Chapter 24 – Evelyn
EVELYN
“We were right,” Liam said, his face looming over me on the TV screen in the executive conference room.
Alexander had blocked access to the top floor of SDS without an escort and let me take over the executive conference room to go through the judge’s hard drive.
Sebastian and Adrian had also taken pictures of all the documents that were in the judge’s safe as well.
They had been printed out, and I was taping the last of them to the glass walls of the conference room when Liam spoke up.
“About what?”
“The judge is dirty. Like dirty dirty,” Liam said. News articles flashed up on the screen next to his head. “Like has taken bribes and bribed juries.”
Each article detailed a surprising outcome for a case, and in each case, the judge was the same. Judge Jefferson.
“Is there proof?”
“There are like twelve offshore bank account statements I’ve found so far,” Liam said.
“There are large deposits into the accounts in the days immediately after the verdicts came through. So I’m guessing, yes.
It’ll take me time to find the sources of the payments, though. They’re layered in shell corporations.”
“Fuck.” I rubbed my temple. The door opened, and Sebastian slipped into the room.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, his blue eyes narrowed on me.
“Oh, you know, just the confirmation that our legal system is bought and paid for,” Liam drawled.
He filled Sebastian in as I studied the cases.
Fuck, I knew some of these cases and some of these people.
They were cases the Archers had tried to put through the legal system, sure that we would win.
Our legal team wasn’t big, just a couple of lawyers who donated their time, but no one liked losing cases, and some of the lawyers had stopped picking up the phone after we’d lost these. How had we not seen this?
“Because there’s always so much going on,” Liam said, reading me well. “Don’t beat yourself up, Boss Lady. We would have found out about the judge eventually.”
“After he rigged how many more cases?” I asked.
I wasn’t angry. I was exhausted. The weight of the uphill battles we fought every day was an anvil crushing my chest. We fought hard, and we won some battles, but it was never enough. There was too much corruption.
Warm hands pressed gently down on my shoulders, and Sebastian’s thumbs dug into the tension in my neck. My head dropped forward.
“We’re going to get him,” he promised. “And then we’ll help you with the rest. You’re not alone anymore.”
I covered his hand with one of my own and squeezed softly.
“Okay.” I straightened. “Have you found any connection to the director yet outside of their being brothers-in-law?”
“Not that I can find yet. There are a lot of files to go through.”
“Send some of them over to me, and I can start going through them.”
“We can start going through them,” Sebastian corrected.
“Don’t you have product testing today?” I frowned. I distinctly remember blocking that out on his calendar last week.
“I moved it,” Sebastian said. “This takes priority.”
His blue eyes were intense, and my heart warmed. His blue eyes were intense and steady, and something in my chest loosened as I understood what he was really saying.
“I can do that,” Liam said, interrupting the moment. “How do you want to break them up?”
“Send me anything regarding his financial transactions,” I said. “You keep digging into any mention of the director, and Sebastian can look for anything related to the Kingfisher or Luke Jones.”
“You think the judge has dealings with the Kingfisher, right?” Sebastian asked.
I had told them all about the conversation I had with Dominic and our suspicions that both the director and the judge were involved somehow.
“At this point, I would be shocked if he didn’t,” I said. “Both are powerful, corrupt men. That feels like it’s right up the Kingfisher’s alley.”
“Got it,” Liam said. “Sending now.”
Sebastian pulled a laptop from the center of the table to him while I scooted my chair in. Our secure messaging platform dinged, and I navigated to the shared file link. Liam wasn’t wrong. There were hundreds of documents in the folder. This was going to take time. Time we may not have.
I chewed on my bottom lip as I thought through a way to narrow the search.
My eyebrows shot up. I had just done this with Citadel’s documents.
We knew Citadel worked for the Kingfisher.
Maybe there was some kind of crossover. I navigated through my laptop to my notes on the Citadel case.
I didn’t remember exactly where I’d placed them, as it was kind of a chaotic time and the concussion had scrambled my brain a bit, but it would be faster than going through all the judge’s financial documents one at a time.
Maybe I could run a hybrid search for keywords and semantic words that had the same meaning but may be worded differently.
“I’ve got a lot of emails from the director to Jefferson on his work email.” Liam interrupted my searching.
“Anything interesting?” Sebastian asked.
“Not yet. Mainly arranging dinners or golf outings as well as evenings at a gentlemen’s club.”
“Which club?” I frowned.
“It’s one in Washington, where the director lives,” Liam said. “Maya is reaching out to some people they know out there to see if they can find anything.”
“I may have something,” Sebastian said. “I was combing through his email account for any email addresses that aren’t in his contacts, and I found one from a few years ago.
It’s just a file about a case. It was forwarded to the judge’s official work email, but it seems like the judge forwarded it to himself?
I don’t recognize the email address, so maybe it’s a burner email? ”
“What’s the address?” Liam asked. “I can see if I can get into it.”
Sebastian rattled off the address, and Liam typed for a few minutes. I located the list of shell corporations Citadel dealt with and ran a simple script to search the files for the names of any of those companies. There were over fifty companies on the list, so it would take some time.
“Gold mine!” Liam crowed. “I got into the email inbox. It’s definitely the judge’s burner account.”
Sebastian’s eyes lit up, and he started typing furiously. I glanced at him curiously. What would take his attention away from the emails Liam was starting to flash on the screen?
“I have an idea,” he murmured. I waited for him to elaborate, but he was focused on his screen.
I shrugged and turned back to Liam’s screen. “What have you found?”
“He primarily communicates with a few other burner addresses. Give me a few minutes to go through them and create some data sorting structure,” Liam said.
Turning back to my own project, I started looking through the shell companies that pinged in my cross-reference search.
Of the fifty-plus companies Citadel dealt with, six companies appeared in the judge’s files as well.
My hacking skills were nowhere near as good as Liam’s, but I picked up enough from him over the years that I could start digging into each of them. I studied the list of companies.
Harbor Crest Holdings
Blue Meridian Imports
Kestrel Finance Holdings
Ironshore Transit Services
North Dock Capital
Cloverline Risk Solutions
Something about the list niggled at me. I didn’t recognize any of those names.
I didn’t think so, at least. I ran a quick search through the Archers’ database.
None of the companies came up. So why was something picking at the edge of my brain?
I took a breath and leaned back in my chair, closing my eyes.
Was it from a case? No, I would have written it in the case notes.
Was it from SDS? I didn’t think so, but it was worth a look.
I opened my eyes, and my gaze landed on one of the pictures from the judge’s office I had hanging on the glass wall.
It was a picture of his office wall, where several framed pictures hung.
Most were of family or friends, but there was one of a bird.
The bird was bright blue with an orange chest and a long black bill. It was swooping over a small stream.
I blinked slowly. It was a kingfisher. Kingfisher. KF. Kestrel Finance. A kestrel was a small colorful bird of prey.
“Liam.” I straightened in my seat, urgency hurrying my words. “Search for any emails from Kestrel Finance Holdings or any email address that could use those words or the letters K or F. I think Kestrel Finance is a shell company for Kingfisher.”
“On it, Boss Lady,” Liam said, his gaze focused on his screen. Emails started flashing up on the screen. “Found it. There’s another email attached to these messages a lot.”
“I bet it’s the director,” I murmured. The director, the judge, and Kingfisher connected? This was what we were looking for.
“I’ve got something as well,” Sebastian said. “Something bigger.”
What could be bigger than finding out the three of them were connected?
“The burner email address gave me an idea,” Sebastian continued. “A man like the judge would keep evidence in case anything ever came to light.”
“Evidence that implicated him?” I asked.
“Yes, and others. I searched through his files again for any folders named something really boring. Or mundane. Something like Old Bench Memos.” Sebastian grinned, and it was a beautiful sight. “It was encrypted but not well enough. It’s enough to bury him and the director.”
“And I think I know what it says,” Liam said.
“What?” I asked.
“The emails between the judge and the director’s burner accounts talk about shipping goods through the freight lines at the old rail line.
The director is arranging the routes, while the judge is helping keep the local eyes off the rail yard.
There’s an email from the judge saying that the new development of the rail tracks could be problematic, but the director assured him that their mutual friend will make sure their business isn’t disrupted.
I think they’re talking about the Kingfisher. ”
“What goods are they shipping through?” I asked. “Drugs? Weapons?”
Sebastian frowned as he hunched over his screen. “I’m not sure. I’m working on decrypting the files now. There are definitely manifests in here, but it’s all coded. Nothing concrete.”
“What do the emails say?” I asked Liam.
He studied the screen. “There’s one here that says: Processing team flagged a Fresh Intake arriving ahead of schedule. Allocate space and expedite sorting. And another one that says: Shipment marked Condition A requires immediate clearance. Partner wants them moved within the hour.”
I frowned. That language was familiar. But from where?
“Hey, boss.” Maya stood over Liam’s shoulder, their face pale. “I know that language. Or what they’re talking about.”
Liam looked over his shoulder at them. “What?”
“The Miller case. Stephen Miller. We got him arrested for drugging college women at the bar and…”
“Trafficking them,” I breathed.
Fuck, I remember that case. It was bad. We still hadn’t found all the women who had disappeared. We turned over everything we knew to a contact we had in the—
“Fucking hell!” I stood up and started pacing. “We turned over everything we had on that case to the FIA. The fucking FIA!” I whirled and looked at Sebastian. “The director—Fuck!”
I pressed my palms into my eyes. Those poor women. We’d had to stop searching for them because we’d had too many other cases. I thought the FIA would handle it. But they were part of the problem.
“We had no idea, boss,” Maya said. “I’m pulling the Miller case and sending it to you now.” With Izzy in the hospital with Grace and Danny, Maya had really stepped up, and I was so grateful for them.
“We need to call in the others,” Sebastian said. “I’ve just decrypted the rest of these files. It’s full of evidence implicating the director and the judge in a nation-wide trafficking ring.”
“Why the fuck would he keep a file like that?” Liam added.
I laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. “Blackmail. A mutually assured destruction in case one turned on the other.”
Liam cursed. “Yeah, we need a plan, and fast. In the most recent email exchange between them, the judge talks about the next shipment coming through and how it needs to go smoothly. With the recent arrest of their supplier—I think they’re talking about Miller here—their friend will lose confidence, and nothing good will happen if that happens.
The director then replies and assures the judge he will be there personally to ensure it goes smoothly. ”
Another shipment of women? Anger stirred, coiling tight beneath my ribs.
“I’m calling Alex,” Sebastian murmurs, pulling out his phone.
A few minutes later, Alexander, Marcus, and Adrian walked into the room. Adrian came to me immediately and pulled me into his arms. My muscles stiffened, but then I sank into his arms, trying to hold it together. This had been happening right under my own nose. In my fucking city!
Liam and Sebastian filled them in while I inhaled Adrian’s pine and rain scent.
“We need to reach out to Detective Patel,” Alexander said when they were finished. “I think we need to turn this over to the police. This is bigger than we thought.”
“No.” I turned in Adrian’s arms. He didn’t let me step away, looping an arm around my waist and pulling me back into his chest. “If there’s a federal judge involved, the local police may be compromised.
Not Detective Patel, but there’s no way they’ve been operating in this city without someone in the local police knowing. ”
“She’s right,” Marcus said. “This is bigger than us or the local police.”
“We need to bring someone in at the federal level. In the federal justice department. But who?” Sebastian asked.
I bit my lip. “I think it’s time for us to call Agent Hayes and see if he’s all in.”