The next morning, at the bullpen

 

Bobby: Sparky, how was the embassy party? (smile)

 

Jack: It was good. I met an old friend I haven’t seen in years. (megawatt smile)

 

Bobby: Sounds interesting. Is she an old girlfriend? (smile)

 

Jack: Why do you always assume it’s an old girlfriend of mine? I could have met one of my buddies from my college days. (megawatt smile)

 

Bobby: Sparky, you’re not a good liar. So what’s her name? (laughs)

 

Jack: Renee Becky Cabot. We met while I was in my third year of law school. That’s all I’m going to tell you. (megawatt smile)

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Tara: Guys, I need your help. A week ago, my cousin, Emma Duncan was fired from her job at MJR Consulting. Her car was vandalized and her tires were slashed. She called me this weekend and I went to pick her up. And last night Emma told me that she thinks her old company is “cooking the books”. She brought files to share with us. I think we may have a case against MJR. I’ll let her tell you the rest. She is waiting in the conference room with her four month old daughter, Jenny.

 

Conference room meeting

 

Jack: Emma, why don’t you tell us what you know about MJR Consulting?

  

Emma: Well, like I already told Tara, for five years I worked as an internal auditor at MJR Consulting.  A month ago, I found some discrepancies, the figures for the stockholder’s annual meeting was way off.  I told my boss, Greg Morgan about my findings. He told me not to worry; he would take care of it.  I believe that they are misrepresenting their profits to the public and hiding their losses “under the rug” so to speak. I don’t know how high “cooking the books” goes in the company. But I also heard about a silent partner of MJR Consulting.  Someone really big, I think you want to get him.

 

Jack: How big are we talking about? Do you have proof to back up what you are saying? (curious smile)

 

Emma: Alfonso Del Marco. I have back-up files on my laptop. And I printed copies of most of the files that I audited throughout the 5 years. That should be a good place to start.

 

Bobby: You’re telling us that Alfonso Del Marco, the Italian mobster is a silent partner in MJR Consulting.

 

Emma: Yes. He and Greg Morgan, CEO of MJR Consulting know each other.

 

D: This is corporate corruption. I really dislike these people.

 

Myles: Greed makes people do crazy underhanded things.

 

Jack: Well, if what you say is true, this would be a good opportunity to catch the elusive Alfonso Del Marco. Let’s quietly investigate what else MJR Consulting has been up to lately and see if we can’t bring more charges against them. Be smart, we don’t want to tip our hand and have Del Marco bolt before we can put an end to his reign of power. (smile)

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Tara: Emma and her four month old daughter, Jenny are staying with me at my townhouse.

 

Jack: Just to be on the safe side, I’m going to assign another agent to protect you while you stay with Tara. It never hurts to be too careful. (smile)

 

Emma: Now you’ve got me troubled. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.

 

Tara: You did the right thing, Emma. Jack is just covering all the bases. Right, Jack?

 

Jack: Exactly. Don’t worry. We will catch Alfonso Del Marco and his associates. It’s only a matter of when. (smile)

 

D: Does MJR Consulting have any other business entities that we should know about?

 

Emma: They have several partnerships throughout Europe.

 

Myles: The term off-shore untraceable accounts are how these bigwigs do business. We just have to dig deeper to connect the dots.

 

Jack: Lucy, get me phone records, cell-phone records, credit card records, bank statements, voicemail, email, the full dossier on Greg Morgan and all of his employees. I want to know everything about them.

 

Emma: It’s time for Jenny’s feeding.

 

Jack: I think that’s our cue to leave. We’ll be in the bullpen if you need us. (megawatt smile)

---

Sue: She sure is a cute baby. If you don’t mind me asking, where is her father?

 

Emma: Cody split when he found out I was pregnant. He didn’t want to be a father. But that’s all behind me now.

 

Sue: Good for you. I have to get back to work. I will see you two later.

 

Emma: Tara, you have really good friends here.

 

Tara: They are the best. We’re going to get you through this. I promise.

 

Mid-afternoon at the bullpen

 

Myles: We can say one thing about these guys, they know how to cover up loss revenues and make it look like it is all legitimate expenditure accounts. 

 

Lucy: It seems Greg Morgan is living a luxurious lifestyle. He owns several beach front properties, a ski lodge in Aspen, a yacht, and drives BMW to work, also has a Rolls Royce parked in his garage. And he is also building his mansion on a hill.

 

Bobby: I wonder if Greg Morgan finances his new mansion with his own money or uses the money from MJR Consulting.  Man, we are in the wrong business. (laughs)

 

Sue: Well, at least Emma told us where to start putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

 

Jack: I think I’ll pay a visit to MJR Consulting and talk to Greg Morgan myself. See what he has to say about Emma? Maybe if I get him rattled enough he will slip up and tell us something about Alfonso Del Marco that we don’t already know. (smile)

 

Myles: Speaking of Alfonso Del Marco, why would a mobster want to be friends with Greg Morgan?  I mean it’s unlikely that they run in the same social circles. So what’s the reason behind their sudden budding friendship?

 

D: That is the question of the day?

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