Page 57 of Twisted Hearts
“I’m glad you’re here.”
“Why is that? What’d you find?”
“A maze. It’s messed up. Come look.”
I rushed over and bent down next to her. Her finger pointed to a set of numbers on her screen, lots of numbers in a wide variety of amounts ranging from pennies to five figures.
“You’re going to have to explain what I’m looking at here.”
Her vibrant, purple-painted fingernail stopped at a figure and trailed up, scrolling the touchscreen on her computer all the way back to the top. “First, Addi’s dad is skimming from Johanssen. Or at least he was, starting about three years ago. These are the transactions I’ve found of withdrawals from the mayor’s account. Started miniscule, a couple dollars every couple of months, before moving up to fifty, then hundred. Increased slowly until it was a thousand or so. Not enough for the mayor to notice since his portfolio is pretty robust.”
I tapped my fingers on her desk and chewed on my lip. This didn’t make sense. Why steal from the guy who already paid you what I assumed was a decent commission? “Explain.”
“My guess, because it’s common, is he started skimming to see if he could get away with it. My bet is if I dig further into his financials, I’ll see he’s done it to a lot of his clients, tying up his accounts in an offshore account away from the feds in case anything ever happened.”
“No shit?”
She shrugged, scrolled on the computer, and typed rapidly on her keyboard. She had tortoise shell glasses perched on her nose. It wouldn’t have surprised me if people underestimated Charlie based on her dreads and vibrant colors. The fact that she was barely five feet tall probably contributed to it as well, but I’d seen her take down Jaxon when we were sparring in the weight room after work one night.
This chick was tough as nails, with three brothers who were all Navy SEALs, Briggs being one of them.
“No shit,” she confirmed. “Once I was able to hack into their accounts, I just matched finances from Marquess and Johanssen, but I bet this isn’t the first guy he’s stolen from.”
One piece clicked. The timing fit. “And a year ago, when those amounts grew larger and he grew more confident, Johanssen found out. Brought him to heel, and since Daniel wanted Addi…”
“Daniel got Addi.”
Fuck.Now that was typical entitled rich people shit. “So what’s the maze?”
“A year ago, those amounts increased at alarmingly higher rates. He went from a grand here and there to fifty, twenty—one withdrawal of eighty-five.”
“Thousand. Holy shit.”
“Yeah, but they don’t go to his accounts like the others.”
“Where do they go?”
She turned and glanced up at me, shrugging. “I have no fucking clue. I can’t get a lock on the numbers or accounts anywhere else.”
So it was a dead end, at least for now, but we’d learned Addi’s dad was a complete and utter prick of a father and a thief. I stood, crossing my arms over my chest. I gave a quick glance at Jaxon’s office. I still needed to meet with him.
“I told him I wanted a few minutes with you first,” she said, like she knew my concerns.
“Okay.” I started trying to unravel this mess as it hit me. “So, he gets busted stealing, and instead of getting fired, he’s forced to make his daughter date a major asshole. And then…what? What’s he taking that money for? Because Johanssen wouldn’t let him keep taking it?”
“That’s the maze. That’s why I can’t find them. They bounce through different routing numbers, accounts, all legit corps. And then they vanish.”
My brows rose. “Vanish? How do money and tracing disappear?”
“They don’t,” she said, her voice hard as steel. “That’s the problem.” Her fingers kept clicking, and she brought up another ledger. “This, though…” She stopped and pointed at a deposit into one of Marquess’s accounts. “This came right before New Year’s Day.”
I breathed out a whistle. “That’s a shit ton of money.” Almost seven figures.
“The next day, Addi’s engaged, and I have no idea where that came from.”
You have to be kidding.She gave me wide eyes, expecting me to click the pieces together, and when I did, my entire body rattled with what she was suggesting. “Are you saying hesoldhis daughter?”
I was wrong—complete and utter prick of a father didn’t begin to describe this guy.
