Detectives Sanchez and O’Malley were finishing the inventory of the contents of Malcolm Eastwick’s safe when Sanchez’ cellphone rang. “This is probably Marshal Kate Swift,” Laura said. She picked up the phone. “Thanks for calling me back, Kate. I wanted to let you know what we found in Malcolm Eastwick’s San Francisco office and ask you to do us a favor.”
“It turned out that Eastwick has a safe here. Fortunately for us, his assistant Penny knows the combination. We opened the safe and found money and some potentially important papers.”
“Is the FBI working with you?” Kate asked.
“Yes, and we’re making good progress. The FBI took the files; they’re making copies for us. When they’re done with that, we’re going to return to Monterey, lock the money in an evidence locker, and start studying the Satori licensing papers.”
“How much money was in the safe?”
“Slightly more than half a million dollars.”
“So, Eastwick got roughly a million dollars from the Satori ‘licensing’ scheme,” Kate said. “Instead of turning it over to the Satori accountant, he put half the money in his campus safe and the rest in his San Francisco office.”
“That’s what we’re beginning to think, too,” Laura said. “The FBI suspects Eastwick was involved in a money-laundering scheme, probably with the Russians.”
“Folks who would not take kindly to the loss of $1 million.”
“Exactly. Folks you do not want to mess around with.” Laura changed her tone. “Listen, Kate, we want you to see if the combination for the San Francisco safe works for Eastwick’s safe at Satori. Eastwick’s assistant, Penny, is pretty sure it does.”
“The same combination for both safes?”
“Penny says Eastwick didn’t have a good memory and told her once that he was always forgetting the combination of his Satori safe. Therefore, he had the combination changed to match the one at San Francisco.” Sanchez read off the combination.
Kate wrote it down and read it back.
“That’s right. Our theory is that the assailant killed Eastwick after he got into the safe. There should be nothing in it.”
“Where’s Eastwick’s cabin?”
“It’s not far from where you are now. The Satori office knows the location. Take a look and call us back.” Laura paused. “I don’t have to remind you to be careful.”
“That’s why I have my trusty pistol,” Kate said. “Hopefully the bad Russians are not around.” She paused. “Before you hang up, I have something to tell you: one of our workshop men, Greg Tanaka, dropped out. His car is still here but no one has seen him.”
“That’s interesting. What do your instincts suggest?”
“Greg didn’t fit in. And his story was strange. He looked like a body builder but said he was a CPA who got caught up in a money laundering scheme and was about to enter Federal Prison.”
“Hmm,” Laura Sanchez said. “Malcolm Eastwick might have been involved in a money laundering scheme and your Tanaka said he’d been involved in a money laundering scheme.”
“And he didn’t look like a CPA.”
Laura paused. “Maybe Tanaka was a bag man for the Russians. Perhaps he came to Satori to collect the money from Eastwick and then something happened.”
“Like what?”
“I have no idea.” Sanchez paused. “Do me a favor, Kate, when you take a look at Eastwick’s safe, also take a look at Tanaka’s car and see if there’s anything strange. By the way, do you have the car’s license plate?”
Kate gave her the number. “California 6TR244.”
“I’ll call DMV and check it out.”