“Oh, I didn’t see you, Mr. Cain. Good morning.” She glanced backand forth between him and Carly, took in their serious expressions. “What’s going on?”
Carly stayed seated, spoke to Donna across the desk. “I think that’s a question you need to answer, Donna. Why don’t you take a seat?”
The woman’s black eyebrows pulled into a frown as she sat down in one of the metal chairs on the other side of the desk. “How am I supposed to know what’s going on when I just got here? You aren’t making sense.” Her gaze shot to Linc. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
“You know about the loan I made Drake Trucking,” he said.
“Of course. That was very kind of you.”
“It was a business transaction. You gave me the profit and loss statement, but I also asked Carly for Drake’s account records. I had my CPA go over the books for the last five years, examine the records in detail.”
The color drained from Donna’s face.
“I bet you can guess what we found,” Carly said.
“I don’t . . . don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Linc pushed away from the wall. “I think you do. I think you know exactly what we found in those books.”
Donna shook her head, shifting her long dark hair across her back. Her eyes filled with tears. “You don’t understand.”
“I understand you’re a thief,” Carly said. “That you pretended to be Joe’s friend—my friend—then stole two hundred thousand dollars and nearly bankrupted the company.”
“You worked for Joe for years,” Linc said. “He trusted you completely. Two years ago you started stealing from him. What happened? Or did you just get greedy?”
Donna leaned forward, her arms wrapped around her middle, hugging herself. She straightened, took a shaky breath. “I didn’t do it for me—I did it for Joe. I did it to protect him.” Donna burst into tears.
When Carly started to rise, Linc shot her a glance that warned her to stay in her seat. Now wasn’t the time for her to be softhearted.
“Stealing is stealing,” he said. “You took the money. Now you’re going to jail.”
Donna swallowed a sob. “I didn’t know what else to do. He wantedmoney. I knew Joe wouldn’t pay him. I had to do something. You don’t know what that man is like.”
“Who?” Linc pressed.
“El Jefe. Three of his men came . . . came to my house.” Donna inhaled a shaky breath. “They knew Joe was sick. They said El Jefe would take care of the people who worked here. He would ensure their loads would arrive safely. The drivers would not . . . not be harmed. He would provide protection, but it would cost money. Joe was a man of principle—I knew he wouldn’t pay.”
Carly leaned across the desk. “So you made the decision yourself—using Joe’s money.”
Donna wiped tears from her cheeks. “I didn’t know what else to do. One of El Jefe’s men gave me instructions. I was to open a bank account. Every month, I was to transfer money into the account.”
“Which added up to a couple hundred thousand dollars,” Carly said.
“Almost.”
“How did El Jefe get the money?” Linc asked. “I doubt he was writing checks.”
She swallowed. “The bank account was a way to keep the transfer secret. A few days after I transferred the money, I went into the bank and took it out in cash. I put the money in a paper bag, then set it beside a trash can in the city park, and someone picked it up.”
“You saw them?” Carly asked.
“No. They told me to put the bag down and leave, so that’s what I did.”
“And you never saw anyone,” Linc pressed. “You gave El Jefe two hundred thousand dollars and never saw a thing.”
She glanced up, her eyes wet and glistening. “It didn’t all go to him. Part of the money went . . . went to me.” She pressed her trembling lips together. “They insisted I take it so I would keep quiet. I would be part of it whether I liked it or not. Ten percent of what I stole.”
Linc should have been surprised but he wasn’t. “So you aren’t completely innocent in all this, are you?”
