Read Online Secrets of the Guardian (Waldgrave Book 3) by A.L. Tyler - Free Book Online
Authors: A.L. Tyler
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this stuff with Devin matters—he barely remembers, and I’m the one who pieced it together anyway. So let’s leave Devin out of this one on the inquisition, okay? Rollin mentioned access to bank accounts. Several of them. So, I thought I’d check, and I have to wonder how long you’ve had your passwords in plain view of everyone who wanders into this office? Seriously, do you know how many people go around the house dusting and vacuuming and stuff during Council?”
Howard gave her a grave look. He turned his head slightly to the side, and his voice dropped to a low hum. “You can’t be serious. They wouldn’t dare…theft isn’t in their nature.”
Lena rolled her eyes as she sighed out heavily. “It’s in Rollin’s, and I think we know now that he’s been able to convince people to do worse.”
He came around to the other side of the desk and started pounding away on the keyboard. After several minutes, he looked down at Lena. “Nothing appears to be missing here. It was a good theory, Lena, but it’s not—“
“I have a feeling he was taking money out. Just a feeling. Check again, okay? Closer. He might not have accessed them for a while.” Lena got out of the chair so that Howard could sit and watched over his shoulder. All of the bank accounts were fine; the mutual funds, however, showed some mysterious behavior. Money had been transferred out at intervals from the accounts, as was typical, to various other accounts for use with paying bills and whatnot. But some of the money that was being transferred out was going to accounts that Howard did not recognize—never more than a few hundred dollars per transaction. With the heating, cooling, gas and electric, water, various travel arrangements, and every other bill incurred at Waldgrave, running so high because the house was so enormous and so many bills needed to be paid at irregular intervals, the sums going missing were paltry.
“I never would have noticed.” Howard mumbled as they stared at the screen. “It’s all set up to be automatic. And they’re investments—they’re supposed to fluctuate. It’s perfect. It would have taken me months to notice, if I ever did, that a little here and there wasn’t going towards the bills and expenses. Especially with the amounts of guests we have in and out of the house all the time…”
All in all, Rollin had taken nearly four thousand dollars out of just a handful of accounts, and that was only what they had found so far; it was an astonishing amount of money, but pocket change compared to the vast fortune the early Darays had made off of their advanced intuitive knowledge of the stock market. Four thousand was a lot, but not nearly enough. Putting up so many people in hotels, with that many guns and that much ammunition, would have to be much more than four thousand dollars.
Lena furrowed her brow, trying to pretend she didn’t already know where the other money had come from. “How would he get the rest?”
Howard was quick to answer her question. “He’s stealing from the other families, too. Wherever he had supporters with access. He’s skimming his funds off of so many accounts that no one has noticed. Or if they have, they probably just thought it was a bank error or petty theft and changed their passwords. We need to tell people, and orchestrate a mass password change or he’ll grab whatever he can before he loses access to the money. And we need to find a way to trace the accounts he’s putting money into.”
Howard got up out of his chair and gestured Lena to follow him. He took her up to Master Daray’s office on the third floor, where several Council Representatives had convened to discuss the next move in the war against Rollin. Howard made the announcement that Lena had uncovered how Rollin was supporting his efforts, and the new discussion of organized password and account reassignment started. Lena tried to keep a modest distance between herself and the limelight, but
Howard gave her a grave look. He turned his head slightly to the side, and his voice dropped to a low hum. “You can’t be serious. They wouldn’t dare…theft isn’t in their nature.”
Lena rolled her eyes as she sighed out heavily. “It’s in Rollin’s, and I think we know now that he’s been able to convince people to do worse.”
He came around to the other side of the desk and started pounding away on the keyboard. After several minutes, he looked down at Lena. “Nothing appears to be missing here. It was a good theory, Lena, but it’s not—“
“I have a feeling he was taking money out. Just a feeling. Check again, okay? Closer. He might not have accessed them for a while.” Lena got out of the chair so that Howard could sit and watched over his shoulder. All of the bank accounts were fine; the mutual funds, however, showed some mysterious behavior. Money had been transferred out at intervals from the accounts, as was typical, to various other accounts for use with paying bills and whatnot. But some of the money that was being transferred out was going to accounts that Howard did not recognize—never more than a few hundred dollars per transaction. With the heating, cooling, gas and electric, water, various travel arrangements, and every other bill incurred at Waldgrave, running so high because the house was so enormous and so many bills needed to be paid at irregular intervals, the sums going missing were paltry.
“I never would have noticed.” Howard mumbled as they stared at the screen. “It’s all set up to be automatic. And they’re investments—they’re supposed to fluctuate. It’s perfect. It would have taken me months to notice, if I ever did, that a little here and there wasn’t going towards the bills and expenses. Especially with the amounts of guests we have in and out of the house all the time…”
All in all, Rollin had taken nearly four thousand dollars out of just a handful of accounts, and that was only what they had found so far; it was an astonishing amount of money, but pocket change compared to the vast fortune the early Darays had made off of their advanced intuitive knowledge of the stock market. Four thousand was a lot, but not nearly enough. Putting up so many people in hotels, with that many guns and that much ammunition, would have to be much more than four thousand dollars.
Lena furrowed her brow, trying to pretend she didn’t already know where the other money had come from. “How would he get the rest?”
Howard was quick to answer her question. “He’s stealing from the other families, too. Wherever he had supporters with access. He’s skimming his funds off of so many accounts that no one has noticed. Or if they have, they probably just thought it was a bank error or petty theft and changed their passwords. We need to tell people, and orchestrate a mass password change or he’ll grab whatever he can before he loses access to the money. And we need to find a way to trace the accounts he’s putting money into.”
Howard got up out of his chair and gestured Lena to follow him. He took her up to Master Daray’s office on the third floor, where several Council Representatives had convened to discuss the next move in the war against Rollin. Howard made the announcement that Lena had uncovered how Rollin was supporting his efforts, and the new discussion of organized password and account reassignment started. Lena tried to keep a modest distance between herself and the limelight, but
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