Page 60 of Don’t Say a Word (Angelhart Investigations #2)

“When I spoke to a financial crimes detective, she said that EBT fraud wouldn’t work on a scale like this because the inventory wouldn’t match and the corporate office would eventually figure it out.

On a small scale, staff could cover it up, but this is a dozen people a day.

For what? A hundred, two hundred bucks a pop? ”

“It’s much bigger than that,” Cal said. “We’re talking thousands of dollars a day per location.

EBT fraud is rampant—people get cards fraudulently, clone cards, steal cards.

Find a business that will let them buy alcohol with the card, sell drugs under the table, but this operation is far more sophisticated.

And it can’t be hidden. Your staff can’t steal from you.

You’re getting five thousand dollars in receipts without the corresponding product sales.

” He closed his eyes. “So, there’s roughly 3300 transactions a week in a small convenience store, which is about 450 a day.

If the average is twenty dollars—easy math here—that’s nine thousand a day in gross sales.

” He opened his yes, nodded. “Five thousand dollars a day more—that’s more than fifty percent increase in sales than a store this size and location should have.

It’s going to pop for any accountant worth their salt. ”

I tensed. “You’re saying the corporate office is involved.” I pointed to the picture of John Brighton. “Like him. Elijah took his picture—he works for the Cactus Stop. He’s Manny Ramos’s nephew.”

“It just takes one person in the right position, someone with access to the accounting system. Fudge the numbers, it won’t show up unless there is a full audit—a real audit, not just bookkeeping checks.”

“Manny Ramos is going to audit his store next week,” I said. “And now, my number one suspect is his nephew.” Stealing from family—that really burned me.

I told them that my mom and I filled Manny Ramos in on what we thought Desi was up to at the store.

“Why would you do that?” Hitch snapped. “Why not come to the police with the information.”

“Oh, maybe because you were avoiding us?” I snapped back.

“We would have opened an investigation.”

Jack put his hand up. “We’re working together now,” he said.

Hitch looked like he wanted to argue, but Cal said, “We’re not going to get a warrant without more evidence. Like your witness. You have someone on the inside?” He looked at me hopefully.

“I have a scared kid who doesn’t think he can quit, but yeah, he’s seen things that are suspicious. But I’m not putting him in danger. One teenager was already killed.”

“And two teachers,” Jack said. “This also goes back to Sun Valley.”

“Who did you miss?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Cal said and sat down. He looked glum. “I didn’t think we missed anyone at Sun Valley, and the supplier wouldn’t be on campus. That wouldn’t make sense, because they wouldn’t need the middle man in Ben Bradford. Plus his monthly trip to Yuma.”

“Which could have been a distraction,” Jack said.

Tess and Luisa walked in. “You guys are having a party and didn’t tell us?” Tess said.

Jack introduced Hitch and Cal. I stared at my board.

Cal had moved a few things around as he spoke, and I saw everything much clearer.

Elijah knew Desi was selling drugs, but hadn’t understood exactly how it worked.

Had he been following the people she sold tickets to?

Is that what got him killed? Or had he reached out to the corporate office. .. and someone from there killed him?

“I didn’t know you were coming in,” Jack said to our sisters.

“We’ve been working,” Tess said, “and I called Mom to let her know what we found, and she said you and Margo were here.”

She waited a beat.

“Apparently,” I said, “we’re working together.” I waved hands to include Cal and Hitch. “Did you find something?”

“Yes,” Tess said. “I went back to the Bradfords. Went back as far as I could and found that Cecilia Bradford’s maiden name is Brighton.”

I stared. “Brighton? Same name as the guy in the Tesla? Manny Ramos’s nephew?”

“Her parents are William and Sylvia Brighton. Sylvia’s maiden name is Torrens. The name sounded familiar, so I went through all my notes. Manny Ramos’s wife, who died seven years ago of breast cancer, her maiden name was Torrens. They’re sisters.”

“Cecilia is Ramos’s niece,” I said again. “But how does John Brighton fit in? Her brother? He’d be much younger than her.”

“Cecilia is an only child,” Tess said. “I think John is her son. I can’t prove it, but on paper it works.

After a lot of digging, I learned Cecilia had a baby in high school.

She was sixteen and there were whispers of sexual assault.

She never named the father. Her parents went through a nasty divorce around that time, and she moved in with her aunt and uncle—Manny and Marisol Ramos.

While living there, she had the baby, then finished school, then left town.

Basically, disappeared. At least until the wedding announcement for Cecilia Torrens and Ben Bradford eight years later. ”

“Why did she use her mother’s maiden name?” I asked.

Tess shrugged. “Don’t know. But while it’s not widely known, there is ample evidence that Manny Ramos raised his nephew , John Brighton.”

Cal walked over to the whiteboard. He’d moved some of my notes around and added additional information.

I saw the truth.

“Shit,” I said softly. “Can we prove this?”

He had laid out what was essentially a pyramid scheme where dealers bought drugs from the Cactus Stop through a ticketing system, then ran their own little mini operations.

Like the Bradford operation, it compartmentalized the organization, so if one person was caught, it wouldn’t take down the entire network.

It all ran around the Cactus Stop on Hatcher Street.

Cal said, “It would take a huge multi-agency task force, including the FBI, to come in and audit the books. We have more than enough to launch the investigation, but we can’t shut them down overnight.”

“Unless we can prove murder,” I said. The final piece clicked into place for me.

“Manny Ramos hired Elijah’s mother last year to his janitorial staff.

She got Elijah the job at the Cactus Stop.

Based on Megan’s text messages to Elijah, he knew that Desi was running a drug operation.

Maybe he ignored it because of his mom, or because he didn’t know who to go to, but when Megan died, he couldn’t ignore it any longer. ”

It fit. It fit how he was protective of his mother, how he became preoccupied, and why he was being discreet taking the pictures. He wanted to have evidence before he turned anything over to the police.

Could he have gone to the wrong person? Like John Brighton, which would explain why Elijah had his address. Maybe he went to his house to tell him his suspicions... and that was the wrong person to confide in.

Would John Brighton have done this on his own? He’d been raised by his uncle—could he have betrayed him so deeply? Or...

“Did Ramos know about this?” I asked the group.

Cal shrugged. “It’s his business. I’d think so, but not necessarily, especially if he’s hands-off.”

“I tipped him off,” I said and clenched my fists. “Dammit!”

“He owns the company, he has no record, and he’s a philanthropist,” Cal said.

“He may not work day-to-day in that business. But Brighton? He’s now my target.

Because he works for the company, he lives very well, and he has a connection to the Bradfords.

He could have picked up where they left off.

He could be the conduit to the supplier.

And you show right here—” he tapped my board “—that Elijah looked up his address and photographed his vehicle.”

“I think I can help here,” Luisa said. “I broke the security on the thumb drive.” She walked over to the television in the corner and plugged the thumb drive into the side.

“I didn’t even know the TV had a USB port,” I muttered to Jack.

“Neither did I,” he admitted.

Luisa used the remote to quickly navigate to an app on the television, then launched the flash drive. “Jack, lights?”

Jack pressed a couple of buttons on the table and the lights dimmed. On the television, the first video played.

“Where is that?” Cal asked.

Lu shrugged. “A residence. Look at the angle, the camera is on the ground, I think under a couch.” She pointed to the top of the screen. “It’s tilted slightly so we can see the people when they sit down, but not when they’re standing”

Scott Jimenez was the first to come clearly into view when he sat down on a chair to the left of the camera. He looked almost directly at the camera.

“He knows it’s there,” Cal and I said at the same time.

A male voice said, “Are you in?”

“Yeah,” Scott said. “This really sucks.”

“Eric burned us.”

The voice stepped into the frame—he could be seen chest down. He reached into his pocket and took out a gun. He wore gloves. As he bent to put the gun on the table, his profile came into view.

“Brighton,” Cal said. “I’ll be damned.”

“What if I get caught?” Scott asked.

“We’ll take care of you,” John said. “Buddy, you’re a minor. You’re not going to do serious time. If you’re caught, plead down, you’ll be out by the time you’re nineteen. I suppose I can have Desi do it...”

“No, no, I’ll do it. She’s too volatile.”

“If anything goes wrong, you know who hired you.”

“Prick of a coach who didn’t realize he promoted the wrong person.”

John leaned down and clamped a hand on Scott’s shoulder. His full face came into view. He was a handsome young man, I thought. What a waste. “Just remember, don’t say a word beyond what we agreed to, understand?”

“I’m good. Thank you for trusting me with this. I won’t let you down.”

“You never have,” John said.

John left and a minute later Scott got up, bent down, and retrieved the camera. The video shut off.

“That’s why they killed him,” I said. “He tried to blackmail Brighton when he got out of jail.”