Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            Croft nodded. “Daniel Park. He owns a chain of hotels, one here in Sacramento.”

            Daniel Park was fit and looked far younger than his seventy years. He wore a bespoke suit that had to have cost a few thousand dollars. He appeared bored and was looking at his phone.

            “How did you get him here?”

            “A guest filed an assault complaint against one of his employees at the hotel here in the city. It was a while back but has gone uninvestigated. We asked that he meet us to discuss it. I’ll make sure the actual complaint is followed up on. You okay? And your . . . friend, too?”

            “I’m fine. Do I wish she weren’t there? Of course. But she’s capable of taking care of herself, or Molina and Raeburn wouldn’t have put her in this role.”

            “Just checking. Mr. Park doesn’t have a license to do financial transactions, because of his prior record, but I found a few recommendations from satisfied customers online, so he appears to be operating without one. He served five years for insider trading and tax fraud at Terminal Island. He was there with Pastor, Waylon, and Edward McPhearson.”

            “I want to get his cell phone records.”

            “What do you expect to find?” Croft asked.

            “Pastor’s wife said that back in the day, he’d give Waylon a onetime access code and instructions for Mr. Park, telling him what stock to buy. Waylon would make the call when he drove into town for supplies. The code was ever-changing and derived from a cipher that Pastor had developed. He’s a numbers guy.”

            “You told us this in the debriefing yesterday evening. So why Park’s cell phone records?”

            “Because back when Waylon would contact Park, when Marcia was still in Eden, there were no cell phones. If Park is still doing business for Pastor—”

            “That’s a big ‘if,’ ” Croft interrupted.

            “Agreed,” Tom allowed. “However, we know that Pastor has a cell phone now, because Amos saw him talking on it before he escaped Eden. If Park is still doing Pastor’s bidding, I think Pastor would be making his own calls. Regardless, though, someone made two transfers from Eden’s offshore accounts to pay for Pastor’s care at Sunnyside.”

            “You’re right. If Park’s involved, he would have received the phone call sometime late Wednesday or early Thursday. But that’s not going to be enough for a warrant.”

            “I’m hoping we can goad him into giving us enough for one. We know where Pastor is right now. So does Park. We can tell Park we have Pastor in custody and he’s claiming that Park has been giving him financial advice without a license. That’s an issue with the SEC.”

            “Especially since he’s already served time. And if he has records of Pastor’s offshore activity, we can charge him with perpetrating fraud on his congregation and illegally profiting from the sale of drugs. It’s always the money, isn’t it?”

            “It’s an adage for a reason,” Tom said, “but I’m more interested in tracing his phone calls. If Pastor’s called him recently, it could be a way to pinpoint Eden’s current location.”

            “Even better. Okay, let’s do this.” She texted Raeburn to let him know they were getting started. “Raeburn’s going to witness,” she explained.

            “Before we go in there, have you got any updates on Kowalski or his wife and kids?”

            Croft sighed. “We found Angelina’s Jag. It was valeted at San Francisco airport. She boarded a flight to Paris last night—her, Tony, the two-year-old, and their dog. Big Rottweiler named Lucky. Paris police put a cruiser outside the town house she’s renting.”

            “But Kowalski didn’t join her?”

            “Nope. He’s still in the wind. Part of me is glad that she’s okay. Most of me thinks that she benefited financially from her husband’s crimes and should be punished.”

            “I may be a little biased on that front,” Tom admitted. “My father was a murderer, but my mom didn’t know. She just wanted to get out because he was beating her—and me. She tried to tell people about the abuse, but no one believed her. So maybe, once we’ve closed this case against DJ and Pastor, we find out what Angelina knew.”