Fatal Fraud: A Fatal Series Novel

by Marie Force

  “Because if I truly let myself go there, I wouldn’t be able to do the job anymore.”

  “Yeah, I can see that.”

  “Karma is a bitch. Look at Conklin and Hernandez. They had it all. Deputy chief and captain, big pensions and all the perks of being high-ranking officers. Now they’re charged with felonies that’ll put them in jail for decades.”

  “I want them to lose their pensions too.”

  “We’re working on that. The chief has the same goal, believe me.”

  “What do you think the FBI investigation will show?”

  “That there’s still some rot in our department that’ll need to be weeded out. We’re going to learn things about ourselves we might not like, mostly that we need to do better on a number of levels. Introspection is almost always painful.”

  “I want to know who else knew.”

  “We may never grasp the full extent of it, so I take comfort that they’re probably shitting themselves, especially with the FBI peeling back the layers.”

  “I never thought I’d actually welcome the FBI investigating us.”

  “I know. I feel the same way, but that’s a thought we should probably keep to ourselves, especially since the investigation will take a while.”

  “True. Have you heard any more about Gonzo’s situation?”

  “Nothing more than the chief is talking to the U.S. Attorney about it. He may have no choice but to charge Gonzo, especially since he’s admitted to what he did. That’s another thing we might have to suck up and deal with. As much as I hate this for him, in the end it’s his call.”

  “I hate a lot of things lately.”

  “You can’t let it make you bitter,” Sam said. “Not if you want to continue to do this job, and I think you do.”

  “Of course I do, but it’s infuriating. We’re supposed to uphold the law, not break it. How am I supposed to feel as a lowly detective when my deputy chief and one of the most senior captains of the MPD are charged with covering up the circumstances of the attempted murder of our former deputy chief?”

  “You’re supposed to feel furious,” Sam said.

  “And then one of the best cops I’ve ever known is going to be charged for something he did in the throes of addiction brought on by trauma on the job. How’s that fair?”

  “It’s not. None of it is fair. But it’s life. People are flawed. They do stupid things. They get greedy. They look out for themselves first and foremost. That’s just how it is, as much as we wish it wasn’t. Take our friend Ginny. Look at what she did to her family and friends, what she did to her kids.”

  “It’s gross.”

  “And for what? So she could take a few more vacations every year and buy more stuff? What good does any of that do her now? She couldn’t take any of it with her.”

  “You know what’s bugging me?” he asked.

  “What’s that?”

  “She spent a lot, but twenty million? There has to be some cash left somewhere.”

  “We pulled the financials, right?”

  “Yeah, Cam did.”

  “Let’s give him a call.”

  Freddie made the call on his phone and connected it to her Bluetooth.

  “Do I even want to know how you did that?”

  “Never mind.”

  She ought to tell him to stuff his never mind up his—

  Cameron picked up the call. “Hey, what’s up?”

  “The LT and I are talking about how one goes about spending twenty million. We imagine that’d take some doing.”

  “It would, for sure, and from what I can see, she spent only a fraction of it.”

  “Then where’s the rest?” Sam asked.

  “A very good question and one the Feds have been chasing for more than a year. The theory is offshore accounts, but no one has been able to locate them, and Ginny wasn’t talking. They even offered her lesser charges if she came clean on where the money was stashed, but she never said.”

  “She would’ve had to have help setting that up,” Sam said. “Most regular people wouldn’t know how to open offshore accounts.”

  “The Feds worked that angle hard and never found anyone. The theory is that Ginny communicated only in person and never on the phone or electronically so there wouldn’t be any kind of paper trail.”

  “Ugh,” Sam said. “This woman is pissing me off.”

  “You met with her daughter?” Cam asked.

  “We did. The kid is devastated, but not because her mother is dead. Because she ruined their lives before someone killed her. She scammed the parents of the daughter’s friends.”

  “Harsh.”

  “No one was immune, including her own siblings, cousins and close friends.”

  “What was her plan?” Freddie asked. “After she screwed everyone in her life, including her own kids, what then? And how did she think she’d get away with it?”

  “She did get away with it until Haverson alerted the Feds,” Cam said. “That was the first domino to fall. Personally, I think she planned to be long gone by the time she got found out.”

  “Which means there could be a fake passport and other documents somewhere. Cam, call Haggerty and ask him to go back and look again for hidden safes. I want every piece of paper currently in that house and everything that was taken during the federal investigation.”

  “I’ll get on that,” Cam said.

  “Tell them to bring it to our conference room. We’ll start from scratch in case the Feds missed something.”

  “And doesn’t that sound like fun?” Freddie asked.

  “The devil’s in the details, my young friend,” Sam said.

  “Where’re you heading now?” Cam asked.

  “To see the Realtor who enabled Ginny’s scam.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Chevy fucking Chase.”

  “Ugh.”

  “You said it. Back to the outer reaches of Northwest for the second time today.”

  “Better you than me. You should know this place is on fire with the news that Nick isn’t running. The press corps has tripled outside.”

  Sam groaned. “What the hell do they want with me? I never give them anything. What makes them think I’m going to start now?”

  “Hope springs eternal,” Cameron said. “What’s next after the Realtor?”

  “The son, and then we’re coming back in to talk to the husband. We had Patrol pick him up. They should be bringing him in soon. Have him sit in interrogation until we get there. If he asks for a lawyer, get him one.”

  “Will do.”

  “We’ll be there as soon as we can, but probably three days from now with the way this traffic is looking.”

  “I’ll hold down the fort for you.”

  “Thanks. Let us know if anything pops.”

  “Will do.”

  Freddie ended the call.

  “Get your phone off my Bluetooth.”

  “Your Bluetooth likes my phone. They’re in a relationship.”

  “Their relationship is over.”

  “It’s just getting started. They had sex last night.”

  Sam cracked up. “Your phone moves a lot faster than you did.”

  “Don’t slut-shame my phone, Sam. That’s not a good look on you.”

  “I’m trying to figure out where you went so wrong.”

  He looked at her, incredulous. “You are? Really? I believe it happened the day Stahl said, ‘Cruz, you’re with Holland.’”

  Sam had almost forgotten that Stahl had been the one who first assigned them to work together. “I guess we should thank him for that much.”

  “Nah, we still hate his guts, but he did put us together.”

  “You were such a nice boy then. So unspoiled, with sparkling principles.”

  “My principles are still sparkling.”

  “They’re a little dingier than they used to be.”

  “That is not true! My principles are sterling. It’s the rest of me that’s a little dingier, thank
s to you.”

  “Admit it. I made a man out of you.”

  “Oh my God. Shut up, will you?”

  “That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.”

  “You do that.”

  “Thank you, I will.”

  He was one of the only reasons she could stand to do this job day after day. No matter what they were dealing with, being with him was always fun and funny and entertaining. Sam had long ago realized that she’d lost all perspective and any impartiality she might’ve once had where he was concerned. He was family to her. Period. In light of that, she should probably reassign him, but that wasn’t going to happen.

  She needed him too much.

  Chapter Twelve

  It was nearly three o’clock when they arrived in Chevy Chase.

  “I used to envy the kids that lived out here,” Sam said.

  “How come?”

  “I thought they were lucky to live in real neighborhoods outside the city, but now I know we were the lucky ones because we had access to everything close by. They had to take a long Metro ride to get to anything good.”

  “I always thought it was weird that there are two Chevy Chases.”

  “Right? And don’t mistake them. There’s the DC Chevy Chase and the Maryland Chevy Chase.”

  “And they’re right next to each other. Bizarre. And we’re coming to see Cheri Clark in Chevy Chase. It’s a double-C kinda day.”

  “I got a lotta words I can think of that start with C that describe this day.”

  “But you’re not going to share them.”

  “Dingier Freddie loves my dirty words.”

  “No, he doesn’t.”

  “Cock, cocked—”

  “Sam! Shut up.”

  While she laughed at her own joke, she found a parking space three blocks from Clark’s office on Connecticut Avenue. They fought against a chilly headwind as they walked.

  “That’s the second lady,” a guy said to his friend when they passed him on the sidewalk. “Hey, tell your husband he needs to run. There’s no quitting in politics!”

  “Am I allowed to shoot him?” Sam asked Freddie.

  “I’ll pretend not to see anything, as long as I don’t have to do the paperwork.”

  Thankfully, the loudmouth didn’t pursue her, so she didn’t have to shoot him. They stepped into the lobby of a three-story office building, found Cheri Clark Real Estate on the directory and hoofed it to the third floor.

  “They need an elevator in this place,” Sam said when they reached the third floor.

  “Or you need to work out more.”

  “Shut your face.”

  His snicker would’ve made her mad if she wasn’t so winded. He might be right about needing to work out if climbing two flights of stairs made her feel like she was going to die. Not that she planned to tell him that.

  The lights were off in Cheri’s office, and when Sam tried the door, it was locked. “Mother effer. If she’s not here after we drove all this way, I’m going to arrest her for wasting my time.”

  “No, you’re not. I’m definitely not doing that paperwork.”

  “You’ll do it if I tell you to. Find out where she lives.”

  Freddie got busy on his phone and had an address within two minutes. “It’s about a mile from here.”

  “Let’s go.” Back down the stairs they went, Sam lamenting that she’d climbed them for nothing, and now she knew exactly how out of shape she was. “Is there a picture of this woman?”

  Freddie handed over his phone.

  Sam took a good long look at a perky woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and perfect teeth highlighted by red lipstick and handed the phone back to him. “I’m glad I don’t have a job that requires me to wear lipstick all the time.”

  “We’re all thankful for that.”

  “You’re in rare form today, Frederico,” Sam said as they walked back to the car.

  “Don’t call me that. You sound like my mother.”

  “How is my friend Juliette?”

  “She’s driving me crazy asking when I’m going to make her a grandmother.”

  “Ah, the eternal question of mothers everywhere. You get a month, maybe two, after the wedding before the questions start.”

  “It’s annoying. Elin and I aren’t in any rush to have kids, and I’m not letting anyone pressure me into it, even my mother.”

  “That’s the way. Stay strong, grasshopper.”

  “I’m trying, but the struggle is real. Hey…” He pointed.

  When Sam saw the woman he was pointing at, she took off running.

  The woman saw them coming, blanched and then spun around, attempting to run on three-inch heels. To say they had the advantage on her would be putting it mildly.

  Sam caught her easily and had her handcuffed before Freddie reached them.

  Because he was the less winded of the two of them, she let him take care of reciting the woman’s rights. Sam really needed to get back to the gym, or actually join a gym in the first place.

  Cheri struggled against Sam’s tight hold on her. “I haven’t done anything!”

  “If that’s the case, why’d you run?” Sam asked.

  “I was scared. Everyone knows how you are.”

  “How am I?” Sam asked as they perp-walked her to her car.

  “A hard-ass bitch.”

  “Oh, that’s so mean! I’m hurt! Aren’t I hurt, Detective Cruz?”

  “It’s too bad that people don’t realize you take that as a compliment.”

  She loved him so much. He was the absolute perfect wingman. “I know, right?”

  “I want a lawyer.”

  “It’s funny, isn’t it, Detective Cruz, how often ‘innocent’ people lawyer up at the first sign of cops?”

  Cheri glared at her. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told the Feds: I had no idea what Ginny was doing when she asked me to show properties to people. I was just doing my job.”

  “And if we were to pull your financials, we’d find that you never received any payments for doing dirty work for her, right?”

  “Of course she paid me for what I did for her company. I don’t work for free. Do you?”

  “I thought Realtors got paid when something sells,” Sam said, “not when they show properties. But you must be unique.”

  “We had an arrangement. I showed properties, and she paid me. How is that illegal?”

  “We’ll talk about that when your lawyer shows up.”

  Sam drove them back to headquarters in traffic that’d gotten worse while they were in Chevy Chase. By the time they arrived at HQ, she was feeling extremely cranky and out of sorts. “Get her processed,” she said to Freddie.

  “Processed?” Cheri said on a screech. “You can’t charge me for showing properties!”

  “Nope, but we can charge you for hampering a homicide investigation and resisting arrest.”

  Her face lost all color as her mouth fell open. “How did I hamper a homicide investigation?”

  “You made us chase you.” Sometimes, this job was actually fun. Giving entitled people like Cheri a comeuppance was Sam’s kind of fun. “Take her to Central Booking, Detective Cruz.”

  “You can’t actually charge me with anything.”

  That made Sam laugh out loud. “You want to set her straight on that, Detective?”

  “I’ll take care of it.” Freddie led the woman toward the entrance while Sam hung back for a better view of the massive media presence outside the main door.

  “Jesus,” she muttered, unnerved by the intense interest in Nick’s announcement.

  Speaking of the devil… Her phone rang with a call from him.

  “I’m not sure if I should continue taking your calls.”

  “You absolutely should.”

  “What’s up?”

  “The whole world has gone mad over the announcement.”

  “I’m seeing that in a massive media presence at HQ.” Sam’s anxiety spiked into the red zone. “In w
hat way are you seeing it?”

  “In the say-it-isn’t-so way. Brant was just in here, and they’d like to put a couple of agents on you, just for the next few days until it dies down.”

  “No.”

  “Sam, please? This is the kind of thing that brings out the lunatics. You have to let me protect you.”

  “I’m fine. No protection needed. But please pass along my thanks to Brant for his concern.”

  Her comment was met with dead silence.

  “Hello?”

  “I’m here,” he said in a tense tone.

  “You’re pissed.”

  “Kinda.”

  “You know how I feel about being followed by security, Nick. I am security.”

  “And you know how I feel about you. What if someone decides to kidnap my wife and hold her hostage because I decided not to run for president?”

  “No one would do that. I know you’re popular, but that’d be crazy.”

  “If you could see some of the emails my team is getting, you’d know it’s not so crazy. They’re being super hateful about me choosing not to run. Brant was a bit upset I didn’t give him a heads-up before I released the news. In fact, it never occurred to me it would matter to them. The Secret Service has doubled the kids’ details.”

  Hearing that, Sam felt sick. “Seriously?”

  “Dead seriously. Please, Sam… Just this once, please do what I’m asking you to do.”

  He sounded so stressed that her overwhelming resistance became less important than his peace of mind. “Fine. One agent who stays the hell out of my way.”

  “They work in teams. You get two, and I’ll pass along your request.”

  “This is a one-time thing, Nick. And only until the story dies down.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I must really love you.”

  “God, I hope you do, because at this rate, we’re going to end up back in the Secret Service bunker.”

  “Don’t even say that.” Sam cringed, recalling being stuck in the underground bunker for days while the Secret Service assessed a credible threat against their family.

  “I’m not the one saying it. I had no idea people were this invested in me running. I’m truly shocked by the reaction.”

  “I hate to say I told you so, but…”

  “You love to say you told me so.”