Chapter 6 - The Spider’s Web
By Monday morning, the fallout from the audit on Blackwell Domestic Services had sent shockwaves through Chicago’s financial and political elite.
I sat in my corner office on the fortieth floor of the Blackwell Tower in downtown Chicago. Outside the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, Lake Michigan stretched out into the gray horizon.
Marcus Cole sat across from me, his laptop connected to a secure server.
"It’s bigger than we thought, Thane," Marcus said, tapping his keyboard. "Julian wasn't acting alone."
I looked up from my coffee. "Who else?"
"Richard Sterling," Marcus revealed, turning the laptop screen toward me.
Richard Sterling was a prominent city alderman, a major political broker, and one of my late wife’s former business associates. He was a man who presented himself as a champion of working-class labor unions while quietly taking massive kickbacks from corporate contractors.
"Sterling owned thirty percent of Apex Staffing Solutions," Marcus explained, pointing to the hidden ownership structure on the screen. "Julian provided the victim pool by stripping wages from domestic workers across your properties. Sterling used his political influence to ensure state labor inspectors never audited Apex Staffing. They were splitting over five million dollars a year in wage theft."
"Where was the money being funneled?" I asked, my eyes narrowing.
"Into Sterling’s offshore campaign slush fund," Marcus replied. "He’s running for Mayor of Chicago next spring. He was funding his entire political campaign on the stolen sweat of starved housekeepers, janitors, and kitchen staff."
A dark, cold fury settled over my mind.
"Have you pulled the master employment roster for Apex Staffing?" I demanded.
"Yes," Marcus said, printing out a thick stack of papers. "One hundred and forty-two workers across six major luxury residential towers in Chicago, including three of your hotels. Every single one of them was being paid less than forty percent of their contractual wage."
One hundred and forty-two families.
One hundred and forty-two mothers and fathers working twelve-hour shifts in luxury high-rises, unable to buy medicine for their parents or food for their children, while Alderman Richard Sterling bought television campaign ads preaching about economic justice.
I picked up my pen and signed three legal directives lying on my desk.
"Call the federal district attorney," I ordered Marcus. "Tell him Thane Blackwell is handing him a ironclad RICO indictment against Alderman Richard Sterling on a silver platter."
"And the workers?" Marcus asked.
"Issue immediate restitution checks to all one hundred and forty-two employees from the seized accounts of Apex Staffing and Sterling’s campaign fund," I commanded. "If the seized funds don't cover every penny plus interest, draw the difference directly from my personal master account."
"Thane," Marcus warned gently. "That will cost you over twelve million dollars out of pocket."
"I don't give a damn about twelve million dollars, Marcus," I said, leaning back in my leather chair, looking out at the city skyline. "I want Alderman Sterling in handcuffs before the six o'clock news."
Just then, my desk phone buzzed.
It was my secretary. "Mr. Blackwell, Alderman Sterling is on line one. He sounds extremely agitated."
I picked up the receiver and pressed the button. "Sterling."
"Thane!" Sterling’s deep, booming political voice rasped through the speaker, laced with unedited panic. "What the hell are you doing?! Federal agents just raided my campaign headquarters in River North! They’re seizing my financial servers!"
"Good morning, Alderman," I said, my tone as calm as still water. "I hear the weather in River North is pleasant today."
"Are you insane?!" Sterling shouted. "Julian told me you found out about the house girl! It’s a domestic dispute, Thane! We can settle this privately! I’ll write a check for the girl’s back pay today! Five hundred thousand! One million! Whatever it takes to shut her up!"
"She has a name, Sterling," I said softly. "Her name is June Carter."
"I don't give a damn what her name is!" Sterling roared. "You’re destroying a major political alliance over a maid, Thane! I have the backing of the entire city council! If you bring me down, I’ll take half your development permits with me!"
May you like
"You won't take anything with you, Richard," I said, my voice dropping into a register of liquid steel. "Because by the time the sun sets tonight, you won't even own the suit you're wearing to your arraignment."
I hung up the phone without waiting for a response.
