By edRogers
[Reviewed here on the novel’s publication day, October 6, 2018: “Coming soon to a Barnes & Noble store near you?”]
After Charlie explained to Howard and Tommy about the bomb, Margot made snacks and they moved to the back porch. The two visitors seemed to take the bomb scare as a matter of fact and showed little concern that they might be in danger. For some reason, Charlie found that worrisome; after all, it’s not every day that a bomb is planted in a friend’s car.
Howard opened a beer and cleared his throat. “I found something interesting at the Environmental Ministry. I’m happy to report the corruption is not coming from there but from the Costa Rican Fisheries Institute.”
Charlie looked at Tommy. “Weren’t you looking into them?”
Tommy had a beer to his mouth and had to wait until he swallowed before answering. “I was and Howard is right. The department head, Danny Torres, went around the Environmental Ministry and issued Taiwan Shipping a temporary permit to ship shark fins. The permit would more than likely have been issued even if Tai had gone through the right channels, but this way was much faster and didn’t require any hearings on the matter.”
“My friend at the Ministry is pissed as all get out about it,” Howard intoned. “Those permits are supposed to come from his department. My guess is that a bribe is paid for those permits and he lost money.”
“Torres must have gotten a big chunk of money for doing that,” said Charlie. “What did you find, Tommy?”
“I didn’t find anything, not one questionable deposit in any of his bank accounts.”
Margot placed one of the shrimp on a cracker and added, “These people aren’t doing this for nothing, there has to be money coming to them somehow. If it’s in the form of cash, well, that’s hard to hide.”
Tommy couldn’t keep the smile from his face. “I think I’ve found where the money’s coming from.”
Charlie jumped to his feet. “Are you kidding me, you found the money trail?”
“I’m not totally sure, but it looks like they all have stock in a land investment group. It’s very complicated and part of what I found is guesswork on my part.”
Howard set his beer down. “For God sakes, Tommy, spit it out! I’m an old man, and I would like to hear this before I die.”
“Okay, Howard. I spent a lot of hours on this, so give me a moment.”
Howard laughed. “Your moment is up, my friend.”
“All right, land is bought and sold by the investment group. They seem to be very good at buying low and selling high. Each member has stock and is paid when land is sold. Not everybody has the same amount of stock, so they don’t all receive the same payment.”
Charlie broke in. “Were you able to get the membership list.”
Tommy was enjoying the spotlight. His smile became wider. “I not only have the list but how much stock each person has in the company.”
Margot got up and bent down to hug Tommy. “Thanks to you we can nail these bastards!”
“Wait, wait,” Tommy said. “I told you part of this is guesswork. This is how they’re getting the money, but I can’t find anything illegal about it – they even pay taxes on the money.”
Charlie was scratching his head. “All these people belong to the same investment group and they get large payments. What else could it be?”
Tommy was no longer smiling. “I know what it looks like, but it’s not against the law to make a profit on a land investment.”
Margot lifted a hand and added, “I have been here in Costa Rica for a long time and most land investments go bust. Did you find a list of buyers in the land deals?”
“No, I didn’t, Margot. The land involved was bought by a number of different corporations. And land the Investment Group bought was purchased from corporations.”
Howard asked, “Is this so-called Investment Group not also a corporation?”
“As strange as it may sound, no. It is solely owned by the stockholders. I believe it was set up that way so that if anyone wondered where their extra money was coming from they could just point to their investments.”
Charlie shook his head. “So damn close. I guess it is better than nothing. We at least know how it is done, we just can’t prove the money is dirty.”
Tommy was almost in tears. “I’m so sorry but there is no way to find out who is in these corporations. Because of the laws in Costa Rica, the corporations don’t have to list their members’ names.”
Margot put her arm around Tommy. “No one blames you. You did what no one else has ever done, and I’m proud of you.”
Charlie added his two cents: “I’m proud of what you have done also.”
“And so am I,” said Howard.
Charlie headed to the bar. “I have a very good rum. We need to toast Tommy and all his hard work.” He came back with the bottle and four glasses.
Margot held her glass high and hollered, “Here’s to Tommy Harris, the best computer guy I know!”
A couple more shots and everybody calmed down. Howard asked, “What do we do now?”
Charlie took a deep breath and exhaled. “All information is good information. We’ll find a way to fit what we have into the puzzle. It may be the one piece we need down the road. In the meantime, Howard, I want you to work with Tommy on the Fisheries Institute. See if anyone on the ladder below Torres is pissed at their boss.”
“That shouldn’t be hard to find out, everybody loves to bitch about their job.”
“Don’t try to recruit them, just be their friend for now. It’s always good to have a backup plan.”
Juan pulled through the gate at his house. All the way home he had been wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into.
Carla, his wife, was hanging the wash. He noticed his son’s motorbike was gone, and why not? – it was Saturday. He walked up behind his wife and, pulling her close, kissed her on the neck.
She pulled away a little. “You want to play that game, you better get to the house before midnight. I have work to do during the day. I got no time to be fooling around with you.”
“I wasn’t thinking about fooling around. I was going to get right down to business.”
“If you’re going to get down to business, then go get out of those clothes so I can wash them. And get a shower. That will be business enough.”
“You were much more fun when we first married.”
“That was before I raised three kids for nineteen years.”
“What the hell you talking about? We only have two children.”
“You have two. With you, I have three. Now get in there and get out of those clothes.”
Juan popped her on her butt lovingly and headed to the house.
He turned the water on and stepped into the shower. He leaned his head against the tile and let the warm water flow over him. He wasn’t looking forward to facing Tai on Monday. He hadn’t said anything to Charlie, but it was very possible that Howard or Tommy had let something slip to the wrong person, and if that was so, then he was in danger also. He would try and show Tai that killing people would be bad for his business.
The curtain pulled back and Carla stepped into the shower. She found his lips as her hand moved over his stomach on the way down.
| Copyright © 2018 by Ed Rogers |
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