Scavenger Hunt Ch. 01

I said "That was in the aftermath of the Walnut Prep scandal, and the first of the 'Black Velvet' killings. A number of teachers lost their jobs, and were probably lucky they didn't go to jail." (Author's note: 'Black Velvet'.)

Jack Muscone said "That's probably the case. Anyhoo, as you like to say, BigAgraFoods moved their headquarters out of here, and Allison and Reskind dropped off their employment rolls... and have never reappeared anywhere again, until an LLC in their names bought those two duplexes and they began renting from themselves. And the same for the women. After being fired, they were completely off the grid, as well. They didn't even renew their drivers licenses."

Muscone: "Their current setup is that their bills on the duplexes are auto-paid out of the LLC's account every month. That account receives a deposit once a month, from an account of another LLC that is based in Nevada. And that's what I'll work on finding next."

I said "You got a lot in a short amount of time. So we're looking for their new identities... maybe 'Dulci' is real, after all. Did you get their fingerprints and run them to see if any other identities showed up?"

"I sure did." said Muscone. "The two women were fingerprinted when they applied for and received their teaching certificates, but those fingerprints have never shown up again. And the two men have never had fingerprints submitted under those names, ever. And before you ask, I did check and see if their data is hidden, like CIA Officers and undercover Agents's prints might be, but it was 'no joy' on that."

"Interesting." I said. "So what do you guys want to do next?"

FBI SSA Julius Jefferson said "When we got back from Apple Grove, Jack went to his office here to do the research and get the data you just heard, and I drove down to the address of the duplexes. I have to admit that there are some very nice homes being built there. What I did see was that a duplex apartment right across the street from one of theirs. If Jack formally opens a case, we can rent that apartment and conduct surveillance on them."

"Based on... what?" asked Teresa Croyle.

Julius Jefferson said "Possible involvement in industrial espionage, for openers, after what happened in Apple Grove."

I said "I see what Commander Croyle is getting at. When you apply for a warrant, what will your probable cause for the surveillance be?"

"The Craig Reynolds stabbing." Jack Muscone said, then his face fell and his voice dropped. "Oh." he said. "You never really did establish a connection between them and Lisa Baker, did you?"

I said "Only that one of the men in the group, I think it was Winston Reskind, gave Lori Lovlin a note that she passed to Craig Reynolds, drawing him out to the pool where he was stabbed. You might can get Lori's statement, either in person or what she gave to the Apple Grove Police, but even then it's thin."

"Positively anorexic." lamented Muscone.

Teresa was looking at the DMV photos. She looked and said "Jack, can I get a copy of this, at least as good quality if not better?"

Muscone replied "That's the best I've got, and you can hold on to it if you need to. Why?"

Teresa said "If you don't mind, I'd like to show it to my husband Todd, and see if he recognizes them. I might also have him ask his H.R. Department if any of these four applied for jobs at BOW Enterprises, maybe trying to worm their way in to conduct industrial espionage. It's a longshot, but if they did and there's a record of it, you will have your probable cause."

"That's a great idea!" I said. "The only thing wrong with it is that I didn't think of it myself." Everyone chuckled politely, then I said, struck by a thought, "By the way, what were the names of those LLCs? The one they bought the duplexes under? And the one putting money into their account?"

Muscone consulted his notes and said "Their LLC is called 'TechnoDynamics Security, LLC', and---"

I said "Whoa. I remember a 'TechnoDynamics, Inc.' in the Charles Westbrook case. It was associated with MegaTech Industries, and the Establishment Elites. Check and see if this LLC is connected to that one in any way." (Author's note: 'Return to Point Hollow', Ch. 02, for TechnoDynamics, Inc.)

Laura said admiringly "Darling, do you ever forget anything?"

I smoothly replied "I try not to, especially your birthday and our anniversary." Everyone laughed, for real this time.

Muscone said "I'll check on that. And the other LLC is called Stubbs & Wheaton---"

"Stubbs & Wheaton?!" Teresa, Claire, and I all but yelled, and at the exact same time.

"Jinx on all of you." said Lorena Rose as the other Federales looked at us in shock.

Jack Muscone said "Yeah... 'Stubbs & Wheaton Venture Capital, LLC'. Why?"

"You have your probable cause." I said, trying to keep the excitement out of my voice. "Peter Segui, one of the Toyota Gang that my guys busted Saturday night, is or was an employee of Stubbs & Wheaton..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Only... only Donald Troy, the Iron Crowbar, could go up to his high school reunion, solve an attempted murder case in one weekend, come home, and have the Toyota Gang attach itself to the case he solved. Only you, Don."

It was Cindy Ross saying that as some of us had converged on the Cop Bar right at 5:00pm, and were having beef nachos and beer on the deck outside, on my tab. FBI Special Agent Tim Jenkins was holding his and Cindy's baby son Benjamin. Teresa, Claire Michaels, Julia Rodriguez, Joan Laurer, and Shane O'Brady had also joined us.

I said "The crowbar is not a magic wand, and as your father teaches, 'there are no coincidences in the Universe'." Cindy's father was my late father's brother, Dr. P. Harvey Eckhart, founder and great leader of 'The Vision' self-help empire.

Teresa said: "My only question is if it's a coincidence or not that the same venture capital firm is funding the Apple Grove gang, such as they are. It seems so fantastical that it might well really be a coincidence."

"We shall soon see." I replied.

"Sir," Joan Laurer asked, "can you give us your thoughts on all of this? It's weird, and nobody makes more sense out of 'weird' than you do... er, I don't know if that came out right..." Everyone laughed.

I said "I understand what you're saying. We need more data before I speculate on anything. And I think we'll be getting that data soon. The cellphones and their data are crucial..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It was catching up to me. The long weekend in Apple Grove with little sleep, followed by the long drive home and the hectic day that followed, had been exhausting... and as the '20' of the year of my reunion had shown in stark terms, I was no longer that kid in my teens and young man in college that could seemingly indefatigably go on for days.

Still, I talked with each of my children about their days in school as Laura, Paulina, and Molly talked amongst themselves. We were staying at The Cabin on this weeknight, for reasons that were not quite clear to me.

The first sign that I was losing the battle to stay awake was when I took the dogs out. As they went to inspect their territories and do their business in the moonlight, I sat in the metal mesh loveseat and looked over the Town... or so I thought. I got a huge jolt to the system when a hand rested on my shoulder; it was Laura, and I realized I had dozed off.

As we went back inside and got ready for bed, I realized that I had been half-thinking, half-dreaming about this Toyota Gang case. Bits and pieces of it that seemed unattached were floating around in my mind, and I knew they were connected in some way. And as I fell asleep in my bed, with Laura in the middle and Paulina on the other side, one admonition kept flashing in my mind like a neon sign that this was not just a simple, ordinary case of young convenience store robbers. No, I knew...

This was big.

To be continued.