Murder in the River City(38)
Sam leaned forward. “Do you think he started dating Shauna to see if she knew anything?”
“Very possible. I want to talk to her about him. Because three months ago, something changed, and so I brought Butler back to Sacramento. He’s buying a hotel, and Davis has already approached him. But I’m nervous about the whole project. Too many things are happening too quickly, and pile on two murders, Gleason disappearing, and Davis hanging around the pub looking for information—”
“I get it,” Sam said. “You think Davis is acting suspicious.”
“He’s naturally suspicious of everyone, which makes him so good at what he does.”
“Shauna Murphy isn’t involved,” Sam said. “I can vouch for her—we’ve been family friends for decades.”
“I know,” Hooper said. “When she got involved with Davis, we quietly looked into her business and it’s clean. But we were initially concerned, because construction is one of the businesses criminals like to use for laundering. A lot of cash, a lot of accounts, easy to pad expenses.”
“We haven’t been able to find Gleason,” Sam said, “but his landlord saw him this morning.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s dead,” Hooper said. “The reason why these people are so effective is that they don’t leave loose ends. No one has enough information to take down the law firm, or anyone inside. With Coresco’s expertise in law, we have to do it completely by the book. I just need one thing to hang over an employee—someone in the know like Amelia Shepherd—and I can get a warrant to seize everything. Murder would be good.” He cringed. “I didn’t mean it to sound like that.”
Sam said, “We have Gleason’s apartment staked out, and we think we know where he’s working now. Your brother-in-law, Riley Knight, went Dumpster diving today. We found envelopes from the Hyatt, looked like what checks might have come in. Called them up, confirmed he was an employee. But he doesn’t work today or tomorrow. He only works Fridays and weekends.”
Hooper slammed his hand on the table. “That’s it!”
“The Hyatt?”
“There’s a huge charity event going on at the Hyatt Friday night. Gleason probably works off the books for Coresco. He’d want his own people inside to guarantee that cops aren’t working the event undercover.”
“A charity event,” John said, skeptical.
“I told you—we’re not exactly sure how they are laundering the money, but every year they have a huge event that benefits one of the charities that Coresco runs. We know some of the biggest criminals in town dress in tuxedos and lay down cash for causes they don’t care about. We’re talking tens of millions of dollars in one night. The charity then disperses the money, and we think that eventually it gets back to the crime lords, but we don’t have the final piece of the puzzle.” Hooper was obviously frustrated. “What’s also frustrating is that there are legitimate businessmen and philanthropists who donate to these charities as well. We can’t go in and make accusations without solid proof.”
“What I don’t get,” John said, “is how Mack Duncan was involved and why he was killed.”
“He was a piece of the puzzle,” Hooper said. “You said he’s from Reno, his daughter lives there, and he might be visiting on occasion. He could be a low-level middle man. Especially if he still has a gambling problem.”
“The killer was looking for something,” Sam said. “Mack must have something that’s important to them.”
“I’m also not certain that everything checks out about the daughter, Missy Polk,” John said. “Divorced, mother of one. She works at one of the casinos in Reno.”
Hooper nodded. “I’ll dig into her as well. Our Reno division has information on most casino employees.” He then said, “You said Ms. Murphy is no longer involved with Davis. But she might have information. I want to interview her, first thing in the morning.”
“She’ll be here,” Sam said.
Chapter Fourteen
Thursday
Shauna sat at the table at Dooley’s and listened to Detective Black and the FBI Agent Dean Hooper explain that Jason wasn’t a bad guy, that he was actually a super good guy who sacrificed nearly three years of his life to help take down the real bad guys. He’d still lied to her, but not about what she’d thought.
She also learned the creepy vibe she was getting off Austin Davis was justified. And what she had actually liked about Austin—all his charity work—was really a front for some grand criminal enterprise that involved money laundering for drug dealers and sex trafficking and God knew what else.