The Pallbearers

Chapter 43

It never happens like this in law enforcement-the whole resolution to a case hiding inside a vase or a statue.

Still, I couldn't keep myself from grinning.

But despite my elation, there was some part of me that distrusted it. On the other hand, why not? Why couldn't this have been Walt's plan all along? He'd picked the six of us because we were the nonconformist kids he had never given up on. And he know we wouldn't give up on him.

Maybe.

Vicki opened the manila envelope. Inside was what looked like a handwritten note on a piece of paper. It was in Pop's scrawling cursivc.

1. Never enough money to run home… Why?

2. Open checks? Exact amounts?

3. Rick O'Shea only receives $200.00 a month from H. H. How can he afford new Cadillac Escalade and huge new house? Where does $ come from? MMA fights?

4. O'Shea's checkbook and stubs. Gym bag? /

5. Review accounts payable. /

6. Review last 2 year's H. H. tax returns. /

7. Correlate H. H. expenditures with R. O.'s personal deposits. /

8. Why were we hilled for the roof on Sharon Cross Hall when it never got repaired?

The list was backed by a sheaf of papers, including photocopies of Rick O'Shea's personal-check stubs and his bank-deposit slips. Pop must have stolen the checkbook from O'Shea's gym bag and copied them. Certain numbers on O'Shea's bank deposits had been highlighted by Walt.

Vicki began sorting the photocopied pages, separating those that showed estimates or contracts for work projects to be done at Huntington House from bank withdrawals on Huntington House checks that bore Pop's signature.

"Look at this," she said.

She showed us what looked like a bogus roofing contract with a cheap letterhead that looked like it had been made up at Kinko's.

The contract was to redo the roof on Sharon Cross Hall for $10,280.00. With it was a canceled check made out to cash from Huntington House for the contracted amount signed by Pop. Presumably payment for the job. Then she showed us a deposit slip to Rick O'Shea's personal bank account for the exact same amount.

"You know anything about this?" I asked Diamond.

"We couldn't afford that new roof," she said. "I told Pop we were going to hold up all the maintenance contracts."

"O'Shea was the embezzler, not Pop," I said. "He set Pop up and somehow got his signature on all this so it would look like Pop was the thief. Alexa found out at the Hayloft that O'Shea only recently started making big purses on his MMA fights, so that obviously isn't the way he could afford that million-dollar house in Calabasas and the expensive SUV. This is what paid for that stuff."

Vicki said, "I'll have to go through all of this and see what else there is."

She pulled out another photocopy. "Here's another one. A bill for Huntington House employee and child health insurance for last year, totaling eighty-three thousand, nine-hundred-eighteen dollars and twenty-three cents." She found a corresponding canceled check made out to cash in the same amount with Pop's signature and matched it to one of O'Shea's deposit slips for his personal bank account. The amount was exactly the same, down to the penny.

"Since there are no coincidences in police work, these aren't coincidences," Seriana said.

I glanced over at her and saw a big wide smile. This one stayed on her face and made her beautiful.

"How the fuck could Pop be signing checks to cash and giving them to this dirtbag?" Vicki said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Walt trusted people," Diamond answered. "It was just the way he was." uThis is why Pop wanted to see me," Sabas said softly, revising his reason for the third time. "He'd found all this. He discovered what O'Shea was doing. He wanted my advice on how to move forward. But I was too damn busy." There was pain and self-loathing on the lawyer's face.

"So here's the motive for the murder," I said. "Rick O'Shea was looking for evidence, not money. Pop had figured it out, had these documents proving O'Shea was guilty of embezzlement. Pop confronted him, told O'Shea he had the proof. O'Shea beat him to get Pop to tell him where this stuff was. When Pop wouldn't, O'Shea killed him."

Far from stealing from Huntington House, Pop had died protecting it. Shouldn't we have known that from the start?

"We need to put this on paper and deliver it to the DA's office," I said. "Then tomorrow we'll bust O'Shea. From there, it's wrap-up."

"Why do we have to wait 'til tomorrow?" Sabas said. "Let's go slam that asshole in cuffs right now."

"We can't do it tonight because we need an arrest warrant. I'll call Alexa. She can pull in some sixth-floor help. Vicki, you get these financial papers in order so they make enough sense for a judge to write us a warrant based on what they say. Tomorrow, it will be over."