Stone Investigations (Stone Series Book 4) Bob Blanton (books to read this summer .TXT) đ
- Author: Bob Blanton
Book online «Stone Investigations (Stone Series Book 4) Bob Blanton (books to read this summer .TXT) đ». Author Bob Blanton
On Saturday, after Matthewâs martial arts classes and Emilyâsweekly tennis game at the country club they met up. They were able to meet atEmilyâs house since Alex was at Jasonâs going over lines before their play thatevening.
âI canât believe that they just ship the money via UPS.â
âItâs pretty brazen, but I figure itâs also pretty safe. Packaged up in the books, and labeled as books, who would wonder about thepackages.â
âAnd you still havenât figured out who picks the packagesup?â
âNot for sure. The packages look like the ones I saw Mr.Graham putting in his safe. But, the mail room is open for ten hours; itâstough to catch him in the act. Iâll try to narrow the time down next week bymonitoring the pickup slips in the mailbox.â
âYou know, since they use kids to do the handoffs, maybe hehas kids pick up the packages for him.â
âWhy, theyâd still have to give them to him?â
âBut that way he can avoid being seen in the mailroom.â
âOkay, and the thing about the kids makes sense. He couldhave them pick the packages up for him while heâs doing something else. Thatway nobody could testify that he went to the mailroom to get them. Iâll focusmy check-ins after school is out.â
âWhat else have we learned?â
Matthew bristled a little at the âwe,â but didnât make acomment. âIâve learned that Dante is almost out of pills. Heâs got to begetting a new shipment next week. He only has enough to last him through theweek, and unless theyâre being really tight on the timing of the delivery,heâll need to be getting them soon.â
âWell, they have been keeping everything else loose. Yousaid that each of the users is buying a two-week supply and that Emilio has hisusers spread out over two weeks. So half one week the other half the next.â
âRight, minimizes contact and self-selects for users thathave money.â
âSo other than the bag man being in Temecula, we donât knowanything else about where the money goes?â
âIâm going to check on Grahamâs calendars tonight. See if Ican figure out where he goes. It looks like he was out of town last weekend.â
âHave you studied up on money laundering?â
âNot that much. Youâre supposed to be researching hisbusiness background.â
âI am, but itâs not easy. Heâs been doing real estatedevelopment for the last four years. But thatâs hard to research. I did findan L.A. Times article that implied he wasnât the most honest real estate brokeror developer, but there were only a couple of transactions cited.â
âWell?â Matthew asked.
âI know, but youâre the computer genius. Iâm slow atsearching through online records. This would be much easier if you could loanme your portal so I could do the surveillance and you could do the searches.â
âWell, weâve tried that and it doesnât work.â
â â â
On Sunday, Emily talked Matthew into driving with her toMission Viejo to watch Briannaâs final in the tournament.
It was a great final; Brianna won the tournament by breakingMariamâs serve on the last game in the third set after having sets one and twosettled by tiebreakers.
âIâm so glad you came,â Brianna gushed as she gave Matthew ahug and a kiss. âCan you believe I won?â
âI never doubted it. So, whatâs your next tournament?â
âIâm hoping to get into the Phoenix Classic in November. Itâs a full week, starting on the 8th.
â â â
On Thursday of the following week, Matthew saw that Dantesuddenly had four new bags of pills. He searched the apartment, but couldnâtfind anything that was new. There wasnât any packaging material in the trashand Matthew wasnât about to search the dumpster behind the apartment building,even using his portal that was a nasty assignment.
By the end of the week, Matthew had confirmed that Graham wasgetting the money. Heâd caught him shredding books with the cut-out pages likeheâd seen Dante stuff the money into. He had a stack of packages that he laterran through the counting machine. Matthew watched as he made careful notes ona spreadsheet. He was surprised that he was simply adding a small number nextto the column with what Matthew suspected was the expected amount. The numbersvaried from minus 2 to plus one. Probably an error by the distributor incounting with the calipers.
â â â
Matthew got ready for the Halloween party. He was going as afairytale prince. Heâd tried his best to get Jessie to pick Peter Pan for hercostume so he could go as Captain Hook, but no amount of cajoling could get thesix-year-old to change her mind. Matthew finally gave up, realizing that allhe would accomplish was to make Jessica cry. And he didnât want to show up atthe party with a little girl who was shooting daggers at him every time she gota chance.
âOh, donât you look handsome,â Mrs. Brandt said as Matthewmade it downstairs. She was fitting the tiara on Jessicaâs head, trying tokeep her still. Jessica, of course, wanted to get a look at herself in themirror in the hallway, which was almost impossible anyway due to her height.
Matthew picked her up and held her in front of the mirror soshe could see the tiara. His mother made one more adjustment to it sinceJessica was being still and then pinned it into place.
âOkay, youâre ready. Letâs go,â Mrs. Brandt said.
âYeah!â
The party was at the Winthropsâ house. Last year after thekidnapping and recovery of Sonja Stevenson, the Winthrops had opted for a partythat would keep the kids from going out trick-or-treating. Theyâd divided thehouse into a small-kid upstairs party and a big-kid downstairs party. It hadbeen so successful that they had decided to do it every year.
âCall me if you need me to come and get Jessie,â Mrs. Brandtsaid.
âI will, but Iâm sure sheâs going to hold out until the end. Emily has promised to give us a ride home.â Matthew was nervous about theparty, not because of his prince costume but because of not knowing how heshould interact with Brianna. Were they still dating or casual friends; he hadno clue.
Jessica ran off into the house as soon as Mrs. Winthrop openedthe door. The upstairs had been converted into a not-so-haunted
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