Chapter 34
34
“Can’t find a damn thing in the church’s deposits or bank statements. While we don’t have a record of what Buford and Roy actually counted as their weekly intake, there’s consistency with the church deposits,” Jeremy said. “Well, except for?—”
“I’m checking his personal bank accounts,” Pete said. “It looks like he and his wife share a checking and savings account.” After a moment, Pete grunted.
“What?” Jeremy asked, rolling his chair over to see what Pete was looking at on his monitor.
“There’s another account. It’s in Donna’s name only.”
“What’s in it?”
“Holy shit… there are deposits of a few thousand every month. Let’s see… four months ago, there was a deposit of four thousand dollars. Three months ago—two thousand. And between last month and the one before that—six thousand dollars.”
Jeremy’s brow furrowed as he grabbed his laptop and placed it in his lap. “Hang on…” He scanned through the bank statements again. “Here was this one strange deposit and withdrawal. The very last one. There are two deposits into the church bank account after Sunday the fourteenth. One is about the same amount as usual. But there was another one for two thousand dollars. Then it was immediately withdrawn and look.” He pointed at the same date on Pete’s monitor. “That same amount was deposited into Donna’s account.”
“She’s the one behind stealing and selling the drugs?” Jeremy shook his head in amazement. “Damn, I didn’t peg her for knowing shit, much less doing anything?—”
“Wait! Look at this!” Pete said, his eyes widening. Jeremy dropped his gaze back to the monitor. “Look at the deposit slips… all signed by her, but they were made at the ATM drop during evening hours.”
“We don’t know if it was her or not. Can we get the bank’s security video?”
“Yeah, but it would take?—”
Jeremy jerked. “There’s a security camera on the parking lot. Mr. Jeffries set it up on his store’s parking lot when he had that kid stalking his granddaughter when she got off work. It’s just across from the bank. We can check with him to see what it covers.”
“Give him a call,” Pete agreed.
Jeremy got on the phone, but Mr. Jeffries wasn’t in. Identifying himself, he was told that he was speaking with his granddaughter, Cheryl.
“I’m sorry. Grandad isn’t in right now. He’s gone to the bank to make a deposit.”
“Cheryl, this might sound like a strange question, but do you know if your grandfather’s surveillance camera angle might include the bank? Especially the ATM?”
“Oh, I know it does. When he first set it up, Billy thought we wouldn’t see him if he waited for me in the bank’s parking lot. So Granddad make sure to get that angle, too.”
“Perfect. My partner and I will be there soon. We’d like to look at some previous days.”
“Sure. Granddad won’t care, so come on whenever you want. I’ll be here if he’s not back from lunch.”
With thanks and goodbyes, he disconnected. “Let’s go.” Once more, they grabbed their jackets off the chairs and headed outside. As crazy as his day was turning out to be, he wanted to connect with Cora. Even though she was connected to the case, he didn’t want to burden her with details until he was certain that what he was telling her was truth and not just suspicion. Firing off a text, he said How’s your day? Mine is nuts. Can’t wait to see you tonight.
It didn’t take long for her to respond. Not too bad of a day. I’ll have an afternoon autopsy but should be home for dinner. Whose house tonight?
He loved that she didn’t beat around the bush… she knew they were together and would spend their night together. So far, they had alternated between her house and his for the past week. He was leaving things at her house, and she had some of her toiletries and a couple of sets of scrubs at his. Thinking that he wanted to move forward despite not having dated too long, he typed out a response.
Doesn’t matter which house as long as we’re together. Since the cats get along, we might think about combining houses.
His heart pounded when there was no response. Had he overestimated the speed at which he wanted to take their relationship? Was she not on board with their commitment? Or did she need more time and more space?
Finally, just when he felt the trickle of sweat drip down his back, she replied.
You may have jumped into warp speed, but the idea of combining our cats is cute. Our houses? Hmm, let’s keep things the way they are and cross that bridge when I don’t have a lease to pay.
He let out a long breath. She didn’t deny that she wanted to be with him, and admitted she liked the ideas of combining… well, the cats, at least. But what if?—
The three bubbles popped up, and another text came in. In case you’re wondering, I’m all in with you.
Now, the air rushed from his lungs, but a smile was on his face. He caught Pete’s stare and chuckled. “Just good news, that’s all.”
Pete grinned, and soon they parked outside of Jeffries Hardware. As they walked in, they observed a young woman talking to Mr. Jeffries. Both turned and smiled as the detectives walked to them.
After introductions, Mr. Jeffries said, “Cheryl has just told me what you want, and I can confirm that my camera is pointed in the direction of the bank. Now, it gets the vehicle of who drives up to the ATM, but you might not see the driver if the sun glares off the windshield.”
“We’ve got specific dates, and the times are all after dark,” Jeremy explained.
Mr. Jeffries nodded. “Then you should be good. Cheryl will show me how to send everything we have to you.”
It didn’t take long for Cheryl to send the video feed to Pete’s email address. Again with thanks and goodbyes, they headed back to the station.
“God, I feel like we’ve gone nonstop today.”
“Yeah, but you’ve got a pretty lady to meet with when you get home,” Pete said.
For the first time, Jeremy thought he heard a tinge of envy in Pete’s voice. “Speaking of pretty ladies, did you get a call off to Angie at the ESAAA?”
Pete was silent for a beat, then muttered, “Yes.”
“And…”
“And what?”
“What did she say?” Jeremy laughed.
Pete huffed. “She said that she’d already taken it upon herself to send out the warnings to her staff to be cognizant of the prescriptions of their clients and for them to talk to the clients about caring for their medications.”
“Oh.” Jeremy was not surprised at Angie’s competence, considering she appeared devoted to her job, but he had hoped for more. Looking at Pete, he noticed a slight tinge of blush on his cheeks.
“And… I know there’s more,” he pushed.
“You’re an asshole, you know?” Pete grumbled as they turned into the road leading to the station.
“Maybe, but I’m just concerned that my partner isn’t getting enough female attention.”
“Hell, you don’t need to be worried about me.”
“You’re hardly Mr. Life of the Party,” Jeremy joked. “Come on… what else did she say?”
“She wanted to know if I’d have dinner with her.”
Jeremy blinked, and his chin jerked back. “What? She asked you out?”
Pete parked, then twisted to look at Jeremy. “What’s so surprising about that?”
“Nothing, nothing. I’m just… well… good.” He put his hand on the door handle, then looked back. “You said yes, didn’t you?”
“Sort of,” Pete replied, then stepped out of the SUV and headed to the building.
Jeremy scrambled to catch up. “Sort of? What the fuck kind of answer is that? Either you said yes or you’re a dumb fuck for turning her down.”
“I didn’t turn her down, okay? But she caught me off guard. So I said I had to check my schedule.”
“Check your schedule?” Jeremy barked, barely noticing that others in the building were looking their way.
“Keep your voice down,” Pete groused, tossing a narrow-eyed glare over his shoulder.
Catching up to him when they arrived at their desks, Jeremy softened his voice. “So how did you end the conversation?”
Pete plopped down in his chair and shook his head. “I was surprised, okay? I’m not good with that.”
“Man, you are one of the sharpest detectives I know. Intuitive. You think ahead and can change course on a dime when necessary.”
“Yes, that’s my job. But a woman as classy as Angie? I can’t think what the hell to say.”
Jeremy sucked in his top lip as he thought of what he knew about his partner. Pete had eventually divulged that he was raised by two parents who didn’t give a shit about their kids. Pete had joined the military the moment he turned eighteen. He’d stayed in the military for ten years before getting out and joining the sheriff’s department. He pushed himself, and Jeremy sometimes wondered if Pete wasn’t always trying to outrun his past. He also knew that his partner volunteered with some of the at-risk youth in the county. Rubbing his chin, he inwardly scoffed. Enough armchair psychiatry for today!
“How did it end? What did she say?”
Pete looked up and sighed. “She said, once I knew my schedule, to give her a call. Then she rattled off her phone number.”
Jeremy smiled. Pete was good with memory, and he had no doubt that Pete had caught the number as soon as she gave it to him. “Check your schedule. And then call.” Figuring he’d pushed enough, he said, “Okay, back to business. Let’s see what the surveillance gives us.”
It took a while of tedious backtracking before they came to the right dates. They made notes as they went along, and the pattern was easy to see. Finally, they stopped and looked at each other.
“Bingo,” Jeremy said. “And I’m not talking about the fuckin’ game.”
Pete nodded. “Let’s go.”
This time, Jeremy hustled right next to Pete, the case filling his mind.
Once again, they arrived at the Praise House of God and noted that Donna’s older-model sedan was still sitting in the parking lot by itself.
When she opened the door this time, she wore a beleaguered look of concern.
“Detectives, please, come in,” she said, obviously her years of serving the church as the minister’s wife coming into play as she accepted her hostess duties. “What can I help you with this time?”
Once again, her hands were clasped before her, her fingers tightly clenched. “I’m afraid if you came to speak to Buford, he’s still not back. He’s been gone all day, which isn’t unusual when visiting the community.”
“Actually,” Jeremy said, “we were hoping to speak to you again.”
Her eyes widened slightly, but she simply bobbed her head repeatedly.
“We needed to check on some of the finances for the church.”
Her brow furrowed, and Jeremy wondered if she would protest, but instead, her expression of confusion remained as she continued to nod.
“We’ve looked at the church finances,” he continued, and with those words, her shoulders relaxed, and she smiled. “But we also needed to check the bank accounts that… um… might feed into the church, and we noticed that you and your husband share checking and savings accounts.”
Her face scrunched, and she glanced around, her expression seeming to search for an answer that she was unsure of. Returning her gaze back to Jeremy, she nodded slowly. “Um… yes. I don’t work… well, what I mean,” she stammered and timidly lifted her hand to the side. “I don’t work for a paycheck. What I do, I do for the church. Of course, Buford always says that it’s my duty to God to take care of his flock.”
“I see,” Jeremy said, adopting a nonthreatening tone with his charming smile to keep her at ease with them.
“Well, another bank account only has your name on it. We wanted to ask you about that one.”
Another deep furrow formed between her brows. “Another bank account?” Then as though a light bulb had brightened over her head, she rushed, “Oh, my goodness. I had forgotten about that. Yes, Buford wanted to open one in my name. He said he’d put a bit of spending money in it in case anything happened to him. He said it would help while waiting for the banks to release money in our joint account.” Scrunching her face again, she slowly shook her head. “At least, I think that’s what he said. Since I don’t get paid for my work at the church, Buford says he’s been putting a little bit into it. He’s really conscientious about wanting to take care of things.”
“Yes, I’m sure he is,” Pete said, seeming to force a smile on his face.
Jeremy pressed forward. “We have looked at security surveillance from a store close to the bank. It’s allowed us to see who’s been making those deposits.”
Continuing to hold her gaze, Jeremy watched her face carefully. She didn’t blink but swallowed deeply, her hands still twisted together. And if he wasn’t mistaken, her expression said it all.