only way she'd have made a profit was if she was the one who'd started the whole con."
"Like you say, she is good with money."
"But not so good with people," Helen said. "She might have been able to organize the scheme, but from what I've heard, she doesn't have the skills to sell others on buying into the pyramid. Her husband is the salesman, not her. Investors have to like the person at the top for a pyramid scheme to work, and it doesn't sound like anyone likes Angie very much."
"What about a money laundering operation?" Jack turned the car around so the passenger door aligned with the front walkway. "I bet a lot of cash goes through the insurance agency, and Angie has access to it."
That made more sense than the idea that Angie had convinced people to invest in anything she was trying to sell. "If she got involved with criminals, it might explain her disappearance. She could be running from them."
"Or worse." Jack turned off the powerful engine.
"Or worse," Helen agreed.
Tate wandered out of the garage and over to the huge luxury car while Helen slid easily out of the passenger seat. He nodded at the car. "Isn't this a bit much for one person who generally doesn't put more than ten miles a week on the odometer?"
"It's perfect for road trips, though," Helen said. "I anticipate visiting my nieces more often once I have my own car."
"Right. The nieces," Tate said. "And eventually you can give rides to Laura's children. They're going to love the upholstery on this car. Of course, you might not love it so much once they drop a few snacks and sippy cups on it."
"What do you know about sippy cups?"
"Adam isn't my only nephew." Tate pointed at the envelope Helen was holding. "What's that?"
"A picture of Angie. I'm going to make some flyers."
"She's still missing then, and the bank statements didn't help?"
Helen nodded. "Come inside with me while I print some flyers. I was wondering about something. How would a person get into the money laundering business?"
Tate brushed some sawdust off his jeans. "A person wouldn't. Not if she was my client."
"I'm talking hypothetically."
"Being a murder suspect isn't risky enough, so you decided to branch out and get involved with other types of crimes?"
"I've always been perfectly law-abiding, and it's enough of a habit that I'm not likely to switch to a life of crime now," Helen said. "Angie, on the other hand, may not have had the same qualms as I do. We know she's been lying to her husband. Not just about little things. She received seventy-five grand last year, and Ralph doesn't know how she got it. Money laundering came up as a possibility because she's got a paper trail from some company no one's ever heard of, and there's no sign of the actual cash in any of the Deckers' bank accounts."
Tate looked up into the treetops for a moment, and Helen thought he might refuse to answer, but then he nodded and made an "after you" gesture in the direction of the front walk. Helen slammed the heavy car door shut and headed for the front porch.
Tate fell in beside her. "Keep in mind that none of my clients were ever found guilty, and they denied doing anything wrong. Everything I know about money laundering is from the prosecution's claims. The allegations were pretty simple usually. They claimed my clients had made substantial profits from criminal activity, and then, instead of depositing the whole amount of cash into a bank all at once, they broke it into smaller pieces to avoid triggering the ten thousand dollar reporting threshold."
"That's it?" Helen said. "Their big criminal scheme was to divide their loot into several small bags instead of keeping it in a single big one?"
"Pretty much."
"I can't believe you charge me for this kind of advice," Helen said. "If Angie was laundering money, it would have had to be more sophisticated than what you described. There wasn't seventy-five thousand dollars' worth of unexplained deposits into any of the bank accounts I saw, and the
"Like you say, she is good with money."
"But not so good with people," Helen said. "She might have been able to organize the scheme, but from what I've heard, she doesn't have the skills to sell others on buying into the pyramid. Her husband is the salesman, not her. Investors have to like the person at the top for a pyramid scheme to work, and it doesn't sound like anyone likes Angie very much."
"What about a money laundering operation?" Jack turned the car around so the passenger door aligned with the front walkway. "I bet a lot of cash goes through the insurance agency, and Angie has access to it."
That made more sense than the idea that Angie had convinced people to invest in anything she was trying to sell. "If she got involved with criminals, it might explain her disappearance. She could be running from them."
"Or worse." Jack turned off the powerful engine.
"Or worse," Helen agreed.
Tate wandered out of the garage and over to the huge luxury car while Helen slid easily out of the passenger seat. He nodded at the car. "Isn't this a bit much for one person who generally doesn't put more than ten miles a week on the odometer?"
"It's perfect for road trips, though," Helen said. "I anticipate visiting my nieces more often once I have my own car."
"Right. The nieces," Tate said. "And eventually you can give rides to Laura's children. They're going to love the upholstery on this car. Of course, you might not love it so much once they drop a few snacks and sippy cups on it."
"What do you know about sippy cups?"
"Adam isn't my only nephew." Tate pointed at the envelope Helen was holding. "What's that?"
"A picture of Angie. I'm going to make some flyers."
"She's still missing then, and the bank statements didn't help?"
Helen nodded. "Come inside with me while I print some flyers. I was wondering about something. How would a person get into the money laundering business?"
Tate brushed some sawdust off his jeans. "A person wouldn't. Not if she was my client."
"I'm talking hypothetically."
"Being a murder suspect isn't risky enough, so you decided to branch out and get involved with other types of crimes?"
"I've always been perfectly law-abiding, and it's enough of a habit that I'm not likely to switch to a life of crime now," Helen said. "Angie, on the other hand, may not have had the same qualms as I do. We know she's been lying to her husband. Not just about little things. She received seventy-five grand last year, and Ralph doesn't know how she got it. Money laundering came up as a possibility because she's got a paper trail from some company no one's ever heard of, and there's no sign of the actual cash in any of the Deckers' bank accounts."
Tate looked up into the treetops for a moment, and Helen thought he might refuse to answer, but then he nodded and made an "after you" gesture in the direction of the front walk. Helen slammed the heavy car door shut and headed for the front porch.
Tate fell in beside her. "Keep in mind that none of my clients were ever found guilty, and they denied doing anything wrong. Everything I know about money laundering is from the prosecution's claims. The allegations were pretty simple usually. They claimed my clients had made substantial profits from criminal activity, and then, instead of depositing the whole amount of cash into a bank all at once, they broke it into smaller pieces to avoid triggering the ten thousand dollar reporting threshold."
"That's it?" Helen said. "Their big criminal scheme was to divide their loot into several small bags instead of keeping it in a single big one?"
"Pretty much."
"I can't believe you charge me for this kind of advice," Helen said. "If Angie was laundering money, it would have had to be more sophisticated than what you described. There wasn't seventy-five thousand dollars' worth of unexplained deposits into any of the bank accounts I saw, and the
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