Stalking Midas by Debbie Burke

Author:Debbie Burke [Burke, Debbie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Media Management LLC
Published: 2019-08-15T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14 – King Midas

Tawny’s doorbell rang at six that evening. The towering lawyer stood on her covered porch holding a cardboard carton topped with a bouquet of red roses in protective wrapping. He thrust the roses at her then angled past her into the living room.

“What’s this?” Despite her irritation with him, the blooms smelled wonderful, a promise of spring in the dark gloom of winter.

He set the box on the coffee table then peered down at her. “You’re amazing.”

The intensity of his dark gaze made her back toward the kitchen. She laid the bouquet on the counter and retrieved her grandmother’s crystal vase from a high shelf. “Oh, really? Last I heard, I was a Goody-Two-Shoes Girl Scout with a broomstick up my ass.”

“Midas Investments, LLC.” Tillman pulled off his suit coat, threw it over Dwight’s recliner, and knuckled his tie loose. “Got any more scotch?”

Damn him. He brought roses to apologize and now he planned to settle in for a drink or six. But he’d piqued her curiosity. “Cupboard over the fridge.” She filled the vase with water and arranged the velvety blooms, inhaling their sweetness. “What about Midas Investments, LLC?”

Tillman easily reached above the refrigerator for the bottle and poured himself a drink. He grabbed a fistful of ice cubes from the freezer and dropped them in the glass. “Those money order receipts you found. The old man’s been sucking funds out of investment accounts—both his own and from the trust accounts of clients—and buying money orders.”

“Why money orders?”

“Difficult to follow. Good method to make money disappear.”

“Then how can you figure out where it went?”

“Receipts can be traced but it takes time and more forensic digging. But, like you thought, it looks as if he scammed investors, then turned around and got scammed himself. You cracked it.”

Strange satisfaction overcame Tawny’s annoyance and welled in her chest. She’d figured out what the brilliant lawyer now appeared to confirm.

In the living room, Tillman pulled plastic prescription bottles one by one from the box. “I need a medical expert to check these medicines. Side effects. Drug interactions. Maybe something chemical is causing him to act squirrely.”

After setting the vase on the dining table, Tawny curled sideways on the couch, hugging her knees. “I described his behavior to my friend, Dr. Belmonte. She sees a lot of older men at the VA clinic. She thinks he may have dementia.”

“She ever testified in court?”

Tawny drew back. “I don’t know.”

He flopped down on the opposite end of the couch, long legs splayed, and sipped scotch. “I may tap her as a medical expert.”

Good luck with that, Tawny thought. Virgie alternated between telling Tawny how cute he was and hating his guts, mostly the latter.

Tillman slumped and let his head loll back, gazing at the ceiling. “The bad news is: we don’t have any blood tests for that night but the good news is: neither does the county attorney. If the old man was impaired because of prescribed medication…”

“Does he remember anything about hitting Wilbur?”

Tillman rolled his head sideways to face her.

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