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“Sorry,” I said. “I have to interrupt. Do you think that Aston is also involved with the rogue CIA guys? That was one of our theories.”
Mike snorted, rolling his eyes at Cassidy. “Do you think our captain would hire them as detectives? They’d be better than some of the schmucks the LAPD has on the job.”
Cassidy chuckled before turning to us. “In fact, we know Aston is connected through the cartel, but we’re not sure about the rogue CIA cell.” He winced. “God, calling them a cell makes my stomach turn.”
“Mine too.”
“Still, we haven’t made that connection yet,” Mike replied. “Like Cassidy said, the connection we found is through the cartel and Mancuso.”
“Salvatore Mancuso works for the cartel,” Cassidy continued. “At least we think so.”
“How?” Miguel asked.
I nodded vigorously. I was also interested in that answer.
“Gregory Aston is the attorney of record for several low-level Sanchez Cartel thugs. He represented them in small-time busts and that means he’s on the cartel payroll.”
“Shit,” I said.
Cassidy nodded. “When Benedict Flores and Brian Leopard went into the casino business, the original investors—the single, silent investor actually—was the Sanchez Cartel. They fronted Benedict Flores fifty million dollars for the start-up but then pulled out when the town council where they were going to build it, started making noise. The cartel didn’t want anyone looking into their involvement, or more precisely, any negative headlines. Casinos always make headlines but if someone on the town council decided to stage protests, it would turn negative. And whenever these things happen, someone always looks at the investors’ books.”
“And the Sanchez Cartel sure as hell didn’t want anyone knowing where the money for the start-up was coming from, so they pulled out,” Mike said.
“That’s when Brian Leopard stepped up and decided to fully fund the casino project instead,” Miguel said.
“Right,” Cassidy replied.
It made sense. “Do you think Brian Leopard knows Benedict’s original investors were the Sanchez Cartel?”
“We don’t know, but I doubt it,” Cassidy said. “It could be he completely trusted Benedict. They’d been friends for years. Leopard probably thought all Benedict had to do was give the money back to the original investors, and it was a done deal. As of now, though, we don’t know if Flores ever returned it.”
“He didn’t,” I said. “At least I don’t think so.”
“How do you know?” Mike asked.
“Because our assistant, Judy Mendez, found an account in Benedict Flores’ name with fifty million dollars in a Cayman Island bank. And come to think of it, the account was opened right around the time the casino broke ground.”
Cassidy and Mike exchanged a look before turning their regard back to us.
“Well, then the cartel has been extremely patient,” Miguel said. “That’s been like five years. Why on earth would they have waited?”
“If the fifty million belongs to the cartel, why would Benedict Flores stick the cartel’s money in a trust fund in Tawny’s name? That’s super risky. He set it up so she can’t get to it until she’s thirty. That’s five years from now.” I looked back at Cassidy and Mike. “We’ve always thought that she and Mancuso were lovers and that they decided to kill her husband to get to the money sooner, but maybe it was all just a big middle finger to the cartel. But Flores had to know playing games with fifty million dollars of cartel money was a death sentence. I wonder why he didn’t just give it back.”
“If you’re right, I’d say greed played heavily into that decision,” Mike said. “After all, Benedict Flores was a casino owner, the very definition of a sick gambler.”
“A total idiot,” Miguel said. “And now, it’s out of reach because it’s in a trust fund in the Cayman Islands.”
“For the time being, anyway,” Cassidy said. “My guess is that a trust fund like that can’t be broken that easily. What do you want to bet that Aston’s desperately been working on trying to do that?”
Mike nodded. “Makes sense, and it also makes sense that he would insert Salvatore Mancuso into Tawny’s life to keep eyeballs on Benedict’s private business. Having Mancuso there, might also explain the ruby theft.”
“Right, you said you think Aston had Mancuso steal the ruby,” Miguel said. “That part doesn’t make any sense. Mancuso and Aston both work for the cartel so why would Aston take the risk of having Mancuso steal the ruby when he might tell the cartel about it? That would put Aston’s life in extreme danger.”
“Since we think Aston was trying to get the cartel’s fifty million back by breaking the trust, maybe allowing him to pad his own pockets with a two-million-dollar ruby was no big deal to them,” Mike said. “The ruby never belonged to the cartel. Why would they care if Aston worked little side projects?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because they’d be crossing the rogue CIA cell?” I asked.
“Maybe Aston had no idea about the rogue CIA guys,” Mike said. “Aston thought the ruby was part of Benedict’s estate for generations. That’s what he was told by Tawny and probably by Benedict Flores himself. He might have simply decided that he could sell the ruby at an auction to pad his own pockets. But then, you guys uncovered the plot with the whole rogue CIA group, and he probably found out there were other stones. Who the fuck knows what motivated him after that. In the short term anyway, he could sell the ruby for a couple of million, but then by keeping you close, also get a line on where the other stones were.”