Falling for the Gun-Toting Accountant

6. Holly's Assignment

Holly was wrapping a scarf around her neck, getting ready to head out to the lot, when her phone rang.

"Hey Pop, what's up?"

"I need you to deal with something."

Holly paused. Wreath was usually his go-to person to 'deal with things'. "Me?"

"Yeah, I think you'd be perfect."

A bit of pride swelled within her, even though she had no idea what he was talking about. Could he finally be taking her seriously? "What needs to be dealt with?"

"It's a, ah, bit of a situation." She heard the rasp of her father dragging a hand over his bearded chin.

For him to hedge like this meant it must be really bad.

"What is it, Pop?"

"The farm is being investigated for, uh, tax fraud." The last words were said so quickly and quietly, she barely heard it.

"For what?"

"Tax fraud," he said more loudly, then exhaled like he was in physical pain.

"Tax fraud? But..." Holly's mind reeled. "Isn't Uncle Bud doing all the accounting? What do you need me for?"

"Bud's on vacation."

"Still?" Alarm bells went off in her head. Hadn't it already been a month? "Why is he still gone during our busiest season?"

"I, uh, I don't know. The bastard isn't returning my calls."

Oh, no, this did not look good at all. "Have you tried Peggy?"

"Why would his ex-wife know where he is?"

"I don't know!" Holly's voice rose with agitation. "I'm trying to think of people more qualified than me to track down Uncle Bud!" She'd been wanting to take on more responsibilities in the family business, but this was not what she had in mind.

"I'm not asking you to track him down. I'm asking you to meet with the IRS agent who's coming today."

"An agent? Today?" The word agent conjured up chilling images of unsmiling men in trench coats and dark glasses.

"I'm sorry, Princess. I know it's short notice, but Wreath and I thought—"

Ah, so he had consulted her brother first. Figured. "What exactly am I supposed to be doing, Pop?"

"Charm the guy."

"What?"

"Talk him into giving us an extension or something."

"Or dropping the matter altogether?" Holly added drily.

"If you could swing it, yeah! That would be perfect."

"Pop, the U.S. Government is not going to drop a case of tax fraud just because I bat my eyelashes."

"Just... see what you can do, all right? Bud was taking care of that side of the business and always said not to worry about it. So I, uh, have no idea what's going on."

Her father had taught her everything she knew about tree husbandry, but she had no idea he'd relied so heavily on his brother for the business end of things.

"I'll try."

"Wear something low-cut."

"Ugh, Pop, that's repugnant. Plus it's cold out."

"Fine, fine. Just, it couldn't hurt to look nice, you know? I know you're not into guys, and that's all right, but you'll be surprised how dumb guys can be around pretty girls. See what you can do."

Holly let out a heavy sigh. "All right Pop, but I don't feel good going in blind."

"Any one of us would be going in blind."

"Can I at least see some numbers?"

"Uhh..."

Holly rubbed her eyes. "Can I at least get the keys to Uncle Bud's office?"

"Oh! Yeah, that I can do."

After finishing up the conversation, Holly stared at her phone, unsure if this was some kind of prank. It was unlikely, since her father's idea of a prank was farting on the couch and then blaming the dog.

She shook her head. Tax fraud? She could understand owing back-taxes or something, but fraud? It seemed so... criminal. And she didn't belong to a crime family. They were basically farmers, for Pete's sake.

She sighed again, not liking the weight she felt on her chest, as if one of her beloved trees had fallen on her. What did Uncle Bud do? She supposed she had no choice but to fetch those office keys and try to figure it out.

***

Uncle Bud's office was a mess. Papers piled everywhere, trash in and around the bin, even a molding sandwich sitting on one shelf. Holly wrinkled her nose and resisted the overpowering urge to torch this entire space.

She nudged the rotting sandwich into the trash bin with a rolled up magazine, then began the behemoth task of making sense of all the papers.

Two hours into the endeavor, she still wasn't sure what she was looking for. She found mostly Uncle Bud's household bills and insurance documents. All the business activities were probably on his laptop. Which he'd taken with him.

She heard the front door of the main office open. It was about time someone came to check on her.

"Wreath, you're an asshole!" she called out.

The footsteps stopped.

"Wreath?"

No answer.

"Pop?"

Curious, she stood and headed to the lobby. Of all the people in the entire world, she hadn't expected to see her standing there. "Summer?"

The woman gulped, looking more uncomfortable than when Holly had first seen her in the parking lot the other day.

"What are you doing here?" Holly gaped, completely confused why this beguiling woman would suddenly show up at the Layton business office. It had been a week since they'd met, and had taken Holly about that long to finally stop thinking about her.

"I..." Summer swallowed again. "Have an appointment?"

"You do?" Holly thought hard. Her dad hadn't mentioned anything about an—ohh. Oh no. "You're not... you're not from the IRS, are you?"

Summer looked away, fiddled with her messenger bag.

Of course. Now she saw it. The sharp pantsuit, the tight ponytail, the embarrassed expression on her face. Summer from the tree lot was an IRS agent sniffing around her family's business.

After another moment of speechlessness, Summer finally cleared her throat. "I'm here to review and discuss certain anomalies in your tax filings."

"Anomalies." Holly narrowed her eyes. "So the other day, you weren't just an intriguing woman unsure about Christmas trees. You were spying!"

"Spying?" The woman practically spluttered the word. "I'm not an FBI agent."

"No, you're an IRS agent. Still an agent. I know how you government types operate." Holly had no idea how government types operated, but the outrage kept her mouth in motion. She'd wanted to personally deliver a tree to this woman's house, and all along she'd been an agent, snooping on the business, hoping to take it down, no doubt. Well, she'd be damned if she'd let an IRS agent harm her family's livelihood. Even if she was attractive.

If this woman thought she could roll in here and charm her way into her family's files, she had another thing coming.

Uh oh, I sense a showdown coming on. Quick, hit that Vote button before something explodes!