Alex entered his house, checked in with his mother, and entered his room. He wanted some time to go through everything that Arianna had given him. His phone rang when he was in the bathroom, and he came out to find a missed call from his colleague, Brian.

“Hey, you called?” he asked. He balanced his phone under his ear as he fired his laptop.

“Yeah, I did. Look, I heard what happened with Derek. The smug ass has been going around threatening everyone who worked the case,” Brian said. Alex fumed. He hated being at the receiving end of everything.

“I think there’s something wrong about this whole thing, though,” Brian said. Alex’s ears perked up.

“Wrong? How do you figure?” Alex said. He turned around to look if anyone was watching and locked his door. The last thing he wanted was for his brother to walk into his room unannounced and hear the conversation.

“You know Sadie, the chick we hired to work with us on the case? She took some time off before this whole mess broke, and I didn’t connect the dots, but she hasn’t been back. The groundhog’s been working to clear your name, in secret of course, and we’ve been looking at surveillance tapes. She worked a lot longer than the rest of us, I mean coming in early and reading through files and everything, you know what I mean?” Brian’s volume lowered. Alex frowned. He didn’t think Sadie had anything to do with this. She was a young intern fresh from law school. Wasn’t she? The Groundhog was their code name for Mr. Schneider; he and Brian had developed that when they were interns. Alex was glad to know he hadn’t given up on him yet, even with the allegations.

Brian broke Alex’s line of thought with what he said next.

“There were a few moments she was suspiciously around the copier machine. We strictly controlled material that was printed. I printed things in my office and so did Derek; it's not possible for a random computer to fire a print for those documents. We’re talking to Buzz for more information on Sadie, but it’s a real lead.” Alex ran his fingers through his hair. He felt frustrated. How did he miss someone from his team spending more than the required hours on the case?

“How, man? How did we miss this? God, I feel so stupid stuck here. I should be there helping you guys out.” Alex was agitated.

“No, no, no. Don’t do that. You’ll compromise everything we’ve been working for. I want you to sit tight wherever you are, and Alex?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t reach out to Sadie. No matter what you do. Buzz is setting up surveillance for us and any wrong move could collapse this operation. We’re going to bring down whoever did this. Groundhog doesn’t want any moles to exist.” Brian coughed as he said this. His voice suddenly changed.

“And if you’ve got anything more to say, then I’ll see you in court. Goodbye, counsellor.” The line abruptly cut. Alex stared at the phone. Someone must be around. He sat on his bed, frustrated. Who would leak vital details of a money laundering case? And more so, why would they blame him?

This is going nowhere, he thought. He wondered what Buzz would uncover.

He grabbed a bite from the kitchen and sat looking up the companies that Arianna had given him. She said she was still finding documentation for these parties. He scanned the list again and something clawed at him. The name Ezee Securities stood out like a sore thumb. Something about that name made him pause and think. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this was related to the Moretti case somehow.

He opened his laptop and typed ‘Ezee Securities + Moretti’ and waited for the results to show up. He’d just bit into a wrap he picked up when the results came and shocked him. It was an old newspaper report titled,

Businessman Franco Moretti starts a financial venture, Ezee Securities.

He clicked open the link and read through. A few names from the article popped out at him. Ezee Securities was started with his brother, Marco Moretti, and they invested in high risk high return investments. There were a few investor testimonials. His blood chilled. Ezee Securities! That’s why the name sounded familiar. They were probing different ways for Marco Moretti to funnel his illegal earnings and this firm was supposed to be one of them. But a lack of evidence had them drop that outlet for evidence. He was sure they’d still have something on their file. His curiosity was piqued.

He dialed Brian.

“Yeah, Counsellor. Tell me.” Brian spoke in a lazy tone.

“Is this a cover for our calls?” Alex smiled.

“You got that right. You’ve got some nerve trying to call me so often. I’ve got a mind to report you for intimidation,” Brian barked.

Alex laughed. They’d developed different codes to talk to each other in their years of working together, and pretending to talk to opposing counsel was one way they could talk without anyone knowing who they were talking to. Given the circumstances in office, he was hardly surprised Brian was resorting to their old tactics.

“Okay, listen to me, Brian. Are you in your cabin and do you have someplace you can write something down?” he said urgently. If his hunch was correct, then Arianna and Sophie were knee deep in something they had no idea about. This was dangerous; the Moretti brothers were ruthless businessmen and suspected drug dealers as well. There was no telling how far they would go to get their way.

“Shoot,” Brian said. “I’ve got what you need.”

“Right, take this down. Ezee Securities was started by Franco Moretti and his brother, Marco, to invest in high risk high return investments. I found an obscure news report from a few years ago.”

“Wait a minute. Ezee, I know that name. Wasn’t it suspected to be a money laundering front for the Morettis? Where did you get this information?” Brian quizzed.

“Keep this quiet, but an acquaintance of mine is being pressured to sell her winery and land. She dug in further and found monthly payouts of $3,000 to Ezee Securities in the last five years.”

“Holy moly,” Brian said, sounding shocked.

“Yeah.” Alex sighed.

“Okay, I need to run this through Buzz. Give me whatever else you have on them as soon as possible. I’ll be in touch,” Brian said, disconnecting the call.

Alex couldn't believe it. Of all the people to have a link to the Morettis, it had to be Arianna? And if the link to the Morettis proved true, then there was dangerous work afoot. What was Mr. Belmonte involved in? Had he not realized how dangerous this would be when he entered into such an agreement?

He looked at other names in the list. There was a Tereza Travels who was paid $500 a month, a Wonderbus Consulting who also got $500, Wildfire Clothing pulling in $500, and the last was Birken Pharmacy, which was also paid $3,000 a month. At the face of it, they were normal businesses, but with one connection to the Morettis, Alex’s guards were up. Who knew what connection would come up after he dug in? He didn't want to scare Arianna before he got any confirmation. It could be a false lead. But his gut told him this lead was something worth pursuing.

He dialed Arianna.

“Hey, what's up?” she said.

“Were you able to find contracts for the parties? At the very least, some business details? Maybe bank details so I can dig in further?” he said, hoping she had something more to give him.

“Yeah, we've been digging. We managed to find a contract for Wildfire Clothing but it's just as vague as the earlier ones. I don't understand what we've got from them in return for what we pay them. And yes, I'll mail you the bank details for everything.”

“Yeah, I've got it, hang on, let me take a look at it.” He paused, not knowing what to say to her about this whole thing.

“Arianna,” he started, not knowing how to say what he wanted to.

“What's up, Alex? Did you find something? You don't sound alright.” she said, concerned.

Alex swallowed. “Just be careful. I’m thinking we should send them a legal notice asking about invoices and an agreement copy. Chances are we’ll get a positive reply, but it may uncover skeletons your father isn’t ready for. Just...be careful.”

There was a pause, as if she was thinking about what to say.

“I will. I’ll be careful. I know this is what I want to do. Whatever it is, I know all of us can face it together,” she answered.

“Alright then, I’ll draft a notice for you and we can send it out tomorrow.”

“Yes, that sounds great. Email it to me when you’re done and I’ll print and post them tomorrow. And, Alex, thank you so much. I really appreciate you doing this for me.”

“You’re welcome. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

Alex cut the call. Arianna had sent across bank details and correspondence addresses for the parties. He forwarded that email to Brian on his personal email address and sent him a text giving him a heads up. Buzz would analyze that information and hopefully be able to dig something up. Given how the Ezee Securities angle had turned up, he wanted to be doubly sure about every step he took. And from where he stood, smoking them out seemed the best way to understand what exactly was going on.

I hope this ends well for Arianna.

But inside, he hoped everything ended well for him too.