"By bringing someone who committed multiple felonies into this office?" Garrett scoffed.
"I was trying to save you," she pleaded with Mace. "Josie had you under her spell. I was trying to expose her."
"Well, congratulations, you did," Mace said. Tara seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. But it was short-lived. "You're both fired," Mace said. "Turn in your electronics. Your things have already been packed. The boxes are at the reception desk."
I was numb as I did the walk of shame through the office. It was crawling with FBI agents.
In the lobby, Agent Donley was talking to the receptionist.
"Did you get my message?" I asked tearfully.
He nodded. "We already found the couple last night. They are in custody along with the lawyer. If you hear anything from Anke, or Payslee for that matter, please let us know. They have both disappeared."
Disappeared?That didn't sound good. But I had just been fired and had bigger problems than Anke to consume my thoughts. I needed to figure out where I was going to go.
Tara took her box and stomped out of the office. I followed slowly behind her with my own. The only things it held were the shirt that I had worn on my first day and two jars of candy.
62
Mace
After instructing Remy to hook up Josie's tiny house and pack up her things, I sat back at my chair, feeling numb.
The FBI agent in charge knocked on my door and came into my office. "We have all of the electronics Anke used and the ones your brother used to transfer the money. We have a forensics team looking at where she sent it."
"Thank you," I told him.
I sat at my desk after he left, staring at the opening where the window used to be. Garrett appeared in my field of view, and I shook off the cobweb feeling.
"How was Adrian able to transfer half a million dollars with no oversight?" I asked Garrett, proud of myself for how calm I sounded.
Garrett's jaw popped as he clenched it. "He was a Svensson, and the bank justauthorizedthe payment."
There was a knock on the door. Two men in coveralls stood there.
"We're here to fix that," they said, pointing to the window. I nodded at them.
"Talk in my office?" Garrett asked. I followed him wordlessly across the hall.
I stood at the door, watching as the repairmen carefully lifted the heavy piece of glass and fitted it in the opening.
"I talked to the bank," Garrett said. "Anke sent it to an account in London and had it transferred from there to somewhere in Asia, it seems. Depending on where it is, we should be able to recover some of the funds."
"I don't even care about the money," I said. "I just don't understand why everyone haslost their fucking minds!" I wanted to pick up a chair and throw it, but I knew Garrett would be mad if I broke a window in his office.
"Mace?"
I whirled around. "Adrian," I spat. My younger brother shrank back. He reminded me of me when I was younger and my father would fly into a rage. I didn't want my little brothers to be afraid of me. I went to Adrian and pulled him into a hug. "It's just money," I told him. "I just don't want to lose you. Anke is dangerous. She could have really hurt you. That's why I'm upset. It's not the money."
"I'mupset about the money," Garrett retorted. "What were you thinking, Adrian? Half a million dollars to some random account?"
"I'm sorry! I don't know what's wrong with me." He sat down on the sofa. "You should fire me."
"I'm not firing my little brother," I said, patting his head.
"But you fired Josie," he said sadly. "It wasn't her fault. It was my fault."
"All of this would have been avoided if she had just come clean," I said.
