Who is Raphael Garza? Pt. 05

Who is Raphael Garza? Part 5 By KK

Part five of "Who is Raphael Garza?" will be followed quickly by Part 6, the last chapter. If you haven't read the first four parts, the 5th and 6th parts won't make any sense. I had planned to leave the story at the end of Part 4, but the story didn't end there. To avoid confusion as you read this, remember that Raphael Garza, Frank Lewis, and Franklin Hawthorn are the same person. I want to thank Black Rand for proofing and editing Parts 5 and 6 of this story.

SEPTEMBER 1st, 2015 (This is from the last chapter in Part 4 of my story.)

When I went in for my shoulder surgery, Kathy was with me, and she was waiting for me when I came out of the recovery room. She stayed with me for five weeks during my recovery, helping me with my exercises, cooking meals, keeping me company, and sleeping in the guest room. When she left to go back to her mother's house on September 1st, she let me know that if I wanted her back, all I had to do was call her.

Several times during her stay, I thought about what she had done with the phony, Raphael Garza, and it would make me angry all over again. I almost brought the subject up several times but decided against it. There wasn't anything new I could say about it. I had vented my feelings in detail to Kathy a few times, and I didn't think there was anything to be gained by attacking her again. I also found it hard to justify berating her for what she did, knowing full well that I might very well be dead if Kathy had not cheated on me.

I knew Kathy had to be dealing with the same irony. She felt guilty about the damage she did to our marriage, but if she hadn't slept with the Weasel, the cartel thugs would have killed me.

Kathy left only an hour earlier, and I missed her already. I was going to have to make a decision soon, for both our sakes. I knew which way I was leaning, but I needed to give myself a little more time.

I just hoped that Kathy had the patience to wait for me to make my decision. Only time would tell.

When Kathy left that day, I didn't know what our future would be. I had no idea if I would ever be able to forgive her or would even have that desire. Frankly, I didn't think anyone would care what happened to us going forward. Just over a week later, things began to happen that brought to mind the old saying, 'Life is what happens when you are making other plans.'

It took me a while to feel comfortable telling the rest of the story.

Part 5, Closure

The following week I found myself going to work each day unfocused, only to return home, have a couple of drinks and mindlessly watch television until falling asleep in my chair. I was just marking time, trying to put off making any decisions.

Every time I tried to move on, it triggered the pain and anger again and brought back the mental images from the last three and a half months. In some ways, this whole mess seemed like a tragic comedy written by a deranged playwright, where the characters in the story pay a heavy price for their actions. Kathy's associate, Marge Robinson was in prison, and her husband divorced her for her part, both bankers and three members of the drug cartel were dead and I was hiding $750,000 of cartel money in an old steamer trunk in my attic. On top of all that, Kathy wanted me to forgive her, but I couldn't get past what I saw in the videos. If the playwright had pitched this story to a producer, he would be laughed out of town, or maybe not. It could work as a dark comedy.

In my opinion, one of the major players in this farce hadn't paid a high enough price for his role. Raphael Garza, aka Franklin Hawthorne, aka Frank Lewis suffered only one kick in the balls, delivered by me. That is what I needed finally to get me motivated. It was time for me to pay the Weasel another visit. After all, I did tell him I would be seeing him again.

Friday, September 11th

I left work at noon and drove to Philadelphia to pay a visit to the Four Seasons. I spoke with the same bell captain I talked to back in June.

"I am trying to get a hold of Frank Lewis," I told the bell captain. "You told me before that he occasionally works here as a bellman."

"Yeah, he did, but he hasn't worked here since May." the bell captain said.

"You have any idea where he is?"

"No, haven't seen or heard from him."

"You know if he is still acting?" I asked, and the bell captain shook his head.

The Broad Street Theater was my next stop. I went inside looking for the theater manager. Several people were working on stage sets, so I asked one of them where I could find whoever was in charge. He pointed the way to the manager's office.

There was a young woman inside, busy typing on a note pad. I knocked on the door frame, and she looked up from her desk and said, "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I am looking for the manager."

"You found her. I'm Mandy Briggs, manager of this theater. If you are looking for work, we are full up."

"I am not looking for work, I am looking for help," I said. "I was here for your production of The Philadelphia Story back in June, and I was particularly impressed with the performance of the actor that played Macaulay Connor. I was hoping you could help me find him because I have something he might be interested in."

"That was in June, right?" she asked.

"It was the Friday night performance on June 5th," I said.

"That was Fredrick Hawthorne. He played Macaulay that weekend."

"Do you know how I can get in touch with him?"

"I haven't heard from him since that weekend. You could try his agent, Aaron Berkowitz," she said.

"Do you have Mr. Berkowitz's phone number?" I said.

She pulled up an address book on her computer, wrote down the number and handed it to me. I put the slip of paper in my pocket and thanked her. I started to leave and had another thought. "Mandy, would you happen to have a picture of Mr. Hawthorn that I could have?"

Mandy turned around to a file cabinet behind her and opened a drawer. She flipped through several folders and pulled out a headshot of Franklin Hawthorn and handed it to me. Printed on the bottom of the picture was Franklin Hawthorn, 2006. "Has Hawthorn worked around here since 2006?" I said.

"I guess that is about when he came here," Mandy said. "Is that important?"

"I don't know." I wasn't even sure why I asked her that.

I left the theater and wandered down Broad Street, looking for a payphone to call Berkowitz. I didn't want to use my cell because I didn't want Berkowitz to capture my cell phone number. I didn't want the Weasel to know I was looking for him. It took me twenty minutes to find a payphone and only three minutes to find out that the agent's phone was no longer in service. It seemed that I had reached a dead end.

I screwed up by not beating the crap out of the slimy Weasel, Garza, when I had him alone in his dressing room. I say Garza, because that is the way I think of him. For me, he was the character he played in this story. Fredrick Hawthorne and Frank Lewis were just names that had no meaning to me.

I spent the weekend searching the internet for clues to the Weasel's whereabouts. Frank Lewis had no footprint anywhere on the internet that I could find. Fredrick Hawthorne had a Facebook account and a website. Hawthorne's website and his Facebook page showed no activity since June 1st. The last entry in both places was about his upcoming performance in The Philadelphia Story, June 5th through June 7th. The shit bag must have left town after his last performance. I wondered if his leaving had anything to do with my confronting him? It looked like he got away for now, but I wasn't ready to give up yet.

Tuesday, September 15th

On Tuesday the 15th, I got an unexpected call from FBI Agent Kyle Van Horn.

I was curious why I hadn't heard anything from the FBI or any other law enforcement personal since Agent Van Horn had come to my office to interview me back in July.

"What can I do for you, Agent Van Horn?"

"I have an interesting request for you, but it is not from me." Van Horn said.

"What's this about?"

"Marge Robinson would like to talk to you."

"What the hell could she possibly have to say to me that I would want to hear?"

"She said she wants to make amends and explain some things to you that she thinks you should know." Van Horn said. "Mrs. Robinson is being held in the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia now, but she is due to be moved from there Saturday afternoon."

I didn't speak for a couple of minutes while I thought of any reason to talk to Marge. I despised, Marge and couldn't think of a reason to talk to her, but out of curiosity, I agreed to meet her anyway. "Okay, when?"

"Can you be at the FDC by eleven o'clock Saturday morning?"

"I'll be there."

Saturday, September 19th

Agent Van Horn met me in the FDC lobby at 10:45 Saturday morning and escorted me to the room where I would be meeting with Marge. On the way up, he told me that she had requested one hour, but it would be up to me if I wanted to stay that long.

I expected to talk to Marge on a phone while looking at her through bulletproof glass like you always see on television. The room Van Horn brought me to looked more like a conference room in some corporate office building than the prison visiting room. There was a large oak conference table with three comfortable chairs on each side. Van Horn and I walked into the room and sat at the table to wait for Marge.

"Is this where people come to visit friends and relatives that are locked up here?" I asked.

"No, this room is for meetings and some special cases. In high profile cases, defendants being housed here use this room to meet with their lawyers. The room is soundproof, and there are no listening devices in the room."

I assumed by high profile cases he was talking about very wealthy or powerful defendants. I wasn't sure I believed that there were no listening devices in the room, but I really didn't care.

"Mrs. Robinson will be here in a few minutes," Van Horn said.

"Who else will be in the room with us?" I asked.

"No one else, just you and Mrs. Robinson," Van Horn said. "That was her request."

I said, "Is that safe?"

"It is unless you are planning to attack her."

"Attack her? I am afraid that Mrs. Robinson may try to seduce me." I said and chuckled a little.

"There will be guards posted outside the doors on both sides of the room. You will be perfectly safe in there," Van Horn said.

While we waited for Marge, I wondered why Van Horn, rather than Marge's lawyer, delivered the request. Also, why were we meeting in this particular room, and why was the FBI honoring her request to meet with me privately?

Marge Robinson

My next surprise came as Marge Robinson was escorted into the room. I expected to see a defeated woman in an orange jumpsuit, but the woman before me seemed almost radiant. Instead of an orange jumpsuit, Marge was wearing blue jeans, a green shirt with a white sweater draped over her shoulders with the sleeves looped together in front. With her hair and makeup done, Marge looked more like she was headed to a tailgate party before an Eagles Football game than to another federal prison. She wasn't even handcuffed. She looked so smug it just pissed me off.

Marge sat down across from me and smiled. Van Horn stood up and said, "Remember, one hour." He left me alone with Marge.

"Thanks for coming, Walt; I wasn't sure that you would," Marge said.

"I'm not sure why I did. I don't see how confessing your sins will help me, so if that's why you asked me here, this is going to be a short meeting," I said.

Marge gave me a little smile and said, "I do want to tell you how sorry I am for what happened to you and Kathy, but there are some things that I think you should know about."

"What can you say that will make any difference to me now? You and your partners in crime have fucked up my marriage, and for what? What I want to know is why. Why would you go to so much trouble just to avoid an audit?"

"This is why I wanted to talk to you. I want to clear up some misconceptions that you have," Marge said.

"Like what?"

"For starters, this wasn't about an audit. It was about the changes that Kathy made after she became out supervisor," Marge said. "The problem started when Kathy changed my territory."

"What was so important about the changes Kathy made?" I said.

Marge sighed and then said, "I think things will become clearer if I tell you the whole story. By now, you know who Percy Montgomery and Stephen Farrell were. Four years ago, Monty and Stephen started laundering money for the La Morte drug cartel. About once every six weeks, a member of the cartel named Carlos would meet with Monty and Stephen behind the bank. Carlos would give Monty a bag full of cartel money, and Monty would give Carlos an envelope full of bearer bonds. Are you familiar with bearer bonds?"

"I've heard of them, but I don't know what they are," I said.

"Bearer bonds are government or corporate-issued bonds that are unregistered as investment securities, so no records exist that list the owners' names. Bearer bonds are owned by whoever physically holds them. The bonds can no longer be issued by US companies, but are still available in other countries. A bearer bond is a loan to the company or entity that issued it, because it gets paid back with interest. You can buy and sell them, and whoever owns a bond gets the right to collect interest, and ultimately, the principal when the bond matures," Marge said. "They are easy to move around. You can easily put a $100,000 in bearer bonds in a briefcase and carry it through airport security without any worries. Try that with $100,000 in cash,"

"You used the cartel's money to buy bearer bonds? How did that work?"

"That's all I can tell you about that. I only told you that much, so you have an idea of what Monty and Stephen were up to," Marge said. "Anyway, once they made the exchange, Monty would put the money in the bank's vault.

"Because FBB occasionally had more money in their vault than was accounted for on their books, my job was to make sure the bank didn't have any trouble with audits, which since I was the auditor assigned to FBB, it wasn't a problem. Everything worked fine until Kathy changed my territory. She took over FBB and gave them a surprise audit in January. Kathy found a couple of irregularities in their books; luckily it was only a few thousand dollars, but it was enough that Kathy reported it to the banking commission.

"Monty told me that two days before Kathy did her audit, they had more than $100,000 of La Morte money in the vault, and that worried him. So, Monty arranged a meeting with Carlos to discuss our need to find a way to keep Kathy from screwing up the operation. He wanted to find a way for me to get my old territory back or to find a way to keep Kathy away from discovering the operation.

"Carlos suggested hiring an actor he knew to seduce Kathy and get pictures to use to blackmail her."

"And you thought that would work?" I said.

"Carlos was sure that it would, and he pretty much guaranteed that it would," Marge said.

"So, Monty and Farrell went out and hired this acting friend of Carlos'?"

"No. Monty and Farrell had nothing to do with hiring the actor. Carlos handled that. He had just the man for the job, he told us."

"Wait, what? Montgomery and Farrell didn't hire the actor?" I said. "I found out who the actor that played Garza was, and I confronted him. He told me that two guys came to see him and made the offer. He said the guy that did the talking said his name was Steve, and the other guy was called Monty. He also told me that Steve arranged for the condo they used for the seduction. Did any of you ever meet the actor?"

"No. Carlos didn't want us to meet the actor or for him to meet any of us. Carlos never mentioned the name Raphael Garza to us."

That didn't fit with what I thought I knew. Was Marge lying to me or had Lewis lied. Maybe Van Horn could clear that up for me. "How did Garza meet Kathy?"

Marge couldn't look at me as she answered. "I knew that Kathy's mom was in the hospital back in April, so I passed that information on to Monty."

That fit with what Kathy told me. "So this great plan was to either seduce Kathy and if that failed, then what?" I said. "Agent Van Horn told me that if the seduction didn't work, the cartel planned to have me killed while I was in California."

"The first time we met to discuss what we should do, Carlos brought two other cartel guys with him, and one of the cartel guys suggested that they would kill Kathy. Carlos vetoed that idea because the police would be looking for a motive and might stumble on their operation. Then the same guy suggested killing you, but that idea didn't go anywhere. A lot of other ideas were discussed. That's when Carlos said that he had an actor who could seduce Kathy. Carlos said that if it looked like the seduction was going to fail, the actor would use a date rape drug on Kathy, and still get a compromising video to use as blackmail.

"Anyway, when they arrested me, the FBI questioned me for hours without a break. I lost track of things I had told them, and somehow they got the idea that killing you was the backup plan instead of the date rape drug."

"So, what was so important about that June audit?" I said.

"I told you this wasn't about the audit. I knew the schedule and made sure that the bank would pass that audit without any problems. The plan was to force Kathy to give me back my territory and to keep her mouth shut about it," Marge said. "When the FBI showed up, I knew something must have gone wrong, but I had no idea what happened."

I almost laughed at Marge's last statement. I wondered what she would say if I told her that I was responsible for taking down their operation.

"So, what changed?" I said. "Instead of using the video to blackmail, Kathy, they streamed the video to me. Can you explain that?"

"That wasn't the plan. For some reason, Carlos decided to change the plan on his own. The next week when Kathy called in sick, I thought everything had gone according to plan. I volunteered to fill in for Kathy and do the audit at FBB. I didn't know anything about you being shown those videos until after my arrest."

"If the June audit wasn't going to be a problem, why was it necessary to have me out of town that week?" I said.

"Carlos told us that his actor was certain that if he could get Kathy alone for a few days, he could get her into bed. So, Stephen found a way to get you out of town," Marge said.

"Okay, please stop referring to Garza as 'the actor;' call him Raphael or Garza. Now, why was it so important to get me out of town the first week of June?"

"It was just the way it happened to work out. We knew about that class you were trying to get into out in California from conversations Kathy had with Raphael. Monty and Stephen started making calls to see if they could find someone willing to switch places to get you into an earlier class. It just happened that the first week of June was the first class they could get for you. That was the end of our involvement in the scheme. Carlos, and I guess Raphael, handled the rest."

I could only sit there and scratch my head. Things made less sense to me after listening to Marge than they did before.

I had heard enough. "Do you have anything more to tell me that I should know?"

"You need to understand one thing, I never wanted them to do this to you and Kathy, and there was no need to do it."

"What do you mean?"

"I had access to Kathy's audit schedule, so there wasn't any danger of Kathy springing a surprise on FBB without me knowing about it. I could make sure they didn't fail any more audits, and I told George that. It was all unnecessary since we would be going out of the laundering business in November, anyway," Marge said. "After November, our contact for purchasing bearer bonds would no longer be available. Besides that, Monty and Farrell wanted to retire to the Caymans.