Weekend in Paradise Ch. 25

Ice got me a nice cold glass of chocolate milk to drink. Dan had a glass of water to chill out as he had to drive. Ice fixed herself a rum and coke as she didn't drink much at the reception this time. She just wanted to chill.

I called Devon to see if he had any info first. I put the phone on speaker so Dan and Ice could hear.

"Hi Nelson, Have I got some news for you. We had to dig deep to get it." He excitedly said.

"Dan, you better take notes, you might need them." I said knowing this was gonna be long from the sounds of thinks.

"Jeffers was a part owner in a strip club called the Kitten a long while ago. Chad Dale and a girl by the name of Suzie Heart were the bartenders before it was raided and closed for prostitution. With me so far as this gets complicated." Devon said.

"Simple so far." we replied.

"Both of them were college seniors at the time. Dale was an honor student in accounting while Heart was top of the class in Criminal Investigations at the time. Supposedly they were hiring hard up coeds for dancing and prostitution. An undercover agent busted the place because one of the dancers gave him a blow job in the bathroom for fifty bucks. It was enough to close the place down but they didn't have enough evidence for anything else." he said making sure we didn't get confused.

"What does Suzie Heart have to do with this?" I asked as the name doen't ring a bell.

"I'll get to that. Chad Dale got a job at one of Jeffers new car auto dealerships as a finance officer soon after. That dealership got caught in a money laundering scam. They were selling expensive new cars for a cash deal then taking them back two or three days later for a full refund. Then they would resell the car as 1-owner at cost. He was then at an investment firm with no known affiliation. He was prone to make hidden errors that were hard to spot but wasn't harmful. They had enough after awhile and fired him before he showed up here. We are not sure but it looks like the hidden errors could be money laundering again. The SEC investigation at Lancasters was because of his doings. Somewhere he either added or dropped a zero and nobody caught it. He was on vacation when he made the error. That sound suspicious enough?" Devon said out of breath.

"It sure is, we need to catch him in the act and I think we have." I replied.

"Thanks for your help Devon." I said.

"Wait I got more." Devon added.

"There was a reason to tell you about Suzie Heart. Her name mysteriously changed to Denise Hagarty. We caught that because of year books. She was the salesperson that garnered all the commissions. Denise Hagarty supposedly died in a car wreck right before they got busted at the car dealership. Her roommate at the time was Abbey Eisner who worked for the SEC for a while. Did you get that? Devon asked wisely.

"You think Eisner is Heart?" I asked trying to confirm it. It still doesn't ring a bell with me. I said wondering why he was talking about her.

"It will make sense in a minute. Your VP at the bank is Heath Drake, he changed his name to his wifes, Lena Drake, when they got married. She comes from money as you know. His name before that was Heath Evans and was a loan officer at a bank that did business with Chad Dale at the car dealership. Heath and Chad are cousins. You needed a link and that is it. Devon said excitedly.

"Your right, that is the link we have been looking for." I said happily.

"Their is still more. Abbey Eisner married Heath Evans but never changed her last name. We found a marriage certificate but that is it. He became branch manager there for awhile before he married Lena. Because of her, he was offered the VP job at your main bank, nepotism. He also changed his Last name to Drake for Lena, more prestige. Devon said letting that sink in.

"Sounds like he was wanting to live the good life. You think he was going to take Lena for everything she had?" I asked interested.

"It is possible, but there was a prenup we aren't privvy to. We know they have been married for almost five years. Which gives him a long time to set something up." Devon said calculating.

"So why hasn't he acted by now?" I asked not understanding.

"We think it is the prenup. It may be stopping him from doing anything til about now. Devon said guessing.

"I can see that how that could become sticky." I said.

"Anyway, his current secretary is Abbey Eisner which is his first wife. Abbey Eisner may be Suzie Heart also but we are certain she is Denise Hagarty." Devon said a mouthful.

"That is why AJ thinks Drake is having an affair with his secretary. Actually they are but they are husband and wife also. That gets complicated. That is why the name Abbey Eisner doesn't ring a bell. We didn't do the background checks on them because of Lena. There is a good chance none was ever done." I said thoughtfully.

"I am not asking how you got all that info." Dan said mystified.

"We have our ways you know." said Devon out of breath.

"Thank you so much Devon. Have a good evening." I said thankfully and hung up.

"Get all that Dan?" I asked as he was busy writing names down.

"I sure as hell hope so. Damn, it could have been days to get that kind of information on three people like that. You got it in one day." said Dan shaking his head.

"Now you have the rats, all we need is the money." I said knowing it would wrap things up.

"Well, he is having an affair on his wife with his wife. That could be something new?" I said laughing.

"Your so funny Nelson." Dan said laughing.

"A thought just crossed my mind, Dan." I said thinking about his wife Lena.

I opened my laptop to check for an info update. Sure enough there was one. I checked it out. "Well, isn't that special." I said.

"What?" asked Dan.

"My boys came up with some of the same information but drew a blank on Abbey Eisner other than she worked for the SEC at one time.

I called AJ at Site 1. "Yes boss. You need something?" She asked inquisitively.

"Yes, I do. Can you see if Lena Drake has had any large transactions in the last three months or several small ones." I asked thinking the money may have been stolen from her accounts.

"Yes and No. The accounts have been tampered with but no transactions. It is nearly empty by her standards. Either someone is stealing it or using it to cover up." AJ replied.

"How long would it take to cross reference accounts six months ago to current balances with a difference of say fifty million." I asked.

"There shouldn't be that many but it will take a while." AJ replied.

"Thanks AJ you have been a big help. Have a good night." I said hanging up.

"Well, Dan, we have a couple scenarios. If they are covering something up. We need the accounts, to tell who and why. If they are stealing money, you would think they would be long gone. That is all I got." I said thinking of other possible scenarios.

"You know, all these scams have one common goal. Move vast sums of money without losing value. The employees have high end jobs and are not hurting for money personally. They are probably making money on the deals and getting a kick back besides. Much more viable than losing up to thirty cents or more on the dollar." Dan said thinking it over.

"Millie said that Morgan was going over Chad Dale's paperwork Thursday night. He must have discovered something, that is why he forgot about setting a new door code til Friday morning. He must have confronted him Friday and Chad couldn't sync the phone on Friday with the new code. Millie said he dropped the phone Friday before leaving for work, he didn't have it with him. The battery was dead Saturday morning and he had to leave it home to charge." I said piecing things together.

"That all makes perfect sense." Dan declared.

"Chad Dale ordered the hit on Morgan because he could expose him, not because of what happened on Saturday afternoon. They didn't start the cover up until the story broke Saturday. They didn't have time to finish the cover up without drawing suspicion." Dan realized.

"Exactly." I said agreeing with Dan.

"Heath Drake must have been using his wifes money to fund the subsidiary accounts until the actual money arrived. The money isn't coming so they had to back it out. The question now is, how greedy Is Heath Drake?" I said smugly figuring it all out.

"That is a highly probable scenario. It fits as well. The last statement baffles me though." Dan said scratching his head.

"We know Heath Drake is married to two women. We have determined he has the money that he thinks no one else knows about other than Chad Dale. He could take the money and run or put it back. Abbey Eisner and Chad Dale may not know he has the money but would know about the cover up at a minimum. Lena Drake may or may not be an innocent pawn." I said sounding chipper.

"I agree with all that. It is all circumstantial at this point however. We have enough to arrest them on suspicion however." Dan said thinking it all over.

"If you don't do it now, we will only have enough information to get them fired." I said convincingly.

"How so?" implored Dan.

"If Heath Drake gets the money back where it belongs, we can only prove they moved money around that looks shady. He could get it done before we get to the terminal." I said dubiously.

"You are right as always. Maybe we can get them to roll on each other. That is why you think Ella is still in danger and possibly Lena Drake also." Dan stated not surprised.

The phone rang with Ed's number being displayed. I answered putting it on speaker. "Hi Ed, what's up?" I inquired.

"Sorry, but I had to have help on this one as I wasn't getting anywhere. Devon said he talked to you already." Ed related.

"Yes, I didn't know you knew him." I stated unknowingly.

"A club like that needs help from time to time. I knew most of you belonged, just never said anything before. As long as it was legit, we left it alone when I was on the force. They were going to make me an honorary member but the price was too much for me. He even offered us a job, we liked your offer better." Ed said laughing.

"Never thought of that." I said laughing as well.

"You were right about the houses being watched and I mean all of them. They have no clue where you are however. They are still looking for Ella and Mel. Did you know Eastside gang members still squeal like pigs?" he said laughing.

"No, I didn't know that. Couldn't find professionals, odd. Chad Dale is still afraid Ella knows something. They know she works for John, we are all on the board." I stated rather blandly.

"What do you want me to do with him?" Ed asked. "Does he know anything about anyone else Devon talked about?" I asked.

"Just a minute." Ed said.

"Well Dan, you gonna make a move now?" I asked feverishly.

He got cut off when Ed said excitedly, "Lena Drake made his eyes go big. She is suppose to be kidnapped tomorrow."

More fuel to the fire, I thought.

"I'll have all locals go gather them all up for suspicion of burglary quietly. Just hold him til they get there." Dan said.

"Thanks a bunch Ed, you guys need a vacation after this." I said laughing.

"You got that right and I think I know where." He said laughing as he hung up.

"The kidnapping is to cover up the cover up and steal the laundered IPO money at the same time." I said dramatically.

"I don't get all that. You are going to explain I hope." Dan asked with interest.

"Easy. Heath Drake was going to steal Lena's money so he and Abbey Eisner could run off. AJ said they were having an affair not knowing she was his wife also. Opportunity, he puts her money back and takes enough out for the ransom. Takes the laundered IPO money that only three people know about, since Chad Dale was Gilroy's only accountant for the money. They make a big fuss over him for a few days not looking into what was really going on. Let things cool down for a week or so then split the money and run, living happily ever after. Abbey Eisner knows how to change peoples names and has already set that up I imagine." I explained.

"The only way to prove it is to move now before he can get the money back. It all makes sense. We would be chasing our tails with a setup kidnapping." Dan said understand the implications.

"You got it. Your call." I said.

"A lot of people are going to hate me because of the time, but I'll get cracking on it." Dan said with a frown. He got up and left saying good bye to us.

"Another cup of coffee or anything, Master? That was very exciting listening to you hammer it all out." my loving wife analyzed.

"Just your ass on my lap." I ordered.

"Yes, Master!" she cooed with a smile. She came over set in my lap and we started kissing.