Tennessee Takedown (10 page)

Ashley blinked in surprise at the unexpected kiss as Dillon walked away and joined the chief on the other side of the room. She tore her gaze away from Dillon when Chris rolled his chair up beside her.

“Don’t worry. We’ve all got your back. Cops are like stray cats—feed them once and they’ll love you forever.” He leaned in close, his expression turning serious for once. “But watch out for Dillon. He’s more of a brother to me than my own brothers could ever be, which means I know him better than anyone else, except maybe his mother.”

She lowered the ice pack again. “I don’t understand. What do you mean, watch out for him?”

“He’s a sucker for hard-luck cases, which makes you darn near irresistible. But don’t expect him to ever be able to commit to anything. He suffered a terrible loss and blames himself. He’s a wreck inside. I’m just saying, I saw the way he was looking at you earlier. And I can count on one hand the number of women he’s ever kissed, no matter how innocent, in front of anyone else. If you encourage him, you’ll only end up hurt. And so will he.”

She was about to protest that she had no intention of pursuing a relationship with Dillon when a commotion had both of them looking toward the front of the room. Patricia Dunlop aimed a glare Ashley’s way, then stalked out the front door. The man who’d come in with her looked noticeably relieved when she left.

Dillon left the small group huddled around the stranger and came back to Ashley. Tiny lines at the corners of his eyes broadcast the tension in him when he stopped in front of her.

“Ashley, you need to come to the chief’s office.”

She put the ice pack down again. “Okay, but why? What’s going on?”

“Yeah, spill, buddy,” Chris said from his seat beside her.

“That man in the suit, the one who came in with Mrs. Dunlop, is Special Agent Jason Kent. He’s with the FBI and he’s investigating a string of embezzlement cases. He’s here to arrest you.”

Chapter Nine

Ashley shook her head and looked around the room. She was sitting in Chief Thornton’s office with the chief, Chris, Dillon and the FBI agent. But it felt more as though she was in the middle of a horrible nightmare that wouldn’t end.

“I don’t understand,” she said. “You’re accusing me of stealing millions of dollars from companies I never even worked for.”

Special Agent Kent held up the briefcase he’d brought with him. “I have extensive reports in here that say you did. Your name is all over the audits that were performed on these companies.”

“But that’s not possible. Could there be another Ashley Parrish out there? That has to be it. You have me confused with someone else.”

He rattled off a Social Security number. “That’s the number the auditor gave to each company when they made checks out to her for services rendered. Sound familiar?”

She fisted her hands in her lap. “Well, yes, it’s mine, but that doesn’t mean anything. Someone must have stolen my identity.”

“And performed audits, under your name, for over a year? People generally steal identities to pilfer credit cards and get into people’s bank accounts. Your typical identity thief wouldn’t be able to fake an audit, and honestly, that sounds ridiculously farfetched.”

Dillon leaned forward in his chair. “Maybe, maybe not. You did say the auditor was able to embezzle millions of dollars. That’s a heck of a carrot for someone with auditing skills to put in the work to steal Miss Parrish’s identity.”

Kent’s sharp gaze zeroed in on Dillon like a laser-guided missile. “Are we speaking about the same Miss Parrish that you kissed a few minutes ago? I hardly think you’re an unbiased party in this matter.”

Dillon’s jaw went rigid. “A peck on the forehead is hardly a kiss. And I don’t exactly think you can claim you’re unbiased, since you walked in here with one of the alleged victims in the embezzlement case.”

This time it was the FBI agent’s turn to look angry. His brows drew down and he narrowed his eyes at Dillon. “Mrs. Dunlop is one of many witnesses I’ve questioned in the course of this investigation. When word of the shooting reached our office in Knoxville and I found out one of the survivors was listed as Ashley Parrish, I called Mrs. Dunlop. I asked if she’d accompany me down here so she could make a positive ID so I could arrest Miss Parrish. And of course, I offered condolences on her husband’s death.”

“Her husband the shooter, right? We’re talking about the same man who killed eight people and tried to kill Miss Parrish?” Dillon gritted out.

“More to my point, Detective. Have you been able to find a motive behind the shooting?” He paused and watched Dillon. “From your expression, I’m guessing the answer is no. How does five million dollars, which also happened to destroy Dunlop’s financial empire, sound as a motive? Mr. Dunlop might have been a billionaire on paper, but his company was going through tough economic times and was severely in debt. The five million dollars that disappeared from the company’s accounts—after Miss Parrish’s audit—wiped out the company’s liquidity. They couldn’t make payroll and had to file for bankruptcy last week. A couple of days before Mr. Dunlop’s murderous rampage at Gibson and Gibson. It’s no wonder his widow blames Miss Parrish for her husband’s death.”

The room went silent and all eyes seemed to focus on Ashley.

She threw her hands in the air in a helpless gesture. “But I never worked for Dunlop Enterprises. And I’ve never even seen Mrs. Dunlop before.”

Kent reached into his suit jacket and pulled a picture from his pocket. “Is this your picture, Miss Parrish?”

She stared at the black-and-white photo of her in a business suit, smiling at the camera. “Yes,” she whispered. “But I’ve never seen that picture before.”

“Really?” He plopped it on the chief’s desk. “I find that hard to believe, since it’s on the home page of your company website.”

She dragged her gaze from the photograph back to the agent. “What?”

“You did create an LLC under your name, correct?”

“Well, yes. I’m self-employed, so registering myself as a limited liability company makes sense. Of course I—”

“And you have a website?” He rattled off a URL.

She shook her head. “No, no. I don’t have a website. I’ve never needed one. Most of my cases are referrals from other clients.”

“I’ve got signed affidavits from six different companies you performed audits on in the past twelve months. Every one of them had hundreds of thousands of dollars stolen from their accounts right after you performed your audits. You’re telling me that’s a coincidence?”

She glanced around the room, but no one would look her in the eye anymore. She swallowed against the thick lump in her throat. “You have to believe me. I’ve never heard of any of the companies you mentioned at the start of this meeting. I don’t have a website. I’ve never seen that picture before. I don’t...I don’t know what else to say, except that if you think an auditor has access to company accounts, you don’t have a clue what an auditor does. I rarely even get a log-on ID when I audit a company. They provide me printouts, statements, company financial records, which I review. That’s it. I couldn’t embezzle from them even if I wanted to.”

“I agree, which is why this case puzzled me for so long. I eventually came up with the theory that you must have found a weak link at the companies you embezzled from. An employee with access to the accounts, perhaps someone you blackmailed because you found evidence of mismanagement or wrongdoing. Rather than report it in your audit, you used the evidence against the employee to get them to give you company funds.”

“I’m hearing a lot of conjecture,” the chief said, rapping his fist on his desk. “But I’ve yet to see one iota of proof against Miss Parrish.”

“My entire briefcase is loaded with proof, but I’ll make this easy for all of you.” He looked at each one of them until they were all focused on him. “You had another shooting, aside from the one at Gibson and Gibson. A shooting involving Miss Parrish, correct?”

The chief shot Dillon a surprised glance before looking back at Kent. “Yes, we did. We killed one of the shooters but haven’t established an ID on him yet. The other one is still at large.”

“Perhaps I can help you with that.” Kent pulled another picture out of his pocket and held it up for them to see before placing it on the desk.

Ashley drew in a sharp breath as recognition slammed into her. “Baldy,” she whispered.

“What’s his name?” Dillon demanded.

“Keith Johnson. He worked for one of the companies Miss Parrish audited. He had direct access to the company’s accounts. I’m guessing she cut him out of the profits and he went looking for revenge, or perhaps he wanted to force her to give him his share. Makes sense, since he didn’t try to kill her. He only tried to abduct her.”

The chief glanced at Ashley, then looked away.

“I swear, I never saw that man before that night on Cooper’s Bluff,” Ashley said, watching Dillon, hoping he would look at her.

But he didn’t. Instead, he stared at the picture on the desk.

Kent held up another picture.

Ashley clasped her hand to her throat as she stared into the cold, dead eyes of Iceman.

“This man is Luther Kennedy. I’m willing to bet he’s your second shooter.” He looked at Dillon, who gave him a crisp nod.

“Luther is more or less a thug, with a history of charges that never stuck. But for some reason, Todd Dunlop trusted him. He was his right-hand man. He handled security and a host of other tasks for Mr. Dunlop, with full access to his accounts. He’s one of only a handful of people who could have funneled money out of the accounts of Dunlop Enterprises. We believe he must have been Mr. Dunlop’s go-between, personally carrying company papers to the woman who was auditing the company. Ashley Parrish.”

“Obviously Luther’s the hired hand,” Dillon said, “but what makes you so sure he’s the one who accessed the accounts and worked with...the auditor on the side? You mentioned a handful of people could have funneled the money out.”

“Yes, but only one of them had motive. The handful of people includes Dunlop’s wife, daughter and two sons, all of whom live a wealthy, pampered lifestyle with no motive to try to steal Todd Dunlop’s money. But Luther, even though Dunlop relied heavily on him, was given only a moderate salary. He had financial problems and bad credit, and toward the end, before Todd Dunlop went on his rampage, witnesses said Luther and Todd argued a lot. One witness even said Luther asked Todd for a loan and was refused. After ten years of being his errand boy, that had to sting. Let’s face it. The only one with access
and
motive is Luther Kennedy.”

Special Agent Kent plopped the picture of Iceman down on the growing stack of pictures on the chief’s desk. “Look, Destiny is a small town, with a few thousand residents. I understand you don’t get complicated cases very often, not like we do in Knoxville. And it’s perfectly understandable you wouldn’t connect the dots like I did. You don’t have the resources out here in the country, or the experience, but I do. And I’ve already done the legwork. I’m not here to convince you. I’m here to take Miss Parrish into custody.”

This time all eyes focused on Agent Kent, and their gazes weren’t friendly.

He cleared his throat, his face turning slightly red. “That didn’t come out the way I meant it to. I wasn’t trying to criticize your abilities.”

The chief straightened in his chair and smiled. “Of course not. Think nothing of it. This office has always had an exemplary relationship with the feds and I’m sure you wouldn’t intentionally do anything to jeopardize our long-standing tradition of cooperation. How about we start all over? No one offered you coffee when you came in, did they? How do you like it? Black?”

Kent relaxed against his chair, looking relieved. “Actually, some cream and sugar would be great. Thank you, Chief Thornton. I appreciate your understanding in this matter.”

“Of course, of course. It’s not like we’d try to give you the runaround, or turn a blind eye. Chris, go get Agent Kent that coffee. Make it quick.”

Chris almost knocked his chair down in his eagerness to leave the office. He hurried out and shut the door behind him.

“Agent Kent, why don’t you set that briefcase up here on my desk? If you’ve got information that can help me clear the Gibson and Gibson shooting as well as the Cooper’s Bluff fiasco out of my in-box, I’m all for it. Show me what you’ve got.”

Kent glanced at Ashley. “I don’t think the suspect should be privy to all of this information.”

“Right, what was I thinking? You know us country folk. Not used to how you do things in the big city.”

Ashley detected an edge to his voice and wondered if Kent had picked up on it, too.

“Detective Gray,” the chief said, “get Miss Parrish out of here, please. And if I don’t see you before you leave on vacation, give your mama my best.”

Dillon shot to his feet and grabbed Ashley’s arm, pulling her to her feet, as well. “Will do, Chief. Nice to meet you, Special Agent Kent.”

“Nice to meet you, too.”

Ashley’s mouth fell open. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She looked up at Dillon, but he was stone-faced and silent as he pulled her toward the door.

The door opened and Chris stood there with a cup of coffee in his hand. He gave a slight nod to Dillon before hurrying inside without looking at Ashley.

Dillon pulled the door shut behind them and leaned down next to her ear. “Hurry, we probably only have a few minutes.”

“What? What do you mean?” She stumbled trying to keep up with his long strides. Her feet, though much better, were still sore.

He immediately slowed and let go of her forearm. His fingers instead entwined with hers as he pulled her toward the door.

Ashley glanced around in confusion. Everyone in the squad room had their backs to her, as if they were purposely avoiding looking her way. Her cheeks grew hot and her stomach clenched into a hard, cold knot.

“What happened while I was in the chief’s office? Did Chris tell everyone I’m a thief? Now they all hate me.”

Dillon stopped at the door and looked back at his fellow officers. For the first time since the nightmare in the chief’s office had begun, he smiled. “No, they don’t hate you. They’re showing you their solidarity. They’re turning a blind eye.”

She frowned. “A blind eye?”

His grin widened. “Yep. And now I’ve got to start my formerly unplanned vacation.”

“I don’t understand. What are you talking about?”

“We’re about to give Special Agent Kent the runaround.”