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Yet in the back of her mind, in the darkest place that she rarely accessed, she wondered how he could have been so blind, so ignorant, of what was going on in his office. That he so easily blamed her without even considering his criminal clients.
She closed down the dark anger, worked through what she felt was the most logical chain of events. “BioRise had Franklin put the hit out on you, because they didn’t want their hands dirty. Franklin used Brock Marsh Security as the intermediary.”
“That’s what Tom thought, and everything I learned in-house brought me to the same conclusion, but we couldn’t prove anything—the accounts were coded. We were stymied. And I couldn’t see Franklin wanting me dead. Maybe he’d known, but I just didn’t see him acting on it.”
Willful ignorance, she thought bitterly. “So you and Tommy investigated BioRise.”
“I was looking into Brock Marsh, specifically jobs we’d hired them for in the past. I initially was looking for evidence that they negotiated the deal for Grey’s daughter that Tom uncovered. I could find nothing that showed that Brock Marsh hired the Hannigan brothers at any point in the past. In my search, I realized Brock Marsh worked for no oneotherthan us and our clients. This isn’t unusual, because we have a large client pool, but there were some questionable invoices. Then I realized that we’d started paying them less over time, and I suspected they were bypassing Franklin and primarily working forsomeof our clients.”
“Because they didn’t trust Franklin?”
“I don’t know. They didn’t trust me, so maybe they were pulling the more blatant criminal jobs from the firm and putting them in-house. They had two of our lawyers move over to work intheirlegal department.”
“And they bugged your office?”
“I thought it was Franklin, but after talking to him the other night I don’t think so. I think it was BioRise. And they may have all of us bugged, to make sure that we’re not going to expose them. They’re cocky and arrogant, but they’re also smart.”
She could see it as clear as day. But nothing that Grant said explained why Tommy was looking at the Potomac Bank robbery.
She said, “Jenna Johns saw her sister—the victim in the Potomac Bank robbery that Michael Hannigan orchestrated—with Chad Rockford. Charlie confirmed that Chad is the brother of Bruce Rockford, the principal of Brock Marsh. Chad is a CPA for Legacy. That’syourCPA firm, correct? Tommy didn’t think this was a coincidence, he must have been looking at the robbery from the beginning.”
“Adam Hannigan was hired to make it appear that you were the target, or revenge was the motive,” Grant said, “so Tom went back to the bank robbery and realized there were several anomalies. I don’t know what he found, specifically, except when he showed me the list of safe deposit boxes that were accessed, I told him that Legacy was our law firm’s CPA, about how they handled trusts when we had people paid off. Tom learned that Legacy was keeping evidence of all Archer Warwick payments to Brock Marsh and other entities, plus details of some of Franklin’s less than ethical dealings. If the details became public, our firm would be destroyed. Franklin in prison, possibly me—even though I swear to you I never crossed the line. But it looks bad. I would be disbarred at a minimum. Not to mention our clients...”
Regan didn’t care. She didn’t care about the fallout, all she wanted was the truth,
“Why would Chad go against his brother?” she asked.
“He wouldn’t. I think he was tracking these paymentsforBruce, to make sure that Bruce and his business were protected. Blackmail if necessary.”
“Peter Grey said that Franklin hired Hannigan to rob those boxes.”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you sure?”
“What do you mean am I sure? I told you I don’t know!”
“Do you think that Franklin was behind it? Knowing that Grey said he was, do you believe it?”
Grant shrugged, weary. “At this point, I’d believe anything you told me.”
“Becca Johns had once worked at Legacy and she had also been romantically involved with Chad Rockford. A week before the robbery, Becca had brunch with him. They were chummy.”
“I don’t understand what that means,” Grant said.
“Becca betrayed Hannigan. He must have told her who the target was, and she went to Chad Rockford and told him. Why? Maybe to ask for more money. Maybe to get her old job back. Maybe because she was still in love with him. I don’t know. But Rockford retrieved whatever was in the boxbeforeHannigan accessed it. Could Legacy have promised her something for the information? To the tune of fifteen thousand dollars?”
“Pocket change for these people,” Grant said. “Becca may have warned Legacy, and they removed the evidence. I can see it.”
“And when Hannigan didn’t find it, he realized Becca must have betrayed him. Killed her in a spur-of-the-moment act of retaliation. But why would Franklin hire him? For BioRise? Or for his own reasons?”
“Franklin,” he said quietly. “I’ll be damned.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Franklin trusted Brock Marsh and Legacy...but he must have known they were keeping blackmail information on him and his clients. Their security blanket, in case Franklin screwed them, or to use as a get out of jail free card.”
“Not if they committed a felony.”
