Page 108 of You Know Why

Drake catches her eye. “Nice digs.”

“Not exactly what you’d expect for a financial conglomerate.”

“They like to be comfortable. I mean, you saw the house. It’s even bigger than this.”

“Yeah, but that was contemporary, almost Frank Lloyd Wright–esque. The is neoclassic with Greek Revival touches. Much more appropriate to the Southern milieu. Complete opposite. Unless you want to assume they’re going for clean lines, then a case could be made that the two buildings have a similar nature.”

“Way to geek out on me, T-Lee.” Drake smiles. “Let’s go interrogate their architectural taste.”

“I wish that’s all we were talking about,” she grumbles.

Inside, the building’s decor fits the exterior. Oversize oil paintings of sailing ships at war and cracked portraits of unknown historical figures in old-fashioned clothing reside on oak-paneled walls. Thick carpets and discreet lighting give it a hushed air.

An admin meets them at the front desk and escorts them into the back of the building. In a large office with a double-sided partners desk, Patricia and Robert Gussin sit facing one another. There are multiple monitors on each side of the desk, and the walls are covered with large flat-screen televisions, each tuned to a different financial channel.

Neither gets up, but Bob waves them in.

“Hello, hello. Thank you for coming to us again.”

“Happy to,” Theresa says, approaching Patricia. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

The woman gives her a forced smile. “Terrible circumstances. We’re heartbroken about Brooklyn. She’s been through so much. For her to be hit with all of this, and to find out Trey has been stealing from us on top of it . . .” She sighs. “It’s just such a shame. She’s gotten her life so on track, and now this.”

Theresa and Drake take chairs across from the desk. The angle is awkward, but the Gussins twist to face them. “Her life was off track?” Theresa asks, sinking into the buttery leather.

“Well, the situation with her father, then losing the job after Roger Bandolier died, and of course, she ran off to Mexico, and we all were so worried. She went off the grid entirely for a few months, then showed up pregnant and married. Despite the rocky start, everything seemed to be going well. And then Trey messed it all up for everyone. You haven’t found him, I take it?”

“Not yet, but we are looking.” Drake leans forward. “We’d like to talk about the situation with Brooklyn’s father, Roman Thomas. Want to walk us through their relationship?”

“Oh, Roman.” Pat waves a hand dismissively. “I doubt it’s relevant.”

“It’s rather embarrassing, actually,” Bob says. “Roman and I didn’t exactly see eye to eye about how an honorable life should be led.”

“You’re talking about the drug charges,” Theresa says. “I imagine having a brother in prison for trafficking could hurt your firm’s reputation.”

“Well, we don’t have it listed in our pitch, but TGG is better positioned than you might think. We’ve weathered worse storms than Roman’s screwups. Trey stealing all the money? That is a whole different ball of wax.”

“I’m sure. Has Roman ever been a part of the company?”

Pat swallows a sneer. “Oh, no. No, no, he’s not the kind of person we like to have on staff.”

“Understandable,” Theresa says. “Since we’re here, I have a few more questions about the business. Do you have insurance on the funds?”

“We can’t insure the clients’ funds, so to speak, because as a VC company, risk is inherent in what we do. But we do have several levels of liability insurance for the officers and partners, a VCAP policy—venture capital asset protection—and a specific crime-fidelity bond to protect the firm itself against just this type of fraud. Once it’s proven with a forensic accounting investigation—that’s what your people are doing, Agent Sheehan—we pay out our deductible and will be reimbursed to the maximum of the policy.”

Drake taps his finger on the desk. “So if he stole $40 million, how much of that can you get back?”

“All of it. Minus our $1 million deductible.”

“That’s good news, right? You don’t seem thrilled.”

“It’s going to take a while to work through the entire operation and prove the losses. It could be years before we’re made whole. Assuming we don’t find Trey and where he’s stashed the money first. But yes, once all of this is finished, the company will survive. We’re having to use our own private funds to keep things afloat in the meantime. And that’s strapped us completely. We don’t carry cash in our portfolios. Everything must be liquidated and done properly so we don’t incur massive losses. It takes time.”

Theresa’s eyes are glazing over. Financial crimes are complicated. But Drake is leaning forward, completely engaged.

“So, hypothetically, what’s stopping you from disappearing all of your funds, claiming an employee embezzled them, activating your VCAP insurance, getting made whole, then quietly realizing the money isn’t gone and you’ve doubled your asset base?”

Patricia doesn’t like that one. “Are you insinuating we’ve engineered this somehow?”