Page 31 of Maverick Detective Dad
Nothing looked out of the ordinary with the deposits and withdrawals. Ditto for the man’s savings, but there was a surprise in his investments. The man had a little over a half of a million dollars invested in various mutual funds. A lot considering Jared hadn’t come from money, but Noah could see that the account had been started with a lump sum payout from Winona Billings’s insurance company. After that, Jared had made conservative but steady investments with few withdrawals.
One withdrawal, however, stood out.
“A week ago, Jared took ten grand out of his investment account,” Noah relayed to Everly. She immediately turned to him. “He withdrew the funds in cash.”
“Cash?” Everly repeated, and judging from her tone, that was a red flag for her, too. “Any indications what he used the money for?”
“None.” Noah had moved on to scanning the man’s credit card. Since it was set up as an automatic payment from his checking account, the money wouldn’t have been used to pay off some purchase funneled that way.
But it could have been used to pay someone to set that explosive.
Or dump the bodies.
If so, that meant there was someone out there who could maybe ID Jared as the killer.
After he’d had a harder look at Jared’s credit card, Noah moved to River’s. The man wasn’t nearly as financially well off as Jared, and only had a checking account. According to the deposits, River made good money at his job, but he also spent most of it. Judging from the charges on the credit card linked to the checking, River was into online video games.
“I found two things that stand out,” Everly said after she’d been at it for about fifteen minutes. “On the first, there might be something suspicious in Bobby’s accounts. Might,” she emphasized. “For weeks, he’s been withdrawing three hundred dollars from an ATM. I can’t see how he’s using it since he pays for everything else on his credit card.”
Noah understood why she’d added thatmight. There were a lot of legit reasons why a person used cash over credit, but since they were dealing with a murder suspect, the withdrawals would need to be investigated. That would mean interviewing Bobby again.
“And the second thing you found?” Noah asked.
“A questionable deposit in Daisy’s account. Ten grand deposited a week ago.”
That grabbed Noah’s attention. “The same date as Jared’s withdrawal?” he asked, giving her the exact day.
“Yes,” she verified. Everly sighed and sat back in the chair while she slid her gaze to his. “You think Daisy could have maybe gotten suspicious of Jared, and he paid her off?”
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m thinking.” And Noah immediately began to flesh out that possibility. “Blackmail. Not smart or safe especially when dealing with a killer. But maybe Daisy worked it out so she thought the killer wouldn’t know the identity of the person he was paying.”
Everly’s nod was quick. “But it still wouldn’t have been smart. If the killer is any one of our suspects, he’d suspect the blackmailer was someone in the group.”
“Definitely.” Noah paused. “Is there anything else in Daisy’s financials to indicate she made a habit of this?”
Everly’s attention went back to the financials. “No,” she answered several moments later. “But if she took payment this one time, it means she knew who the killer was.”
It did indeed, and with Jared’s withdrawal matching Daisy’s deposit, that pointed to Daisy having known Jared was responsible.
“Daisy might not have wanted to turn in the person who helped get justice for her mother,” Noah added. “And it was possibly more than that. The payment might not have been blackmail money but rather payment to the person who helped with the explosives.”
Everly sighed again. “If that’s true...” She trailed off, not finishing that, but Noah knew what she was thinking. If Daisy had indeed helped a killer, then the woman had played with fire and had gotten burned. It’d ended up costing Daisy her own life.
Noah’s phone dinged with another text from Grayson. “The CSIs have finished processing your house and yard,” he told Everly. “They’ve given you the okay to go back.”
He watched to see her reaction. Relief, yes, but then came the reality. “Home,” she muttered, and on a sigh, she added, “I’ll have to go back.”
“You could wait until the killer is caught,” Noah quickly pointed out. “Ainsley and you are welcome to stay as long as you want.”
“I know,” she said, and Everly repeated it in a whisper. One filled with worry and frustration.
Noah knew what that sigh was all about. The kiss and the attraction were playing into this. Everly likely thought it was wise to put some distance between them. And it probably would be, so it wouldn’t be so easy to give in to the temptation of another kiss. One that might land them in bed.
“I would like some things from there,” she went on. “Some extra clothes for Ainsley and several of her favorite toys. And I need to think about security. Even after we catch the killer, it would be hard to stay there if I didn’t take some extra precautions.”
It twisted at him to think of her leaving, but Noah knew that’s exactly what would happen. Sooner or later, Everly would be going home, and she’d start putting up those barriers between them again.
“I can have Hudson go over to your place and give you recommendations,” Noah offered. He nearly reminded her that no system, though, would be foolproof, but there was no need for it. It would no doubt be a long time before Everly rested easily in her own home.
