CHAPTER 16

At 9 a.m. Monday morning, Hennessy strode through the front door of Palin Accounting’s desolate office, almost pushing the doors off the hinges. Palin was sitting behind his desk, staring at his laptop screen, coffee mug on one side, and a smoking ashtray on the other.

“What happened to them?”

Hennessy stood over Palin’s desk.

“Who?”

Palin squinted as he looked up at Hennessy.

“Don’t play the fool with me. What happened to Debra Fisher and John Tilly?”

Palin shrugged. “How would I know?”

“Where are they?”

Palin clucked his tongue several times and leaned back in his chair. He looked at his smoldering cigarette and smiled. “You know, the best thing about not having anyone else in the office is that I can go back to the old ways, and I don’t have to worry about breaking any workplace laws. I can smoke in the office, I can swear, and I can do all the crazy things that are against workplace laws now. I guess all I need is a cute little secretary to slap on the bottom every now and again, and it’d be just like the good old days. They were good times, Joe. Remember those days?”

Hennessy ignored his comment. “You didn’t answer my question. What happened to Fisher and Tilly?”

Palin sighed and looked around. He avoided eye contact with Hennessy. “They were told to move along.”

“Is that all?”

“I’m not sure how much convincing they needed, but you can imagine that the request from Tony Stanwell wasn’t polite.”

“Are they safe?”

“I think so, but I’m not sure.”

“They’re important to your defense. We were building a case against them. If we tricked them on the stand, we could’ve thrown reasonable doubt over your charges.”

“But they were going to suggest that Stanwell Construction was involved in this case.”

“How do you know that?”

“After Tony’s chat with you, he called Roger East. East put two and two together, and assumed you talked to Tilly and Fisher. So, East went and had a quiet chat with them, suggesting they move along before the trial.”

Palin sighed and leaned forward, resting his heavy arms on the table. “As soon as they brought Tony’s name into the scenario, there was nothing else I could do. Obviously, Tony doesn’t want his business name exposed in the case. It would be bad for his business.”

“Is he involved?”

“In what?”

“The embezzlement of funds from the Foundation. John Tilly told me there were a lot of links between Stanwell Construction and the Foundation. He said there were links in your files that connected Stanwell Construction and the Wolfgang Berger Foundation.”

“I don’t think Stanwell Construction is involved, but like I’ve told you so many times, I don’t know. I didn’t take those funds, and I don’t know who did.”

Palin picked up his cigarette, had a long drag, and then tapped it in the ashtray. “Why did you go and talk to Tony anyway? Didn’t I tell you not to do that?”

“I talked to Tony because you didn’t give me the information I needed.”

Hennessy sat down. “I need to know how you change the records for Stanwell Construction. I need to know what accounting is not legitimate. If we’re going to win, we need to be prepared. We can’t be surprised by the link in court.”

“Everything I do for that company is legitimate. There isn’t a piece of accounting that isn’t correct. If the company informs me they’ve received money from certain places, then I record it as income.”

Palin took another long drag on his cigarette and then conceded the truth. “But Stanwell Construction also does smaller jobs. Jobs that cost around nine-thousand dollars each.”

“Which is under the Currency Transaction Report threshold. The Bank Secrecy Act requires banks to notify the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of any cash transactions that exceed ten thousand dollars.”

“Very clever, Joe. There, it didn’t take you long to work it out. If Stanwell Construction goes to a house and fixes the drywall, or the plumbing, or a broken fence, then that may cost between five thousand and nine thousand dollars each time. Now, this happens in a lot of new building developments—a hole in a wall here, a crack in the concrete slab there, or even a broken window. Of course, the owner of the new house pays in cash, and the money is deposited into a bank account. Do ten of those a day by five staff members, and you’re cleaning fifty-thousand dollars in cold, hard cash.”

“Except there never was a problem with the drywall, or the plumbing, or the broken fence.”

“But nobody can prove there was or there wasn’t. If someone went to that home and looked at the drywall, they’d see the problem has been fixed.”

“You could’ve told me that earlier. It would’ve saved a lot of problems.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

He smirked. “Honestly, I didn’t think you’d be that determined. I’m glad I’ve got you in my corner, Joe. You’re like a very tall pit bull.”

Palin put his feet on the desk and leaned back in his chair. “But do you know what I think, Joe? I think Tilly played you. He sent you to Stanwell Construction because he knew what would happen. He was setting you up to get hurt.”

Palin glanced at Hennessy’s ribs. “And he was right.”

Hennessy’s fist clenched. “Did you know about it?”

“Not before. Only afterward.”

Palin avoided eye contact. “Tony called me and said two of his boys went to chat with you and that you might have sore ribs next time we spoke. He also said that his boys were impressed with the way you moved. They said they didn’t hurt you too much because they respected your fighting ability. You did well.”

Palin reached for his cigarette again and sucked hard on the little white stick. He tapped it on the ashtray before he continued. “And John Tilly was dumb. Always was. He had no common sense. He’s good with numbers, but common sense was never his thing. By suggesting that Stanwell Construction was involved, he placed himself in the thick of it. And Tony doesn’t like people who throw his name around like it’s a plaything.”

“Will they still testify?”

“Does it matter?”

Hennessy drew a long breath and exhaled heavily. He tapped his thumb on the armrest of his chair. “Right now, we’re building a case against Tilly. We can proceed whether they testify or not, but I need to know where they stand. Our case shows they had access to the files, bank accounts, and systems that generated the invoices. The accounting records confirm the fraudulent transactions came from a specific login at Palin Accounting. Only two people had access to those credentials—you and your senior accountant, Tilly. Another login was used to alter the reports presented to the Foundation’s board, and five people, including Debra Fisher, had access to it. Given that Tilly and Fisher also had an affair, it doesn’t paint a pretty picture for them.”

A sly grin spread across Palin’s face. “I like it when you talk like that. It makes me sound innocent.”

“Nothing could make you sound innocent,”

Hennessy stated. “However, given the situation, there’s enough evidence to suggest there’s reasonable doubt that you were involved.”

“So, our case is stronger if they don’t testify?”

“Given that their statements point the finger squarely at you, then yes, our case is stronger without their testimonies.”

Palin chuckled to himself. “Sounds like I might win this thing.”

Hennessy shook his head, disappointed more with himself than Palin. Every time he saw Palin’s sly smile and heard Palin talk about the case, he wondered how much he had sold his morals for.

“Witness One is our biggest problem,”

Hennessy said. “That’s the witness who provided the tipoff. It looks like it’s someone else you previously employed, but the first two pages of their statement is redacted. Any idea who it is?”

“No idea. We had a high staff turnover rate. Lots of people didn’t last five months with us.”

Palin shrugged. “I spoke with Clarence Berkley again yesterday, and he said he’s going to get me the list of all the redacted witness names. I told him it was Witness One who ratted me out. He said he would look into it for me.”

“The last time I spoke to him, he told me he wanted nothing to do with you.”

“Well, let’s just say that I used my knowledge of his history to convince him otherwise.”

Another sly grin spread across Palin’s face. “There were several allegations against Berkley that were swept under the carpet, including one allegation that involved an underage girl. After I suggested I have evidence of that, Berkley’s tone changed.”

“If you have evidence of criminal activity, you need to give it to law enforcement. There’s no statute of limitations on Criminal Sexual Conduct with a minor. That’s a matter for the police.”

“Maybe I have evidence, maybe I don’t. Maybe there were only rumors about it. Berkley doesn’t know the difference.”

Palin grinned. “And right now, I can guarantee that Berkley is working hard for me, and he’s going to expose the identity of Witness One shortly.”