Leverage characters are not mine.

Chapter 4

Background

Nate repeated the question. "Hardison, what happened to them?"

Alec glanced at Nate and then Eliot. Quickly typing, he pulled up articles from the local newspaper. "It appears the Sheriff won a re-election, but it was short lived. He met his demise in a hunting accident with a friend. It was ruled as an accident. The prosecuting attorney and the M-13 suspects were in separate incidents. The PA struck an elk, with his vehicle...an elk? They're pretty big aren't they? The M-13 seemed to have a disagreement and shot each other."

"Wait, you're checking into Billie's background?" Eliot looked at Nate in surprise.

"Just fleshing out her background." He slightly turned looking at him. "Exactly what do you know about her?"

"Just what she told me." Eliot crossed his chest with his arms.

"Exactly. She may have left something out." Nate turned back to Alec. "What about family?"

Hardison could feel the tension all the way up to his console. "A son, Jacob, who is 22 years old and a long haul trucker, three brother-in-laws and their families." He brought up photos of all. "Tom is to the far left, the short one at six foot two. What do they eat in Wyoming?"

"Where were they on the dates of death of the Sheriff, DA and M-13s?"

"Pulling up articles now." Alec also pulled up the police reports of the investigations on all the deaths. "Everyone of her family members had solid alibis."

Nate walked up to the screens to study them closer. "Pretty convenient, don't you think?" He looked at his team.

Sophie studied the screen. "You think the brothers took them out?"

"I do." Nate retook his seat and leaned back. "I think they also protected Billie and Jacob, for now."

"For now? What does that mean?" Parker's interest was perked.

"Parker, her only family here is her son, and his job takes him out of State. You don't think her transfer to SPMT was by chance?" Sophie glanced at Nate.

"No. No I don't."

Eliot furrowed his brow. "Neither does Billie." Nate looked at him. "She said that the others that were laid off had more time and experience than she does. It isn't setting right with her."

Nate nodded. "Where is Jacob now?"

Hardison typed in Jacob's phone number from Billie's phone. "In Wisconsin, making a delivery."

"When does she begin her job at SPMT?" Nate looked at Eliot.

"She had her orientation this morning." Eliot got up and left the room.

Taking a seat across from Billie, he smiled. "Hardison is almost done with checking your phone."

"Great."

"So, how did orientation go?"

She shook her head. "I am way over my head."

"How so?" The waitress set a beer in front of him and he smiled up at her.

"The layout of the business is so fractured." She took a sip of tea.

"Meaning?"

"If you were in the cubicle next to me, you would work on let's say payroll taxes. You would have all the necessary figures, personnel codes, but not all the information concerning the pay period. Like hours worked, over-time, PTO, etc. I might see the hours worked and verify it against the clock-ins, but not see their pay rate. The only person that would see the whole picture would be the CEO." She paused. "It's a great way to protect the CEO and board, but lousy for anyone else. It makes them easy scapegoats."

"How about your job?"

She shook her head. "Key information is for CEO's eyes only. The withholding of any financial information would not only make the CFO open to investigations, but could put the company at risk. It could already be at risk if the CEO is a nefarious person or the board." She took another sip of her tea. "How many CFOs did they go through in the last three years?"

Eliot shook his head. "That's a Hardison question."

"As it is, I am thinking of making my recommendations to HR about the need to not have fractured information for the CFO." She frowned. "That might take me out of the running for the position, but they have two others to choose from."

Hardison typed in the query. "It looks like they have had 9 CFOs in the last three years."

"Any litigation tied with with the CFOs?" Billie stood next to Hardison. "Nearly all of them, one died prior to charges being filed." He looked up at Billie.

"Who and how?"

"Does it matter?" Eliot glanced at her.

"Yes, it matters." She looked at him. "One of them was a friend."

Eliot raised a brow. "Your friend, Amanda?"

She nodded. "She saw what I saw and withdrew her application shortly after beginning to work for this office."

Eliot glanced at Hardison. "Who died?"

Typing quickly he waited for a response. He looked at Billie. "I'm sorry. It was a house fire."

Billie took a deep breath. "When did this happen?"

Alec checked the screen. "Last Thursday."

She shook her head. Taking a seat at the table she sat looking at the wall across the room. Nate watched her. "You alright?"

"No." She turned and looked at him. "I definitely need to let off some steam." Getting up she walked out of the room.

"Where is she going?" Nate looked at Eliot.

"How am I...?" He quickly got up and walked out of the room. He managed to catch her before she got into her pickup. "Where are you going?"

"Home, to pick up a few things." She looked at him. "Then the gun range. Want to come?"

Eliot briefly looked at the Bridgeport Brew Hub door before climbing in her cab. The diesel roared into life as she peeled out of the parking spot and headed towards home. Pulling into her driveway she quickly went into the house and brought out a large duffle bag. Throwing it into the back seat, she put the truck into gear. Pulling in the back of Thor gun range, she turned the truck off. Grabbing her ID and the duffle bag, she walked to the door. Eliot followed her inside the building.

The young man behind the desk smiled. "How are you doing Billie?"

"Not as good as yesterday, but, better than tomorrow." She scanned her ID under the light and continued walking towards the end of the building. Exiting the building, she chose a shooting range. Opening the duffle bag, she unloaded a high powered rifle with a bi-pod and several pre-loaded magazines. She also pulled a couple of targets and stapler out of the bag. Walking the full length of the shooting range, she stapled the targets on the boards. She walked back, finding Eliot looking into the bag.

Loading the rifle she took aim, fired several shots as Eliot watched with the aid of binoculars.

"You do this much?"

She fired several more rounds. "Usually at coyotes." She laid the rifle down. "You want to try?"

"I don't like guns."

"You don't have to like guns to use them."

Over the next half hour, they each took turns shooting the rifle. Eliot eyed Billie noticing a more relaxed woman. Walking towards the targets, Eliot looked at his target and then Billie's. He raised a brow. The silhouette was hit in the head and upper torso with a few rounds a little lower on the image.

His hit the target in upper body and a couple in the head, he looked at hers again. "I think you enjoy this too much."

She shook her head. "Just letting off steam."

"Your steam could ruin someone's night." He pointed to the lower end of the target.

She smiled. "By the time I get that far, they should be already on the ground."