Dead Broke (Lana Denae Mystery Series Book 1) (18 page)

Lana nodded, still bewildered. How could this lady have possibly known details of the case that had not been released? Knowing she would never get the answer to that, at least not from the attorney, she chose to let it go. Getting back to their conversation, she said, “As I’m sure you know, a person of interest isn’t necessarily a suspect. It is quite often simply someone with pertinent information critical to an investigation.”

“You don’t really expect me to buy that do you?” the lawyer said with an almost sneering smile. “If that were the case, you would have said so.”

Seeing Lana offered no response, the attorney repeated her warning. “Any further attempts to contact my client, Mr. Carson, by you, or the two detectives you sent yesterday, will be met with charges being filed.”

Lana bristled slightly, but managed to keep her temper in check. “As I’m sure you know, questioning a person of interest, or looking into their affairs, is not against the law and hardly qualifies as harassment.”

“If you feel the need to question my client, or look into any of his personal affairs, you will do so through me. Is that clear?”

“Are you seriously sitting here trying to coerce me, a member of the Portland Police Bureau, into not doing my job?”

“Your job is not to indiscriminately accuse people or go on a fishing expedition in hopes of finding something to pin on them. That
is
against the law and
does
qualify as harassment—as I’m sure you know.”

“Look, Miss Faulk. I understand your concern, seeing that your client was recently the subject of a lengthy investigation by the FBI and other agencies.”

“And subsequently cleared of any wrong-doing,” the attorney pointed out.

Lana looked the woman in the eye. “You and I both know that doesn’t mean he’s innocent, only that he has a good lawyer.”

“Are you trying to sweet talk me?”

“Not at all,” Lana answered honestly. “Just saying I know how the game is played.”

“Then you know you can’t possibly win, not with the current climate of public opinion regarding police brutality, harassment, and invasion of privacy.”

Lana shrugged. “Maybe. We’ll probably never know since your client is no longer a person of interest in our case.”

Rita shot her a surprised frown. “Well, why didn’t you say so?”

Lana gave the woman a blank look, and in her best impersonation of Nellie Langstrom said, “You didn’t ask.”

With a bewildered expression the attorney said, “Well, then I’m glad we will have no further issues.”

“However,” Lana continued, ignoring the lawyer’s attempt to control the conversation, “I too, know a few things. I know about Mr. Carson’s
other
businesses, the drug smuggling, his gun running, the prostitution, gambling, and even the human trafficking.”

“Good luck proving any of that!”

“I don’t have to prove anything. I have no intention of arresting him, so I won’t be in court. I do, however, have a few friends in the media.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Lana didn’t answer right away, then in a measured tone she said, “Well, I may, or may not, be able to beat you in a court of law. But you mentioned the public; how well do you think your client would fare in the court of public opinion if all this came out? While that may carry no criminal penalty, it just might affect his favorable treatment when it comes to his precious tax breaks.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“I would,” Lana said with a firm resolve. “I’m sure people would be very interested in learning their favorite home town philanthropist is not exactly man of the year material.”

Thinking a moment, the lawyer said, “How were you able to discover all this? Just yesterday, the two ‘servants’ you sent didn’t seem to have a clue about any of it.”

Lana shrugged. “I’m a detective. I have my sources.”

“Touché,” replied the lawyer with a slight smile. Then after a thoughtful pause, she laughed. “Since we’re no longer on opposing sides, I’ll give you a friendly piece of advice.”

“What’s that?” asked a slightly skeptical Lana.

“I know you have a man in custody, Eric Schmidt.”

“Yes,” Lana said with an expectant tone. Involuntarily, she leaned forward, telegraphing her sudden interest.
Was this attorney, who seemed to have a lot of crucial information regarding this case, about to reveal the truth about the suspect?

Seeing the unmistakable signs of hopeful anticipation, Rita Faulk shook her head. “I have no idea if he’s guilty or not.”

Lana didn’t try to hide her disappointment.

“But if I were you, I’d look into Mr. Holloway a little closer.”

“Thanks,” Lana said, intentionally in a blasé tone. “But we have already checked him out.”

“You only ran a criminal background check,” Rita said. “I suggest you look further.”

“Why?” Lana wanted to know. “Did you have something specific?”

Rita gave a faint shake of her head. “Only that his company is not doing nearly as well as it appears.” Without waiting for Lana to ask, she explained. “I keep tabs on several local businesses for Perry Carson. He likes to be in the know when it comes to buyouts and takeover opportunities. Cascade Global was on our radar a few months ago as a possible candidate for Mr. Carson’s business acquisitions.”

“I see,” Lana said. “The two never got together, I take it?”

“No.” the attorney said. “Mr. Carson felt an investment firm would not be a good fit for him.”

Lana nodded. “How did you determine Cascade Global was in financial difficulty? Everything we’ve seen shows it’s a strong and robust company.”

“I’m not at liberty to disclose my sources,” the attorney said “But I assure you, this is very credible information.”

The two of them talked a few minutes longer, much more amicably than when their conversation had begun. Enjoying the company, Lana didn’t notice the time until Rita mentioned that she needed to be going.

“Oh!” Me too,” she said. I have a suspect in interrogation who’s been waiting for hours!”

“Should be willing to talk then, huh?”

“I certainly hope so,” Lana said.

Chapter Nineteen

As Rita Faulk left the office, Lana was unsure what to make of what the woman had told her about Holloway. She doubted the attorney would deliberately mislead her but there was still the question of whether the information was reliable. Obviously, the lawyer believed it to be accurate but if she were unwilling to cite her source, the claim of Cascade Global’s financial woes couldn’t be verified.

“Maybe I’ll have Jamie and Damien check it out,” Lana said to herself as she gathered up the folders on her desk.

“Have us checkout what?” came Damien’s voice.

“Oh! You’re back,” Lana said. “Did you talk with Mr. Pierson?”

“We did,” they said together.

“And?”

“Another dead end,” Jamie told her. “He’s got a solid alibi for every murder.”

Slowly, Lana nodded. “I’m not surprised.”

Damien nodded in agreement, then said, “How did your interrogation go?”

“Actually,” Lana said with a grim smile, “I haven’t gotten around to that yet.” Seeing the looks they gave her, she added, “Had a visit from a very feisty and cranky attorney.”

“Rita Faulk?” Jamie guessed.

Lana nodded.

“How did that go?” Damien said with a grin.

“Not bad, really.”

Ray jumped in to the conversation then. “At first, it was a little strained. But by the time Miss Fancy-Pants lawyer left the two of them were gabbing like old friends.”

“You were listening?” Lana exclaimed.

“I always listen,” Ray said. “Helps keep you out of trouble.”

Lana shook her head and then looked to Damien. “Well, I was going to tell you I’d fill you in on the details later, but I guess you can just ask Ray.” On her way to the door she called back, “Let me know if Holloway arrives. I still need to talk with him.”

“Okay,” Jamie said. “But just so you know, the guy
is
married.”

Lana rolled her eyes and kept walking. She hoped her suspect would be more cooperative this time. Considering he was about to be released, he certainly should be.

Opening the door to the interrogation room, she saw Eric, tapping his fingers on the table, impatiently waiting. He looked up expectantly as she entered. “About time.”

Lana ignored the comment. “Time to come clean,” she said, taking a seat across from him.

Eric tried to appear calm, forcing his face to remain impassive. But Lana noticed the anxious squirming and the shifting of his feet under the table. He’s nervous, she thought. That was good. A nervous suspect tends to make mistakes if he’s lying.

“Mr. Schmidt,” she began. “You’ve previously stated your involvement in the investment scheme, which resulted in the deaths of those targeted, was limited to hacking their accounts and stealing information. Information, which you passed along to an unknown ‘boss.’ You then used that same information yourself to create multiple credit cards and other online accounts in the victims names. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“You were not involved in their murders?”

“No.”

“Did you have any knowledge of the murders?”

“No.”

Lana continued the basic questions summarizing the prior story Eric had given. To each of her questions, Eric replied with short, simple answers, providing no new information, merely reiterating his previous account of events.

“Who hired you?”

“I don’t know.”

Lana raised her eyebrows. “So you lied to us in order to get a deal? You realize that would make the deal null and void, right?”

Eric shook his head. “I didn’t lie when I said I didn’t know the guy’s name, I don’t. But I do know that he is a prominent and well-connected person in the city.”

“But you don’t have a name?”

“No. I only spoke with him on the phone.”

“So, you’re sure it was a man?”

“I think so.”

“What did he say when he initially contacted you? Did he say he had a job or simply allude to it until you knew what he was talking about?”

“He said he’d heard I was a capable hacker and wanted to know if I would like a job.”

“Did he say where he had heard of you?”

“No, and I didn’t ask.”

“Who do you think he would have heard it from?”

“Probably someone at my school.”

“And that’s ITT-Technical Institute?”

“Yes.”

“Another student, you suppose? Or a teacher?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

Lana nodded, pausing to change her line of questioning. “Did you discuss price on that first phone call? Or any subsequent calls?”

“Yes. Well, not discuss really. He offered twenty thousand per person, and I agreed.”

“And did he provide a full list of names at that time?”

“Just one. Chris Tolley.”

“And how long was it until you were able to get the information he wanted?”

“The next day.”

“And did you then provide that information to the boss, guy who hired you?”

“Not right away. I had no way to contact him. But a few days later, he called back.”

 “How did you send him the information?”

“Through a private FTP, a file transfer protocol, not traceable.”

Lana nodded. “I’m familiar with FTP’s. Which one did you use?”

“SharAnon.”

Lana made a note of the site and then looked back to her suspect. “Once the transfer of information was complete, did he then provide you with a new name?”

“Yes. A day or two later.”

“And did that process continue? A new name each time you delivered the information on the last one?”

“Yes.”

“Do you currently have any names for which you have not completed the assignment?”

“No.”

“When was the last time you talked with him?”

Shrugging, Eric said, “A couple of weeks ago.”

Pausing, Lana again made a few notes before moving on. “Do you recall seeing or hearing the name of your first target, Chris Tolley, on the news recently?”

“If you’re asking if I heard that the man had committed suicide by jumping off the Steel Bridge, yes, I did. But not until the following day, I think.”

“I assume you recognized the name?”

“I did.” Eric nodded.

“Didn’t you find it odd that someone from whom you’d recently stolen information was found dead?”

Shrugging, Eric said, “Not really. Strange things happen all the time.”

“But then, more of them started dying. At what point did you start to think something more was going on? Or did you?”

“Kind of had an idea, I suppose.”

“And yet you kept on hacking the accounts.” Lana said.

“I didn’t know they were being
killed
. The news said they had committed suicide.”

Lana eyed Eric. Something about him bugged her. Her instincts told her to not believe a word he said. On the other hand, everything he said seemed so plausible and convincing. So pat. Almost perfect. Too perfect. And that was the problem. Coupled with the arrogant demeanor that still irked her, she didn’t
want
to believe him. But she had to go along with it—for now.

“Mr. Schmidt,” she said, “What else can you tell me about the man who hired you?”

Eric shrugged. “Nothing.”

“You’re going to have to give me something to go on.”

“I only talked to him on the phone.”

Lana nodded. “A person’s voice can tell a lot about them. You talked to the man several times. Did he have an accent?”

“Not that I could tell.”

“Any identifiable speech patterns? Speech impediment? A lisp? Trouble pronouncing any words?”

Eric shook his head. “I wasn’t really listening for any of that.”

“Did the man talk fast or slow?”

“A little fast.”

Jotting down a few more notes, Lana said, “Did he have a deep voice or was it more high pitched?”

“Uh... it was kind of deep, I think. Not like a bass singer or anything but... you know.”

“If you had to guess, what would you say was his age?”

“I don’t know. Thirty-five or forty maybe.”

At that moment, there was a sharp rap on the door. It opened slightly and Jamie poked his head in. Holloway was there, he said.