Page 24 of Twice Missing
McKenzie sighed, his breath visible in the cold car. "I don't know, Thorne. It's all speculation right now. For all we know, Ashford might be the orchestrator. Noah believes he has been involved in money laundering for some time, going as far back as when his father was in office. This new revelation from Sheriff Roberts about the cartel beinginvolved in drug and human trafficking in the region leads us to believe that possibly the money laundering through the casino and establishments throughout the Adirondacks is tied together."
"So Ashford is cleaning the illegal profits to make them appear legitimate?"
He nodded. "Something like that. Noah put it this way. Based on files he's looked over from an ex-state investigator, Thomas O'Connell, he's starting to think that the cartel is giving Ashford large amounts of cash through the drug and human trafficking operations and then they are mixing in the dirty money with legitimate cash from the casino and new housing developments, and businesses he owns."
“He owns motels?"
"Seems so. As of ten years ago. That was when he first bought some, and the new line of motels happened to be from Nathan Carter, sold at a very low price."
Thorne's eyes narrowed. "I'm still puzzled by how they can do that without raising flags with the tax man?"
"Pretty simple, Thorne," McKenzie explained. "Ashford artificially inflates the revenues of those businesses by combining the cash from the cartel. On top of that they can state their expenses are higher because they use cartel-controlled suppliers for goods and services, and of course some of those goods and services never show up. Now that money is accounted for and set to one side. They take the legitimate earnings and cartel cash and deposit it into bank accounts as if it’s all legitimate business income. They then use shell companies and offshore accounts toobscure the money, a bit like the way companies do to make the tax man think they earned less. The cleaned money can then be withdrawn or transferred back to the cartel through legit channels."
"So Ashford isn't just declaring the cartel's money as earnings and paying it back directly. He's integrating it into a financial system through a complex web of transactions and businesses to make it look legit."
"That about sums it up."
"So he's the face of the cartel and they never have to show up here."
"Nope. Not unless someone steps out of line and from what we can tell, no one steps out of line otherwise they go missing or turn up dead. Again though it's all hearsay right now."
Thorne stopped eating, her expression grim. "Son of a bitch. I mean if that's true, proving that could blow the lid off this place."
"Well, yeah, but best of luck being able to gather enough evidence and hold on to it in order to prove it. Noah has been trying to do that, and based on what Thomas O'Connell said, it appears he was too until they let him go."
Thorne stopped chewing. "Does Noah think his temporary suspension was related to that?"
McKenzie nodded. "He thinks there is someone on the inside that is on Ashford's payroll. That's how Ashford is able to stay one step ahead and if need be, make evidence disappear, and if need be, get employees released from their duties."
"That would have to be someone in a high place."
"Yep."
Thorne began chewing again, her mind clearly racing with the implications of their conversation.
"So that's why we are here. If we can tie this whole thing to the cartel and more specifically the Ashfords, we could kill two birds with one stone and take them all down,” McKenzie said.
"By the way, how did you convince Sheriff Rivera to let me tag along?"
"I have my ways, Thorne, just like you do with Jake Richmond."
With her mouth full, she glanced at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"
He lowered his binoculars. "You're dating him, right?"
"And?"
"Like I said, we each have our ways of getting what we want."
"You make it sound like I'm using Jake."
"Are you?"
"No."
"You sure about that?"
"What are you talking about?"
