Read Online The Orkney Scroll by Lyn Hamilton - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lyn Hamilton
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said.
“Either you could use a new security company or someone was hiding in the store when it closed.”
“You mean the alarm went off when they left?”
“Maybe. Let’s go home,” Rob said. “There’s nothing you can do now.”
“I’d better call Clive and warn him,” I said.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d cast your eyes over Wylie’s place later, let me know if you think anything’s missing,” Singh said. “Say ten o’clock, so I can go home and have a shower.
“Sure,” I said.
The sun was just coming up when we got home, so I made breakfast for Rob. It was the least I could do. I told him my thoughts on the writing cabinet. He was very nice about it, but I knew he thought it completely unlikely. He told me I should forget the whole business and just get on with my life.
“Does Blair’s arrest not look a little too pat to you?” I asked Rob. “I mean, Blair uses an axe in front of dozens of people, including the chief of police, and then uses the same axe on Trevor? Did he think no one would remember the axe business? He’s smarter than that.”
“You’re assuming it was premeditated,” Rob said. “Maybe he went to the store to get his money back, and Trevor refused to give it to him.”
“He went to the store with an axe?” I said.
“I guess that’s why he’s charged with murder,” he said. “Maybe he just intended to scare him, and Trevor was his usual cocky self.”
“Blair’s a lawyer,” I said. “He’s gotten some pretty sleazy people off.”
“You can say that again,” Rob said. “Some of them were guilty as sin.”
“Maybe one of these sleazy types had a grudge against him and framed him for it.”
“Or maybe one of the sleazy people did the job for him,” Rob replied. “Some of them at least must feel they owe him big time.”
“The police can’t find any record of a check or credit card transaction,” I said. “I mean they can’t even prove that Blair paid for the thing. There’s that business about Trevor owing eight hundred thousand dollars to his bookie, of course. I get the impression the police think Trevor rook cash and paid off the debt.”
“Eight hundred thousand in cash?” Rob said. “Then Blair has more problems than a murder charge.”
“Meaning what?”
“Nice law-abiding people like you and me don’t have that much cash around,” he said.
“But he’s very rich.”
“If he came into your store and offered you, say, a hundred grand for something, would you accept payment in cash?”
“No,” I said. “I know that significant sums of money like that have to be reported.”
“Exactly,” he said.
“But Trevor needed cash to pay his gambling debts. Maybe he gave Blair the deal of a lifetime, at least what would have qualified as that if the cabinet had been genuine Mackintosh. It’s worth a lot more than eight hundred thousand. Blair would think it was a really great deal and pay the cash.”
“Think this through, Lara. Honest people do not keep that kind of cash around. Have you ever thought how much space that kind of money takes up? Let’s say it’s in fifties, hundreds being hard to spend sometimes. So each bundle of one hundred bills is five thousand dollars. You’d need one hundred and sixty bundles of fifties. Four hundred if it’s in twenties, which most people want. You don’t just throw that in a shopping bag and take it to your favorite antique dealer, now do you? Good deal or not, Blair had money he shouldn’t have.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying he must have had a reason to have so much cash on hand, and it would tend to be an illegal one.” Rob should know, of course. Right at this moment he was running a restaurant. He knows nothing about the restaurant business. He does know about money laundering, however, and that was what he was doing, hoping, of course, to catch some bad guys doing it. He tells me he is making pots of money by laundering illicit cash, but that he still
“Either you could use a new security company or someone was hiding in the store when it closed.”
“You mean the alarm went off when they left?”
“Maybe. Let’s go home,” Rob said. “There’s nothing you can do now.”
“I’d better call Clive and warn him,” I said.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d cast your eyes over Wylie’s place later, let me know if you think anything’s missing,” Singh said. “Say ten o’clock, so I can go home and have a shower.
“Sure,” I said.
The sun was just coming up when we got home, so I made breakfast for Rob. It was the least I could do. I told him my thoughts on the writing cabinet. He was very nice about it, but I knew he thought it completely unlikely. He told me I should forget the whole business and just get on with my life.
“Does Blair’s arrest not look a little too pat to you?” I asked Rob. “I mean, Blair uses an axe in front of dozens of people, including the chief of police, and then uses the same axe on Trevor? Did he think no one would remember the axe business? He’s smarter than that.”
“You’re assuming it was premeditated,” Rob said. “Maybe he went to the store to get his money back, and Trevor refused to give it to him.”
“He went to the store with an axe?” I said.
“I guess that’s why he’s charged with murder,” he said. “Maybe he just intended to scare him, and Trevor was his usual cocky self.”
“Blair’s a lawyer,” I said. “He’s gotten some pretty sleazy people off.”
“You can say that again,” Rob said. “Some of them were guilty as sin.”
“Maybe one of these sleazy types had a grudge against him and framed him for it.”
“Or maybe one of the sleazy people did the job for him,” Rob replied. “Some of them at least must feel they owe him big time.”
“The police can’t find any record of a check or credit card transaction,” I said. “I mean they can’t even prove that Blair paid for the thing. There’s that business about Trevor owing eight hundred thousand dollars to his bookie, of course. I get the impression the police think Trevor rook cash and paid off the debt.”
“Eight hundred thousand in cash?” Rob said. “Then Blair has more problems than a murder charge.”
“Meaning what?”
“Nice law-abiding people like you and me don’t have that much cash around,” he said.
“But he’s very rich.”
“If he came into your store and offered you, say, a hundred grand for something, would you accept payment in cash?”
“No,” I said. “I know that significant sums of money like that have to be reported.”
“Exactly,” he said.
“But Trevor needed cash to pay his gambling debts. Maybe he gave Blair the deal of a lifetime, at least what would have qualified as that if the cabinet had been genuine Mackintosh. It’s worth a lot more than eight hundred thousand. Blair would think it was a really great deal and pay the cash.”
“Think this through, Lara. Honest people do not keep that kind of cash around. Have you ever thought how much space that kind of money takes up? Let’s say it’s in fifties, hundreds being hard to spend sometimes. So each bundle of one hundred bills is five thousand dollars. You’d need one hundred and sixty bundles of fifties. Four hundred if it’s in twenties, which most people want. You don’t just throw that in a shopping bag and take it to your favorite antique dealer, now do you? Good deal or not, Blair had money he shouldn’t have.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying he must have had a reason to have so much cash on hand, and it would tend to be an illegal one.” Rob should know, of course. Right at this moment he was running a restaurant. He knows nothing about the restaurant business. He does know about money laundering, however, and that was what he was doing, hoping, of course, to catch some bad guys doing it. He tells me he is making pots of money by laundering illicit cash, but that he still
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