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Buried Secrets

Page 32

by Joseph Finder


  A lot of people in the FBI’s Boston Field Office helped me get the details right, particularly Supervisory Special Agent Randy Jarvis, a real-life action hero who runs the violent crimes task force; Kevin Swindon in digital forensics; Ed Kappler in firearms; Steve Vienneau in crimes against children; and S.A. Tamara Harty of the CARD team in Providence. Thanks especially to Special Agent Gail Marcinkiewicz, for introductions and guidance.

  A few hedge-fund titans generously took time with me to explain the intricacies of their business—time they could have spent trading and making millions. Yes, I feel guilty about that. But also grateful, to Jon Jacobson of Highfields Capital Management, Richard Leibovitch of Gottex Funds (whose son, Jeremy, demonstrated Call of Duty), Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management, and Seth Klarman of the Baupost Group. Kristin Marcus at Highfields explained how funds are structured, as did Steve Alperin of the Harvard Management Company.

  Once again, Nick Heller was backstopped by a team of “private spies”: Skip Brandon and Gene Smith of Smith Brandon International, Terry Lenzner of the Investigative Group International, and Jack Devine of the Arkin Group.

  Lawyers, guns, and money: deepest thanks to Jay Shapiro for legal advice; Dr. Ed Nawotka, Jr., on guns and ammo; Jack Blum, expert in offshore banking, shell companies, and money laundering, for help figuring out the big swindle; and to my old friend and unindicted co-conspirator, Giles McNamee, owner of Nick’s Land Rover Defender 110, Coniston green.

  For background on computer forensics, thanks to Anish Dhanda and Rich Person of DNS Enterprise, Inc., Simson Garfinkel, Mark Spencer of Arsenal Consulting, and Larry Daniel of Guardian Digital Forensics. For eavesdropping detection, Kevin D. Murray of Murray Associates; for satellite communications, Wolf Vogel; and for covert entry and security, Marc W. Tobias, Michael Huebler, and Jeffrey Dingle of Lockmasters Security Institute. Thanks as well to Randy Milch, general counsel at Verizon; Michael Sielicki, chief of police, Rindge, New Hampshire; Maj. Greg Heilshorn of the New Hampshire Air National Guard; Kevin O’Brien; Justin Sullivan of RegentJet; Mercy Carbonell of Phillips Exeter Academy; and Kevin Roche of the U.S. Marshals Service. Raja Ramani of Pennsylvania State University, Brian Prosser of Mine Ventilation Services, and Kray Luxbacher of Virginia Tech all provided important logistical details about Alexa Marcus’s underground ordeal. And Dennis Sweeney of Dennis Sweeney Funeral Home in Quincy, Massachusetts, kindly gave me a taste of what Alexa Marcus went through. I really hope never to do it again as long as I’m alive.

  Domo arigato to Nick Heller’s personal trainer, Jack Hoban, ethical warrior and musician. Christopher Rogers of Grubb & Ellis found me Nick Heller’s “steampunk” office in downtown Boston, and Diane Kaneb graciously let me move Marshall and Belinda Marcus into her family’s graceful waterfront house in Manchester. Hilary Gabrieli and Beth Ketterson told me a bit about Louisburg Square. Lucy Baldwin was Alexa Marcus’s fashion consultant. Vivian Wyler and Anna Buarque of my Brazilian publisher, Rocco, helped with the Portuguese. Liz Berry gave me some wonderful tips on how to tell a real Georgia native. Thanks to Sean Reardon of the Liberty Hotel, Ali Khalid of the Four Seasons Hotel, and Mike Arnett of the Mandarin Oriental, for hotel security details; and to my brother, Dr. Jonathan Finder, and Dr. Tom Workman, for medical information.

  The perfume that Nick gives Diana, Nombre Noir, is real (though discontinued and almost impossible to find). It was suggested to me by two remarkable perfume experts, the biophysicist (and “emperor of scent”) Luca Turin, and his wife, the writer Tania Sanchez.

  With all these experts in my corner, if I’ve made any mistakes, obviously one of them must have left something out.

  There’s no better literary agent than Molly Friedrich. At the Friedrich Agency, thanks as well to Paul Cirone, and—for some extremely astute editorial insight—Lucy Carson. I’ve got a terrific web manager, Karen Louie-Joyce, and a top-notch editor and researcher in Clair Lamb.

  Without Claire Baldwin, my assistant, I wouldn’t get a damned thing done. You’re the best.

  To my brilliant editor, Keith Kahla: I know I drove you crazy writing this book … but you got me back good.

  Henry Finder, editorial director of The New Yorker, was an invaluable contributor at every stage, and yes, he’s my younger brother.

  Since the age of two, when she poured a sippy cup of water over the keyboard of my laptop, my daughter, Emma, has been an astute critic of my work. With Buried Secrets she turned her acute editorial eye to some crucial scenes and saved me from some embarrassing gaffes. I’d say you rock, Em, but then you’d say I’m just some pathetic old guy trying to sound cool.

  My wife, Michele Souda, had the hardest job of all: being married to a writer. Thanks for standing by me all this time. I know it ain’t easy to keep dancing.

  —Joseph Finder

  Boston, Massachusetts

  By Joseph Finder

  FICTION

  The Moscow Club

  Extraordinary Powers

  The Zero Hour

  High Crimes

  Paranoia

  Company Man

  Killer Instinct

  Power Play

  THE NICK HELLER SERIES

  Vanished

  Buried Secrets

  NONFICTION

  Red Carpet: The Connection Between the Kremlin and America’s Most Powerful Businessmen

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  BURIED SECRETS. Copyright © 2011 by Joseph Finder. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.stmartins.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Finder, Joseph.

  Buried secrets Joseph Finder. — 1st ed.font>

  p. cm.

  ISBN 978-0-312-37914-8

  1. Kidnapping—fiction. 2. Missing persons—Fiction. 3. Criminal investigation—Fiction. 4. Corporations—Fiction. 5. Investments—Fiction. 6. Boston (Mass.)—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3556.I458B84 2011

  813'.54—dc22

  2011004443

  First Edition: June 2011

  eISBN 978-1-4299-8733-2

  First St. Martin’s Press eBook Edition: June 2011

 

 

 


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