Bradford slept until 10 AM Monday and awoke refreshed. It was almost like subconsciously he blocked out the weekend. It hit him like a sledgehammer as he brushed his teeth; Ken wouldn’t be coming in to work today, or tomorrow.
“Good morning, sunshine. Are you ready for breakfast?”
“Give me 15 minutes. I need a shower.”
Mary brought Dave up to date while he nibbled at his favorite breakfast; flavored oatmeal, with a side dish of bananas and strawberries covered with Dannon yogurt. “Lynda Reid finally called me back this morning. She had already heard about Ken. We decided the funeral should be in Tampa since that is where most of his friends are. Other than Joe, and his two kids, Ken didn’t keep in touch with many others. Lynda offered to help with the arrangements. By the way, Ken left a will listing you as the executor of his estate.”
“I guess that leaves us in charge,” Dave said. “I’ll try to help, but I’m afraid this means you and Grace have a lot of work to do. I’m afraid I’ll be pretty busy the next few days. Let’s contact our attorney and ask him to look at the will and see what needs to be done. Have you selected a funeral home?”
“I figured you would want me to do this so I got a headstart. Everyone has offered to help out. I’m having lunch with Judy and Ginny, and then we are going to meet with a friend of Fred’s that owns the funeral home in Carrollwod.”
Dave brought Mary up to date with the events of the weekend. He didn’t mention Chris’ revelation about her secret employer.
The office was quiet when Dave walked in. Mary had called everyone Sunday. Grace gave him a hug before the door closed, and started to cry. “Is there anything I can do?” Grace volunteered.
“Thanks for asking, Grace. I would appreciate it if you would help Mary with the funeral arrangements. Please give her a call and ask what you can do.”
“I’ll call her right now,” Grace said as she grabbed the phone.
Soon, everyone was in the reception area offering condolences and help. Ken was well liked.
“Thanks everyone. We all are going to miss Ken in many ways.”
“Grace should have a little more information later today and may ask some of you to help out. In the meantime, if anyone needs some time off because of this, I understand; just take it.”
“Roger; Jane; could I see you in my office in, let’s say 15 minutes? Give me a few minutes to check messages.”
It would take more than 15 minutes to read his emails, but Bradford scanned them quickly to see if there was anything urgent from Sven’s group or Mario. There was a voice message to call Dagfin. Grace peeked in and said Chris called earlier and asked that he call her on her cell as soon as he got in. No sense putting it off, Bradford decided as he picked up the phone.
“Chris, what’s up?” Bradford’s tone must have given him away, because he could tell that Chris was a little put off. Our relationship had changed.
“Good morning, Dave. I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for having to keep things from you, but I think you will understand better after our meeting this afternoon. Are we still on for 3:00?”
“I’ll be there, anything else?”
“Yes, I can’t make it in today, but I will start working on the valuations this evening and be in the office first-thing tomorrow. Also, as I said last night, please keep this meeting confidential. See you at 3:00.”
Dave knew Chris well enough to know she wouldn’t have reminded him to keep the meeting confidential unless her boss insisted. Was there someone close to him that they didn’t want to know?
Roger, and Jane, the in-house accountant, came into Dave’s office. He briefly told them about the need to place a sales value on the four Phase I properties. “In other words, what is a fair sales price as of today? Chris will be in tomorrow morning, but I wanted to get a head start. We need the numbers Wednesday.”
“I suggest we use the as-is sales value rather than asset value or return on investment,” Jane suggested. Roger and Dave agreed.
“Who has the latest financial statements and profit projections for Cabo San Lucas?” Jane asked.
“I’ll email you the latest numbers,” Dave replied. “All we have are three months actual results for the casino and opening balance sheets for the other projects. Ask Grace to get you the files on each property. Okay, let’s get started, and make sure you document your assumptions. Let’s see what you can come up with by tomorrow.”
They gave Dave that “you got to be kidding” look.
Chris introduced her boss, Steve Wilson, who was sitting at the head of the conference table. Dave was more than a little nervous.
“Mr. Bradford, thanks for coming in on such short notice and after such bad news. We are sorry about what happened to Mr. Reid. However, as you will see, the events that transpired over the weekend may present us with an opportunity. Let me introduce my colleagues. To your right is Jack Mathews, with the CIA. Next is Jeremy Placik with the FBI and to his right is Andrea Yeager with the Governor’s task force on organized crime.” Everyone nodded their hellos.
Bradford soon learned that Steve’s style was intimidation.
“Chris says you can be trusted, but quite frankly, not everyone at the table agrees. We need your promise that what we discuss here will remain here. You will tell no one. Understood?”
This is bullshit, Bradford thought. “Do I need a lawyer, Mr. Wilson? If I am being accused of something, let’s hear it? If you want my cooperation, I suggest you let me know what we are talking about. Otherwise, this meeting is over.”
Chris interrupted. “Dave, nobody is accusing you of anything. What Steve meant is that you will hear things today that implicate some of the people close to you. We need to know that out of friendship or loyalty, you won’t feel obligated to tell them they are under investigation. Is that accurate Steve?”
“That’s right Chris. I’m sorry if I came across wrong, Dave, but some of us have been working this case for almost four years. I guess we are a little edgy.”
“Okay, you have my word, Mr. Wilson. I’ll do what I can to help.” Names and faces were flashing through Dave’s mind. Whom are they talking about?
“Let me get right to the point, Dave. We believe Mario and Romano Montoya are drug dealers. Romano heads up a cartel that produces heroin and cocaine and smuggles it into the States. Mario is their East Coast distributor.” Steve paused for effect.
Bradford was shocked, but not totally surprised. He kept silent.
Steve continued. “The DEA has been working on this case for several years. We have intercepted several drug shipments, but nothing that ties the shipments to Mario and Romano. Our break came when they decided to develop new ways to launder their profits. They needed a front man to set up these companies and avoid the restrictions in the post 9/11 Privacy Act. That’s where you came in.”
They now had Dave’s full attention.
“Jack, why don’t you take it from here?”
“The CIA is always trying to track the money from these drug lords. Romano is just one of many. The profits get lost in the various West Indies and Caribbean island nations that offer ways to launder anonymous deposits. A couple years ago the DEA asked us to look at the Zurich group and where the funds for these projects are coming from. We have no proof, but suspect these funds might be flowing through the same Caribbean accounts and banks being used by the drug lords.”
Bradford was overwhelmed by what he was hearing, and felt defensive.
“I’m confused. Are you saying that Romano and Mario are funding their own projects? This doesn’t make sense, particularly when they are at each other’s throats. Am I missing something?”
“Don’t feel bad, Dave. We don’t have all the answers either. It could be that Romano and Mario don’t know anything about Zurich. We just don’t know. That’s why we need your help. There might be a way to find out. Andrea, tell Mr. Bradford what we have discovered.”
“It gets even more confusing, Dave,” Andrea continued. “Other people you know
may also be involved. There appears to be a connection between the drug shipments and the Florida Attorney General’s campaign. Portions of at least two drug shipments were apparently siphoned off and used to fund his initial campaign for District Attorney, and more recently his run for Governor.”
Wow!
“But, how could this happen without Bill’s knowledge? He’s the campaign manager. Are you saying…?” Dave had answered his own question. He now understood the need for secrecy.
“Is there anyone else you suspect? Chris, you asked me not to tell Mary. Why?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Steve answered. “We just didn’t want you talking about it with her until you understood the ramifications, especially when we heard Mary and Ginny were having lunch today.”
“Is my phone tapped?”
“No, but we do have a tap on Bill’s phone.”
While Andrea was talking, a secretary handed Jack an envelope marked “extremely sensitive” As he read the contents, Jack became more engrossed.
Steve noticed, and asked; “Jack, should we take a short break?”
“Yes, let’s do that. Dave, could you please wait outside for a few minutes?”
Dave’s head was spinning. He was happy for the break.
Bradford waited outside for 30 minutes before Steve came out to ask if he could come back tomorrow. “Dave, something important has come up. In the meantime, please don’t discuss what you have heard with anyone, not even Mary. It would be too easy for her to let something slip out to one of her friends.”
Bradford wasn’t sure what to think, but he needed time to sort this out. When Jack opened the envelope, he had gotten a pretty good look at the letter. It looked like Ken’s handwriting.
Tuesday
The Big Sting