“I’d always suspected, but I told myself I was overreacting.”
“You weren’t,” he said flatly. “But Simmons is gone. He can’t hurt you. And I’ll make sure Knox won’t hurt you either. I’ll have a team watching you within the hour.”
“You mean for a price,” she said bitterly.
“No,” James said, holding her gaze. “I’ve possibly put you at risk, and that’s not fair to you or your family. I’ll make sure you’re protected until this is all said and done.”
Disbelief covered her face. “That could be months … years.”
“But if you can get me the accountant’s name,” James said as he stood, “this will take days. You have my word.”
“You can’t guarantee that,” she said in a bitter tone.
I had to agree with her there.
“You hold up your end, and I’ll hold up mine.” He started for the door, leaving me to follow. “My attorney, Carter Hale, will be in contact with you within the next half hour about your security detail.”
“I don’t know that I’ll be able to get the accountant’s name.” Panic filled her voice. “What happens if I can’t get it?”
He paused, his hand on the doorknob, as he turned to face her. “Are you asking if I’ll pull your detail if you don’t get it? No. But like I said, the sooner I get that name, the sooner the potential threat to you is gone.”
He opened the door, and she called out, “Why are you being so nice to me?”
He gave her a sad smile. “Because J.R. Simmons put you in a difficult situation that wasn’t your doin’. By showin’ up here today, there’s a chance I tossed you back in it. You didn’t deserve it before, and you sure as hell don’t deserve it now. But I wouldn’t put you at risk if I didn’t think you could help.”
“And if I get the name,” she said. “What do I do then? How do I contact you?”
“Carter’s gonna give you his contact info. You pass the information on to him and he’ll tell me.”
Then he left the room.
I started to follow, but Natalie called after me, “Who are you, and why are you with James Malcolm?”
I realized neither one of them had addressed the fact I was there, and James had never introduced me.
“We have the same goal—to shut Knox down.”
She squinted at me. “You look familiar. Who are you?”
“I’m Harper Adams,” I said, preparing myself for her potential disgust. “You probably saw me on the news.”
Surprise flickered in her eyes. “The police officer who shot that boy. Did you really shoot him?”
I drew in a breath. “Yeah, I shot him, but he really did have a gun.”
She nodded, pressing her lips together. “You must have really pissed one or more of your coworkers off to get them to set you up like that.”
“You believe he had a gun?”
She made a face. “I know how some of those detectives work.”
I did a double take. “What do you mean?”
“Simmons had some on his payroll. He had state police on his payroll too.” When she saw my look of disbelief, she added, “Honey, I wrote the checks. We called it donations or some other nonsense, but I knew exactly what they were—bribes.”
I stared at her in shock for a few seconds before I came to my senses. “Do you remember any of the detectives’ names?”
She shook her head. “No.”
