The Eighth Sister (Charles Jenkins #1)(110)

“No.”

“It’s not so black-and-white then, is it?”

Velasquez stood. “Objection, Your Honor, this is speculation. He said he doesn’t know the creed.”

“Overruled,” Harden said.

“It’s not so black-and-white, is it, Agent Daugherty?”

“Not to me it isn’t,” Daugherty said.





64



Following Daugherty, Velasquez called Randy Traeger, the former CFO of LSR&C. She established Traeger’s background, then proceeded to establish that LSR&C had been unable to make payments to CJ Security for approximately three months leading up to the end of 2017. She also established that Jenkins had told Traeger he’d exhausted his line of credit with the bank.

Sloane stood when Velasquez sat down. “You were the chief financial officer of LSR&C, in charge of all the money coming into and out of the company, weren’t you?”

“In a sense.”

Sloane was in no mood for half answers. “That was your job, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, in part.”

“So why wasn’t LSR&C paying CJ Security?”

“I asked Mitchell Goldstone that same question and—”

“All due respect,” Sloane said, cutting him off. “But I want to know from the chief financial officer why LSR&C could not make payment to CJ Security.”

“We just didn’t have the cash flow during those months.”

“And why was that?”

“I don’t know.”

“It was your job to know, wasn’t it?”

“Well, yes, but . . .”

“But you didn’t take steps to figure it out?”

“I tried.”

“You asked the chief operating officer. What else did you do?”

“I tried to determine what was happening to our profits.”

“And what was happening to LSR&C’s profits?”

“I couldn’t make a determination.”

“You didn’t know.”

“No.”

Sloane took Traeger through his educational and professional background, which was extensive, then asked, “And with all this education, even you couldn’t figure out where millions of dollars were going?”

“No.”

“Are you aware that your chief operating officer, Mitchell Goldstone, contends that LSR&C was a CIA-backed company through which the CIA funneled money to operatives all over the world?”

Velasquez stood. “Objection, Your Honor, violates the CIPA ruling.”

Harden considered this, then said, “Overruled.”

Sloane was not asking about the documents, but rather what Mitchell Goldstone had alleged, and hopefully would testify to. Harden, for one, seemed curious. So did several jurors. It remained a risk. Sloane could state the accusation and Goldstone would confirm it, but the government would paint Goldstone as a liar, and without the LSR&C documents, Sloane had nothing to back up the testimony.

“I didn’t know about that accusation until I read it in the paper.”

Sloane returned to the table and picked up the government’s complaint against LSR&C. “Charges were brought against you in the same case as Mr. Goldstone, weren’t they?”

“Yes.”

“You agreed to provide testimony against Mr. Goldstone in exchange for immunity, didn’t you?”

“That was the agreement my attorneys reached.”

“Don’t go blaming us attorneys,” Sloane said, which drew a smattering of laughter from the jury box. “You signed that agreement yourself, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

Sloane introduced the signed agreement. “You sold out Mitchell Goldstone to keep your own hide out of jail, didn’t you?”

Velasquez stood. “Objection, Your Honor. Counsel is badgering the witness.”

“Cross-examination,” Harden said. “I’ll allow it.”

“I agreed to provide testimony about what I knew and didn’t know,” Traeger said.

“And you found out you didn’t know a lot, didn’t you?”

“I don’t think that . . .” Traeger paused and looked to Jenkins. Then he said, “I guess that’s true. I didn’t.”

Sloane followed up with a question to draw the jurors’ attention to the CIA, the implication being that even the CFO of the company didn’t know what was going on. “Mr. Traeger, did you ever meet Carl Emerson?”

“No.”

“Did you at least know who he was?”

“No.”

“Did you know a Richard Peterson?”

“He was the CEO of TBT Investments.”

Bingo. The defense now had confirmation, without relying on the documents or on Goldstone’s testimony. “And TBT Investments was a subsidiary of what company?”

“LSR&C.”

“Your company,” Sloane said. “The company for which you were the CFO, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Did anyone ever tell you that Richard Peterson was actually Carl Emerson?”

“No.”

“Now, when the indictment was issued against LSR&C, Mr. Goldstone, you, and the other officers, did you try to reach Mr. Goldstone?”