Private Monaco

Chapter 63

I couldn’t shake that feeling of unease while we went over the evidence in the apartment.

Mo-bot messaged Weaver, but it was too early for an East Coast analyst to have started his day, so we were forced to wait.

In the meantime, Mo-bot and Sci checked their European sources for anything that would link the Chalmont Casino to Roman Verde and the groups he was a member of.

“I’m guessing money laundering,” Sci said. “Dirty cash in for a few hours, play some small hands. Take clean cash out and claim you won it at the casino. It’s an old trick.”

Mo-bot scoffed. “You think people still launder cash in the age of crypto?”

“People like me,” Sci responded.

“Dinosaurs,” Mo-bot quipped.

“Even with crypto, you still need a way to distribute dollar or euro assets to your organization,” I remarked. “Crypto back end, casino front end could be a powerful combination.”

Mo-bot nodded. “Sure.”

“He suggests it and you take it seriously,” Sci said, playing hurt.

“He’s the boss,” Mo-bot countered.

“Can we see where the five million came from?” I asked. “The money in Duval’s account.”

Mo-bot shook her head. “I can’t access the account, and none of the statements Duval stored on his drive show the incoming transfers. That’s something Weaver might be able to help with.”

It was 4 p.m. when Weaver replied to Mo-bot’s message asking for more details on the casino. She sent everything we had on Duval, Raymond Chalmont, his casino, and Roman Verde and the Dark Fates. She also provided a rundown of our experiences with Propaganda Tre.

Weaver replied almost immediately, telling her he’d need a while to dig deep.

I paced the living room restlessly.

“Jack, what’s up?” Justine asked. “You’ve been on edge ever since the call with Carver.”

Part of being an effective investigator is learning to trust your intuition. I’d learned to listen to mine, and even though I didn’t always understand it, I knew I had to follow where it led me. I believe our brains absorb far more information than our conscious minds can process. Somehow the analysis of all this data is fed back to us as intuition, so while it might appear to be magical or lack an obvious grounding in evidence, it is in fact built on rational analysis.

“I don’t like being in the dark,” I replied. “And I don’t like Carver being here. It’s too much of a coincidence.”

“I don’t like it either,” Mo-bot said. “Coincidences are for daytime soaps and fairy tales.”

I came to a decision.

“You want to take a walk?”

“Now?” Justine asked. “What about Roman and his people?”

“We’ll be careful,” I assured her. “They don’t control the city.”

“You hope,” Sci scoffed unhelpfully.

“You want to see Carver?” Mo-bot asked.

I nodded. “I want to tell him what we know and check his security arrangements. Find out if there was any way Propaganda Tre would have been able to find out he would be coming to Monaco.”