“Brewer was spending a lot, but wasn’t bringing much in. He sold their house two weeks ago, but the transaction didn’t result in any kind of bank deposits, cash or otherwise.”

“He didn’t deposit anything in his or his wife’s accounts? Did he use the money to buy something else?”

Diesel shook his head. “I don’t see any record of a purchase. And his wife had no accounts in her own name. His name is on all of her accounts, and it appears he’s slowly been bleeding her dry for at least a year. She had her own account, one with a sizable balance, but that was more than a year ago. She added him to her account and now the balance is close to zero.”

Dani frowned. “If he didn’t deposit it or buy something, then he must have found somewhere to cash the check for the house sale. Maybe he got a cashier’s check at another bank.” She had the sinking feeling that she knew what had happened to the money. She’d seen it before, just not on this scale. “Maybe he used the money to pay someone off. Someone who doesn’t take checks.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

She pursed her lips. “Either drugs or gambling.”

He nodded. “What do you know about that?”

“My father—my biological father—gambled and drank. Couldn’t keep a job. That was why my mom had to move us in with Tammy and Jim. My father gambled away all of our money and then got himself killed in a bar fight. There was nothing left for us. No insurance, no nothing.”

At least Adrian had left her a little money to pay off his debts. He’d also left her HIV positive.

Diesel’s dark eyes softened in compassion. “I’m sorry,” he murmured, then turned to his computer screen. “I think you’re right about Brewer using the proceeds to pay off debts. The rate of his spending sure looks like he had some kind of addiction. The problem is, there’s no record of the house sale. Nothing saying how much he sold it for. If I knew that, I could look for notations on a debt of that size.”

“If there’s no record, then how do you know he sold it?”

“Because he transferred the deed to a shell corporation. I still haven’t dug through all the layers to see who bought it, and I’ve been at it for a while.”

She glanced at the clock on the wall. “You were sitting here for less than thirty minutes while I started dinner.”

“I started this afternoon in my office at the Ledger.” He frowned in clear irritation. “I can usually dig to the bottom of a shell much faster than this.”

“So whoever bought Brewer’s house is very smart, or has employed someone who is. That tells you something.”