says she never set up a new bank account, and then points the finger at this man Campbell because she heard him make a funny-sounding phone call a few years ago. Is that right?”
“Yeah, but you make it sound like . . .”
“Just for the sake of argument, what makes you so sure that Molly didn’t do it?”
“Well, other than the fact that she’s not the type of person who’d do something like this . . .”
“Unlike her father,” Emma said.
“. . . she doesn’t have half a million bucks.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, I don’t for sure. But she lives in this shitty little one-bedroom apartment and her father said she was saving up money to make a down payment on a house.”
“Or maybe she lives in a cheap apartment because she was saving her money to invest in the market on inside information.”
“Come on, Emma! Whose side are you on?”
“Doesn’t the half million bother you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, let’s say someone was trying to frame Molly. Would you blow five hundred grand on a frame? Don’t you think that’s excessive? Wouldn’t five thousand have worked just as well?”
This was the same conclusion DeMarco had come to earlier.
“I don’t think it was a frame, Emma. I think they may have been using Molly for cover. They— somebody —set up a new bank account in her name, deposited the half mil in the account, bought the stock, and planned to close the account after they’d transferred the profits back to themselves. If everything had gone right, they would have made a quarter million bucks and nobody would have been the wiser. But if things went bad, which they did, then Molly’s the one who ends up with her head on the block.”
DeMarco was about to tell Emma his other theory, that somebody was using Molly to get to her father, but before he could, she said, “What happens when Molly gets her monthly bank statement and suddenly discovers she’s half a million dollars richer?”
“With a lot of banks, you don’t get paper statements these days. You have to go online to look at account activity, and she wouldn’t go online to look at an account she didn’t know she had. And if they sent her e-mails, she wouldn’t see them because whoever did this set up an e-mail address she never used.”
“Do you know all this for a fact?”
“No, but it sounds logical— if you believe Molly’s innocent.”
“Humpf,” Emma said—and DeMarco didn’t know what that meant.
“How ’bout for now,” he said, “you assume she’s not a crook. What would you do next?”
Emma shrugged. “See if the SEC has anything on this guy Campbell, I guess. See if he’s really living large the way Molly says. And see if someone close to Campbell sold off a bunch of stock in this bottle company right after Molly heard him talking about it.”
“How the hell would I do that?” DeMarco whined. “I don’t have any way to find out if a guy dumped a bunch of stock. But if Neil was here . . .”
“Then let’s just assume that Campbell’s richer than he should be. Go accuse him of insider trading and see how he acts. Better yet, tell him Molly has given him up to the SEC, that she knows he’s guilty, and she’s going to trade his butt for a reduced sentence. Do that, and see if he runs to his partner.”
“What partner?”
“You said that the SEC has been watching Reston Tech for years. If Campbell was making money illegally off stock tips related to Reston’s research, I imagine the SEC would have nailed him by now, just the way they nailed Molly. So if he’s involved with some kind of insider trading scheme, he has to have an accomplice not connected with the company. All you have to do is find the accomplice. Now, where did I put my pruning shears?”
Emma found the shears. They had blades sharp enough to decapitate gophers. Emma opened and closed the jaws of the tool a couple of times as if she were warming up for an athletic event: full-contact
“Yeah, but you make it sound like . . .”
“Just for the sake of argument, what makes you so sure that Molly didn’t do it?”
“Well, other than the fact that she’s not the type of person who’d do something like this . . .”
“Unlike her father,” Emma said.
“. . . she doesn’t have half a million bucks.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, I don’t for sure. But she lives in this shitty little one-bedroom apartment and her father said she was saving up money to make a down payment on a house.”
“Or maybe she lives in a cheap apartment because she was saving her money to invest in the market on inside information.”
“Come on, Emma! Whose side are you on?”
“Doesn’t the half million bother you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, let’s say someone was trying to frame Molly. Would you blow five hundred grand on a frame? Don’t you think that’s excessive? Wouldn’t five thousand have worked just as well?”
This was the same conclusion DeMarco had come to earlier.
“I don’t think it was a frame, Emma. I think they may have been using Molly for cover. They— somebody —set up a new bank account in her name, deposited the half mil in the account, bought the stock, and planned to close the account after they’d transferred the profits back to themselves. If everything had gone right, they would have made a quarter million bucks and nobody would have been the wiser. But if things went bad, which they did, then Molly’s the one who ends up with her head on the block.”
DeMarco was about to tell Emma his other theory, that somebody was using Molly to get to her father, but before he could, she said, “What happens when Molly gets her monthly bank statement and suddenly discovers she’s half a million dollars richer?”
“With a lot of banks, you don’t get paper statements these days. You have to go online to look at account activity, and she wouldn’t go online to look at an account she didn’t know she had. And if they sent her e-mails, she wouldn’t see them because whoever did this set up an e-mail address she never used.”
“Do you know all this for a fact?”
“No, but it sounds logical— if you believe Molly’s innocent.”
“Humpf,” Emma said—and DeMarco didn’t know what that meant.
“How ’bout for now,” he said, “you assume she’s not a crook. What would you do next?”
Emma shrugged. “See if the SEC has anything on this guy Campbell, I guess. See if he’s really living large the way Molly says. And see if someone close to Campbell sold off a bunch of stock in this bottle company right after Molly heard him talking about it.”
“How the hell would I do that?” DeMarco whined. “I don’t have any way to find out if a guy dumped a bunch of stock. But if Neil was here . . .”
“Then let’s just assume that Campbell’s richer than he should be. Go accuse him of insider trading and see how he acts. Better yet, tell him Molly has given him up to the SEC, that she knows he’s guilty, and she’s going to trade his butt for a reduced sentence. Do that, and see if he runs to his partner.”
“What partner?”
“You said that the SEC has been watching Reston Tech for years. If Campbell was making money illegally off stock tips related to Reston’s research, I imagine the SEC would have nailed him by now, just the way they nailed Molly. So if he’s involved with some kind of insider trading scheme, he has to have an accomplice not connected with the company. All you have to do is find the accomplice. Now, where did I put my pruning shears?”
Emma found the shears. They had blades sharp enough to decapitate gophers. Emma opened and closed the jaws of the tool a couple of times as if she were warming up for an athletic event: full-contact
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