Acquiring Trouble (28 page)

Cole let out a breath and ran his hand over his hair. Morgan tightened her grip on Miles’
s
hand and said a quick prayer. “Okay. If your client answers all my questions to
my
satisfaction and provides evidence for such, then we’ll see about signing that agreement.”

“Only if it’s off the record.” Henry took the paper back and stared down Cole.

“Fine.” Cole looked to Miles, “This is only because of you and you will so owe me. Start talking Morgan.”

Morgan felt her hands trembling as she let go of
his
hand and took a breath. Miles and Henry had assured her that Cole was a good man and agent, but it was hard to believe after w
hat she’d just seen.

“I’m a whistleblower
,
”
s
he said simply. She heard Marcy gasp and saw Paige’s eyes go wide.

“How so?” Cole asked.

“I became aware of illegal activities at Top Producers that resulted in the suicide of a woman.”

“K
nowing that and
failing to do
anything about it
doesn’t
make you a whistleblower. In fact it makes y
ou an accessory after the fact.” Cole’s eyes narrowed and Morgan knew he thought her guilty.

“I did do something. I went to the FBI and reported it.”

“Don’t lie to me! I have your file right here and
you’re
the prime suspect!” Cole tossed the file onto the table and watched her.

“I talked for hours with Agent
Brenton
of the
DC
office. He told me it wasn’t enough. He told me I had to provide evidence before I was able to receive immunity under the Whistleblower Act. So I got it. I’ve already given it to Agent
Brenton
. But he told me it wasn’t enough. It was never enough. I’ve been providing evidence to the FBI for over a year
. N
ow my life is in danger and the FBI wants to hang me out to dry instead of helping me!” Morgan screamed. She had done everyth
ing and they still wanted more.

“What did you supposedly provide Agent
Brenton
?” Cole asked quietly.

Morgan took several deep breaths to keep the tears from breaking free before she answered, “I have emails between David Washington and his head of security
, William Brady,
ordering the blackmail that le
d to the death of the woman. I
have
reports and notes by Washington and his security team detailing specifically what pieces of information they dug up on shareholders to use as blackmail. Locations where family members of shareholders lived with names circled of who
was
to be threatened
—i
n one case the address
was
a school where the president’s seven
-
year
-
old daughter attended. I copied them onto a flash
drive and handed it to
Brenton
. He told me it wasn’t enough
,
t
hat I was going to jail for all of this if I didn’t get more information even though I had fulfilled all the obligations
to become a protected whistleblower.”

“What did you do?” Cole started to rub the scruff on his chin and Morgan was worr
ied that he didn’t believe her.

“I got more evidence.”

“More?”

“Yes. I got bank statements showing a payout of $100,000 to a group that was previously mentioned in the emails. I also found voice recordings. D
avid was paranoid and
taped some of
his conversations with some
powerful people
—I
’m sure to use as blackmail at some point in the future.”

“
Brenton
was the agent on the file. Why should I believe you?” Cole narrowed his eyes and she felt him searching her f
ace for signs of her character.

“Because I still have a copy of all the evidence
Brenton
requested along with my own voice recordings of my meetings with
Brenton
.”

“Let me see the evidence,” Cole commanded.

“I’m sorry Agent Parker,” Henry interrupted. “You’ll
need to sign this immunity document if you want to see that evidence.” Cole cursed and held up a finger to signal for them to wait. He pulled out his cell phone and headed for the porch once again.

Miles pulled her close to him and she didn’t even realize how cold she was until she
felt his warmth as he held her.

“
Shh
.
It
’s okay. Cole will get the bottom of this. Even though I want to kill him, I know he’s doing his job and he does it well.”

The room was quiet and Morgan felt everyone staring at her. Did they believe her? She was about to plead her innocence again when Cole walked back in the door.

“I talked to my superior, Agent
Salmond
s
, and he agreed to me signing the agreement.”

“Thank you!” Morgan cried, feeling the tears fall. This nightmare was almost over. At least she wouldn’t spend the rest of her life in a jail ce
ll for something she didn’t do.

“Don’t thank me yet. Let’s see this evidence. Where is it?” Cole asked as he handed the signed document back to Henry.

“The safest place I know,” Morgan grinned through her tears of relief.

Morgan pointed across the street and Cole just stared
. Paige giggled from the back seat and she heard Miles hide a laugh under the pretense of a cough. Cole just kept staring and Marcy smiled
from where she sat next to Paige
.

“You’ll find a silver horse under there
in a
plastic
bag
. It’s a flash
drive with all the evidence on it,” Morgan told him. Cole shrugged his shoulders
and opened the door to his SUV.

“Be careful!” Marcy called after him. “That really was very clever. Morgan, I’m sorry that
we’ve
misjudge
d
you all these years. I hope you give us a chance to get to know you.”

“Thank you Mrs. Davies.” Morgan watched as Cole jogged across the street and up the walkway of the old white Victorian house.
He counted the rose bushes and got down on his hands and knee
s to crawl under the fifth one.

“Oh no. He’s going to be caught!” Paige laughed.
While Paige wasn’t openly friendly to her,
at least she wasn’t being mean anymore.

Morgan watched in terror as the front door to the house opened and Miss Lily appeared with her broom. “I told him he
should’ve
rung the bell to tell her what he was doing.” Morgan shook her head.

Miss Lily crept down the stairs and stopped behind Cole where the only thing sticking out of her prized rose bushes were his legs and perfectly shaped bottom. The perfectly shaped bottom that just got thwacked by a broom!

“Ge
t out of my roses your hoodlum!” Morgan heard Miss Lily yell before bringing the broom down
on his bottom again and again.

“Oh
G
od! This is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.” Paige laughed
.

Morgan even managed a smile as Cole came out from under the bushes with his hands up. Miss Lily was berating him up one side and down the other for messing with her bushes. Cole tried to cut in and pointed to the car. Miss Lily peered in and with a nod headed toward them.

“Someone’s in trouble,” Miles teased. “I think Cole told on you for hiding things in her bushes.” Morgan cracked a smile when she saw the small horse dangling from Cole’s fingers. It was safe and
she was free!

Miss Lily leaned
into the car window. “What’s going on here?” She thumped her broom against the road like a trident
and Morgan tried not to laugh.

“I’m sorry, Miss Lily. I told Cole he
should’ve
knocked. He was just retrieving something I hid in your bushes.”

Cole pulled out his laptop and inserted the flash
drive.

“Why would you
do that? When did you do that? I would’
ve seen you if you tried to hide anything.”

“I wasn’t a delinquent for nothing,” Morgan fought back the old animosity.

“
Pish
posh. I’m starting to believe you were a delinquent as much
as I believe Violet never uses precut apples in her pie.”

“Holy
sh
…” Thwack!
Miss Lily’s broom landed s
quare on Cole’s bottom. “Sorry m
a’am. Morgan, I owe you an apology too. We might all need to apologize
—p
rofusely” Cole looked to Paige before grabbing his cell phone.  “I need to call my boss.” Cole walked away
with the laptop in one hand
as he talked into the phone.

“What’s going on here? What was the horse doing in my garden and why is Cole calling his boss?” Morgan rolled her eyes. They were cornered and Miss Lily had her broom
—s
he’d beat it out o
f them if they didn’t tell her.

Marcy, bless her heart, filled Miss Lily in
on the details
. Morgan watched as Miss Lily grunted once, but didn’t seem surprised. “I’m glad we talked at the wedding. I heard all about the arrests last night. You
two are good together. N
ow if you’ll excuse
me, I need to get down to the c
afé.”

Morgan watched Miss Lily hurry down the street with her broom. “What’s she in such a hurry for
?
”

“I’m guessing she has
a bet to place
on a wedding date,” Marcy said as she started to rumma
ge around her purse for something
.

“But Marshall got married last night. Isn’t she a little late?” Morgan asked as Cole started to walk back to the car.

“Not Marshall dear. Oh! Here it is!” Marcy pulled
out a twenty
and smiled. “Thank goodness they took Mo’s private jet out last night or they
would’ve
been stuck here with all this mess. Not that you’re a mess, dear. In fact, I’m growing rather fond of you. Don’t you think long engagements are silly? When you’re in love, you’re in love. Jake and I waited three weeks to get married, you know?”

“What?”
Morgan was totally lost at this point.

“
I talked to
Salmonds
. I told him what I found and he
needs
to talk to you in person at some point. He also looked over your file and into Agent
Brenton
. Apparently
Brenton
is up for a big promotion and was using this case to make his career. Instead it’s going to break his career.
Salmonds
is personally handling his discipline.
I looked at it more carefully and now it’s clear you were being set up to take the fall. I’m going to be
t
those emails to the mercenaries were sent from
your work computer while you w
ere here with all of us as witnesses. Yet, you went back time after time and wi
th no regard for your safety to get
enough evidence to lock David Washington and his goons up for the rest of their lives. When looking at all this, it’s clear you never participated in anything illegal, so why did
you
do it? Why did you get all this evidence and risk your life to expose these people?” Cole looked at her with
astonishment
and Morgan knew the ordeal was finally over. She didn’t have to pretend anymore.

“It was actually quite simple. It was the right thing to do. I never liked
causing trouble.
I only did it when I was younger to get my father’s attention. When I saw what David was doing
—t
he pain he was inflicting on others, I just couldn’t stand it. I thought it was my duty to help those people.”

“That’s very noble of you, Morgan
.
” Marcy patted her on her shoulder and then looked at the large group. “Why don’t we all go
down to the c
afé and have breakfast together
?
  We can
start talking about ou
r future together instead of
focusing on
the past.
Besides, I need to speak with Daisy Mae about something.
”

Morgan’s stomach rumbled in response and Miles lifted an eyebrow at her. “I think that settles that question. Breakfast first then we’ll tackle correcting the past misconception
s
and moving forward.” Morgan’s stomach flipped for a whole other reason when Miles squeezed her thigh in support.