Chapter Twenty-Three
“Mrs. Casey got you to beat up her husband for upsetting her?” asked Lily, suddenly finding her voice. I wanted to ask the same question but the very idea of Jessica ordering such a thing seemed bizarre.
“No, of course not. Turns out she knew nothing about the loans,” said Fitch.
“When my niece decided she didn’t want to keep riding anymore, I was talking to Mrs. Casey about it and she was nice as pie.
Said the riding school was closing down but Rosie could come back anytime and if we wanted to stable a pony, she was happy to give her private lessons.
I said something like I was sorry she was having financial troubles and that I hoped the farm would keep going.
She just frowned at me, blinking, like she had no idea what I was talking about.
She asked where I’d got that idea from and Mr. Casey just happened to walk past. I glanced at him and said nothing and Mrs. Casey didn’t ask again. ”
“You didn’t tell her?” I asked.
“My arrangement wasn’t with her. It was with him. If it was just her, and she was struggling, I would have invested in the farm. Kept the place open.”
“You didn’t consider Mr. Casey a good investment?”
“A good investment, no. A good liar, yes. When he first asked for a loan, he’d told me he owned the farm but it was mortgaged. I told him to get a second mortgage but he said the bank wouldn’t loan on it again. I found out recently that Mrs. Casey was the sole owner.”
“Was this before or after he repaid the loan?”
“Before. Maybe a month before. Mrs. Casey owned the farm outright, no mortgage. He couldn’t get a bank loan on it because it wasn’t his to offer for collateral.”
“Any idea what he needed the loan for?”
“No. Like I said, I’m not interested in my clients’ lives but...” He hesitated.
“But what?”
“I heard on the grapevine that he gambled. Cards mostly.”
“You seem to know more about his life than someone who’s not interested.”
“Only because of my niece. I wouldn’t have known Mrs. Casey otherwise and she was a nice lady. I guess he inherited everything.”
I shook my head. “He won’t inherit anything.”
Fitch raised his eyebrows, then he shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me.”
“If he were expecting to raise the money from the farm to repay you, he’s out of luck,” I clarified.
“No, I meant it doesn’t matter to me because he repaid me in full, for all the loans, right before I gave him the beat down.”
“In full? Everything he owed you?”
“Every penny,” he said naming a figure that had me raise my eyebrows and Lily whistle.
“The interest too. I figured he’d been lying to Mrs. Casey and, like I said, she was a nice lady.
I liked her. Since I figured he’d been lying to her, I thought a few punches might get him to play straight.
Then I tossed him out and told him not to come back. ”
“Any idea where he went after that?”
“Nope, and I don’t care. My business with Joel Casey was concluded and I expected to never see him again.”
“Do you know where he got the money from?”
“Also not my business. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m buying into the next game and I intend to wipe the floor with O’Malley.” He motioned to the swinging door, indicating the interview was over.
“Thank you for your time. We really appreciate it,” I said.
“Anything for Mrs. Casey,” he said, and led us out of the kitchen.
Solomon and Delgado were waiting at the bar.
Solomon had a Coke. The cap was missing but it remained full as he half-sat on the tall stool, one leg on the floor, and made small talk with O’Malley.
Delgado stood next to him, arms crossed, looking pissed.
That wasn’t hard. Delgado had that kind of face despite being a giant softie.
“All good?” asked Solomon without rising.
“All good,” I said and smiled.
“Good of you all to stop by,” said O’Malley as Fitch resumed his seat at the table. “Are you buying in?” He motioned to the brunette at the back of the room. She smiled prettily, waiting for instruction.
“Not today,” said Solomon.
“Pleasure to see you all,” said O’Malley and turned away, dismissing us.
Solomon nodded to the bar door and we trooped out, sandwiching us between him and Delgado as we proceeded through the bar, curious eyes watching us as we left.
Outside, O’Malley’s men nodded to us as we headed to Solomon’s SUV. We paused at the hood to talk.
“Jessica’s husband took loans from Jerry Fitch,” I told him. “It sounds like she knew nothing about it.”
“Her accountant buddy said money was going missing and then reappeared,” said Lily.
“I think that’s what tipped off Jessica.
She found out about the affair and she found out about the loans so she had Sebastian look into the farm’s finances,” I said.
“It looks like Joel was embezzling but I’ve no idea how he got the money to repay the farm and Fitch. It was tens of thousands of dollars.”
“Maddox said no to gambling involvement. Another loan shark?” suggested Solomon.
“He’d be a fool if so,” said Delgado. “Jerry Fitch is one of the tamer loan sharks in New Montgomery and even he’d take a baseball bat to your kneecaps without losing a night’s sleep. Others wouldn’t be so magnanimous.”
“I filled Delgado in on the way over,” said Solomon. “I wasn’t sure what we’d be walking into. Is there any point in saying you should have waited for backup?”
“We knew you were coming and we knew Duncan O’Malley was inside,” I said, “Plus, his men were welcoming.”
“She means insistent,” said Lily. “They pointed a gun at us.”
Solomon’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
Across the lot, the gunman waited by O’Malley’s car, alert for trouble.
“It was a miscommunication,” I said quickly. “They thought we were going to shoot them.”
Solomon fixed me with a long look. “Understandable,” he said, relaxing.
Delgado suffocated a laugh. “You look particularly deadly today,” he added. “That’s a nice shade of pink on your purse even if you smell like a horse.”
“I could have been an assassin!” I protested.
“That’s true, she could. Lexi is forever underestimated,” said Lily, rising to my aid.
“Exactly!” I agreed. “I could have killed them both if I wanted to!”
“I don’t doubt it,” said Solomon, deadpan. “Do you need any more assistance today?”
“No, I just need to figure out where Joel Casey got all the extra cash from. We need to head back to the farm. The answers to everything have to be there.”
“Call if you need anything,” said Solomon. “We’ll follow you back to the farm and leave you there.”
They waited while Lily and I settled into my car, then climbed into theirs. O’Malley’s men gave us a polite wave as we left and then we were speeding towards the highway.
“Do you think Yvette knew about the money?” I asked, more so I could say it out loud than because I thought Lily knew the answer.
“I was wondering if she gave Joel the money,” said Lily.
“I’m not sure she has that kind of money to give, but I do think she could have been the recipient of some of the money.
Maybe Joel bought her gifts, or paid for hotels so they could sneak around.
That would add up quickly. He could have taken the money from the farm to fund the affair, then panicked and needed to put it back when Jessica started getting suspicious. ”
“But he still needed to get that money from somewhere,” Lily reminded me.
I nodded. “So he goes to Jerry Fitch and gets money to put it back. Only now, he owes a loan shark money and he’s not someone who’ll play around if the payments aren’t made.
Then Joel faltered on his payments and needed more.
Jessica was increasingly suspicious. Perhaps she asked a few too many questions about the farm’s finances.
” I glanced in the rearview mirror. Solomon and Delgado followed, as they said they would.
“Joel needs money fast. Where would you go for money quickly?”
“My parents,” she said.
“Who else, beyond family?”
“A really good friend. Someone who would loan it to me and probably not ask questions.”
“That’s me,” I said. “And when you’ve exhausted all those options?”
“Steal it, I guess.”
“Yeah, or take it from someone even shadier. We need to look through the finances again and we need to talk to Yvette.”
We drove the rest of the way to the farm in contemplative silence, occasionally throwing out a question or two and circling around the information we’d been handed.
Solomon maintained a distance of two cars behind us the whole way and as we turned onto the road leading to the farm, he dropped further back, putting more distance between us.
When we parked, his SUV sailed past the farm’s entrance and out of view.
I unbuckled my seatbelt but didn’t move to get out of the car. “There’s something we didn’t contemplate,” I said.
“Another mistress?”
“No. Not unlikely, but no. Maddox said he was watching the farm to see if there was a gambling connection. What if Joel won the money? Like, a really big chunk of money?”
“Legitimately?”
“Maybe. Or maybe he was involved in a fix. He might be the connection Maddox is looking for, and overlooked, and if I’m right, it might be the clue we’re looking for.” I pulled out my phone and dialed, excitement and dread building in me.
“How’s my favorite nuisance?” asked Maddox.
“Fabulous. How’s the best FBI agent I ever met?”
“Ah, this isn’t a social call. You’re flattering me. What do you want?” he said, chuckling.
“Do you know if Joel Casey had a big gambling win recently?” I asked.
“Not that I know of. What do you know?”
“It’s just a theory,” I said, explaining what we’d discovered.
“Hmm, no. We’ve looked at all large bets placed and his name hasn’t come up as a winner for any of them.”
“Damn.”
“Sorry to disappoint. I don’t think there were even any payments circa that amount.”
“How’s your case?” I asked, disappointed.