Page 71 of An Angel's Share
“He's going for the hidden account in California, Jonno. Shall I let him take it?”
I nod as Patrick comes in. He holds his phone up and looks at his dad. “What’s going on?” he asks quietly. Clearly Dermot had texted him. Dermot indicates for him to sit with him.
“Has he sent that to the same account?” I ask James.
“Yep, all getting a sun tan.”
“How much?” Evie asks
“One point two,” James states.
They all gasp, they didn’t know how much he’d tried to steal from them. They are in for a huge shock. Dermot slumps back suddenly, and Patrick takes hold of his hand, putting his other arm around his shoulder.
“Have you sorted it, Sunshine?” I ask as I see James’sfingers whizzing over the keys. He grins at me. God he looks like my sister when he does that.
“I’ve just given it a little holiday destination of its own. The poor thing won’t know what’s happened. I think Switzerland is an amazing place. Such good, wholesome mountain air. Don’t you think?” He’s grinning like a pirate who’s just plundered a pot of gold. Well he actually has, but the gold was already looted. We were just taking back possession. It is actually nine-tenths of the law.
“All done, the cupboard is bare. When he gets there, all smug, he’ll find everything empty. No trace, not one dollar. I hope he saved for a rainy day.” James smiles into the camera. “Love you all. Mother, hurry here, these two are driving me nuts.” He rolls his eyes as Kell and Xander appear on screen, waving and shouting at us.
“Evie, ring me baby.” Kellen pushes Xan and James out of the way. “I miss you the most. Come over. Jackson, sort out that fucking plane.” He then smiles at us all. “Love you, family.”
We shut down the call, telling them we love them, and then sit in silence looking at each other.
“Did he say one point two million?” Patrick asks.
“Not quite,” I answer. Clearly he has no idea of the sums involved. “Liam was certainly going for it. He’d been at it for years.”
“How did you find it?” he asks. “All the money.”
I look at Aoife. We haven’t discussed Liam, not fully. We don’t want him in our lives. “A cask company in California.” I look around, rolling my eyes. “Who the hell sets that up? Why would you? It makes no sense if your company is in New York. So I went, and the lot was empty. I checked the invoices, thousands and thousands of dollars invoicing every month. Just sat there. Moved and then moved back.Trial runs being performed. So blatant, but obviously thinking it’s hidden. The same in New York. Jackson sent someone to check the site. Again, no company.”
I look at Aoife, she’s gone red again. What is it about California? I carry on, my voice flat. Cataloguing Liams crimes. Clueing everyone in on the depths of fraud and thieving Liam had sunk to.
“I went to the Isle of Man. The company was hidden, but not enough, and it was set up in the name of A.N O’Clery. All the Cayman accounts have the same name. He was trying to point at you, Rua. Not hidden, like he told you, Patrick.” Patrick looks stunned. Aoife contemplative.
“A middle name,” she says quietly and looks at Evie and me, relief shining in her eyes.
“Patrick, he tried to steal Christy’s inheritance. Was completing the penthouse in his name alone. Not joint. And it was just the penthouse, not the whole block like he tried to convince you. We stopped the transaction and re-completed it in Christy’s name.”
He gulps, and looks around at us all. “I can’t thank you enough. And for backing me. I never cheated on Christy, regardless of what Liam implied. I think he wanted me to, so he would have something on me. Leverage,” Patrick spews out.
We all lapse into silence again.
“Do we know what the total of the money he stole amounted to?” Aoife asks me.
I go for the big reveal. “I do. He’d got lots of accounts all moving into the Caymans. We’d gotten up to just over one point five billion, and change. He’d been stealing for five years. The company makes huge profits. Its turnover is well over a billion and a half per year. He just syphoned a lot of it off via invoicing.”
Aoife goes pale. Seamus gasps and Marshall starts to fan himself. Dermot starts to shake his head in disbelief. Patrick is shell-shocked.
“Over a billion. Why did I not see it?” Seamus asks quietly.
“Don’t beat yourself up, Daddy. You weren’t looking. He was clever, hiding in plain sight. If you hadn't asked Marshall and Jonno over last year, it would have carried on. He didn’t look like he intended to stop.”
“Oh God, I agreed for you to marry him. I wanted it. I thought he would look after you.” Seamus has guilt written all over his face. “How have I been so blind?”
Dermot touches his arm. “Brother, you wanted what you thought was the best for Aoife. You would never knowingly put her in harm's way. He was a charlatan. He had us all fooled. Well, maybe not all of us.” He looks over at us Greystones, blowing Evie a kiss.
Dermot stands and states, “Time for a celebration. Patrick, pass that aged whiskey over. Dervla’s Reserve.”
