Finn Buchanan gathered the documents that Kathryn had brought and slipped them into his briefcase. I lagged behind the rest of the group as they left the conference room, Rob leading the agents to the lobby. My stomach still roiled at the hurtful words from Agent Boylan and I kicked myself for not responding to her dig.
I did nothing wrong
. It was the mantra that got me through the trial and the fourteen months leading up to it. But that wouldn't be enough for the snotty FBI agent.

My gaze was focused on the carpet as I trailed behind, so it was a shock when I ran smack into Jake's chest.

"Oh, sorry," I said, stepping back.

He reached out and took my elbow. "Are you okay?"

I smiled. "Of course, I just didn't see you there."