Drawn in Blood (Burbank and Parker 2)

Sloane logged on to one of the conference room computers and began her search.

Sloane lost track of time as her search took on a life of its own. She started digging deeper, and the slight niggle she’d been feeling going into this escalated into a full-fledged suspicion. The information she was uncovering wouldn’t interest only Derek. It would also interest Rich. It smacked of being a major link connecting all the tentacles of this complicated and diverse case.

She’d just printed out some pertinent pages when the conference room door swung open and Derek strode in.

“There you are,” he said, the frustration in his tone telling Sloane he’d been searching for a while. “I was getting a little antsy. You vanished hours ago.”

Sloane glanced at her watch, startled when she saw the time. She’d been in the conference room for over three hours. “Sorry. I had no idea I’d been in here so long. I checked in with my dad, and then got involved in some online research. I want to run my findings by you and Rich…” She broke off when she saw the intense expression on Derek’s face. “You struck pay dirt. What did you find out?”

“More than I expected.” He sat down beside her, crackling with as much energy as a live wire. “I got those phone calls I was waiting for. The first was from a former Army Ranger buddy of mine who’s working in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. He did enough digging to get us our answer as to why Liu’s hell-bent on executing all his plans urgently and simultaneously. He’s dying. He’s only got a month or two to live.”

All the pieces fell into place in Sloane’s mind. “Of course. Now it all makes sense. Liu wants to settle all his personal scores and fill the triad’s coffers with a ton of cash before he dies.” A pause. “And I suspect he’s getting a lot more cash than even we’re aware of.”

“Meaning?”

“I’ll get into that in a minute.” Sloane wanted to hear the rest of Derek’s news first. “Who was your other phone call from?”

“One of my contacts at the Guardia di Finanza.”

“The Italian special police force?”

“Yup. My kind of outfit—military corps and law enforcement all in one.”

“I’ve dealt with them. They serve the Ministry of the Economy and Finance and investigate financial crime like credit card fraud and money laundering.”

“And anti-Mafia operations,” Derek added.

Sloane’s brows arched. “Go on.”

“It turns out they’re investigating Wallace’s leather company—which, incidentally, is totally controlled through a complex web of legal entities, several of which are located in Hong Kong, all with Cayman Island bank accounts. The ownership is so convoluted that only Wallace is traceable.”

“Why?”

“Good question. Even better answer. The Guardia di Finanza suspects that the company has been manufacturing counterfeit high-end leather goods and that it has strong ties to Albanian organized crime.”

“Damn.” Sloane exhaled sharply. “So Liu is not only robbing Wallace blind and setting him up to take the fall for a dirty business but he’s also setting him up so the authorities will believe he has ties to Albanian organized crime.”

“And you and I know exactly why. Liu’s planning things so that when Rich and his squad close in on the Black Eagles, he’ll miraculously discover that their funding leads straight to Wallace. Johnny Liu will have extricated himself entirely, and Wallace will be stripped of everything and charged with every crime in the book, including conspiracy, racketeering, major theft, and murder.”

That prompted a question in Sloane’s mind. “How long has Wallace had an ownership interest in this leather goods company?”

“A year. Why?”

Sloane shrugged. “I’m just surprised that Wallace didn’t take on a more active role in the purchase. He was an investment banker before Sophie died—a pretty brilliant one. It’s out of character for him to blindly trust someone else to handle all the details on such a sizable transaction. Even if Wallace didn’t have the wherewithal to take the reins in the acquisition, he’d at least do some due diligence. Clearly, he didn’t. If he had, I’m sure he would have spotted something fishy.”

“What are you getting at?” Derek asked.

“I’m not sure.” Sloane studied Derek uneasily. “Could there have been a different motivating factor—one that would keep Wallace from asking any questions?”

“You mean like blackmail?” Derek mulled over the possibility. “Liu certainly pulled it off with Wallace’s partners, through Xiao Long. But what would they have on Wallace to blackmail him with—other than those things Liu was unwilling to make him aware of?”

“You’re right. I’m probably overthinking this.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. We’ve spent a lot of time exploring Liu’s ties to Wallace as they relate to Meili. We really should broaden the spectrum, investigate the entirety of their history.”

“And while we’re at it, I think we should include Cindy in that investigation. She and her amah.”

“That woman Peggy Sun? Why?”