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Usually, these kinds of crimes led to fines and nothing more. Garner was a repeat offender, so he finally got a sentence of time in a comfy white-collar prison, where he'd spent a decade.
End of story.
Emmet Carlson was somehow spared being charged, despite the fact that the two ran the small investment firm together. I figured that Carlson had nothing to do with that stock or sale. But usually, with a small firm like that, the partners would be involved in any decision to buy or sell stock.
"Why wasn't Carlson charged?" I asked point blank.
Mathis shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. Apparently, Security and Exchange Commission prosecutors decided he had nothing to do with that sale and didn't charge him. He didn't even testify at the trial. I imagine he was questioned by their investigators but wasn't charged nor did he testify against Garner. There is footage of him speaking with the press about the fines Garner paid, and the charges. He defended Garner and said it was a misunderstanding."
"Funny that he defended him, when it was clearly breaking the law."
"Well, he may have cooperated with the SEC. Or he may have been innocent. Either way, it's old news. Why are you looking into it now? Carlson's respected as the Governor of New Hampshire. He's been clean from what I can see for two decades and Garner's dead, so..."
"I'm engaged to Ella Carlson, his daughter."
"Congratulations," Mathis said and held up his beer bottle in a toast. "I can see why you might want to bone up on the case."
I nodded. "I just wanted to know about the case and MBS's role in it so I can get along with my future father-in-law. He's not too well-disposed towards MBS because of our station's expose on Garner, shall we say."
"Politicians always hate the press," Mathis said with a laugh and took a long sip of his beer. "They love us when we make them look good, but when we don't, they condemn us."
"Isn't that the truth?" I replied and did the same.
We talked a few minutes longer about his role in the program on Garner and then I shook his hand once more and left the bar. While it had been good to speak with Mathis, he really didn't give me much more information than I already had gleaned from reading the reports of the day and watching MBS's program on the story. We drove back to the building and after I parked the vehicle, Reg and I went up to the main floor security office to go over the plans to call off the protection we'd had on Ella and me for the last while.
Now that I knew who Mr. Fedora was, I wasn't as concerned about some nutcase following us around with plans of vengeance. He was just a PI looking for some information on me for his client.
It was a relief not to worry about personal security for us.
I went up to the penthouse and Ella was already there, dressed in her bathrobe, her hair wet.
"What's up?" I asked when I took her into my arms. "You just had a shower?"
"I did," she replied and kissed me. "I went for a bike ride and got all sweaty."
"All sweaty, hmm?" I asked and nuzzled her neck. She smelled so good, and her skin was warm and soft against my lips. She closed her eyes and sighed as I opened her robe and kissed her throat.
"You're going to make me all sweaty again if you keep that up."
I smiled and moved lower.
"That's my plan."
And then, for the next half hour at least, I forgot all about Governor Carlson, his business partner Henry Garner and my meeting with Mathis, losing myself in Ella's delicious body.
Later, after a meal of leftovers from the night before, Ella and I snuggled together on the sofa and watched the news.
"We can call off the dogs," I said and turned to her.
"What do you mean?"
I told her about Mr. Fedora and who he really was.
"Oh, thank God," she said and exhaled. "That means we don't have to worry it's some stalker who wants to hurt either of us, right?"
"Right," I said and pulled her closer. "Whoever hired the law firm to hire him to get info on me might want to harm me or MBS financially, but not likely physically. We can stop the personal security detail."
"Good," Ella said. "The guys are great, don't get me wrong, but I want to be able to go out and just wander sometimes. When you have someone following you, it's hard to feel free."
