He was right. The manipulation was subtle and sophisticated. Revenue from the clinics had been siphoned through a series of small adjustments affecting several operating accounts—a payment here reclassified as a refund, an invoice there marked as settled when it hadn’t been. Individually, each change was minor. Together, they painted a very ugly picture.
“Someone has been bleeding their businesses dry,” I said slowly, my stomach churning. “Probably to make it look like their clinics are winding down naturally.”
Didi raised an eyebrow. “Surely, they would have noticed.”
“Not necessarily,” I murmured. “Not if it didn’t impact their direct cashflow. It’s surprising the horrors an end of year account review can reveal.”
Gavin nodded jerkily. “I agree. By the time the sisters disappeared, their operating accounts were beginning to run on fumes. Anyone looking at the books after the fact would have assumed the clinics were already failing.” His tail twitched. “It was only because I went through the backend banking records line by line that I caught the discrepancies.”
Samuel’s jaw tightened. “So, are we saying whoever took the sisters spent months laying the groundwork to make sure no one would question why several busy clinics suddenly went dark?”
Now that he’d said it out loud, it did sound crazy. But then again, this was Amberford.
“This is exactly like that episode of Predator Files where the cult leader was siphoning money from his followers through a fake wellness company.” Bo’s head appeared above the table edge, his eyes bright. “It was on the Discovery Channel. Season seven. The guy had a ponytail and a pet iguana.”
This derailed everyone’s train of thought, including an exhausted Gavin.
Samuel sighed. “Thanks for thatcontribution.”
“The iguana survived, in case anyone was wondering,” Bo added helpfully.
“No one was,” Didi said sourly. She turned back to Gavin. “You said you were up all night. Please tell me the irregularities affecting the Lincoln sisters’ accounts aren’t the only things you found.”
Gavin’s horns popped out. “That’s where it gets weird.”
He pulled out another folder. This one had blue tabs.
I was beginning to suspect the dragon newt had raided every stationery cupboard in the building.
“While I was tracing the rerouted funds from the sisters’ accounts, I ran a broader search through our compliance database. I wanted to see if any other covens had been hit with the same kind of manipulation. They hadn’t.” He shot a nervous look at Didi. “But I found something else. A small coven called the Ashgrove witches has been receiving regular payments from an entity called Betterlife Management Services.”
Didi stilled. My wolf pricked her ears.
“The reason it jumped out was because the payments started around the same time the Lincoln sisters’ accounts were compromised,” Gavin continued. “Different amounts, different dates each month, all labeled as consulting fees.” He tapped the spreadsheet. “But the payment pattern is all wrong for legitimate consulting work. Fixed fees come on fixed dates. These are deliberately irregular, designed to stay below any automated flagging threshold.”
The rest of us glanced at each other, trying to make sense of the dragon newt’s finding.
“Somebody was paying the Ashgrove coven,” Samuel said, puzzled. “For what?”
“I don’t know,” Gavin admitted. “I would have put this down as a fluke except Betterlife Management Services is a ghost. It’s registered to a P.O. box in East Amberford. It has no website, no client list, no visible business activity. And when I traced it back?” He pulled out one final spreadsheet. The tabs on this one were black. Bo eyed it like it might bite. “It dead-ended at a holding company registered in Delaware, buried behind a chain of shell entities I can’t crack.”
The room went deathly quiet.
My mind raced as I attempted to connect the dots.
“These might be two connected operations running in parallel,” I said slowly.
Everyone looked at me.
“On the one hand, the Lincoln sisters’ finances were being sabotaged to make it look like their businesses were suffering from a natural decline,” I explained, my pulse racing. “At the same time, the Ashgrove coven was being paid by whoever’s behind that Delaware company.” I met Samuel’s gaze. “I bet if we look more closely, we’ll find a link.”
Didi’s coffee cup froze halfway to her mouth. “You’re saying the Ashgrove coven is involved in the Lincoln sisters’ disappearance?”
I met her sharp stare steadily. “The timing is too perfect to be coincidence.”
Samuel sat back andfolded his arms.
“What do you know about them?” he asked Didi.
