alexisjane

Chapter Twenty-Two

The sun was setting, casting a slow warm light through the room, as the four men finally settled around the table. Jeff and Chris watched with amusement as Jensen helped Jared with his crutches, despite Jared insisting he didn't need any help, hissing, "Jen, will you stop fussing and just sit the fuck down!"

Jared was practically vibrating with excitement. Jensen had forced him to get a couple of hours sleep but he'd spent the rest of the day going back over the information he had taken from the company's computers. He had even printed out a sort of professional looking report, with charts and breakdowns and pages of data, for each person around the table. Jensen finally took his seat and waited for Jared to begin.

Jared tried to compose himself but still sounded like a kid on Christmas morning when he took a deep breath and started, "Okay. So as you can see from the notes in front of you, we're dealing with a scam."

Jeff huffed out a laugh. "Jay, I've looked through this and I'm sorry, but this is just gobbledygook to me."

Jensen smiled at Jared's frustration, and said gently, "Words of two syllables or less, okay?" They'd had this conversation already. It wasn't much of a conversation, mostly Jared word-vomiting technical sounding terms at him, and Jensen saying, over and over, "I have no idea what you're saying, Jay. Use smaller words."

Jared sighed again. "Right. It's a scam. Quite a good one. Or it seems to be working at least." He caught the way Jensen was scowling at him and cleared his throat. "In the most basic terms, what they've managed to do is set up a system where someone makes a claim on their insurance, the claimant receives notice that their claim has been denied or partially paid, but the company computer gets told to pay out in full. Except the money goes to an off shore account instead of the claimant." He looks at the faces around the table, expecting...something but was met with blank stares. "It's like having two sets of books, but much more complicated."

Chris nodded. "How long does it go back?"

Jared shrugged. "I'm not sure. We're not talking years, though. If you think about it, it only takes one person to query the company about their claim and get taken seriously, and it's all over. They seem to be focusing on smaller stuff, claims that seem likely to be rejected anyway, that aren't life threatening."

Chris nodded again. "So how much are we talking?"

Jared leant back in his chair and ran his hands through his hair, sighing noisily. "I mean, I'm not sure. You need a forensic accountant to really pick this stuff apart. But we're talking...twenty million?"

Jeff whistled in surprise, as Chris blurted out, "Twenty million?!"

Jared nodded. "At least. I can't be sure. It's not like they're really covering their tracks here, but if you're not actively looking for it, you can't see it. I'm guessing they're hoping to amass an amount fairly quickly and then shut it down before anyone starts looking. Move on. But the numbers involved, once you start adding them all up...it's a lot."

"But someone must have suspected something." Everyone turned to look at Jeff. He unfolded his hands and smiled. "If these guys are operating a fraud, and a dirty cop from the fraud squad is involved, stands to reason someone must have suspected something."

Chris shook his head. "I asked Brock about it when you got the two names. He can't find any record of a report."

"Either way," Jensen cut in, "it makes sense that Pellegrino caught wind of what they were doing and made them cut him in."

"But now we have them, right?" Jared's face was full of excitement and expectation. "I mean, now we have this, you can arrest them, make them turn him in, right?"

Jensen suddenly realized why Jared had been so excited about his discovery. He'd thought that it was because Jared seemed to love solving the puzzle, finding the impossible. It was too easy to forget that Jared was still fighting for his life. That the guy that tortured him and tried to kill him, could be just outside the apartment door as far as he was concerned.

The room was horribly silent for a moment, until Chris said angrily, "No. No, right now the only two people I'd have any authorization to arrest are you two idiots." He pointed his finger between Jared and Jensen. Jensen had to put his hand over his mouth so Chris wouldn't see his smile. It wasn't funny, he knew it, but Chris losing his temper always seemed so amusing to him. "What the hell were you thinking? Nothing you've found is admissible. I can't even officially acknowledge I know any of this stuff. And that's not even considering you making me and Jeff accessories after the fact!"

Jeff raised his hands and sat back away from the table, clearly not comfortable with being dragged into Chris's tirade.

Jensen leaned forward, waving a hand in Chris's face. "Okay, okay, we get it. But what choice did we have? There was no probable cause for you to get a warrant and even if you had tried, chances are they would have got wind of it and split, taking all the evidence with them. At least this way, we have an idea of what we're dealing with. So just..." He took a breath and glanced over at Jared's terrified face. "Just chill."

Chris stared at him blankly. "Chill?" The pause made the hairs on the back of Jensen's neck stand up. "What are you? Seven? What grown man says 'chill'?"

Jeff laughed and the tense atmosphere evaporated. "Could have been worse. At least he didn't call you Dude."

Jensen looked between the two of them chuckling at him and felt his cheeks flush. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." He looked over at Jared. He was smiling gently but Jensen could see the disappointment under it. Without thinking, he reached under the table and took hold of Jared's hand. He squeezed, hoping to be reassuring and was surprised when Jared squeezed back and nodded his appreciation. Jensen smiled and took his hand back, asking a little too loudly. "Okay. Who wants a beer?"

Three hands shot up, so he headed obediently for the kitchen.

Jeff sighed and stretched his legs out under the table. "So. We're going to have to come at this from another angle. Any suggestions?" All four men looked at each other as Jensen placed four bottles between them. There was some mumbling and shrugging, until Jared practically whispered, "The club."

Jensen looked over at him. "What about it?"

Jared shifted nervously in his seat. "They met there. Adrianne said they were there and they got kicked out because they were arguing, so something must have happened. Plus I...I worked there. I...I don't know."

Jensen took a swig from his bottle and turned to look at Chris. The lightbulb seemed to turn on over both their heads at the same time, as they said in unison, "Security tapes!"

Jared looked at them in confusion, so Jensen explained. "If Adrianne is right, and whatever happened to make them come after you happened at the club, then maybe there might be some indication of it on the security footage. Maybe they talked to someone or maybe we can figure out what they were arguing about. It's a long shot."

"Yeah, well, I'll take any shot I can get right now," Chris mumbled, "Although there is a major flaw in this plan." Everyone but Jared nods. He looked to Jensen again, with a questioning look on his face.

Jensen shrugged. "We need a warrant. Chris isn't technically working on the case, and even if he was there's no evidence we can bring to a judge to get one." He sighed and wiped the flat of his hand across his mouth. "So, we're back to where we started."

It was only quiet for a moment before Jeff bent forward to lean on the table. "Maybe not." He had everyone's attention immediately. "We can't ask for the tapes but what if they were to give them to us?"

Chris smirked at him. "Really? And why in the hell would they do that?"

Jeff shrugged. "Well, they might not hand them over to us ugly old folk, but I have an idea there's a leggy blonde who might just be able to wrap them around her finger without too much problem."

Masterpost / Chapter Twenty-Three >>>>>