“Sweetheart, no matter what you’ve found we will handle it together.” Clay took her other hand. “The three of us.”
“I believe your uncle is behind everything.” She told them about Moody’s phone conversation.
Clay and Jay’s faces darkened.
“Damn. This is tough to take in,” Jay admitted. He pounded his fists on the table. “Why in the world would he do this? He’s got plenty of money.”
“But Jay, he’s about to lose his power,” Clay said. “Once we get full control of our trusts, we’ll be the ones in charge, not him.”
“But we never planned on removing him as CEO.”
Clay shrugged. “But instead of us answering to him, Bill will have to answer to us.”
“And he does have a big ego.” Jay sighed. “It sure seems pretty clear that he is at the center of these two warehouses.”
“No doubt,” Clay said. “This really blows my mind. You and I brought the discrepancies of the two warehouses to his and the board’s attention. And the very next day he’s on the phone with Alberto Gonzales, the man we meet at the warehouse, and talking about Kenneth Mason, who just happens to office out of London. Damn it. It’s all connected.”
“But we still don’t have concrete proof,” she said. “It’s all circumstantial.”
“So how much money has he been siphoning off, do you think, Izzy?” Jay asked.
“Based on your initial findings, which have mysteriously been corrected, I’d estimate it into the tens of millions annually. But we can’t know exactly until we figure…oh my God. That’s it.”
Jay’s eye widened. “That’s it…what, sweetheart?”
She typed furiously on the keys of her laptop. “The embezzlers had to move their operation somewhere else. If not, GWI would show a huge swing in inventory internationally suddenly showing up. What do the Chicago warehouse and London warehouse have in common?”
“I don’t know,” the guys said in unison.
“They are both being operated out of a country other than their actual location—London’s from Spain and Chicago from Canada.” She scanned the information on her screen. So far, nothing connected, but she knew what she was looking for had to be somewhere. “So the embezzlers had to set up another bogus warehouse somewhere to fix the GWI’s books showing lots of inventory that actually doesn’t exist.”
“Oh my God, Izzy. You’re a genius.”
“If I find it, I am. If not…oh my God, here it is.” She pointed to her screen, and Clay and Jay leaned in. “A new warehouse was bought by GWI’s Mexico operations just three days ago.”
“And it’s located in the United States, not in Mexico,” Jay said.
“Just like the other two warehouses,” Clay added. “Damn. It’s right under our noses in Dallas.”
She read the address aloud. “That’s less than three miles from GWI’s headquarters. And look, guys. According to this report, that warehouse has thirty-five million dollars’ worth of inventory.”
Jay glared at the screen. “And we all know it is completely empty.”
“Is there anyone in Dallas you can trust to do a visual inspection?” she asked.
“Only one man I can think of.” Clay turned to Jay. “James. Do you agree?”
“Totally.”
The door to the conference room opened, startling her.
“Dinner is served.” Janice walked in with two men carrying boxes with Gordon Ramsay’s name printed on the sides. “The three of you need to take a break.”
“Looks like you could, too,” Clay said. “It’s past nine and you’re still here?”
Janice nodded. “A little later than I normally stay, but I wanted to be here in case you needed me.”
“Join us, please.” Izzy trusted Janice. “Actually, we could use your help.”