Protecting Daniella

3- Client information

Silas' P.O.V.

Client information

Robert Crawell, 652 North Lake View Drive, Chicago Illinois.

Occupation- Chicago City Treasurer. Receives all money belonging to the City and is responsible for maintaining records and accounts while also providing reports on the state of the City's finances. He oversees the annual budgets of the city, evaluating the need to adjust tax rates and working with other government officials to determine where tax dollars should be spent.

It looks like he was able to set up amazing pension funds for police officers, firefighters, laborers and teachers in the area.

Salary- $245,000 yearly.

Separated six months ago from wife Kathleen Crawell for irreconcilable differences. Divorce not finalized.

No kids.

Kathleen Crawell, address and occupation unknown after the separation.

Hmm, it's like she fell off the face of the earth after that because I can't find her anywhere. Even trying under her maiden name, I found nothing.

Target's name, Daniella Colby.

Robert is accusing her of stealing 2.3 million dollars from his safe and he wants it back.

After talking with Leo about the job he had for me, something didn't sit well... something was definitely off and Leo came to me because he felt I was the best for the job.

It caught my attention for multiple reasons. One Robert was offering me a little over double from what I normally get paid just to bring this woman to him and then leave. Second, if she supposedly stole this money from him, why didn't he call the cops, especially with who he is?

There wasn't a lot of information on Daniella and I couldn't find a single picture of her, not even on her business website.

She lives in Los Angeles above a coffee shop that she owned. She has a squeaky clean record, minus a few parking violations which made me want to take this case even more. How does a straight A student with a business management degree, and an almost perfect credit score go from goody two shoes to stealing all this money and for what reasons did she do this.

*******

Leo told him I would be making contact so here I was in Chicago, watching as Robert walked around the Fall Nature Fest, talking to people. It's been a week and I still hadn't made contact yet because I needed to see this guy in person to see how he acted. Call me paranoid but my instincts were almost always right about people.

Like I said, I wasn't a normal bounty hunter. Even the hunters that work for agencies didn't care about anything except being paid at delivery, no matter what the situation was. I had the money, I did this so I didn't get bored. This is a cruel world and women are easy targets for the assholes that lerk the streets. My parents drilled it into Aaron and my head about respecting women and I lived by that. Helping women was one of my most sacred rules, with a few exceptions because I know they can be just as evil.

Maybe this Robert chump had some kind of sick obsession with this woman and lied to Leo and I about the money? But if she really is a thief and stole the money from Robert, I had no problem handing her over to him because I'd want my money back also.

So I was here... figuring it all out.

I picked up my burner and called his number.

I watched as he looked down at his phone, confused before answering it. "Hello? This is Robert Crawell."

"It's Stone."

His eyes widened as he looked around his surroundings. "Hold on one moment." He excused himself from the group of people he was with. He walked until he was standing next to a wall of a building by himself. "I didn't think you were going to call me, Mr. Stone."

"I've been busy."

He cleared his throat. "Well, I'm glad you got a hold of me. I was told you help... find people?"

I rolled my eyes. "I do. Have you seen her recently?"

He kept looking around, making sure no lurking ears were listening. "No, I haven't heard from Daniella since she stole the money from me and if I don't get that money back, I'm going to lose my job."

"So it's Chicago's money?"

"Yes."

"If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did she come about this money? It's not like you would just have that kind of cash laying around for her to grab? It helps if I know even the littlest details."

He sighed. "I fell for her. Daniella is a very, very  beautiful woman and I'm ashamed to admit that I wasn't exactly strong enough to resist a woman like that flirting with me. She told me her name was Leigha, she seduced me and then all of a sudden 2.3 million dollars was missing from my safe and she was gone. My wife slipped up though, I heard Kathleen talking to her on the phone one day before she left. That's how I found out her real name, I would assume Kathleen and Daniella worked together on this."

I was quiet for a moment. "And where is your ex now?"

"She's gone. I can't find her anywhere. Daniella is the only one that knows where she's at. I'm afraid Daniella might have hurt her and kept all that money for herself. I can put the rest of the money in your account immediately and I already signed the contract. I've tried another guy but he's not returning my calls anymore. I was told you're the best hunter."

"Not that I'm complaining because it's a job for me but why didn't you go to the police with this?"

He chuckled. "And how would that look? My image would be ruined and I'd probably be fired."

I wanted to ask what he planned for Daniella once she was brought to him but I didn't want to spook him off, so I agreed. "I'll be in touch in a few days. I have a few leads on Daniella so I'll see if they go anywhere."

"Thank you! Thank you so much. Stone. If by chance my wife is with her when you find her, I will pay the amount I did for Daniella too if you bring her back with you. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes." I agreed.

"Perfect. I look forward to hearing from you."

I needed to find this chick before someone else did because I was sure there was more to this story then Robert was leading on.