Found Money - James Grippando [78]
“I don’t see how they would. If they don’t, we still have some time to decide what you should do about that. As the executor of your father’s estate, you have sixty days to file your sworn inventory with the court. That’s the form on which you would have to disclose the money.”
“But what do I tell them at this meeting you’re supposed to set up? We can’t put that off for sixty days.”
“The first meeting I was just planning on listening. I don’t even want you to be there.”
“I’ll be there,” he said firmly.
“As your lawyer, I don’t recommend it. It’s best if I go alone and find out what their focus is. Then we can regroup and decide whether you should talk to them.”
“Norm, I trust you like a brother. But I have to be there. I have to.”
He sighed, but he didn’t fight it. “If you go, you can’t say anything. Don’t roll your eyes, don’t scowl.”
“I can do that.”
“Good. We have to approach this meeting like a business negotiation, quid pro quo. It’s like I said before, my gut tells me that this thing is bigger than even your father knew. If that’s the case, I seriously doubt that you’re a target of the FBI’s investigation. But they’ll want to put pressure on you to name names, to help them find out who’s behind the money. And if they find out about the extortion, they’ll want to know everything about that, too.”
“The only person I can name is dead.”
Norm glanced away from the road, looking Ryan in the eye. “I knew your father. As far as I could tell, he wasn’t savvy or dishonest enough to orchestrate a five-million-dollar extortion scheme on his own. The FBI will want to know who he was working with.”
“Well, that puts us behind the eight ball. Because I have no other names to give them.”
“Names aren’t essential. Just give them something to go on. What about that woman who scammed you in Panama?”
“I have no idea who she was.”
“There must be something you could tell the FBI to help find her. I’m not saying we walk into the very first meeting and spill our guts. But if it gets to the point where we’re forced to negotiate for immunity for you or anyone else in your family, it’s essential that we have something to offer the government in return.”
Ryan reached down into his bag. “I may have something we can offer.”
“What’s that?”
Ryan folded away the plastic bubble wrap. “It’s the glass from the bar at the hotel. The one that woman was drinking from.”
“You told me you gave it to the bank officer at Banco del Istmo.”
“I wasn’t about to give up the only piece of evidence I had that could lead me to the person who had followed me. I gave him a glass from the hotel. I didn’t give him this glass.”
Norm was about to chew him out for having lied to his lawyer, but he was more intrigued than angry. “You think any of her fingerprints are actually left on it?”
“I did my best not to smudge it. I bought this bag and bubble wrap right at the hotel especially for it. I was hoping it might help me find that woman eventually. But if things go sour, as you say, maybe the FBI will be interested to see how good I am at preserving evidence.”
“Depending on where the investigation goes, the FBI could be very interested.” Norm looked closer and inspected the dried lipstick along the rim. “There might actually be enough dried saliva here for a DNA analysis.”
“I take it we now have something to negotiate with?”
“It’s a good start. We could always use more.”
“That’s pretty much it,” said Ryan.
Norm sensed something in Ryan’s voice. “You’re holding back, aren’t you?”
Ryan looked away. It was time to tell Norm about Amy. It only took a minute.
Norm pounded the steering wheel and drove angrily off the highway. The truck stopped in the parking lot to a motel. “Damn you,” he said harshly.
“What?”
“I’m fed up already. The glass was one thing. Hiding this Amy from me is another. You keep acting like you’re the know-it-all doctor and I’m the stupid patient. You tell me only what you think I need to know. That won’t work. I’m your lawyer. You’re my client. I need to know everything.”
“I’m not playing games with you, Norm. I just don’t want