Dead Broke (Lana Denae Mystery Series Book 1) (7 page)

Raising up his head slightly, Damien said, “As a matter of fact, we did find something.”

“Care to share?” Lana prompted when neither of them offered anything more. “Or, should I go first?”

“You go first,” they said together, glad for the temporary reprieve.

“Okay,” Lana agreed, purposefully trying to sound perky. “I went to visit our favorite witness after leaving here last night and found that she didn’t see anything the nights of the other murders. Your turn.”

Jamie opened one eye and squinted at her. “Hope you didn’t overdo it.”

“How did your meeting with Captain Hayden go?” Damien asked with a yawn.

Lana glanced at the clock before saying, “I’ll let you know in about half an hour—as soon as he gets in. Apparently, he left early yesterday.”

“It only took a second or two for it to sink in that they had been snookered. Damien gave her a look of protest. “You knew that all along. We’re the ones who told you.”

Lana laughed. “Yes, you did. So, you’d think you would have known it too, huh?”

“Well, we fell for that one,” Jamie said. “So, while we slaved away all night, you just took a little detour on your way home to see a witness? How long did that take, fifteen minutes?”

“Longer than that!” Lana said. “I also had to stop by the store, remember?” She fished a wrinkled receipt out of her pocket, handing it to him. “You owe me ten dollars.”

Grumbling under his breath, Jamie reached for his wallet. “Take your money,” he said, thrusting a ten-dollar bill at her.

Damien, able to appreciate the humor of the moment said, “All right, you had your fun. How about we all get back to work now? We haven’t even started the day yet.”

“I beg to differ,” Lana replied. “My day started long before either of you showed up.”

“I meant in relation to the case. Not having a laugh-it-up party at our expense.”

With a slight shake of her head, Lana said. “I
was
referring to the case. While waiting on you two to stumble in to work, I called Kurt Stabler, Roselyn Wymer’s nephew.”

“And?” Jamie prompted.

Lana filled them in on what she’d learned during the short conversation with the man. The call had gone much as expected, she said, with her being the bearer of bad news. Kurt was shocked and dismayed to hear of his aunt’s passing and then horrified to learn her death was due to murder. Though saddened at the news, he offered to help the investigation in any way he could. He promised to be on a flight to Portland early the next morning or as soon as he could make arrangements.

Recounting the details, Lana said, “It was a hard call to make. But then, those kind always are.”

Damien and Jamie agreed and decided that she had almost redeemed herself for the rotten trick she’d pulled. They had both experienced their share of such phone calls and neither envied her.

“So, now that we’ve got my activities out of the way, are you ready to tell me about this break-through connection you guys discovered?” Lana wanted to know.

A little more awake, now that the coffee had started taking effect, both men began talking at once, their words running together and jumbled so not a single intelligent thought could be understood.

“One at a time, please,” Lana said, shaking her head.

“I’ll give you the story,” Damien said. “What we found is that all six of the victims had investments at Cascade Global Investments, a locally based brokerage firm.”

Lana was already frowning. “According to the financials I saw, three of the victims were not in any position to be investing in anything.”

“You’re right,” Jamie said. “We wondered the same thing. They shouldn’t have been able to afford the portfolio they had. But through the help of that great American vice known as the credit card–”

“They used a credit card for investments? Brilliant!” Lana said, her voiced heavily laced with sarcasm. “I didn’t think that was legal.”

“It’s not,” Damien said. “No one can legally buy or invest in mutual funds, stocks, or anything of the sort using a credit card. But there’s nothing to stop someone from getting a cash advance on the card and then using that money.”

“Or using the card to fund it in other ways,” Jamie added.

“How much are we talking?”

“The amounts vary, ranging from ten thousand to one hundred fifty thousand.” Jamie answered.

Lana stopped him. “How does anyone get a cash advance for that much? I have a good job and great credit, and I’m limited to five hundred dollars a day.”

“Multiple cards,” Jamie explained. “Might take a few days, but ten thousand isn’t that difficult to come up with.”

Damien spoke up. “We did find the transactions to substantiate all of this so it’s not just speculation.”

“Okay,” Lana said, pausing a moment in thought. “So, all of our victims had investments with the same broker. How did that lead to their murders?”

“That we don’t know,” Jamie admitted. “But the payout for some of these investments is pretty large. We were unable to determine the maturity date on any of the accounts but my guess is it’s coming up soon.”

“It doesn’t take a financial genius to figure out what the probable motive was,” Damien added. “The collective total is just over half a million dollars.”

“That’s a lot of motive, isn’t it?” Lana said. “But how did our killer stand to profit from their deaths? It’s rather doubtful he’d be listed as a beneficiary on so many accounts.”

“Yeah, we already checked that; he is not.”

Jamie added, “What’s more, these particular investments do not pay if the owner of the account dies before the maturity date.”

“So, again, how did the killer plan to profit?” Lana asked. “And there are a ton of other questions I’d like answered. How did he find his targets? What does Cascade Global Investments have to do with this? How did our perpetrator know about the investments? And, how did he lure his victims to the Steel Bridge?”

“Sounds like we need to pay a visit to Cascade Global Investments,” Jamie said.

Reaching into his shirt pocket, Damien produced a wadded up piece of paper. “Got the address right here. Along with the name of the owner, and CEO, a Mr. Devin Holloway.”

Deciding that questioning the remaining apartment tenants could wait, the three of them piled into a single car again. The drive took less than fifteen minutes; time which Lana spent formulating a series of questions for Mr. Holloway—and shouting driving instructions to Jamie.

Although amused at her anxiety, as usual, Jamie paid no attention, weaving his way through the maze of city streets and negotiating the traffic with uncanny precision—for the most part.

Damien, immune to his partner’s driving habits, seemed not to notice the hair-raising adventure. “Here we are,” he announced as they came to a stop.

“Not sure why I keep riding with you guys,” Lana grumbled, climbing out of the car. “Next time, I’m driving.”

Jamie smiled. “I think you secretly like being chauffeured,” he said, opening the big glass door to the building.

Flashing their badges, the detectives announced themselves to the receptionist. Informing the lady they were there to see Mr. Holloway, in seconds, they were seated in the man’s spacious—but mostly empty—office.

“How can I help you?” Devin Holloway asked, once the introductions had been made.

Lana cut right to the chase. “Mr. Holloway, were you aware that several of your clients have been murdered in recent weeks?”

“Murdered?” Holloway seemed appalled. “Who? By who? And why?” After a slight pause in which the man seemed to make a conscious effort to gather his wits, he said, “To answer your question, no, I wasn’t aware. Sorry, you caught me a little off-guard with that. But why on Earth would anyone want to murder my clients?”

“That’s what we’re trying to determine.” Giving the man a quick rundown of events, Lana said, “We would appreciate any help you could provide.”

“Sure,” the man said with a quick nod. “Anything you need.” It was obvious he was still a little shaken at the news.

Lana quickly produced a list of names and handed the paper to Holloway. “We were hoping you could give us a some additional information on these six names—what sort of investments they had and if any of them made any recent changes to their accounts, particularly with respect to linked bank accounts or an updated address.”

“These are the ones who were, uh, murdered?”

Nodding, Lana said, “According to our information, all six of them held short term, high-yield investments with Cascade Global.”

Devin Holloway, somewhat recovered from the unsettling news, was already staring at his computer screen. Without looking up, he said, “I can confirm that all six are indeed clients of Cascade Global Investments, and it looks like all of them bought into the AI-GLIS Fund, a hybrid money market account CD. The fund offers a quick return with a nice payout but comes with a substantially high risk.”

“I’d say,” Jamie commented dryly.

With a quick glance toward the detective and a hint of irritation in his voice, Mr. Holloway said, “I meant high financial risk.”

“So all six were invested in the same fund?” Lana asked.

“Yes. I would have to pull up each account individually to see how much each of them had invested and the amount of expected return, but all of them definitely had money in this fund.”

Lana, busy writing notes, didn’t say anything.

“May I ask when these murders took place?” Holloway said.

“The dates are listed beside the names on the sheet I gave you,” Lana told him.

Studying the paper, Holloway’s gaze drifted back and forth from the computer to the paper. Several silent minutes passed before he finally offered a simple, “Interesting.”

“What’s that?” asked Lana.

“Well, not one of these investors is listed as deceased. And, I haven’t checked them all yet but the date of maturity for the first two on the list is exactly two weeks from the time of their murder.”

“And why is that significant?”

“One of the risks associated with this type of account is the potential demise of the investor,” Holloway explained. “If the investor dies before the date of maturity, there is no payout.”

“So, what happens to the money?” Jamie asked. “Your company keeps it?”

“We don’t keep all of the money. A large portion of the initial capital that was invested is returned to the estate.”

“And your company then gets the payment at maturity?” Damien said.

“That is correct.”

“I don’t want to accuse you of anything underhanded,” Lana said. “But, in effect, aren’t you gambling that investors die before the maturity date?”

Holloway didn’t seem to take offense at the allegation. “While we
can
profit from such a situation, that is rarely the case. First, very few of our investors die while holding this type of account. Even if that were the case, like I said, we return the majority of the initial investment to the estate and in some cases that could be a substantial amount. What this means is we now assume the burden of the investor and must wait for the CD to mature before recouping our loss. In the couple of cases I’ve checked, that is only two weeks but odds are if an investor dies, it will be a substantially longer time until maturity. There are also other costs involved; transfer fees, filing fees, and so forth. So, it’s not like we sit here all day waiting for our clients to pass on. We much prefer they remain alive and healthy, which we hope will lead to repeat business.”

“Sorry,” Lana said. “I didn’t mean to imply you or your business practices were unethical in any way.”

“Quite all right.” Holloway sounded as if he were used to explaining things of this nature.

Lana continued. “Based on what you’ve told us, in the event of the death of a client, it would be in your best interest to know of that immediately, correct?”

“Yes, of course. Particularly, if that person’s investment is close to maturity.”

“But your computers show no information on the deaths of these clients?”

“None.”

“How do you determine that a client has passed away?” Damien asked. “And how soon do you receive that information?”

Holloway sighed. “Ideally, we would be linked to the Office of Public Health, and would know instantly when one of our clients had been entered into the health records as deceased. Realistically, we do not rank that high on the food chain. We do eventually get that information, but not in a timely manner. So, we are left to determine the passing of investors through alternative means. Still, this can sometimes take weeks.”

“And how long does it typically take to close an account, or transfer the account, once you learn of an investor’s death?” Lana asked.

“Two to three weeks, usually.”

Lana scribbled some more notes. “And what about for a payout to be made once the maturity date is reached—if the investor is not deceased?”

“Payment is initiated the first business day following maturity. But it can take a couple of weeks or longer to work its way through our system.” As Holloway finished speaking, a puzzled look spread across his face. A look that soon turned to a worried crease in his brow. “I wonder...”

While the man intently studied the screen again, Lana and the other two detectives looked on patiently, content to hear only the click of the keyboard as they waited for Holloway to clarify his unfinished statement.

Frowning then, Holloway shook his head. “Payment for the first two has already been made.”

“Can’t you stop the payment?” Jamie asked.

“Not once it is in someone else’s account.”

“So someone discovered how to rig the system,” Damien said.

“If someone rigged the system, that would be fraud?” Jamie pointed out. “In which case, you should be able to get your money back.”

Holloway nodded. “We can file the necessary papers to get the money back. Problem is, by the time our claim is investigated and settled; most of the money is spent. Or at least hidden in some other account that we can’t touch.”

“Were the payments made by check or automatic transfer?” Lana asked.

“By check, and both have been cashed, but... Well, that’s odd.”

Again, they waited for the man to elaborate.