Talia went inside and gave Juniper some food and water then went up to her room. She fell into her chair at the desk. Not only did Craig Rogers have the painting now, but Nicolai was suspicious and she wouldn't be getting any more calzones.
She really didn't want to think about it but physically, Nicolai fit the profile of the thief. His height, his size, the fact that he wore glasses, his reflexes and silent footsteps all fit the thief's profile and the fact that he was at the museum and Craig Rogers 'mistaking' his identity. But Nicolai couldn't be the thief. He was just so... so cute. She couldn't see him being a thief.
Of course, cuteness didn't mean much and as a detective she shouldn't rule out any suspects just because they were cute. She grudgingly added Nicolai's name to her suspect list.
Talia opened up her computer.
Ted Lawson: Please tell me you have something.
Jigsaw: Hey. I'm working as fast as I can here but there's a lot of stuff to sort through and I have other jobs.
Ted Lawson: Forget the thief for now. Craig Rogers already has the painting.
Jigsaw: That's great news. You know where it is. I can hook you up with someone who can retrieve it.
Ted Lawson: Tempting.
Jigsaw: It should be. This entire case could be over in hours.
Talia thought about that for a moment.
Ted Lawson: Give me the name and number. I'll think about it.
Jigsaw: No name or number. No real name at least. Just an email. He's expensive and refuses most of the jobs he gets but he's good and it couldn't hurt to try. He goes by the name Cypher online.
Ted Lawson: I've heard of him before. I didn't know he was in this area now. Wasn't his last job in France?
Jigsaw: The last job we know of.
Ted Lawson: I can hear you fangirling from here.
Jigsaw: Thieves are hot.
Ted Lawson: They're criminals.
Jigsaw: Bad boys. Misunderstood loners.
Ted Lawson: Psychopaths.
Jigsaw: Rule breakers.
Ted Lawson: Law breakers.
Jigsaw: Not much different that you or me.
Ted Lawson: We do this to catch criminals. Not for ourselves.
Jigsaw: So we're just going to ignore the little thing known as profit in our bank accounts.
Ted Lawson: ... You're point?
Jigsaw: Anyway, he's here now and he has the skills. I'm going to send you his email.
Jigsaw sent her the email. Talia stared at it for a while. She was a detective. Should she hire a thief? But she was also Phillip's friend and she didn't want him and his mother to lose the company. He was even doing extra classes in business and health to expand the company once he graduated and his grandpa had a habit of giving her anything she wanted. She couldn't let his legacy be stolen from him.
Ted Lawson: Send me some stuff. I'll help you sort through them.
Jigsaw: Not going to hire him?
Ted Lawson: I'm leaving him as a last resort. We still have a chance of pinning something else on Craig Rogers.
Jigsaw: I'll send you some emails. Videos would take too long to send.
She saw an attachment with a zipped folder. In it were screenshots of hundreds of emails. Before she started on them, there was something she needed to do. She took out her phone and clicked on a name.
"Hello?" Nicolai said.
"It's Talia."
"Oh. Um, why are you calling?"
She leaned back in her chair. "You don't want me to call?"
"Well, no. That's not what I meant," he said quickly.
She chuckled. "I know. I'm just messing with you. I'm actually called to apologize for my mother's behavior."
"You don't need to apologize. I wasn't surprised that she had a problem with it," he said. "I should have thought about that sooner."
"I did enjoy the burrito and the calzone."
"Yes. I could tell you did. It's a shame you can't eat anymore."
"I won't tell if you won't."
He laughed. It was a nice laugh. "Sorry Talia but I'd rather not get on the wrong side of your mother."
Talia gave a long hard sigh. "Fine. If you insist. That's probably a wise decision." She heard a horn in the background. "Are you still in town?" she asked.
"I'm at the park."
"You should head home before it get too dark."
"I'm walking out right now."
"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight Talia."
"Goodnight Nicolai."
She hung up. At least he wasn't hurt about the food thing. That was one less thing on her conscience.
She opened the emails and began slugging through them.
******
At around eight o'clock, her eyes started glazing over. Business emails were boring and surprisingly petty. In one Craig Rogers insulted some lady's bald dog and in another some guy insulted his car which then started a chain of increasingly petty emails between them. Talia had never seen messages like that and she was in high school.
Her phone rang. It was her dad. Right on schedule.
"Hi Dad," she said. She closed the laptop and rubbed her eyes. A quick break couldn't hurt.
"Talia, so what trouble did you get into today?"
"I did not get into any trouble."
"Really? Because your mother mentioned something about you going on a date with a boy today that gives you food in school, the same one you told me about yesterday, and that you have a date with a completely different boy tomorrow. Care to explain that?"
"Dad, are you really going to grill me from another continent?" Talia asked.
"Talia," he said warningly.
"They're my sugar daddies and I'm using them for money."
"Talia, we both know you're far too lazy to go through all that trouble for money. Ice-cream maybe, but not money."
Talia laughed. "You know me so well." She sighed. "It wasn't a date today. We met at the museum and decided to get some frozen yogurt afterwards. That's it. Mom even came as soon as we started eating."
"Are you sure that's all? You're mother is certain he likes you."
Talia groaned. "I like Bryce and he's the one I have a date with tomorrow."
"Bryce Dixon? Well, that's comforting. I have both his parents' numbers should anything happen."
"Dad."
"Stay in public places. I'm thirty-four and too young to have grandkids."
"Dad."
"And stay away from anything that has alcohol or looks like flour. It's not flour."
"Dad! It's just a date."
"That's what all the teens are saying these days."
She groaned. "Dad. We're just going to the mall. I'm not going to be getting pregnant or doing drugs in the arcade."
"Talia, trust me, that's where the drugs and dangerous stuff are. You don't know the things I've seen."
"Yeah. In movies. Come on Dad. Do you really expect me to believe that you would have even seen drugs in real life. Mom says you were the king of nerds in high school."
"Doesn't mean I didn't hear things in the library. That's where all the good gossip is."
"Since when?" Talia asked. Maybe she should spend more time in the library.
"Honey, it isn't you I don't trust. It's him. Make sure you keep Juniper with you at all times."
"You and Mom are smothering me."
"I didn't say you can't go on the date and neither did your mother, but you do have a curfew and no grandkids! Kill him if you must. Your mother will take care of the rest in court and I know a guy who will help with the other stuff."
Talia groaned. "Can we please change the subject?"
"I've made myself clear on this topic so yes. Something bothering you?" Dominic asked.
Where should she start with that question? The fact that Craig Rogers has the painting? The fact that Nicolai might be a thief? Her impending date? The last one was definitely out.
"If you were going to launder money, how would you do it?"
"I have no need to launder money. My business is completely legitimate."
"I'm not talking about you Dad."
"Is that what tomorrow's date is about? Is Bryce trying to launder money he got from selling drugs?"
"Okay, now you're just being ridiculous," Talia said. She could hear him laughing on the other end. "I know you don't have to launder money but if you had to, how would you do it?"
Dominic thought about it for a while. "It depends on if it's cash or not. If it's electronic money then Bitcoin or I'd start another business like used cars. If it's in cash then a casino or using smurfs to deposit small amounts into various bank accounts would work. The casino might be your best bet though. Casino chips are easy to carry and don't look as suspicious as briefcases full of money. Smurfs may steal the money they should be depositing. Why do you ask?"
"I was just curious. Money is a dangerous thing."
"It's not the money, it's the people. You just have to not be corrupted by it. Just remember money is a good slave..."
"... and a terrible master."
"There you go. As long as you remember that you'll be fine. Having a clear conscience is better than having lots of money."
Talia didn't say anything for a while.
"Something else bothering you?" Dominic asked.
"Not really."
Dominic yawned. "I'm falling asleep. I'll talk to you again tomorrow."
"When are you coming home?"
"Saturday night."
"Good. Then you can convince Mom of the magic of the calzone."
Dominic laughed. "I'll try. Sweet dreams."
"Goodnight Dad."
So figuring out how he laundered money required her to figure out how he got it and what form it was in. That was what she'd been trying to do all evening but instead all she'd been seeing is a grown man rudely describing a bald dog.
There was nothing in any of the emails that were saying anything that sounded illegal. Even when he was talking about drugs it was the legitimate kind for the Taylor's pharmaceutical company and health spas.
Talia sat up straight. Drug dealing didn't always mean illegal drugs, crimes didn't always mean murder and sometimes crimes weren't committed because of a need for money. What if he didn't commit a crime but helped someone else to do it? As far as Talia knew, helping a criminal commit a crime made the person guilty as well.
Ted Lawson: Jigsaw. What do you know about the Taylor's pharmaceutical company?
Jigsaw: It's growing but the majority of the money is in the health spas.
Ted Lawson: What about Rogers' Elemental company?
Jigsaw: Failing badly. I thought that was why he wants the Taylors' company so much.
Ted Lawson: Has Rogers' been spending any large amounts of money lately?
Jigsaw: Hold on. Let me check... No more than usual. He did give some of his employees a raise over the past six months.
Ted Lawson: Can you find out what they did with the money?
Jigsaw: They withdrew it, or at east most of it.
Ted Lawson: Any idea where the money calm from?
Jigsaw: What are you thinking?
Ted Lawson: Smurfs.
Jigsaw: Like the little blue people?
Ted Lawson: No. Like the people you give small amounts of money to so they can put it in different bank accounts. They keep a cut. It's a type of money laundering.
Jigsaw: You can't launder money if it's already clean.
Ted Lawson: Precisely. Now we just need to know where he got it.
Jigsaw: We're running out of time.
Ted Lawson: Suspicion, Jigsaw. That's all we need. Craig Rogers already has the painting. We're running out of time and evidence.
Jigsaw: Then hire the guy I told you. It's just the painting you need right? We might not find any evidence of a crime in time.
Talia didn't type anything for a moment.
Her bedroom door opened.
"Talia, go to sleep. It's getting late," her mother said.
Talia looked at the clock. It was quarter past ten. "In a few more minutes."
"Talia," Elaine said.
"Just a few more minutes."
"Five minutes then these lights go off."
Talia opened her email. Her fingers hesitated, then she wrote out her message.
Dear Cypher,
My name is Ted Lawson. I'm a private detective. The evidence I need is located in a painting that someone stole. I need you to steal it back. Time is of the essence so name your price.
Ted Lawson
The reply came almost immediately. It was just a link to a secure chatroom.
Cypher: I've heard about you before Detective. How can I be sure you won't try to have me arrested as well?
Ted Lawson: You can't but even detectives hire lesser criminals to take down bigger ones. You are more useful to me free than in prison.
Cypher: ...
Cypher: Give me more details, then I'll let you know if I accept the job or not.
It felt strange being on the other end of these kinds of messages. Was she actually about to hire a thief?
Ted Lawson: A man named Craig Rogers had a painting stolen from Richard Taylor's apartment. I believe there was evidence in it of a crime that was committed and that it caused his death. I need it to be recovered and delivered to me before Friday at 9AM or it will be useless for the job I've been hired to complete.
This time it took long for him to answer.
Cypher: How certain are you that this man has the painting and that the painting contains this information?
Ted Lawson: I saw him with it personally. As for the information contained in it, I can't be certain.
Cypher: Is it that you want the information or the painting or both?
Ted Lawson: Both would be ideal but the information is more important. Will you accept my job?
It took another few minutes before she received an answer.
Cypher: Job accepted. I will contact you with the drop location and the account number to wire the money tomorrow night. You will send the money first and then you will receive the information you require.
Cypher logged out.
Talia stared at the screen. Did she really just hire a thief?
She banged her head on the desk. She was going to regret this, wasn't she?