Chapter Five

“So… why is she so happy?” Leeza asked. “Why is she wandering the streets looking like she’s the most ecstatic woman to inhabit planet Earth?” She didn’t wait for a response; she went right on ahead and answered. “It’s because her marriage is just fine, really. And because she has one hell of a back-up plan and crash cushion, one that keeps her safe, and I’m willing to lay every penny that I have that she has full access to some sizable offshore accounts.”

“Mmm-hmmmm.” Griff sighed. “Go on.”

"Maybe she can’t touch ‘em now, because of the heat and because she isn’t allowed to leave the country, but the feds told me and so I know for a fact that she sold quite a bit of her family jewelry, and so she has a nice chunk of change that she’s living on. She can wait a while to hit the payload. I figure that she’s thinking that, yeah, things are shit right now, but she sees that pot of gold waiting at the end of the dark tunnel – sorry to mix my metaphors, but you get what I’m saying – and so she’s all cool and collected. Just biding her time, and when she thinks things have settled down enough and when she’s cleared to travel, she’ll walk on into the airport and be out of here first-class and in the blink of an eye.”

“Then she can start a new life on some island somewhere with lax extradition laws?” Griff said. “And relaxed banking policies?”

“Yeah, why not?” Leeza shrugged. “I mean, who’s going to stop her? So far, nothing concrete links her to any of her ex-husband’s schemes or scams, and even though she needs to stay in the country until she’s fully and formally cleared, she’s technically and legally an innocent woman. Nobody’s investigating her, not anymore, and even though the SEC knows that there are hidden offshore accounts and they strongly suspect that she has access to them, nobody can find them. No accounts, no links, no proof… and without any of that, she’s free to wander the streets of Denver and buy t-shirts and be happy as a goddamn clam.”

“I got you,” Griff said. “And I agree – a woman like her should and would be desperate and panicked at losing everything the way that she did.”

“Also?” Leeza said. “If they can’t find the hard proof on her husband, and if his lawyers keep muddying the waters and getting evidence thrown out on technicalities, then he’ll be a free man soon enough. They can just disappear together and start living off the hidden bank accounts. I mean, why not?”

“Yeah,” Dallas said, rejoining the conversation. “I’m with y’all… if Claire Worthington is acting like nothing’s happened, then she’s doing it because – for her – nothing has happened. Nothing’s changed, not really. In her mind, all of this is just a temporary thing, just a tiny blip, and soon enough, she’ll be a stinking-rich woman again, living with the man that she loves enough to help scam people out of their savings. She just needs to hold the course, and if she does, the payoff is huge.”

“OK.” Griff ran his hands through his blond hair. “So… can we see the pictures now?”

Leeza nodded, slid her cell phone across the table to Dallas without a word. Griff leaned over a bit as Dallas started scrolling through the images, and he immediately felt his already considerable anger at and disgust for Claire Worthington grow exponentially.

Yeah, Leeza was right and no arguing about it: the only word to describe the woman was ‘content’. Despite the rushed, slightly-blurred quality of the illicitly-snapped pictures, Claire was clearly relaxed and natural as she dithered between two t-shirts, and happiness actually came off her in waves. It was truly like she didn’t have a care in the world and it made the rage start to boil in Griff’s stomach.

Fuck, what this woman and her husband – oh, no, excuse me… ex-husband – had done to all those people was unforgivable and reprehensible and indefensible. It was criminal, and even though Griff never permitted himself to cross lines and get all emotional about clients or cases, this one was hitting him hard.