Chapter 40
FORTY
As Amanda walked toward her desk at Central, she was still flying from Libby’s question last night.
She wanted Amanda to be her maid of honor.
It was silly how excited she was by the prospect.
But Libby sounded about as thrilled about Amanda’s answer.
This wasn’t going to be Amanda’s first time standing up in a wedding party, but it had been a while since the last time.
It had been for her sister Kristen, nearing two decades ago. Where does time go?
She arranged a tentative date for them to get together with Zoe a week from this Saturday so that Libby and Penny could ask Zoe in person.
Amanda just requested she be present because she wanted to see the bright smile on that kid’s face.
But for now, just thinking about Zoe’s response would carry Amanda through the day.
After all, who knew where it would take her?
Amanda set her Hannah’s Diner coffee cup on her desk and eyed Dominique’s laptop. She could take another look, this time at her browsing history. Maybe she’d find something there to point them in someone’s direction. She was getting ready to do that when her phone rang.
Unknown showed for the caller ID, but she didn’t have the luxury of disregarding such calls. She handed her card out to lots of people. “Detective Steele,” she answered.
Trent walked past and waved. He must have seen she was on the phone.
Her caller wasted no time getting to the point of the call. “It’s Detective Lola Lopez from Financial Crimes. I’m calling about the financial reports you sent over pertaining to Sharp & Associates and Gabay, Finch & Earnest, as well as the acquisition.”
“One second, please.” She motioned for Trent to come over to her cubicle. “I’m just going to put you on speaker. My partner, Detective Stenson, is here now. It’s Detective Lopez,” she added for Trent’s benefit.
Lopez went on. “On the surface, Gabay, Finch & Earnest looks quite profitable. The income statements show a profit increase of twenty-five to fifty-five percent year over year for the last seven years. The anomaly that caught my attention happened in the current fiscal year. Gabay is set to make a seventy percent billable increase over last year. This got me digging into the customer and vendor accounts. Both showed an increase in numbered companies, which got me digging deeper again. Now, I have only gotten through so many but I’ve already uncovered twenty accounts, ten customer and ten vendor, that are shell companies. I suspect there are many more.”
“Please lay it out like I have no idea what that means,” Amanda requested.
“The short answer is someone is embezzling from Gabay, Finch & Earnest. False vendors are being paid money while counterfeit clients are being billed. The person doing this is siphoning the cash back into the business,” Lopez clarified.
Amanda could see the flow in her head. Money out, money back. “So where was it going and coming from?”
“I can’t tell you that, but Gabay paid out $1,175,100 to these companies, and only a third of that has cycled back. Now all this started going out seven years ago, but it just started returning within the last six months.”
Could it be a coincidence that was around the same time Dominique showed interest in buying the company? “Tell me we have a name tied to this.” Amanda sat up straighter, seeing a motive for murder in this find.
“We do. Harris Finch.”
“And Finch was conveniently out of the office when we went yesterday.” They were told he was in court, but Amanda didn’t trust a word of that right now. “Is there anything else we should know before we move in?”
“That’s it for now.”
“Could you send us those twenty company names you checked into?” she requested.
“I will.”
“Thank you.” Amanda ended the call and faced Trent. “We could have motive.”
“Yep. Though I can’t quite understand his standpoint. Sure, the sale was moving ahead. The books would be looked at. Did he think he could cover up the money he siphoned out by feeding it back in? And why do any of this under his own name?”
“There’s no explaining some people. Maybe his anxiety got the best of him. As you said, the sale was going through. He’d know that would mean Dominique would get the financials, and she’d do her due diligence with them.”
“So he’d want to kill her to prevent being exposed for fraud.”
Amanda stood. “We’ve got to talk with Finch. You drive, and I’ll call Malone from the road.”