“That’s not a question,” Adrian Dover said.
“Excuse me. I’ll be happy to put it in the form of a question.” Hickam pushed himself away from the wall. “Ms. Bennett, did you accompany Billy Panella to Costa Rica?” He checked his iPad and cited the dates.
“Yes.”
“What was the reason for the trip?”
The lawyer laid her hand on Jordie’s arm and shook her head.
This time Jordie heeded her. “I’ve been advised by counsel not to answer.”
“Did you know that Panella had funds stashed in a bank in San Jose?”
“Not until yesterday when Agent Wiley alleged it.”
“Your brother made the deposit for him.”
“So Agent Wiley alleged.”
“You had no previous knowledge of this?”
“None.”
“You didn’t know about Billy Panella’s plans to flee the U.S.?”
“You don’t have to answer.”
She turned to the lawyer. “I want to answer, Adrian.” Then to Hickam, “I didn’t know Billy Panella’s plans regarding anything. We rarely even spoke.”
“But you spent a long weekend with him.”
She divided a look between the two federal agents, but didn’t say anything because her lawyer was whispering in her ear not to.
Hickam said, “You still claim to have no knowledge of funds in that bank?”
“Correct. I have no knowledge of them.”
Wiley sat forward, clasping his hands on the table and looking at her like the regretful bearer of bad news. “They remember you down there, Ms. Bennett.”
“Who? Where? What are you talking about?”
“The bank employees in San Jose. You paid a visit to it with Panella.”
“Oh. That.” Her shoulders sagged forward. Adrian Dover cautioned her not to say anything, but she held up a hand to silence her. “I want this cleared up, Adrian.”
She glanced at handsome, stoic Hickam, then met Wiley’s sad-looking eyes. “Panella ordered a chauffeur-driven limousine to take us to lunch, a place on the mountainside overlooking the city. On the way there, he asked the driver to stop at a bank, where he said he had some quick business to attend to.
“I told him that I would wait in the car, but he insisted that I go into the bank with him.” She took a deep breath. “He made a spectacle of us. Flirted with the tellers, glad-handed the officers, and cashed a check. I was embarrassed by his grandstanding and couldn’t wait to get out of there.”
She raised her hands. “That was it. I’m not surprised that the bank employees remember us, because it was a disgusting display of affluence. Him with his Armani suit and Patik Philippe watch. But that’s all I know about a bank in San Jose. If Josh made a deposit—”
“He did.” Hickam stepped forward and opened up an e-mail attachment, holding it where she could see it. “One week before Josh agreed to cooperate with us, he opened an account for Billy Panella with half a million dollars.”
She looked at him, but didn’t say anything, unsure of what he expected from her. Wiley said, “The thing is, Ms. Bennett… Show her, Hick.”
He scrolled to another page.
“That’s the amount in the account as of this morning. Half a million and change, the change being the interest that’s accrued in the past six months.” He leaned farther forward. “Panella hasn’t touched it. No withdrawals.”