Miranda Vaughn Mystery 01.00 - Chasing the Dollar Read Online Free PDF

her shiny black hair out of her face, and then dug into her bag and pulled out the envelope from Rob. I stuck it unopened in my backpack.
    "It will be good to have you back at the office. We're getting a ton of calls for fraud cases now. Your acquittal was the best advertisement Rob could have hoped for."
    " Rob was hoping to retire."
    She waved her hand. "He'll never retire. He enjoys what he does too much."
    " I'll probably be working at home most of the time, since I just need the computer and the electronic files to review," I said.
    " That's cool," Sarah said, adjusting the top of her swimsuit. "Hey, did you hear Burton's got a new girlfriend?"
    I raised an eyebrow. Burton Worthington, the investigator who rented an office from Rob, was a notorious ladies ' man. And it was easy to see why. Towering over six feet tall, smooth mocha-colored skin, a rogue's smile—the man was a wall of muscles and sin. "Is he giving up the life of a player?"
    Sarah shrugged. "Don't know about that, but I did meet this one."
    " And?"
    Another shrug. "She's okay. Looks like a stripper."
    I laughed, and she shot me a steely glare. There was something going on between Sarah and Burton, though neither would admit or even acknowledge it.
    " So, since you're not working full-time and the new case won't pick up for a couple months, what are you going to do?" she asked, and I let her change the subject.
    I stretched so my feet were in the sun and wondered how much to tell Sarah of my new plans. I 'd spent every free minute in the last week going over the electronic evidence I'd swiped from Rob's files. It was enough time to get an overview of the discovery and reacquaint myself with the volumes of files. I had broken my research into chunks and started the night before on bank records, looking for transfers that were out of the ordinary.
    And it hadn 't taken long to find that—and more.
    Had the FBI been looking for evidence of criminal activity, they had only to dig into their own warehouse. But they had been investigating me and my role in fleecing the hundreds of investors in the Sahara Fund, a mutual fund Ralph and Tim managed. So the agents must have focused on just that one investment fund and missed a much larger problem. I couldn 't yet tell exactly what the scheme was, but there was something odd—huge sums were being transferred to accounts for Patterson Tinker offices overseas, mostly in Macau and Geneva. But when I cross-referenced those transfers, I couldn't figure out why the money was flowing to those accounts.
    It would be natural to bounce this question off Sarah, who was super smart and savvy about criminal enterprises. But if I told her, she 'd be obligated to let Rob know that I had taken the evidence from the office, possibly violating the court's protective order.
    So instead, I just shook my head. "I'm not sure. The bakery still needs help, so I'll hang out there for a while, help Aunt Marie."
    Sarah sat up again and reached for her bag. "I almost forgot," she said, unzipping a pocket on the exterior and reaching in. "Your passport. In case you need to flee the country."
    She tossed it to me, and I grinned.
    "Well, it's always good to have that option."
    " The court mailed it back to the office along with all the paperwork exonerating your bond. You're now officially a free woman," she said, raising her bottle.
    I raised mine, and we clinked them together.
    "Thanks, Sarah," I said. "I appreciate all your help."
    " Anytime," she said. "But I don't mean that you should go get in trouble again. Whatever you decide to do."
    " What would you do in my situation?"
    She thought about it for a moment then looked at me. "I'd probably use that passport, travel around, enjoy the fact that you're not tied to a job or a husband."
    " Travel usually costs money, which I am plumb out of."
    I didn 't mention that the husband part of the equation was a sore subject with my recent run-in with Dylan.
    " Doesn't have to cost a fortune," she