All I could do was nod. I looked at Bodie as the car drove away. He was already on the phone. I didn’t understand what just happened. I remember the guy saying something about theft. I’ve never stolen a thing in my life. I hoped they’d just gotten me mixed up with someone else because I hadn’t done anything wrong.
My current situation was surreal. I had just been walked into a police station in handcuffs and put in an interrogation room. I was officially scared, and a few tears were rolling down my cheeks. The female detective entered the room.
“Miss Webster, in case you don’t remember, I’m Detective Martinez. Let me take those cuffs off you.”
Like that was going to fix the situation. I rubbed my hands on my wrists when they came off. They were a lot heavier than they looked.
“Now, Miss Webster, I’m going to ask you some questions if that’s okay.”
As if I had a choice. I know Bodie said not to say anything but there was one question I had to ask. “Why am I here?”
“You’re here because you’ve been charged with a crime Miss Webster.”
“What crime? I didn’t do anything.”
“The State of California has charged you with grand theft and fraud pertaining to millions that have been stolen from Pagano Imports.”
My mind was reeling. Detective Martinez was talking but I didn’t hear a thing she said. The only thought running through my head was that Antonio Pagano did this to get me out of Anthony’s life.
****
Bodie
“Bodie, slow down, I can’t understand you,” dad said, on the other end of the phone.
I took a deep breath and tried again. “Karma was just arrested for grand theft and fraud. They were asking her questions about Pagano Imports. They took her away in handcuffs, dad. We need to help her.”
“Give me a minute son.” I heard him typing, then he was back on the phone. “It looks like she’s accused of stealing $5.2 million from Pagano Imports. Two weeks ago, there was an anonymous tip to the police hotline that led to an investigation.” He was quiet for a minute, I assumed he was reading. “Says here she’s been funnelling money into an offshore account for just over two months.”
“What can we do?” I asked. “I mean, like right now. I know she didn’t do this and she’s going to be scared.”
“I’ll send Bill to the station to represent her. He’ll be able to get us details on what’s happening on site.”
Bill was the main lawyer for West Security. He’d know what we’d need to do.
“Thanks, dad. What should I do? Should I go to the station or what?”
“No, I don’t think going there will help and you won’t be able to see her anyway. Do what you do best, Bodie. Put your skills to work. If you know she’s innocent, prove it. I’ll call you when I have more information. Bye son.”
I knew what dad meant and couldn’t say out loud on the phone. Hacking was my thing and I hoped I could put it to good use. Picking up Karma’s bag I went back to the dorm. Before I opened my laptop, I sent Major a quick text.
Me: Bring Kayleigh to our dorm as soon as you can
Major: What’s up?
Me: It’s about Karma. It’s important and I’m not texting it.
Major: K
Setting my phone down, I went straight to my computer. Hacking into Pagano Imports was exceptionally easy. That might have something to do with the fact that West Security had set up their entire system.
It took no time at all for me to see what dad was talking about. The money transfers were easy to find, too easy actually. Anyone who was capable of stealing millions of dollars like this was sure to cover their tracks better, so I started looking into transfers and purchases that were made in Karma’s name.
There were purchases for a ton of women’s clothing, all in her size, a ten-thousand-dollar necklace and then the trip to St. Lucia. Even the $5000 donation to the children’s charity was in her name and I knew for a fact that Anthony had paid for that. There were multiple money transfers made every day. Everything from $156.33 to $9,999.99, which just happened to be the maximum for moving money to keep the IRS off your back.
No two amounts were the same, which was the smart way to do it. After ten minutes of looking, I knew it was impossible for Karma to have done this. She wouldn’t be passing Computer Science without my help, so there was no way she would know how to hide money electronically.
The problem was, how did I prove it? Sure, I knew she was innocent, but the evidence was overwhelmingly against her. In my gut, I knew the key was the money transfers, I just didn’t know exactly what about them was going to help her.
“Bodie,” Major called from the main room.
“In here,” I said.
Major and Kayleigh appeared in my bedroom doorway. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“Karma was arrested this morning and taken to an SFPD station. They are accusing her of stealing millions from Anthony’s father’s company.”
“What?” Kayleigh asked in disbelief. “Tell me everything.”
So, I did, even what I found through my snooping.
“What can we do to help?” Major asked.
“I don’t know. Kayleigh, would she want her parents to know?”
“Yes, for sure. I’ll call them and then I need to go talk to her coach. We have a big meet tomorrow. I don’t want this to affect her scholarship.”
“You go talk to her coach. I’ll call her parents. I’m sure they’ll have lots of questions and I can answer most of them.”
“Okay, thank you.”
They left the dorm, and I took Karma’s phone out of her bag. I scrolled through until I saw her mom’s name and hit send.
“Karma honey, what a lovely surprise,” her mom said when she answered.
“Uh, Mrs. Webster, my name is Bodie West. I’m a friend of Karma’s.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Not really. Karma’s been arrested for something she didn’t do.” I told her what I knew. “Can you come out here? I think she’s going to need you.”
“Of course, of course. We’ll be there on the first flight out.”
“Thank you. Your tickets will be waiting at the airport when you get there,” I told her.
“Excuse me?”
“One less thing for you to worry about. I’ll text you the flight info in the next thirty minutes.”
“Oh, alright. Thank you. And thank you for calling, Bodie.”
“I didn’t want you getting a call from a detective or something like that. And I’m going to do everything I can to help Karma,” I said, and I meant it.
“We appreciate that. Goodbye, Bodie.”
“Bye.”
I hung up and immediately booked two flights from Tulsa to San Francisco. After I texted Mrs. Webster the information, I let Major know what was going on. Once that was done, I went back to my laptop. I wasn’t going to stop until I found a way to prove Karma was innocent.
Chapter 34
Karma
I sat in the interrogation room and waited. I had no idea how long I’d been here, but it seemed like hours. Detective Martinez asked me a series of questions about how I met Anthony and how well I knew him. She wanted to know about our relationship, but I said nothing.