“Yeah.” She opened another tab.
I leaned in closer and scanned the new list until I found the name I was looking for.
Nova Lux.
And her start date was one month ago.
I tapped a column. “It shows she was paid wages. Do you cut checks to them?”
She shook her head. “No, I report their wages and pay the payroll taxes, but the club manager pays them in cash.”
I glanced at James. The grim look on his face confirmed exactly what I was thinking. If Wilhemina and the other girls were getting paid anything at all, it was a fraction of what they brought in. If that.
Nova Lux was a one-of-a-kind name. There was a good chance this woman was Wilhemina. It was further confirmation that meeting Dani was worth our time.
If it wasn’t a set up.
“What about a list of club members?” James asked. “Do you have that?”
“No,” Natalie said. “I know there are currently seventy-two members, and they pay a thousand dollars a month in membership dues. But they’re assigned numbers. I don’t have names to go with them.”
“What does the membership buy them?” I asked.
She turned back to me. “Access. They still pay for drinks … and entertainment.”
Knox was making a killing.
It didn’t take much longer to finish the file transfer. By the time it was completed, James’s men had picked up Natalie’s family, and the security unit stationed outside her office escorted her to their car to drive her to the airport.
Once James and I were back in our car, I said, “Ten to one, Knox had one of his guys snatch Wilhemina for his exclusive club.”
“Agreed.”
“If we figure out who scouted her, we’ll ID one more person in his organization.”
“It’ll give us further confirmation,” he said. “But I suspect Natalie has a list of Knox’s employees.”
“This is huge,” I said, the full weight of it hitting me all at once. “We could bring his whole operation down. And give the Feds enough to bring down the bigger one.”
“Agreed,” he said. “Let’s get Dani’s video, see what we’ve got, and then I’ll contact my handler.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Sounds like a plan.”
He shot me a sideways glance. “We wouldn’t have had any of it if you hadn’t found Natalie in Harlan’s files. She was acting cagey when I walked into her office. I suspect she was getting ready to run on her own. And she would have taken everything with her.”
“I wish I could say it was purposeful,” I said. “I just happened to see her name in an email. I ran a search, and suddenly she was all over Blackstone Capital’s paper trail.” I turned toward him and narrowed my eyes. “She kept her involvement with Knox from you, and you let her get away with it.”
His expression tightened. “You think I should have hurt her physically?”
“No,” I said quickly. “That’s not what I’m saying at all.” I took a moment to collect my thoughts. “But she lied to you. It’s not unreasonable that you could’ve let her face the consequences with Knox. Instead, you protected her.”
He made a face. “Knox forced her to do his books. She was trapped, just like she was with Simmons. She knew there would be consequences if she told me she was working for him—from him and possibly from me.” His eyes stayed on the road. “Besides, I wasn’t exaggerating when I said I suspect the Feds won’t cut her slack this time.” He flicked a glance at me. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Natalie’s family vacation ends up in a non-extradition country.”
Funny. When I wore a badge, I would’ve been furious if someone had let her walk.
Now, I wasn’t sure letting her flee was the right thing to do, but I wasn’t as bothered by it. She’d helped Knox do evil things. But I could also understand why she’d believed there was no way out.
What did that say about my moral compass?
