“What?”
“Carol Seal was a dedicated employee of the tax assessor’s office by day and a drug supplier for one of the local mobsters by night. When Marion started getting too close, she issued the threat and took out his son. Unfortunately, it appears that the family she worked for was afraid she was too exposed and put out a hit on her.”
“So she faked her own death,” I said.
Carter nodded. “Ralph identified the body, and Carol became Lucinda and disappeared to Sinful.”
“Didn’t you say Ralph was the accountant for some drug dealer in New Orleans years ago? Wasn’t it risky relocating Carol to Sinful?”
“I’m sure Ralph met with all his questionable clients in New Orleans. Neither party would want to be seen together in Sinful. Too much talk. Besides, it appears he parted ways with that client shortly after Carol’s ‘death.’”
I nodded. Hiding in plain sight, sort of. It made sense. “So who was the woman in the car?”
“Probably some unfortunate junkie who resembled Carol enough to avoid a red flag with the coroner. They’re going to exhume the body to get DNA. Maybe they’ll find a match to a missing persons case.”
“How does Ralph fit into all of this now? If he wasn’t still in the hinky accounting business why all the worry over an audit?”
“Ralph and Carol had a property scheme going. It was their retirement plan. Ralph used the money they made from their drug-related pursuits to buy and sell real estate during the hurricane rebuilding. Then Carol changed the purchase and sales amounts in the tax assessor’s computer system.”
“That way the IRS was never alerted to large profits so they didn’t question lifestyle versus income claims,” I said. “That’s genius. But they must have figured it out somehow since Ralph was worried about an audit.”
“The tax assessor’s office began implementing a new system a couple months ago. While converting the historical data, the techs noticed some discrepancies and turned the information over to the IRS.”
“So if they made all this money, why didn’t they just skip town with it? I mean, I figure Carol had to lie low for a while because she didn’t want the family she dealt for to catch her walking around alive somewhere. But ten years is a lot of aging to wait for.”
Carter nodded. “For years, Ralph has been in the process of shifting everything to offshore accounts for shell corporations, but changes to banking laws have made it hard to move a lot of money without sending up red flags. It’s a slow process if you want to get away clean.”
“And technically speaking, Carol wasn’t at risk of losing anything but the money because as far as the IRS was concerned, she was already dead. Which left Ralph on the hook for everything. So I guess he did commit suicide.”
“I don’t think so. The coroner’s report came in. Ralph had GHB in his system. There was gunpowder residue on his hand, but she could have held the gun in his hand and pulled the trigger. Maybe he really was panicking over the audit. Carol might have decided he was a liability like everyone else.”
I shook my head. It was so fantastic, more like a movie than real life. “What about the Seal brothers?”
“We got a video from border patrol showing them crossing into Mexico.”
“Are you going to look for them?”
“Not my jurisdiction. My guess is New Orleans PD will issue a warrant for parole violation and that will be the end of it unless they get stupid.”
I nodded. I hoped they used the money to get their lives together and keep those lives south of the border. I had a bit of hope for the second item. I didn’t have much for the first.
“We went to visit Hot Rod this morning,” I said. “He’s looking great. I mean, considering.”
Carter nodded. “I saw him yesterday evening. I like a happy ending.”
The best news to come out of all of this was that Hot Rod had regained consciousness and it looked as though he was going to make a full recovery. When he’d woken up, he’d immediately started yelling for a phone to call Ida Belle, and it took two orderlies to hold him down while Shonda and the evening news convinced him that Ida Belle was safe and it was all over. The two people who’d broken in his shop had worn ski masks, but I had no doubt it was Carol and Ralph. Hot Rod had been shocked to hear what had happened while he was sleeping and thrilled to find out that Ida Belle was all right and the entire mess was over.
Carter rose from his chair. “I’ve got to get back to the office for a while. I’m still trying to wrap up all the paperwork from this. I’m hoping to finish everything today. If I do, I’m taking a day off tomorrow. I thought maybe we could talk.”
“Okay,” I said. It probably wouldn’t be pleasant, but it was necessary. I was tired of all the unspoken words between us. It was time to get everything out into the open. Once and for all.
I watched him walk away and wondered again how much compromise I was willing to make to have a future with him. Definitely some, but not all. I just hoped he could meet somewhere that worked for both of us.
My cell phone rang and I checked the display, then popped upright. It was Harrison.
“Redding,” Harrison said when I answered. “We have Ahmad on radar in Miami. The takedown will happen in two days. Do you want in?”
“Do you have to ask?”