Looking for Yesterday by Marcia Muller

Author:Marcia Muller [Muller, Marcia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9781455518029
Publisher: Grand Central
Published: 2012-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11

6:31 a.m.

Rain, slapping down on the deck above my bedroom. More god-awful January weather. I buried my head under my pillow, squeezed my eyes closed. Maybe if I concentrated really hard, I’d open them to a sunny April day.

Of course, I’d also have to close my ears, and I’d never figured out how to do that.

Well, I was awake now, no reason not to get on with the day’s business. I picked up the phone and called Hy in LA; he sounded alert, had probably been up for hours.

At the sound of his voice, I felt a lonely pang; I knew he was feeling it too, because his tone changed, became lower and more intimate.

“How you doing?” he asked.

“…Okay.”

“Just okay?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Tired. Disappointed that I’m not going to be able to make it home tonight.”

“No?” The lonely feeling intensified.

“No. I’ll probably have to— Well, anyway, what’ve you been doing?”

“I had some unpleasant reminders of my own mortality last night.”

“McCone, what happened?”

God, I shouldn’t have phrased it that way! It hadn’t been all that long since I’d been shot.

“Nothing important,” I said quickly. “I went clubbing with Derek.”

“Clubbing? You?”

“Because of this Warrick case.”

“And how did that lead to reminders of your mortality?”

“People in the clubs thought I was too old.”

A relieved silence. Then Hy laughed. “Well, face it, darlin’—we’re both a little old.”

“Thanks.”

“Whoops—this has gotten you grumpy.”

“I’m just grumpy in general lately.”

“Well, I’ll have to hurry up and get back there. Give you something to really feel grumpy about.”

I smiled at the teasing note in his voice. “Never.”

“Never?”

“Nope.”

A small silence filled the miles between us. Then I said, “I need to tap into your expertise.”

“I thought I sensed an agenda behind this call.”

“No agenda—I just missed you. But now that we’re talking—refresh my memory on the basics of money laundering.”

“What next?” His voice was amused. “Okay, money laundering. Conversion of ill-gotten gains to seemingly licit ones. There are five basic types: bank methods, smurfing, bulk cash smuggling, currency exchanges, and double-invoicing. Bank methods usually involve gaining a controlling interest in a financial institution and then moving the money through it. Smurfing is when cash is broken down into small amounts in order to avoid suspicion; bearer instruments, such as money orders, are used. Bulk cash smuggling: physically moving the cash to a bank in a country where secrecy requirements are greater than normal.”

“What I’m looking at is probably bulk cash smuggling, since the suspect has strong connections within the travel industry.”

“I’m assuming this cash is leaving, rather than entering, the US.”

“Right.”

“Our preventative laws have been in place since the mideighties. Cash withdrawals over ten thousand dollars have to be noted on a currency transaction report that identifies the person who made the withdrawal and the source of the money to the US Treasury. However, a person can make as many withdrawals as he or she wants under that amount from any number of financial institutions and not alert the feds. Or if the funds were received as cash and never deposited anywhere, the launderers just slip them into the old suitcase and go.

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