Page 79 of Silos and Sabotage

“I’ve considered that possibility, which is why?—”

“That would put every last person back under suspicion that we previously ruled out,” Johnny pointed out grumpily.

“It would,” Gage agreed. “However, I’m happy to report that our newly established connections with the heads of both big granaries have led to their willingness to participate in an unofficial Lonestar audit of their finances. If there’s a money trail leading to a hit, we’ll find it.” He considered it a good sign that both Avery and Raleigh were being so cooperative.

Johnny started clapping, but Ella raised her hands to quiet him down again. “Please keep in mind that my mother doesn’t want her father involved. Though it’s not yet public knowledge, Walker Radcliffe’s health is rapidly declining. She doesn’t want to burden him or his administrative assistant with anything else right now.”

* * *

For the next several days,Gage nearly went cross-eyed while wading through the manila folders and online spreadsheets that Avery and Raleigh had shared from Radcliffe Industries and Bolander & Sons.

It didn’t hit him until day four of his search that Radcliffe Industries had been transferring an awful lot of money to two firms in particular,BLS Accounting and Stratten Consulting. At first glance, he’d mistakenly assumed he was looking at quarterly tax payments being funneled through the accounting firm, but the numbers weren’t adding up.

He did a little more digging and discovered that the letters BLS are the initials of the accounting firm’s owner —none other than Walker Radcliffe’s trusted administrative assistant, Blain Lowry Stratten.

Gage pushed away from his desk and walked a lap around his office before taking another look at the data. Though it wasn’t illegal, per se, for Mr. Radcliffe to funnel his bookkeeping to a company owned by one of his employees, it was highly irregular. And unless Blain had hired someone else to run his accounting business for him, there was no way he was doing both jobs. Avery had described him on a number of occasions lately as her father’s live-in companion and caretaker while his health spiraled.

An hour later, Gage made his next big discovery. Raleigh Bolander’s ex-wife’s maiden name was Stratten. Cora Stratten, who just so happened to be the owner of Stratten Consulting.

Going on the assumption it wasn’t a coincidence that Raleigh’s ex-wife shared Blain’s last name, Gage quickly found proof that it wasn’t. They were siblings, and not just any siblings. They were the surviving children of a man who’d been fired from Bolander & Sons for allegedly stealing some equipment. Blain’s start date at Radcliffe Industries had taken place two weeks later. He’d only been sixteen at the time. He should’ve still been in high school. Instead, he’d gone to work full time for the competitor of the firm his father had been fired from, possibly because his father had been rendered unhirable by the iron-clad non-compete clauses in play.

Not good.

He searched online for a while until he found the next piece of the puzzle he was looking for — an obituary for Blain and Cora’s father. It was suicide. If that wasn’t a motive, Gage didn’t know what was.

He reached for his cell phone and dialed Avery.

She picked up right away. “Hi, Gage! What’s going on?” The happiness in her voice told him that married life agreed with her.

He hated to be the bearer of yet more bad news, but she and her new husband weren’t paying him to tiptoe around their feelings. “Do you happen to have a photo of Blain Stratten?”

She was silent for a moment. “I thought I sent one over already.”

“I haven’t seen it.”

“I’m pretty sure I did,” she insisted. “It was right after my coffee break yesterday morning.

He frowned as a thought struck him. “Where were you when you sent it?”

“In my dad’s office.” There was a sigh in her voice. “I’ve been spending more and more time over there. He just can’t keep up anymore. Blain does what he can, of course, but he’s not exactly CEO material.”

I bet he does plenty.“I need that photo, Avery. Any chance you can email it to me from somewhere besides your dad’s office?”

He heard a sharp intake of breath. “I must admit, you’re scaring me a little. How about I bring it to you in person?” She disconnected the call.

Twenty minutes later, she was standing over his desk with the requested photo in hand. “Here. I printed it out. The digital copy is on my phone. I can airdrop it to Rock, if you’d like.”

“Yes, please.” His brother was working in one of the previously empty Lonestar offices down the hall.

Shortly after airdropping the photo to him, they could hear his cane tapping their way on the tile floor.

He was scowling as he pushed Gage’s office door open. “Boys and girls, we have a match.”

Avery Radcliffe sank into one of the chairs in front of Gage’s desk. “Blain? A murderer?” She raised a shaky hand to her forehead. “There has to be some mistake. He’s like the son my dad never had.”

Gage leaned his forearms on his desk to meet her gaze levelly. “It appears he’s been skimming money from the corporate coffers for the past thirty years. It started off small, but it’s gotten a lot bigger in recent years. So big that I initially mistook them for Radcliffe Industries’ quarterly tax payments.”

“Say it isn’t so,” she whispered.

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