Page 96 of Serve ’N’ Protect

Her brand-new phone, which she’d left on the hall table inside her purse, rang.

“I also think you should get that,” he added, returning to his stew, as if leaving her completely in the dark about something so odd was no big deal.

Getting more suspicious by the second, she pushed from the table then went into the hall to get her phone. When she looked at the screen, her heart sank. She’d stupidly been hoping it was Markus. It was the Maryland State Police.

“Hello?” she answered. This was either going to be very good news, or very bad news.

“Miss Morgan, it’s Detective Chang. I thought you’d want to know we arrested Walt Teedle. He and John Smith, whose real name, by the way, is MacKenzie Dyer, will be formally charged later today with conspiracy to commit murder.”

She swallowed, gripping the phone tighter. Conspiracy to commit murder. Hers. The magnitude of what was happening was suddenly too much and she sank into the hall chair.

“Miss Morgan, are you there?” Detective Chang asked.

She cleared her throat. “Um, yes. I’m here.”

“Teedle confessed to everything. First, he hired a local guy named Brandon Meeks to steal your laptop then try to kill you the first time. After Meeks bungled the job, he hired a professional, Dyer, to get the hard drive, your new laptop, then kill you.”

Her hands began to shake. “Oh my God,” she whispered, hearing Chang’s words but still having a difficult time digesting it all.

“Exactly,” the detective agreed. “I never thought we’d break Teedle so easily. Your friend, that Secret Service cop, was instrumental in getting his confession. At first, I thought he was going to ram his fist in Teedle’s face, then he used some kind of philosophical mumbo jumbo I’ve never seen during an interview before, but it worked. Even with his attorney holding his hand, Teedle told us everything.”

“Wait,” Cassidy squeaked. “Did you say Markus was there?” In the recesses of her mind, she knew the most integral aspect of the detective’s report ought to be the fact that Teedle confessed, but the only thing that seemed relevant was that Markus had stuck around to assist the state police with their investigation. As Kaitlyn had said, she’d assumed he’d gone back to D.C.

“Yes,” he continued. “And we’re picking Brandon Meeks up now. As soon as he understands what he’s looking at, I have a feeling Meeks will add to the evidence against Teedle.”

“Wow,” was all she could say. “You’ve been busy.”

Detective Chang chuckled. “You could say that. And your theory about Teedle hiding assets was accurate. The divorce he’s going through is vicious, and his real assets are sky high. His wife caught him cheating and decided she wanted a big chunk of everything he owned, including his business. So he started hiding his assets. During divorce proceedings, his personal accountant—who happens to be his brother—prepared a bogus audit of his net worth, one that made it appear as if his business was on the rocks and he was practically broke. The wife and her attorneys didn’t believe it and demanded he get another audit done by an independent CPA.”

“Me,” she said. “Because he thought I’d either be too stupid to see that the numbers didn’t add up or too greedy to care.”

“Exactly. He said he hired you because you were young, and he figured you’d be inexperienced. When you waffled on him, the bonus he offered was supposed to seal the deal. When it didn’t, he decided to kill you. No loose ends.”

“This is unbelievable.” She knew people killed for money all the time. She just never thought it would happen to her.

“It is,” he agreed. “But it happens more often than you think. Teedle said he got the idea from something his brother told him about a wealthy banker in New York City who killed his accountant when the guy tried to blackmail him into keeping quiet about all his hidden assets. Teedle’s net worth was big enough that he didn’t want to give half to his wife, and he couldn’t take the chance you’d either go public with what you’d found or try to squeeze him for hush money for the rest of his life.”

“Here I was thinking that Teedle would help jumpstart my business by giving me a glowing recommendation to his friends.” Guess that wouldn’t be happening.

“Yeah, well…” Detective Chang said in a sympathetic tone. “We’ll keep you posted on how things progress and notify you if you have to come to court.”

“Thank you,” she replied numbly and ended the call.

She went back into the dining room and sat down. Conversation ceased and all eyes turned to her.

“Who was that?” her dad asked, his tone suspiciously cheery.

“The state police.”

Her dad hmphed and his expression turned to one of disappointment.

“Teedle confessed. They arrested him, and they found the guy who broke into my house the first time and tried to run me down.”

“That’s good,” her dad said. “That’s very good.”

It was good. So why didn’t she feel good?

Okay, so Markus had helped out the state police, but she had no reason to believe anything had changed. If nothing else, she and Markus had become friends. He was probably just doing what he did best and helping out a friend.