approach to get her to listen.
âGood. Then you just hired me for my expert opinion on a case youâre working. Client confidentiality; I canât repeat anything you say. Now out with it.â
âThatâs not legal.â
âDoesnât matter. Considering what I charge an hour and how long Iâve been in this car, youâre getting off easy.â
He grinned, not realizing how much heâd missed her until then. But she was right. Lawyers could charge a small countryâs budget. His divorce had cost him a major chunk of change. And he and his ex had split amicably. âWe nailed your father three months ago. When we learned who he was working for, he reluctantly agreed to help us in exchange for a lighter sentence.â
âAfter he and I reconnected,â she said, her disgust with the event clear. âJust my luck. You couldnât have nailed him sooner?â
Part of him wished he had, wished like hell he didnât have to involve her. He didnât doubt for one second that the dickhead had thought it was a good idea to blackmail his only daughter. For a man like JJ, a man with no scruples, extorting money from your kid was no big deal. âIâm sorry he was blackmailing you.â
âWell, you and he have something in common now, donât you?â A large jet flew by, rattling the car. âThis is ridiculous. At least buy me a coffee if youâre not ready to take me back.â Without waiting, she opened the passenger door and got out.
He followed. âWait.â Maybe he should have kept the handcuffs on, but antagonizing her further wouldnât help their cause.
She turned, setting both hands on the hood. âOut with it. You need me why?â
âFair enough. Eight months ago we got wind of an Internet posting. Someone claimed he had access to a private placement program where the funds were guaranteed by a Federal Reserve Bank.â
âSomeone being JJ?â
âYes. He offered a million-dollar return on ten thousand after a year. If anyone was interested, he had other programs with even greater returns but would require higher minimum investments.â
âSo he upped the ante, and of course people ignored the fact that it sounded too good to be true.â
âPeople often do.â
The two of them had debated JJâs schemes. Theyâd both agreed JJ was evil and it didnât matter that people willingly gave him their moneyâit was still stealing. The issue was whether to feel sorry for the victim naïve enough to hand over money in the first place. Theyâd excluded lottery scams and fake charities, their disagreements centering around people wanting to get rich fast with little effort on their part. Heâd argued it was wrong on any level. While she hadnât disagreed, sheâd laid part of the blame on the victim. It wasnât until Polanski took his life that she saw things differently. Until then sheâd never associated a face with JJâs crimes. Then all hell broke loose. In her mind . . . and his heart.
âI canât believe he had the balls to post an ad.â She shook her head.
âWe contacted him and told him we had investors interested in the offer. We arranged a meeting and slowly worked our way up the chain. Weâd reached the part where we were told only a privileged few were invited to participate in higher-return ventures. You know . . . the usual bullshit.â
She nodded absentmindedly. How many times had she heard JJ use similar tactics?
âWe were monitoring JJâs money transfers when we discovered he had something else on the side.â
âWhat? Something bigger?â she asked.
âSome one ,â he corrected, still unable to believe their luck. âWe decided to make our move and bring JJ in.â The FBI had been trying to nail this guy for years. âWhen we told him we had enough evidence to put him away for life, he