Returning once more, she shifted back into human form and began dressing while Dane picked up the books and stack of cash she had tossed down toward him. He flipped through it and looked back at her with a hint of disbelief.
“I can’t believe they would just leave all this behind,” he said.
“They’re dead,” Adriana replied.
“You think so?”
“I know so. That’s not the only stack of cash. They’ve stuffed the walls full of it between the beams, I’m assuming down to whatever joists there may be.”
“You knowing proper construction lingo is a bit of a turn on.”
“I’ll tuck that away for later.”
“Tuck away comments about me wanting to monkey around with you, too,” he quipped.
“So awful,” she groaned at his bad joke.
“I know. Anyway, why do you think they’re dead?”
“Do you really believe they would leave all that cash behind in the walls if they were going to run off and never return? That’s all back there because they weren’t able to come back for it. I’d bet on it.”
“Makes sense and explains why the Black Talons want this place so badly. They lost their laundering operation. Do you think this money is clean or dirty?”
“I don’t know. Let’s go find out before your construction crews comes back and we have to explain what we’re doing in the chemical room.”
“I don’t have to explain anything.”
“I’m sure you don’t, but you know what I mean.”
“I do. Come on.”
On their way home, they stopped off at his corporate office and went by the accounting department, where he summoned his chief financial officer and handed him one of the hundreds from the stack.
“Jonas, can you tell me if this bill is legit? A guy paid me in cash, and I wasn’t able to check it on the spot. I want to verify it before he gets too far away.”
“Let me see,” Jonas replied, pulling a small pen from his pocket and making a stripe across it. He then held it up to the light and tilted it back and forth for a few moments before handing it back. “Looks good. You got more you want me to check?”
“Nah. If that one is good, the other is good.”
“Alright. Anything else?”
“That’ll do it. Thanks.”
Dane nodded toward her to follow him, and they made their way up to his penthouse, where he spread the books out on the kitchen table. They flipped through them, taking note of the intake and outtake. According to the books, they were laundering approximately two million per month. It was a lot of money to switch out for the size of their business.
“I wonder how much of the money is in the wall and who it belongs to?”
“No idea. It looks like they were making regular drops and they only had a few hundred thousand of the fake money when they went missing, but I’m thinking that money might have been elsewhere. There had been some vandalism while the bank still had possession of the place, so maybe they knew where to look and took that, but the stash in the wall was the construction company gain and stayed hidden.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right. I don’t think they are after this place for money in the walls. I think they just want their laundering business back.”
“Shit,” he said, shaking his head in realization.
“What?”
“They were close, maybe without knowing it. It’s the Black Talons who put that hole in the ceiling. There was a leak because they blew a hole in the roof to get in and look for the cash. They did the same thing to my workshop. I mean, not to look for money, but to look around.”
“What were they looking for in your workshop?”
“I’m not sure. I assumed that it was just to piss me off once I realized they had done it. When that didn’t work, they torched the whole thing. I think they may have been looking for something else, though. I just don’t know what.”
“What do we do now?” she said, her lips pursed as she looked over the books strewn about the table.
“I don’t know. I think I’ll pay a visit to the Black Talons, act like I’m interested in selling the construction company and see what I learn if anything.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“No more dangerous than sitting around waiting to see what they do next.”
“I suppose not. Listen, I need to get home. Early day tomorrow and all that.”
“Of course. Let me put this stuff away and I’ll meet you down in the lobby.”
Adriana nodded. He obviously had a safe and wasn’t ready to let her know where it was. Perhaps she should be offended by that, but it was understandable. Things had moved quickly between them, but they were still strangers of a sort. He walked her to the elevator, and she got on, smiling at him as the doors closed and it began its descent toward the ground floor.