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Beckett stared into the middle distance for a few seconds. “About thirty inbound transactions, I believe.”
“And how much money are we talking about in total?” she asked.
“About twelve million.”
Hez whistled. His mind went back to financial fraud cases he’d prosecuted. “Did the money always get smurfed out on the same day?”
Beckett nodded again. “Yes, same hour usually. Sometimes even the same minute. The money stayed on the university’s books for as little time as possible. And all the transactions went through an obscure account that seems to have been set up specifically for money laundering. If you’re not in the right database and specifically looking for suspicious transactions, you’d never find it.”
Hez thought for a moment. Whoever had done this was pretty sophisticated, but some parts of the scheme would be hard to fake. But which ones? He searched his memory for a moment, then snapped his fingers. “The bank will have verified the identity of whoever opened the account. Who was it?”
“It was . . .” Beckett took a deep breath and looked at Savannah, who was still poring over her papers. “The account was opened by someone claiming to be Jessica Legare.”
* * *
Savannah placed small pumpkins among the deep red chrysanthemums on Ella’s grave. The flowers and pumpkins added a bright splash of color. The earthy, pungent scent of the mums mingled with the odor of decaying vegetation in the wooded area around the cemetery. The leaves wouldn’t start falling for another month, and she’d need to do cleanup from then until February.
She moved around to the back of the headstone and stopped at the sight of a waterlogged stuffed puppy lying upside down as if it had fallen off. She picked it up and saw a tag that read “Daddy loves you.” Her throat tightened at the realization Hez had to have placed it on the headstone. She battled the sting in her eyes at the thought of him coming here alone like she did. If only they could have faced this battle together these past years.
She turned at the sound of crunching oyster shells echoing up the hillside. Jess’s blonde hair came into view. Savannah dusted the dirt from her fingers on her jeans and went to await her sister on the bench overlooking the peaceful scene. It might not have been the best idea to meet here, but she’d wanted to make sure no one overheard them. Jess was apt to raise her voice at the news Savannah meant to share.
Jess wore jeans and a bright blue cotton sweater. She dropped onto the bench beside Savannah. “Are you all right? I was worried when you wanted to meet up here.”
“I’m fine. I wanted to decorate Ella’s grave for fall.”
Jess glanced over at the mounds of flowers and pumpkins. “It’s so pretty. I remember how Ella’s eyes widened when she helped pull the goo out of the pumpkin’s innards when she was a year old. It was so funny. I still have a picture of her.”
Her daughter had died too early that second autumn to decorate a pumpkin. “I remember.” Savannah couldn’t let anything swamp her and keep her from launching into the reason she’d asked to see her sister. “I have some news on the investigation to share with you.”
Jess’s brows winged up. “What’s happened?”
“Hez got the security camera video. Tony Guzman is clean. He was doing exactly what he’d said. Professor Hinkle was also legit.” She licked her lips. “I can’t say the same for Erik Andersen. He went in with a duffel bag.”
“He carried out artifacts?”
Savannah shook her head. “He took things out—a wine bottle, corkscrew, glasses, and candles.”
Jess stilled. “That sounds like he was expecting a—a woman.”
“Exactly. A young woman showed up for a romantic tryst. He appears to be using the warehouse to hide an affair with a student.”
“That’s strictly against university policy.”
“I know.” Savannah examined her sister’s expression. The hooded eyes and tight mouth spoke of suppressed pain. “Do you still see him at all?”
Jess lowered her head to stare at her hands. “Not in ages.” She lifted her head again and caught Savannah’s gaze. “Don’t go all sympathetic on me. I got over Erik a long time ago.”
Jess could say that all she wanted, but Savannah had her doubts. They’d been engaged eleven years ago, and she’d never seen her sister so happy. When their relationship collapsed, Jess had retreated into her own world, and she’d never let Savannah back inside. Or anyone else, for that matter. Jess had vanished into the all-consuming world of New York finance for almost a decade. When she moved back to TGU two years ago, she’d brought back some of that Wall Street intensity. She had thrown herself into her work and rarely had time for outside activities. She still went to New York for business regularly, but Savannah hadn’t seen her go out with a man since Erik. Had she discovered him cheating?
Jess stood and paced in front of the park bench. “I’ll need to do something about this. It can’t continue.” She stopped and thrust her hands in the pockets of her cotton sweater. “What about Beckett’s investigation into the financials? I want him to quit poking around as soon as possible, and he’s had ample time to evaluate them.”
Savannah hadn’t been prepared for that question. “You’ll have to talk to him about that.” She rose and went to pluck a weed from her daughter’s grave.
Jess followed her. “What’s going on, Savannah? You’re hiding something.”
Savannah was terrible at keeping secrets. She tossed the weed away and turned to face her sister. “He found evidence of something called ‘smurfing.’ Twelve million dollars have gone through the account and back out again in a matter of minutes. It’s an obscure account that seems to have been set up to launder money.”
“Money laundering.” Jess shook her head. “Listen to yourself. This isn’t a movie. No one is laundering money through any of our accounts. Beckett is hardly an expert on finances. I don’t believe it—not for a second.”
