Chapter 2
Luciano cleared the exhibition hall.
The benefit continued in the adjoining ballroom under the deputy director’s supervision, but every office connected to the charity accounts was locked.
Grant protested immediately.
“You can’t shut down a foundation event because of one deposit slip.”
Luciano looked at him.
“I shut it down because you attacked me when your sister’s brooch fell out of her own bag.”
Odessa interrupted.
“That was a misunderstanding.”
Luciano picked up the brooch.
“How?”
Neither answered.
Mabel had already been taken upstairs with a trusted caregiver.
Luciano wanted her away from adults turning her into evidence.
Then he examined the deposit slip again.
The transaction was six weeks old.
$186,000 had moved from Catherine’s youth fencing fund into Moretti Athletic Development LLC.
Luciano called the foundation accountant.
The man arrived twenty minutes later.
He recognized the company name immediately.
“It’s connected to club redevelopment.”
“What redevelopment?”
The accountant hesitated.
“The proposed expansion in Westchester.”
Luciano turned toward Grant.
Grant had been trying to convince the family to build a second private fencing facility for almost a year.
Luciano rejected the idea twice.
He considered the market too small.
Grant apparently found money anyway.
“How much has been transferred?”
The accountant did not know without checking.
Luciano ordered a complete review.
Odessa laughed bitterly.
“This is exactly why nobody tells you anything.”
Luciano looked at her.
“You stole from Catherine’s fund because I'm difficult?”
“We didn't steal.”
“Then what do you call moving money without telling me?”
“A loan.”
“Authorized by whom?”
Odessa looked toward Grant.
Grant answered.
“By the foundation.”
Luciano’s attorney spoke.
“I sit on that foundation board. I don't remember this.”
Grant’s expression tightened.
Luciano noticed.
Then the accountant returned with the first number.
The $186,000 was not the only transfer.
Over fourteen months, more than $1.1 million had moved out of the youth fund.
Luciano stared at the figure.
That fund paid for children’s equipment.
Coaches.
Tournament travel.
Summer programs.
Catherine had personally raised much of the money while undergoing chemotherapy.
Luciano slowly turned toward Odessa.
His cousin looked frightened again.
May you like
Not because he was angry.
Because she had realized the blue paper Mabel found was no longer the only record he intended to examine.
