Chapter 60

 

 

Pen’s phone pinged with a message the moment she turned it on after their flight landed. “Amber says the most recent gas purchase was made in Tucson.”

She and Mary breathed a sigh of relief. At least the Fordyces were headed west again, so the trip to San Diego wasn’t a false lead. While Mary handled the rental car paperwork, Pen called to check in with Amber.

“Based on the time they purchased fuel and the distance they have yet to travel, they’ll probably arrive in San Diego between eight and nine tonight,” Amber told her.

Pen quickly thought about what they needed to accomplish first.

“Oh, another bit of interesting news,” Amber said. “It looks like our suspect for the thefts at the shelter is out of commission, some kind of accident, I guess. Gracie and Sandy are at the hospital now.”

“Oh gosh. Well, do keep us posted. I hope they can recover the stolen items.”

Mary stepped away from the rental desk and held up a key. “We’re ready.” She took the wheel and, with the address of their hotel programmed into the GPS, headed off the airport property. The route took them along the edge of San Diego Bay and they noted the commercial shipping docks.

As they drove, Pen placed a call to Charlie Blue, Benton’s longtime colleague.

“I understand you have a pretty amazing story and evidence to back it up,” Charlie said when Pen introduced herself. “When can we meet?”

“We’re on the way to the Hyatt, a friend and I. How about if we meet in the lobby in thirty minutes?”

Mary made the turn at the hotel entrance and pulled the car under the porte-cochère, where a bellman greeted them and took their bags. By the time they checked in, rode to their sixth-floor room, and freshened up it was time to go back down.

Charlie Blue proved to be exactly as Benton had described him—late fifties, gray hair, fit and trim. He introduced his younger colleague, Josh Framingham, who could have been a center for the Lakers.

“Shall we talk in the business center?” Charlie suggested, glancing around the busy lobby. “I think we’ll have more privacy.”

They settled at a table in the unoccupied room and Pen brought out her laptop. She quickly located the video file Amber had created from the button cam footage the Ladies had taken.

“This is one of their shows, as I call them,” she told the agents. “It all has a very spiritual tone, and they play their parts very well. Amber took this on her second visit to the Temple of the Rising Moon.” She clicked a link and let the video do the talking.

“That looks like a lot of money,” Josh commented at the end when Amber had turned to follow the collection basket down the row where she was sitting.

“And it’s not going toward building homes for poor people, as they claim. We checked out some of the addresses where these houses were supposedly built,” Mary said. “The claims are completely bogus.”

“I also have footage of a séance-like performance I attended,” Pen said, “if you’d like to view that. They don’t take up a collection, but the fee for future readings runs into the thousands of dollars per session. And they have many little ploys for enticing people to sign up for multiple sessions.”

“We’ll need all this as evidence,” Charlie said. “Send me the files. What else have you got?”

Mary brought up the photos she’d taken inside the couple’s bus, showing the boxes of money, the passports and earbuds, and the closet full of costumes.

“We have reason to believe some of the money is deposited to their religious non-profit banking account, but we think there is far more cash that goes unreported.” Pen prayed the men wouldn’t ask just how she happened to have this information. She would have to come up with something that would not reveal Amber’s hacking expertise.

Mary spoke up quickly. “The routine has been going on a lot longer than these past few weeks in Arizona. One of our friends saw video on You Tube where the Fordyces were playing the same scam in different guises in different cities. In Nashville, for instance, they were Christian evangelists named Jimmy Joe and Billie Lynn. We think their routine goes back years.”

The agents looked at each other. “I’ll get on that,” said Josh. “Get copies of those other videos.”

“They left Apache Junction in a rush, and most of their stage gear is still there. If you hurry, you may be able to confiscate it before the landlord clears the place, and you might find more clues,” Pen suggested.

Charlie shifted in his chair. “Now, getting to the present day, what’s the reason all this is landing in California? You mentioned you have reason to think they’re heading this way … are they starting up the show again?”

“Everything we’ve given so far is just the background,” Pen said. “We have reason to believe the Fordyces have made their way through New Mexico, Texas, and now to California.” Again, she sidestepped exactly how Amber knew what charges were on their credit card. “We think they’re planning to escape the country, possibly with a great deal of the cash they’ve accumulated.”

“This is grand theft, fraud, embezzlement, and obtaining money under false pretenses—in multiple states,” Charlie said. “And if we can catch them leaving the country …”

“I should think they can be locked away for a very long time,” Pen said.

Thoughtful nods from both agents. Josh was already reaching for his phone.

“Catching them will be the trick, especially if they leave US soil.” Charlie looked worried, as though this would be harder than the ladies could guess.

But Pen had more. “There’s a ship called Corinthian. And they’ve arranged a container.” She gave the name of the moving company Amber had located.

“Corinthian sails first thing in the morning,” Josh said, staring at his phone screen. “They’ll be loading cargo during the night.”

“Can you prosecute them?” was Mary’s only question.

“If we can catch them, yes. They’ll try the old ‘everyone gave money willingly’ defense, but that doesn’t fly. They obtained the money under false pretenses. Plus, it’s going to be real interesting to see how much of it was actually declared through this nonprofit of theirs. If the principals have skimmed for personal use, that’s embezzling. Oh, yeah. We can get them.”

“Get warrants in process,” Charlie told Josh as they rose from their chairs.

“We ought to contact Treasury as well. IRS will be interested in all that cash.” The men turned back to the ladies and thanked them.

Pen and Mary looked at each other as the agents bustled out. Both had a sinking feeling this whole thing could become entangled in government red tape while the Fordyces sailed away.