Page 66 of Tangled
“Then when the blackmail email showed up, he figured he could use Luz for leverage,” Brad posited.
“Fucker,” Mitch muttered. His dad nodded.
“It’s all supposition, which is why I’m headed to LA tomorrow, but what I think happened is this: I think he intended to use Luz as leverage to get Gracie to back off, but when he tracked Luz down, he somehow learned she had a key to Gracie’s apartment, and a different plan took shape. One where he permanently eliminated the problem.”
“Okay,” Scarlett said on an exhale. “When you’re down there, you may want to talk to the woman who lives across the hall from Gracie’s place. She’s in her seventies and is one of those women who really doesn’t give a fuck about much of anything. Meaning, if she saw a cop, or a man, come into Gracie’s place, she’s not going to pretend she didn’t if you ask her that specific question. She’s not a gossip, so unless you ask a direct question, she won’t answer, but she’s not afraid of talking.”
“Thanks,” Jessica replied. “I’ll get her name from you before I go.”
“So blackmail is the motive, fentanyl is the means, and now we have the possible opportunity if he had access to her apartment,” Chad said. “What else?”
“To be clear, his motive isn’t limited to eliminating the blackmail material related to the assault,” Jessica said. “The video also ties him to Sussurri. We are headed down the right path in tagging Rathwell as Gracie’s killer, but Sussurri is where the bigger picture comes into play.” She paused and looked at the board.
“This is going to get ugly, isn’t it? Uglier than it already is,” Scarlett murmured.
Jessica inclined her head. “Yes, I think it is. And they are at the center of everything.”
“An agency that has a corrupt cop on payroll isn’t going to limit themselves to just one,” Beth said. “Which means there’s deeper corruption in the police force than one bad apple.”
“And depending on Sussurri’s clients, potentially corruption there, too,” Anthony said.
“Judges, businessmen, any person in a position of power who uses a service like Sussurri is susceptible to corruption,” Jessica agreed. “No one would want that secret to get out, and we don’t know what lengths they’d go to in order to protect it. I’m not saying theyarecorrupt, but there is the potential.”
“At the very least, they are breaking the law,” Sabina pointed out.
Brad sighed. “So we have corrupt cops and powerful men—”
“And women,” Jessica said. “About a third of the list in Gracie’s files are women.”
“And powerful women,” Brad said, “who engage in illegal activity that they wouldn’t want knownandthat could be used against them to, for example, sway a court decision or influence a business deal.”
Jessica nodded. “It’s why I think Sussurri is so desperate to get their files back. Originally, I was thinking along the same lines you all had discussed—that they wouldn’t want the information leaking because it would be bad for business. That it would make people stop using the service. But now, now that we’ve identified more people on the list, this second more powerful motive has emerged. They don’t want the information made public because once it is, it loses its power to influence,” Jessica said.
“Do we have any indication that Sussurri is using the information they have in the way you’re suggesting?” Scarlett asked.
Jessica rolled her lips. “Not yet. But given who’s behind it, it’s not a question of ‘if’ but a question of finding the evidence.”
Scarlett straightened, startling Ruby, who gave a little yelp. Tia rose from Cody’s lap, retrieved her daughter, then returned to her seat.
“This Tabby person? Is that who’s behind it? And is she the ‘Cat’ Gracie referred to in her notebooks?” Scarlett asked.
Jessica wagged her head. “Yes, I think she is the ‘Cat’ Gracie mentioned, but she isn’t the mastermind behind Sussurri. After Rathwell said her name, I did some digging, reached out to a few contacts, and found her. Her full name is Tabitha Henderson, and she runs the business, but doesn’t own it. She manages scheduling, payroll, that sort of thing. This man,” she said, holding up a photocopied picture, “is who I believe is behind it.”
Scarlett studied the image. The man looked nothing like she expected a mastermind to look. Then again, she’d never met someone who owned a high-end call service, had cops in their pocket, and potentially blackmailed powerful people for a living, so what did she know? Still, the heavyset man with thick glasses and thin gray hair seemed an odd fit with the role they’d cast him in. With his round face, bulbous nose, and male-patternbaldness, he looked like someone’s friendly uncle. And about as scary as a turtle.
“Who is that?” she asked.
“His name is Richard Karrol,” Jessica said. “Nondescript in every way except that he holds a lot of secrets and is known in many circles as the man to go to when you want something—anything—done. He has no inner circle that anyone has been able to identify and to date, authorities have never looked at him for anything. He isn’t even on their radar.”
“Because he has leverage over them that makes them look the other way or because he’s that good at looking clean?” Chad asked.
“Believe it or not, I think it’s the latter,” Jessica answered. “He may have leverage over them, too, but I think he prefers to use that on people like Rathwell, rather than on the higher-ups or the Feds. If he tries to influence someone who, by virtue of their position, has more eyes on them, it’s more likely someone will notice. And Karrol is excellent at avoiding notice.”
“How did you tie him to Sussurri?” Ava asked.
“He’s cropped up in a few investigations,” Jessica answered. “Never as a primary figure, though. Then last fall, I was working on an investigation in Kentucky and his name came up again. Seeing it two or three times, I could overlook, but four? I started to dig and while I haven’t found anything concrete, I have found ties between him and a few other situations I’ve been monitoring. My gut says he’s involved in way more than we may ever know. As for how I specifically tied him to Sussurri? Ava and I did a little digging into their website, and then I did a little more this afternoon. They don’t mention him, of course. They don’t mention any names at all. But the pattern of the website is similar to what I’ve seen in connection with the other investigations. It’s more than using the same website design template—it’s the way the links connect and guide users in acertain way. And the language—it’s unique enough that I can’t imagine it wasn’t written by the same author. I know it’s not hard evidence, but it’s enough for me. At least for now.”
“And you’re going to go after him?” Scarlett asked, unsure if she wanted to know the answer. It wasn’t that she wanted bad people to go unpunished, but going after Rathwell for killing Gracie seemed far less dangerous than going after someone like Karrol. Rathwell was a thug with a power complex. Karrol, based on what Jessica intimated, was the exact opposite—someone without a power complex but who held all the power.
