Juarez, Mexico—”
Floyd interrupted. “They don't have to pay any fucking taxes on their winnings.”
“Exactly. So, it's not only lucrative for gambling, it makes it lucrative to run your money through the casinos.”
Cobb asked, “How is the money laundering through the casinos tied into Josie's charity?”
“I’ve been looking at this,” Tate said. “My guess is that Caesar was working with this lawyer in El Paso, Carson Wright, who has ties to several of the casinos. It would be easy for him to take money from individuals or cartels and flush them through the books of the clinic since he was the only one looking at them. Caesar could move the money in any direction. A cartel running a casino could move money to someone in the states by shuffling it through a charity organization. In and out with no one the wiser other than the bookkeeper who was handling everything. It could also be used by somebody in the states who's dealing with the cartel as a way to get money to them through the charity and through the casino. The more shuffling of money, the less someone's going to try to follow the trail.”
“Anything on Carson Wright?” Floyd stopped bouncing his pen and made eye contact with Cobb.
“Right now, he’s in the wind, too. I got a bad feeling that he may be meeting the same fate as Caesar, or maybe he’s just hidden. The drive you found is full of codes that even Josh couldn’t crack. We’ve turned that over to the FBI as well.”
“Okay, what about anybody else? Mark Forbes? Charlene Porter? Hell, I don’t trust Senator Rector’s aides, Carmen Martinez or Tahoma Starr, at all. Anything on them?”
“Nothing that ties anyone into laundering or cartels, but we’re still looking.”
“I know we've already talked about Mark Forbes and Charlene Porter. We've been able to pull up a little bit more on Charlene’s boyfriend that she claims spends money on her. Looks like she's hooked up with a man about fifteen years older than her who runs an investment company that's got a presence in El Paso as well as Albuquerque. Anton Sanchez. Don’t know if she’s aware, but he’s married. There’s nothing on her phone that would indicate he’s promising to leave his wife.”
“Tahoma Starr was born on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation. Parents are dead, no siblings. It doesn't look like he's been back, or at least he has no ties there. Took a scholarship straight outta high school and went to college and then law school. Can't find anything strange about his accounts or money, but at this point, that could just mean that he hides things well.”
“You haven't gotten to Carmen,” Cobb noted.
Chuckling, Josh said, “Honestly? She looks like a maneater. Sharp. Smart. Plays the field and doesn't date any one person. Makes no bones about having her eye on politics and her dates are movers and shakers.”
Floyd looked over at Cobb. “I can't see someone like her risking it all on gambling or money laundering.”
“You never know what makes someone take risks. Sometimes it's nothing more than a bad decision then they get trapped in having to continue to do things they wouldn’t normally do just to keep it quiet,” Mace responded.
Cobb snorted. “Tell me about it. It's the way of politics. And I've got no doubt that the cartels and politicians can have inroads with each other.” He sighed and squeezed the back of his neck, willing the tension to ebb. “So, where does this leave us right now? Other than I'm not going to leave Josie's side.”
Floyd leaned back in his seat. “I've already sent the photograph of Caesar to my superiors. Right now, he goes from someone missing to a murder victim. The Bureau will kick this into high gear.”
Cobb growled, “The big question comes to what is it that someone thinks Josie can do? Caesar gave her the mini drive, so is that what they are after? Is that why they tortured him? If Josh can’t figure out the code right away, what makes them think that she can?”
Mace’s calm voice cut through Cobb’s frustration. “Could just be because she had a copy of the records. Maybe they were beating him up to find out if he gave that information to anyone else. Or if he knows if she did.”
“And she did. They know I’m around. They know I’m looking.”
“But the message said to keep her bookkeeper out of it. They don’t know you’re investigating. Just that you’re dating,” Tate reminded.
“I