by S F Bose
“Did Meagher ever contact you about the loss of Sharon and the children?” Sam asked.
Simon shook his head. “Never. Not once.”
“Did you go to the memorial service?” I asked.
“I did. It was very surreal and difficult to get through,” he replied.
I remembered Nana Anna mentioning that Harley, Edith, and Sue had left to be with family after the memorial service for Sharon and the children.
“After the memorial service, the Hill family traveled up north to see you, Sharon, and the children, didn’t they?” I asked.
Simon nodded. “They did. I was concerned because I didn’t know if Meagher would notice that Harley, Edith, and Sue left Mystic Grove for a while. So I rented a different house for their visit and we all gathered there. They took a convoluted route to the house to make sure they weren’t being followed.”
“It must have been nerve-wracking for them,” I said.
“It was,” Simon agreed. “Sharon was thrilled to see her parents and sister. The children were happy too. They all hugged and talked for hours. After that, we spent a lot of time discussing the options. Going back to Mystic Grove was out of the question. Sharon was convinced Meagher would try to murder her again and that law enforcement wouldn’t protect her from him. Harley wanted to kill Meagher, but we talked him out of that. We decided the main goal should be to protect Sharon and the children.”
“How?” Sam asked.
Simon smiled. “I won’t go into details, but first I arranged for new identities for Sharon and the children. As a lawyer, I had some useful contacts. They provided us with birth certificates, other documents, and a traceable family history. Sharon became Sylvie, Kiara became Kerry, and Michael became Mackenzie. They all had a new last name for a while.”
“What did you do then?” I asked.
“After we had the new identities, I created an LLC with Sylvie as the manager. That allowed her family and me to deposit money into the LLC checking account. Sharon had also opened a personal checking account under her new name. Then Sharon as Sylvie would transfer some of the money from the LLC account to her new personal checking account. Once we had that mechanism in place, we knew she could pay her bills with her personal checking account for a while. It sounds overly complicated, but at that stage we didn’t want to write checks directly to Sylvie. After that, Sharon got a drivers license with her new name and we bought a car for her. Eventually, she got a job at an antiques store.”
“That was quite a plan,” Sam commented.
Simon shrugged. “We did what we had to do. I also convinced her family that they should stay as far away from Meagher as possible. They had to let go of the idea of punishing him.”
“How did they manage that?” Neville asked.
“I think it was their faith. They decided to put Meagher’s future in God’s hands,” Simon replied. “They also didn’t want to do anything that would harm Sharon or the children.”
“Did you continue driving up to the cabin?” I asked.
“Yes, I drove up almost every weekend,” Simon replied. “After a while, I realized how happy I felt when I drove up to see Sharon and the kids and how… alone I felt when I returned to Mystic Grove.”
Smiling, Simon looked at Kerry and Mac. “Sharon and I fell in love. We married and moved from the cabin to a larger house. I adopted Kerry and Mac. Later, Sharon and I had two more children.”
“But Sharon was still married to Meagher,” I said.
Simon nodded. “We didn’t think twice about it. I married Sylvie, and in our view, it was a valid marriage. Meagher had tried to kill her and later had her declared dead so he could collect the insurance. Technically, Sharon Meagher no longer existed.”
“And your law practice?” Sam asked.
“I formed a partnership with two other attorneys and we combined our client base. One of my goals was to expand our clients in the northern part of the state. However, I still returned to Mystic Grove to represent some of my original clients. We were young and aggressive and the partnership did very well,” Simon replied.
“What about your family? Did you have to hide Sharon’s real identity from them?” Sam asked.
Simon shook his head. “Dad died when I was ten and Mom raised me. She was a wonderful woman who knew and liked Sharon. Mom was a lawyer and the reason I went into the law. She passed away when I was in college, before the problems with Meagher occurred. I don’t have any siblings, but I do have aunts, uncles, and cousins who mostly live in the Chicago area. They didn’t meet Sharon until after we married. We’ve visited with them and never worried about anything getting back to Meagher.”
“Why did Sue move back home with her parents? My grandmother thought it was because she was grieving over Sharon. But Sue knew her sister was safe,” I said.
“Sue was scared to death of Meagher for years. It wasn’t until she met and married Leon that she felt safe again. Still, she and Leon stayed on the farm until they all moved to Cross Plains,” Simon replied.
“Why didn’t they move up by you?” Sam asked.
Simon shrugged. “We were all still cautious about Meagher. Years ago, Sue and Leon bought a large place in Egg Harbor, which is close to us. They’d come up for vacations and some weekends. Sharon and Sue would visit and all the kids got together there. We had to be careful there. When they returned home, Sue taught her children to avoid saying anything specific about their family up north. We also never ever posted a photo of Sharon on social media. Sometimes Harley arranged for hired hands to mind the farm and he and Edith came up for a visit. Once Harley retired from farming, he and Edith came up more often. Now that Meagher is dead, we’ll have more freedom to visit back and forth. Eventually, when Sue’s kids are out of school and settled, she and Leon plan to retire in Egg Harbor. I’m sure Edith and Harley will come live with them.”
“Being away from her family must have been so hard for Sharon,” I said, thinking of my own family.
“It was,” Simon agreed. “She’s suffered from anxiety and depression ever since that day on the boat. There were times in the early years when she was hospitalized. However, time, therapy, and medication helped her immensely. As she felt better, she threw herself into all of the kids’ activities and also owned a thriving antiques shop.”
“Her depression and anxiety have gone away?” Sam asked.
“I’d say they’re under control. If life gets overwhelming, she goes to a retreat house for women where they specialize in treating anxiety and depression. They’ve been a lifesaver for Sharon. One of our goals is to help the retreat house grow and perhaps expand to other states.
“Does your wife know that Meagher is dead?” Neville asked.
Simon nodded. “She does. It was a great relief for her. I asked her to drive down to Mystic Grove with me today, but she wasn’t ready yet. I hope in the future we can drive to Cross Plains for visits with her family.”
“I hesitate to ask this question, but I’m curious how you managed all of this financially. You were a young lawyer with a fairly new law practice. But you had a home, a boat, a cabin, and cash resources,” I said. “Was your practice that lucrative?”
Simon smiled. “It’s a fair question. I had a trust fund from my maternal grandparents. I also inherited property, funds, and some life insurance money when my dad and later my mom died. The boat had been Dad’s and he left it to me. The house was our family home and I inherited that after Mom died. And the cabin has been in my family for generations. We’ll own that forever. I also had a solid legal practice even that early in my career. I was very fortunate.”
Sam leaned back in his chair and tilted his head as he looked at Simon. “There’s one thing I don’t understand. Why did Kerry and Mac come back to Mystic Grove? Didn’t that frighten your wife even more, knowing that her children were in the same village as Meagher?”
Simon’s mouth tightened and he shook his head. When he glanced at Kerry and Mac, they avoided his look.
Simon frowned and looked back at Kerry and Mac.
“The condo rental was a great deal. And I couldn’t turn down the community policing assignment the editor gave me,” Kerry protested. “I had no idea it would lead me to Meagher.”
“It came out of nowhere, Dad,” Mac agreed. “We knew you’d worry so once we started having problems with Meagher, we didn’t say anything. Besides, he never knew who we really were. If he had checked our driver’s licenses, they’d go back to Fish Creek. And we don’t look anything like we did when we were kids.”
“I don’t know about that. There’s a definite resemblance between Kerry and both your Aunt Sue and your mom when they were younger,” I said.
Mac shrugged. “When Meagher stopped us in the car, he never batted an eye.”
“Yeah, he didn’t recognize me,” Kerry confirmed.
Simon shook his head again. “Poor judgement any way you look at it. And your mother will never hear about it from any of us.”
“She won’t,” Mac said firmly.
“I swear she won’t,” Kerry agreed.
“How did you two keep your mother from finding out you were living in Mystic Grove?” Sam asked.
“We used cell phones and email to stay in contact,” Kerry replied. “And we mailed any birthday or holiday cards from Madison.”
“Your mother didn’t write to you or send cards?” I asked.
“Oh for incoming mail, Mac had a P.O. box in Madison with a forwarding service for his mail. I told mom to send my mail to the newspaper because I was there more than I was at home.”
“Very creative,” Neville said. Kerry and Mac smiled. When Simon looked at them, their smiles quickly disappeared.
Then Simon stood and removed his wallet from his pants pocket. He sat down and extracted several photographs.
“This is a picture of Sharon and me a couple of years before she married Meagher,” he said and handed it to Neville. When Neville gave it to me, I smiled.
Simon and Sharon, both in their late teens, stood in a garden and smiled shyly into the camera. Sharon wore a simple dress. Her auburn hair touched her shoulders. Simon’s hair was longish but neat. He wore khakis and a long-sleeved shirt.
“That’s Sharon, for sure. I think I recognize the garden too. You made a nice couple even back then,” I said and smiled. I handed the photo to Sam.
“That was taken in Edith’s garden at the farm. We were so young,” Simon said and grinned.
He handed a second photo to Neville. “This is a photo of the entire family from last Christmas. The younger kids are Peter and Kate.”
Neville took the photo Simon offered and examined it. Then he handed it to me. Simon and Sharon stood in front of a Christmas tree with their arms around each other. They were surrounded by Kerry, Mac, Peter and Kate. The kids all had auburn hair and blue eyes. Everyone wore Christmas sweaters and jeans.
I stared at Sharon. She was thinner than her sister, Sue, but I could still see the family resemblance. Sharon wore her auburn hair in a bob. Her shy smile reached her eyes.
“Sharon looks happy,” I said to Simon and he smiled. I passed the photo to Sam.
“I hope so,” he replied. “She deserves all the happiness in the world. Now that Meagher is gone, I think she’ll be able to relax.”
“She will,” Kerry said with confidence and Mac nodded.
Simon took the photos that had circled to Mac and Kerry and then back to him. His face softened as he looked at the photos and returned them to his wallet.
Suddenly Sam sat up liked he’d received an electric shock.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Sam rubbed his face and looked at Kerry and Mac. “Could you two excuse us for a moment? There’s something I need to discuss in private with your father.”
Kerry frowned. “Something bad? Something about us?”
“We’re not kids you know,” Mac said.
Sam shook his head and smiled. “Not bad at all and not about you two. However, I need to speak with your dad in private. He’s the client of record.”
“It’s okay,” Simon said. “Wait outside. I won’t be long.”
Kerry and Mac stood and walked toward the door. Neville and I stood too but Sam said, “You two stay please. Liz, could you close the door?”
“Sure.” I followed Kerry and Mac. They both walked up to the floor fan and stood in front of it trying to cool off. I shut the door. When I turned around, Sam looked at me expectantly.
Chapter 44
“Liz, could you please get the evidence box?” Sam asked.
“Sure,” I replied and walked through the door that connected our offices. Sam was putting something on the floor near his desk when I returned with the evidence box. I put it on his desk and retreated to my chair.
Sam stood and removed the cardboard cover. Neville and I exchanged a glance. Simon’s eyes watched Sam as he went through the materials in the box. He removed several pieces of paper and put the box and cover on the floor. Then Sam sat down and smiled.
“What’s the issue?” Simon asked.
“We found this in Steven Meagher’s office. He had it hidden in his desk,” Sam replied. He leaned forward and held out the Will to Simon. Simon took the Will and glanced at it. He removed dark-framed glasses from his breast pocket and put them on. Then he read the Will.
“1993,” Simon said quietly. “He left almost everything to Sharon.” He looked up.
Sam nodded. “Larissa, his current wife, told us they never drew up new Wills because they were superstitious. They also never had children together and to her knowledge Meagher didn’t have any other living children.”
Simon sat back and glanced at the Will again.
“If you’re suggesting that we make a claim on the Will, that would be complicated. Steven Meagher had Sharon declared legally dead. I’d have to reveal creating illegal identities for Sharon, Kerry, and Mac, which would be problematic. I can say with certainty that no one in my family wants a thing from that man.”
“I understand. This is something else we found in his desk,” Sam replied and extended his arm. He handed Simon the photograph of Sharon and the children that we’d found in Meagher’s office.
Simon sat back. As he looked at the photo, he frowned. “Meagher kept this?”
“Yes, it was in his desk drawer,” Sam replied. Simon placed the photo on the edge of Sam’s desk.
“We also have this,” Sam said and lifted Meagher’s briefcase on top of his desk. He stood and opened it.
“Meagher’s receptionist found this bag in a hidden compartment in Meagher’s office closet. It was locked when she brought it to us, so I don’t think she knew what was inside. I’d ask her, but she’s left the state,” Sam said.
He pulled out the manila envelopes and something else. Then he returned the briefcase to the floor behind his desk.
“We found another photo of Sharon and the children in the briefcase,” Sam said and handed it to Simon. Simon took the photo, glanced at it, and put it on the edge of the desk with the other picture.
Sam sat down and opened one of the envelopes. He slid out the paper wallets and placed the stack on top of the empty envelope.
“This is where it gets complicated,” Sam said. “Do you kn
ow what bitcoin is?”
“Yes, from my children,” Simon replied and smiled.
“Good. Well, one of the things we discovered about Meagher was that he played high-stakes poker and was very good at it. He set up an LLC, which we believe he used in part to launder some of his gambling profits. From what he told someone else, we also think he evaded taxes by moving some of his winnings to bitcoin. Each of these sheets of paper is a paper wallet. We did a spot check of eighty of the wallets and found they each contained fifty bitcoin. Did I get that right, Neville?”
Neville nodded. “Yes you did.”
“Do you remember the totals you calculated?” asked Sam.
“Yes. The value of bitcoin changes during each day so the totals each day would vary,” Neville replied. “Each of the two envelopes contains two hundred wallets. Assuming each wallet contains fifty bitcoin, then each envelope is worth approximately two million three hundred and eighty dollars. The total for both envelopes would be four million seven hundred and sixty thousand dollars. Again, the value will change daily. Also, it’s possible that some wallets contain more than fifty bitcoin and others contain less. You’d have to do a complete audit to get an accurate total.”
Simon looked from Neville to the stack of wallets and back to Neville again.
“Are you serious?” asked Simon.
“Completely,” Neville assured him.
“That’s unbelievable,” Simon said.
“It is,” Sam agreed. “The complications are that a lot of the money probably came from illegal poker games and again, we don’t think he paid taxes on the winnings.”
“Illicit earnings,” Simon replied and nodded.
“What I’ve been struggling with is the ownership. Legal issues aside, the bitcoin are a part of Meagher’s estate. His wife is a co-conspirator in his death. Even if they find her not guilty, she wouldn’t inherit because of Meagher’s Will,” Sam said. “I think now that the rightful owner would be your wife. However, the feds would no doubt try to take it all as illegal gambling income.”