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It was a completely inappropriate thing to say, but it was funny and probably true, nonetheless. They drove for several miles making light-hearted jabs at one another. Anabella was finding Coop to be smart, witty, and actually pretty good company. They were getting along famously until they drove past a sign that said, “WELCOME TO WISCONSIN.” Coop took the turn off directing them towards Lake Michigan.
“Seriously, Coop, are you going to tell me where we’re going?”
“Seriously, Anabella, it’s better if you don’t know.”
“That’s not good enough for me. I have a right to know where you’re taking me.”
“The only rights you have are the ones I give you and those will all be to keep you alive. I don’t want to be all doom and gloom, but someone is trying to kill you, and it would be easier on me if you’d try to help me prevent that. I will tell you that the place is probably my favorite of our safe houses.”
“Not good enough, Coop.”
“It’ll have to be, Anabella.”
She folded her arms across her chest and turned to look out the window. He got it; he really did, but the fact was, she was not the most cooperative protectee and he worried if she had too much information she would either deliberately or inadvertently let the information as to her whereabouts slip to someone. That slip might not only endanger those trying to protect her but cause them to fail and get her killed. Like it or not, she was just going to have to learn to go along with what was required of her.
Hoping to distract her as well as glean more information from her about her situation, he asked her, “So how did all of this get started?”
“Started?”
“The job with Blackwood Industries?”
“Josiah Blackwood reached out to me and asked if I’d be interested in doing a deep dive into the financials of his company.”
“Which divisions?”
“All of them.”
“Isn’t that a bit unusual?”
She unfolded her arms and her body relaxed. “Not really. Sometimes the person at the top doesn’t have a lot of day-to-day interaction with all the moving parts. They’ll be looking at the financials and realize something is wrong but don’t know where to look first. I get brought in to take a look at all the divisions to see if I can narrow it down and then I drill down into those.”
“How’d you find whatever you found?”
“I was doing the kind of surface work I normally do, but then I found an anomaly—money being paid out with either no invoice or over the amount of the invoice. It was a lot of money.”
“More than one division?”
“No. Just one, but it’s the one that deals with the Department of Defense contracts.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t Junior head up that division?”
“Yes, and that surprised me. He’s a decorated war hero.”
“Amazing what daddy’s money can buy these days, isn’t it?”
That got her interest. She twisted in her seat and looked at him. “Are you implying he isn’t, or that Mr. Blackwood somehow influenced his service record?”
“I’m not implying anything; I’m stating it for a fact. Junior is no hero. In fact, many of us consider what he truly did as an act of cowardice. We thought the last time he failed to act and failed to send help he would be cashiered out, but no. Instead, he was given a medal and then shipped stateside. When Senior started touting his son as a hero, those who thought to contradict him were either given lucrative jobs in one of his companies, paid off, or just disappeared.”
“Do you think Mr. Blackwood murdered people?”
Coop nodded. “Both Junior and Senior are capable of doing whatever it takes to perpetuate the lie and keep the contracts rolling in. But Senior would be much more circumspect. Those contracts are an important source of revenue and I’m not sure he’d risk them to protect Junior. So, do you have evidence of Junior embezzling money from Senior?”
“Not only that, but I also have evidence of fraud as far as the Department of Defense is concerned.”
Coop whistled. “And had you told the old man? Any way Junior might have known?”
“Yes, to the first; unsure as to the second.”
