by Jillian Neal
Adrenaline flooded her mind, making her much too thoughtless. Instead of searching the employee records, she called Jack. There was no way he would’ve made it to the airport yet. Maybe she could figure out what the hell was going on from him.
After four calls and no answer, she understood that she was being shut out. “Dammit, Jack. You’re supposed to trust me,” she huffed. But one look at the photographs of the senator and Jack’s father reminded her how incredibly difficult it would be for Jack to trust her or anyone else.
Doubling down on her abject hatred of his family, she set to work. She found Finn’s number in the file and then went to Jack’s laptop, determined to see just how many pictures she could find of the Dentons and the McCoys.
But the file open on his desk snagged her attention immediately. “What the hell?” She read over the obviously fake report on the mustangs at Holder Ranch. It looked nothing like the one hand delivered to her uncle by Scotty at the Bureau.
She didn’t have time to worry about Marsden just then, but the gall ate at her and wouldn’t let her concentrate. The intent to proceed letter was on some fancy-ass letterhead. Where had that come from? Last week Marsden’s lawyer had been Fred Gickel from out in Odell. They’d been bunkmates when they were ranch hands or something like that. Who the hell were these people and who was paying for them?
“Oh god.” She breathed out the words, uncertain if they were a prayer or a curse.
Terror gripped her throat. It had claws. It tore through her lungs and burned deep through her chest. She knew why Jack was on his way to Louisville. She could not let him go to jail to protect her. She refused.
If she was going to save him, she was going to have to do some damn good lawyering, and she was up for the job.
She started at the IRS website and then dug deeper, thought harder. Why was Jack’s family so interested in the ranch? That was the part that made no sense. Unless….
Her fingers flew across the keyboard. She sent document after document to the printers. She marched out into the open space where the paralegals worked and made her announcement. “Listen, Jack is about to do something really, really stupid because he thinks he has to, but he doesn’t have all of the information. I know you all love Jack. Please, I need all of you to help me before I take this to the Oklahoma Department of Justice. I don’t have long.” Everyone in the office readily volunteered as she handed out research assignments. This was bigger than Holder Ranch.
She was running out of time.
Jack would be boarding a plane any minute now. She called him three more times but got his voicemail each time. She pleaded with him there, but knew he was every bit as determined to throw himself on the sword to save her as she was to save him.
She had to work faster. Another hour passed.
Finally, she called her parents and her uncles to help her too. She phoned Finn, who confirmed that he was picking Jack up at the airport in forty-five minutes. “Stall him,” Meridian ordered. “He’s planning to march into the distillery and get himself arrested. Just stall him until I get there. Please.”
“I’ll do my best. He’s not likely to listen if he thinks he’s saving you though.”
She got Sloan and Lila’s numbers from Finn and went back to work. If there was any truth to the information she was uncovering, they would all save Jack together.
“Meridian!” Deidre Scully, one of their top prosecutors, raced into Jack’s office. “You have to see this. You’re not going to believe what I found. Look, that’s Clayton’s signature.”
“I do believe it actually.” Meridian shook her head. “That’s what this has been about the entire time. What I can’t believe is that anyone would stoop so low for an extra buck.” But it all made sense. Clayton Barns, the former DA of Holder County, was as dirty as the rest of them.
“I guess this is why Clayton always seemed to favor Jack no matter what he did or said,” Deidre commented.
Meridian nodded. The onslaught of adrenaline mixed with the emotion in her chest. “If anyone else had ever defended me to Clayton the way Jack always did, they would’ve been fired.” But Jack hadn’t known that his father and Clayton were friends. Jack had defended her even if it could’ve cost him his job. He’d told Clayton she was the best attorney in the building because he believed that.
She forced herself to slow. She had to make certain she understood every intricate piece of this malignant web that had been created with the specific purpose of choking out her family. She would leave nothing to chance.
Finally, she phoned Sheriff Riggins. “It’s Meridian,” she leapt in as soon as he answered his phone. “I have evidence that we need to bring Ralph Marsden in for questioning on conspiracy. I’ll send a paralegal down with the files, but I need a warrant back on my desk in fifteen minutes. I’m running out of time, and I need Marsden’s confession.”
When she struck the match, everything would burn.
When she was certain she had her case, she called the airlines and booked three one-way tickets to Louisville. Barrett and Maddox had insisted on coming with her, even though it was completely unnecessary. She could take care of herself.
Hopefully.
Meridian climbed into her uncle’s truck. This was the most important case of her entire career, and she intended to win it.
“Go on with it,” Barrett encouraged. “I’ll get us to the airport as fast as I can.”
Unable to fully grasp what she was about to do, she lifted her phone from her purse. Certain she was having some kind of out-of-body experience, her hands trembled as she dialed the number from the files in her lap. “Yes, this is Meridian Holder, ADA from Holder County ID 7925418. I need to speak with the Attorney General.”
“Regarding what, ma’am?”
“I’m filing a formal ethics complaint against Senator McCoy.”
“Hold, please.”
Chapter Fifty
“Meridian ordered me to stall you, so that’s what I’m doing,” Finn explained to Jack.
Jack didn’t have time for this. “I appreciate her trying to stop me from doing this, but it has to be done. Dad will never stop unless I put an end to it.”
“She sounded pretty certain that there was a bunch of stuff you don’t know.”
“Meridian is the best lawyer I’ve ever seen. She’s stunningly brilliant. That is one of the many reasons why I fell in love with her. But she can talk her way into and out of most anything, so of course she sounded certain. I’m sure she is certain she doesn’t want me to go to jail, which I appreciate, but this ends today.”
Finn shook his head as he continued to drive in circles, refusing to take Jack to the distillery offices. “You know what your problem is?”
Jack rolled his eyes. “What?” He’d placate his brother just long enough to get him to go to the offices.
“Your God complex is even bigger than your ego. You’re a good guy, but you’re not Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ. You’re not here to save all of us.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Do you really think that me or Drew or Sloan or Meridian or anyone else is just going to stand by and let Dad figure out how to make sure you’re the only one who goes down with the ship? That’s a bunch of bullshit. Your job is not to throw yourself on the sword just because you feel guilty for not realizing sooner how fucked up our parents are.”
Jack ground his teeth and refused the emotion that threatened to clog his throat. “I will never forgive them for what they did to you.”
“You don’t have to forgive them,” Finn’s voice fell several notches. “I don’t need you to forgive them. I need my big brother to stay out of jail. You don’t always have to do these massive dramatic dives off the high board, man. It’s okay to just let yourself be happy.”
“Don’t you get it?” Jack raged. “I’d love to just be happy. I’d fucking love to marry her and move onto that ranch and forget River Chase and Hearst Stone and all of it even exists, but he wo
n’t let me. I don’t have a choice. Now, take me to the offices.”
“Not until she gets here.”
Shock sizzled through Jack, igniting another round of fury deep in his gut. “Why is she coming here?”
Finn chuckled as he continued to drive them farther and farther away from where Jack needed them to be. “How can you be so goddamn smart and also a complete idiot?” Jack refused to respond to that so Finn continued. “She loves you. Really, really loves you. That’s not a one-way street. It doesn’t work the way Mom and Dad do it. It’s not all about what you can do for her or how you can save her. She’s not a bank account where you deposit all of your protection and love and she spends it. You both want to save and protect each other and that’s love. She’s not going to let you do this and neither am I. I’ll take you to the offices when Sloan picks her up from the airport.”
“There is nothing she can do to stop me. She doesn’t know what she’s getting into with Dad. I’m calling the auditors.”
Finn still seemed amused. “I’ll tell you this much, I sure as hell wouldn’t bet against her. I have a feeling when your woman is done with Dad, he’s gonna feel like the fucker that brought a pocketknife to a gun fight.”
Jack shook his head. Finn had never been deep in the Denton businesses. He didn’t know. “I can’t let her do whatever it is she thinks she’s going to do to save me. It won’t work anyway.”
“I’m pretty sure”—Finn glanced his way before returning his eyes to the highway—“you can’t stop her.”
Meridian sprinted up the corridor at the airport. “There he is.” She pointed out Sloan in the crowd near the counters.
Sloan must’ve heard her shout because he headed their way. “Here,” he handed over the final piece of evidence that she needed. “But I…”
“I know,” Meridian assured him.
“A lot of people that I love are going to lose their jobs when you do this,” Sloan went on with his warning.
“If I have any say at all, the only person who will be losing his job will be Senator McCoy.”
“I don’t see how you’re going to pull that off, and even if you do, this is going to kill Jack.”
“That’s the part that makes me not want to do any of this, but I can’t let him go to jail. We all have a much better chance of making him understand that he can trust us if he’s not in prison.”
“She’s the best lawyer on either side of the Mississippi,” Barrett informed him.
Sloan forced a polite nod. “I take it you’re the uncle.”
“Barrett Holder. This is Maddox, Meridian’s brother.”
“Pleasure,” Maddox drawled. “Can we get on with this? I’m not real keen on my little sister taking on some kind of whiskey millionaires who are in bed with dirty senators. Political crimes tend to get a whole lot of people, with a whole lot of money and the state police in their back pocket, real, real twitchy.”
“Understood.” Sloan led them out to his car. “I have no idea how you’re going to pull this off, but you know the Bastards have your back. Drew’s sitting outside the gates, and Lila’s already at the office ready to claw Uncle Palmer’s eyes out. Finn’s pissing Jack off by refusing to take him over there until we get closer.”
“Thank you. Really. I can’t thank you enough.”
“Just make sure neither of you end up in prison.”
Maddox brought his buzzing phone to his ear. “Good. Let me know if anything changes,” was the extent of the conversation.
“Who was that?” Meridian demanded.
“T-Byrd. Federal DOJ just issued the inquiry. FBI’s on the way to McCoy’s house in Virginia.” As much as she hated to admit it, Meridian deeply appreciated that her brother was skilled enough to work for one of the country’s best government contracting firms.
Her pulse pounded frantically, jarring her skin and shaking her bones. They were doing this. She made a silent prayer that somehow Jack would recover from one more brutal blow.
Chapter Fifty-One
Meridian was unable to keep her legs still. Her heartbeat wasn’t anywhere near even-paced. She just needed to see Jack, to make sure he was okay. Then she could go on with what she had to do.
They could get through this together. She hoped.
They pulled up to the gates of Denton Distilleries and Brews. The guard waved Sloan’s car through.
“That’s Finn’s car.” Sloan pointed to the blue Camry in the lot. “They’re already here. Uncle Palmer hasn’t seen Finn in years. This is gonna be one hell of a blow-up.”
“Good,” Meridian’s voice quaked. “He deserves the fallout of that.”
“Are you ready?” Sloan parked his car beside Finn’s.
“No, but I don’t get that choice, so let’s do this.”
Prepared for war, Meridian marched beside her brother through the lobby. Sloan waved off the receptionist and put his key in the elevator.
As they exited on the top floor, Sloan pointed to the left. As Meridian raced that direction, she could hear Jack’s threats to his father. “I’ve already spoken to an auditor from the IRS. They’ll be here any moment to start seizing financials.”
“What?” Palmer’s seething voice propelled Meridian to a sprint. “You are aware that you signed off on most of the things they’ll be seizing.”
“Then they can put us in handcuffs together. Isn’t that what you really wanted? Me back under your thumb. Maybe we can share a cell and work out our familial tension.”
The hatred in Jack’s tone wounded her. She ran faster.
“There is one thing I’d love to know before the IRS shows up,” Jack huffed. “What the hell do you want with her ranch?”
“You’ll pay for this,” Palmer shouted.
“No, he won’t.” Meridian rounded the corner into the office. “He won’t pay for anything, but you will. Do you want to tell him why our ranch is so important to you, or should I?”
“Thank god,” Finn grumbled from the corner. His entire body sank in relief.
“Meridian, honey, what are you doing here?” Jack pled.
“You are not going to jail, because tax fraud won’t be what the charges are for.”
“What?”
A harsh swallow contracted Palmer’s throat as he glared at Meridian.
She turned to Sloan. “Do you have copies of the shipment receipts?”
“Several,” Sloan assured her.
“Okay, just please know how sorry I am to have to show you all of this,” she vowed to Jack.
“Show me what?” he demanded.
She handed the copies of her evidence to both Jack and his father and took a deep breath that did nothing to help steady her. “There is a great deal of evidence that suggests that the year both of us were seniors in high school, your parents struck up a friendship with Senator McCoy and his family.”
“What?!” Jack’s wounded gasp crushed Meridian, but she pressed on. God, why did saving someone you love have to hurt them?
She managed a haggard nod. “The pictures are in the first file there. Five years prior to that, Holder Ranch signed a contract with the state of Oklahoma to take on and house wild mustangs in the state’s Wild Horse and Burro Program. That is also the year that Senator McCoy began campaigning for the seat. His predecessor, Senator Cambridge, had fought against the plan, stating that it would cost the state entirely too much money. He believed that the animals should be killed. Backlash to his cruel plan is what we all believed got McCoy elected, but we were wrong. McCoy and Cambridge had been working together. Cambridge set it up so that he dropped out of the race five weeks prior to the election, creating a situation where McCoy ran unopposed with what I suspect was a backdoor dealing that ultimately he would end the Wild Horse program.
“McCoy’s brother, Jude, owns one of the largest rye farms in Oklahoma, spanning over four hundred thousand acres along the Texas line. Back in the nineties, some of his crops had been destroyed by the wild horses. He would’ve been able to
write the loss off, of course, but common sense tells us that it likely pissed him off. It was about that same time that Elbon Rye became a hot commodity for making whiskey, and two years after you met Thad McCoy and began your friendship at Duke, Denton Distilleries launched four highly profitable rye labels making use of Elbon Rye.”
Meridian’s eyes closed. She wasn’t certain she could go on. Suddenly, Jack’s arms were around her. “You’re incredible, you know that?” he whispered in her ear.
“It gets so much worse.” She trembled against his chest.
He stepped back. The pain and cynicism mixed with pride in his eyes. “Keep going then,” he choked.
She glanced at her Uncle Barrett, and he gave her that soothing smile that he’d given her all her life. “Want me to take over from here?”
“Sure,” she managed.
“As the century turned, Holder Ranch ultimately came to care for more wild mustangs than any other ranch in the state. Although most of it is not profit for us, the state does pay us quite a tidy sum for caring for the animals. McCoy frequently gets called out by his political opponents for the amount of money the state writes to us. But for a few years there, his brother no longer had the problem of mustangs trampling the rye, so we mistakenly assumed their family would be pleased. Of course, that would also mean that his brother didn’t have that loss to report on his income. But the Holders remained a major burr in McCoy’s saddle in terms of the mustang money.” Barrett shook his head. “Honest to goodness, this is all so convoluted and ridiculous I’m afraid I’m mixing my Herefords with my Holsteins.”
Palmer’s nostrils flared as he bared his teeth. Meridian squeezed Jack once more, prayed that wouldn’t be the last time she felt his arms around her, and took back over. “The grievance between our family and Senator McCoy grew with each new delivery of horses we accepted and each check we were written. Only, we were largely unaware that McCoy hated us specifically. We knew he disliked the program, but we had no idea how resentful he really was. I also didn’t know until today that Senator McCoy and Clayton Barns were very close friends.”
