Page 50 of Committed

A flicker of fear showed in the woman’s eyes, but it was gone just as fast. Now they were getting somewhere.

Journey leaned back in her seat and tapped her pen against the yellow legal pad on the desk. She stared at the woman who was looking down, fiddling with the handle of her large bag.

“You know, Marta, if you prefer, we can always have you transported to the police station for additional questioning,” Journey said, hoping that would get her attention. “With you lying to detectives and then lying to us, legally, things aren’t going to end well for you.”

Journey let that sink in. According to the eyewitness statement, Fred—their murdered key witness—had stated Stratton was the one who actually killed Joyce.

But where did Marta figure in?

“Or you can stick around,” Journey continued. “We can just…have a conversation. I’m not sure what your role is in all of this, but maybe there’s a way we can help each other. What do you think?”

After a slight hesitation, Marta glanced up and met Journey’s eyes. “What do you want to know?”

“Why were you leaving town?” Prentice asked again.

“Because…I think I’m in trouble, and I need protection.”

Journey frowned and sat forward. “Excuse me? Protection from what or who?”

“I don’t know. I’m scared. The crap going on at Leverage might get me killed like it did Joyce and Fred.”

“Why do you say that? Do you know something we don’t know? Because when we talked to you days ago, you said—”

“I know what I said!” she snapped, then covered her face with her hands. “I’m sorry. I’m just…I’m just really stressed.”

Journey moved around the desk and propped against the corner closest to Marta, hoping to make her feel more comfortable.

“Tell us why you were trying to leave town.”

“The killings. I’ve watched enough crime shows to know that Joyce’s and Fred’s murders only weeks apart is too much of a coincidence.”

“Okaaaay,” Prentice said slowly. “Do you know why they were killed?”

“At first, I thought it had something to do with the merger. But now I think it might have something to do with the city contract that we were just awarded. Except…I don’t know. I’m not sure.”

Journey exchanged a look with Prentice. He was probably thinking the same thing she was thinking. The proposed merger and the mention of that city contract had come up twice in the past hour. From what she understood, the merger had fallen through over a year ago.

Still, Journey wanted to ensure she did her due diligence and investigated. That went for the contract, too. There was probably some information in one or the other that could shed light on the whole case.

“I think Joyce might’ve been murdered because she threatened to go to the authorities about us manipulating the financial records,” Marta said in a rush, as if she had to get the words out before changing her mind. “It was wrong. I know it was wrong, but we were told to do it or we’d lose our jobs.”

“Who is we?” Journey asked.

“Me and my team, which included Joyce and Shawn Ridley.”

Journey jotted Ridley’s name down to remind herself to see what they had on him.

“Before discussing a merger, Dennis wanted us to make changes to the company ledger. We were forced to keep two sets of financial records. The real set, and another set that was used to get loans and lure investors. Heinsistedwe hide some of the debt he’d been accumulating and add revenue that didn’t exist.

“At first, it was small amounts that were easy to conceal, but over the last few months, the amounts were getting too large to hide. I was concerned that either the potential investors would request an audit or the city would. We have had several large city contracts over the years, and it’s not unheard of for them to do that.”

“So basically, he wanted the business to look more profitable than it actually was,” Prentice said.

Marta nodded and released a heavy exhale. “I’ve been with the company almost ten years, and we used to do everything by the book. Dennis was an honorable man. That’s how the company kept growing. People trusted our brand and us.”

“Why did you lie to us and try to make it seem like Leverage Construction was a great place to work?” Journey asked.

“Because I didn’t want to get in trouble. I didn’t know what would happen if you or the detectives discovered that the company was committing fraud.” She swiped tears from her eyes. “Leverage was doing well at first, but then a couple of years ago, a major contract that Dennis was banking on fell through, and it seemed like a snowball effect. He was losing other deals.”