Alex Morton

"Now that I know my off the rack sizes, we can go to Kmart or something like it," Alex suggested. "I hated the mall."

"I remember, you looking as though you wanted your rifle. So go clean up and we will head out. First stop the bank."

Since Alex had always driven the lodge's crew cab pick up to pick up clients at the airport or Amtrak station, he had kept his driver's license up to date. With that driver's license, he had been able to access his savings account. Over the last nine years he had accumulated over fifty thousand dollars. Living as close as he could to a subsistence life style, even after paying his mortgage on the cabin, almost half his check just went into the bank. He tapped the account for equipment like snowmobiles and rifles. Other than those expenses he spent his pension in dribbles. He donated to the Veterans Service funds and a couple of homeless shelters, otherwise the money had just accumulated.

"How much money do you think I need," he asked Lucy.

"I have no idea. Why don't you just get a thousand and we can comeback later. Why not have your personal banker issue you a debit card?" she suggested.

I don't want a personal banker. Besides I haven't decided what I'm going to do, I might be going home tomorrow," Alex said.

"I know you don't want to be here Alex, but give us a chance. Luther and I are trying to get used to the idea that you might be the big brother after all," Lucy said.

They entered the Downtown Club at 12:20pm. According to Lucy they stopped serving at 3pm. They served lunch from 11am till 3pm and it was the only meal they did serve.

Alex still wasn't convinced that they would be welcomed. Well not till he saw that Gina who was in the lobby greeting people. "Well hello you two. I was hoping you would come in for lunch," Gina said. Alex could tell she was a professional greeter.

"Well here we are," Lucy said. Lucy was trying hard not to treat her like hired help, but it was there in here voice. At that moment Alex didn't much like Lucy. "Is Luther here yet?"

"Yes he is at the bar. Your table is ready would you prefer to join him or be seated. I can let him know you are here.," Gina said. Even Alex recognized the coolness in her voice. These games were childish, he thought.

"How about we wait at the table. I don't think I would be comfortable in the bar," Alex said to smooth things over. On the way to the table he said, "Over look Lucy, She is under a great deal of stress." Gina just smiled.

The table had been reserved by Luther, so Alex assumed he was paying for lunch. He wouldn't mind sticking him with the check, Alex thought. He was sure than Luther had skimmed money off the liquidation transaction.

"So Luther, are you going to share your commission on the liquidation trade with us," Lucy asked. Alex didn't say anything he just smiled. "I'll take that as a no."

"So Luther what have you learned?" Alex asked.

"The companies Mom owned make a hell of a lot of money, but no one of them has a net profit of over five hundred thousand a year. Together the five of them has almost three million a year, every year. That's not bad for a bunch of small time businesses The odd thing is how close their books mirror each other."

"You are going to have to explain that to this country boy," Alex said.

"Not mention the chick artist," Lucy interjected.

"Okay, most of the business where started by Dad years ago. Each one struggled the first year just as they are supposed to. They even struggle a couple of more years as he expanded them with small bank loans. When they became self sufficient he put them on a plan where he completely upgraded the equipment over the course of ten years.

First it was a small trucking company which had a small profit margin. He reshaped it to a courier company. After the ten years he operated it almost at a loss, it began to slowly make a profit. It was as if the profits were controlled to always show just the right amount to avoid scrutiny from the IRS.

As the courier company was growing he began to branch out. He never allowed the courier company to grow past that one size where it slipped under the IRS radar.

He also bought a string coin operated laundromats, but when the famous California laundromat tax evasion case hit the paper, he sold them the next month. All those records were lost presumably in the office fire." Luther said in a whisper.

"Maybe we should save this till after you come home," Lucy suggested. She didn't like airing her family's dirty laundromats in public it seemed.

"I have a lot more to look into, so I'm going to be late," Luther informed his siblings.

Lunch was ruined by the number of unanswered questions going through everyone's mind.

One of the questions for Alex at least was, is Luther being too dramatic. It was entirely possible. It would be harder for Alex to believe his mother was involved in something shady. It wasn't the same with his father. Alex could believe it about his dad, since everyone said he got his start working on the off shore oil rigs in the early days. In those days it had been even more rough and tumble on those rigs.

He was pretty sure that Lucy wouldn't want to believe it about either. She had been close to their father probably because she was the only girl and got spoiled by him.

On the ride home Lucy asked, "What do you think it means?"

Probably nothing dad and mom would have to have been pretty smart to fool everyone. I doubt Luther could have found it all in one morning." Alex said.

"One could put a lot of files on one flash drive. The lawyer gave Alex the backup files from mom's computer to help him make his decision. He is supposed to share them with us but he will probably just summarize them. I have a feeling none of us want them checked out too closely," Lucy suggested.

"We don't have to sit around doing nothing while we wait for him," Alex suggested.

"If Dad was controlling the books to show a smaller profit he was doing something with the money. The safest thing to do with cash is to hide it. Then find a way to infuse it into the other businesses. Where would mom and dad hide that kind of money?"

"Under the patio," Lucy said.

"Of course the fall out shelter," Alex agreed. There father had a fall out shelter built when the first pool was installed. The family home was far enough from any military target that it might survive an attack, but there would be fallout. Back in the fifties people all over the country were investing in holes in the ground. There dad had his built under the pool apron. Hell Alex had sat over the damn thing the day before.

His mom had let her husband's tools rust away to nothing. She had even given some of them away. Even so Alex found a hack saw. It was by far the least effective tool for cutting a lock, but it worked. It just took a while. He could have done better with a bolt cutter or an angle grinder but you worked with what you have. Something he learned in the Northwoods of Maine.

When he finally got the lock off the metal storm cellar type doors, he and Lucy walked down the ten steps to a depth the same level as the pool beside it. Alex could even see the wall of the pool beside the entrance to the shelter.

There was no power since no one expected the power grid to be working after a nuclear attack.

Lucy had brought a flashlight. She handed it to Alex who illuminated the room. It was still outfitted with over fifty year old wooden shelves. On those shelves there were bundles of cash about one cubic foot each. There must have been a hundred of them.

"Holy shit," Lucy said.

"Now listen real close Lucy. No one can know about this. If we tell anyone, the cops will take everything. Not only will you be left with nothing, Mom and Dad's reputation will be ruined. Everything will be worse than the lawyer described. A government seizure of their assets will leave you with nothing. Worse all of the good that mom did in h er life will be forgotten," Alex reminded her.

"Do you think I'm stupid. Okay sometimes I pretend to be stupid but I'm not stupid," Lucy said. "Mom knew that if we didn't agree to run it as a family it would all be lost."

"Yeah, I'm afraid mom and dad were into some bad shit," Alex said.

"How did they keep it hidden all those years," Lucy said.

"Because no one knew it, except each other. That's why mom created the elaborate will. You can trust no one, like you can trust family. Unless one of the members is insane." Alex said.

"You know Luther will turn on us to save his ass," Lucy said.

"So will you or I, if it comes to that. So we have to make sure it never comes to that," Alex suggested.

"That's why mom chose you. To make sure it never comes to that. You know what shit really is and I hope you know how to keep us out of it," Lucy said.

"I would like to think that I do, but who knows," Alex said. Alex and Lucy ran out of things to say, so Alex just drifted to his room. He allowed himself the luxury of a nap. In the Northwoods there was always something to do during daylight hours. Daytime naps for a healthy person were unheard of. The Northwoods residents made up for it by by going to be early. Alex stayed up later since he was out of the mountains of Maine.

Alex awoke to the knocking on his locked door. "Are you okay Alex?" Lucy asked.

"Yes, I'm fine what time is it?" Alex asked.

"Almost seven we need to go to dinner. Luther called he will be here in a couple of hours. He has news, and of course we have some for him," she said.

After another dinner out, his spent half an hour in the bathroom. His body was on a totally different cycle in Capitol City, Alex decided. It was after 10pm when Luther arrived.

"You have no idea what a mess we are in," Luther said.

"Actually I think we do," Lucy said. "Come with me, I have something to show you."

Alex stayed behind as they walked out to the pool. Ten minutes later, Luther walked back into the house.

"Well that just settles it, I have no idea what we are into exactly, but it is ugly," Luther said.

"We could call the cops," Alex said.

"Yeah right, I can see us trying to explain it to our friends and other family members. All this shit in the will makes sense now," Luther said. "All except making you the head of the businesses."

"Luther do you think they made that money in the fallout shelter selling home made cookies," Lucy asked.

"Yeah, I get it. So what are we going to do," Luther asked.

"Lucy and I will find out all we can about the business operations, you try to find out all that you can about the financial operations," Alex said. "There has to be a road map somewhere of how mom did it.

"Mom left clues on the flash drive. There are names of people for each business," Luther informed him.

"Is there a mechanism to keep the whole things going without her until we can get a handle on it," Alex asked.

"The structure of the of the courier company is to service existing clients, but any new clients must come though the home office which is you," Luther said derisively.

"Well then leave it on auto pilot. In the meantime I'm going to ride with several of the drivers to see what the fuck is going on," Alex said. "Something is not right with them. Lucy, since neither Luther nor I will have any idea what the people at the Blue Skies Production Company is saying, you go talk to them. Try to get a handle on there production methods and expenses. It may just be a money laundering business or it maybe real," Alex suggested.

"Okay, but I'm a dancer. I have no idea about anything else," Lucy suggested.

"Don't sell yourself short," Luther said. "You understand a lot more than you realize. You know what goes into producing a show, so you know or can learn what goes into producing a movie or TV show. I have a feeling that Blue Skies is not what it seems."

"Let's talk about how we feel about all this," Alex began. "What if we find that there is something truly evil going on here? What are we going to do about it."

"I am pretty sure that all this cloak and dagger shit is going to be evil," Lucy replied. "I want nothing to do with it."

"Then learn to live on your dance instructor salary," Luther said.

"I propose that we find out what is going on with the understanding that victimless crime perpetrators are grass eater. While crimes that cause mayhem and death are perpetrated by meat eaters. I think we can all live with being grass eaters, at least long enough to extract ourselves while doing the least amount of damage possible. A meat eater's crime we need to get out of regardless of the losses," Alex suggested. "So what do you think?"

"I agree completely. I will not be involved in anything that harms people," Lucy said taking the high moral ground.

"I can live with that as well," Luther said.

"I figure that there will be risk in extracting ourselves from some things. Some of the other players my be even likely to try extracting us from the business permanently. We are going to have to be careful. We can't make any sudden moves," Alex informed them.

"Yeah, I can see that," Luther admitted.

"Me too," Lucy said.

"From what I learned the office of Flash Couriers is in one of the suburban areas. They have trucks leaving there for over night deliveries from the airport freight facilities to anywhere in the state. The receivers are all regular customers. The local company has no idea what they are carrying, or how much we charge. Hell at the moment neither do I," Luther said. These are all corporate accounts. Somewhere hidden in all the files there has to be a breakdown of the dark money," Luther suggested.

"What if the customer has found a way to ship contraband by air. If they are using us as an under the radar delivery method. Nobody knows it all, so no one link can expose the whole chain. We need Mom's files." Alex said.

"From what I see some client is making two payments, one in a bank transfer as it should be, and one in a brown envelope. You both know what's in the envelope," Luther said.

"You know the weak link as far as I'm concerned is Missouri or Arkansas. If the cops bust either end of the chain or someone else in the pipeline it could all come crashing down. If they roll up part of it, they could easily roll it all up including us. We need to know what the risks are," Luther commented.

"Well, I will try to piece it together. We also need to know how the money was getting to Mom," Alex said. "My guess is us mail, but I don't know that."

"That would be the safest way for all concerned," Luther agreed. "She probably didn't have it addressed to the house, just in case it spilled open. A post office box?" Luther asked.

"No, that means she would have had to pick it up. The postal inspector could have a tape. You know mom had all kinds of shenanigans at these businesses. What if one of them was on the up and up 100%, except that she used it as a mail drop. Which of our holdings would get things through the mail, and made a modest profit." Alex asked.

"One who would hold the packages and not be suspicious," Lucy asked. She took the list of businesses from Alex. "Girlie Girl beauty salon. I'll bet you they have been doing her hair for years. She goes in gets her hair done every week and picks up a couple of packages. You do remember that steamer trunk of a purse she carried."

"What would she tell the manager?" Luther asked.

"It's a woman's business. Gifts from a lover or expensive perfume who knows, but women cover for other women. The trick would be to make it all believable, so that they never felt uncomfortable being the relay point.

"Lucy, go to Girlie Girl before you leave for the production company. Pick up any packages there if there are any. Maybe we can find where it comes from," Luther suggested.

"Okay then if we all know our assignments, I'm going to bed. I'm going to the courier company tomorrow," Alex suggested.

The next morning Lucy walked into the Girlie Girl's waiting area. She looked around the place and found it wanting. The shop wasn't the up scale, classy place which worked on her hair. It almost had the feel of a couple of girls working from a back room in their trailer. Even though it was located in a strip mall, it felt like a side of the road shop. The strip mall was a bit older than most, but it did have an office supply warehouse type store, and a few other businesses, none of which qualified as upscale.

Lucy's hair was colored, what she liked to think of as modern artist red. It was a color suited only for birds, older people commented, They didn't make those comments to her face of course. She thought it was chic until the shop manager of the shop came from behind the work station wall wearing her hair color and style.

"Hello I'm Lucy, Mrs. Morton's daughter," she said a little put off by the middle aged woman.

"I would recognize you anywhere. Your mother always spoke lovingly of you," the woman said. "I have also seen a thousand pictures of you over the years."

"Thank you," Lucy said. She then went on to say, "My brothers and I are trying to put my mother's affairs in order. Her instructions said that she had personal mail sent here regularly."

"Yes of course, I will get it for you," the woman who hadn't given Lucy her name replied.

She disappeared into the work area, then reappeared with several brown or white envelops of differing sizes.

"Your mother never told us what she was buying, but they all come from the US," the woman with the same hair as Lucy said.

"I'm not sure what's inside, probably something for the homeless shelter," Lucy said coming up with the only thing she could think of off hand. Every one knew her mom was involved with the homeless vets programs.

"Could I ask you what your intentions are for the shop. I always wanted to buy it back, but your mother said she wanted to keep it. It was so that she could get her hair done free," the woman said with a smile. "I know what the shop takes in and what the expenses are, since I handle all the purchases. So I know she wasn't making much money on the shop. I really would rather leave things as they are now, but if you decide to sell, please give me a chance to buy it first."

"What's your name ma'am," Lucy asked.

"Sorry, I forgot that you don't know me. My name is Gwen," she said.

"Well Gwen for now my brothers an I aren't planning any changes at all. If we sell off things, I am sure we will offer it to you first. In the meantime, could you squeeze me in for a haircut, just a trim I hate split ends," Lucy said just to keep the illusion that the family didn't know what was going on. Lucy even enjoyed playing clueless.

Meanwhile Luther was busy at the family home pouring over this mothers files. He made a few discoveries of his own. For one thing hidden in the money room was a small lap top. As he expected the laptop wouldn't boot up.

Luther was something of a video game player, so he understood the workings of the computer. He searched but the lap top had no operating system.

If it wasn't his mother's computer, he might have trashed the obvious cheap piece of junk. It wouldn't go any farther than the BIOS. It either had no operating system or refused to boot it. His guess was there was no operating system on the computer. That would be in case the law go hold of it. He had to keep reminding himself that his mother and father had operated a criminal enterprise.

Before he carried the machine to a computer expert, he wanted to tinker with it a bit more. So after he removed three thousand dollars from the stack of bills, he search again for any other hardware hidden among the money. There was none.

Once back in the house, he tried the secret thumb drive in the USB port then powered up the cheap laptop. It became a small Linux system. The operating system was completely self contained on the thumb drive. He had he answers all along, but they were in a few hidden files on the high capacity flash drive.