She turned her screen to show Elena the incorporation records. First one was registered in Delaware 8 months ago. Second one, 9 months. Third one, seven. No websites.
No employees on record. No physical office addresses that check out. She looked over her glasses. They're cashing checks for work that was never done. Mattie leaned toward the screen.
How much combined? Just under 2 million across 14 months. Olivia pulled up another document. But that's not the interesting part. The interesting part is where the money goes after it leaves those accounts.
She paused for effect, a habit Elena had learned to respect. I need another day to fully trace it, but the preliminary pattern points toward three individuals who all appear in Chicago City Planning Commission meeting records. Elena sat back in her chair. It was one thing to hear it from Lenora. It was another thing entirely to watch Olivia Sarsson pull it out of the financial records with her own hands.
Mattie was already on his laptop cross-referencing. I've got commission meeting logs going back 2 years. He said, "Three commissioners attended private dinners with HMG executives, logged in HMG's own expense reports under Client Entertainment. " He looked up. "They didn't even bother to hide it. " "Well, they didn't think they had to," Elena said. She picked up her phone and dialed Reverend Desmond Odinwald.
He answered on the third ring, his voice warm and careful in the way of a man accustomed to receiving calls that carried weight. Elena introduced herself. She told him she needed a meeting tomorrow morning, his church in person. She told him it was about Meridian Rising and the Southside neighborhoods. There was a pause on his end, not surprise exactly, something more like recognition.
I've been waiting for someone to call about that," he said quietly. "Come at 9:00. " Elena set the phone down. Olivia worked through the evening, pulling threads and flagging anomalies. Mattie built a timeline. Every commission meeting, every HMG dinner, every shell company payment laid out in chronological order on a shared document that grew longer with every hour.
The room service dishes went cold. Elena refilled her coffee twice and didn't taste either cup. Around 10:00, Mattie closed his laptop and stretched. "You should sleep. " Elena looked out the window at the Chicago skyline. All those lit windows, all those lives stacked on top of each other, spreading south toward neighborhoods that didn't know what was being planned for them.
Lenora said, "30 days," Elena said. "I know. That's not very long. Mattie was quiet for a moment. Then, you know, this just became something much bigger than Brad Harrington.
Elena wrapped both hands around her coffee mug. The city glittered outside, cold and indifferent and enormous. It always was, she said. He just helped me see it. The church was old in the best way.