Later That Morning

Dan arrived at school at his usual early time. But when he entered the building he spotted Rica by the main office. She wore her hair in twin-tails with a touch of dark lipstick. She smiled at Dan, but he didn’t smile back.

“Good morning, Mr. Capra!”

“Hello, Rica.”

He tried to pass her but she dashed toward him and walked along his side.

“Mr. Capra, I’m here early because I have some questions from Frank.”

“Fine,” Dan kept a quick pace and beelined for his classroom, forcing Rica to keep up. From the time he entered the building to the time they entered the empty class, Dan never looked her in the face. After placing his bag on the desk, he took a breath and turned to her, “Ask me anything you want, Rica. Fire away.”

“Ok. Then my first question is, how’re you feeling?”

Dan smirked, “You’re really asking me that?” he rubbed the side of his stomach, “I’ve been better, no thanks to you.”

“Yeah, about that,” she glanced at his gut, “They didn’t hurt you too badly, did they?”

He squinted, “I’ll live.”

“Good! Now, let’s move on to Frank’s questions.” She paused to collect her thoughts. “Mr. Capra, you had a concern about what’s happening in Frank’s business affairs. Can you briefly tell me what you know the problem to be?”

Dan stood back and shrugged, “Yes, I can explain it very simply, so stay with me.”

She smiled, “I’m listening.”

“Ok, Frank has a parasite problem and this parasite is eating his business from the inside out.”

“Is that right? Please go on.”

“Alright, imagine if Frank ran a candy store, and this store makes a monthly profit of five hundred dollars. Now as time goes on the store gets busier and now Frank profits seven hundred dollars per month.

“Two hundred dollars more!” Rica chimed in with her math skills.

“Right!” Dan agreed, “Frank should be happy. However, there’s something else going on in that candy store. When you dig through the books it appears that Frank should be profiting closer to thirteen hundred dollars per month, if my ratio calculations are correct.

Rica nodded her head, “So this parasite is embezzling half of Frank’s profit off the top.”

“Close!” said Dan. Now in full teacher mode, he forgot his anger at Rica. “But what’s happening to Frank is a touch more complex.”

Rica’s eyes glazed staring at Dan, “Ok, but keep it simple.”

“No problem. Let’s go back to the Candy store. Imagine that Frank is running his store, but in the back, in the storage area, there’s a whole other business selling right under Frank’s nose. And this parasite business is using Frank’s warehouses, his trucks, his distributors, and his money to purchase supplies, purchase inventory. However, that parasite business always pays Frank back with just enough over profit so that he never gets suspicious.” Dan paused for effect, “The problem is-”

Rica understood and continued his sentence, “The problem is Frank is taking all the risk and paying for all of the costs of goods, while the parasite takes all of the profit.” She looked up at him, “That’s not simple at all, Mr. Capra.”

“That’s as simple as I can make it, Rica. But it does tell me something though,” said Dan.

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Frank’s people are not being honest with him. Someone high up in his crew is selling him out to another crew.” Then he stared at her, “But I think you already knew that and you know who’s selling him out, don’t you, Rica?”

Rica smiled at Dan with her eyes low, “You got it all figured out, huh? But don’t jump the gun just yet, because I need more information.”

Rica reached in her bag and handed Dan a stuffed envelope with ten thousand dollars, and his thumb drive.

Dan hesitated, “What’s the money for?”

“Mr. Capra. On that thumb drive are the three holding companies where the money is going, that you found in your audit. Frank wants all the information you can get on them.”

Dan smirked, “Rica, these are dummy corps. They’re probably in the names of-”

“Friends, family members, people you can extort,” she shot back.

Dan gulped, “Rica, these records are not public. They’re probably-”

“Ask my mother to help you, Mr. Capra.”

“What?” He paused. “Ask Reyna? Uhh, I don’t think I want to get her invol-”

“You know your prude act is wearing thin, Dan!” Rica snapped.

Whoa, where’d that come from?

“Excuse me Rica?” his eyes opened, startled at her outburst.

“Listen to yourself! Frank’s given you fifty-five thousand dollars and everything with you is, hunh, what, I don’t know when you talk to me. But you sure didn’t waste time jumping in the sack with my mother when all she offered you was a bottle of wine, you ingrate!” She pointed at him.

Yikes! Who is this person right now?

“Rica, you need to calm down-”

“I am calm. But you’re the one testing me right now, so I’m going to make myself clear with you. Now, my mother has access to private business information that banks keep track of. But I need you to ask her, and not give me a hard time about it!” she barked at Dan with a dark scowl.

Rica’s way out of character. Wait, she got like that the moment I tried to protect her mother. I’d better tread lightly.

“Ok, I hear you,” he spoke softly.

Rica pulled back and looked away, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come at you that way. I’ve been up all morning, and-”

“No, it’s alright. There’s more I need to see in those books and uh, I’ll ask your mom.”

“Yes, and after you ask she’s gonna come home and say, ‘Guess what? ♫ Dan asked me to help with his accounting work, so I’m going to be his lovely assistant ♫ ya ya ya,’” Rica sang, doing her best Reyna impression.

Dan covered his mouth and laughed, “Haha, that’s pretty spot-on, you have her down!”

Rica blushed, “Yeah, my mom’s fun to tease. Anyway, I know you have to get ready for class and stuff, so let’s talk later, Mr. Capra.”

“Not a problem, Rica. I’ll see you at second period. Oh, did you figure out the word problem in the homework?”

She smiled, “The brain teaser? Yes. It took me a while but I figured it out. It’s a red herring. The question wasn’t asking how fast the hiker could climb up the mountain, no.”

She walked out of the classroom, and with her back turned she glanced at him, “The question asked was how fast would he fall, once he reached the top.”

Dan nodded, “That’s correct.”

“Of course it is, Mr. Capra.” And with that, she vanished.

Dan stared at the empty doorway for a moment. He opened his bag and examined the ten thousand and thumb drive he placed inside.

I see. That’s how they operate. It’s not a choice. Here’s the money. Do it. Or else.

“Well, you certainly made your bed, Dan. And guess who’s gonna lie in it?” he said, to no one.

…..