Catching Sam: Book 2 of 5: The MacDonald Brothers by Emily Matthews (best mystery novels of all time TXT) 📗

“Whatever.” Sam knew Joseph must be wrong, but what if he wasn’t? Phil was right. Joseph didn’t do sloppy work. “Anything else?”

“Well, her parents live in a trailer park and depend on welfare as their only income. According to Joseph, they are perfectly able-bodied, just choose not to work.”

“That’s her family. People are estranged from their families all the time. From what I understand, she doesn’t talk to hers much.” He knew he was giving information that he would only know if he’d been spending time with her, but felt the need to defend Annie.

“Sure. Yeah, I get that. I just hope the apple fell far enough from the tree. I’d hate for this to be some big scheme for money or something.” Phil was coming off like he was simply passing on information, but Sam knew he had a motive for everything. He was trying to plant seeds of doubt in Sam’s mind. “So, it sounds like you have been seeing her. How’s it going?”

“None of your business. I’m still pissed you went behind my back on this,” Sam said.

“I’m just looking out for you, man. That’s one of the things you pay me for.”

“I don’t remember spying on women I may or may not be seeing as part of your job description,” Sam countered.

“Fine. That’s a service I’m doing free of charge because you’re my friend then.” Phil smiled. “Believe it or not, I care about you.”

“Don’t try to suck up to me,” Sam said, softening. Phil didn’t mean any harm. It wasn’t his fault he had to tell Sam some potentially bad news. And he had told Phil to go ahead with it. No sense in getting pissed off. Now he was more curious than ever about Annie’s marital status.

“Go ahead and have Joseph double-check the marriage thing. I’d need to know about that. Find out what you can about her husband, or ex-husband, too.”

“Sounds good. Best to know what you’re dealing with. So, how’d she end up buying you at the auction? From what I saw, Stephanie was dead set on having you.” Sam’s silence let Phil know he was done talking about Annie.

Taking the hint, Phil stood and put his coat on. “I have a meeting in ten. You wanna grab lunch later?”

“Sure. You know where to find me.” Sam had moved to his desk and was waking his computer. He could hear Phil and Tracey talking in whispers. He wished Phil would just ask her out already. He was going to miss his shot if he waited much longer.

***

Two days later, Phil came in with a worried look on his face. “I’ve got some bad news,” he said as he sat on the edge of the couch, gripping a letter-size manila envelope.

“You know how I feel about that. Spit it out.” Sam walked over to the seating area but remained standing.

“The lawyers called me this morning and said that an allegation of sexual assault was made against you on the night of the fundraiser,” Phil stated glumly. “But, of course, you won’t be surprised to hear that she will not press charges if you settle for five million dollars.”

Sam’s heart sank. There was only one person that he’d had sexual contact with lately. Only one person new in his life. Annie was trying to screw him. And to think he’d trusted her so blindly. What an idiot he’d been. Breaking all the rules and thinking she was different. Well, apparently, that mistake was going to cost him big.

“And when was this supposed to have happened? I went home alone that night. Steve drove me and will vouch for me.”

“She says you came to her place after the function and quote, forced yourself on her, unquote. Look, you and I both know it’s not true. You would never do anything like that.”

“Well, you already know I’m not going to give in to her demands. I’ve fought every other asinine allegation about me and always won. It’s like dealing with a terrorist. If you negotiate, you’ll have to deal with it all the time. Everyone and their dog will start trying to extort money from me.” This might be a little trickier since she worked for the company, but he would still fight.

Sam went from zero to pissed in an instant. It wasn’t about the money. Five million was nothing to him. He hated that his reputation would probably take another blow, but could handle that too. It was the principle of the thing.

Annie wasn’t going to waltz in here, get him to let his guard down, and then walk away a winner. No way that was going to happen.

“I know. I told the attorneys that already. They understand. They’ve taken a preliminary statement from her and started the background check process. See if she’s tried this before with someone else. Funny, I thought she already had money. Why blackmail you?”

“Greed makes people do stupid things. She has some money, but not millions. It seems so risky, though. And I don’t understand the timing.” Sam was talking more to himself now. Well, there was one way to get some answers.

“Give me that.” Sam nodded to the envelope on the coffee table. When Phil held it up, he snatched it out of his hand and stalked out, ignoring Phil when he asked where he was going.

No way he was just going to sit down and take this. On the way over to Annie’s office, he tried to puzzle it out. If she’d come forward the day after they’d met and had sex at her door, at least there would be some physical evidence of sexual contact. Why’d she wait until now? Was she mad he’d taken someone else to the fundraiser? Jealous maybe? And this was her attempt at revenge? She’d seemed fine when he’d last seen her, but who knew.

He barged into Annie’s office, expecting to find her alone, but Beckie was there, sitting in a chair behind Annie, who was showing