Page 88 of Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad World

“I’m afraid so.” Noah clasped his shoulder.

Sometimes, it was easy to forget just how young the triplets were and how relatively sheltered their lives had been in Scotland.

He turned to Rochelle. “If we take the money out of that account, it will piss off whoever’s paying for the women the Demons pick up. Could turn ugly for them.”

“Or they could join forces to find whoever took the money.” She frowned in thought. “Evan? Can we move the money out of there and into a Demon account before taking it from them?”

“Sure.”

Noah liked how she was thinking. “Make it look like the Demons stole it.” He nodded with approval.

There was motion behind them, and the two women walked back into the office space, followed by Harris.

Katrina was pale, but she smiled weakly at them. “Something must have disagreed with me,” she said, her head held high and a hand pressed to her stomach.

Annabelle fussed around her. “How about I make you a nice cup of tea to calm your digestion?”

“Thanks, that would be great.” Katrina sat back at her desk, keeping her gaze averted from her teammates.

“I’ll help,” Harris said when Noah gestured for him to follow. “We’ll make a new pot of coffee too.”

“Not you!” Rochelle’s head snapped around. “Annabelle, have mercy on my coffee addiction, and don’t let the Scot make it.”

With a grin, she shoved Harris out of the room. “I’ll make sure he sticks to tea.”

“There’s nothing wrong with how we make coffee,” Evan grumbled and was ignored by everyone.

“So,” Noah said to his boss, “we’re taking their money, then?”

Her jaw clenched as her eyes darkened. “All of it. Every last cent we can get our hands on.”

“Do we hand it over to the cops?” They were both aware that was standard procedure.

Katrina cleared her throat. “What happens to criminal profits when they’re confiscated by law enforcement?”

Noah pulled out a chair, glancing at the clock on the wall above Evan’s control center. It was getting late. Again. “Usually, it’s added to state funds or split between the departments involved in the investigation. Sometimes, you’ll see cars drive past with ‘bought by drug money’ written on their sides. That’s what it means.”

“So, it goes to the state?” She frowned.

“Mostly. They can dish it out as they see fit.”

“Does any of the money make its way to the victims?” she asked evenly.

“Sometimes they donate to charities that work with victims.”

There was silence for a moment as everyone contemplated that, and then, as though functioning as one, they turned to Rochelle.

She nodded as though she’d made a decision. “Abasi, are you able to set up an account for the money to go into? We don’twant the transfers to be traced to this account, and we don’t want anyone to find out who’s behind it.”

“With Evan’s help, sure, we can do that.”

“Even though we were able to trace the Demons’ accounts?” she asked him and Evan.

“They were good,” Evan said. “But we’ve learned from their mistakes. Plus, Abasi knows a trick or two of his own, right?” He gazed at the former mobster with awe in his eyes.

“One or two,” Abasi agreed.

Rodrigo swiveled his wheeled office chair. “I think I know who’s paying for…” He cast a glance at Katrina. “Who’s paying the Demons.”