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Journey didn’t know what it was with them two. It was as if they got a thrill from throwing potshots at each other.
“Good to see you, Prentice. Help yourself to the food over there,” Hamilton said.
“Thanks, man, and hey, everybody. Sorry I’m late. I had to follow up on some information I received just before leaving the office,” he said as he fixed a plate. “Journey, I was able to hunt down Shawn Ridley.”
“Who is he?” Laz asked.
“He was an accountant at Leverage until a few months ago when he quit,” Journey explained. “What did he have to say?”
“Pretty much what Marta told us. The company was being mismanaged, and Stratton demanded they handle the accounting as he saw fit. Shawn said that it got to be too much, and he quit. And he’s the one who leaked the information about Tamar taking bribes.”
Journey frowned, wondering what he had to gain by sharing that information. “Did he say why, and why now?”
“According to him, he didn’t say anything sooner because he didn’t want to get the other accountants, Marta and Joyce, into trouble. But after hearing about Joyce’s death, he knew the company would be investigated, and he couldn’t keep quiet any longer. I got a formal statement from him, and he’s willing to testify to everything he told me.”
“Good,” Journey said with a yawn. They’d been in the meeting a couple of hours now, and she was more than ready to go home and curl up with her husband.
“He also confirmed that Stratton was paying Councilwoman Warner,” Prentice continued. “But he doesn’t have any physical proof.
“That’s okay. Our office will start digging into Tamar Warner’s dealings. If she’s guilty of the claims against her, she might also be the one behind the threats. With Stratton in jail, possibly for the rest of his life, that would stop whatever monies she was receiving from him,” Journey said.
“You think she’s capable of killing someone or hiring someone to kill?” Laz asked. He knew of the woman and Journey’s prickly relationship with her, but he didn’t know her personally.
Journey thought about the question before saying, “I honestly don’t know. I can’t see her stooping to that level, but I also never thought she’d take bribes. So…” she shrugged, “…my team and I will research everything there is to know about the woman. From her finances to her personal life, we won’t stop until we know everything.”
“Jay, I’m not sure if you know, but she’s been recently seen around town with Tony Price,” Ashton said. “We have photos, and in recent, I mean the last few months.”
“Yeah, I know. I saw them at Double Trouble a few days ago, and Tony mentioned that their relationship was new,” Journey said.
“You didn’t mention that you saw him lately,” Laz said. He didn’t sound mad or jealous, only surprised.
“I didn’t think about it.” But now that his name was brought up, maybe she should call and ask him some questions. She wasn’t sure how to do that without raising suspicion in case he didn’t know what his girlfriend was up to.
First, I should determine if she is actually taking bribes,Journey thought.
The door burst open, and Journey was startled when Mason stormed in.
Like the others in the room, he was over six feet tall, broad, and probably could easily bench-press five hundred pounds. Bald with dark skin and a set of magnetic eyes that were hard to look away from, he was the embodiment of a fearless leader. His no-nonsense demeanor demanded respect, and right now, he looked as if he was ready to strangle someone.
“You two, in my office now!” he roared, pointing at Parker and then Laz before marching back out the door.
Parker groaned, and Laz sighed before they both stood. Clearly, they knew what was going on even if Journey didn’t.
“What did you do?” she asked under her breath, worried that he had really screwed up this time.
He gave her a cocky grin before placing a quick kiss on her lips. “Nothing. I’ll be back in a minute.” He walked out as if he didn’t have a worry in the world.
Now she was the one sighing. “Do either of you know what that was all about?” she asked the other guys in the room.
“Nope,” Hamilton and Ashton said simultaneously, and she knew they were lying. But like Laz and Parker, they didn’t seem too concerned.
Journey wasn’t sure what was going on, but she hoped Laz hadn’t done anything stupid to get himself fired. One of them needed to have money coming in.
After today, she was seriously thinking about quitting her job very soon.
