CHAPTER FOUR
Matthew walked toward the two-story cottage he called home. Four generations of the Gray family had lived on the ranch, raising their family and nurturing the land as best they could. And now they were hiding a reporter whose story could launch her career or send her to prison. His grandfather would have laughed at the irony of it all. For most of his life, Matthew had been the one getting into all kinds of scrapes, pushing the limits of everyone’s patience. But what Ashley was doing was beyond anything he’d ever done.
He took off his boots and headed toward the kitchen. The cottage was quiet. Too quiet.
Ashley was sitting at the dining table wearing her headphones. Sheets of paper were spread out in front of her. She reached for a pen, wrote something down, then nodded to whatever she was listening to.
Matthew stood in the doorway watching her, remembering the two years they’d spent together. He’d been drawn to her quiet strength, the way she treated everyone. She was the sort of person who would walk into a room and talk to someone who was on their own. She’d pull them into a conversation and make sure they were included in what was happening.
He’d liked that about her, liked it a lot.
She looked up and jumped. Her headphones landed with a thud on the table. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
“Sorry. I didn’t want to interrupt whatever you’re doing.”
Ashley turned off her music. “I’m cross-referencing everyone who’s been at Jasmine Alfredo’s charity events with The Reaching High board members and their partners.”
“Have you found anything interesting?”
“Only that Congressman Welsh’s name comes up a lot.” She turned her laptop around so that he could see the screen. “These are the photos Harry took at the last four charity events that Jasmine organized. Congressman Welsh isn’t far from Jasmine in all of them.”
Matthew sat beside Ashley and clicked through the images. “Maybe they’re dating?”
“His wife might have something to say about that.”
He looked closely at one of the images. “He doesn’t act like a married man.”
Ashley studied the same photo. “I thought so, too. What’s even more interesting is that his wife wasn’t at any of these events. When he was running for mayor, his wife was always beside him.” She showed him the last image, then closed the file. “Bonnie has a meeting this afternoon with the treasurer of The Reaching High Foundation. She’s going to ask if she can look at their income and expenditure statement for the last financial year.”
“They won’t let her near it if they’re worried about what she could do with the information.”
“She’s already spoken to two board members. They think she’s a college student doing her thesis on successful marketing strategies for nonprofit organizations.”
“And they believed her?”
“Bonnie has bright red hair and dimples. If anyone can pretend to be genuinely interested in their charity, it’s her.”
“Is she worried that they’ll discover the truth?”
“She’s more worried about what the Foundation is doing.”
Matthew pointed to another sheet of paper. “What’s on your chart?”
“The Department of Health and Human Services gave The Reaching High Foundation $240,000 to help fund a youth center in Downtown Brooklyn. I’ve gone through the accountability report the Foundation returned at the end of the financial year.” Ashley picked up a sheet of paper and handed it to him. “The Foundation itemized each budget line, then listed the companies that provided the goods or services. So far, I’ve called five of the businesses to confirm whether the items they supplied were delivered.”
“And what did they say?”
“Three of the businesses aren’t answering their phones. They’re all based in New York City, so Harry is going to visit them.”
Matthew pulled the chart closer and read the notes she’d made in the last column. “The other two companies you called didn’t supply materials to The Reaching High Foundation?”
“It’s worse than that. They’d never heard of them. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, The Reaching High Foundation used both companies on other projects.”
“When are you taking this information to the police?”
“When I know where the money has gone. The Reaching High Foundation doesn’t have a lot of money in their bank account, and they haven’t used all the government funding for a youth center. The money must be somewhere.”
“Who authorizes withdrawals from the Foundation’s bank account?”
