Page 43 of The Aura Answer
The airhead was holding back. Jax tapped his pen impatiently. “Your father made deals. They weren’t always cash deals and won’t necessarily show up in his records. If Turlock was handling real estate deals, he expects a commission. Your father’s death put a wrench in that hope. Unless you have other computers or notebooks or information, there may not be much we can do. So far, my accountants have found nothing in his normal financial records.”
His accountants—his financial genius sister Ariel and her mad consort, Roark, neither of whom were actually CPAs. But if they couldn’t find the money, no one could. Toby still hadn’t mentioned the LLC they’d found.
Toby slumped. “I’ve been hunting all over the house and his office and can’t find the binder he kept his confidential information in. I’d hoped he kept copies in his computer.”
Jax raised his eyebrows. “Interesting. We’ve only been going over the normal information. Your father’s attorney insisted that your father had funds, but we’re not finding more than the usual. But if he had hidden accounts or holdings... We can start by tracing websites he visited. That’s a time-consuming effort and likely to be costly. Should we proceed?”
His client squirmed in obvious discomfort. “Look, I know my dad had some shady dealings with some unsavory characters. The prosecutor practically crucified him on everything that went down last spring on the Witch Hill development. That’s all public record. They set the bail so high he didn’t have enough unmortgaged property to pay it, so he couldn’t do much. He may have used attorney-client privilege to put Turlock up to something. I just don’t know what. I admit that I was suspicious and paid Bertie to follow both Turlocks around, but Bertie was never a talker, and I didn’t find anything useful in the sketches he showed me.”
Slowly he turns, step by step... Jax had an appreciation of what it must have been like working with the Three Stooges.
“Did you keep any of the sketches?” Jax asked, hoping his client would come clean.
Toby shook his head. “Just the ones we left with the gallery.”
Hard to tell if that was a lie, but if Toby was suspicious... it was looking more and more like the death of Bertie might be related to Block after all. Evie was damned good, even when she didn’t know what she was doing.
“All right, let me make some more inquiries. I have one more lead, but after that, it’s the computer forensics team who has to step up.” R&R would dig in anyway, but Jax didn’t have to tell him that.
“You didn’t find a single property that I can sell to pay the bills?” Toby slumped in the chair and shoved his hands into his pockets.
“All mortgaged. Bankruptcy looks like your best alternative. Unless you have a real estate license, you’d have to pay commission to sell them. I don’t know land prices, but your father did. I suspect all the land is mortgaged well beyond what you’ll receive for it.”
Toby nodded gloomily. “That was my assumption. I don’t know how Turlock thinks I can pay him more.”
“How did you plan to pay the reward you offered?” Jax asked out of curiosity and for the sake of Evie and her team.
“GoFundMe. Dad had a lot of connections, and they’re all paying in. Even the city council donated. We’re not there yet, but we will be. I can’t use that for anything but the reward though.”
“Do you know a Franklin Layman by any chance?” Jax threw that out there to see his client’s reaction.
“A real sleazebag, I hear, but ten kinds of rich. Layman is dating the mother of a friend of mine. She doesn’t like him, so we looked him up.”
Inch by inch... The mayor’s son had learned from a true gambler to play cards close to his chest.
Jax returned to opening and shutting his ballpoint. “Would the friend to whom you refer be the daughter of the gallery owner who offered to show Bertie’s sketches?”
Toby looked surprised again. “You know about Verity?”
“Evie talks to Bertie’s ghost,” Jax reminded him. “Never underestimate what she knows.”
“Evie and her whole family are snoops, but they’re good at it, I’ll grant.” Toby looked thoughtful.
Interesting perspective. Evie and her family could have gone around town looking for information on all the parties involved, but that would take time. She had no particularly good reason toconvince people she obtained her information from ghosts. She simply did and let people think as they would—as did the rest of the family.
Toby continued. “Verity said Bertie’s sketches were quality work, but she really didn’t expect her mother to show them. They’re not exactly representative of what the gallery does. We were surprised when she accepted them.”
Jax set his pen aside so he wouldn’t destroy it. “Do you happen to know if Bertie had a stash of artwork anywhere besides the Antique Barn?”
Toby sat up straighter. “Where Sammy Walker worked?Sammyhad sketches?”
Interesting. Jax watched his client’s face as he told him, “Sammy had several but apparently not all.”
Without revealing anything, Toby pushed himself up. “Damn. If Bertie left stashes elsewhere...” Apparently realizing he was repeating Jax’s question, he shut up.
“That’s the question, isn’t it?” Jax asked. “Was Sammy killed for those sketches?” In which case, Nick and everyone in Evie’s house was in danger. “Was your father killed for them? What did Bertie see?”
“Buildings and people, that’s all Bertie ever saw.” Toby headed for the door.
