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“I’m headed to the interview rooms as soon as I’m done nagging you.”
He sighed as he accepted the coffee. “It’s okay. I understand. I have to say I didn’t expect to be on such a high-profile case so quickly, you know? I only got promoted into this role a few months ago. I wish I had better news.”
“I get it,” she said. “Luckily we caught Adler running. We have leverage, so I’m hoping we can convince him to assist us quickly. Can you join us? You can sit behind the glass and watch. If there are specific questions we need to ask about passwords and such, you can feed them to us.”
Jeff jumped to his feet. “I’d like that.” He grabbed his phone and laptop. “Let’s go.”
Kit moved the thick folder she held under one arm so that she could carry her own coffee. “Have you ever observed before?”
“Yes, but not a case of this magnitude. What’s in the folder?”
“Kent Crawford’s offshore bank information. We got the electronic file this morning.” Dave, Crawford’s financial advisor, had been as forthcoming as he’d promised—once he’d had a signed warrant in his hands.
“And you printed it out?” Jeff asked, frowning. “Why?”
“Because I need to see the figures spread out and I can’t do that on my screen. It’s hard for me to follow the numbers unless I can run my fingers over them.”
Jeff shook his head, as if that made no sense to him, which was the usual reaction she got from computer types. “Did you find anything?” he asked.
“Not really. Not yet, anyway. I’ve only been looking for an hour. What I do know is that two years ago, Kent’s deposits into his offshore account and into his investment portfolio shrank by fifty percent, then started to rebound a few months later. He hadn’t reached the earlier deposit levels, but he was getting there. Then they dipped again a year ago and are just going up again.”
“Two years ago was when Chadwick Redford started buying real estate,” Jeff said thoughtfully. “And a year ago was when Miss Evans was hired.”
Kit smiled, pleased that he’d come to the same conclusion that she and Connor had. “Good job. I think two years ago was when Adler found out what Crawford was doing and horned in. Then together, they managed to increase their take so that they were bringing in nearly twice as much together.”
“Then Miss Evans entered the mix?”
“Exactly. We have to look into what happened to her predecessor, Selma Waite. I’m hoping Adler can shed some light on her accident. Dr. Batra checked the autopsy report and the break was clean, but there weren’t a lot of other bumps and bruises consistent with a fall, which was suspicious. But there was no sign of forced entry into the house and no evidence anyone else had been there, so they declared it an accidental death.”
“You think she found out about Crawford’s shenanigans?”
Kit nodded. “That’s exactly what I think. But let’s see if we can get some actual evidence.”
They hurried to the observation room, which wasn’t nearly as full as Navarro’s office had been the day before. Alicia Batra was in her office at the morgue, and CSU’s Ryland was up in San Francisco with his team, searching Frankie Flynn’s house in Russian Hill. The captain was in the observation room, but the assistant chief had another commitment.
Detective Goddard was also there, talking to Connor.
And Sam was there. He smiled at her tentatively when she entered the observation room, then schooled his features to a detached, professional expression.
“Can we get started?” the captain asked. “I have a full schedule today.”
Kit readied her tablet, bringing up the notes she’d taken earlier that morning when she and Connor had met at their desks for breakfast and brainstorming.
Breakfast had been a box of Betsy’s baked goods, of course. Connor never turned down a treat made by Betsy McKittrick.
“I’m ready,” she said. “Connor?”
He rolled his shoulders and shook out his fingers. “Showtime. I’ll wait for your signal before I jump in.”
They’d choreographed their approach. Kit would be the good cop this morning and Connor would loom menacingly.
They entered the interview room and Kit got her first look at Archie Adler. He appeared younger than twenty-five, although at the moment he looked like he hadn’t slept a wink.
Good, Kit thought irritably. He could sleep in jail.
She sat at the table, nodding to Adler’s lawyer before turning a sweet smile on Adler himself. “Mr. Adler, we’re so sorry to have interrupted your trip to Catalina Island last night, but we have some questions for you.”
Adler’s lawyer cleared his throat. “I’ve advised my client to say nothing.”
