Ring of Lies (38 page)

Diego shook his head.
‘
Sorry, boss, I’m
with Jack on this.
I think
Daniel Elliott
was the banker for
a
money laundering scam
.
As an accountant
,
he knew his way around the
system
, which countries operated tax havens
, and so on
.
He used some of that money to buy this house on Gasparilla Island.
His boss found out and
had him killed.
’

‘
Let’s be
completely
sure his death wasn’t an
ything other than an
accident.
Get a hold of the
accident and autopsy
report
s
from the
British
Police.
I also want a full background check on Zachary Parous—where he grew up, which law school he went to,
what sort of clients he represents,
where he buys his suits.
I want to know everything about
him
and
I want th
e
informatio
n on my desk
in the next twenty-four hours
.
’

Diego rose to leave.

‘
Oh, and have
Mancuso g
et hold of the phone
records
for
Sand Dollars
, and check them against
those for
Parous and Associates.
Let’s see if any numbers show up on both sets of records.
And one more thing
—
check the flight manifests
.
I
want to know who sat next to
Elliott
each time he travelled to Miami
.
’

‘
You’ve got it,
’
Diego said, and charged out of the room to start his
assignment
.

Mike pushed back from his desk and went to the coffee machine.
He’d already drunk too much of the thick black brew and wondered if his ulcer could handle anymore.
As it happened, the pot was empty.
He grunted
and
selected a bottle of water instead
.
Jack should have
called by now.
He opened the bottle and took a
lukewarm mouthful.

After twenty
odd years with the Bureau
,
he was too old to be pulling back
-
to
-
back shifts.
Good thing Chrissie
i
s so understanding, otherwise
our
marriage would have crashed and burned a long time ago.

He yawned,
took another long swallow of water, then capped the bottle
, looked once at the recycling bin, and smirked.
Then he
tossed
the bottle
in the
trashcan
.
The pile of reports on his desk wasn’t going to get any smaller if he just sat looking at them.
With a sigh, he adjusted his reading glas
ses
and slid the first
folder
across his desk.

An hour later, his research confirmed what he already knew
.
Lionel Lattide wasn’t associated with any known criminals
,
which left two possibilities.
Either there was a new mob in town or Lattide was acting on beh
alf of an international group.

The mastermind behind any successful scam
was a devious on
e, and if there
were
a loophole to be exploited,
that person
would find it.
Banks had a strict code of practice, and employees weren’t immune from prosecution if they failed to report suspicious activity.
Mike
stared at the bank statements Grace had left with him until his eyes glazed over
.
He wasn’t a
n
accountant, but even he could see a pattern in the deposits and transfers
.
S
o why hadn’t the employee overseeing the account at First Apopka Bank
alerted
the bank’s compliance department?

There was only one answer
. S
omeone had paid
the
bank employee to ignore the rules
.

Over the years
he’
d built up contacts in every law enforcemen
t agency in both hemispheres.
H
e started emailing his contacts
in the hope that one of them might know if someone was working a new money laundering scam c
rossing international borders.

Mike
ran his hand over his
bald
head
and massaged his
throbbing
temples.
He couldn’t do any more until Diego and Mancuso finished their research and someone replied to his email.
He stood, picked his jacket off the coat rack in the corner of his offi
ce, and turned out the lights.

He got as far as inserting the key in the lock, when a ringing telephone punctuated the silence.
Training overrode the
desire
to ignore it.
He kicked open the door and snatched up the receiver.

‘
Zupani
k.
’

‘
Hi, Mike, sorry
it’s so
late,
’
Jack said.
‘
I was waiting for Grace to go to bed before calling you.
’

‘
I was about to go home
and
find out if Chrissie had kept my dinner warm or
fed it to the dog
.
’

‘
Tell
her
it’s my fault you
’re
late.
W
e had some unexpected guests.
’

Mike hitched a hip on the edge of his desk.
‘
You and Grace okay?
’

‘
Grace was spooked for a while, but otherwise we’re fine.
’

‘
I figured we’d have three or four days before word got out that the widow was in town
,
’
Mike said.

‘
Me too.
They blasted a pretty
powerful search light
on the house
.
I couldn’t make out
a
name on the boat
it was too dark.
But the
perps were
definitely
speaking Cuban
Spanish.
’

‘
Found anything
else
interesting
?
’

‘
I ha
ven’t had chance to look around
,
too busy preventing Grace from trying to drown herself.
’

‘
You are shitting me
,
’
Mike’s eyes narrowed,
at
times like
this he wished he still smoked.

‘
Absolutely not.
’

‘
The woman sounds like a nut.
Where is she now?
’

‘
In
the bathroom
,
getting ready for bed.
She’s
pretty sane considering everything she’s been through.
But f
inding out her husband
was unfaithful
, didn’t help.
S
he’s okay
now
.
We bumped into
a guy called
Pete
Jacobs
while
we were out
eat
ing dinner.
He
recognize
d Grace, called her ‘
Mrs.
Lattide.’
He
runs a seaplane charter
company
.
Can you have him checked out?
’

‘
Sure,
’
Mike said, and
scribbled
the name on his legal pad.
‘
This woman
impersonating Grace
—
do you have
any idea who
she might be
?
’