"Our vic's name is Haley Kreuss." Breanna clicked the remote, bringing up photos of Haley, including an engagement photo with her fiance. The team sat watching the screens quietly. Only Eliot moved, rubbing ointment on his wounds.
"And she is what to Daeville?" Parker grumbled.
"I'll get there. Thanks to your information, Harry and I were able to focus our search."
"And we were able to connect our vic to Mike Stowton. Haley and Mike were engaged, but shortly into planning the wedding, Mike fell ill, requiring an extensive surgery." Harry gestured as he spoke.
"Enter Daeville," Sophie inferred.
"Right. Mike's surgery was postponed after his insurance declined to authorize it," Breanna explained.
"And why would they do that?"
"Because of Daeville's scam. The insurer claimed the surgery had already been authorized previously and refused to authorize it again, citing fraud."
"Daeville faked the claim, pocketed the money, and then let the real claim go disputed."
"What happened to Mike?" Parker interrupted.
Harry swallowed. "Eventually the hospital admitted the error, but not before the damage was done. He ended up losing both legs and part of his digestive tract."
"And Daeville just moved on with the money." Parker glared at the screen.
"Mike ended up committing suicide by the month's end." Breanna added.
"That's a hell of a motivator," Eliot admitted.
"So we know why Haley dislikes Daeville, but what was she hoping to do here? We know there was nothing left to do legally, so why have the files, and what could she think Harry was able to do?" Sophie asked. Harry glanced up at the mention of his name, but continued to read through the stack of files in front of him.
Breanna clicked her remote again. Daeville's photo and various papers covered Haley's on the screen.
"Martin Daeville. After he escaped justice in court, took his haul out of the medical racket and into the investment realm. His current project is a hedge fund backing housing purchases. The fund buys up houses cheap and sells them to developers for a premium as the market squeezes."
"What is the scam?" Eliot furrowed his brow.
"There isn't one. Least not that we found yet. Other than removing housing and driving the prices well beyond the average person's reach, there is nothing criminal that we can determine in this scheme."
"Nope. A criminal like that isn't going to go straight just like that." Parker pursed her lips as she pushed back away from the island. "I'll go check his safe..."
"Parker, no," Sophie ordered. "We don't make a move until we know more."
"But breaking into his place will help us know more."
"It will also let him know we're after him. He could do more than spook."
"He knew Haley was after him, so I think he's already had the chance to cover up whatever he's doing," Breanna sighed.
"If he was able to cover it up that well, he wouldn't be trying to kill us." Eliot shook his finger between Parker and himself.
"True. We have to tread carefully on this one." Sophie laced her fingers, placing the index fingers against her lip.
Harry's face paled as he lifted a page from his stack.
"Uh, I think I found what Haley was trying to expose."
"What?" Parker appeared ready to shake the answer out of him.
"I don't think Daeville is the problem..." Harry sighed as he locked eyes with each of them.
"Who would it be if not him?"
"Someone much bigger, with a lot more to lose." Harry grabbed the remote from Breanna and pulled the relevant file up on the screen.
"What is that?" Sophie squinted at the jumble of numbers.
"It's a payoff ledger." Eliot read the numbers easily.
"The people in Daeville's scam?"
"Not the scam," Harry clarified. "The cover up."
"This is who he paid to get out of the charges?" Parker asked.
"He didn't get out of them though. The trial happened," Breanna noted.
"Because the payoffs were to beat the charges. Beating them let's him walk with the money. Dropping the charges would have left the door open to be recharged later," Eliot explained.
"So who did he pay to beat the charges? The judge?" Parker frowned.
"No." Harry clicked another button, opening two windows with bank accounts. "He paid off the head of the hospital..."
"So they wouldn't testify or sue him themselves," Eliot inferred.
"Yes, and the prosecutor – Jameson."
"Jameson? As in the guy who just announced his campaign to be governor?" Sophie nodded as the pieces began to fall into place.
"That sounds like something worth killing over," Parker sighed.
"So we leak this to the media..." Breanna began.
"No. It will cause a momentary stir, but we need to prove it for it to have a lasting impact," Harry disagreed.
"The file..." Breanna gestured at the screen.
"The file we don't know the origin of and have no legal justification for having."
"Harry's right. Jameson can sue and bury the story, and we end up in jail for stealing evidence." Sophie sighed.
"So what do we do?" Breanna frowned.
"If we can't use the evidence Haley collected, we'll just have to get our own."
Sophie pointed at the screen as she addressed Harry. "Assuming this is real, where do you suppose it was located?"
"It still has the server coding, so I'm going to venture Safer had it on his private account as insurance."
"Insurance?"
"In case something went wrong, he had a bargain chip."
"And how would Haley have accessed the information on the server?"
"The only one with access is Safer."
"Not even a partner?"
"No one. Private accounts have dedicated passwords and terminals. You would have to know his passwords and access his office computer. He wouldn't trust those words to anyone, not even a fellow partner."
"Well Safer isn't going to give this to Haley."
"Does Safer have a personal assistant? Not a receptionist, but an actual assistant?" Eliot asked.
"Yyyeeeesss, he does." Harry drew out the word as he considered Eliot's thought process. "But he wouldn't give them the passwords either."
"Not intentionally, but an assistant is constantly around, observing, learning."
"Anticipating." Eliot gave a nod to Harry's response.
"Ok." Sophie took a deep breath. "Eliot, Parker, you check Haley's place. See if anything useful is there. Breanna and I will check into Safer's assistant, while Harry keeps unwrapping this money trail."
"Um, do you think that's such a good idea? These guys already made an attempt on Eliot and Parker. Odds are they would be watching the place for Ashton or anyone else," Harry fretted.
"Exactly why I'm sending them. They are already known. Right now Breanna and I are the only ones Jameson or the goons don't know, so we're going to keep it that way."