Ring of Lies (28 page)

Mike
picked
up the bank statements and flicked through them.
‘
Grace, I’m going to hold on to these
, along with the photograph
.
’
When she started to object,
h
e held up his hand.
‘
Jack will give you a receipt
and we’ll get you some photocopies
.
I’m going to assign
one of our forensic accountants
to
take a closer a look at the listed transactions
, see if we
can
track the deposits and find out where the money originated.
’

‘
What about Cody, are you going to pull him
in
for
questioning
?
’
Jack asked.

Mike flicked an imaginary speck of lint off his shoulder.
‘
I don’t see much point at present.  W
e’ll keep him
and the bank under surveillance. S
ee if anyone tries to access the account.
Jack, hate to do this, but your vacation just ended
.
I want you to pay a visit to the house on Gasparilla Island.
’

‘
You’re not going
without me,
’
Grace said, surprised at her own bravery.

‘
No, not without you.
Jack, you take
Mrs.
Elliott with you.
See
if
you can find out
what her husband did
to
while away the lonely hours when he was there.
Now
Grace,
if you don’t mind,
I’d like to have a word with Jack in private.
’

Starchily
,
Grace stood and
strode out of
the room.
When the door closed behind her, Mike turned to Jack.

‘
She seems innocent.
What do you think?
’

‘
She is
.
Daniel Elliott
dominated
his wife
.
He paid all the bills, and g
ave
her a
monthly housekeeping
allowance
to cover food and clothes
.
He didn’t tell her anything about what money he had or how he spent it.
If she asked too many questions
he verbally abused
her
and undermined her confidence
.
’

‘
And she stayed with him?
’

‘
Grace had a strict upbringing and she married young.
Her father was a minister, so divorce was never an option for her.
I wouldn’t say she’s
entirely
naïve,
but
whatever Elliott told her
, she believed
.
’

‘
She s
ounds
totally
gullible
to me.
’

‘
I like to think there’s some fight in her.
’

‘
Now, Jack,
’
Mike counselled
.
‘
You
aren’t developing some
feelings for
the pretty
widow, are you?
’

Jack kept his face impassive and hoped he sounded convincing.
He knew what happened to agents who
had a relationship
with their informants—they were either fired or despatched to some backwater to end their career in obscurity.

‘
Me?
Oh, hell, no.
You know me.
’

‘
I do.
That’s why I’m asking you.
’

‘
The answer is no, Mike.
Really.
’

‘
Okay,
’
Zupanik
sighed.
‘
So this lady’s husband was a control freak who kept secrets.
Accountants can access a lot of financial information.
But he wasn’t siphoning money from his clients’ accounts or
the British Tax authorities
would have picked up on that, most likely.
’

‘
Most likely.
’

‘
Which means, Jack, the money had to be coming from other sources.
You know what I’m getting at.
’

‘
That’s my thinking, too.
Elliott
had
a second passport in the name of Lionel Lattide.
’
Jack handed it to his boss, along with the piece of paper Grace had found in Elliott’s briefcase.
‘
H
e used
it when
ever
he flew between
here and London.
’

‘
Lionel Lattide?
Hm
m
.
I’ll
organize
a background check on both names,
and
a search to see if he had
any
other
bank accounts.
I’ll also get the guys to show his photo round the hotels, see if anyone recognizes him.
I don’t like it, Jack.
My gut tells me t
his case has all the makings of a chimpanzee’s tea party
.
’

Jack raised an eyebrow.
‘
Another one of your quotable quotes, eh?
What’s this one mean, Mike?
’

‘
It means
anything can go wrong
,
so be careful
.
’

‘
Don’t worry, Mike
, I will.
’
Jack headed for the door.

‘
Before you go—things any better at home?
’

Jack frowned.
‘
No, and
Rosa’s not
go
ing
be happy when she learns I’m
taking on another
case.
It means she’ll have to actually take care of Emilia.
’

Mike didn’t respond immediately.
When he did, his face was creased with lines of worry.
‘
If your personal life is going to
interfere
I can always
assign someone else to look after the widow
.
’

‘
It won’t
.
Grace barely trusts me.
You assign another agent and she’ll fly back to
London
faster than you can order a pizza.
’

‘
Okay, Jack.
But any problems, you let me know.
I’ll ask Chrissie to drop by your apartment in a day or so to see how Rosa’s coping.
Now get going before Grace starts getting agitated.
’

Throughout
most of the
two-hour
drive to Gasparilla Island Grace stared out of the window.
Apart from th
e other vehicles on the highway, there
wasn’t a house or building in sight, just mile after mile of
tarmac,
tall sawgrass and marsh.

‘
This place looks godforsaken
.
’

‘
Not surprising.
Th
e
road is known as Alligator alley,
’
said Jack.
‘
It runs right through the
E
verglades.
If you look carefully, you might
see
one
on the bank
of a marsh, but the most I’ve ever seen in a bunch of egrets.
’

‘
I don’t like it.
’

‘
I don’t either.
I wouldn’t recommend taking a walk in there, that’s for sure.
’

Unseasonably hot, Grace wiped her damp palms on a
tissue
.
E
ven
with the air
conditioning on, the air inside the car was oppressive
.