Jared nodded, he and Savannah exchanged uncertain glances before looking at Brooke curiously.
“Please, sit down,” she urged. “Both of you.” She moved to the opposite side of the booth and slid in beside Jared so the couple could sit together facing them. They took their seats silently, then waited for Jared to speak.
He had conducted hundreds of interrogations during the course of his career, and his next words rolled off his tongue without conscious effort. “What’s the nature of your relationship with Dmitry Sidorov?”
“Why are you asking?”
Trevor’s curiosity was understandable, but Jared was in no mood for it. He pinned the man with a withering stare. “I’m asking because that’s my job. You have two choices. Answer my questions in a direct manner or refuse to cooperate with an FBI agent. The latter will have consequences I promise you won’t enjoy.”
Trevor lifted his hands in a take-it-easy gesture. “No need to get testy. I’ll cooperate fully.”
“Talk to me about you and Sidorov.”
“Sidorov is a prospective customer. I met him for the first time today.” His tight expression indicated he wished he hadn’t.
“How did the meeting come about? Did you make initial contact, or did he?”
“He called me, saying he was a wealthy retiree who was considering changing banks. He asked me to put together a proposal of the services my bank could provide and bring it to his home to discuss.”
“Tell me about your meeting.”
“It started off fine, and he seemed receptive to my proposal, but then he went off on a tangent and asked me for information that had nothing to do with his finances.”
“Can you be more specific?”
“He wanted to see the loan applications of companies the bank had decided against extending credit to. I told him I couldn’t do that. The loan applications contain sensitive material about the companies’ operations and financial position. My bank’s policy strictly forbids me from sharing that information with anyone other than bank personnel.”
Jared had been watching carefully for any signs Trevor was lying by omission or exaggeration, but the man’s facial expressions and body language were consistent with his telling the truth. “How did he take your refusal?”
“He offered me money to bend the bank’s rules. He said the bank didn’t pay a smart man like me enough, that I deserved more. He knew things about me, personal things he shouldn’t have known.”
“Can you give an example?”
Trevor didn’t answer right away. Finally, he spoke in a low voice. “He knew my wife and I had visited a fertility clinic last week.”
Jared turned his head in time to see Brooke’s mouth drop open in surprise. Her sister reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “I wanted to tell you, but the next step hasn’t been decided. I’m game to go ahead, but Trevor has reservations because it’s really expensive, and there are no guarantees.”
Her husband shifted uncomfortably. “I want a baby as much as you do, sweetheart, but in my line of work, I’ve seen many people who overextend themselves moneywise, then get into dire straits and lose everything. I don’t want that to happen to us, but I also hate the idea of disappointing you.”
Although the conversation had shifted away from Sidorov, Jared decided the couple needed a few moments to clear the air. He wasn’t surprised the Russian knew so much about the banker he intended to bribe. The guy was a pro and would, therefore, be familiar with every possible way to turn the screws in his victims.
Savannah untangled the bangles on her arm, then looked up at Trevor. “Is that why you’ve been so distant lately?”
He nodded. “I know once we start treatment, it’ll be nearly impossible to stop until we’re holding our own baby. I just need time to come to terms with spending all that money on something that, if unsuccessful, could break our hearts.”
“Those last few nights you worked late... I thought you were being unfaithful.”
The horrified look on his face proclaimed his innocence more eloquently than words. “No, never. I worked late those nights preparing for my meeting with Sidorov, trying to figure out what it would take to bring him on board. I had no idea at the time Sidorov was doing his own research into me. In exchange for that confidential applicant information, he offered to cover a year’s worth of clinic treatments.”
It was Savannah’s turn to be surprised. “That’s tens of thousands of dollars. He must want the information really badly.”
Apparently, Trevor hadn’t confided in his wife yet about the extent of Sidorov’s desire for that information, so Jared decided to enlighten her. “When your husband turned down his bribe, the Russian resorted to threats and pulled out a gun. Isn’t that right, Trevor?”
Savannah let out a gasp. “What’s he talking about, Trev? Tell me it’s not true.”
Trevor wrapped his arm around her as if to protect her from his next words. “I wish I could, but I can’t. Sidorov put the barrel to my temple, saying he wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He gave me five days to get hold of the information, choose several of the financially weakest companies and set up meetings with the owners. At the meetings, he wants me to vouch for him as a legitimate venture capitalist.”
Brooke had been sitting quietly, but now she spoke up. “Why would he want to invest in bad companies?”
Jared voiced the theory he’d been mulling over in his mind from the moment he’d heard Sidorov wanted confidential applicant information. “Sounds like a new twist on an old business—loan-sharking. He’s counting on these owners being so desperate for cash they’ll accept it from an unknown third party based on a reputable banker’s recommendation. After a few months, they’ll be hit with expensive repayment terms they have to meet or else Sidorov’s muscle will pay them a visit. Or Sidorov might use his involvement in their companies to pressure them into laundering illegal proceeds. I’ve seen that happen, too.”
Magnified a little by his glasses, Trevor’s brown eyes revealed anguish and fear. “If I don’t do what he wants, he promised to hurt me and Savannah. He showed me a folder full of info about us—where we live, the names of our family members, friends and my coworkers, what we owe on our mortgage and credit cards. He told me if I went to the police, I’d die before I had a chance to report him.”
Savannah let out a gasp of dismay and reached for her husband’s hand. Trevor swallowed with difficulty, before continuing. “I left his place, totally freaked out, not knowing what I should do. I drove around for a while before I realized all I wanted was to go home and hug my wife. When Savannah called, I was turning onto our street, so I picked her up and we came straight here.”
“Who is this Sidorov?” Savannah demanded.
“The FBI has him tagged as one of the bosses of the Bratva—the Russian mafia,” Jared said. “Last year, he almost died during a power struggle within the organization, so he came to Langeville to recover and, supposedly, to enjoy early retirement. But based on your meeting with him, he seems to have been working at his own criminal
