Page 78 of Something’s Brewing

Sawyer let out a low whistle. “That’s incredibly dumb corruption.”

Nick folded his arms. “Most corruption is.”

Madison moved toward the wall of papers. “The problem is proving intent.”

Sawyer finally looked up, a smug grin spreading across his face. “Funny you should mention that.”

Nick narrowed his eyes. “What did you find?”

Sawyer rotated his laptop toward them. “Turns out my uncle uses the same password for everything.”

Garrett blinked. “Please tell me it wasn’t password123.”

Sawyer looked offended. “No. Worse.”

Madison crossed her arms. “How much worse?”

“MortyTheMayor#1,” Sawyer deadpanned.

Nick shook his head in disbelief.

“I got into his personal email,” Sawyer continued, tapping keys rapidly. “Then I found linked banking alerts.”

Madison moved closer beside him. “You accessed his financials?”

“Not directly,” Sawyer clarified quickly. “But enough to start tracing movement. Look at this.”

An email chain popped up on the screen. Monthly payments. Routing numbers. Large deposits.

Garrett leaned forward. “What am I looking at?”

Madison’s pulse picked up. “Shell transfers.”

Nick looked at her. “Meaning?”

“Money laundering.” She pointed toward the amounts. “He’s spreading money across multiple smaller accounts so it doesn’t trigger attention.”

Sawyer nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly. And the inspection company owned by his cousin keeps receiving ‘consulting fees.’ ”

Nick muttered a curse under his breath.

Madison straightened slowly. “I need Valerie.”

Garrett glanced up from the paperwork. “Who’s Valerie?”

“A forensic accountant I worked with in Virginia.” She walked back toward the table, already reaching for her phone. “She cracked two procurement fraud cases for our team in under forty-eight hours.”

Sawyer looked impressed. “I like her already.”

“She sees patterns most people miss,” Madison explained. “Dates. Transfers. Timelines. If there’s something buried in these accounts, she’ll find it.”

Garrett watched Madison carefully while she gathered files into piles. He loved that she was focused, sharp, and completely in her element. And somehow even more beautiful because of it.

She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and scanned documents, completely unaware he was watching her like she hung the moon.

He moved to her side. “What do you need?”

She glanced up, and for one dangerous second, he forgot what he had asked. He inhaled her scent, peppermint and spring. His pulse skipped stupidly. He knew she was just as affected by their closeness as he was.