More Than a Cowboy (The Carmody Brothers Book 3) by Sarah Mayberry

Author:Sarah Mayberry [Mayberry, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, romance
ISBN: 9781951786601
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Published: 2020-04-29T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

He was glad he was sitting down, because his legs suddenly felt as heavy as lead.

“Commercial bribery?”

“Look, this may not be about Tate Transport. There are three major transport companies in the state. It could be any one of them. Or even smaller players.”

“But we already know my father and Ron were up to something,” Garret said. “What are the odds?”

Mae didn’t say anything, her expression grave.

Fuck.

He shot to his feet and went to the sideboard, yanking open the cupboard that held his father’s liquor supply. He sloshed whiskey into two glasses with a visibly shaking hand and took one of them back to Mae. Then he knocked his back in one big swallow, welcoming the sharp, almost painful burn at the back of his throat.

Mae watched him, her mouth an unhappy straight line. “Are you okay?”

“Yep.” He resumed his seat, trying to triage his panicky thoughts. “What do I do? How do I get ahead of this?”

Because surely that was the most important question. For now.

“You’re already doing it. We follow the money, find out the scope of what we’re up against. We create a paper trail that shows you are doing everything in your power to come to grips with a situation that was not of your making. And we cross our fingers and hope that my friend was talking about another transport company.”

“What if it’s us? What if it’s us, and you find evidence that Tate Transport has been involved in commercial bribery? What are the likely charges?”

“Montana didn’t even have legislation covering commercial bribery until last year. And I’m no lawyer.”

“But?”

Mae licked her lips, clearly not enjoying being the bearer of bad news. “If the bribe value is higher than a thousand dollars, jail time is on the cards. Up to five years. And there are fines, up to fifty thousand dollars per offense. Also, there’s precedent for anyone harmed by the bribery to file a civil suit. Your competitors, that sort of thing. Given you weren’t an officer of the company at the time these offenses occurred, it’s unlikely they’d come after you for any of this, but Ron and your father will definitely be in the line of fire. My best advice is that you retain a lawyer to make some discreet inquiries on your behalf. Someone outside of the business, given our current suspicions. In the same way that you brought me in, it’s good to start with a clean slate.”

Garret thought of the string of email exchanges he’d flagged over the weekend. Ten companies had been referenced. If he was right on every count . . . Tate Transport was in big trouble and his father and Ron were in worse trouble. The kind that ended with wearing a bright orange jumpsuit. “Can you recommend a good law firm? Someone you’ve worked with and trust?”

“I’ll forward you some names. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Mae said. “Like I said, this may be a completely false alarm.”

“I can’t afford to operate on that principle,” Garret said, his mind suddenly crystal-sharp and clear.

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