“We need Nelson to hit those employment files ASAP.”
“Agreed.”
The afternoon didn’t go as planned. Soon after we’d left, an anonymous tip came into the office regarding possible insurance fraud involving a medical equipment company and three local assisted living facilities. The caller alleged the house doctor—who was the same at all the facilities—was signing prescriptions for equipment that was charged to the residents’ insurance companies, yet the residents never received said equipment.
While Keaton and Noah took point on Finn’s case, Lanie and Koen would handle the fraud investigation, which should be rather cut-and-dried. Either the equipment was there or it wasn’t. The hardest part would be proving intent by all parties involved. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind they’d get to the bottom of it.
We may have had one of the smaller satellite offices in the country, as far as bodies in the building went, but we were damn mighty. My team ran like a well-oiled machine, plus our track record for solving cases was next level.
Sammy followed me down the hall to my office, staying in the doorway while I settled in the leather chair behind my desk. Her behavior was enough to set off a symphony of warning bells.
“Out with it, Sammy.”
“You had two calls while you were gone.” She was kind enough to wince before turning my day into a shit-tastic dumpster fire. “Director Ashland and Senator Mitchell.”
Fuck my life.
It wasn’t unusual for my boss to check in; however, thefact my sperm donor called on the same day didn’t give me the warm and fuzzies. Actually, it made my stomach turn. Nothing good ever came from a conversation with dear ole dad, which was why his calls had gone unanswered for the past two years.
Senator Jack Mitchell was a narcissistic dick. He was also dirty as hell, in my opinion, though he’d never actually been caught with his pants down, unlike Uncle Adam. On paper, the Senator was an upstanding citizen. Once upon a time, when my mother was alive, he had been or close to it, but everything changed with her diagnosis. Evil spread through his mind like wildfire, stealing away my loving father and leaving Satan's lackey in his place. As far as I was concerned, I lost both my parents the day we buried her.
“Lovely,” I replied, squeezing the bridge of my nose to stave off the impending headache.
“Coffee?” Sammy inquired.
“Only if you have something stronger than French vanilla creamer to go in it.”
“I’ll see what I can find.”
She left, closing the door behind her. Squeezing my eyes shut, I took three deep breaths before picking up the receiver of my desk phone. The first ring hadn’t even completed when his gruff voice filled my ear.
“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been trying to get in touch with you?”
“Hello to you too, Dad. I’m doing well, thanks for asking.”
“Cut the shit, Waverly Nicole. I’m a busy man.”
“Well then”––I slouched back against my chair––“let me make this easy. You’ve got exactly two minutes until I disconnect this call. The clock is ticking,Senator.”
He grumbled something under his breath, then gruffed, “I’m being investigated.”
A smile lit my face. Maybe it was wrong of me to take pleasure from those three words, but I was all out of fucks to give. The man used his wealth and position to wreak havoc on the wrong side of the law. It was about damn time his criminal behavior was brought to light.
“I need you to find out what they have on me.”
And there it was. The real reason for his borderline harassing phone calls.
“Did you hear me?”
“Loud and clear.”
“Well?”
“I’m just trying to figure out how any of this would be my problem.”
“You ungrateful little bit––”
Pulling the phone away from my ear, I hung up, then quickly dialed my boss.
