account that depleted this balance. Newman’s FBI payroll checks were
on direct deposit, she noted. And there were numerous checks written
to a stock brokerage firm. Reynolds found those records in another
file drawer and quickly determined that while Newman was far from
wealthy, he’d had a nice stock portfolio going, and the records showed
he religiously added to it. With the long bull market still steaming
along, his investments had grown considerably.
Except for the cash deposits, what she was looking at wasn’t really
that unusual. He had saved money and invested it well. He wasn’t
wealthy, but he was comfortable. Dividends from the investment account
were also deposited to the Newmans’ checking account, further muddling
the income picture. Simply put, it would be difficult to conclude that
there was anything suspicious about the agent’s finances unless one
really took a very close look. And unless one knew about the
safe-deposit box cash, the amount of money seemingly at issue just
didn’t warrant that level of scrutiny.
The confusing thing was the amount of cash she had seen in the
safe-deposit box. Why keep that much in the box where it was earning
no interest? What puzzled her almost as much as the cash was what she
wasn’t finding. When Anne came to check on her, she decided to ask her
directly.
“I’m not finding any mortgage or credit card payments recorded here.”
“We don’t have a mortgage. That is, we did, a thirty-year one, but Ken
made extra payments and finally paid it off early.”
“Good for him. When was that?”
“About three or four years ago, I think.”
“What about credit cards?”
“Ken didn’t believe in them. What we bought, we bought with cash.
Appliances, clothes, even cars. We never bought new, only used.”
“Well, that’s smart. Saves a ton in finance charges.”
“Like I said, Ken was really good with the money.”
“If I’d known how good, I would’ve had him help me.”
“Do you need to look at anything else?”
“One more thing, I’m afraid. Your tax returns for the last couple of
years, if you have them.”
The large amount of cash in the box made sense now to Reynolds. If
Newman paid cash for everything, then he would have no need to deposit
it in his checking account. Of course, for things like the mortgage,
the utilities and the phone bill, he needed to write a check, so he
would have to deposit cash to cover those checks. And this also meant
that for the money he didn’t deposit into his checking account there
was no record that he ever had the money in the box at all. Cash was
cash, after all. And that meant that the IRS would have no way of
knowing Newman ever had it either.
He wisely hadn’t changed his lifestyle. Same house, no fancy cars, and
he hadn’t gone on the insane shopping binges that had toppled so many
thieves. And with no mortgage or credit card payments, he had a lot of
free cash flow; on a cursory examination, this would seem to explain
the ability to make the regular stock investments. Someone would have
to really dig as Reynolds had to uncover the truth.
Anne found tax returns for the last six years in the metal filing
cabinet standing against one wall. These were as well organized as the
rest of the man’s financial records. A quick look at the returns for
the last three years confirmed Reynolds’s suspicions. The only income
listed was Newman’s FBI salary and some miscellaneous investment
interest and dividends and bank interest.
Reynolds put the files back and slipped on her coat. “Anne, I’m so
sorry I had to come and do all this in the middle of everything you’re
having to deal with.”
“I asked you for help, Brooke.”
Reynolds felt another stab of guilt. “Well, I don’t know how much help
I’ve been.”
Anne gripped her arm. “Now can you tell me what’s going on? Has Ken
done anything wrong?”
“All I can tell you right now is that I found some things I can’t
explain. I won’t lie to you, they are very troubling.”
Anne slowly took her hand away. “I guess you’ll have to report what