When I arrived, I had every intention of throwing in the towel on my little PI side hustle.
But the three Balthazar family members who awaited me had a different plan.
“Ah, lunch,” Griffin said, taking the bag from me as I turned and shut the door. “I’m starving.”
“You’re always starving,” Ruby said from her place on the couch. In true Ruby fashion, she wore an electric-blue miniskirt, lace leggings, and a vest that had been given the Annie Hall treatment with an eighties executive-woman vibe. No, maybe it was more Melanie Griffith in Working Girl. Either way, Ruby looked cutting edge, making me feel like chopped liver in my capri leggings with the oversize linen shift.
“True,” Griffin said, digging out the full-size roast beef po’boy labeled with his name. The rest of us had turkey club sandwiches. I passed around the iced tea and made myself comfortable on the other end of the couch, which didn’t look quite as suspect as it had weeks ago. The normally delicious sandwich tasted like ash in my mouth. I wrapped it up and saved it for later while the rest of the crew demolished my offering.
After a few minutes, Juke wiped the mayo from the corners of his mouth and said, “We have a problem.”
“I already knew that,” I said.
“No. A bigger problem, because my contact who has a contact at the SEC told him your boy Donner has been under investigation for a while. Word in their office is that the lead investigator is ready to make the arrest. Any day now.”
“Fine,” I said, with a shrug of my shoulders. “I read about divorce, and if Scott goes to jail, I don’t even have to prove adultery. Federal prison speeds things up.”
“But what about your money?” Ruby made an impatient face.
“It’s just money. I’ll be okay. I mean, yeah, I’m mad that he essentially stole our retirement and savings, but maybe going down for helping Donner swindle people will clear up his priorities. I’m honestly relieved to hear they might be closing in on Donner, because those pictures of my daughter were the smelling salts I needed to wake me up to the seriousness of this matter.”
Juke looked at Ruby, who looked at Griff.
For a moment, none of them spoke.
Then Griffin balled his lunch bag up and sent it for three points into the empty trash can. “You’re right. Your daughter is important. And money is money. Not like it’s the end all be all of life. But what if you can get your hands on that offshore account?”
I thought about that. “Well, yeah. I would at least want my share.”
Ruby nodded. “For Julia Kate. College is expensive.”
“And once the SEC is involved, the assets will be frozen if Scott was taking kickbacks or sharing in the profits. If he mingled the money, even the stuff that is legally yours and untainted could be hung up,” Juke added.
I thought about that. “But isn’t the money safer offshore, then?”
“Yeah. But the account isn’t in your name, so you can’t access it. But I have a plan that might work.” Juke leaned back, his eyes clear, his stubble a thing of the past. He looked much healthier and very interested in making my sleazy husband pay. Which I sort of liked about him. About all of them. They’d been scheming while I had been panicking. My heart did a pitty-pat of pleasure.
The gleam in his eye sparked something in me. “You really have a plan to get the money back?”
“Unless you don’t want to.”
“It’s not that I don’t want the money. I’m not stupid. Scott has cheated on me and cheated on his clients. He will pay for his crimes against his clients, but I guess what you’re saying is that if I don’t try to get the money back, if I don’t demand some justice for me and my daughter, he wins against me.”
Griffin kicked his chair back on two legs. They may have actually groaned. “I don’t want him to win, sunshine.”
“So how do I do this?” I asked, setting my lunch bag at my feet.
“A sting!” Ruby said, her lips curving and a sparkle in her eyes.
I frowned. “A sting? That’s the grand plan?”
Juke held up a hand. “So here’s how we think you can do it. When you go to your attorney today, you need to ask for some paperwork. If you have the pictures of him with Stephanie, you can expedite the divorce, just as you learned. You don’t have to play your cards about knowing about the Donner Walker deal or the SEC investigation. In fact, you don’t want your husband to know you have an inkling about his involvement. You’ll show him the photos that I took. Then you’ll tell him he’s busted. Maybe cry a little. Take the conversation emotional so you make him feel bad. Then you’ll give him some papers to sign. One is a waiver of service. Basically, it says he agrees to not be served the divorce papers, and you’ll file that in court. But we also want to see if your attorney can come up with some other forms and things he has to sign. And in the middle of the papers, we’ll slide in an amendment request for the bank account, adding you as an administrator on the offshore account.”