“Those could be fake.” Benedetto crossed his arms.
Cash had had enough of this. “Either you comply with the warrant now, or I will have you both arrested and cuffed for obstruction of justice. Wouldn’t that make for a lovely parade through the bank in front of all your loyal customers and employees?”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Huntsman said, removing her spectacles and staring Cash in the face.
Cash said nothing—she merely slipped out her cell phone as if to make a call.
Huntsman shot from her chair with surprising agility for her age. “I’ll get the records.” Benedetto followed her out, stepping heavily.
Cash now settled down into one of the wooden chairs to wait. She could hear a muffled but animated discussion in the next room.
“Hot damn,” Colcord said, casually sitting next to her. “Nicely done, Counselor.” He winked at Cash. “I wonder why they’re giving us so much trouble today.”
After a good twenty minutes, Huntsman came back with a stack of documents in her arms. She thumped them down unceremoniously in front of Cash.
Cash frowned. “We’d prefer to have electronic copies.”
Huntsman crossed her arms. “The warrant did not specify how the records were to be furnished.”
Cash said nothing. Next time, she’d make sure the warrant was more specific. “The sheriff and I are going to look through these right now, just to make sure everything is here in good order. Is there an empty office we could use?”
Huntsman’s lips thinned. “You can use this office.”
They began to go through the documents while Huntsman brooded in a corner chair, the scowl back on her face. It quickly became clear that large deposits had been transferred from Grooms’s account into Margie Brooksfield’s. Very large—over $2.5 million, at least. And suddenly, Cash could now understand why Mountainview Bank had been so obstructive of the warrant—all the transactions were suspiciously just under the reportable limit of $10,000. They flowed from Grooms’s account to Brooksfield’s, and thence to an account in the name of a nonprofit organization named Paradox. Paradox… what a curious name.
“Ms. Huntsman,” Cash said, “was Mountainview Bank trying to avoid filing currency transaction reports with all these transfers?” Judging by the paling in Huntsman’s face, Cash realized she was on the right track. “This two point five million—Brooksfield must be one of your top clients. I bet she threatened to take her business elsewhere if you filed CRTs—am I right?While not filing CRTs might be technically legal, I’m pretty sure a judge could see these transfers as an attempt to evade currency transaction laws.”
Again, Huntsman did not respond. Cash wondered just how many clients Mountainview Bank was doing this for.
Cash put the papers back in the according file and snapped shut the elastic band. “Thank you, Ms. Huntsman. I’m sure you will be hearing from us again.”
Outside, Colcord turned to her. “Jesus, you were a barracuda in there. How’d you know all that legal stuff about banking and financial transactions?”
“My first case at CBI was about money laundering.”
“So you think this is money laundering?”
“It could be money laundering, could be tax evasion, fraud, embezzlement… but somehow, I think it’s deeper than that. What was Margie Brooksfield up to? And what the hell is Paradox?”
