The news of Hugh Guthrie’s release from prison was still getting under my skin, but I knew I had to take my time with him. I couldn’t go in all guns blazing. That wouldn’t work. I would have an opportunity to take him down. I knew that. I just had to wait for my chance.
I turned back to my book with a little shake of my head, but I didn’t get far.
Hearing the front door of the office slam shut, I smiled. I relished a good confrontation and the moment had come. Finally, Chase had managed to connect the dots. At just after 10am, he stormed into the office, ignoring Casey at the front desk, and charging straight through my open door.
“What the hell?!”
It was more of a statement than a question, so I didn’t respond, barely lifting my eyes up from my book.
“Millie just told me that she spent five days with Damon and that a woman named Casey helped her into the van!” He spat the words at me.
“And?” I reached across and sipped my whiskey, savoring the dance of grain on my tongue.
“That’s your assistant!”
“And?”
“And you stole my money! You set me up from the start!”
“I never stole a cent of your money.” I stood from behind my table. “You left one million dollars unattended on a park bench. Who knows who found that money? I don’t know who took the bag. We didn’t have time to set up the cameras, remember?”
“You took the money.” He tried to look intimidating. “And I’ll prove it.”
“Go ahead.” I picked up my phone and put it within his reach. “The FBI deal with situations like this. I’m sure they would love to talk with you.”
He hesitated, then stepped back. He had no recourse and suddenly didn’t know what to do next. This was not going according to his plan.
“You’ve set me up. You’ve ripped me off.” The shock was written all over his face. “Why? Just because some idiots invested in the wrong company?”
I would’ve loved to have argued with him, but there would’ve been no use. People like Chase Martin are so convinced of their actions, their own power, that nothing could sway them from what they did. They lied to the world and then they lied to themselves. Who knows what they really believed.
Kyle got his money delivered to his account, as the kidnapper had promised, as did everyone else from the investment group. Even the wife of one of the deceased investors. Damon had left all the information we needed, including bank account details, in the file he gave me.
There was one investor unaccounted for who had died, but who had no one to pass it on to. With that final one hundred thousand that was left over, I set up a trust fund for Millie to access when she turned eighteen, all in the name of her war-hero grandfather, Damon Hardy.
But more important than that, more important than anything else for me, was that the memory of my deceased wife wasn’t tarnished. Claire’s dying wish, to provide a safety net for her beloved niece, was restored.
With an agreement from Ben, I set-up a trust fund for Alannah, my niece, in the memory of my wife. That was what she left in her will. That’s what she wanted to do with the money she left behind. Ben and I became co-signatories, meaning the money could only be accessed with agreement from both of us. After the events of the last two weeks, I didn’t imagine that Ben would ever come to me for money before Alannah turned eighteen.
“You made me leave that money on the park bench.” Chase pointed his finger in my direction. “You made me lose the million.”
I raised my eyebrows.
And he lowered his finger.
“I didn’t make you do anything, Chase. What I did was save your daughter. I saved a five-year-old girl from being killed. Haven’t you seen the news? The last two kidnappings in Florida have ended up with missing money and dead kids. We didn’t have that here. Sure, you’re missing your money, but what’s money when you have your child back?”
He looked perplexed, because he knew I was right.
The last two kidnappings handled by the FBI in Florida had become public after they failed to secure the child, while still losing the money. That wasn’t going to happen in Chicago. Not in my city. I made sure of it.
“You planned this,” Chase whispered. “You ripped me off. I got a phone call today from one of the guys in the investment group who was bragging that he had my money. He had it all back. He said that I ‘donated’ it to him.”
Well, they weren’t supposed to do that, but then, if I was dealing with a man like Chase Martin, I would’ve called him as well. I would have laughed in his face and let him know that I got the better of him. It was the least that he deserved. In truth he deserved jail, and who knows, perhaps it wouldn’t be long before that caught up with him as well. But for now he had his daughter and his freedom and for that, he should have been thankful, no matter what the financial cost.
“You left the money in the park, Chase. I don’t know what happened to it after we left. You made the decision to save your daughter, which is the right decision.” I stood up straight. “I didn’t see anyone take that money, and nor did you. We don’t know who took your money. It could’ve been a homeless guy, for all we know. We were a mile down the road before anyone would’ve even seen that bag.”
“That’s not true.” Chase shook his head, still coming to
