Page 33 of Wanted by the Lawman

“How about we have a seat. I’d like to discuss something with you.”

“Okay.” She looked a little confused.

He took the seat across from her and he’d never been good at filtering his words, so he knew he had to tell her. “That day at the gas station you bought some grocery items.” She nodded. “The cashier had chased after you, but you had already gone.” The creases in her forehead deepened. “You had given her counterfeit money.”

Two awkward seconds passed, and she burst into laughter. “That’s funny. Where would I get counterfeit money?”

“You just said you took money from your ex.”

She blinked. “Yes…but why…I mean…he wouldn’t have fake money in the condo…” And then her face paled. “Oh shit! Do you think the money I took from him is fake?”

“Only one way to find out.”

She pushed back from the table, got up and went to a top cabinet. There she took down a fake can. Wynn placed it before him. “It’s all in there.”

He picked up the can and turned it over, unscrewing the hidden lid from the bottom. The wadded-up cash was stuffed inside. He dragged out the stack and spread them out, examining them closer. “Every single one is counterfeit.”

Her gasp echoed off the walls. “Are you serious?”

He held up a twenty. “The first thing to do to tell if money is fake is to check for shifting ink in the bottom right hand corner. Every denomination of five and above has this security feature. Take this twenty for example, the bill will have a copper color when looking straight at it, but as you shift the bill,” he tilted the twenty, “it will turn more of a greener color, but this one doesn’t. Another simple way, you can run your finger nail down the ridges of the jacket. You try.”

She did as he asked. “There are none.”

“Exactly. This is great quality counterfeit, some of the best I’ve seen, but unless trained in how to compare real from counterfeit, this could easily fly past an untrained cashier. I’m surprised the girl at the gas station caught it. Late, but she did.”

Dropping back into the chair, she looked like she’d seen a ghost. “Are you telling me I committed a crime?” There was an obvious quiver to her voice.

He nodded. “Innocently, but yeah, you did.”

“Why didn’t you arrest me?”

Shifting in the chair, he sighed. “I switched out bills with the cashier and she was more than happy to let it go.”

“So, it’s true. Rory is involved in criminal activity.”

Zander neatly stacked up the fake twenties. “It would appear so.”

“How did I not know this?”

“You believed in him and sometimes we choose to see what we want to see.”

“This means he will come after me, wanting the money back.” She looked like she could melt in the chair.

“Not necessarily. If he’s in trouble, he might decide to cut his losses and get out of dodge before everything tumbles down. I’m assuming the people he is in business with aren’t the fuzzy, forgiving type. This cash was on its way somewhere else and your house was just a stopover.” He stuffed the cash back into the can. “All those trips he made out of the country, he must have been bringing the goods back with him.”

“How could he do this? So what do we do now? Do we call Agent Gaines? He’ll arrest me, won’t he?”

“Let me handle this. I’ll contact him and explain. Criminals usually don’t turn in the illegal goods. Trust me, the feds want the big fish.”

“This is a nightmare.”

“It’ll be okay.” He took her hand into his and held it.

Before he knew what she was doing, she was up from her chair and wrapping her arms around his neck for a big squeeze. “Thank you, Zander,” she whispered then loosened her hold.

“For what?”

“For believing in me.” She took a step back. “I know most people would give up on me.”

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