Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
“WE HAVE to look for bank statements, the transaction statements from the Trust Account Roxanne had set up for the fund. Accounting is administering the fund so it should be down here,” Laura said in a whisper as she stepped across the threshold, hunched over.
“What do we look for?” Tim asked, taking the huge ring of keys from the door and looking for somewhere to put them.
“Make sure all the deposits have been recorded. It will be tough to tell because in the beginning Harry trusted accounting to keep track and didn’t keep copies of the checks he sent out.
” Laura didn’t bother to keep the accusatory note from her voice.
She’d always told Harry he was remiss for not keeping better track of things from their end.
Harry defended himself. “All I did is send a memo with the checks for deposit to the accounting office. Who ever thought there’d be a problem?
But I made a list from memory, or at least tried to.
I know nothing can be proven from my mental list, but at least we’ll know and it’ll confirm our suspicions.
Hey—I got us the password to the computer account, didn’t I? ”
“And I got the password to Dr. Evans’s personal files,” she countered. “Now we can see the files that can only be accessed from his computer.” She didn’t want to admit how she’d gotten said password, but they didn’t need to know.
“What else can we look for?” Tim asked, looking around at all the file cabinets.
“Withdrawals.” Laura said, as she tapped at the keyboard to access the accounting files “Here’s the file for the State Street Trust Account.
Wait, this is for the building project. Here’s another for the Dr. Oki research fund.
” She tapped more keys and scrolled down the screen.
“This is odd. Both these files were duplicated in Dr. Evans’s personal Expense Account file.
” Laura looked up at the two men and smiled.
Her feeling of triumph overrode her horror at the situation.
“What kind of withdrawals are we looking for? There’s a bunch here, but I have no clue what they’re for. Only dollar amounts are listed.” Harry said from across the room as he flipped through a massive binder filled with computer printouts.
Laura went over. “Are these the reports for the Dr. Oki Fund Trust Account? Let me see.” Laura took it from Harry and sat back down to check the official reports against what she found on Dr. Evans’s computer.
“This is impossible. I’ve been doing all the check requests and I’ve been very explicit about specifying what they’re for.
” She looked at Harry and her heart began thudding at an alarming rate “I’ve kept very good records.
” She took a deep breath. “There are withdrawals from this account that match deposits to Dr. Evans’s account. ”
“Who else is authorized to withdraw from this account?” Tim asked her.
“Only me and … Roxanne.” Harry and Tim looked at each other. Her heart pounded harder.
“Wait a minute,” she said.
“All the deposits look kosher, but look at these withdrawals.” Harry said, leaning over her shoulder.
“I don’t believe it. He’s been setting her up.” Laura let her fear have free reign.
“But why? What’s he doing with the money?” Tim questioned.
“The guy from accounting said they’d been channeling it toward the building fund.
But I doubt he was aware of the extent to which it had been going on—or the fact that Roxanne never authorized those withdrawals in the first place.
And Dr. Evans thinks he’s covered if anyone ever said anything.
It was Roxanne’s name on the check request.”
“But the building project was well funded. Why did he need all this extra cash? There is a piece missing here,” Tim pointed out.
Laura smiled. “Exactly. That would be the deposits into Dr. Evans’s accounts which line up nicely with some of the withdrawals from the building account.”
“Now things are starting to make more sense to me. The National Institute of Health would have looked at this building trust in their audit. The least they would have come up with is mismanagement of funds. That’s why Evans discouraged the refiling of an NIH grant,” Harry speculated as he looked over Laura’s shoulder at the computer screen at Dr. Evans’s private account file.
“But we need more to prove our theory. I’m going through the transaction statements on the construction project account to get some specifics. ”
“We can’t stay here. I’ll make a copy of the files on my Zip drive. We can print the out when we get back to look at them.” Laura hoped they would find the smoking gun fast for Roxanne’s sake.
“Good. Then let’s get out of here. Being in this place after hours like this gives me the willies. It’s like any minute security is going to come bursting through the door and we’ll all be arrested like in some rerun of a private dick series.” Harry shivered. They all laughed.
“Don’t worry. I told Bob, the security officer, I had to pick up a check from this office. He trusts me completely. He gave me his whole set of keys, didn’t he?” Tim said.
“Shows what a good judge of character he is,” Harry snorted.
“Yeah. Shows how much we’re willing to put ourselves on the line for Roxanne. I only hope it does some good. I hope the deck isn’t already stacked too high against her.” Laura shut down the computer and looked at Tim for reassurance.
“Don’t worry about that. I think between us we have enough credibility to unstack a pretty tall deck.”
Harry laughed. “You do have a way with words. We ready to blow this joint?” Harry looked at Laura.
“I think you’re starting to take this private dick role a little too seriously,” she said. Harry laughed. She pocketed the Zip drive and they left the office in a hush.
“I don’t know why you didn’t let me come into your office today. I haven’t been out of this house for days and it’s driving me crazy.” Roxanne greeted Al at the door. The January sunshine glared on this gloriously crisp Friday morning.
Al gestured over his shoulder toward the now familiar figures of media reading in their cars across the street. “That’s why. After the fiasco at the hospital I don’t want to take any more chances.”
She led him into the kitchen. She didn’t know exactly when she crossed over from apathy, but she now hated this house. She couldn’t wait until the place was sold.
They sat at the kitchen table.
“Roxanne, I saw the DA’s file on you. Among other things, he has signed affidavits from witnesses swearing they heard you threaten Don’s life at a party and that you had several very public fights. Is this true?” He looked at her like an angry teacher at a student.
“Yes. We had fights. But I never threatened his life. I threatened to divorce him in public maybe. No, definitely.”
Al scowled. “Tell me about your most recent fight.”
“I’ve already gone over this with you. We covered it all with Detective Turner’s questioning.”
“Tell me again.” He was all business.
“Fine. We were at our neighbor’s house, the musicians, at a party.
It was early spring. April, I think. I’d already realized that I was never going to fall in love with Don the way he loved me by then.
I knew I couldn’t give him what he wanted, that it had been a bad idea to marry him.
But it was becoming apparent exactly how bad an idea.
I think Don was also starting to realize that I wasn’t the woman he thought I was.
He thought he had married some goddess. I could never live up to his image of me. ”
“Get to the point,” Al interjected.
Roxanne was undaunted. She forced herself to recall that time yet again. This time, all the feelings came flooding back with clarity.
“He didn’t want to go to the party. I did.
I told him he didn’t have to come with me if he didn’t want to, thatt I was a big girl and I could certainly handle going alone.
He said that he knew that was what I wanted—to go alone so I could pick up some other man.
I denied it, though he didn’t listen. He didn’t believe me. ”
“Was it true? Were you looking for someone else?” Al asked.
“No. At the time I felt restless. I just needed to get out. So we both went. He drank a lot. He didn’t like the crowd.
They weren’t his people. They were music people and assorted neighbors.
I had a great time. He tried to stick to my side, but I didn’t let that stop me from talking to anyone and everyone. ”
“Talking?” Al raised a brow.
“I talked and laughed and joked and had a great time. He drank and drank. Don was normally a very nice guy with a very gentle disposition, and he didn’t usually drink much.
That night he wasn’t himself, in a big way.
He didn’t talk much, but when he did, I remember him being unusually belligerent. At one point, I called him on it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I dragged him to a private corner and asked him what the hell he thought he was doing being so rude. He said it was better than being too friendly. I laughed at him. Then he would have slapped me if he weren’t so drunk and slow.
I caught his hand. I told him if he ever tried anything like that again I’d divorce him.
He was practically in tears with apologies after that. ”
“Then what did you do?”
“I walked away from him. I was very angry. Outraged. I had no sympathy. I said …” She paused.
“What did you say, Roxanne?” Al’s jaw was tense. It made her uncomfortable. But she looked him in the eye and told him what she said to Don that night.
“I said, ‘Maybe I should divorce you anyway.’”
“Then what did you do? Is that all? It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to hear any more of this anyway.” Al put one hand over his face and turned away from her.
“You knew we had problems all along, Al. Why so squeamish now?” She wasn’t about to apologize to Al for anything. She owed Don, even though she couldn’t do a thing for him. But he was the only one.