Chapter 12

Wolvenkopft Manor House.

Stunned, I turn to the kitchen door, and a vision greeted my eyes as Andrea, dressed in a light white blouse, a medium length sky-blue skirt, and cream coloured high heel shoes, stood there. Her long blond hair swept back over her shoulders and was held in place and out of her face with a blue Alice-band. She looked stunning.

“Morning, Miss Louw, slept well?” Ash asked.

“Top of the morning to you Mister Windsor, and yes, I did sleep well, thank you.” she responded with a slight grin on her face.

“Sweetness, are you sure you want to go with us to Fish Hoek?” I asked.

“Sure. Why not? While you play with the applicants, I can meet and get to know the other employees,” she reasoned, and sidled up to me, snaking her arm around my waist. “I am the CEO, you know!” Giggle. And then she kissed me.

“Dusty, it seems like Miss Louw is not of mind to crush and destroy Quad Five, but to keep it and run it!” Ash remarked.

“It’s time I start to put my Economics 101 and 102 to practical use. I’ll put up a sign on Aldermann’s office door: ‘UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT,’ then change the setup. The things that work, stay working: those things that don’t work, go out the window, or door, depending on how you see it. Now, what must a girl do around here to get some coffee...”

“You are serious!” I exclaimed and wondered what had happened to the girl of last night; the scared and frightened one; the one who was about to give up.

“As serious as a heart attack! Andrea Elizabeth Louw is in town ... so, watch this space!”

I drew her tight against me and kissed her.

“Welcome back, my Powder-Puff Wonder-Woman! Let me fix you some coffee. I can’t let her majesty go thirsty!” I retorted, to which Ash smirked.

“Thank you, my Airfix model prince,” Andie teased back.

“Dusty, I must say, if she will run the show looking like that, I’ll come work for her...” Ash remarked.

Andrea turned to Ash.

“Thanks Ash. So, the cops did not get my laptop back?”

“No, but we will soon find it,” Ash replied.

“Well, it will be good to know who had it, not that it matters.”

“What doesn’t matter, getting your laptop back, or who had it?” I asked, then dropped some sugar and milk into Andrea’s coffee.

“Getting it back. I’m not living up to that dumb-blond stereotype. I have and use more than three brain cells. Ninety-nine percent of my notes and stuff are backed-up in the cloud!”

“Good girl! I’ll get you a monster of a laptop, this morning still.”

“Thanks, Dusty, but a Windows one. I don’t like OS-whatever. Besides, that bitten apple thingamajig portrays the image of a loose woman. Now, if only I can recall my cloud password...” she sighed.

Ash and I looked at her with horror on our faces. “You forgot your password!” I exclaimed. Ash just slumped onto a kitchen stool.

Andrea looked at us, crestfallen, and then burst out laughing. It sounded like bells ringing and echoing down a valley. “No, I do know the password. I just wanted to see the expressions on your faces, and it was priceless...”

Ash stared at her for a long time, slowly shaking his head, not saying a word. I chuckled. The old teasing, trick-playing Andrea is back.

“Well, it seems like little Miss Muffet here will get her spanking before I get mine...” Angie giggled from the door of the kitchen.

“You spank this lovely redhead woman?” I asked Ash, stunned.

“No! But she has been tendering for one for the last five or six years,” Ash countered. “See all these grey hairs on my head? It’s her doing.”

“Ouch!” Ash exclaimed as Angie playfully slapped him on the head. “See how she abuses me!”

“I believe my client was provoked, ye ‘onner. The defence pleads with you to be merciful and only use a little strap and not the ... cane.” I sighed.

The women burst out laughing.

“Now you take her side! Some friend you are...” Ash exclaimed, putting on an expression of hurt on his face, but failing miserably.

“It depends on the fee I’m paid...” I retorted.

During the morning, Erich phoned and relayed some info to me about the happenings at the office. Everything was under control, but the staff were upset about my “death.”

I recalled that only a handful of people knew that the newspaper article was a fake. I told Erich to keep it under wraps for just a few more hours until after my interviews with the two bogus directors.

Erich had his hands full, as some of the staff wanted to go light a candle in my office and place flowers in there. Erich told them that nobody was allowed into my office as the SAPS detectives needed to look for clues there. The incident could be linked to one of the cases I was working on. So, no go to the boss’s office. No candles and no flowers.

Simultaneously, TC got moving to Morningside Meadows with his crew to see to the departure of the security that was now on the farm, and then take over until other arrangements could be made.

What did surprise me was that TC had sent Boomer, Leah, and Bushy off to Greyton to retrieve my SUV and Andrea’s car. Andrea’s BMW was taken to the Newlands house, and my SUV was delivered to Wolvenkopft Manor by Mai-Loan. So, I now had two cars available, and it was good. I would use the SUV to transport myself, Andrea, Mai-Loan and Roxy to Fish Hoek.

Brigadier Joe Franks had not been idle, either. He had, besides leading the criminal investigation into the Louw murder case, assigned task-teams to both the bombing incident and the break-in to Andrea’s apartment.

They say, all roads lead to Rome ... In this case all fingers were starting to point in the direction of one Ludwig Aldermann, and misters Plaatjies and Julies. Not that Du Toit was without a rap sheet.

I was waiting on Andrea on the patio of Wolvenkopft Manor when Ash came up the steps and dropped himself into a patio chair.

“Right! Are you taking a laptop or a tablet with you to the interviews?”

“No. Why?”

“Joe just sent me a sheaf of notes on misters Julies and Plaatjies. I can print them out for you, but it is many sheets of A4 paper...”

“Okay, in that case, I’ll take a laptop.”

“Thanks for saving me the trouble! I have got one available for you with all the notes on it. Just use it,” and he handed me a laptop.

“I must first look at it before the interviews.”

“I think you better prepare yourself. There’s much information in it.”

“Did you scan through it?”

“Yes, I did.” he sighed. “But it will take me at least a day to go through it with attention.”

“Well, I’m no speed reader. Can you give me a little run-down?”

“There’s info on how the Funky Boys launder the funds through Quad Five. Also, some interesting facts about extortion and how it ties in with Quad Five; plus, the link between Aldermann and the main guy of the Funky Boys; and two guys at the Registrar of Deeds...” Ash elaborated. “Must I go on?”

“Anything on the murder and the so-called foreclosure on the farms?”

“Nothing specific, but some interesting stuff; like the contact details of some shady characters; some known hitmen and go-to men; phone records of calls made to the arrested guy before the hit on the Louw couple, and a call to the guy arrested yesterday for the break-in at Andrea’s apartment. All of it is circumstantial evidence that needs to be proven.”

“Hmm...”

“You are looking thoughtful, Mister Lawyer?”

“I’m thinking. If Andrea fires these guys outright, we lose a chance to keep a close eye on them. If we keep them on the board, they could cause more harm than good...”

“It’s a tough decision, but I say fire them.”

“If Andrea is serious about letting the company survive, I concur in firing them. If she wants to crush the company, then just leave them be and let your friend Franks sort them out.”

“Good call. But do you trust Andrea to make the right decision?”

“She’s been good so far ... and I will be advising her. If she wants to have the company survive, then I’ll advise her in that regard.”

“Just keep in mind that there might be silent financial partners available to Andrea. Ones who will invest into the company without taking an active part,” Ash dropped a bomb.

“Now who would that be? You and the foundation?”

“The Angels!”

“Those fashion models?”

“Those ‘fashion models’ have more liquidity than the two of us combined! They are each a multimillionaire in her own right.”

“By just working for the Foundation?”

“Not only the Foundation, but good offshore investments, local investments, and dividend payouts of shares held in a string of companies, local and offshore. Where do you think that C-100J Herc of Angels Express Logistics came from? Or who paid for the new Boeing 747-800F freighter that will shortly be delivered to them.”

“Wow! You could have slapped me down with a wet fish! The Angels have an air freight company?”

“No. It belongs to a twenty-two-year-old blond chick, but the Angels have shares in the company. Mai-Loan pays taxes in seven countries; Darya in five; Nadia in five; must I go on?”

“And they would invest in Quad Five, if Andrea decides to keep it going?”

“If YOU decide to keep it going ... It was your money that bought out Quad Five in the first place. Andrea is just playing an Oscar-winning role in this thriller...”

“Novel ... Don’t forget the romantic part.”

Chuckle. “Yeah, first time I see a guy so taken with a young waif that he spends a couple of millions just to see her smile...”

“I only paid out one point three million to buy the controlling interest in Q5 ... not a couple of millions, and if you look at it from the dollars point of view, it was only 73000 dollars ... Less than a hundred thousand.” I chuckled.

“And with your so-called press release, after you bought the shares, the share price soared by twelve percent! You made a profit!”

Chuckle.

“Devious devil you, but fear not! I saw it coming, and the Foundation bought some shares too!”

“Oh, is that the other five percent that happened after my transactions?”

“No comment, and don’t quote me on it in any press or media statement!” Ash chuckled.

“What Ash is trying to say, is that you are now his boss at Quad Five. Andrea is just the rubber stamp at the office and runs the show on your behalf!” Mai-Loan said from the side door of the manor house.

“Am not! I’ll still think of a way to let her have full control,” I countered.

“How? Like marrying her? Keeping it in the family?” Mai-Loan shot back. “And please go and find that poor girl something better to drive, other than that smoking pile of scrap. Leah said that she twice had to stop along the way at a service station and tell them to CHECK the petrol and FILL UP the oil!”

“Oh brother! She can use my Ford Ranger bakkie so long...” I sighed. “I’ll ask Erich to have it sent here.”

“Let me go see if the little rascal is ready to go fire her second volley in the battle of the titans...” Mai-Loan said.

I watched in amazement as Mai-Loan turned and walked back into the house, covered from head to toe with her Abaya dress and jihad scarf. Only her dark eyes were visible. Mai-Loan with the thick long silky raven black hair, hourglass figure and shapely legs was now transformed into the shapeless, fabric draped, form of Amirah Rahal, the Iraqi woman. All that beauty hidden under meters of cloth. Ridiculous!

Ash saw my reaction and chuckled. “You should see her as Chao-Xing, in her pleated short blue skirt, knee-length white stockings, black flat pumps and white blouse ... You should ask Joe Franks. For many years he believed she was a Chinese girl, until her true identity was revealed. Joe was so shocked he did not speak to her for weeks!”

“Was Joe in love with her?”

“No, he worked with her on a few assignments. Joe is happily married to a stunning English rose, a lady who is only rivalled by the real English Rose, the late Princess Diana, and I believe, somehow, far-off, related to the late Princess of Wales.”

“I did not know...” I said.

“Just like Charley, my predecessor, it’s my job to know. Princess Diana’s little brother, the 9^th Earl of Spencer, Charles Spencer, still maintains a property here in Constantia not far away from here. In fact, you could throw a stone over to his place.”

“You’re joking!”

“Am not. Google it. Diana visited here many times. Even after her divorce from old Charley-boy-someday-to-be-king, she used to come hide away here; something that the pony press never picked up on.” Ash continued.

“And you know the guy?”

“Well, no. The Earl does not live here anymore, but still owns the property. Grumpy Charley used to know him. I don’t know if the two ever tanned a steak together sometimes, but they knew each other.”

“Small world, and too many ‘Charley’s. It makes my head spin.” I commented.

Ash chuckled, then continued, “So, let me leave you to do your homework. There’s a lot in that file about how the Funky Boys and Aldermann went about laundering funds through Q5.” Then he got up, “Let me go see what that redhead is cooking up. With her you never know. And keep Nadia and Tracy away from Angie.”

“Why keep them apart and who is Tracy?”

“Don Lambert’s red-headed other wife. And the three of them redheads together ... mayhem, disaster and world domination!”

“His other wife?”

“Yes. Don has three wives!”

“I don’t want to know...”

Chuckle. “Ask Mai-Loan. She is one of his wives! Either number two or number three ... or is it number one ... Or maybe he goes by it alphabetically, BLA for Black hair, BLO for Blond hair, and R for red hair, then again if he goes by age...”

“ASH! Stop it! That’s too much information to digest right now!”

Chuckle. And he walked off into the manor house, throwing over his shoulder: “When you’re done, give that laptop to Miss Louw. It’s new, and I’ll just add the cost to your account!”

“Extortionist!” I shot back.

Ash disappeared into the shadows, his laughter fading away in the corridors of the manor house.

With Ash finally gone into the house in search of the love of his life, I got down to do some reading in preparation for my next case; sorry, my next interview. But yes, I treated the file as a case file, thereby analysing it and segmenting it into proper chunks of “evidence” to use as weapons of mass destruction, firing into the witness or accused and dissecting him like a surgeon with a scalpel dissects a cadaver on a slab.

It seems to me that there were four legs to this table: One, Ludwig Aldermann, two, Financial Director Bruce Du Toit. Three, Julies, and four would be Plaatjies.

It seems like Julies and Plaatjies were the source of the money laundering scam.

These scams or schemes work as follows:

One; Layering, the process of separating the money from the source by using anonymous shell companies, or call accounts with a string of banking institutions.

Two; Placement, the initial entry of illicit funds into Quad Five as a company.

Three; Integration, The return of the funds to the first “placer” as seemingly from a legitimate source. (Quad Five).

Julies and Plaatjies would bring in small amounts of cash from their various drug dealings and deposit them into a shell company that on scrutiny looks legit, and is operating as a trading entity. This shell company would then “rent” property through Quad Five, paying small amounts as a monthly instalment, or an outright annual payment. They would also purchase property and resell it through Quad Five.

With Julies and Plaatjies as directors, they would receive retainers and dividends, thus getting back their money, while Quad Five would retain a small percentage as commission. This is done by over invoicing and underpayment methods.