13 Lives

by Michael Pawlowski

  It was not yet four o’clock, and the sun was already setting behind the grey mass of distant clouds. In minutes, everything would be enveloped in a veil of black where shadows are afraid to roam. He abandoned the idea that that person would call. He had waited long enough. After closing the window shutters and then the blinds, he re-lit the potbelly stove. They had electrical heating and even an oil furnace, but a single log in the potbelly stove provided enough heat for those December evenings. After that Adonio sat on the couch to watch The Cosby Show and Family Ties. It was Thursday evening, and the kettle of water with the tea cups was on the counter awaiting his parents’ return.

  The choice was clearly his and the decision he concluded was most prudent. He chose not to make the call because he knew he couldn’t rely on the evidence of a minor. The office clerk much preferred confirmation from the parents, but he ­realized that was not possible. They would not betray their ­confidence.

  Representing the interests of Revenue Canada was not always easy. There was of course always the perception that their decisions were final and that people can’t fight the government. Regardless of any such generalizations there remained the reality that this employee had principles. Those who willingly avoided taxes or chose to defraud the government in any way had to pay the price. The woman was his target. He was committed to get her, to stop her charade. But in doing so, he had to depend on reliable information. Truly, the minor’s advice would not be enough to put her away.

  Falcao eased herself from her satisfied employee. He was still smiling to himself thinking he was the world’s greatest lover as she covered him with the soiled sheet. The East Asian woman was still active in her early fifties, accomplished in many tasks and adept in numerous trades. Her frail appearance deceived most into believing her capacity was suspect. She preferred it that way, realizing that her achievements were inversely proportional to their initial perception.

  Harry would sleep soundly through the night. She was that good. It wasn’t that she ever used sex to get her way. It’s just that she used the talent that God had given her for her benefit.

  Harry was his given name before she met him. Falcao first spotted the youth almost a decade before as he tried to impress as a barker at the Mud Cat Festival in Dunnville. The youth was clearly a failure in that chore. He appeared derelict and definitely in need of a good meal. She needed someone, particularly someone who would obey her every whim and perform several chores not requiring any level of intelligence. She named him ‘Ronkwe’ meaning ‘cleaner’ in Mohawk. Falcao had no allegiance to anything Mohawk, it just seemed wise to do the little things to satisfy the native community. He would be seen as gainfully employed and she would be deemed to be a good person. To simplify his name, she called him Ronny.

  Falcao returned to her own bed and to her husband. That she had just dutifully satisfied her employee didn’t bother him much, perhaps not at all. Stuart was an invalid. She preferred the term ‘in-valid’. They had just celebrated his eightieth birthday even though he was much older. Because he couldn’t remember anything meaningful, she called it his eightieth birthday just to celebrate an occasion that caused him to happily drool while trying to consume his cake. Clearly Falcao was perceived as a kind woman who lovingly continued to provide for her husband.

  Privately she called him ‘Estupro’, a Portugese word meaning ‘rape’. That was how they met in the weeks after the war in the western Pacific. A distinguished-looking combatant in an Allied uniform meant so much to any willing woman in the devastated countryside. Such a victorious soldier meant even more to the family of a young girl in similar surroundings. It was all about ‘opportunity’. He possessed a higher rank, but his primal urge was no different than that of any infantry soldier. He celebrated with others, ultimately taking the virginity of a young woman whom he thought was at least eighteen. She was only twelve. The ‘sex card’ was played to perfection, and a month later she was on her way to Canada as his wife.

  He chose not to return to the hell he left behind during the war. His first wife had already procured a lover. The divorce from the prestige-grabbing woman was quick. However, the vixen he had been forced to marry in the Far East ultimately proved to be no different.

  The mood at breakfast was extremely tense. Obviously his parents once again did not agree. Adonio cowered away from these silent moods as if he was able to recall every moment of discord between his natural parents. “Just don’t fight,” he quietly begged his parents. They didn’t fight, at least not in front of him. Instead they just remained hushed, a silence that echoed throughout the house. After his father left to clear the dusting of snow from the walkway, his mother revealed the issue. In three days time they could take another vacation. One of their customers had, as she had done in the prior two years, offered a trip for a week to a Caribbean resort.

  “What’s wrong with that?” Adonio’s silent self-expression was immediate.

  Tenia however was not your simpleton. There were issues she told herself. “We won’t be bought!” she had already exclaimed to her husband. She was definitely more pragmatic. Her husband tended to act on a whim, being at times overly infatuated by the ‘freebees’ their industry generated.

  Tenia’s parents died approximately eight years before. With that unfortunate event, the only child, Tenia, received a magnanimous estate. Immediately, with outrageous interest rates approaching twenty percent, she turned that inheritance into an even greater profit. Anyone’s simple request for a loan after that became the foundation for their family business. They were not just the investment advisors, they became mortgage lenders.

  The woman, that Tenia called the ‘Falcon’, was their major client. It started with one loan that became liens on four properties. Tenia never trusted the Falcon. To start with: she was ­obviously East Asian, known to be an immigrant, married to a distinguished member of the military that no one ever saw, and able to purchase questionable properties and businesses from which she always generated a significant profit.

  There were other matters that caused grave concerns. Tenia deplored the reality that that woman used the Portuguese language as if to disguise her persona and most likely her intent. She had heard the name, Estuprador, that the woman called her elderly husband. “How can I trust any woman who calls her husband a rapist?”

  Tenia, during conversations the prior evening, was informed that “The Falcon Lady” wanted strippers in her bar, and that the regional bikers objected unless they shared in the proceeds, and more particularly that the application for the general entertainment license was rejected by city council. With that information alone, that woman had obviously played all of her cards. “Obviously not a poker player,” Tenia had told her husband.

  By the time his father finished shovelling the snow, the temperament inside the house returned to normal. Adonio was told about the offer for a vacation on the twenty-second of the month, in four days’ time. He was delighted. That was more than enough to ease the tension, even though Tenia continued with her suspicions. “What’s going to burn this time?”

  The first two buildings that burned to the ground were insured by another company. Falcao deliberately chose another insurer for the third hotel. Everything seemed to be working so easy for her, at least until city council denied the strippers. If she needed a loan, she got it. If insurance was necessary, there were no problems. If the Crime Prevention Bureau should have had notice of the first two fires, it didn’t. If she needed illegal liquor in plastic bottles from the States, there was no delay. As a consequence of false ledgers, concealed income and fraudulent tax returns, an audit was never finalized.

  Ronny was her tool, although she treated him like an employee. Whatever she wanted, he was there for her. If anyone ever accused her of arson because of exclusive opportunity, Ronny possessed the second set of keys. She gave to charities, provided her venues for fund raising, and supported regional sports. That some of the athlet
es used her buildings for the source of their addiction was no one’s business.

  Falcao had, prior to 1986, escaped all detection and had suitably profited from her arson adventures. In each case, she had made necessary enquiries and arrangements to assure herself quick profits. Regarding the first building, she purchased same for about twenty-five per cent of its replacement cost. To secure an outrageous figure for the replacement cost, she purchased the expertise of a property appraiser with favours and blackmail. He was so impressed that he stayed on board to repeat similar activity for her next two buildings. With the inflated figure for the replacement cost, she then approached the Smythie’s who were at the time looking for investment customers. Her request to them was simple: her assets plus their loan had to equal eighty percent of the replacement cost. That way she’d be assured of replacement cost and their investment would be secure.

  For reasons unknown except to those planning arsons, there was a rule pertinent to the handling of fire loss claims that said: if the owner was determined to be the arsonist, then the mortgagee still had the right to recover its financial interest. The extrapolation to that was: if the insurance company is compelled to pay the mortgage company its portion of the settlement funds, then the insurer has the right of recovery against the arsonist. In all that, the owner-suspected-arsonist still had the right to file his or her own Proof of Loss form and then commence litigation.

  With the first two buildings there was no accusation of arson, and the Smythie’s appropriately recovered the amount of their lien. That those two fires occurred between Christmas and New Year’s when the firefighting force was barely staffed—one in 1984 and the next in 1985—had Tenia absolutely concerned about what might happen when her family was scheduled to be away in Jamaica.

  The Caribbean waves were rough that Christmas morning. Regardless of the sun and pristine beach in the all-exclusive resort, Tenia remained apprehensive. She tried displaying a sense of enjoyment, but found that disguising her true feelings was becoming increasingly difficult.

  Adonio could easily sense there was something that was just not right. His parents never mentioned anything specific while they were away. However, he readily conjectured that it had something to do with the scant pieces of information he received the week before.

  The New York Giants won the Super Bowl on January 25, 1987 by defeating the Denver Broncos 39 to 25. The victory had been declared even before the kick-off. The pundits were absolutely certain. Similarly, Falcao was certain of her venture. The fire had been set and less than two days later relit. The police and fire department had attended on both dates. The investigation was undertaken, and her initial Proof of Loss form was filed.

  The twenty-sixth of January was the thirty-third day following the first fire. The Falcon Lady’s luck was about to change. On that morning, the claim file in its entirety was transferred to the author. In his capacity as a senior claims specialist, he was asked to handle the matter to its conclusion.

  Everything described or conveyed in the context of this narrative is determined from first-hand involvement, personal enquiries, expert reports, available evidence all deemed to be the truth. The reliability of any second-hand information and opinions expressed by various persons has been supported by other sources. Names are changed because of the suggestion of a criminal act. No charges were ever laid and no criminal act ever proven in court. However, when you stare at four aces in your hand, you know you are holding four aces.

  Falcao had insured the wooden structure with a replacement cost of two million dollars. My insurance company was lead insurer on a subscription policy involving many other insurers.

  Whatever decision we made, the others would follow. On the day the file was reassigned, all of the insurers had already concluded the owner was responsible for the arson.

  Getting to that conclusion was easy. The initial fire started inside the premises, specifically behind the bar after 6pm on Christmas Eve. No one was inside at the time. To that point, it appeared Falcao had the only set of keys. One bottom window was broken, with glass chards outside the building meaning the window could have been used to escape, not to break in. Inside the premises, the safe was open and financial records had been doused in gasoline. Behind the bar, the remnants of plastic American jugs of liquor had fallen to the floor.

  It was a three-alarm blaze. By four o’clock in the morning the fire had destroyed the building, so much so that it could not have been rebuilt using the existing foundation. Because there was a chance of embers reigniting in the breeze and without snow or rain expected, there was a guard assigned to protect the site. During the evening on Christmas Day someone attended to dismiss the guard. The remaining structure was ablaze early in the morning of Boxing Day. Authorities again attended. The building was completely levelled.

  An arsonist counts himself lucky escaping the scene after the initial blaze. No civic authority could recall any incident when an alleged arsonist returned to rekindle the blaze especially when there was not much left to be ignited.

  The independent adjuster’s first two reports told a wonderful tale of how simple it would be to prove the building owner was responsible for the fire. However, there were no photos of the glass chards, and there was no signed statement from the building owner. She had refused to provide one after allegedly receiving advice from her counsel.

  My first call was to the adjuster regarding the woman’s potential involvement in other fires. He said that he had spoken with the Fire Marshall’s Office and that to that day there had been no record of other fires involving this insured person. We needed that evidence. It seemed there were two possibilities: either the prior insurance companies didn’t file reports with the Insurance Crime Prevention Bureau, or the building owner was using another name, perhaps an Ontario Limited Numbered Company. In any event, three months later after Falcao became aware of the issue, reports on the first two fires seemingly made their way to the ICPB indicating the building owner was not suspected in those claims.

  There was not much to see at the scene. The safe was extracted from the premises by crane, and the contents were seized by the Fire Marshall’s Office. After that they were sent to Revenue Canada who had, prior to the fire, commenced their own investigation. It was affirmed that the business records were covered in gasoline, so much so that all of them could not have burned. The safe had to have been opened by someone knowing the combination as there were no signs of tampering. By mid April, Revenue Canada determined that Falcao owed the government more than sixty thousand dollars in back taxes. It then decided the government would not charge the owner for tax evasion until the insurance companies were finished with their claim. If the insurers paid the loss, there would be no tax evasion charges.

  The Equifax report, completed in conjunction with her application for the strippers three months before the fire, affirmed she had no financial motive at that time to collect insurance ­proceeds. The adjuster then discussed the matter with a city councillor who suggested her financial situation was not that solid. The Falcon Lady had recorded the mortgage loan from the Smythie’s in the name of her husband alone even though Smythie’s copy of the actual documents conveyed her sole participation in the loan.

  The insurance companies’ argument with respect to exclusive opportunity took a hit the moment Ronny signed his ­statement indicating he too had a set of keys, and that there was a third set. However he did not know who had that third set. In other words, anybody could have found that third set and gained access to the building on Christmas Eve. Ronny’s statement included a list of his many chores, clearly reflecting he was overworked and at times not always reliable. He admitted that it was possible that he left the building unlocked. The weakness of the statement lay in his testimony that he returned home after leaving the premises on Christmas Eve and that he did not see the building owner until after Boxing Day. But he lived with The Falcon Lady.

  By the end of
April, 1987 the Fire Marshall’s report was still not complete; the Crime Prevention Bureau had not finished its investigation; the fire department had completed its report without the benefit of statements from the attending fire-fighters; the police simplified its process without all of the statements. Unfortunately the investigation upon which a denial could be sustained in court was never fully completed. Evidence went missing in the first days, and everyone had jumped to conclusion about Falcao’s guilt, ultimately seeming to believe nothing more had to be done. It didn’t matter how many questions I had, or how many more suggestions were posed, not everyone was marching to the same tune.

  Having denied her claim asserted on the Proof of Loss, she instituted action against us. Each insurance company was also being sued for punitive damages that could potentially double the award.

  It puzzled me in this case that the mortgagee who had a lien of five hundred thousand dollars never filed its own Proof of Loss for that amount. That would have been a slam dunk. The mortgagee’s omission prompted our second meeting with our own lawyer. If we pushed the mortgagee to claim $500,000, then we might be inviting both the mortgagee and owner to join forces. If they remained apart, the mortgagee’s evidence could be helpful in our defense. If we didn’t instruct the mortgagee of its right to make a claim for its interest, then we might be acting in bad faith.

  Also, we discussed replacement cost and actual cash value figures. We determined then that the cash value of the original structure was in the realm of $300,000. The replacement cost with all of the upgrades to meet the building code would be about $1,000,000. She clearly over-insured the building. With adjusters from the other insurance companies present, our lawyer announced he was all gung-ho to proceed with the defense. Afterwards he spoke to me privately, being quite terse: “You’ve been ambushed.”

  After that meeting, enquiries to the building appraiser who had suggested two million dollars for the replacement costs could not be answered. His business was closed.