Page 91 of Ricochet

“You know anything about this stuff?”

More than Hawke will ever know.No one in Mayhem had clued in to the fact that Adelia wasn’t a solo act. Lenora wasn’t sure what they thought she was doing, but she knew Mayhem had her pegged for skimming money out of their chapter accounts, and that was all that mattered. No one was going to ask why or if she had help,and that was one of Adelia’s goals from the get-go.

“Mmm, I don’t know. Probably not.” Lenora shifted to the edge of her seat.

“Look at this.” Hawke thrust papers in front of her anyway. “This money is all where it’s supposed to be.” He spread out dozens of papers. “It’s all gun imports and sales, chapter dues, miscellaneous we expect from garages and so on. Then there is this money.” He tappedhis finger on lines highlighted in purple. “This comes in to the main account from chapter accounts.”

“Look at you all fancy with your highlighters.” Lenora pressed her lips together, feigning no knowledge of Adelia’s random actions. Even printed out and highlighted, they seemed unconnected and well done. If someone wasn’t looking for them and was unaware of Mayhem’s gun orders and shipments,it would be hard to pinpoint abnormal activity.

“But then there’s this.” Hawke tapped yellow highlights. “Every month, the exact same amount of money says it’s pending a transfer. It’s as though it’s the same transfer, constantly pending, not going anywhere.”

Lenora had clients like that. Every month, they promised they’d pay, and every month their names were on her open accounts receivablesection. It reached the point where she glossed over their names, not even seeing them anymore, even though they were still there. But it wasn’t as if she was going to send mobsters and gang leaders to collections.

“Maybe a payment’s stuck?” she offered. “Maybe we sent a wire transfer to an account that closed. Something like that?”

“I called the bank.”

Lenora tilted her head, suddenly curious.“And?”

“They said it’s a reoccurring payment sent at the end of every banking cycle. It clears just after the statement closes.”

Curiosity morphed into Spidey senses lighting on fire, and those babies tingled when something had run amok. “Meaning what?”

“The exact same amount of money is leaving Mayhem every month. What is she doing with all that money?” Hawke leaned back in his chair.

Anapprehensive flash rushed over her arms. There was zero chance. Or was there? Did she know everything about Adelia? “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, we’ve been losing a steady five grand every month for years.”

They’d been skimming money to pay for girls and set them free nearly every month for years.Shit.“Are you sure?”

“Don’t fuckin’ question me again, Lenora.”

She inched closer to check the transactions.“How far back did you go?”

“Far enough.”

“How’d Ethan not see this?”

“If he was here, I might ask the fucker,” Hawke grumbled. “But your old man made that a little tricky.”

She ignored the sarcasm and tapped the paper. “Where’s it going?”

“I dunno.”

“This one?” Lenora studied the statements again. “If everything in purple goes to another account, you’re telling me yellow goes…”

“To Adelia’sback pocket.”

To someone’s back pocket.“I don’t buy it.”

“Then where is it?” He rapped the table. “Find me my money.”

“Did the bank tell you a final deposit location?”

“Anonymous off-shore account.”

No way was that Adelia. Then again, look at all she’d organized.Doubt clouded Lenora’s steadfast resolve. If she hadn’t known how Tex and Adelia first came together, what else might she notknow?

---