"Did he say anything on the trip here?" Charlie asks as she and the three detectives observe Brax through the window while he spoke to his lawyer.
"Only to reiterate it's all a load of shit," replies Robertson. He nods his head toward the woman next to Brax. "Do you know his lawyer?"
"Hayley something, I think. She's filled in once or twice for Sangster when Heath was in trouble and she has a pretty good success rate, as far as I know."
"Sangster's an expensive lawyer and not the sort I'd expect a restaurant owner in a small town to hire, especially considering Sangster's usual clientele."
"He's a family friend, at least that's what Brax claimed when he first used Sangster to get Heath off a drug dealing charge a few years back. So, how do you want to do this?"
"It'll just be the two of us in there with them and I want you to take the lead." Charlie looks at him in surprise. "I want to watch him for a bit, before I jump in," explains Robertson. "When we go in there, I think it best to start with the money laundering and fraud, then hit him with the rest and see if that won't persuade him to give up the arsonist."
"I just hope he does or we may never get that killer off the streets," mutters Charlie, as she steps into the interview room with Robertson.
"You've already caused me marriage problems with other allegations," Brax says the moment Charlie and Robertson entered. "So why don't we just hurry this up so I can get out of here and try to fix things with my wife?"
Charlie chose not to comment on his chances of that ever happening and despite his bravado, she thought she detected signs of nerves in him. She wondered if he'd realised by now that they had found his set of duplicate books but just in case he hadn't, she threw copies of some of the pages from the books in front of him and his lawyer as she took a seat opposite them while Robertson leant against the wall to the side of Brax. "Care to explain those?" she says. "In particularly the highlighted payments to a bank account in the city for someone who doesn't really exist?"
"Creative bookkeeping?" jokes Brax.
"Those books are enough to get you on money laundering and tax fraud, so why don't you make it easy on yourself and tell us who those payments were for?"
"I don't recognise the account."
"Try looking at it first."
Brax glances at it and shakes his head. "Nope, don't know it."
"You paid money into an account and you don't even know who it is for?" Charlie's tone showing her scepticism.
"I make a lot of payments for supplies for the restaurant and such and I don't know every single account off hand, which is why I need the book." He shrugs. "And I make those payments in good faith, so it's not my fault if one of them isn't who he said he was."
"Perhaps you should ask the owner of this account," suggests Hayley.
"As soon as we track through his aliases, we will," Charlie says, though she had doubts they'd ever find him that way. "Do you deny the money laundering and fraud charges?"
With the evidence in front of him, he saw no point in lying. "So I've been a bad boy with my accounting and taxes, no big deal, I'll pay the fines and that'll be it."
"You do know that defrauding the tax office is a serious offence and can carry a lengthy jail sentence?"
"I think they'll be quite happy to get their back taxes and money for any fines they'll impose, without the need to seek a custodial sentence."
Charlie had to admire his cockiness in the face of how things were going for him, though she wondered if he was using it to cover up his worry. "That's a lot of money, where do you plan to get it from?"
"I'll sell my restaurant if necessary."
"And where exactly did the extra money that you were laundering, come from in the first place?"
"Odd jobs."
"What sort of jobs?"
"You know, this and that," he says in an offhand manner.
"You're not helping yourself here Brax."
"I'm not here to do your job Charlie, that's yours to do."
"Would one of those odd jobs include lending money to people with exorbitant interest on the repayments?"
"I like to help people when they need it most." He grins. "And I am a businessman who likes to make a profit, so you can't blame me for adding interest onto the repayments and everyone is fully aware of the terms before entering into any agreement with me."
For the moment, Charlie didn't make mention of his threats and intimidation tactics, instead, she moved on to his other business. "In a previous interview, you denied any knowledge of CBJ Industries," Charlie starts off.
"That's right."
She slides an open manila folder across the table to Brax and his lawyer. "As you can see in these printouts, your name is most definitely linked to the company."
Brax shrugs without even glancing at the printouts. "So maybe my accountant invested in this company."
"And he didn't tell you?"
"I have a restaurant to run and I don't always have time for all the finer details of investments and things, that's why I hire others to deal with it and as long as they do their job, then I'm happy."
"If you look on page two, you will see that you're listed as the CEO," she says, noticing that Brax was finally looking at the pages before him and she could see it dawning on him how much they actually had on him. "And you're also listed on the board of directors which seems to consist largely of your old buddies, the River Boys and if you go to page ten, that appears to be your signature authorising a shipment and as you can see quite clearly, it has the CBJ Industries logo at the top of the page." She really did have to congratulate Aden's friend for finding that juicy little titbit amongst the maze of false trails. "Are you still going to deny knowledge of the company or are you just in the habit of not reading what you sign?"
Charlie waited while Hayley whispered something to her client.
"Ok, so you got me on a little more tax fraud but like I said before, it's no big deal."
"It's a very big deal Brax," Charlie says. "We have you on fraud, money laundering and also assault."
"And I'll pay my fines and with my previous unblemished record, I'll get a slap on the wrist for the assault," he says cockily. Knowing they had a witness other than Harvey for the assault, he didn't see the point in continuing to deny that either.
"Of course, once we add extortion to the list of charges, I assure you, it will be more than a case of paying fines and a slap on the wrist."
"This is getting ridiculous," Hayley interrupts. "You're just making up charges as you go along."
"CBJ Industries was a main supplier to Harvey Ryan's business," Charlie continues on as if Hayley hadn't spoken. "The company also owns a large share of his boats."
"CBJ supplies a lot of businesses and owns stock in quite a few others, but I fail to see how that is extortion."
"Mr Ryan fell behind in his boat repayments, then his business burnt down."
"Sounds like his business was going under, so he torched it for the insurance money," Brax answers easily.
"Well, the insurance wouldn't have covered his losses in the fire, but strangely enough, the insurance was enough to cover the repayments to your company."
"You're reaching here, Sergeant," warns Hayley.
"And I'm sure you're more than aware that Mr Ryan wasn't the only victim of an arson attack and while he hasn't been the most cooperative, the other arson victims have been." Charlie noticed the slight clenching of Brax's jaw. "In fact, they were very cooperative in providing us with detailed statements about the threats you and your mate Brodie made toward them." Charlie paused, letting her words sink in. "You told them to pay up or their businesses would go up in smoke."
"It's a figure of speech." Even to him, his words sounded hollow. "And I told you the last time, I don't know anything about the arsons."
"That was before your victims were more forthcoming. We now have the dates of the threats you made before the arsons, then dates for after when you threatened more serious consequences if they again failed to make the repayments."
"Look," Brax says with some heat. "I wasn't anywhere near those places when they went up, so you're not going to pin those fires on me."
"Oh, we don't think you lit the fires yourself."
"Then where are you going with this?" asks Hayley.
"We believe your client hired someone to set the fires for him."
"That's bullshit," snaps Brax.
"This account," Charlie points to the highlighted one again. "Does it belong to the man you paid to set the fires?"
"I'm not saying anything."
"The dates of the payments coincide with the fires, Brax."
"So?"
"So, we're going to charge you with murder and attempted murder, unless you're," she's interrupted by Brax's loud outburst.
"No fucking way!" he yells, leaping to his feet and leaning menacingly on the table. "I didn't kill anyone!"
"Sit down," Charlie says in a calm voice, unruffled by his menacing pose. "Now," she adds with more authority.
"Brax!" Hayley hisses at him.
Glaring at Charlie, Brax retakes his seat.
"Kim Hargrove was murdered because he was unfortunate enough to return to his place of work unexpectedly and the person who killed him, also assaulted me and left me for dead, so unless you cooperate, you will be going down alone for Mr Hargrove's murder and the attempted murder of a police officer."
"You can't prove any of that, it's all circumstantial evidence," argues Hayley.
"Put it all together with the charges that we can prove and what do you think a jury will see, Brax? A man who once led a gang of criminals, criminals who happen to be involved in a company you went to some lengths to hide your involvement with, a man who threatens hard working people who have fallen on bad times, a man who assaults people, a man who has laundered money and committed fraud ," she pauses. "And the dates of everything are just a little too coincidental, so tell me Brax, are you confident enough to let your fate rest in the hands of a jury of your peers?"
"You should be out there looking for the arsonist, he's the real killer, not me."
"You hired the arsonist, so his actions are as much on you as they are on him."
Brax's eyes dart to his lawyer who nods in confirmation.
"His name Brax," Charlie persists.
He sits back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest and says nothing.
"Who's your boss?" The change in direction momentarily threw Brax, before he recovered and burst out laughing.
"I work for no one," he says with some arrogance. "I'm a leader, not a follower."
"That's funny," Robertson finally speaks up, making Brax and Hayley jump as they'd forgotten he was standing off to the side. "Because these documents suggest you're more of a patsy for someone else, than any kind of leader."
Brax's mask of arrogance slipped, to be replaced by anger and if Charlie wasn't mistaken, fear. She didn't know if it was fear about them having found evidence of someone higher up or fear of that person, but it was definitely there, before the mask of arrogance slipped back into place.
"I'm nobody's patsy."
"Who is in charge Brax?" demands Charlie.
"I told you, I work for no one."
"Are you really willing to take the rap for all of this?" She sweeps her hand over the evidence on the table. "Does this person have something on you, is that why you're staying silent?"
"There is no one else."
"We have you on multiple charges Brax, but it's now up to you how long you want to spend in jail," she tries one last time.
Brax stares at some spot over her shoulder. "I'd like a word with my lawyer."
"Certainly." Charlie moves to the corner with Robertson while Brax and Hayley whisper furiously.
"I want a deal," Brax says a few minutes later.
"For what?"
"My client will give you the name he was given for the arsonist and tell you how to make contact with him, but only if you downgrade the murder charges."
Charlie looks to Robertson, who takes over. "I'll speak to the DPP, but you will still be looking at a manslaughter charge at a minimum."
"Fine," mutters Brax in defeat.
"We have your word Detective?"
"I can't guarantee anything until I've spoken with the DPP, but you have my word that your client's cooperation will be noted and if we apprehend the arsonist with the information your client provided, that will also go in his favour."
Hayley nods to Brax, who sighs. "His name is."