Chapter 53
FIFTY-THREE
“W hat?” Blaine asked into the brittle silence.
“I went to talk to him last night up at the golf course after my conversation with Earl,” Rafe said.
“He bolted. Took us on a hell of a car chase right up to the north coast, then through the woods on foot. He refused to surrender when we cornered him. Tried to get down a rock ledge and fell. The Coast Guard pulled his body off the rocks this morning.”
“Jesus,” Blaine muttered, pushing to his feet and scrubbing a hand over his face. “You think he was in the hangar, maybe did something to the plane?”
“Can’t rule it out at this point. He sure as hell was guilty of something big. Why else would he run like that and risk his life rather than face arrest?”
“He hated my guts,” Xanthe said. “If whoever broke into the hangar tampered with the plane, they wouldn’t have known Blaine would be onboard with us for the flight. Maybe Don didn’t care if Charlie was collateral damage so long as he got me in the process.”
It made her ill to think about it. To know that someone might have sabotaged the plane intentionally.
“Don was a businessman. A boardroom type,” Blaine said.
“Far as I know, the only thing he knew about planes was how to book a seat in business class on a commercial flight.” He shook his head.
“This makes no sense whatsoever. I don’t see how he could’ve done it, but why would he have been at the marina at that time of night? ”
“He could’ve been working with someone else who sabotaged the plane for him,” Xanthe said.
Blaine’s expression hardened. He looked at Maddy. “We need to do a deep dive into his background and financials.”
“Yes, we do.” She got up, hurried for the stairs.
The rest of them followed her up to Blaine’s office.
Maddy sat in the chair at his computer and started typing. “Okay, show me what you’ve got on him already.”
Blaine leaned over next to her and used the mouse to access some files. “His business history. Bank records. Tax returns.”
Xanthe’s eyebrows went up. “Do you normally have access to all that? Or do Rafe and I need to step out of the room for plausible deniability?” And from what she understood about Maddy’s capabilities, she was able to access highly sensitive information.
Blaine looked at Rafe. “Up to you.”
Rafe turned around to face away from them. “I didn’t see anything.” He covered his ears. “Or hear anything.”
Maddy and Blaine started digging into Don’s financial background. It was fascinating to watch.
Xanthe moved in closer and tried to follow along as they worked, their heads close together. Scanning information faster than she could take it in.
Seeing them in action was a stark reminder that they had worked closely together many times before on sensitive intelligence that required high security clearance.
It was damned impressive. And Xanthe was pea green with envy that she didn’t know how to do any of this.
“Oh, Don, you sneaky boy,” Maddy murmured after she accessed something juicy.
“What? What did you find?” Xanthe asked, trying to keep up with what was on screen.
“Offshore accounts,” Blaine said. “Not suspicious on their own, but…” He scanned the list of numbers in front of him.
“But they are when they’re buried in a pile of shell companies,” Maddy finished, an almost savage smile on her face as she kept typing. “Just what were you up to, Don? You can’t hide it from me.”
In an impressively short amount of time, they had their answer.
“Rafe,” Blaine said.
Rafe lowered his hands and turned around. “How bad?”
“Bad.” Blaine straightened and shifted over to make room for him.
Rafe came up and stood beside Xanthe to see for himself. “What am I looking at?”
“Don was bankrupt.”
Rafe shot him a confused look. “Huh? Then where the hell did he get the money to back the resort?”
“I’m so glad you asked.” Maddy pulled up another screen, indicated the name and image of a man. “That’s one of the most notorious—and ruthless—loan sharks known to the western hemisphere.”
“With known ties to cartels and the Russian mafia,” Blaine added. “All those guys were involved with smuggling weapons in and out of Syria and the Middle East when I was stationed over there.”
“Holy shit,” Rafe muttered. “So he was in deep with dangerous people.”
“Yep, and he’d bet it all on the resort,” Blaine said. “No wonder he was so fucking desperate to get it passed and approve the permits.”
“There are deposits going into the offshore account, and money going out,” Maddy said.
“We can’t trace where the deposits are coming from, but we can see the other accounts the money is flowing to.”
Rafe made a strangled sound and hurried back to his original spot, hands over his ears.
Blaine nodded. “Do it.”
Maddy worked her magic. Did what Xanthe was convinced was a whole lot of illegal things.
But she got names for the other accounts.
“Oh my God.” Xanthe stared at the screen. Looked at Blaine in shock.
His expression was lethal as he read them. “Two members of the local council. Fuck. Rafe,” he called out.
Rafe hurried back. Took one look and swore.
“Well, this explains the mystery about their sudden change of heart on the vote,” Xanthe said, trying to contain the sudden punch of anger. She knew both of them. And now she knew they’d taken bribes from Rafferty to push the resort through. “Please tell me the mayor isn’t on that list?”
“Don’t see anything on her,” Maddy answered.
Thank God. Xanthe didn’t think she could handle that level of betrayal. She adored Marilyn.
“We’re sure about the others?” Rafe asked quietly. His tone was calm, even though he had to be as stunned as the rest of them.
“Positive,” Maddy answered, voice dripping with disgust.
Rafe ran a hand over the back of his head. “Okay, awesome. Guess I need to make a couple more stops on my way back to town.” Before he could say anything else, his phone rang. He pulled it from his belt, answered. “I’m with her now. Why?”
Xanthe tensed as his gaze swung to her. Held.
“Yeah, copy that,” Rafe said. “I’ll head up there now.”
“What?” she asked, pulse picking up.
“Your coworker Samantha just called the station. She and Allistair rechecked the security footage from a remote camera at the research station. Apparently Don got caught heading down the slope to your place the day of the fire, carrying a can of gasoline.”