Matthew hadn’t called or texted.
That unease she’d felt earlier continued to grow.
It was a long time before she fell asleep.
Chapter 39
By late Friday morning,Jane had already talked to Lisa about information gleaned from the bank records of the Strand family.
Like the previous victims, the Strands had lost millions. Fortunately, Jane’s team had managed to find a hard drive in the bank safe deposit box of Kai Strand, not her husband, that contained information on members of the Collective.
Notes Kai had made about her associates offered insights into the families and why they had formed the Collective in the first place.
Jane sat with SSA Grimshaw in Grimshaw’s office, going over the data. What she’d found fascinated her. “The list comprises ten of the biggest movers and shakers in the Pacific Northwest with regard to technology and wealth. Some of the Collective’s families have connections to the military.”
Grimshaw frowned. “I know. I already brought ASAC Thompson up to speed.” The office’s third ASAC, this one in charge of national security. “He’s tasked one of his teams to lend a hand. I’ve got the details here.” She handed Jane a file. “It’s also in your inbox.”
Jane nodded. “It seems as though the Collective, capital C, was started a few years ago. That’s when the families took interest inCastle Capital, at least. The private equity company that employs Stephen Harte has its hooks into dozens of lobbyists, politicians, and believe it or not, celebrities. There are a bunch of charities that seem to be benefiting from the Collective as well. Many to help the economically challenged.”
She wondered if Belinda’s Scott’s allegedly fraudulent charities were in there.
“Economically challenged? You mean the poor,” Grimshaw said, cutting through the niceties.
“Yeah. That.”
“So why are some on our list being killed?”
“We think a minority of the Collective aren’t in line with what their leader wants. It’s all a powerplay with the mastermind of this organization.”
“And we still think August Kaminski is said mastermind?” Grimshaw leveled Jane with a hard stare. “I have eyes and ears, Cannon.”
Jane didn’t say anything.
Her boss sighed. “I locked myself in the ASAC’s office and refused to leave until he told me what the hell was really going on.”
Jane smiled at that.
Grimshaw smiled as well. “Yeah, he didn’t like it, but he talked. I know how sensitive this is. I also know we have nothing tying Kaminski to the Collective except for a notebook with his name in it. But nothing else proves he did anything to anyone.”
“That’s the problem with him. He’s squeaky clean. But we do have his name written in the victim’s own blood. That’s got to count for something.”
“Yeah, it does. Now you need to find the guy so you can ask him some questions.”
“I know. I’m working on that.” Jane had asked Ray to put out feelers, but with a vague image of Kaminski, who’d never been officially photographed, his old photos in the system during the Harvester case somehow wiped clean, they didn’t have much to go on.
They didn’t even have his DNA on file, despite it having been collected at some time in the past.
“The problem is Kaminski’s reach. We know he’s heavily involved with people of influence. He’s smart.” Too smart for his own good, maybe. Because he and Rook apparently had some beef going on.
“And the Bednareks you mentioned earlier? We do have Victor on file.” Grimshaw pointed her tablet to Jane, who saw the image of Victor that matched what she remembered of him. “Is this the guy you tangled with at the Hartes’?”
“Yep.” Same beady eyes, same height and square jaw. Same small, starred scar at the corner of his mouth. “Where did this come from?”
“An altercation he had a few years ago in Las Vegas at a casino. Charges were eventually dropped, but one of the officers had a bad feeling about him and kept him in a paper file of folks to keep a watch for. Panned out, because their system went haywire not long after Victor Bednarek got arrested.”
“Imagine that.” Nothing fazed Jane anymore. Kaminski and his people had a habit of deleting evidence they didn’t want shared.
“Yep. ASAC Haversham reached out. I tell you, Jane, our boss is like an elephant who never forgets anything. He remembered the officer and the case because it tied in with something he was working on back then. So now we have an official picture of Victor but still nothing on the cousin.”
