“It’s definitely at least partially a laundering operation,” Brad said without preamble. Victor sighed, even as he grabbed them each a beer out of the fridge. He had known that was a possibility—that was something that he and Danielle both had to figure out. “It seems like the three places at least operate as a good cover for laundering—they seem to actually provide some community services—but there’s definitely, according to the guy I had looking into it, laundering going on.”
Victor led Brad into the living room and sat down. “You’re sure?” He knew Brad wouldn’t say it so definitively—not after their confrontation in his office—if he wasn’t, but he wanted to hear the man say it.
“I’m sure,” Brad said, nodding and cracking open his beer.
“What else did you find out?” He sat back and sipped his own beer, waiting for details. Brad set his drink down, took out his tablet and started going over his notes: he’d managed to get an investigator to look into the three organizations, and to do some in-depth searching based on the few little leads he’d managed to accumulate.
“There’s definitely a direct tie to Sam,” Brad said, meeting Victor’s gaze levelly. “I know you don’t want to hear that, but it’s the truth.” Victor smiled slightly.
“I don’t mind hearing it,” Victor said. “A tie to Sam doesn’t prove that Danielle knew about it, and you know that as well as I do.” Brad shrugged.
“If it came up in a court of law, then there would be a hard time disproving the theory that she did it on purpose, and you could go down with her,” Brad said.
“If we had proof that she didn’t know about it, that would change that aspect—wouldn’t it?” Brad raised an eyebrow.
“I mean, if you had proof—sure,” Brad said. “But how are you going to get proof that she didn’t know about it?” Victor smiled more broadly, thinking of Danielle on her particular mission at that very moment. He had wanted to go with her, or at least be nearby, but they’d agreed to settle each of their ends of the problem separately. She had wanted to confront her brother on her own about the issue, and deal with it herself. There was—at the moment—no real question of what they would do with the knowledge. Just knowing about things was enough.
“If I have proof, then that’s what I’m going to go with,” Victor said, shruggi
ng off the question. “That’s all I’m concerned about. What do you think the likelihood is that the DA would end up coming after me?” Brad picked up his beer and took a long sip, considering that point.
“As long as there’s no discernible pattern, I don’t think it’s all that likely,” Brad said. “At least for him to come after you. I can’t necessarily say the same thing about Danielle.”
“Do you think there’s a strong chance that anyone’s looking specifically at these three charities?” Victor set his beer aside. Brad shrugged.
“I couldn’t say for sure,” Brad admitted. “With these kinds of operations, it could happen at any time—you have to know that. Someone could be watching them, no one could be watching them. The fact that I could find out what I did about the organizations means that it’s likely someone has an ear to the ground.”
“And basically, you’re worried that between this and my connection with Nikolai—strictly business—it could bring me down?” Brad nodded slowly.
“If there’s anything that they can use to prove that you’re doing something illegal, they’ll be likely to take you in if only to make you roll over on other, bigger fish,” Brad said. “That’s how they do the big raids.”
“Nikolai will understand if I have to back off of things for a while,” Victor said. He sighed. “Is there any way to prevent it from happening again with those organizations? Is there a way that Danielle could screen for that kind of thing coming up?” Brad raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know how you’re so convinced she didn’t do it on purpose in the first place,” Brad pointed out. “I mean, she’s related to the person basically in charge of the operation.”
“I know she didn’t do it on purpose, that’s all you need to know about it,” Victor told his lawyer firmly.
“If you’re that confident about it, nothing I say is going to change your mind,” Brad said equitably.
They continued talking about it for a while longer: how Victor could limit his liability, how they could manage to keep his fortune safe from any future attempts, do pre-emptive screenings of charities that Danielle might donate some chunk of his fortune to without making it a hugely laborious process.
Both men finished their beers, and Victor began to worry about how things were going with Danielle and her brother. He knew that if she was being careful, working on buttering Sam up first, it would probably take a while—but he’d hoped to at least hear something from her.
“I think we’ve just about gotten this squared away,” Brad said, rising to his feet, and Victor nodded. As soon as the lawyer left, he promised himself, he would call Danielle. Even if she was busy with her brother, it would at least give her a cue to send him some kind of message. He grabbed the empties and shook Brad’s hand.
“I’ll loop you back in once I know anything else,” Victor told his attorney.
“Same coming from me,” Brad said, nodding. “If I find anything else out—even if I think it’ll piss you off—you know I’ll tell you, right?” Victor laughed.
“You’re not going to suddenly find some smoking gun in Danielle’s life,” he assured the lawyer. “But if you find anything out I need to know, tell me no matter what it is.”
He watched as the lawyer left and considered—again—whether or not to call Danielle. If she was still talking to Sam, then him calling her might interfere with the recording device she was wearing. At the same time, he was getting worried; he’d heard nothing at all from her, and he would have thought that the kind of discussion she was supposed to be having with her brother would have gone fairly quickly.
He took his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. Assuming that Sam had arrived as scheduled at the cafe, they had been talking for almost an hour—that was too long. Something might have gone wrong.
Victor had opened up his contacts list and pulled up Danielle’s information when the screen flashed, shifting over to the notification for an incoming call. After a half-second, it showed the call was from Danielle herself. “I was just about to call,” Victor said as the call connected.
“I’m just parked in the garage,” Danielle said. “This has all gone to shit and we need to talk about it.” Victor’s eyes widened in reaction to the tone in her voice. “I’m on my way up.” Victor nodded to himself, and then looked at his door. Danielle sounded distressed—more than that, angry and sad in equal measures; more emotional than she’d been even when he had told her what Brad had discovered. Obviously, something had gone seriously wrong with the meeting she’d had with her brother, and Victor felt a mixture of sympathy and worry for the woman he loved.