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“It appears that way, but who knows? I don’t think the federal government has simply decided to forget their pursuit of the tax evasion and securities fraud charges.” Discreetly, he pulled me closer.
I shifted so that our faces were inches apart.
Muffy softly snored from the foot of the bed.
It was so normal, I wanted to hang on to it.
“Let’s consider doomsday. What does that look like?”
“I lose most of my property because of improper title work and the authorities find a charge to stick that puts me in prison and seize the rest of my assets.”
I swallowed hard. When he put it that bluntly, the situation sounded impossible.
“We should focus on keeping you free. The rest of it, you can build back. It might take a long time, but you did it once. If that’s what you want, you can do it again.”
He pressed his head farther into his pillow. “I’m not confident I can remain out of custody. Zegas and Whitley are the best attorneys in the city, but they can’t combat bogus charges. It’s not a fair fight.”
“If they’re the best, they’ve probably been in quite a few of those.”
“I can’t understand why I’m being targeted.” He pulled back, realization on his face. “I’m audited for my taxes nearly every year.” He tapped my hip as if the wheels were slowly beginning to chug in his brain. “And I’ve been cleared or paid the adjustments every single time.”
“So the government has essentially confirmed youdidn’tcommit tax evasion?” I asked carefully.
He kissed my forehead as if I’d come up with the answer and rolled out of bed.
“I’d better call Zegas.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lincoln
“You’re only just now rememberingyou’ve been audited?”
Zegas sounded annoyed but not asleep, like he’d been up and waiting for my call.
“It’s so routine and my accountant handles the details. Shouldn’t there be some documentation in the tax returns he sent to you?” I rubbed my jaw. I didn’t want false hope, but this seemed to be a break in my favor.
The audits took months. One year I’d had a particularly large amount of transactions, it had taken over a year. Naturally they found mistakes so that I owed more. But they weren’t egregious transgressions. And I highly doubted anyone had ever been audited who didn’t end up writing a check.
“This could be what we need,” he said. “But don’t think this is your get-out-of-jail-free card. It helps, but they can always come up with more bogus charges.”
I leaned against the bedroom windows, taking in the city lights. “How are you certain they’re bogus?”
“You reported fifty-three dollars in interest on one of the returns. The rest of the interest transactions far exceeded that amount. It would’ve been very easy for you to skip that one.”
I was aware of exactly which account he spoke of. It was the remainder of a bank account my mother had set up in my trust. Over the years, it had dwindled to an amount that barely earned any interest, but I couldn’t close the account on principle. I’d never even taken her name off of it.
And I was mildly impressed Zegas had noted such a minute detail. There were pages of documents for that section alone of my returns. The knowledge that he picked through even what seemed to be insignificant bolstered my confidence.
“How can we use this to our advantage?” I was ready for him to charge the authorities so they’d have to let this investigation go.
“We sit on it until the time is right. If we aren’t strategic, they can come up with a way around it.” A chair creaked in the background.
“How? They support us with their own audits.”
“And you don’t think they’d say those were incorrect? Or come up with some other charges in addition? We aren’t playing with some namby-pamby schmuck slapping you with a bogus lawsuit.”
“If they’re just going to keep charging me until something sticks, what’s the point in fighting?” I turned my back on the city I loved.
