Hidden - Laura Griffin Page 0,41
down at her, and her heart thumped harder for a different reason. She could feel his tension. See the heat in his eyes. He was frustrated, and it wasn’t just about the case.
“I have to go.” He moved for the door.
“Wait. Wait. We’re not done talking! I want to know more about what’s going on.”
He shook his head. “I’ve told you as much as I can.”
She followed him to the door as he pulled it open and turned to look at her. “And we made a deal, Bailey, so I better not see this in the paper.”
His words stung, but she tried not to let it show.
“You won’t,” she said. “I told you, you can trust me.”
CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
KENDRA POKED HER head into the file room. “You’re working down here again?”
“It’s quiet.”
She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. Jacob noted the laptop under her arm.
“I have to show you something,” she said, and he caught the excitement in her voice. He slid his computer aside, and Kendra pulled over the folding chair she’d used last time and opened her laptop.
“I think I may have found it,” she said.
“Found what?”
“Dana Smith’s court case.”
Jacob’s pulse picked up. He’d been looking on and off for days for the case, but he hadn’t come up with anything.
“I found three possibilities in Chicago over the last two years,” she said.
“Why two years?”
“You said her apartment lease started eighteen months ago. I figure she’s been in WITSEC since around then. First two cases were straight-up financial crimes. Looks like the witnesses were all bankers and forensic accountants. I don’t really see Dana fitting into that scene.”
“Okay.”
“But look at this.” She clicked open a window and turned the computer to face him.
The screen showed an article in the Chicago Tribune. STEEL MOGUL’S SON TARGETED IN FEDERAL PROBE. Jacob skimmed the first paragraph. The photo alongside the story showed a young man in a suit surrounded by a throng of reporters in front of a courthouse.
“That’s Will McKinney.” Kendra tapped the picture. “Looks like a GQ model, doesn’t he? Used to be one of the most eligible bachelors in Chicago. Now he’s wearing an orange jumpsuit and cooling his heels at the federal penitentiary in Marion, Illinois.”
“What’d he do?”
“Got busted for embezzling money from his family’s company,” Kendra said. “The family’s old-money Chicago, and they’re rumored to be connected to organized crime. One of his uncles went away on a tax evasion charge fifteen years ago. Now fast-forward a generation, and this guy Will is charged with two counts of bank fraud and one count of witness tampering.”
“Tell me about the witness tampering. Anything physical?”
“McKinney’s stockbroker was beaten to a bloody pulp in his parking garage. We’re talking brass knuckles and steel-toed boots. Guy lost three teeth and had to have his jaw wired back together. Security camera got the license plate of the assailant, and the vehicle traced back to a PI that McKinney had hired. So, it’s clear McKinney doesn’t mind playing it rough. He went to trial and ended up getting eight years. And get this, his girlfriend testified against him in court, along with one of the company’s in-house accountants. A woman, by the way.”
Jacob skimmed the article. “Where’d you get all that? I’m not seeing it.”
“The article is mostly about McKinney, who was being groomed to take over his dad’s company when he started stealing from it. I mean, what a bonehead, right? If he’d just waited, he probably would’ve inherited everything.”
“What kind of money are we talking about?”
“Two million dollars over three years.”
“He didn’t think they’d miss it?”
“Guess not.” She shook her head. “Or if they did, maybe he thought they’d keep the problem in the family? I’m guessing they would have handled it themselves, but his wire transfers caught the attention of the feds, and they opened an investigation. They ended up getting several employees to testify.”
“Employees? I thought you said it was an accountant and a girlfriend.”
“It was.” Kendra pulled out a spiral notebook and flipped a few pages. “But according to the transcript, the girlfriend started out as a temporary receptionist at McKinney Steel’s downtown headquarters in Chicago. That’s where they met.”
“What are the witnesses’ names?” Jacob asked.
“The accountant is . . .” She flipped another page. “Tabitha Walker. Age twenty-eight. I looked, but I haven’t found anything on her yet. And the second one is Robin Nally.”
“Her name’s Robin?” Jacob scooted closer.
“Yeah. Why?”
He grabbed the folder beside his computer and flipped it open to the photograph.