Page 81 of When Fashion Turns Deadly

“True.” Lars nodded and escorted Marit into the hall.

Isabelle lingered and gave him a quick kiss. She kept her face close to his and whispered, “I’ll keep my phone with me as long as I can. Let me know if you need any help deciphering the financials.”

“I can’t believe I have to analyze spreadsheets.”

“You aren’t analyzing spreadsheets. You’re analyzing bank and credit card statements.”

Cole grimaced. “That’s not any better.”

“Good luck.” Isabelle gave him one more kiss and headed for the door.

“You too.”

“Thanks.” She closed the door behind her, and Cole pulled his laptop from his bag.

“Time to get this over with,” he muttered to himself, settling down at the kitchen table and pulling up the files Jasmine had sent.

He keyed in on the banking and credit card information from Henri LaRue and pulled up the file. He scanned over the various line items, searching for any large cash withdrawals or credit card advances. When he didn’t find any, he looked over the numbers again, this time trying to identify what the various expenses represented.

The payroll appeared to run through one bank account, the numbers fluctuating at various times of the year. It didn’t take long to figure out that the spikes in payroll occurred in the weeks right before the various Fashion Week events and extended to the two weeks after they concluded.

After going over the payroll account twice without finding anything that connected LaRue to James, Cole pulled up LaRue’s main operating account as well as his credit cards. Again, the expenses were clustered, but this time, the high points occurred in the two months before Fashion Week. From what he could tell, a large portion of the expenses were for fabric and supplies as well as airline tickets. Hotel charges were the outlier, not occurring until the end of Fashion Week.

Cole went over the expenses a second time, but nothing flagged as a possible cash payout or anything else that would be outside the norm for someone in the design business.

Disappointed that nothing was pointing a finger at LaRue, he glanced at the clock. He’d been staring at financial information for more than an hour. Isabelle would undoubtedly be able to perform this task in a fraction of the time.

With a sigh, he moved to the next set of financials, these for Peter Wade. Maybe if he compared the timing of expenses, he would be able to see if a payment was out of place and was actually being funneled through a third party.

As he had with LaRue’s accounts, Cole started with payroll. Peter Wade’s expenses ran a bit higher than LaRue’s but not by much. When he moved to the expense and credit card accounts, the numbers also fell into a similar category, except that Peter Wade’s deposits were significantly higher than LaRue’s, as was his current bank account balance.

Moving on, Cole opened Li Du’s account. He did a quick skim of his budget in case there were any large cash deposits. Again, nothing. Then again, Li Du’s show had already occurred. Surely, if he had been behind the theft of Ralph’s designs, they would have seen some sign of it yesterday.

With that thought in mind, Cole focused on the only other designer who hadn’t yet shown his line but who had also started on their suspect list: Kyle Adams.

A text buzzed on his phone, and Cole pulled it up. Isabelle walking down the runway in a red pantsuit, her chin up, a little smile on her face. The Peter Wade show was underway, and he was missing it.

Determined to finish this analysis before the Kyle Adams show tonight, he hit the thumbs-up button on the photo Lars had sent him and turned his attention back to his laptop screen.

The payroll accounts looked much like the other three he had already researched. He pulled up Adams’s credit cards, the first two showing normal activity. When he reached the third, he skimmed over the pending charges, which included a four-hundred-euro expense yesterday at a hotel along with a large restaurant bill last night. He continued down the list, several of the next charges catching his attention. An Air France bill for over six thousand dollars preceded by a KLM charge for twelve hundred dollars.

Cole checked the dates. The airline ticket purchased on KLM occurred the day after the robbery at Ralph’s office. The other tickets were purchased three days later.

Cole grabbed his phone and dialed Jasmine. As soon as she answered, he said, “Hey, I need you to access some airline data for me.”

“What do you need?” Jasmine asked.

“Passenger names and flight dates. The first is for KLM. All I have is the credit card info.”

“If it’s off the financials I sent you, tell me where to look.”

Cole relayed the credit card account information.

“Got it.” Jasmine fell silent. “I assume you want the details on the Air France flights too.”

“Yes.”

“This may take a minute.”

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