Page 44 of Love, Lies, and Whiskey

A picture popped up of Juliette flashing a cheeky smile, holding up a coffee cup. Her hair was messy and tangled, her eyes were sleepy, and she looked painfully beautiful.

Doc: You look good enough to eat.

He added a devil emoji.

He watched the three dancing dots, as if she were typing, but they disappeared. “Shit.” He’d known he was pushing it, but he also knew they were there in their hearts, and she wanted the same thing. His phone vibrated as another text rolled in.

Juliette: I wish I could meet you at the end of the road and go to our old cabin.

If he had his way, his cabin would be their cabin.

DOC WAS IN his office at the end of the day reviewing the latest scans for two of their rescue horses when his cell phone rang, and Reggie Steele’s name appeared on the screen. He wasn’t expecting to hear from him so soon. “Hey, Reggie. How’s it going?”

“Not bad. I’ve got an update, but before I get into it, how are things with you? How’d Lucas take the news?”

“Not great, but that’s to be expected.”

“I’d imagine so. Hopefully he’ll come around and realize how lucky he is to have you as a father. And Juliette? How is she holding up?”

“She’s hanging in there.” She’d texted about an hour ago to say she’d heard back from the therapist and had set up an appointment to speak with her while Lucas was at school next week.

“I’m sorry you all are going through this,” Reggie said. “I can only imagine how stressful it is. Let me make your day a little better. I have on good authority that Adkin has been under investigation for corrupt activity for the past two years as part of a broader federal investigation.”

“No shit? I haven’t heard anything about that.”

“You wouldn’t. None of it is public knowledge. This is big, Doc. My source tells me it involves more than a dozen people. Adkin is being investigated for using his political influence to gain kickbacks from companies seeking to work with the state, for mail fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery. The list goes on.”

“I knew that asshole was dirty. If they’ve got all that on him, what’s the holdup? Why aren’t they arresting him?” Doc pushed to his feet and paced.

“They need more proof. You know how lawyers are. If they don’t have a slam dunk, they’ll be tied up in court for years—or worse, the case will be thrown out. I’m sure the Feds have every base covered, but I put out some feelers with my political connections to see what I can dig up.”

“Great. Keep me in the loop. Did you get any info on the housekeeper?”

“Yes. Ana Barbosa has worked for the Adkin family for twenty-four years, since she was nineteen. She was married when she started working there and went through a contentious divorce a few years later. She has a thirteen-year-old son, a younger brother who’s been in and out of jail, and a sister who lives out of the country with her mother, who she sends money to every month.”

“Who’s the kid’s father?”

“This is where it gets interesting. There’s no father listed on the birth certificate, but after the divorce, she took out a restraining order against the ex, and it was handled by Adkin’s attorney, Wilson Chambers. Curiously enough, the ex was severely beaten shortly thereafter. Sound familiar?”

“Son of a bitch.” Doc rubbed a knot in the back of his neck. “You think Adkin is the father of her child?”

“That’s my guess. After the restraining order was put into place, she moved into a high-end community and started receiving large sums of money from an aunt overseas. But it turns out there is no aunt. The money’s coming from one of Adkin’s shell companies. He buried it well. The guy’s got a network of shell companies in other countries, each with several intermediary entities. The shell companies act as shareholders to each other, making tracking the true ownership nearly impossible.”

“How’d you get this info?”

“You know I can’t tell you that, and what I’ve told you has to stay between us.”

“I’ve got to tell Juliette.”

“That’s a given. I trust she’ll keep it quiet. I’m going to email you a report outlining all of this. One more thing about the housekeeper. She has Tuesdays and Sundays off, and from what I can tell from her financial records, she has brunch at the same café every Tuesday in Boulder.”

“You think she meets Adkin there?”

“I didn’t have enough time to figure that out yet. But give me a week or two—”

“Thanks, but I’m not waiting a week or two. I want to get this bastard. I’ll go see for myself. Is the address in the report? I want the housekeeper’s home address, too.”

“It’s all in there, but as I said, this guy’s connections run deep and dirty. If you go in there half-cocked looking for trouble, you’re liable to find a hell of a lot more than you’re counting on.”