Page 26 of Ghostly Bother (Ghostly #9)

Angus was having a hard time concentrating on the case.

His thoughts were on Lance and replaying their phone conversation earlier.

He was sure they'd get through this, but he couldn't help but feel like he'd done enough damage to their relationship that it was going to take time to recover.

He wanted to be with Lance and not sitting in endless meetings and interviews, listening to the dead ends that all their leads were producing.

This case was the worst. They had proof of crimes, but not a single lead to tell them who murdered Eden.

"This is getting us nowhere," Franks complained.

"We got a couple of new names to look at." Angus tapped the folder sitting on his desk. "Thanks to the charges being filed against the companies who were bribing the Mayor's Office, people are running scared. They're doing everything they can to give the appearance they're cooperating with us."

Franks shook his head. "Sharing information isn't going to help them. The charges of bribery are serious. I expect once the news picks up on this that several of those companies will be going out of business."

"Hopefully." Angus stood and poured another cup of coffee.

As he sat back down, he rolled his shoulders, wishing the day was over.

"I've requested warrants to look into the city council's personal bank accounts.

That bribe money had to be going somewhere.

Eden was smart enough not to put it in her name, but where the hell is it? "

Franks shrugged. "Maybe we should run her kid's names? Perhaps a trust or something we overlooked?"

"That should have shown on our initial investigation, but it's worth a shot.

" Angus sighed. "It would make sense that she'd put the money in a nest egg for her children.

Still, knowing Eden, she'd want to have access to the money.

She'd want to spend it on herself. I don't see her risking all this just to let her kids have it all when they turn eighteen or twenty-one.

From what I've seen, she isn't very concerned about her children.

If I died, I'd spend all my time with family.

I'm not even sure she goes over there to check on them. She's almost constantly with Lance."

"From all accounts, she wasn't any more attentive to them while she was alive.

It sounds like her husband and sister took care of the kids while she worked and played political games.

Her husband dropped the kids off at school and picked them up, and her sister babysat on days the kids weren't in school and the parents worked. "

Angus sat forward. "Where does Rachel work again?" He started tapping keys on his keyboard, searching the computer for notes on their interview with her.

"She works part time at the Fairway Gym. A yoga instructor or something. She also works from home. Some kind of graphic art or website creator, I think." Franks narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"She's got that nice little house not too far from Eden's. She's single, so only one income. Unless she's very talented, I doubt she's making enough money to afford a mortgage on that home she has."

"Maybe she inherited it?" Franks suggested.

"Or maybe we shouldn't be looking for accounts, but property.

" Angus started searching for property records in Eden or her husband's name but came up with nothing they didn't already know about.

He then searched for the sister's name and sat back.

"Well, well…" He grinned at Franks. "Rachel has her house, a condo in town, and three other properties in the area. "

"I went into the wrong business. I should have gone into graphic design," Franks commented. "Expensive properties?"

"Not extreme, but better than what you and I are living in.

I need to do a bigger search and see if she owns anything outside this area.

" He glanced over at Franks. "This has bugged me from the beginning.

We knew the bribes were in cash since she was killed while going out to receive one.

Lucas Jenkin told us in his interview that he would pay her in twenty-thousand-dollar increments.

It's small enough to handle, and not huge enough to raise too many eyebrows.

You deposit a few thousand every few days and don't trigger anything on your bank accounts to alert the feds.

Or you pay cash for large item purchases that you either let sit or resale.

What bothered me was we weren't seeing any of those large, priced items in Eden or her husband's name.

But what do you want to bet that Rachel has a few in her name? " Angus continued searching.

"Bingo." Franks pointed to his own monitor.

"Rachel Reese has a brand-new Tesla registered in her name, along with a boat that was registered in her name about six months ago.

I also see registration for several jet skis.

That's just a simple glance at in-state registrations.

Who knows what we'll find if we expand the search? "

"Looks like we found where the money is going.

Stuff like the boat and jet skis are easily used by the whole family.

We need to look into any vacations the family has taken recently.

See if there is a location they often go to.

We may find more property there." Angus smiled at Franks.

"Doesn't solve the murder, but at least we have an idea where the money might be going. "

"There's still millions missing. This doesn't even begin to cover what she's taken, but it's a start." Franks took a deep breath. "You going home tonight?"

Angus shook his head. "Not yet. Lance wants to give it a few more days.

I'll be here most of the weekend anyway.

I'm curious how things went with Betty around today, but I haven't wanted to call or text to find out.

I risked that quick call this morning, but it really is best if Eden thinks we aren't talking at all. "

"I'd love to see Eden's reaction when she finds out we're investigating her sister." Franks stood.

"She'd know already if she hung around us instead of bothering Lance. She could have told us where the money was going, but she refused. She had to know we'd dig into it. Hell, the audit should have been looking for the money once they proved the bribes were taking place."

"I still want to dig deeper. Look into any other family contacts that she might have invested the money with.

I doubt she'd trust too many people. Her parents are dead, so other than her sister, I'm not sure who she's close enough to trust. Hell, I'm a bit shocked her sister would take the risk for her.

" Franks finished off the pot of coffee, set the cup on his desk, then went back to the coffee maker.

"Be back. Got to refill this." He lifted the coffee carafe up.

Angus put in a request to get warrants on Rachel Reese's financial records and started searching for property records outside the state.

He'd search the country, then beyond if he had to.

While this break was huge and would open doors in the investigation of the mayor taking bribes, it didn't do much to help with the murder case.

"We need to reinterview Rachel now that we're aware of this." Franks walked back into the office and went about starting a new pot of coffee.

"We need to get all the information we can first and make sure we have solid proof that it was the bribery money Rachel used.

For all we know she might have won the lottery, though I think we both agree that's not likely.

" Angus glanced over at Franks. "I don't want to bring her in until we know we have something solid on her. "

"So, if we are going off the idea that Eden gave her sister the bribery cash to hide by buying property and items, do you think her husband knew?" Franks asked.

"Maybe. We confirmed he'd filed for divorce.

It would make sense he knew what was going on and was trying to distance himself from it all before it blew up in their faces.

I'm not sure we'll ever know who knew what.

We know Eden was accepting cash bribes ranging from ten thousand to a hundred thousand dollars at a time.

According to the audit report, this had been going on for at least two years.

We can assume that almost every construction project the city has handled in the last two years has been given to the highest bidder.

That would be the revamp of the City Center, the skate park that just opened, and the hospital being built.

Just thinking of stuff around town, there's been a lot of construction going on.

I'm not the one to know what was funded by the city or by private companies, but the audit breaks it down for us.

" Angus really didn't want to read the full audit, but it looked like he needed to so he could get an idea of how much money possibly changed hands.

"The audit lists several companies possibly involved.

The district attorney's office was looking into the audit report and investigating deeper before they charged anyone.

Eden's death just rushed the process and pushed it into our laps as well. "

"Lucky us," Franks sighed.

"While I run down Rachel Reese's financials, why don't you work on digging deeper into her personal life.

Is she dating anyone? Traveled recently?

Just see what you can find. We'll need warrants, but to get them, we need evidence.

I'd love to get hold of her phone records for the last few months. " Angus rubbed the back of his neck.

"Speaking of phone records, Detective Burns finally got Eden's personal phone records for the past year. She's in court today but said she is working her way through them during down time. She said she'd be in later today to finish."

"She hint at anything interesting?"