Chapter 7 Follow The Money

"What deed transfer, Melissa? I asked sharply.

"Since you added your husband to the original deed, the condo can't be included under the Montgomery Properties umbrella since you are the sole owner of the LLC," she explained. "The LLC had to transfer ownership to you and David jointly."

"What date did I add David to the deed?"

"Uh...let me check." I heard the faint clack of her keyboard as she presumably looked up that information. "That was on July 12th."

The pain of his betrayal swept through me, wave after wave battering me until I was literally swaying on my feet. I took a few steps toward the couch and sank down onto it before my legs gave out.

"Lila?" I barely registered Melissa's voice coming through the phone, which I was clutching so tightly my hand ached.

"I'm going to need to call you back in the morning, Melissa. Please check and confirm the rest of the portfolio is in order." My voice was tight, and I swallowed to try to ease the constriction in my throat.

"What's going on? Is there a problem I should know about?" Her alarm was evident, but I knew I couldn't explain anything after Det. Horton's warning.

"Honestly, yes, but I can't go into specifics at the moment.Please just check on the rest of the properties and I'll be in touch tomorrow."

Once I was off the phone with her, I immediately left a message for my accountant. "I need you to audit the account for the real estate portfolio first, please.I'll call you tomorrow with an explanation, but I need this done ASAP. Thanks."

"What was that about?Did you find something?" Chris's voice started me, and I looked up to find both he and Sherry had walked into the room.

I gave a humorless chuckle as I tossed my phone on the cushion next to me and stood up. The waves of pain were receding, chased out by an all-encompassing rage. Muscles that had felt weak moments ago were now rigid, and I began to pace back and forth.

"I just got off the phone with Melissa a few minutes ago." They both knew Melissa. Chris had actually recommended her to me, as they had gone to law school together. "I asked her to make sure no loans had been taken out on any of the properties. She called to ask if I wanted the Meridian Street condo included, or just the properties in the LLC portfolio." I stopped there, as another wave of anger pulsed through me.

"You didn't add the condo under the LLC?" Chris questioned.

"I did, but Melissa just informed me that I also added David to the deed two months ago. Funny, you would think I'd remember doing that, wouldn't you?" I mused bitterly."Do you suppose it's a coincidence that Vanessa happens to live in that building? When we picked her up to go shopping, she was waiting for us outside the building, so I don't know which condo she lives in exactly, but it's the same building.How much do you want to bet it's my fucking condo ?"

"Son of a bitch!" Chris yelled angrily, before stalking out of the room. He walked back in seconds later, phone in hand.

"I'm calling Horton. You need to sign that damned authorization that he left here earlier and I'll get it sent over to him.It's on the desk in the office."

Sherry followed me down the hall. "I can't believe he did that! What the hell was he thinking?"

I spotted the authorization form on the corner of the desk, grabbed a pen, and signed it before looking back at my best friend in the world.

"I have no idea, but I'm sure as hell going to find out!"

Chris strode into the office like a man on a mission. Spotting the paper in my hand, he motioned for it, glanced at it when I handed it to him, then sat at his desk to scan it in."I need to send this over to Horton right now, so his forensic accounting team can get the rest of these records first thing tomorrow. He wants to meet us at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon, at the station.He's bringing the accounting team, and an investigator from the fraud unit. They apparently made some progress today that they want to share with us. If you have any reports back from your financial people by then, he wants that information as well."

"I'm going to start looking through the accounts myself tonight. I may be able to at least spot anything that looks out of place.For my own peace of mind, I need to see the numbers," I said, still feeling the rage simmering under the surface of my skin.

I set up my laptop at the dining table, and Chris and Sherry kept me company.Sherry kept us stocked with snacks and iced tea, while Chris and I were tapping away at our keyboards and making notes.

Chris was scouring through social media accounts for David, Scott, and Vanessa. "You'd be amazed at how stupid some people are, Lila," he told when I asked what he was doing.

"They post incriminating shit without even realizing it. Backgrounds of pictures that show things they shouldn't, tagging people they weren't supposed to be with or places they weren't supposed to be at.We search social media profiles routinely to help our clients, or to poke holes in the stories of witnesses," he explained.

I knew David rarely posted anything, but I had no idea about Scott or Vanessa. I didn't follow either one of them on any of the sites.

I pulled up the bank account for the real estate portfolio. We used the same account for all of the transactions for the properties included in the LLC portfolio. I pulled up the in-depth report that I received each month from the management company that was in charge of leasing and maintaining the buildings.I typically just looked at the report overview, to make sure that income and expenses were within budget. I usually only looked at the in-depth report at our annual budget meeting at the end of the year.

I started by comparing the rent income that was supposed to be charged to the actual rent payments that were deposited. I searched a twelve-month history.They all matched, and all rents were present and accounted for each month, including the condo - up through June at least. No condo rent had been received for July, August or September.The footnote on the report indicated that 'condo unit is owner-occupied as of July 1'.

Next, I pulled up the Accounts Payable report from the management company. It showed the utility bills, property taxes and management fees, along with a list of repairs and preventative maintenance which had been performed at each location. I sighed as I looked at the extensive list. Lawncare, plumbers, electricians, exterminators, roofers, HVAC, repair services...it went on and on.

"I'm going to need something sweet to tackle this. Sherry, please tell me you have some ice cream or cookies stashed somewhere."

"Have we met? Of course I do! I'll go make us something and I'll be right back."

I looked over at Chris, who was frowning at his laptop screen."That's not a good look.What's wrong?" I asked, standing up and rounding the table to look over his shoulder.

"Vanessa has expensive tastes. Very expensive. I know she makes good money, but as a new associate architect, I can't imagine she's making enough to sustain this lifestyle."He pointed to a post on her Instagram account from the end of May."She posted a picture of her dinner at St. Charles on the Circle.That's a $400 bottle of wine on the table, and her meal itself was probably close to $200. She posted that she was enjoying an 'incredible meal with an incredible man' but there's no picture of the guy."

My gut clenched and I gritted my teeth.That's where David and I had gone to dinner on our wedding anniversary on May 14th.He had loved the food and had commented that he couldn't wait to go there again. I guess he was serious, since it appeared he had gone again a mere two weeks later with his fucking mistress!

"Then look at this one from June 9th.It's a picture of her, obviously taken by whoever she was out with, on a river boat tour down in Louisville. Look at the purse hanging on her shoulder.Unless it's a knockoff, that's a $1500 purse."

At my questioning look, Chris shrugged. "Sherry drools over it every time she window shops at their boutique. Trust me, I know all about those purses."

"She and David were in Louisville several times a month meeting with the developer for that hotel project."By this point, I was gritting my teeth so hard I was lucky I hadn't cracked a molar.

"Now look at this post." He scrolled to one dated July 17th, captioned 'my new home SWEET home'. "Is that the condo you own?"

I looked at the pictures closely, noting the large open floorplan, high-end finishes and appliances and expensive furnishings. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I've only been in it twice, and that was when I first bought it over a year ago.It's definitely one in that building, you can tell by the view of the downtown skyline from the balcony.The dates sure as hell match up though. I supposedly added David to the deed on July 12th, and no rent has been paid since June."

"How the hell did Melissa and her people let him add himself to the deed?She's better than that," he grumbled.

"That's a damned good question, but since Det. Horton said I couldn't discuss the case yet, I couldn't ask her too many questions."

"She also has pictures of several vacations posted on here.She stayed at a vineyard in Napa for four days in May. She spent a weekend in St. Thomas at the end of June.It looks like there were a few days in New York City in August. She posted a selfie in front of the Plaza, plus a video of her room there." He paused and glanced up at me. "There is also a picture of her in front of the Bellagio. Scott has a similar picture on his Instagram profile, too, posted on the same night. I'm pretty sure it was the same weekend that Scott and David went to their cousin's bachelor party in Vegas."

The rage that had been simmering just under the surface of my skin surged, and I had to stop myself from releasing a primal scream.I closed my eyes and tried to breathe deeply to calm and center myself. It didn't work. I still wanted to scream.

Sherry came in carrying a tray loaded with goodies, and Chris jumped up to help her with it.He sat the tray down in the middle of the table, and Sherry reached for a big bowl filled with a brownie, topped with vanilla ice cream, drizzled with chocolate syrup and a sprinkle of nuts.

"Here you go, hon.Eat this and have another glass of tea."

I smiled at my friend, so incredibly grateful to have her by my side."You are a goddess, my friend. Thank you."

She handed Chris a similar bowl, and took the last bowl for herself. For the next several minutes, I focused on the bowl of deliciousness in front of me, happy for even a brief respite from the shitshow that my life had become.

All too soon, I was back at it, running down the list of bank transactions and matching them to the list of invoices for services rendered.I noticed numerous bank payments which were not on the list of the bills shown on the management company's report.

I showed my findings to David. "For the month of June, the management company listed a total of $17,069.32 in total outgoing expenses.There is an itemized list, which looks to be fairly typical based on what I've seen in the past. Yet, for that same month, there are payments made from the bank totaling $29,791.17."

"How would that be possible?" Sherry asked.

I shrugged."The management company doesn't pay the invoices. I have them approve the invoices and send them to the accountant to be paid. I will need to talk to the accountant's office to find out why they were paying more, and who they were sending payments to. The online banking system just refers to most of the transactions as a 'wire transfer' or 'electronic transfer', even on the ones that I know are legit, like this one," I said, pointing to a specific line item."This electronic transfer is for $1113.54, which matches with the due date and amount for this invoice for a new water heater installation at one of the rental houses."

Chris just shook his head."Over $12,000 in unexplained payments in one month?What the ever-loving fuck was David thinking?" He shut down his computer and stood up. "I think we need to call it a night and let Det. Horton and his people look into this.They can follow the money trail a lot easier than any of us can.Why don't we get something a little stronger than iced tea? I know I could use a whiskey right about now."

He picked up the tray with our empty ice cream bowls and carried it toward the kitchen, while Sherry gathered our iced tea glasses.

"I'll be there in a minute. I need to at least take a quick peak at my trust fund account and investment portfolio accounts. I don't have much activity on those since I only draw from them for an investment or a major purchase. I just need to make sure he hasn't gotten to those, or I won't be able to sleep tonight.

Ten minutes later, after confirming that nothing looked out of place on those accounts, I shut down my laptop and walked into the kitchen to pour a glass of wine.I wandered into the living room and found Sherry and Chris curled up together on the couch, debating which movie to watch. I closed my eyes at the memory of sitting like that with David so many times in the past. Tears pricked at the back of my eyelids as images from the past flickered through my mind. Had any of it been real?