Tell No Lies (Quinn & Costa Thriller #2) - Allison Brennan Page 0,116
is how you’re going to find them. Property is also a great way to launder money, and one of the shell corps is buying up property, has been for a couple of years. Much of the money that Tanya was washing was used to purchase property in the name of a company, not an individual, which is much harder to trace, but I’m working on it.”
“Send me the list and get some sleep.”
“But you missed the main point!”
Matt almost threw his phone across the restaurant. His anger was already causing undue attention by the few other customers. He lowered his voice. “What did I miss, Zack?”
“A-Line. I think the Hargroves and Roger Kline created A-Line using the same structure that the lawyer used to create these dozen shell companies, but they used it as an actual business—the business to haul waste. Only, they really didn’t know what they were doing and that’s why they ended up on our radar. If we never found out about them, we would never have learned about this multilevel shell corporation that’s laundering money. I’m telling you, Tanya Hargrove’s business isn’t the only one that’s funneling money into these companies.”
“Great. Now sleep.” He ended the call and called Christine directly.
“Chris, make sure Zack gets to his hotel safely, and if he returns to the office in less than six hours, arrest him.”
“You sound serious.”
“I am serious. What do we know about this lawyer, Robert Duncan?”
“I would say that I’d ask Zack to find out, but I don’t want to be arrested.”
“Can you send what Zack has to Tony? I’ll call him and get him to light a fire under the Las Vegas office to get everything they can learn about the guy.”
His email refreshed and he saw the list of addresses that Zack just sent.
“Chris, I’m looking at the addresses Zack just sent. One is here outside Patagonia. I’ll go there. Two are in Las Vegas, one each in Phoenix, Tucson and Saint George.”
“I’ll send someone to the other properties and contact Las Vegas and Phoenix.”
“You’re the best. Sleep.”
“One hour to set this up, then I’ll be crashed.”
“Thanks, Chris.”
“Anytime. Sometimes you drive me crazy, Mathias, but the last couple weeks have been a lot of fun.”
“You have an odd view of fun.”
She laughed and ended the call.
* * *
Matt did something he never allowed his agents to do—go to a potential crime scene alone. But Wyatt Coleman was busy, and Matt needed Ryder in Patagonia to brief Michael and Kara on what they’d learned, while simultaneously protecting their cover.
The Phoenix FBI office had warrants to search the properties Zack had identified as likely being bought from ill-gotten gains—Matt was surprised at how quickly Tony was able to get a search warrant, even though it was limited to documenting and visual inspection. Meaning, they couldn’t look in cabinets or computers, but they could photograph and document anything in plain sight.
One property on the list was near the small town of Elgin, thirty miles northeast of Patagonia. Google Maps showed two structures on the property, both appearing to be barns. Matt approached slowly, didn’t see any other vehicles, but still when he exited his vehicle, he had his hand on the butt of his gun, watching and listening for any movement.
The first barn was made of wood and falling apart. A quick search told him no one was inside. The larger barn looked like a warehouse, made of a combination of aluminum siding and wood, and while it had seen better days, it was mostly intact. The large barn doors were latched but unlocked. Impressions in the ground indicated a large truck had gone in and out through these doors.
Cautiously, he flicked the latch. One left door didn’t budge; the right side moved slowly inward. He pulled his gun and pushed open the right door, then stood back against the wall.
Silence.
He entered, immediately assessing the cavernous space, making sure there was no one inside.
No person was inside, but the A-Line waste disposal truck filled most of the space.
“I’ll be damned,” he mumbled.
But the truck wasn’t all he found.
As he walked inside, he saw odd rays of light coming from holes in one wall. After doing a thorough search of the building and the truck, and ensuring he was in fact alone, he inspected the wall.
Someone had fired hundreds of rounds from a semiautomatic rifle from the outside into the side of the barn. Based on weathering—or rather, the lack of weathering around the holes—these were new.