Page 51 of Rough Stock

‘Everlight claimed they were making the equipment for their solar farms off-site, while waiting on permits to clear the land. They had legitimate excuses not to start. I suspect they even stirred up those environmentalist groups to protest, to help them stall on the building phases.’

‘But why? Wouldn’t they have to account for the money at some stage?’

‘You’d think all that federal funding they’d accumulated was earning them daily interest—but it was also being used for something else. What? I don’t know.’ She shrugged. ‘But someone messed up on Everlight’s paperwork. I tracked through all these other shell companies, learning that they were using fake company names, who were trading illegally, and I could prove they were funnelling their money into offshore accounts. If it ever went public, politicians would look like fools, for losing millions of taxpayer dollars. It’s a politician’s nightmare that could kill careers.’

‘Oh no…’ He sat back heavily, having learned to read between the lines of what she was saying. ‘You brought that proof with you.’

‘I couldn’t risk leaving it anywhere. And I didn’t mean to find all this dirt they had. I thought it was just a simple property search about a developer’s assets and their plans. But it was much bigger than that. We never found out who owned the mother company, and I stopped looking after Meghan was murdered—when we did nothing wrong. I was just doing confirmational company searches. Public company records.’

‘You were trying to solve a puzzle, but you uncovered a secret somebody didn’t want you to find. Did you tell the police? Show them your research?’

‘Not all of it.’

‘Why not?’

‘Well, Allistair was only interested in the murder. And my boss told me not to. He said to keep it as insurance.’

‘Do you trust your boss?’

‘I have so far. I don’t think he had any idea the can of worms I was digging into, or how Everlight was so dodgy—that farmer had the right to fight for his land.’

‘Wait up. This farmer you mentioned, it doesn’t sound right. Not when we both know who your boss normally represents—the clients who can afford to hire your boss’s firm.’ Which wasn’t cheap. ‘I can’t see a farmer who'd lost their land to a developer having the money to pay those fees.’

Her face fell with her eyes widening. ‘You think he lied to me?’

Craig was convinced Izzy had been played, making his blood boil with rage, that was soon swapped for his fierce need to protect her. ‘Who else knows you’re here?’

‘Just the detective, Alistair Mancini. Who I owe a big wheel of parmesan cheese for keeping me safe, and for listening to my theories.’

‘How so?’

‘My boss was freaking out on the phone, while clearing out my office, telling me we should leave the country. Instead, Alistair got me a new phone and sent me to a safe house in Darwin. He told me not to use my credit card, or my old phone, and to use a VPN so my emails couldn’t be traced.’

‘That’s why you haven’t been working on your laptop.’ Normally she’d be on it all the time. ‘How soon after all that happened did you get the call about me?’

‘Well…’ She inhaled then exhaled heavily. ‘I was on the verge of getting on a flight to Bali when Bree called me.’

‘Bree?’

‘Bree was the only other person I’d given the new number to. Thank goodness I did, because when she called me about you getting hurt, I had to be here, Craig. I had to come. But I couldn’t hire a car without showing my licence and credit cards, as I didn’t want to leave a trail they could trace to Elsie Creek. It was Bree who suggested I come in on the mail plane and arranged a seat for me.’

Her shoulders slumped, her fingers clutching the hem of her shirt as if to hold herself together. Her glassy eyes flickered to stop the tears, before meeting his with her voice soft and unsteady, her vulnerability exposed. ‘I don’t want to do that kind of work anymore, Craig.’

‘What do you want to do, baby?’

‘I enjoy being a lawyer, and I’ve always enjoyed helping people in my own weird way, but in the end, it feels like I mostly helped the rich get richer or keep their butts out of prison. What you said to Ginny today, about me being able to help her, and her bull—I’d never do that in my normal job. Yet, I think that’s something I would actually enjoy doing.’ She lifted her chin, showing she was serious about her career change, even if it was a big step backwards.

He could see it: she was finally done taking on the world.

It was time for Izzy to come home.

‘Are you ready to step away from all that?’ He held his breath in hope of the right answer.

She shyly nodded, wiping at the stray tear that nearly broke his heart. ‘It’s why I worked so hard to find out who owned Everlight. I did if for the good guys, the farmer.’ She then sighed so heavily. ‘My boss lied, huh? The farmer never existed.’

He barely nodded, hating how she’d been conned like that. ‘Why would your boss want those company names in the first place?’

‘A lot of my work is doing searches, looking for patterns, to see if I can unearth any dirt before the opposition or the police do. It’s so we can do damage control to protect our client.’

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