The car drilled through a Florida downpour. Watanabe drove like a cop, which meant she held to a speed that bordered on reckless. She punched through turns and steered with one hand, even after the car twice slammed into troughs of rushing water. “I sure hope you know where we’re going.”
“This is right.” Wayne gripped the door handle and held Berkind’s computer wedged open between his knees. He tracked their progress on the laptop’s GPS linkup. Outside he could see nothing save the flash of falling rain in their headlights, slick streets, and the empty wetness of central Florida.
“What you were working on with the guy back there. The company’s property. What did you call it?”
“A land bank. Companies like Grey keep most of their capital in something other than cash. Cash doesn’t pay dividends, cash doesn’t build jobs or extend the company’s reach, and too much cash can attract the wrong kind of buyers. Grey is a developer. Their bank was real estate.”
“And this list you were working on there at the end?”
“Berkind did several things. My guess is, he convinced himself that none of them were totally illegal. But all of them were very wrong. He valued the land bank’s assets at the prices they were originally bought at. But Florida land values have skyrocketed. So if a buyer acquired the Grey Corporation at book value, they’d be looking at huge profits.”
Watanabe’s free hand reached for the coffee mug in the cup holder. “This is why I love working fraud.”
“It gets better. Berkind then took this list of undervalued assets and linked them with land that Cloister and Triton held through partnerships. He pushed them into other partnerships that would build more linkages.”
“These links are important?”
“The hardest asset for a developer to locate these days is prime waterfront property. The larger the site, the bigger the project. The bigger the project, the greater the profit. Not just total, but per square foot. It’s called economies of scale. The bigger the deal, the less it costs them to build each segment. Which is why Triton went after the property owned by the retirement community where I live. They are building a development just north of there. They wanted to expand, but the retirement community wasn’t selling. So they brought in a scam artist to drive the community into bankruptcy.”
Watanabe slipped the mug back into her cup holder. “We’re talking major buckaroos, right?”
“The developments would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.”
She glanced over. “I was totally out of line with you earlier.”
“That’s okay.”
“Is it true what Mehan said about you being Special Ops?”
“Yes. I did two tours in Afghanistan.”
“And here you are now, a CPA. Man, that’s a trip.”
Wayne rubbed his face. The numbers and the names behind his eyes jerked and danced. He had to be right about this. “I really appreciate your taking me out here.”
“Least I could do.”
“I might be totally wrong about this.”
“Hey. Won’t be the first time I’ve chased down a ghost. Or the last.”
“This is your turn up ahead. Highway 120.”
“I was watching you in there with the man. You’re good. I mean, this is obviously tough and you’re still holding it together. You handled Berkind like a pro.” She jammed them through a slewing left. “You ever thought of joining the force?”
Wayne stopped rubbing his face. “No.”
“Maybe you should. Your background, the accounting angle, that’s some combo. White collar is always on the lookout for fresh meat.”
Wayne studied her. “Thanks, Detective. I appreciate that.”
“The name is Karen.” She met his gaze for an instant. “The lady up ahead, she’s special to you, right?”
Wayne turned his eyes back to the night and felt his gut clench. “If she’s there at all.”