Chapter 12
Twelve
Michael and Finn walked down the hospital hallway yet again.
“Ready for round two?” Finn asked.
“I’m ready to close this crazy case. And I’m not leaving until Carter tells us everything.” They passed the nursing station. Michael waved to the nurse they’d met yesterday. “Oh, and did I tell you Dani is going to look into Gary Donner’s finances for us?”
“Is she now? That’s nice of her.”
Finn whistled a little tune. He seemed chipper—nothing unusual there. But he was also surprisingly quiet.
“So, where did you take your date last night?” Michael asked his partner.
Finn nodded at a doctor walking by instead of answering.
Had he not heard, or was he ignoring Michael completely?
Before Michael could ask him again, Finn knocked on the room door and opened it.
“Hello, Isaac. I hope you’re in a more talkative mood, mate.
We’ve come for a little chat.” Finn settled into the chair by the window.
He leaned back and folded his hands behind his head as if he had all the time in the world.
Time for Michael to get his own head back on the case. He pulled out his notebook yet again. He’d better leave with actual notes in it this time.
Isaac sighed. “I already told you. I don’t know who they are.”
“Do you use Eagle Rock Credit Union for your business?” Michael asked.
“Ye—” He swung his head toward Michael. “Yes. But what does that have to do with anything?” The confusion in his expression seemed genuine.
“Do you do your personal banking there too?” Michael jotted down his question and response.
“No. Only the store accounts. They had a good interest rate on small-business loans when I renovated two years ago.” He looked from Michael to Finn. “But why are you asking me about my bank? What does that have to do with the break-in?”
Finn shrugged, giving nothing away. “Maybe nothing. Why don’t we start with what you do know? Did those men who showed up want you to do something? Seems like they went through a lot just to nab a few boxes of cigarettes.”
Isaac stared out the window a beat before turning his attention back to them. “I’m not lying when I say I don’t know who they were. I don’t. I just know they wanted me to launder money for them.”
Now they were getting somewhere. “How so?”
Isaac paused.
“Come on. We just want to help.” Finn kept the laid-back stance, like they were discussing sports or the weather.
Finally, Isaac spoke. “They wanted me to add their cash to my deposits, then make a donation to some charities for the extra amount. They said I’d get a tax write-off, and they’d also give me a percentage for my trouble. But I refused. I didn’t want anything to do with it.”
Michael wrote in his notebook. “They showed up and discussed this plan and then beat you up?”
“Not exactly. First, someone called and said they had a business proposition a couple months ago. I agreed to a meeting. I met a woman I’d never seen before at a diner. She gave me the proposal, and I turned it down.”
“Then what?”
“Some guy showed up at my house and said I should reconsider.”
“Can you describe him or the woman to a sketch artist?”
“The guy had a hat pulled low and big sunglasses. He didn’t stick around long. I think the point was to show me that they knew where I live. I could describe the woman, I guess. I threw her card away after the meeting. Don’t remember her name.”
“We’ll send the artist as soon as one is available.” Michael made note of it. “So what happened at the store?”
“I got a call asking if I’d reconsidered the offer. When I told them to buzz off, the voice on the phone said I’d regret it. I didn’t take them seriously, but half an hour later, those men showed up at the store, and here I am.”
Finn dropped his arms and leaned forward in his seat. “Any idea who these people work for? Who’s behind all of it?”
“No clue. They were smooth. Kept things vague. They knew of the medical bills I’ve been trying to pay off from when my wife died last year, and they didn’t use names. I have no way of knowing who they are or how to trace anything back to them.”
These were not your average con artists or money launderers. They sounded like pros. “What charities did they want you to contribute to?”
“They didn’t give me specifics.”
Michael looked over at Finn. With all these businesses using the same bank, there was a chance this was what had happened at the boutique and laundromat too.
Those two owners hadn’t been anywhere near as helpful.
But Carter could be a different story. Maybe they could convince him to be an informant and get back in the game.
Then they could trace the money. Before Michael could ask, though, a nurse came in.
“Out with two of you. Mr. Carter needs some bandages changed and a vitals check.” The nurse’s no-nonsense tone didn’t bode well for arguing. Probably for the better so Michael could strategize with Finn first and get the plan approved by their boss before they made any offers.
“I’ll call the sketch artists to see when we can get one here,” Michael told Isaac before leaving the room.
Finn waited until they were walking in the hallway again. “What do you think?”
“My gut says he’s telling the truth. I don’t think he knows who is behind all this.”
“Think he’ll inform for us?” Finn pushed the button for the elevator.
“I think it’s our best step forward. Hopefully we can get the captain to sign off on it and Carter will cooperate.”
“If these people are running this ring to launder money, a convenience store and the laundromat attached to the dry-cleaning place make sense for big cash deposits. Not sure how much cash business the boutique does.”
“Guess we should find out.” Michael drove to the dry cleaners.
The daughter said her mother had left to visit family in Europe.
Next, they tried the boutique owner. She didn’t cooperate at all, claiming ignorance about any threats or knowing who was behind the burglary.
Finn laughed when they got back to the car. “Michael, do you not know how to charm the ladies? A little less scowl. More smiles and beguiling tones.”
“Oh, is that the secret?” Michael rolled his eyes. He wanted to close the case and know the job was done and done well. “I don’t have time for games.”
“It doesn’t have to be a game. Some of us are naturally more charming. And you know what they say about catching flies.”
“Let’s hope I’m more charming with Captain Salvador. We’ll need to get him on board if we want to have Carter attempt to make a deal and become an informant.”
“No doubt.” His partner hummed to the rock ballad playing on the radio.
Okay, that was weird.
“Speaking of charm, how was your date last night? You never even said who it was.”
“It was good.” Finn turned to look out his passenger window.
“Good? That’s it? Usually you’re telling me all about your smooth moves and romantic dinners. Was it that much of a dud that you have nothing to share?”
“’Twasn’t a bad date at all. It was…rather nice actually. You should try it sometime. You know, get out there and dance a little. Enjoy the finer things in life.”
“I don’t have time for that.”
“You would if you made time. Maybe didn’t work so hard after hours.”
Finn knew what work Michael did “after hours.”
“You think I should stop investigating my mom’s murder?” He couldn’t keep the edge out of his voice.
“I’m not saying that, Mick. But to be honest, I am worried about you. Your family is worried. You spend so much time and energy on it that you’ve forgotten how to live.”
“Live? Everyone else has forgotten Martina Martinelli. Everyone else has gone on with their lives as if hers didn’t matter.
Either they want to believe the rumors that she was corrupt and taking payouts from a drug dealer and thus deserved what she got, or they don’t care. So if I don’t investigate, who will?”
Finn sighed. “I’m not saying to give it all up.
I’m saying maybe you could make room for the people in your life who are still here.
And have you even prayed about all this?
You don’t go to church anymore. You know I would help you too if you’d ask, but you don’t.
It’s like you think it’s all up to you.”
“Because it is.”
“Michael, it’s not. As a brother, I’m going to say this, and you’re not going to like it, but take a good look at the pride that feeds that lie. You keep going this way and you’re going to burn out. And you know your mum wouldn’t want that.”
The warning stung.
What would his mom think of the fact that when he did have a Sunday off, he didn’t go to church anymore? That he rarely prayed or fed his soul in any way?
He must have been quiet too long, because Finn piped up. “I will say, you have been a little better since Dani Kim came back into your life.”
“Dani?”
“Yes, Dani. You’re different with her around. Lighter. Nicer even.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.” Even if he hadn’t stopped replaying that kiss outside the Snake Pit.
“I dunno, Mikey. I saw you two at the football game. And even your Italian skin can’t hide the blush creeping over your cheeks right now. I think you like this girl.”
“We practically grew up together. She’s like another little sister.”
“But she’s not your sister, and that makes a world of difference.”
Probably, it was better to keep his mouth shut.
Because Finn wasn’t wrong. He hadn’t thought of Dani as a sister while she was kissing him.
When they’d sat together in his room, going over Donner’s statements, it had felt different.
Like he wasn’t alone, carrying the heavy load of injustice and all that was wrong in the world.
He’d even slept better last night with her floral scent still hovering in the air.
Finn chuckled. “That’s what I thought.”
Michael wanted to slap the smug look right off his partner’s face.
Dani’s leg bounced under the table as she counted the seconds on the cheap clock hanging above her desk. The numbers on her computer screen were no longer fitting in their boxes. She was too impatient to make them work.
But she had to.