Miranda Vaughn Mystery 01.00 - Chasing the Dollar by Ellie Ashe Read Free Book Online

everyone should benefit when a business makes a profit, and that everyone should earn a decent wage and have health insurance. They stayed so long, they became our family.
    The tears spilled over as I remembered all the wonderful times I spent in the bakery with Aunt Marie. Rob leaned over and gripped my hand.
    "Miranda, now don't you worry about this. Your aunt is going to be just fine. This is just another bump in the road. You have faced down worse than this," he said.
    I was not reassured. This felt worse than going to prison. When I 'd been charged with a crime, I was looking at a loss of my freedom. That would be hard on Aunt Marie, but she'd still have her life, her business, her home. Now that was all at risk, and it felt like a much worse sentence than a decade stuck behind bars.
    " Why are they doing this?" I whispered.
    He frowned. "They're trying to recover their lost savings, sweetheart. It's not personal."
    But it was. It was so personal that I could hardly stand it.
    "Is it that prosecutor, Donna Grayson? Is she trying to make me pay since I didn't get convicted?"
    Rob scowled at the mention of the federal prosecutor. "I wouldn't put it past her, but no, the investors' lawyers have been looking at filing this suit for a long time."
    My mind raced back a few nights to the Mexican restaurant.
    "I just saw one of the agents who arrested me. The one taking notes in the interview," I said. "Could he be following me?"
    I knew it sounded paranoid, but panic was setting in.
    "Jake Barnes, you mean? The FBI agent?"
    " Yeah, I think so. Dark hair. Tall."
    Rob nodded. "Yeah, he's a decent enough guy, for a fed, you know. He wasn't on your case long. Got moved from white collar to a different unit. It's probably just a coincidence, especially if you were dining near the downtown area."
    I nodded. The restaurant was a popular place on the edge of the downtown office buildings. My mind was still not at ease. I hadn 't seen Agent Barnes for months, and then he pops up just after my trial is over and the civil suit starts moving forward.
    " The government can't come after you again. That would be double jeopardy. The criminal case against you is over and done. I can't imagine they'd have Barnes watching you," he said.
    I breathed in, still not convinced but trying to calm myself.
    Rob stood and walked to the sideboard and poured me a drink. He set the glass in front of me, and the scent of bourbon wafted up. I took a sip and felt the burn slide into my gut.
    " Miranda, I won't let them take the bakery," he said. "I promised Marie that I wouldn't let them take you away. I kept that promise, didn't I?" 
    I looked up and saw the look in his eyes. It was a sheer determination that made my clenched heart relax a tiny bit. It was the look of a man who would do anything for the woman he loved.
    I bit my lip and felt the tears burning again. Rob had been married once, Marie told me a long time ago. Marie had never married, and it was something that nagged at my conscience. She'd only been twenty-eight when I was dropped in her lap, and she had devoted herself to me. She'd dated some, but I couldn't remember anyone serious. Even after I moved out and went to college, she never mentioned any romantic interests.
    " You love her."
    He smiled and actually blushed a little.
    "That's not your concern," he said, patting my shoulder.
    He turned and poured himself a drink and when he turned back, he was more composed. At least more composed than I was.
    "Why don't we talk about the new fraud case?" he said. "Maybe some securities fraud will take your mind off your troubles."

CHAPTER SIX
     
    My eyes were dry and burning from hours of staring at a computer screen at my dimly lit kitchen table. I 'd scanned thousands of pages of bank records looking for the transfers to some suspicious account, and my head was pounding.
    Nothing made sense. Money flowed in from investors and then out to accounts where the investment guru was supposed to invest