Read Jackson: The Sons of Dusty Walker for Free Online Page B

pointed to a folder. “What’s that?”
    Dusty had called it Theresa .
    “That looks like something personal.” She stood and motioned
for them to switch chairs. “If you want to look at it now, I’ll go down the
hall.”
    “No.” He sat in the big chair and used the mouse. “Sit. I’ll
take a look.”
    She turned her back to him, facing the coatrack in the
corner where Dusty’s old white straw cowboy hat hung next to his denim jacket
with the company logo embroidered on the left chest. Poor Dusty. He didn’t
deserve to die the way he did.
    “What the heck is this?” Jackson tapped her arm with the
back of his hand.
    She swung around and looked at the columns of numbers and
dates. “I don’t know.” Standing, she leaned over him and looked at the screen.
The first column was dates, a month apart each, which began eight years ago.
“Scroll down.”
    He did, a little slower than she’d like, but he was getting
better. The last date was just days before Dusty died. “Huh.”
    “Yeah. Strange.” She pointed to the screen. “The second and
third column look suspiciously like bank routing and account numbers. The bank
routing numbers repeat themselves on a regular basis.” She counted. “Every
eighteen months, it’s the same routing number.”
    “You’re saying whatever they’re doing, they use just
eighteen banks on a rotating basis.”
    She nodded. “What could be the significance of eighteen?”
    Jackson snorted. “Knowing Dusty…” He bit off the words. Was
he going to make a snide comment about Dusty and his harem? “So that makes the
fourth column…dollar amounts?” Jackson scrolled back up slowly. “This year it’s
thirteen thousand, and a thousand less every year going back.”
    “I have no idea what it is.” She sat in her chair. “I can
pull up a list of Walker Co.’s bank accounts, but I know that’s not Red Creek
Bank’s routing number.”
    He looked at her. “Can we search the world wide web for
these banks?”
    She bit back a smile. “Most of us call it the internet now, and yes, I’ll show you how to do it.”
    After a few minutes of trial and error, they found a site
that gave the information.
    “These are all over the country.” He scratched his cheek.
“What do you think this is?”
    To her, it looked sketchy.
    “You’re thinking the same thing I am, right?” He stared into
her eyes. “Some kind of payoff or blackmail or gambling debt?”
    She snorted. “Do you read a lot of international intrigue
novels?” But she wouldn’t rule out any of Jackson’s suspicions.
    “You can scoff, but I’ll bet you a million bucks there’s
something strange going on.” He pressed print and walked over to the printer on
a shelf in the corner.
    “I don’t know, Jackson. I don’t mean to minimalize this, but
is it worth your time digging into it further?”
    He swung around and smiled. “Compared to the boring-ass
files sitting on that desk? Hell, yeah!”
    She couldn’t keep the smile from curving her lips. “Okay.
But I don’t know how you’re going to get any further than—”
    “You can hack computers, right?” He gestured for her to take
the big chair again. “Can you do that from here or do we need to go to your
store?”
    She sucked in a breath. “I don’t hack.” Standing, she backed
away from the computer. “That’s illegal, immoral, unscrupulous—”
    “Okay.” He held up a hand. “Sorry. But you know someone who
does, right?” His brows rose as he stalked toward her. “You have to. Somebody
from college?”
    “Why would you think that?” She backed up a step and bumped
up against a file cabinet.
    He stood feet from her, staring at her. “I can see it in
your eyes. You do know someone. I’ll pay them.”
    She could stand there and deny it, but she had no poker
face. “Okay, but let me keep your name out of it.” Holding her hand out, she
waited for him to place the papers in her hand. “I’m doing this under protest.”
    “Protest