CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

When the team from the Square walked up, Julia was with her husband, who had just returned from a security detail. Like his father, Joseph never wanted to be out of reach of his wife. She had saved his life, and in turn, they saved one another.

"How did it go today after we left?" asked Gaspar.

"Other than the one Korean ghost that was connected to all of this shit, it was pretty quiet," said Noah.

"Are we sure she was connected?" asked Ian.

"Positive," said U-Jin. "She and her brother owned a chain of Korean grocery stores. They were very wealthy. His sister was living in a luxury retirement community in Tennessee just before she got sick. A guy by the name of Bill Laughlin ran security at the community. He was trying to date her and pushing her for marriage. She didn't want to marry."

"Damn. What happened?" asked Ghost.

"He wanted to move in together, and she refused. When she became ill, she gave him access to her checking account to buy her medications. We're fairly certain he cleared out her bank accounts right before she died."

"Bill? Bill Laughlin," repeated Ella. "His name appeared several times on the transaction sheets. He had payroll records, but also some transfers of money into the general company accounts."

"Why would he deposit into the company accounts?" asked Nine.

"If he was making or taking money on his own, he would then turn around and give that to the organization. If it were cash or checks, then he would just deposit them into his own account and transfer that. This way, it would look as if he were investing in the company or buying stock."

"Jesus, this shit is so messy," said Nine.

"Hi, sorry we're late," said Code. Hannah was coming behind him with her laptop, smiling at the others.

"I think I've found something interesting that we need to follow," she said, opening her computer. "Jean and Ella asked me to help look at the financials, and for some reason, I started to go down a rabbit hole. I started to look at the retirement system for the City of Atlanta, specifically the APD."

"Okay. Sounds like a smart thing to do. What did you find?" asked Ghost.

"Their retirement system was nearly bankrupt about eleven years ago. Someone was playing with their benefits, risking the money on shaky investments and playing the stock market. That's all well and good if you understand the market, but apparently, this person did not."

"Jesus, did they lose their retirement benefits?" asked Ian.

"Almost. The state stepped in and helped to make up some of it, but it was down considerably, and there was a real risk of some of the retirees losing benefits by a certain age. You can only imagine how that went over."

"So the system is busted?" asked Gaspar.

"Not any longer," said Hannah. "The system was taken over by one of the retirees, and money started pouring back into the system, giving the retirees even greater benefits. In fact, they took it away from the city and put it under private control."

"And just who is this private control?" asked Nine.

"Gates Investments. Charlie Gates owns his own investment firm. The money is invested through him and has seen substantial growth year after year. Most police officers will now retire with double what they thought they would have."

"How do we fucking argue with that?" frowned Rafe.

"They're still killing innocent women. He's doing this through investment but also through murder and stealing. I'm all for them getting great retirements, but not at the expense of human life," said Gaspar.

"What do we do now? We've got Pierre going in playing footsie with the women and Addie possibly playing the men, Noah, Julia, Mama, Ruby, and U-Jin reading palms, talking to ghosts, and giving psychic readings. What else do we do?" asked Baptiste.

"We have to find where the rest of the money is located," said Hannah. "There's no doubt that the vast majority is being reinvested in the retirement fund, but it's not accounting for millions in stolen goods and cash. I think Gates is using it to fund his campaign because he's telling the world that he's self-funding. In fact, this tells them that he knows how to invest and raise money better than anyone."

"He is waiting for the next role after Congress," said Gaspar. "He's hoping this shows how good he is and impresses all the right people. Hell, all the people. Period."

"I think that's what he's doing," said Hannah.

"Nice work," smiled Ella. "I would agree, looking at these spreadsheets. Wait. What is this? Why are these accounts redepositing?"

"What? Where?" asked Hannah, looking at the books. "Damn, I missed those. Jean? What do you think?"

"I think we need to find out if those people are dead. If they are, was their money left to a specific person, or was it relegated back to the retirement fund." Tailor stared at the tables, shaking his head.

"Fuck. They're killing their own men for money."