The October List Part 21

'That's not really my concern, now, is it? Anyway, I'm one of those clients. And we were involved in an important project which has been derailed thanks to your boss vanishing unexpectedly. I don't like derailings and now I need to be in touch with the others. Without him we're a rudderless ship. Did you catch that word, by the way? "Need" the list? And you're going to get it for me.'

'But how can I get you something I've never heard of?'

'You knew Charles better than most people. Even if you're telling the truth I'm not exactly sure about that, by the way but even if you are, you better than anybody can figure out where it is.'

Daniel said, 'But if it was that important, he wouldn't've kept it himself. He'd give it to somebody for safekeeping. His lawyer, his-'

'His lawyer doesn't have it. I checked.'

Gabriela asked, 'Mr Grosberg? You've talked to him?'

Joseph paused and his thick lips eased into what might have been a smile. 'We had a meeting. A ... discussion. I'm convinced he doesn't have the list.'

'Meeting? You don't mean that at all. What the h.e.l.l did you do to him?'

'Relax. He'll be okay in a month or two.'

'He's seventy years old! What did you do?'

'Gabriela, we on the same page here? I don't need you to be weird. I need you to be focused, for Sarah's sake. Now, I heard about the list from a little bird who's no longer with us, by the way.'

'What?'

Joseph wrinkled his nose, dismissing her shocked expression. 'This Tweetie Pie, I was saying, this little bird told me that Charles was so paranoid he didn't keep the list on computers. He said if the Mossad could be hacked, then he could be hacked. So he only had hard copies. And he kept one in New York. It's here somewhere. You get to find it.'

'How?'

Joseph held up a finger. 'Maybe you know more than you think you do.'

'I don't! Maybe some other employees heard of it, but-'

'Elena Rodriquez, his nod to Affirmative Action? The occasional temps? The bookkeeper? No, you were the only one worked that close to Mr Charles Prescott. He told me that. He said there was n.o.body like Gabriela. So you've got to be the little gal who can. I need you to find me the October List.'

He turned his eerie gaze at Gabriela probingly. 'And there's something else I want. The initial fee I paid Charles. I want it back. Four hundred thousand dollars.'

'Fee?' Gabriela asked. 'There is no upfront fee at Prescott. We get an annual percentage of the portfolio ...' And then she nodded and added with disgust, 'But I get it: These're the special clients you're talking about. These thirty-two.'

'Exactly!'

'But if you're secret how would I know where any money for ... you people is?'

'Oooo, that stung.' Joseph pretended to pout.

Daniel said, 'Listen, Joe. Be realistic. If her boss took off he'd take the cash with him.'

'"Joe"?' The man looked around broadly.

'Joseph.'

'Oh, moi.' He smiled. 'Charles left town pretty fast. According to my sources, when Prescott heard there was a warrant he bailed and didn't get all the money he could have. Maybe the police found some of it. But I'll bet there's a lot more. And I'm hoping for your sake and Ms Sarah's that you can hit the jackpot. Now, Gabriela, let's get some more ground rules set. First, like I said, no police. And a cone of silence with everybody else: Your ex-husband, your best friend, your hairdresser. Everybody.'

'You're despicable!'

Joseph said to Daniel, who looked like he was considering slugging the man, 'Sorry you walked into the middle of this. But you get the picture. You don't seem stupid. You keep your mouth shut too. You agree to that?'

'Yeah.'

Joseph laughed. 'If looks could kill.' To Gabriela he said, 'Now, it's nearly noon. I'll need the list by start of business Monday, so I'll give you I'll generously give you until six tomorrow to find it. Sunday. But about the money that's a different story. In case everything falls apart and the police come knock, knock, knocking on my door, I'm going to need that cash in my hot little hand, so I can jump ship. That I want by six p.m. tonight.'

'Tonight? Impossible!' she said, gasping. 'Four hundred thousand dollars?'

'For Sarah's sake you better figure out how to make it extremely possible.'

Then, with an edge of resolve in her voice, Gabriela said, 'I'm not doing anything until you let me talk to my daughter.'

'You can't talk to her.' Joseph opened his phone and displayed a video. 'But ...'

Daniel and Gabriela looked down. The cute blond girl was sitting watching TV cartoons. Oblivious to the shadowy forms of two adults in the background.

'How could you do this?' she raged once more.

Joseph sighed, looking bored, and put the phone away. 'Time for a pop quiz. Now, what's the most important ground rule?'

'No police.' The words sounded as if uttered underwater.

'Hooray, you get an A plus.' He picked up the bag containing the doll and the sweatshirt. 'Oh, and by the way, somebody'll be watching you. Every minute. You do believe me? No need to answer. See ya.' And he was gone.

CHAPTER.

10.

10:30 a.m., Sat.u.r.day

45 minutes earlier

Light bore down on the foursome in Central Park. Stark light, painful.

Putting away his NYPD gold shield, Naresh Surani glanced at Daniel Reardon, ignored him and asked Gabriela, 'Have you heard from Charles Prescott today?' Even the brilliant sun couldn't warm the detective's gray complexion.

'My boss? No. My G.o.d, is he all right?' Her eyes eased toward Daniel. The other detective, Brad Kepler, had noted him too but was ignoring him as efficiently as his partner was.

'When was the last time you saw him?' tanned Brad Kepler asked.

'Yesterday, at work. In the morning. Then I went to a meeting and was out all day. Has there been an accident? Please. You have to tell me!'

They were regarding her with what seemed to be suspicion. Surani offered, 'Mr Prescott has disappeared ... with, it seems, a lot of his clients' money.'

Gabriela barked a laugh. 'No, that's impossible. There's a mix-up.'

'I'm afraid not. Detective Surani and I are with the Financial Crimes Division of the police department. Mr Prescott's been under investigation for the past two months.'

'A different Charles Prescott. It has to be a different one.'

Surani had taken to doing most of the talking and he continued now, 'The SEC and the FBI were investigating cash flow into and out of suspicious stock trading accounts here and abroad. Some of those accounts were set up by Mr Prescott and it appears they were for the benefit of various clients. There were New York connections so we got involved. It's been going on for months.'

'It can't have!'

Surani continued, 'We were going to raid the office and arrest him at home this morning, but he must've gotten word about the investigation and fled late yesterday. There're teams going through the office and his houses now. He's vanished, cleaned out a half-dozen accounts in the U.S. and transferred the money into untraceable accounts overseas.'

She looked down. They were standing at a water main access panel in the sidewalk. The ironwork was from somewhere other than New York. It wasn't even American. She told them, 'He did say he was going to work late yesterday. I told you I was at a meeting out of the office most of the day. I saw him for about an hour in the morning. We hardly said a dozen words. I a.s.sumed he worked late and then went home.'

'He didn't go home. We had it under surveillance.'

'He left? Oh, G.o.d.'

Kepler asked Daniel, 'You a friend of Ms McKenzie's?'

'That's right.'

'Do you know Charles Prescott?'

'No,' Gabriela said. 'He doesn't.'

Daniel explained, 'We just met last night. Gabriela and I.'

They lost interest in him, as if thinking it had been a pickup, a night of s.e.x and breakfast this morning. Daniel didn't seem to care about their impression of him.

She continued, 'This just has to be a mistake. First of all Charles would never do anything illegal. It's not conceivable.' Her voice quivered. She cleared her throat. 'If he left unexpectedly, I'm sure it was an emergency. One of his clients had a problem. Charles's that way. He's more than an investment adviser. He's a friend-'

'A problem, yeah. A federal indictment.' Kepler added, 'Really, Ms McKenzie, there's no mistake.' He was unemotional, but you could also hear a fragment of irritation in his voice.

She was blurting now: 'I'm the office manager. How could he possibly do anything like that without my knowing? How could that be?'

Daniel stirred, his meaning probably: That might not be the wisest thing to say, suggesting she was complicit. She fell silent. Surani blinked through his none-too-effective shades and said, 'We don't have any evidence you were involved in the scheme.'

His tone, however, added the word 'yet' onto the end of that sentence.

'Who're the clients you were mentioning?' Gabriela demanded.

'We don't have any names yet. A fair number were from the Far East, South America and the Middle East, according to the FBI. They've been tracing the cash and stock purchases.'

Gabriela laughed, albeit a bit hysterically. 'It is a mistake! I've never heard of any clients there. And I know all of them.'

Surani countered, 'Well, our information is that he did have clients there. Thirty-two, apparently. And he was shuttling money into these accounts. Who knows why? Money laundering most likely. But we aren't sure.'

'My G.o.d.' A dismayed whisper. 'Thirty-two clients?'

'That was as of two days ago.'

Gabriela opened her mouth and then slowly pressed her lips together as if words failed her completely.

Surani: 'Ms McKenzie, you have to understand, Mr Prescott caught us by surprise. We knew he had a one-way ticket to Zurich on Columbus Day weekend, so we thought he'd be in the country until then.'

'One way?' Gabriela said. 'No. I make all his travel arrangements. He didn't have any plans to leave. Sure not one way.'

'Well, he did,' Kepler barked.

His partner continued, 'Prescott must've got word about the investigation and skipped early. But not to Switzerland. We don't know where. So we need to get the names and addresses of those thirty-two clients.'

'You didn't find anything at the office?'

Surani explained, 'We know he flew to St Maarten yesterday about six p.m. He disappeared after that. The authorities down there can't find him. Now we're hoping you'll cooperate. We need to know where he went.'

'Tell us what you know,' Kepler said emphatically, dark eyes narrow.

'I don't know anything!'

'You probably do, Gabriela,' Kepler said with a sardonic tone. 'For instance, did you know he had a house in Miami?'

'His beach house. Of course.'

'There! See? You did know something. And yet you didn't volunteer it. Let's keep going. How about other houses overseas is what we're particularly interested in. Or any friends or romantic partners he might be staying with.'

She was looking down at the sharp shadows on the sidewalk, the sunlight falling stridently on leaves.

'Ms McKenzie?'

She looked up. 'What?'