In Death 23 - Born in Death

Company file.”
    “Stuben? She did not. You asked me if she discussed anything of the sort regarding a client with me, and I told you she hadn’t.”
    “The questionable accounts relate to the Bullock Foundation, which is your client. And your alibi for the murders.”
    He flushed, glanced around. “Would you mind keeping your voice down?”
    Eve merely shrugged and hooked her thumbs in her coat pockets. “If you have a problem with someone overhearing this conversation, we can take it back to Central.”
    Looking thoroughly put out, he gestured for them to follow. “We’ll take this to the clubhouse.” Kraus strode off the ninth green toward an open patio under simulated sunlight, and after swiping a key card in a slot, gestured them to an umbrellaed table.
    “I don’t know what you think you’ve come across,” he began.
    “The laundering of funds through charitable trusts,” Roarke began. “The disbursement of funds claimed as tax exempt to subaccounts, which is then funneled back into the trust and redisbursed. It’s a clever circle, washing considerable income annually.”
    “The Bullock Foundation is above reproach, as is our firm. What you’re saying is impossible.”
    “Natalie Copperfield accessed the Bullock accounts.”
    “I don’t understand you, and obviously you don’t understand how we run our business. Natalie wasn’t cleared for that data.”
    “But you were. They’re yours. Her killer got her home unit, her discs. Got to her office unit and deleted files. But he couldn’t delete all of them, certainly not files that were on record as her clients. She changed the label on the file. The Bullock data was still there.”
    “Why would she do such a thing?”
    Eve leaned forward. “We’re going to get you cold for money laundering, for tax fraud. You’re going to want to talk to me now, if you want any kind of help with two counts, murder one.”
    “I didn’t kill anyone. My God, are you insane?” His hand trembled a little as he pulled off his cap. “I’ve never doctored an account. It’s ludicrous.”
    “Your wife states you played cards on the night of the murders until after midnight. And she was extremely tired. She went to bed, giving you more than enough time to get to Natalie Copperfield’s apartment. To break in, to restrain her, torture her, kill her, and take her data unit.”
    He wasn’t just pale now, he was gray. “No.”
    “From there, to travel to Bick Byson’s loft, struggle with him, stun him, restrain and question him before you killed him and took his data unit. Have you disposed of them already?”
    “I’ve never hurt another human being in my life. I never left the house that night. My God, my God, what is happening?”
    “So you let Bullock or Chase do the dirty work?”
    “This is absurd. Of course not.”
    “I’m going to get a warrant for your other files, Mr. Kraus. What you did with one, you did with others.”
    “You can get a warrant for whatever you like. You’ll find nothing because I’ve done nothing. You’re mistaken about the Bullock accounts. Natalie must have been mistaken, because there can’t be anything wrong with them. Randall—”
    Eve pounced. “What does Randall Sloan have to do with it?”
    Kraus rubbed his hands over his face, then signaled to the waiter he’d initially waved away. “Scotch, straight up. A double. My God, my God.”
    “What does Randall Sloan have to do with the Bullock account?”
    “It’s his account. It’s my name of record, but it’s his account.”
    “Why don’t you explain to me how that works?”
    “He brought them into the firm, years ago. I had just come on as a junior partner. But his father wouldn’t allow him to head the account. There’d been some question of Randall’s reliability, his—ah—skills and work ethic. He’s better suited in public relations. But he brought the account in, and I was new. He came to me, asked me…It wasn’t precisely asking.”
    Kraus took the glass the waiter brought him, downed a quick swallow. “I felt pressured, and to be honest, I thought it was unfair that he wasn’t given the account. So I agreed to keep my name on it, and he would do the actual business. I’d check the bottom line, of course, every quarter. And if there was any problem, any question, I’d take over. But the client was satisfied.”
    “I bet they were,” Eve replied.
    “She didn’t come to me. I swear to you, Natalie didn’t come to me about any