Grafted into Deceit

by Sherri Wilson Johnson

  “Yes.” She clicked around and studied the information displayed on the screen.

  “How can I find out what these expenses were for?”

  Ms. Rutherford frowned and gave Marina her full attention. “I’d have no way of knowing that information. Only a receipt or invoice would show the items purchased or services provided. I can only give you general information about the account.”

  “But my signature was forged, and I don’t know who did it. Can I recall the checks in some way or file a claim against Blossom Marketing?”

  “Since your signature is on the checks, even though you say it’s forged, we wouldn’t be able to do something like that. Really, it’s a legal matter. You’d have to hire a lawyer or an investigator to find out who wrote these checks. Then you and your business partner would have to file charges against them. Right, Detective?”

  Steven leaned forward. “Yes, ma’am. If you can’t help, then Ms. Acres would have to press charges and let the police do an investigation.”

  “Right.”

  Press charges? Who would she press charges against? She first had to know if Iris had written the checks or if someone else in her company had. But Iris must be behind this whole scheme, or she wouldn’t have hidden the duplicates of the checks in her drawer.

  “I mean, it’s none of our concern who our account holders write checks to. Think of all the possible payees: grocery stores, utility companies, clothing stores, accountants, friends and family. The list is extensive. There’s no way to track that sort of thing. I believe you when you say you didn’t authorize these expenses, but it’s an internal affair with you and your partner. It’s a private matter you’ll have to investigate to see who wrote these checks and who the recipient is.”

  “I understand.” Marina didn’t know how she’d ever find out why these checks were written and where her money was without asking Iris about it.

  Ms. Rutherford studied the monitor for a minute. “Hmmm, interesting.”

  Marina straightened her neck. “What?”

  “The account owner is Iris Fields.”

  Marina lurched forward and leaned on the edge of the desk. “Iris owns the account?” She turned toward Steven and gasped.

  Steven straightened in his chair. Joy spread across his face, almost too much joy. Could he be right about the deceit going on within her company’s walls?

  “Yes. Does that help? Perhaps she’s transferred money from one account to the other to cover business expenses?”

  “By forging my signature? No, this is inexcusable.” Marina stood and grabbed the folder from the desk. “Thank you for your time.” She edged toward Steven’s chair and nudged his leg with her knee. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  Steven stood and nodded at Ms. Rutherford. “Thank you.”

  Marina pushed past Steven and dashed for the door then strode as calmly as possible through the lobby so as not to make herself look like a bank robber. Outside, she breathed in the cool morning air and exhaled with a restrained scream. Several customers going into the bank gave her strange looks, but she disregarded them.

  Steven came up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

  Anger raced through her worse than when she’d been wrongfully accused of cheating on her mid-terms in college. She’d never been able to prove Iris cheated off her paper instead of the other way around, but the seed of doubt about her honesty had been planted then. And now, it seemed Iris could indeed be a cheater and a thief.

  Steven unlocked the SUV. “Hop in. We’ll talk inside.”

  Marina stood on the sidewalk until her anger dulled then climbed into the vehicle and slammed the door. “Can you believe that? Iris owns Blossom Marketing? Why does it surprise me? The company is named after a stupid flower like her!” She ran her fingers through her hair, snagged the stitches in her forehead, and winced. “I should’ve figured that out myself. What does this mean? She’s stealing from our company to fund her own company? How can I find out what’s going on?”

  Steven slipped on his sunglasses. “We can get a warrant to check the bank’s records.”

  Marina waved her hands in front of her. “No, no, I need to be honest with her. I’ll tell her I found the file and went to the bank.”

  “Marina, that may not be safe. Let me handle this.”

  “No, I’ll do it. Just take me home.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Steven drove away after dropping Marina off with a gnawing in the pit of his stomach. She was going to confront Iris, and he couldn’t stop her. He’d encouraged her to wait until Iris and Mack returned home, so he could be present when she questioned her, but Marina’s eyes had flashed defiance, and even though she’d said she’d consider waiting, he’d be surprised if she did.

  After flinging open the door to Bob’s Burgers and stepping inside, he gave his eyes a few seconds to adjust to the dimness of the restaurant. John waved at him from the high-backed booth in the corner, and with his mouth watering from the aroma of grilled onions and fried potatoes, he joined him there.

  “Hey, partner. How did it go earlier today?”

  “Quite productive. Marina’s business partner, Iris Fields, owns Blossom Marketing, whatever that is.”

  “Her partner? Man!”

  Steven ordered a water with no ice and took a few minutes to look at the menu. A big juicy burger would give him the protein he needed to make it through the day. “Yeah, I’ve never seen a woman that angry and determined to find out what’s going on as she was.”

  “What’s she going to do?”

  “She’s going to confront Iris.”

  The waitress came and took their orders. Of course, John ordered a grilled chicken house salad with ranch on the side and mocked Steven when he ordered his burger with grilled onions, bacon, and pimento cheese on top.

  John unwrapped his silverware and slipped his phone into his suit coat pocket. “Could the latest development be connected to our drug suspicions?”

  “It’s possible. We now know Jason Burney connects with them somehow.”

  Their food came and after John said a blessing, he continued. “About Burney, we got the initial coroner’s report.”

  “And?”

  “Cause of death was a gunshot wound to the femoral artery.”

  Steven’s eyes widened. “He bled out?”

  John nodded. “Yep. Looks like he’d been shot and was on the run when Ms. Acres hit him.”

  Relief washed over Steven. “She’s not responsible for his death.”

  “Nope. How he got in that truck and wrapped in mesh, that’s a mystery, but the cause of death is no longer a question.”

  “She’ll be relieved.”

  They downed their food without talking much then John waved for the waitress.

  Steven picked his teeth with his pinky fingernail. “Any word on our missing guy? How about Kemar?”

  “Kemar’s been arraigned and is waiting for his bond hearing. The missing suspect? Still missing and unidentified.”

  “Which means he’s still a threat to Marina.”

  “And to you apparently, Steve.”

  Steven tossed his napkin on the table. He’d be glad when this guy was off the streets. “Man, I wish we’d been able to get a fingerprint or DNA off that cigarette pouch or jump drive.”

  “The lab located a few of the people on the list. I thought we could start.”

  Steven nodded. “I hope it leads us to the owner of the list.”

  ***

  Steven and John sat across from each other at their desks, both bleary eyed from going down the list of names that were in the file on the jump drive. Most of them were white collar businessmen well-known in the community. Others were common criminals whose charges weren’t too threatening. So what did this mean? Was this a gambling ring, a drug ring, a sex trafficking ring, or none of the above?

  Steven gulped the last couple ounces of lukewarm coffee and slammed the mug down onto his desk. “I’m frustrated with how long thi
s is taking. Should we call some of these people in for questioning?”

  John leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms over his head with a yawn. “On what grounds? We don’t have anything but a file of names and amounts.”

  Steven tapped a pretzel on the edge of his desk and chewed on the inside of his cheek. “But we just want to question them. We’re not arresting them. We’re trying to figure out why their names are on the file with dollar amounts.”

  “Right. But will these people talk to us—especially if they’re not under arrest? This isn’t like a bank record with a loan amount. This clearly is something off the books.”

  Steven hated feeling like he was pressed against a wall with nowhere to go. He didn’t like hearing no for an answer. There had to be a way to find out what these names and amounts meant and what they had to do with the nursery, if anything.

  All he could do was start with Kemar Mejora. “We need to talk to Kemar. He knows who the owner of that pack of cigarettes is, if it isn’t him, and that’s going to lead us to the owner of the jump drive.”

  “You think he’s going to talk to us without a deal?” John opened his desk drawer and withdrew a pack of spearmint gum. He took a piece and then tossed the packet across to Steven. He’d been teasing him that he was going to get fat if he continued to munch on pretzels all day and encouraged him to chew gum. He said it’d help his nerves.

  “Cut him a deal?” Steven tossed the pretzel aside and grabbed a piece of gum from the packet. He popped it into his mouth and drummed his fingers on the desk. “That’s between him and the District Attorney as far as I’m concerned. If I’m right, the owner of that pack of cigarettes and the jump drive is our shooter. And we need to find and put away that person! Let’s go now. You drive.” Steven grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair, and John followed him out of the building.

  ***

  Steven and John showed their ID’s to the guard and entered the gray interrogation room where Kemar Mejora waited. The man who two and a half days earlier had nearly killed him and Marina with his pickup truck now sat handcuffed at the table with a smug look on his face. The bandage on his forehead covered the wound he’d received when his head hit the steering wheel, but there were no other obvious signs of injury. Gone was the blood that had covered his dark face and soaked his dreadlocks Friday night. If Steven had his way, this man would vanish behind bars same as the blood.

  “Mr. Mejora, I’m Detective Roper. This is my partner, Detective Pennington. We have a few questions for you.” John slipped into the metal chair across from Kemar, but Steven wasn’t ready to sit yet.

  “I ain’t got no answers, Mon.”

  Steven paced the linoleum with his hands clasped behind his back, the only way he could prevent himself from harming Kemar.

  “You don’t know what our questions are yet.” John squinted at him and cocked his head.

  “Don’t matter. I’m no talkin’ ‘less my lawyer’s present.”

  Steven circled behind Kemar and placed his hands on his shoulders.

  “Get your hands off me, pig!” Kemar tried to jerk away, but Steven had a firm grip on him.

  John’s eyes widened, and he rose an inch from his chair, but Steven lifted his hands in surrender. His blood racing through his veins, he took the chair next to John and directed his attention toward Kemar. “Friday night.”

  Kemar shrugged, his ebony eyes glazed over with the obvious fear he tried to hide. “Whatta ‘bout it?”

  “You were driving a pickup truck that almost killed me and a female victim when you crashed into a patch of trees.”

  “Don’t know no-ting ‘bout that.”

  “Mr. Mejora, I’m the one who made sure you were alive. After attempting to kill me, you should be pretty grateful I even cared enough to check on you.”

  Kemar curled his upper lip and feigned neutrality. “You was jus doin’ your job.”

  Steven slammed his hands onto the table, and John nudged his arm with his elbow. Okay, message received. He needed to remain calm and not ruin his case. “Look, I need to know who was in the truck with you. He shot at me and the woman.”

  “No, Mon, I’m not tellin’ you a ting.”

  Steven’s neck and face grew hot. His heart raced, and his patience wore thin. “Look—”

  John straightened and motioned for Steven to back off. “Kemar, we aren’t here to point any blame at you for the shooting. Tell us who your passenger was.”

  Steven confirmed, “That’s all we need to know.”

  “I’m not rattin’ him out. He’ll kill me.”

  “We can protect you.” Steven leaned forward and forced Kemar to look at him.

  Kemar averted his gaze and shook his head. “You cannot protect me. If you arrest him and he’s in here with me, I’m a dead man.”

  Steven grabbed Kemar’s forearms, but the door to the interrogation room flew open before he could speak.

  A man the size of an NBA player walked in wearing an Armani suit and carrying a briefcase that might have cost more than Steven’s SUV. “That will be all, gentlemen. My client has nothing more to say.”

  Kemar smirked. “Yeah, besides, the man you’re lookin’ for isn’t missing. He knows ‘xactly where he is. And he’ll return when he’s ready.”

  ***

  Anger crept up Marina’s chest and nearly strangled her with fury-laden fingers. She hadn’t chosen the role of a fool, but she’d allowed Iris to make one of her. Why was life so unfair? She’d tried her best to follow the rules and play the game right, but where had her efforts gotten her? Used and traumatized, that’s where.

  After tossing her grilled cheese sandwich onto a plate then ladling tomato soup into a bowl, she carried her meal into the living room, still nursing her swollen ankle and paintball bruises. She planted herself on the couch in front of the television. Nothing appealed to her right now.

  She’d watched enough of those shows in the past that she should be able to solve this mystery, ought to be able to put together all the pieces and stop whatever was happening to her company. But she lacked objectivity. Because of her connection to Iris, she wasn’t objective. Her heart kept getting in the way. And that’s why she needed Steven and John. Even though she didn’t want to involve the police, she’d have to if she wanted answers.

  She flipped through the stations until she landed on a documentary on people in West Virginia digging for ginseng to make a year’s wages in one ginseng harvesting season. Although they could make a lot of money fast, danger surrounded the ginseng business. Poachers wanted what didn’t belong to them and used any means to get it. If they were caught trespassing on someone’s self-proclaimed territory, their lives were endangered too.

  What made people this greedy that they’d resort to violence and trespassing to make a dollar? Was wealth worth using deceptive tactics?

  Marina dipped the corner of her sandwich into her soup and took a bite of the warm and savory comfort food. No comfort came, though.

  Why had Iris written those checks to her other company? To herself, in essence? Was the company real or a cover for something sinister? It didn’t matter. Iris had lied to her, and she had to find out why.

  She took another bite of her sandwich and grabbed her phone off the end table to text Iris. Seconds before she pressed send on the text, her phone rang. Iris. How did Iris do that? She had a sixth sense about when Marina wanted to talk.

  “Hey, friend.” Marina forced herself to remain cordial when unloading on Iris like a rifle at a firing range came natural right now.

  “Hey. Are you okay?”

  No, she was not okay! “Sure. Why?”

  “Have you not seen the news?”

  “No. I’ve been a little preoccupied.” Preoccupied with a dead body and with finding the source of stolen money from the company they’d built from the ground up—that’s what she’d been.

  “They found Jason Burney’s body in our delivery truck at the nursery.”

  “Oh
, yeah, I know. But I didn’t have to see it on the news. I’m the one who found him.”

  “Marina!” Iris screamed. “Why didn’t you call me? You know he’s Mack’s best friend.”

  Marina slumped. Where was Iris’s concern for her? Didn’t she care that her best friend had discovered a dead body? “I couldn’t call. The police told me I had to stay quiet while they investigated.”

  “I can’t believe this. How did it happen?”

  Marina scooped soup into her spoon and then tilted the spoon to return the liquid to her bowl. Her appetite had abandoned her again. “I was there getting more files, and I checked the back of the truck to make sure all the orders went out. That’s when I discovered his body. That’s who I hit with my car Friday night.”

  Iris groaned. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

  Marina squeezed her forehead. Right now, Iris was too much to handle. “Again, I couldn’t.”

  Iris sighed. “So how did he get in the truck?”

  “I wish I knew.” Did Iris know more than she was letting on?

  “I’m sorry. Do you need us to come home?”

  Finally, a show of concern emerged. “I don’t, but the police may want you to. I’m sure they’ll be in touch if they do.”

  “This can’t be good for business.” Iris groaned again. “What else do you know? I mean, why was he in our truck on our property?”

  “I have no answers, Iris. In fact, I have more questions than ever.”

  “Anything I can help with?”

  Marina hesitated. Her heart fluttered like hummingbird wings. Was this the right time to confront Iris with her questions? Would her prying end their friendship and dissolve what was left of their company? If Iris or Mack were involved in something illegal, as Steven suspected, she could endanger her life by asking questions.

  But she couldn’t sit back and let Iris make a fool of her any more than she already had. She swallowed her apprehension and straightened her shoulders to build her courage. “I wasn’t going to ask you until you got home, but something’s really gnawing at me, and I hope it’s not connected with Jason’s death.”