While Kate and Cami threw some ideas back and forth, clips of embezzlement movies flashed through my mind. I pictured a wonderful scene in the old caper Hot Millions where a dapper rogue played by Peter Ustinov delivered his great line: “Any fool can steal. I’ve been embezzling.” When Ustinov’s image morphed into Bruce, I crashed back to earth. It was definitely time for lunch.
“Hey, you guys, what do you say to a nice big mushroom, garlic, sausage pizza? Antonio’s will deliver. Are you with me?”
Kate shouted, “Yes!” Cami curled her nose. Kate made a face back at her. “You know Cami, you can go off that strict diet you keep yourself on. It’s only a pizza. You’re gorgeous and have a great figure. A few slices won’t change that.”
I added, “I agree. There’s nothing like delicious junk food to keep brain cells revved up. That’s what saved my psyche when Ryan robbed me.”
Cami threw her hands in the air. “You win. Bring it on. Speaking of Ryan, is there any news about his trial?”
“I was going to save this for later—after we finished wading through all of this,” my hand swept the piles of papers stacked up everywhere, “but, since you asked, yes, there is wonderful news.”
Kate said, “Don’t keep us waiting. Spill it.”
I couldn’t conceal my triumphant grin, and really didn’t want to, anyway. “Good old Ryan was sentenced to 10 years—time to be served at Paradise Hills Prison.”
What a joy it was to put my own thumbprint on the revenge against Ryan. Working for a division of the Federal Association of Correctional Reform gave me an inside track.
Cami punched the air in a victory motion. “Wow. You couldn’t have asked for anything more. Have you decided how to use your clout with people you know there?”
Since one of our main training factories was none other than Paradise Prison, over the past several months I’d made it my business to know people there—the right people.
Final revenge would be mine!
Both of my friends leaned forward, anxious to hear my plan.
“Well, as an upper management person, I was able to make it my business to visit the prison periodically even though I hated going there, but I made the most of the opportunity. I did everything I could to establish a good rapport with some of the people in charge and even brought them homemade cookies.
Kate mumbled, “Way to go. Reach them through their tummies.”
“I made it a point to share the gruesome details of how Ryan had conned me and the Cougars. I embellished some of it to make sure they would be enraged. When I heard that would be his home for the next several years, I pulled in all of my chips with the special friends I’d made.
“You see, I’d carefully selected people who had the juice to make sure which cell he was assigned to, who his cellmates were, and what details he was assigned to. I think you get the picture. He was the puppet and I had the way to make him dance.”
Cami’s cornflower blue eyes sparkled with amusement. “Did the Cougars know what you were setting up?”
“Some of it, but not all. I wanted to surprise them. Every single person who could make a difference in his stay sympathized and asked what they could do and we developed a whole plan to make his time miserable. Once that was in place I told the Cougars we’d done it. Ryan was ours.”
Kate looked at me with mock hurt. “Well, I have to say you sure kept us in the dark. I thought it might not be going well and was afraid to ask you.”
“I appreciate that—I mean that you were unwilling to hurt me. I really wanted to be able to drop this next thing like a bomb. Tomorrow is actually the day he will be moved to Paradise, and he’s about to find out just how vindictive six women can be. I got one of the guards to agree to tell him, “Welcome to Paradise, Pretty Boy. Just so you know, the ladies made sure you’ll love it here.”
• • • • •
My security system buzzed 45 minutes later. Antonio’s skinny, sallow-faced delivery boy was at my door balancing an insulated pizza delivery bag in both hands. The tantalizing aroma made my mouth water. The dining room table was still cluttered with the laptops and various files, so we put the box on the cocktail table and balanced plates on our laps. At that moment I had no thought other than how much I was enjoying the blend of sausage and cheese.
Then Cameron said, “Oh my God. Why didn’t I think of this before?”
“Think of what?”
“Well, I don’t know if I ever told you this, but prior to moving to Los Angeles we lived in New York.”
“And that has you lit up brighter than a Christmas tree because…”
“Because, when we lived in New York, my mom’s best friend was a woman named Fannie Hartman. They were so close, I spent lots of time at her house and even called her Aunt Fannie. Truthfully I visited so much because I really did love her, but her son was a year older than me and he was absolutely gorgeous.”
Kate’s expression was one of pure exasperation. “Pray tell what the beloved aunt and her hunky son have to do with millions of dollars of questionable merchandise. Stay on point, Cami.”
“Calm down, Katie. I’m getting to it. I have to build up to my stories, you know. In advertising, it’s all about the buzz. Anyway, Gorgeous Nathan and I dated each other for awhile in high school. At age 15 I thought I’d found the love of my life. Right about that time, Daddy was offered a promotion in the California office and my parents gave me the news that we were moving to L.A.”
I grabbed another slice of pizza, luxuriating in the garlicky tomato aroma that teased my nostrils. I mean, how are you supposed to resist something so delicious? Between chews I said, “Okay, it’s a story of unrequited young love. Not quite Romeo and Juliet, but pretty upsetting to a teenager. Next chapter. Why would that make you practically jump in the air now?”
She stuck out her tongue before saying, “Well, we did correspond for a few years, then lost track of each other, but our moms remained best friends. I went into advertising and Nathan became a brilliant attorney. I know all about his career because Aunt Fannie sends brag letters to Mom all the time.”
“So what are you thinking? That a top-notch attorney might be a good person to have on our team? I suppose that makes sense. If this turns out to be what we think it is, I suspect there will be a lot of legalities involved once we know more.” Kate took the last bite of her pizza, then went into the kitchen and came back with three bottles of water from my fridge. “Here, hydrate yourselves. This is better for us than making a pot of coffee.”
Cami flashed a smug smile. “No, that’s not it at all. Here’s my punch line: Nathan Hartman isn’t just any attorney.” She took a dramatic pause. “If the name sounds at all familiar, it’s because my old boyfriend is Nathan Hartman, the United States Attorney General! His name is in the news all the time.”
We sat there in stunned silence until Kate said, “Your teenage crush is that Nathan Hartman? You’ve gotta be kidding.”
Cami nodded, a big grin lighting her face. “Yep, that’s who he is.”
Kate shouted, “Holy cow. I thought there was something familiar about the name when you first said it. That’s amazing, Cami. They call him “The Crusader,” don’t they? I read something a few months ago in Our Nation’s News Magazine. The story called him D.C.’s most eligible bachelor, but said he’s also a loner. I remember the interviewer commented about what a ruthless crusader he could be when it came to justice in and out of government.”
I must admit, I was a bit stunned. All of a sudden we were talking about trying to involve the United States Attorney General in what we suspected would turn into a scandal. “If we can get this to him, we have to be absolutely certain we’re not making false accusations.”
The other two nodded.
“Do you know how to reach him?”
“All I have to do is pick up the phone. My mom will call his mom and believe me, Aunt Fannie will set it up without even knowing any of the details. I think she secretly hoped we would get married some day. She really does love me. So what do we do next?”
First we had to create a concise spreadsheet listing every order, then sort them into categories so the pattern would be apparent to anyone looking at the data. That job fell to me. They were both going back home the following day. We had learned more than any of us could have imagined when this first started, but there was much more to figure out and time had passed so quickly. We had to keep moving.
Since Cameron lived in Los Angeles, we gave her assignments she could pull off with ease. First she had to visit an instant print shop and get business cards for Interior Space Planning Solutions or some name like that and put a voicemail on her second phone line with the bogus firm name. Armed with the cards, the next step was to visit the address we had for Alaric. She would say her firm had entered into a big commercial design contract for custom workstations and, if asked what kind of a company her client was, she would say they employed around fifty telemarketers and a stable of sales people.
With that cover, it would be a snap to ask to speak with someone in authority. If they wanted to know how she heard about them, she’d use one of the oldest tricks in the book. Sporting a nice smile, she would say, “A commercial designer I met at a party recommended you.”
When planning something like this, you have to explore all of the mine fields. I said, “Sounds good, Cami, but what if they ask for the name of the design firm he was with?”
She bit her lower lip, then brightened. “I’ll just close my eyes like I’m trying to remember, then say, ‘there were so many people there, I’m afraid I don’t remember.’ That shouldn’t raise any suspicion, should it? After all, if they copy the furniture and workstations made in prisons, they probably could make custom workstations. “
It made sense. Cami’s fake contract should be well within their scope. She’d be able to find out quite a bit about the company without appearing to snoop.
She also had to pay a visit to Superior Moving and Storage, claiming she was putting together costs for a job she had to quote. Using the same approach as with Alaric, she could say they had been recommended as a good commercial shipping and installation company.
Kate had created so many major marketing plans and presentations in her career, we charged her with compiling a convincing presentation—one that would intrigue Nathan Hartman enough to convince him to investigate.
Along with my spreadsheet duty, I also had to assemble as much additional financial data as I could, and get more information about Julia’s and Matt’s lifestyles. If possible, we wanted to include photos of the homes, cars and whatever else cried “luxury.”
I figured one of our Friday night dinners was the best way to cozy up to Matt again and pump him for background information. I’d have to be pretty subtle and work the questions into general conversation. For example, I wanted to find out why they picked Seattle for the location of the offices, so I’d say something like, “I was sure lucky they chose Seattle for the CRS headquarters, or I wouldn’t have met you. How did they happen to pick Seattle?” That would sound logical, and I was pretty sure he wouldn’t suspect a thing when I asked.
It was bound to be a little harder to find out how the marketing arm operated before it became a separate division, but I was pretty sure I could slide that in, too. If Matt has a weakness, it’s that that he loves to talk and he loves flattery. If I made sure he was the one who drank most of the bottle of wine we always ordered with dinner, I could pull it off.
Hopefully the answer to the biggest question of all would come to light as the pieces fell into place. How did they make money from the scheme? It would be hard to accuse them of embezzling without a clear picture.
I was dying to let Tree in on our detective work, but knew I couldn’t breathe a word of it to her or anyone else. For now, it was between the three of us and had to be kept as top secret as a military project.