Nele Neuhaus - Swimming with Sharks

“Vitali again?” Connors said mildly. “You still haven’t given up on him, have you?”

“I’ve always been right, and you know it. I simply couldn’t prove anything.”

“And now you can?” Connors raised his eyebrows.

“Yes,” Nick said, nodding slowly, “I think so. However, this is really big. It’ll have major consequences, affecting many powerful men in the city.”

“You’re making me curious.”

“What would you say if I had a list of names of people who’ve been receiving bribes from Vitali for years?”

“Interesting. How credible is this…list?”

“They’re bank statements from numbered bank accounts on Grand Cayman,” Nick said. “It looks like a very sophisticated bribery system.”

“Written evidence of paid bribes?”

“I think it’s leverage against the people receiving the bribes. They’re not aware of it.”

“Now you really have my attention.” Connors leaned back, sharply eyeing Nick.

“Somebody came to me a few weeks ago. This person works at a major investment firm on Wall Street. She told me that she’d stumbled upon a large-scale fraud scheme and unwittingly got tangled up in it. I got curious when she mentioned Vitali. It appears that Vitali had a front organization through which he bought large blocks of shares based on information obtained from insiders. The profits from these transactions were paid to these secret accounts in cash. This firm seems to serve the sole purpose of generating dirty money to bribe high-ranking officials and politicians. It’s clearly evident where the money originated when you look at the deposits. Furthermore, I believe that Vitali has been laundering drug money through this front organization.”

“What kind of money are we talking about?”

“Upward of fifty thousand dollars a month, for a period of at least three years.”

“How reliable is this information?”

“I have the account statements.”

“Is the person who passed this information to you willing to testify in court?”

Nick shrugged his shoulders. “To be honest with you, I don’t know.”

“Can you give me some names on the list?”

“Lloyd,” Nick said as he stood up and looked at the deputy US attorney, “this is a life-threatening situation. The man who performed these transactions for Vitali was found dead today.”

“You’re talking about St. John at LMI.”

“Exactly. St. John bought a large amount of stock in a company represented by his firm in a takeover deal. As you know, the deal went bust. The company through which St. John bought this stock filed for bankruptcy today.”

“Manhattan Portfolio Management?” Connors looked at Nick in surprise.

“That’s right. MPM itself is owned by a partnership. Vitali and Levy, LMI’s president, are behind it.”

“No, no, you’re mistaken.” Connors shook his head. “I’ve read the reports. This St. John and his accomplice, the head of the M&A department, were the owners of the firm. They got into a fight or panicked, and then the woman killed him and escaped.”

“That’s the official version,” Nick objected, “but it’s not true.”

“How could that be? There’s evidence—and an arrest warrant.”

“Just a minute.” Nick walked over to his desk and took out the papers that Alex had given him.

“This,” Nick said as he handed Connors a sheet of paper, “is a computer printout from July sixth of this year. It comes from the Department of Commerce on the British Virgin Islands and clearly states the owners of the partnership SeaStarFriends. And this is a copy from the commercial registry stating that SeaStarFriends itself is the sole owner of MPM.”

Connors studied the two pieces of paper and shook his head again.

“You’re right,” he admitted, “that’s unbelievable.”

“Yes, it is. The names of the owners were amended electronically after Vitali and Levy were in danger of being exposed through this firm’s bankruptcy filing.”

“That would be something!”

“Indeed,” Nick confirmed. “It’s illegal for the president or a board member of an investment firm to own a brokerage company dealing in shares of the firm’s clients.”

“Correct. That’s a serious violation of securities law.”

Connors frowned and stared at the papers.

“Where did you get this?”

Nick took a deep breath.

“From the woman you suspect of being St. John’s murderer.”

“Alex Sontheim?” Connors asked in disbelief.

“Yes,” Nick replied. “She was afraid that Vitali had found out what she knew and went to discuss next steps with St. John. But she was too late—St. John was dead when she found him.”

“And you believe her story?” Connors raised his eyebrows. “Come on, Nick! Where’s your sense of reality? This woman embezzled fifty million dollars and is on the run! If she was innocent, she could turn herself in to the authorities.”

“No, she can’t,” Nick countered. “Vitali would kill her.”

Connors didn’t seem convinced.

“She called me today,” Nick said calmly. “I’ve heard many people lie before. She’s not lying. I believe her—without a doubt.”

“She called you?” Connors’s eyes widened. “Fifty US marshals, the police, and the FBI are tracking her down for murder, and you tell me with a straight face that you had a phone conversation with this woman?”

“For God’s sake, Lloyd, she didn’t do it!” Nick replied vehemently. “I know something is seriously fishy here, and my instincts have rarely failed me. De Lancie and Harding are contradicting each other when it comes to the evidence. And why would the police commissioner get personally involved in a homicide investigation? He didn’t even step in when Roddy Burillo, quarterback for the Giants, was killed—and that was a truly newsworthy case!”

“What are you insinuating?”

“Harding is Vitali’s man. Just like de Lancie and Governor Rhodes.”

“Come on, Nick! That’s ridiculous!”

“Absolutely not.” Nick handed the bank statements to the deputy US attorney. “Look at them closely and then tell me whether or not we have a case here.”

He crossed his arms. Connors’s face was first filled with astonishment, then with shock.

“For God’s sake,” Connors said, lowering the papers, “if all of this is true, then…then…”

“It’s true. Raymond Howard’s name is on the list. He was one of my closest employees for eight years. I often wondered why many of my secret plans were already known before they were officially made public. Howard was Vitali’s mole in my office.”

He paused for a moment and remembered Raymond Howard’s terror when Mary and Christopher got into the limousine. He had known that there was a bomb in the car. A bomb that was meant for Nick.

“It was Howard who informed Vitali about Zuckerman’s hideout. He was also the one who shared redevelopment plans for certain neighborhoods in the South Bronx. And as a result, Vitali purchased entire apartment blocks and sent his people there to intimidate the tenants. Vitali’s son was arrested during one of those raids.”

Connors stared at Nick with his mouth wide open.

“Alex Sontheim personally overheard the same man who shot at me at the cemetery in Brooklyn reporting Zuckerman’s murder to Vitali. Vitali had Zuckerman killed because he was afraid he would reveal to the grand jury how he secured the contract to build the World Financial Center. By the way, you can ask Paul McIntyre about this. He’s also on the list.”

“But de Lancie…”

“Do you remember the incidents at the Forty-First Precinct in the Bronx the night of Cesare Vitali’s arrest? Did you ever wonder why de Lancie personally showed up there?”