Family Money(55)

“Steal their money,” I interjected.

“Right. Joe said he had access to bank accounts through some paperwork that their client had unintentionally given them. He believed the only way to protect himself and hit back was to take what mattered most to them. Their money. But he couldn’t just take it. Joe knew he would need to completely disappear. And he’d need help making sure the money disappeared.”

“Ethan Tucker?”

Greta nodded, took a sip of her drink. “Joe and Ethan were best friends. Ethan was already a wiz in the financial field. I called Ethan and told him to get over to our apartment right away. He was as shocked as I was to see that Joe was still alive. Joe told him all that had happened and then asked for his help to wire the money around until no one could find it.”

“How much, Greta?”

“Just over fifty million dollars.”

I shook my head. I could hardly swallow that figure.

“Joe believed taking the money would not only give him leverage should they ever discover he wasn’t really dead, but it might also cripple their entire operation. He wanted me to help him vanish. Because I’d already done my internship with the CIA, I had met some people during my time in DC. We hung out at bars and drank a lot. One guy who constantly hit on me specialized in IDs and paperwork. Joe wanted me to reach out to him and see about getting him a new identity. Said we could pay the guy whatever he wanted to not ask any questions about it.”

“So you did it?”

“Yes. One of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life.”

“Why?”

“Because it meant Joe and I could no longer be together. He knew when the money went missing, they would come to Dallas and ask questions. They would be looking for people who were connected to Joe and his dad. Joe would have to immediately leave town and never come back—at least for a long time. I told him I wanted to go with him, wherever he went—I was his wife, after all—but he wouldn’t stand for it. He refused to let me change my own identity, walk away from my family in the dark of night, and put them through all of that pain and misery. He also wouldn’t let me give up my dream of the CIA to be on the run with him.”

It was hard to imagine what I was hearing. Joe had a good reason for stealing the money and changing his identity—to protect his own life.

“So the plan worked?” I asked her.

“Yes. Joe went to his office in the middle of the night and got the bank account info he needed. We spent a couple of days and got everything together. New IDs, paperwork, wiring instructions. The next day, Joe wired the full fifty million dollars out of his client’s accounts, and Ethan began moving it and hiding it. I cried my eyes out when Joe got in the cab and drove away. He didn’t even want me to know where he was going. At least, not yet. He wanted to protect me.”

“But you sent the letter to Joe in Vancouver only a few weeks after he left?”

“I did. But it was in response to a postcard he sent to me. After he left, I moved to DC right away. A postcard showed up in my mailbox one day. Joe told me he had settled in Canada and was starting over.”

“Did you continue to correspond?”

She shook her head. “No. He never responded to my letter. I didn’t reconnect with him again until many years later, after the dust had settled. Joe had already gotten married again and had a child.”

“Did anyone come looking for you in DC?”

“Yes. A couple of guys followed me around for a few weeks. I could tell they’d been inside my apartment. One tried to pose as an insurance agent wanting to ask me questions about my dead husband. But they were careful with me because I was with the CIA. They eventually left town. I never heard from anyone again.”

“What about Ethan?”

“He transferred to his firm’s London office right away. As a precaution, I didn’t even call him for several months. But when I did finally talk to him, he said nobody ever came around to ask any questions. He felt good about covering his tracks.”

“Did you guys stay in touch over the years?”

“Here and there. We all went on with our lives. But we touched base maybe once a year or so. I was surprised when Joe moved back to Texas. I thought it was risky. But he told me about his wife’s mother getting sick and how she wanted to be close to take care of her. You know, Joe never touched the fifty million dollars. He just left it alone in various hidden accounts for over thirty years. Not until he pulled from it to help you start your company.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. He said he just couldn’t handle the sad look in his daughter’s eyes every time you left for the airport for another business trip.”

That revelation took me off guard. Joe had never used the money for himself. He’d only touched it when Taylor and I were in need.

I moved the conversation forward. “So why did the three of you gather in DC two weeks ago?”

“Joe unexpectedly reached out to Ethan and me. And he wanted to talk only in person. So we all agreed to meet. Joe told us he’d run into a businessman from Mexico at a governor’s gala back in Austin who looked vaguely familiar. Then he realized the man was the son of their former client from thirty-five years ago. Joe said he remembered that the guy had actually been inside the office with them the day that he and his father had tried to break off their legal relationship and received the death threats.”