Tempest - Kris Michaels Page 0,42

dilemma, but I've reached the point which I no longer care if I'm disbarred or serve time for complacency. My primary concern was who to get the information to so she couldn't... make it go away."

"How real is the possibility of her eradicating evidence?"

She carefully put the day planner down and flipped to a tabbed section in the back. "I don't know. Each page in this section represents a donation to one of her companies. Each one of these donations came after the death of the donor. Millions upon millions of dollars comes in on any given month."

Tempest looked at the writing. Shorthand. Nothing anyone snooping through her things would be able to decipher without effort. "So… none of it is illegal."

"True. However, with a few exceptions because of no next of kin, the donations were going to be contested by the families of the deceased. Those court cases never came to fruition."

Tempest leaned back in his chair. Damn it. If this was all she had, there was nothing but supposition on her part. "None of this is illegal."

She nodded her head and then pointed at a line at the bottom of the page. "No court action ever resulted in any of the cases. None. Not one. Ever."

He leaned forward and gazed down at her shorthand as if he understood it, which he didn't. "How many cases?"

"Twenty-seven in the two years I've been tracking it. Twenty-seven donations totaling somewhere north of three hundred million dollars in less than two years."

"What happened to the complainants?"

"I didn't ask because I couldn't know. But the things I could ask, I did."

"Such as?"

"Such as how did the donors die?"

"And?"

"Without exception each donor died of accidental causes."

"Accidents?"

"Yes, none were from old age, cancer, heart conditions, anything remotely medical. The majority were vehicle and pedestrian accidents, some were reported as suicides, three breaking and enterings resulting in the deaths of the donors, and several accidental electrocutions."

"Interesting." Was Regina Grantham targeting liquid assets from families with skeletons in their past, families vulnerable to blackmail to remain silent? He leaned back and rubbed his jaw. Lycos' specialty was killing while making it look like an accident. Could her mother employ an assassin with similar skills? Guardian, Fury in particular, would know of any assassin currently freelancing with such a specialty. "What else do you have?"

Her shoulders fell. "You don't think this is enough?"

He placed his hand on her thigh. He nodded to the planner. "I think your suppositions have credibility, but I also see fifteen or twenty pages past the ones you've been talking about. What else do you have?"

"These are notes on things I've noticed while I've been executing my assigned responsibilities. I oversee The Continuum, the foundation where the donors’ money is deposited. These pages show movements of money from the foundation to other businesses. Research into those businesses, done months after the fact so there was no link to the specific donation, led me into a labyrinth of shell companies. I believe the money is moved to foreign countries and exchanged into Euros, Pesos, Yen, Pounds and... legitimized."

"Laundered." Tempest gave her the correct wording.

"Yes. My ability to research the companies is limited, so while I was at the law library two years ago, I engaged the services of a law clerk to do the research. The research doesn't come back to me. I go to the law library once a month. She meets me there. I give her cash for her efforts, and she gives me a hard copy report which I read, transcribe in my notes, and shred."

"Are you sure the document couldn't be reconstituted?" He needed to ensure her mother wasn't any the wiser.

"I ordered a document shredder that was certified for destruction of classified material. The paper is powder by the time I'm done with it." She smiled at him. "I was afraid, but I had to know."

"What did your research find?"

"Twelve bank accounts totaling about three billion dollars. There are revenue streams I can't identify, but as Regina Grantham's lawyer, I can access her accounts. Her name and two others were on all twelve accounts."

"Do you have the names?"

"I don't. Access to that portion of the account was shielded. I'm assuming she has business partners or perhaps other entities who are doing the same or similar things to acquire money."

Smoke came from the galley carrying a tray. Tempest shook his head, and the man pivoted on the ball of his foot and headed right back into the galley. It would have