criminal response and wholesale exploitation. Jim wanted to do everything he could to help.
He put the most recent printout in the folder and went to the U.S. attorney’s office across the street, to see one of the deputies he worked with most frequently. Henry Loo was at his desk when Jim walked into the room, and the two men smiled at each other. Jim liked him because Henry was tough, but also reasonable to work with. They had had a lot of successful cases together.
“You look like a happy camper,” Henry commented, pointing to the chair across his desk. “Whatcha got?”
“A nice one for you. All gift-wrapped and tied up in ribbons.” Jim knew that pursuing stolen cash was always more difficult to prove than credit cards or checks out of a victim’s account, or the perpetrator’s, but the stream of cash was so direct, the expenditures so far beyond her means, and the lies so perfectly executed that Jim had no doubts about his case. And by the time he finished explaining it to Henry, and handed him the file across his desk, Henry was pleased too. Jim said, “I’ve been working on this for two months,” which was pretty quick for them. And he realized now that it might have been less than that if he had gone to Rodeo Drive sooner. But now everything had fallen into place, particularly with the report from the San Francisco FBI office. And he also explained to Henry why it should stay with them and not go to the police, and Henry agreed. They were clear. “She tried blaming the victim’s ex-boyfriend at first, whom she slept with by the way. But the guy makes a fortune and seems to be honest in his financial dealings. So is the accountant, we checked him out too, although the poor guy is a wreck, with a younger wife who’s pumping him for money. But this is a good case. We’ve got what we need here. I’m sure we can convict.”
“Sounds like it,” the young deputy said, looking pleased. “Think she’ll plead?”
“Hard to say. Depends how tight we make the noose around her neck, and how smart her attorney is. I don’t think she’s going to love going to prison, but given the amounts, she has no choice there. They’re not going to let her off as a first-time offender, because it’s aggravated by repeated theft on a continuing basis, and you have a serious case of abuse of trust here,” which they both knew would increase her prison sentence. “The victim trusted her completely.”
“The victim doesn’t have a problem with it? She’s not going to beg for mercy for her best friend?”
“Not a chance. The assistant slept with her boyfriend for three years.”
“Has she fired her?”
“Not yet. I asked her to hold off until we were sure what we had from the investigation. I didn’t want our suspect to disappear on us. She’s waiting to hear when she can let her go. I think it’s okay now.”
“Did you interview the assistant?” The deputy U.S. attorney wanted to make sure they had all the loose ends tied up before he went to the grand jury and asked a federal judge for a warrant for her arrest if the grand jury cleared it. Jim was sure they would and so was Henry.
“I interviewed her yesterday,” Jim said confidently.
“What’d you get?”
“Lies from beginning to end, all the same bullshit about her trust fund and her inheritance. And I got a very nice house tour. It’s a spectacular house in the hills, and was probably purchased by the victim without her knowledge, using her cash. I’ll look into that now too. It would be good if we can get it for her as restitution. A least she can sell it.”
“You’ll have to talk to the judge and the IRS about that.” They both knew that Brigitte wouldn’t have paid income taxes on the stolen money, which absurdly was the law, so she would be liable for tax evasion now too, and the IRS would want their quart of blood. They always did. There was always a battle between the victim and the IRS for property that had been purchased with stolen funds, and it would have to be negotiated, but that was far, far down the road. Jim wanted to get restitution for Tallie, and the U.S. attorney could help, but ultimately it would be up to the judge when Brigitte either pleaded guilty or was convicted, and she hadn’t even been arrested yet or indicted.
“How fast can you get me a warrant for her arrest?” Jim asked with a gleam in his eye. He wanted to move forward now, and he knew it would be a relief to Tallie. It was some kind of vindication for what she’d been through, and the betrayal she’d experienced at Brigitte’s hands, not to mention the loss of an enormous amount of cash.
“Give me a chance,” Henry said, holding up his hands. “I’ve got to get it to the grand jury and get an indictment. I’ll do that as soon as I can, and then I’ll go to the judge for a warrant. I need your summary report.”
“I’ll have it for you tomorrow, two days latest,” Jim said and Henry nodded.
“And our judges are swamped. But I promise you that as soon as you get me the report, and the grand jury gives us the go-ahead, I’ll walk it over.”
“Good enough.” He knew it would take about a week after that to get the warrant, as the judge went through the stacks of requests for warrants on his desk, and Brigitte wasn’t a physical danger to anyone, so others would come first, who were. And once Jim had the warrant, he could make the arrest. He could notify her attorney, if she had one, and spare her the embarrassment of being taken out of her home or place of work in handcuffs. But as far as Jim knew, she didn’t have an attorney yet, since she had no idea she was a suspect.
“Some of that cash may be hard to trace,” Henry reminded him.
“Yeah, but the spending pattern isn’t. I think she took it straight to Rodeo Drive and her jewelers, and then she pretended to her employer that it was all gifts. She’s pretty smooth, and the story was entirely believable, particularly if she had family money supposedly, so no one suspected for all these years. It showed up in an unexpected audit, so she blamed the boyfriend. In fact, he and Tallie Jones broke up over it, that and the affair he had with the assistant for three years.”
“Maybe they can get back together now,” Henry said facetiously, with a smile. He was happy with the case, and so was Jim. The case looked solid to both of them.
But Jim shook his head. “Actually, the boyfriend is having a baby now with someone else, another woman he was cheating on her with.” Henry looked up at him and laughed.
“You lead a much more exotic life than I do. Where do you come up with these people?”
“Hollywood.” Jim grinned. “Although the victim is a very nice, seemingly normal woman, who isn’t involved in all the bullshit and bling, which is why I think all this went right over her head. She spends all her time working, while the assistant spends her money. As my mother-in-law used to say, ‘Nice work if you can get it.’ ” They both laughed, and a few minutes later, Jim left Henry’s office and went back to his own. They were on their way.
He called Tallie as soon as he got back to his desk. She sounded distracted and was on the set.
“I’d like to speak to you later, if you have time,” he said to Tallie.
“I’m working late. Something wrong?”
“No, on the contrary. Extremely good. You can let her go now. We got everything we wanted, to get started anyway. We’re ready to roll. I have to write my report, and then the deputy district attorney will go to the grand jury for an indictment, and then he’ll ask a judge for a warrant. I just came from the U.S. attorney’s office. You can fire her whenever you want.” Tallie looked suddenly amazed. She had come to think this day would never happen, and she hadn’t heard from Jim in weeks. She was beginning to think he’d forgotten or lost interest. It all moved so slowly, although he assured her this was fast for them. And the fact that she was an important celebrity had helped. It had created interest in the case, and they didn’t want to just ignore her. She had lost a huge amount of money.
“When do you think it will happen?” she asked cryptically, but he knew what she meant.
“I’ll probably get the warrant next week or the week after. I’ll move on it then.”
“I’ll be in New York with my daughter.” She sounded disappointed.
He chuckled. “I wasn’t expecting you to be there for the arrest. I think I can manage it myself. Trust me, I’ve done it before.” She suddenly laughed and felt relieved. Jim had done everything he said he would. And now she had to figure out when to fire Brigitte, and how. That would be a relief too. She wanted to get Brigitte away from her now. Any vestige of their friendship and trust had been destroyed, and in spite of that she’d had to fake it for two months. Now all she wanted to do was get it all behind her and never see Brigitte again. She didn’t allow herself to think of the friend she had lost, or what she had done to her. “Do you want me to come by and talk to you about all of it after work?” She thought about it for a minute. She still had questions and didn’t want to discuss them at work, and she was leaving in the morning to see Max.
“I have to wrap up here, and I want to see my father tonight after work… and pack… Is nine o’clock too late for you?”
