Akker was in the surgical waiting room, pacing between the empty rows of chairs like an expectant father. When he saw Skylar, he seemed relieved, accepting her hug like it was the best thing he’d felt all day. But then his eyes moved over me and I was positive I saw anger in them.
“I’m sorry,” I said before I could stop myself. “I never meant for this to happen.”
“It’s the job,” Akker said, his tone dull. “Did you see Ox? Is he okay?”
I nodded. “He’s good.”
Akker ran the fingers of both hands through his hair. “They say the bullet tore through one kidney and part of the colon. They say he might have to have the kidney removed.”
I lowered my head. “That’s rough.”
“He had a lot of trouble with his kidneys right after the fire. The burns caused them to start shutting down—something about the breakdown of the proteins in his muscle or something like that—they thought he might lose them then. But they came back, began working normally again. Most of what they said might happen when he was burned proved to be wrong.”
“It’ll be the same this time, Akker,” Skylar assured him. “Brock’s a fighter. He won’t let this take him out.”
He nodded, but the expression in his eyes showed his doubt. “It’s just… it’s not right for this to happen to him. Not again.” He ran a hand over his face, his eyes red when he revealed them again.
There’s nothing so heartbreaking as to see a tough man cry.
I stepped back as Skylar slid her arm around him, trying to comfort him without making a big deal out of the tears. It was an awkward moment, made all the more awkward because I felt to blame for the whole situation. I was desperately trying to think of an excuse to extricate myself when Oliver suddenly appeared down the corridor.
“You’re supposed to call me with updates, not force me to find out from Cheryl!” He marched up to Akker and put him in something of a chokehold. “You should have called me, brother!”
“He’s got a lot on his mind,” Skylar said.
“Well, I’m here now. And I brought Valerie with me. She’s down the hall trying to find out everything she can on Brock’s condition.”
“Thank you,” Akker said.
I backed away, feeling more than ever like I was intruding on a private family matter. Oliver caught sight of me, however, and asked, “What’s going on with my brother?”
I cleared my throat, catching Skylar’s eye. She made a motion that indicated I should tell him, but Ox had been adamant about keeping Oliver out of the whole thing. Akker, however, didn’t seem to feel like that was an option anymore.
“We think this all traces back to something your father did back when he first started Caballo.”
“How’s that?” Oliver asked him as he released him from the chokehold. “What do you think my father did?”
“He was running a money-laundering scheme.”
Everyone looked at me, different levels of surprise on their faces.
Oliver crossed his arms over his chest and studied me. “What do you know?”
“Ox told me that he found records in the files your father left behind—books that had been cooked and the real books. He says that your father was accepting payments from his friends that he put down on his cooked books as loans for business purposes that were paid back.”
Akker raised his eyebrows. “That’s what they were looking for at Ox’s house. The real books.”
“Ox says that they name more than twenty officers with my precinct.”
Oliver continued to study me, not really giving any indication of what was going through his mind. But then he slowly lowered his head. “These investors… this lawsuit… is that what Ox has been hiding from everyone? Is that what he was hiding from me?”
“Yes. He didn’t want to burden you with this on top of everything else.”
Oliver shook his head. “He thinks he still needs to protect me, the damn fool! I wish he would stop.” He dropped his arms, looking from Akker to me. “What else do we know?”
“That the cops involved are trying to find these books and get rid of Ox. They think if they get Ox out of Caballo, they’ll be able to put someone else in his place they can intimidate into doing what they want.”
“Me—right?”
“Ox thought it was a possibility. You or your mother.”
Oliver snorted. “Do we know who’s behind all this?”
“Ox said there’s a list.”
“We have the list of people involved in the lawsuit,” Skylar volunteered.
“Ox says there’s many more than that.”
“Where is Ox? Why isn’t he here telling us what we need to know?” Oliver demanded. “Why isn’t he in charge of this little investigation since it’s his butt on the line?”
“He doesn’t want us investigating this.”
“Bullshit!” Oliver slapped his hands together. “Things have changed now. Brock is in there fighting for his life!”
“Ox doesn’t know. And if he did, he would turn himself over to these people and then he’d be in a pine box.” I made a wide gesture at Oliver. “Is that what you want?”
Oliver glanced at Skylar who nodded in affirmation.
“We need more evidence,” I told them. “We need irrefutable proof of what’s been going on here or these people are going to walk.”
“What about the files Ox has? The ones they’re looking for?” Akker asked.
“If that was enough, Ox would have handed them over to someone already.”
Silence fell between us as the others came to the same conclusion I’d come to almost immediately. I knew the records Ox’s father kept would be helpful, but they couldn’t be everything. We had to have something more. The recording Brock had made would be helpful if it really said what Skylar told me it said, but even that wouldn’t be enough. It would lock up Lindsay, but it’d let the others walk. I couldn’t do that.
They’d pushed me too far. It was time to take them all down!
“There’s an accountant at Caballo who can probably help decipher some of the financial stuff.” Akker brushed a hand over his forehead. “He might be able to find more evidence of it.”
“What about the lawyer?” Skylar asked.
“What lawyer?”
“The one handling Ox’s interest in the case,” Akker said. “I tried to get an appointment with him earlier, but haven’t heard back. I thought he might have more information for us. Or maybe he might know where these mysterious documents are.”
“I’ll check into it. Anything else?”
“My mother,” Oliver said, waving a hand like he thought it should be obvious. “I’m sure she’s neck-deep in this whole thing. You should talk to her.”
“Do you think she’d cooperate?”
Oliver snorted. “Hell, no! But she’s probably already drunk. She isn’t as careful with her words when she’s drunk. You might get something out of her.”
“Good.” I pushed my fingers through my hair, lifting it up a little. “I’ll start with the accountant.”
“I’ll go with you,” Skylar volunteered.
“It should be me,” Akker said.
“You need to stay with your brother.”
Akker shook his head. “I’m just driving myself crazy sitting here. I need to be doing something productive.” He took Skylar’s hand and squeezed it. “You don’t mind hanging around, do you?”
“Of course not.”
“Call me the second he comes out of surgery.”
“You have to give me something to do, too,” Oliver announced. “This is about my brother, my father. I need to help.”
“Come with us. You can help Cheryl and her crew on research.”
Oliver seemed almost relieved. We headed down the corridor just as a woman turned the corner on the other end. Oliver picked up speed and went to greet her. This must be the woman who had been sleeping in his place when we visited earlier. She was pretty with an air of intelligence and sop
histication about her. Oliver rested his hands on her shoulders in an intimate way, drawing her close as they spoke to each other.
“What did you find out?” Akker asked as we approached.
The woman, a deeply serious expression on her face, said gently, “It’s a serious situation. The bullet came very close to his spinal cord and it tore through the colon in two places. The doctors are working hard to repair the damage, but he’s lost a lot of blood. And his kidney is shredded. They weren’t able to save it.”
Akker wobbled on his feet briefly, but he seemed to get control of himself. “What are his chances?”
The woman—Valerie?—touched Akker’s arm. “Once he’s out of surgery, it’s going to be a wait-and-see situation. The biggest concerns are the high risk of infection from contamination due to the colon injuries and the risk that comes with any major surgery, and then there’s the damage to the area around the spinal cord. They won’t know until the inflammation goes down if there’s going to be any permanent impairment.”
Akker lowered his head, his voice strained when he asked, “There’s a chance he won’t be able to walk?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head, taking a couple of deep breaths. “Everything he’s been through…” he said, more to himself than anyone else.
“The important thing to focus on right now is that he’s still alive, he’s still fighting. It’s going to be a long road, but he’s strong.”
“Yeah…”
Akker shrugged her touch off and walked away. He’d had enough.
Valerie focused on me, a deep sadness in her eyes. “That never gets easier.”
“You’re a doctor?”
“A pediatrician.” She held out her hand. “I’m Valerie Cole.”
“Kinsley Salazar.”
We shook hands, her gaze full of curiosity. “You work with Ox and the others?”
“I told you,” Oliver injected. “She’s the one helping us keep Ox out of jail.”
Valerie nodded, but there was a knowing look that had come into her eyes, like she could see my lacking panties, could see what had happened between Ox and I earlier. I wasn’t one who blushed easily and I didn’t blush just then, but I felt like I could have if not for everything that was going on around us.
“We’re headed out,” Oliver told Valerie, moving close to kiss her temple. “Do you mind hanging out here with Skylar? Luna will be arriving later on, too.”
“Of course. You go do what you need to do.” She reached up and kissed him gently, then turned back to me. “It’s nice to meet you, Kinsley. I hope we can meet again under better circumstances.”
“You, too.”
We found Akker in the parking lot, leaning against the passenger side of his SUV. He had his phone in his hands, but it didn’t look like he was using it to contact anyone.
“Ready?” he asked briskly as we approached.
It was admirable, really, how he could turn his emotions off. He would have made a damn good cop—which it seemed this town was going to need very soon.
Personally, I needed a minute.
“Why don’t we meet back at Caballo?”
Oliver and Akker both nodded, headed off without another word. I went and sat in my car, closing my eyes as I finally let the dam of emotions break. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get through the rest of this day. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get through the next hour.
Chapter 12
Ox
“Come on, come on, come on!”
I stretched, pulling against the cuff until I could feel the moisture of blood against my skin. I’d found a knife—a lovely butcher knife that was about twelve inches long—that probably should have been removed if the place was going to be used to keep hostages. Not that I would hurt Kinsley, but I might advise her that if she ever did this again…
My thoughts were getting a little delirious with the circumstances.
I’d been working for what felt like hours and hours to try to snag the keys with the tip of the knife. A part of me, that little boy who still lived in the back of my mind, was afraid she’d come back and catch me. But I knew it would take her at least an hour to get back to town, maybe longer at this time of day. She was probably just arriving at Caballo, or wherever she’d been rushing off to.
I stretched again, the knife resting on the tips of my fingers, but it was still inches away from the damn keys. This wasn’t going to work.
I threw the knife and began searching drawers again. I’d refused to allow myself to think about whatever it was that had caused her to rush off as she had. My first thought was that someone was hurt and that led me to a list of the people I cared about most, and then… I couldn’t go down that road.
I had to find something else. I needed to concentrate on getting myself out of here!
I emptied out all the drawers. There wasn’t much, just a few knives, a drawer full of spoons and forks, and a can opener. It was a little eerie, really, to think the last person to touch most of these things was a woman who was butchered to death by her schizophrenic husband while his daughter sat and watched. It horrified me in a way that few things had done in recent years.
In an upper cabinet, I found a length of baling wire. I was about to toss it aside when it occurred to me that I just might… I unrolled it and made a hook at the end of it. I was a little worried it wasn’t stiff enough, but it seemed to hold up as I tossed the hook toward the keys and tried to get it inside one of the rings. I kept missing, but if I calmed down and worked carefully, I knew I could get it.
Another try.
Chapter 13
Kinsley
Cheryl must have been watching the security videos on her computer. She was waiting when I stepped out of the elevator, waving a paper in her hands.
“I found something in Caballo’s records.”
“What?”
She shoved the piece of paper into my hands. “The retirement fund. Someone’s been using the retirement fund to funnel money out of the business. I mean, not anymore—it looks like it stopped eighteen months ago—but I think that’s what’s been going on. I think maybe Walter McDonald might have had a scheme going on because I found a common element to all these people in the lawsuit: they all worked at the same precinct as both Mr. Winn and Mr. McDonald.”
“Thank you, Cheryl.”
I brushed past her, not because it wasn’t good information, but because I didn’t want her to ask questions. The fewer people who knew about this money-laundering scheme the better. And then I walked into the conference room and found Akker having a deep conversation with a short, squat man with dark hair that was beginning to disappear in a perfectly round disc at the back of his head.
“Akker?”
He looked up, gesturing to the short man. “This is Emilio. He’s the new head of accounting. Apparently, Ox fired the former head of accounting eighteen months ago and hired Emilio here.”
“Nice to meet you.” I gestured to Akker. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Emilio’s just showing me the differences between the software the company used to use and the software Ox had Emilio implement eighteen months ago.”
Right on cue, Emilio pushed a button on his laptop and a screen at the far end of the room filled with columns of numbers.
“As you can see here,” Emilio said in a high-pitched voice tinged with an accent, “this is a spreadsheet from the new software. Whenever a case is begun, someone—usually one of the secretaries—will plug in the pertinent information. That includes the category under which the case will be charged—there are different fee schedules for different types of cases, such as personal security, corporate security, that sort of thing—the name of the operative taking charge, the number of other operatives expected to work on the case, and the duration the case is expected to take. Then, as the operatives enter their reports and expense receipts, the system automatically calculates everything. There’s very little we have to do physically.”
/> “It’s automated?”
“Yes. We double-check the numbers and receipts. If we find a discrepancy, we’re to bring it to Mr. Winn in a report of our own with possible reasons for the discrepancy. Sometimes a case will last longer than expected, or require more operatives than originally planned. There are lots of things that could change while a case is open. Anywhere else I’ve ever worked, I was allowed to make adjustments for those irregularities, but here, Mr. Winn insists on doing it himself. I don’t even know why he has a head of accounting if he doesn’t trust me.”
“What about the past software?” I asked.
Emilio pressed another button. “It was more of a manual thing. It was a fancy spreadsheet that required the accounting department to input numbers by hand. There were standard formulas in use, but the rest of it we had to do by hand.”
“So, it was possible that mistakes could be made?”
I glanced at Akker. He offered a slight nod, indicating he was thinking the same thing I was.
“Sure,” Emilio nodded. “It was all based on human interaction; therefore human error was common. That’s why the new software is so much better. But it really shouldn’t require such tight oversight.”
“You mean the reports you send to Ox?”
“Not only that, but he also has an outside accounting firm go over our work every month. Really unnecessary.” Emilio sighed. “When I took this job and we talked about the change in software, I thought he was hiring me to be the head of a department. But, really, it’s clear he doesn’t trust me. I’m just a figurehead.”
“I’m sure he trusts you, Emilio,” Akker said. “This is just a new thing for Ox—Mr. Winn. He’s only been in charge here a few years.”
“Maybe.”
“Thank you, Emilio,” I said. “That’s all we needed.”
Akker frowned but allowed Emilio to leave before turning to me. “All we need? Wasn’t the idea to get all the records that show the money laundering?”
“Do you really think Ox would allow that stuff to just sit around in a computer system, or an old filing cabinet here? Don’t you get it, Akker?” I walked over to the computer and closed the lid, darkening the big screen.
Caballo Security Box Set Page 87