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As it had turned out, the new client wasn’t interested in promoting their Sexy Senior exercise tapes. The project at hand was much more challenging. They had added disposable underwear for incontinent men and women to their line and wanted to market it under the Sexy Senior brand. The campaign currently underway with a different agency was failing terribly which wasn’t that surprising. After all, what could be sexy about incontinence underwear for the senior demographic?
Although she willed herself to concentrate on the campaign, the image of Al Shady’s bloated corpse invaded Cameron’s thoughts, so she was having a hard time. What had the good doctor done to deserve a death like that? True, she hadn’t liked him at all, but no one deserves what happened to him.
Hopefully Kate and Danny were having better luck than she was in what was rapidly turning out to be a frustrating, wasted day for her.
By noon she went downstairs to grab a sandwich in the coffee shop on the main floor of her office building. A change of scenery always helped when she reached a creative block. When she returned to her desk, Cameron was determined to figure out how to make adult diapers seem sexy. First she studied the current packaging and prayed for inspiration. Then she scrutinized the photos of the model she chose for her presentation—a very attractive older woman with flowing platinum hair wearing plain white Sexy Senior panties. The overall effect was that of an appealing woman who wished she was modeling something else.
She willed herself to get creative. What if those same panties were screen printed with something like black lace or a 3D graphic that looked like ruffles? Perhaps an image of jockey shorts for the men’s product. Sexy? Questionable. But, would it be promotable? With that model and a virile-looking older man, definitely. Thankfully, her gears clicked into place.
After a few hours of sketching, testing various slogans and copywriting, she had the nucleus of a campaign and allowed herself to relax a bit. As soon as her guard was down, the image of Shady’s wife Barbara entered her thoughts again. Where was that bitch, anyway?
A certain measure of fear invaded her need for answers. As an amateur sleuth, Cameron had been involved in investigating the embezzlement scam that cost the Federal government millions. Most recently she’d helped to take down a very clever money laundering operation in Los Angeles, but both times her life and that of her friends was in danger. This was different. The knowledge that Shady’s grotesque floating corpse was no suicide was worse because it was on her home turf. Was a killer loose in their safe community?
Weird thoughts and images ran through her mind during the drive home. Well, she rationalized, at least it takes my mind off the traffic.”
The group was all there waiting for her when she opened her front door. Either her watch stopped, or they were early. A quick glance told her they were early and that must mean something had developed which most probably wasn’t going to be good news.
Kate still wore jeans and a tee shirt but now sported perfect makeup and styled hair and high heels. Garrett, lounged in an easy chair wearing a confident look, black jeans and a black body-hugging tee shirt. Of course. That would account for Kate’s attention to her appearance. Perhaps he had something positive to offer besides good looks.
The Colonel lounged on one of the sofas while Clarence spread out in his favorite spot in front of the fireplace. She noticed the old man looked far better and much more alert than he had the night before. But the one who commanded her attention was Matt Darwin. The handsome actor’s eyes seemed to have lost some of their luster. Even though shot full of Botox, somehow a frown managed to create a slight crease in his brow. In short, the man did not look happy.
“Hey guys. Looks like something is up, but please give me a few minutes to change clothes. I’ll be down shortly.”
Kate said, “No problem. We’ve been going over some of the latest developments. It’s been a fruitful day, and have we ever got a lot to tell you.”
The words were no sooner out of her mouth than Matt Darwin’s dejected expression escalated. “Yeah. Lots to tell you,” he said in a flat voice, not at all like his familiar tone.
She headed for the stairs thinking something major must have happened. Ten minutes later she came back down dressed for comfort. “Okay, no time like the present. Since it’s dinner time, though, let me just order a couple of large pizzas and we can get right into it.” She picked up the phone, dialed a number from heart and ordered a large Vegetarian Pizza, a Meat Lover’s Pizza and some chocolate chip cookies.
Darwin said, “My news is probably the most disturbing, so I might as well go first. Simply said, I never should have trusted her. I could kick myself for not asking to see the actual bank statements. But, when she got away with only presenting the report that first month, I guess she saw paperwork is not my thing. Probably her way of testing the water to see how far she could go. I met with the bank president today and discovered Barbara has been siphoning off money ever since she took over as Treasurer.”
“That long? I didn’t like her, but never looked at her as a thief.” Cameron walked over to her wet bar. “Anyone else want a drink? After that bit of news, I need one. Matt, I’ve got some nice Perrier if you want it.”
Everyone nodded and she went into the kitchen to get ice. When she came back, she poured drinks for everyone but Darwin, for whom she filled a glass with Perrier.
Garrett said, “She’s clever, that one. From what Matt told me earlier, she set up a separate account under her signature only and told the bank it was to be an operating account for easy access and accounting when we began the repairs. Gunderson, he’s the branch president, said he told her Matt’s signature was needed so she took a card and brought it back with what appeared to be his signature.”
“When I looked at it, at first,” Darwin said, “I wondered if I’d actually signed it and forgotten. On second look it was clear that she forged it. But she was good. I don’t think anyone else would have picked up on it.”
“After you told him it was unauthorized, couldn’t you ask him to transfer the funds back into our reserve account?”
It took a while for an uncharacteristically nervous Matt Darwin to convey the rest of the story. The reserve account would still be considered very healthy for any HOA in the months before the settlement was received. But after the money was received from the lawsuit it became a huge temptation for anyone with ability and larceny in their heart.
She must have planned very carefully, because what she called the operating account was set up before the settlement was received, making it all seem perfectly legitimate. As soon as it was in place, she transferred amounts like $9,000, $15,000 and once only $2,000. Clearly she didn’t want to draw attention to huge transfers, so she siphoned off the money slowly. Of course, she never listed those transfers on the reports. As far as the bank was concerned, transfers were not made according to a regular schedule and seemed to fit the story she had given of transferring as needed for construction studies or preliminary costs. Therefore, it didn’t raise any red flags.
Fast forward to when the case was settled. The second day after millions were deposited by wire transfer, she went into the bank in person knowing large transfers had to be cleared with Gunderson.
Darwin continued with what he had learned. “As Gunderson said, the woman is a pro. She said all the right things, joked around with him about contractors wanting deposits before they would raise a finger. That day she had $1,400,000 transferred and told him a few more large transfers would be made. Five days before the Shadys disappeared she transferred another $2,000,000. Again, there was no mention of it on the most recent report—the one she submitted right before disappearing.
“Cami, you asked about transferring the money back to the reserve account. Not possible. Three days before the HOA Board meeting she had several large cashier’s checks issued to four construction companies. Kate checked out those companies today and discovered that each of the companies turned out to be nothing more than a P.O. Box with bank accounts at different banks.”
The Colonel added, “Guess who was the signatory on all of them.”
A cold sweat washed over Cameron. She looked at the others and saw by the expressions on their faces that her conclusion was right. “Let me guess. It all led back to her and the money, like Barbara Shady, has disappeared.”
The Colonel said, “You guessed right. All together the checks totaled $3,200,000 and change. Before she flew the coop all the money but $30,000 had been withdrawn from the ‘special operating account’ via those checks. Although we still have several million in the reserve account it might have to be stretched in order to cover all the repairs. I’m afraid we won’t have the surplus we thought we would. Now we really need the best construction manager we can hire.”
Cameron took a sip from her drink. “Wow. I knew Shady was a fitting last name, but I didn’t expect that.”