“David, Alex. Okay, where’s lunch?”
Alex laughed and hugged her friend. “It’s on its way. I hope Pizza from Mario’s is okay.”
“Perfect. Most of the gang are in the conference room already. I was just finishing up a few things.”
David dropped into a chair near the researcher. “Jen, we were hoping you could help us for just a minute with something.”
“What is it?”
“We need you to try to find the corporate finances for a few companies.”
“What companies?”
“We have a list here.” David handed her the sheet of suppliers. “We specifically need to know what dealings they’ve had with a company named Kittredge.”
Jenny looked the list over, and then glanced up at David. “Okay. I might be able to get to it sometime soon.”
Alex put a hand on her shoulder. “Jenny, we need this as quick as possible. Any chance you could get to it by the end of the day?”
“Maybe.” She grinned at David. “But he’s gotta give me a kiss first.”
Alex and David exchanged shocked stares. “What?”
“Oh, come on, you two. I’m kidding. Of course I’ll get to it today.”
Alex noticed a distinctly relieved look on David’s face. “Thanks, Jen.”
“No problem. I should have a few minutes right after lunch.”
“Great. We really appreciate it.”
“Sure.” She grinned at them. “Besides, it’s worth the extra work just to have seen the look on his face.”
David stood. “Jen, one of these days someone’s gonna take you up on one of your offers. Then where will you be?”
“Probably in the smaller conference room getting screwed.” She threw an arm around David’s shoulder. “Care to join me?”
Alex had to smile at her friend’s antics. Everyone knew she was all bark and no bite.She loved to flirt and play, but she was always careful in who she teased.
“Come on, Jen, don’t tease the married man, okay?”
“Oh, all right.” She left David’s side and went to Alex’s instead. “You’re not married, Alex. Can I tease you?” She slid an arm around Alex’s waist.
“Sure. And if you do a really good job for me on the rest of this case, I’ll even give you that kiss.”
“Ooooh. Now, that’s an incentive.”
*******************************************************
Alex waited until the lunch party in the conference room was in full swing, and then took her friend aside.
“Jenny, I need to use your computer for a few minutes. It’s important.”
“Sure thing, Alex. I’ll help you.”
“No, Jen. This is something I can’t share with anyone. It’s important.”
Jen looked at her friend’s serious face. “Okay. There’ll be no one in the area now. Why don’t I walk you over there? I can be there if you need help with something, but I’ll stay away from the computer so I can’t see what you’re doing.”
Alex hesitated. “I don’t know.”
“Alex, you’ll me to get you into the system anyway. Your password won’t work anymore.”
The agent had to admit that was true. “Alright. Let’s go.”
A few minutes later, Jenny was reading through a technical manual while Alex used the computer to access the bank records of the Cayman Islands. She input the number Teren gave her, and waited.
The computer told her that no such account currently existed.
“No kidding.”
She told it to search under closed accounts. The computer replied that it had found the requested account, but access to the information was restricted.
“Damn it.”
“Problem?” Jenny looked up, but didn’t move from her chair.
“The account I need is in a restricted access area, and I need a code to get in.”
Jenny bit her lip. “Alex, I don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, and with the way you’re acting, I don’t think I want to know. But if you’ll let me, I can get you the information.”
Alex stared at the blinking light on the computer, knowing she wasn’t going to get anywhere on her own. She probably wouldn’t have had a problem when she worked in Research, but now, without having full access to codes, and code breaking programs, she could do little.
The decision made, she stood up and motioned for Jenny to take her seat.
After several minutes of typing, and several more of waiting, the computer acknowledged receipt of the access code, and let them into the information. Jenny immediately retreated. Alex grabbed a pad and started writing.
“Jen, is this symbol what I think it is?”
The researcher looked at the character Alex showed her. “It’s the symbol for a Swiss Bank Account. Is there an asterisk or an ampersand by it?”
“An asterisk beside this one, and there’s a US bank code with an ampersand. If I remember my codes correctly, that means the money in this account was transferred into it from Switzerland, and it went out to a bank here in the states. Correct?”
“That’s right.”
“Okay. It looks like I’m going to need your help a little more. I hate to do this, but I have to.” She looked at her friend. “I’m serious about the secrecy on this, Jen. No one can know about this.”
“Not a word, Alex. Show me what you need.”
“I need a peek at the Swiss Account.”
Jen stared at her. “You don’t want much, do you, Alex?”
“Just the answers, Jen. Just the answers.”
*******************************************************
David and Alex took their results to the control center, joining Mark and Ben, who had just finished their session with the younger Wilford. The four of them tried to piece the puzzle together.
“Okay, let’s ignore recent events for a few minutes and concentrate on what we know about this company.”
Alex wrote ‘Kittredge’ in the middle of the paper they had tacked up. “From there, we can connect them, absolutely, to Derek White and the Whites for America. We can also connect them to Gerlach and the Aryan Resistance League.” She wrote the names of the groups and the initials of the men on the page, drawing a line from each of them to ‘Kittredge.’
“Now, thanks to David’s research, we can connect the heads of several other organizations. We know they own stock, and we know they do business with Kittredge through their own companies.”
Ben pulled a chair out and swung a leg over the seat. “So, we know there’re business links. What else?”
“Well, for one thing, the budgets I’ve checked for Kittredge don’t add up. They make no profit.”
“You told us that, Alex. And while I certainly wouldn’t want to invest in a company like that, it’s not against the law.” Mark winced as he brushed a lock of hair away from his still bruised eye.
“No, it’s not. But you’d think someone would notice. I mean, there’s got to be something going on here.”
“I’ve been studying the corporate structure a little,” David interjected. “You’d think there was a department or something in Atlantic Properties that Kittredge had to report to. But there isn’t. Almost every other smaller business that Atlantic owns is answerable to the board of Directors. But Kittredge isn’t. They report directly to the Chairman of the Board.”
“Who’s the chairman of the board?”
David grinned. “You ready for this? It’s Martin Richmond.”
Alex’s eyebrows shot up.
“Richmond? The Martin Richmond?” Mark’s voice reflected the surprise they were all feeling.
“Yes.”
Martin W. Richmond was a leader in the business community of New York City. He had developed his own successful computer company, which involved creating software for database companies. Richmond eventually sold his business to IBM for a reported 8.3 million dollars. Part of that money had helped him start a non-profit organization, the Christian Men’s Front.
“David, are ya saying that Martin Richmond is involved in these murders?” Ben asked quietly. “Cause if ya are, ya’ll are gonna need a whole lot more proof than that.”