by Bob Blanton
“How do you know what day he’ll be making his drop?”
“It’s all coordinated through Facebook.”
“Explain that again?”
“They have a list of accounts they use. The users know which account to look at to find out where they’re supposed to get their drugs. The dealer knows which account to look at to find out when they’re supposed to drop off their money and get their box of pills.”
“Can I use that?”
“I don’t see how. I found out about it by watching Dante making posts for Frankie’s users that had to turn around when they saw the cops at Starbucks. I was able to figure out the system, but I’d guess you’d call that an illegal search.”
“Okay, we’ll skip the Facebook thing, but I’ll be happy to get your help when we get one of them to spill.”
“Right. So this next part is a bit of conjecture, but I’m pretty sure. The distributor sends the cash to Mr. Graham on Mondays. He just mails a few paperback books with money inside.”
“You can’t get that much money in a paperback.”
“You can if you cut the paper out.” Matthew drew a book-shaped rectangle. Then he drew another rectangle which turned the book into a square U. “I think they cut the paper out like this. Then you would be able to fit two stacks of money inside. With a paperback that’s a bit over half an inch thick, you’ve got thirty thousand.”
“What?”
“I haven’t seen it, but if he puts two stacks into a book, then two books into an envelope and ships it, that’s two envelopes, and you’ve just shipped one hundred and twenty grand.”
“How did you figure this out?”
“Well, Dante has a weird paper cutter in his apartment and he has the covers for paperbacks, with no pages in them. When I looked at some packages Mr. Graham picked up it looked like they had books in them. Then the shoeboxes on the plane had what seemed like book covers. Then I did the math, the money will fit inside the covers. U.S. currency is six and a quarter inches long and two and six-tenths of an inch wide. So two stacks would fit neatly inside.”
“And you know this how?”
“I looked it up when I was trying to figure out where the money was going.”
“He has an eidetic memory,” Emily added. “It drives me nuts.”
“Okay, so who picks up the package?”
“Mr. Graham drives to twelve stores on Tuesday and another ten on Wednesday. He picks up a load of ten or so packages from each, but he actually has some local kids get them while he talks on his phone. I suspect he’s only actually been inside each of the stores once, if ever.”
“And how does he ship the drugs?”
“I’m not sure, but I’m guessing he ships them through a few of the mail stores on Monday or Tuesday. He probably has kids do it too. He pays them to get his mail, so why not have them ship the boxes.”
“How many distributors does he have?”
“Using Facebook to count, I get fifty-four, the same number of packages I counted in the pallets.”
“So how many dealers does that make?”
“Eight hundred fifty or so.”
“That’s a lot of dealers to try and roll up.”
“Do you really care about them that much? If you get Graham, then the system just collapses. Like I said, he recruits people who have a legitimate life. I don’t think they’re going to go looking for another source. They’ll probably just take the money and call themselves lucky.”
“I’ll have to think about it.” Agent Peters wrote a few more notes on the pad she’d grabbed from the desk in the room. “You two should go home, we’ll talk tomorrow.”
“Barb, the room is paid for and my card is on file so you can charge things to the room. Here’s five hundred, we’ll bring more when we come tomorrow. Matt will bring his car so you can get around.”
“Okay, why don’t we plan to meet around four? That will let me buy some new clothes and study this whole thing.”
“Four it is. We’ll see you. Come on Matt, you’ve got to come up with a story to tell your mom about the car.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“What are you going to tell your mom?” Emily asked as she drove Matthew home.
“I’m going to tell her that Ms. Peters’ car got wrecked and I told her I’d let her borrow mine. That she’s an adult with her own insurance.”
“And she’s going to think that Ms. Peters is from your Kung Fu class.”
“Right.”
“And you think that’s going to fly?”
“I hope it does.”
Chapter 14
Ski Break
“I thought you were going to play tennis,” Matthew said.
“I didn’t make the draw,” Brianna explained. “Do you mind if I come on the ski trip with you guys?
“It’s fine. We’re still friends.”
“Thanks. I hope it’s not too awkward.”
“Hey, Matt, did her highness tell you that she’s coming with us next week?”
“Jason, can it,” Brea yelled at her brother.
“It’ll be fun,” Matthew said. “That is, if you can keep up with us.”
“Not going to be a problem. Brea’s ski muscles are all messed up with all that tennis. She’ll be easy prey.”
“You wish. Schussing takes nerves and balance and I have that in spades.”
“Yeah, and that low center of gravity does help, but I think . . .”
“Jason, I wouldn’t go too far with that low center of gravity thing,” Matthew said. Both Brianna and Jason were relatively short of stature compared to Matthew’s nearly six-foot height. Even Jason’s girlfriend, Alex, was taller than he was, especially in heels.
“What’s going on down there?” Alex and Emily asked together as they made their way down the stairs.
“Jason and Brea are talking smack about who’s the better skier.”
“I suggest you let the slopes answer the question. No reason to debate it until we’re there,” Emily said.
“Hey, now that Brea’s going, is Jen coming as well?”
“Yes, so we’re going to have our own personal doctor again. It’ll be just like last year. We’re even staying in the same chateau.”
“Enough about skiing; this is movie night. Have we decided on a movie yet?”
“I’m voting for Kill Bill, Volume 2,” Jason said.
“No way. You boys can watch that on your own time,” Alex told them.
“Why don’t we compromise and watch Million Dollar Baby? It’s about a woman boxer,” Emily suggested.
“Sounds great,” Jason said.
Matthew sidled up next to Emily. “You know he’s going to try to get even with you once he realizes this is a chick flick.”
“Let him try.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Matt, I’ll give you a ride home,” Emily offered once the movie was over.
“Aren’t you taking Alex?”
“No, she and Jason are going out for ice cream, he’ll drop her off.”
“Then sure.”
“Hey, what’s up with your car?” Jason asked.
“I loaned it to a friend. I’ll get it back in a couple of weeks.”
“No way I would loan my car out. Especially only two weeks after I got my license.”
“It’s not like I would be driving all over the place anyway,” Matthew said. “Besides, I get to borrow Mom’s car on the weekends.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Once they were alone in Emily’s Boxster, she turned to Matthew and asked for an update on Agent Peters.
“She’s got film of Jerome and his kid doing the drug deal. She’s also got film of the dealers dropping the money off to Dante on the trolley. She’s going to try to film the kid putting the drugs in the library next week. The timing didn’t work out this morning.”
“Does she have anything on Graham?”
“She got a warrant, actually she had her buddy get one since the DEA still thinks she’s missing. They�
��re going to open the packages Dante ships to Graham’s fake book exchange company tomorrow or Tuesday. Then they should be able to get film of Graham picking up that package and others at the mail store.”
“So when is she going to make the bust?”
“She needs next week to track the money back to him. Then she wants to catch Graham with the drugs, so that means she has to wait another two weeks until his next Catalina trip.”
“Oh, it really is going to take a month like you said.”
“Yes, getting dropped in the drink meant that we missed Graham shipping the drugs. I bet he did that on Saturday.”
“Definitely, he wouldn’t want to risk them being found on him. But based on what you’ve said, it seems he’s back to normal.”
“Sure.”
“So, you’ll keep tabs on them while we’re skiing?”
“I guess. I don’t think much will be happening, except that Graham is going to the Cayman Islands, I assume to drop off money. I’ll see what I can learn about that.”
“Are you going to grab his money?”
“Maybe, but I have to wait until Agent Peters arrests him. Otherwise, he’ll know something is up.”
“Good. Here you go, I’ll see you at school on Monday. And thanks for being cool about Brea.”
“Nothing else I could do.”
“You could have been a jerk.”
“Where’s the profit in that?”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hey, Matt, how’s the hip?” Emily asked as she took off her robe so she could join Matthew in the jacuzzi.
“It’s feeling better.”
“Aren’t you supposed to ice it?”
“I did. Now I’m applying heat.”
“When did you ice it?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
Emily looked confused for a second. “Oh, you used your portal.”
“Yes, and the freezer in the restaurant. Worked pretty good. What made you decide to join me?”
“I thought you might enjoy the company. How’s your ego after blowing that helicopter move?”
“I used chocolate to soothe it.”
Emily laughed a bit. “And how is Mr. Graham doing?”
“I knew that’s why you were here. He’s just landing.”
“Where?”
“George Town.”
“Did he pull the same trick with the jets?”
“Yes; he flew from a small airstrip outside of Charleston, South Carolina, to Owen Roberts Airport in George Town. The other jet flew from Captain Charles Kirkconnell International on Cayman Brac to Owen Roberts also. So he turned a local flight into an international flight and an international flight into a local flight.”
“And the local flight avoids customs.”
“Right.”
“Why would he have both jets fly into George Town’s Owen Roberts?”
“I think it’s because he has such limited choices. He couldn’t have the same jet return to the same airport as a different flight, someone would have figured out something was wrong.”
“Okay, let me see what’s going on, too.”
Matthew extended his portal so Emily could see through it as she sat beside him in the jacuzzi. The jet taxied to the terminal area where the luggage was unloaded and Mr. Graham exited the jet. He walked into the terminal and went directly to the Hungry Horse, the airport restaurant. He waited for a table; the airport was very busy.
“What’s he doing?” Matthew muttered.
“Follow the money!”
Matthew moved his portal over to the baggage carousel for the flight. The four suitcases with Mr. Graham’s money were just coming onto the carousel.
“Look, there are four others just like them already on the belt,” Emily said as the suitcases started to emerge from below.
As the first one started its second lap, a woman walked over and checked the luggage tag, then struggled to heft the suitcase off the belt. She pulled the handle out and started pulling the suitcase away.
“What!”
“Can you get a read on her?”
“Maybe, but what about the next one,” Matthew said as a second woman was tugging one of the other bags off of the belt.
“Are you sure that’s one of his?”
“Yes,” Matthew said, rolling his eyes. “It landed next to that brown leather bag when it came out.”
“Well, you should be able to get a fast read, she’s gorgeous.”
“And if the pattern holds, so are the next two,” Matthew said as he pointed out two other women who were waiting for their luggage. All four of the women had movie-star looks and were dressed like movie stars as well.
“Let me see what they get in to leave the airport.” Matthew moved his portal to the outside of the terminal where the first woman was standing by the curb. “What’s she doing, waiting for a taxi?”
“No, valet parking,” Emily said pointing at the sign.
“Valet parking at the airport.”
“Sure, it’s really convenient.”
Matthew shook his head as he concentrated on the woman, trying to get a read on her so he could open his portal on her later.
“Here comes her car,” Emily said.
“How can you be sure?”
“I’m not positive, but it’s a nice Mercedes SL55AMG with vanity plates. I’ll bet lunch.”
“No bet, she’s already smiling at the valet guy.”
The driver pulled the car to the curb right in front of the woman. He had lowered the top when he got the car. He hopped out right after he popped the trunk and ran around to the back to help her with her luggage, leaving the car running.
“Oomph,” he blew out as he lifted her bag into the trunk.
“Lots of shoes, sorry.” She handed him a fifty-dollar bill for the tip and got into the car. She waved at him as she drove off. The second woman was already handing in her valet ticket at the stand. The guy called her car in on the radio while she moved to the pickup point, smiling at the valet driver who was running to take care of another car pulling up.
“I bet this is her car coming now. A Ferrari 360. I guess if you’re going to be handling millions of dollars, you should be driving a nice car. Did you get a read on the first woman?”
“Not sure yet, but I have the license of the car, so we should be able to find her.”
The pattern repeated itself with the last two women.
“Did you notice that the brunette had a black Mercedes, the redhead had a red Ferrari, the blond had a yellow Corvette, and the platinum blond had a silver Maserati?”
“No.” Matthew rolled his eyes.
“Hey, what kind of investigative reporter are you going to be if you don’t notice details like that?!”
“A male one.”
“Pfft. Where is the first one now? Do you have a fix on her?”
Matthew tried to open his portal on the first woman. After a minute he gave up. “Nope, I’ll have to look up her address using the license number.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“Even the Caymans have a DMV. I’m sure I’ll be able to find a free terminal on Monday.”
“So does that mean we’re done for the weekend?”
“Other than checking on Graham. Maybe he’ll visit them.”
“Maybe, but wouldn’t that violate his separation rule. He avoids all contact with his network.”
“True, but like you said, they were gorgeous.”
Emily laughed at that. “But you should be able to focus on skiing. No more crashes.”
Matthew splashed water on her as he moved to the other side of the jacuzzi.
Chapter 15
Closing the Case
They’d flown back late Sunday night, but Matthew was up early on Monday to check on Mr. Graham. He wasn’t scheduled to fly home until 10:00 from the Caymans so Matthew was very interested in what he had planned for the morning. Plus he wanted to get into the Cayman Island’s DMV early to see if he could trace the f
our women.
Matthew checked in on Graham. He was mostly packed; Matthew had been surprised on Saturday when he realized that Graham had two suitcases that looked like the ones he’d brought on the plane. But instead of money, one of them had normal-looking clothes while the other had a scuba mask and a pair of fins as well as a fishing pole. Mr. Graham definitely likes to take care of details. Matthew assumed that the suitcases had been the women’s and that they’d simply exchanged them on the carousel. When Mr. Graham went down to breakfast, Matthew got in a quick workout and shower. Mr. Graham was just returning to his room when Matthew was getting dressed.
Mr. Graham set up a computer once he was in his room. It was a high-end laptop that must have been in the briefcase he was carrying on Saturday. Matthew positioned his portal so he could observe the keyboard as well as the screen. Mr. Graham opened five separate browser windows and logged into a bank account on each window. Of course, Matthew memorized the account numbers and passwords.
During the next hour, Matthew and Mr. Graham observed four separate deposits of one million dollars each into four of the accounts. Then the money was transferred to the fifth account, Matthew assumed it was via multiple other accounts. When the process was complete, the first four accounts had one hundred thousand each while the fifth account showed a balance of over five hundred twenty million dollars.
Matthew wondered, “Why only a million each? Each of the suitcases had to have had nearly eight million dollars in it.”
Mr. Graham closed his computer and finished packing. Matthew watched as he checked out and got a taxi to the airport. He would have to figure out what was going on with the rest of the money, but first, he had to find the three women.
It took Matthew an hour using various unattended computers at the DMV to find the four addresses. Once he had the last address he needed, he headed out for school.
◆ ◆ ◆
Matthew slid into the seat next to Emily in their French class. “Hey, nice ski tan you’ve got there.”
“Same to you buddy,” Emily replied, then whispered, “Did you learn anything this morning?”
“Yes, we’ll talk at lunch.”
“What about Agent Peters?”