Free Coming to Rosemont by Barbara Hinske

glass
tabletops antiseptic. It was no longer home. Any doubts about her move to
Rosemont evaporated.
    She spent the next hour going through the house,
making lists of things to pack. She would get boxes and bubble wrap the next
morning.
    Promptly at five o’clock, Maggie spread the bank
statements out on her dining room table and dialed Tonya. She answered on the second
ring. “Well?” she asked, skipping any polite small talk.
    Maggie launched into her conclusions. “The town’s
revenue has declined over the past two years and appears to have stabilized,
with an increasing trend for the last six months. That’s the good news,” she
said. “The main operating account appears to pay legitimate expenses, with the
exception of monthly transfers in large amounts—between ten and one
hundred thousand dollars each—to offshore accounts.”
    “First I’ve heard of that,” Tonya huffed. “There
can’t be any legitimate reason for that.”
    “I agree. We need to find out about those
accounts—their ownership—and where the money goes from there. We’ll
need Alex’s help with that. At least we have the account numbers and depository
institutions. We’re at a standstill until we get more information. But I
believe this confirms our suspicions that someone is embezzling.”
    “I can guess who,” Tonya insisted. “Wheeler and
Delgado, for sure. The council is probably all dirty. Except maybe Frank
Haynes. He’s an odd duck, to be sure. I don’t know if he’s in on it or not.
He’s been on the council for at least a decade, but he keeps to himself. Just
sits on the council, runs his fast-food franchises, and supports the no-kill
animal shelter. Anyone who loves animals that much can’t be all bad. Anyway,
I’m half-tempted to confront them all right now.”
    “No,” Maggie cautioned. “That would be very
foolish. We need more information. And this is definitely big-time criminal
activity. Could they be mob connected?”
    “There have been rumors of that for years,” Tonya
said. “You’re right. I need to keep a cool head for now and sit on this while
we keep digging. What did you see with respect to the pension account?”
    Maggie looked over her notes. “The deposits to
that account have decreased as the town’s revenue has decreased, but the
contributions have remained at the same percentage of revenue. So I don’t think
that the funding of the account is a problem. The treasurer’s report states
that the value of the assets in the account is way down. Most investments have
been hurt by the Recession, so it’s hard to tell whether the decline is due to
ordinary market risk or whether the investments made by the pension fund were
poor or inappropriate. And since we don’t know what the pension fund is
invested in, we can’t assess whether those investments are likely to recover as
the economy improves. Do you have an outside investment advisor for the pension
fund, and is the fund audited?”
    “I wish,” Tonya said angrily. “The investment
manager is Wheeler’s brother-in-law, Ron Delgado. I’ll bet that the pension
fund is ‘invested’ in the business interests of Wheeler, Delgado, the council,
and their cronies. This whole thing makes me furious. The town employees get an
annual report about the pension fund. I’ll get copies to you and Alex.”
    “Be very discreet,” Maggie warned. “We’re starting
to pull on a thread, and we don’t know what it will unravel. Someone’s been embezzling
for years and won’t look kindly on this investigation. One more thing may work
in our favor. If they’ve been doing this for years, they’ve probably gotten
sloppy in covering their tracks. Someone may have slipped up somewhere, and
that will help us find out what’s been going on.”
    “From your lips to God’s ears,” Tonya said. “And
you’re right. I’ll be careful.”
    “I’ll drop what I’m doing here to review anything
you can get hold of,” Maggie promised. “This is