by R E Gauthier
Nikki stuck out her hand and interrupted Kelsey from finishing her comment. “As Kelsey said, we’d like to ask you some questions about your company.”
“Of course, what is it you wanted to know. How is my old company involved in an FBI investigation?”
It was Kelsey’s turn to clarify their motives before Lyle MacConnell made another incorrect assumption. “Mr., I mean Lyle, the questions we have are not officially involved with an FBI investigation. I’m just trying to piece together some of my family’s history, and Nikki is an FBI Agent too, but she is here as my friend. These questions are not part of an official investigation.” Kelsey thought Nikki’s idea of keeping it personal would raise fewer red flags.
“God rest his soul.” Lyle made the holy cross with his right hand. “I was devastated when I learned about that night. No one deserves to die like that. But I’m not sure how much I can shed on your family history. Your father or grandmother would be better suited to answer any questions you may have.”
“These questions pertain to Uncle Ethan’s business dealings. As his partner, I felt you were the best one to answer them.”
“Our business dealings were pretty usual fare. We had contracts to build apartment buildings, recreation centers, and commercial properties.”
“Would you have ever been involved in government projects?” Nikki asked.
“We did win a few small contracts. Ethan was better at the business end than I was; that is why the company failed after he died. I found another business partner and started up this; it’s a much smaller enterprise.”
“It couldn’t have been easy to compete with the less-than-legal companies operating at the same time. Did organized crime organizations ever approach my uncle to work for them?” Kelsey wanted to move the questioning along.
“Are you asking if we were ever involved with the mob?”
Kelsey nodded.
“Your uncle never wanted to bend for them, but he tried without success, to keep them happy. We paid for protection but would never let them launder their money with us.”
“Were the mob bosses unhappy with him for not helping them with their business?”
“Yes, they were upset. Your uncle had a few run-ins, but he never backed down.”
“Do you remember the name of the mob boss, back then?” Nikki asked.
“The crime families changed hands a few times over the years. John LaRocca ruled the family back then. His underboss managed this area for the family, Jo-Jo Pecora ran the operation here until the police arrested him in 1979.”
Nikki made notes.
Kelsey asked, “did Uncle Ethan ever worry that the mafia would come after him or his family?”
“Your uncle could take care of himself; that’s why I was so surprised when I heard that a man broke into his house and gunned them down like that.”
“Police said, they were taken by surprise and shot in their sleep.”
“Ethan had installed the best security system in our offices. He installed the same system in his home. No one could have entered his home without disabling that system. Besides, he also had a gun nearby at all times.”
“My uncle carried a gun around with him?” Kelsey asked. “There wasn’t any mention of a gun found by the police in their report.” She said in a low voice for only Nikki to hear.
“Ethan didn’t need a gun but wanted one in case anyone ever came to his house. He said he could take care of himself and his family. I once saw him take on four guys that Pecora sent to put pressure on him. They all left with fat, bleeding lips, and shiners. Your uncle told them that he would keep paying, but if Pecora wanted to keep sending his men to get beatings, that was his doing. He would never back down and launder the family’s money.”
What Lyle MacConnell said didn’t make any sense. If her uncle had installed a security system in their house, then how could a two-bit thief like Daniel Richardson get inside without setting off the alarm? There was no mention of a system in the police reports or Richardson’s confession. “Did the police ask you about Daniel Richardson?”
Lyle MacConnell scratched his chin. “That’s the name of the man they caught who confessed to their murders.”
Kelsey nodded. “Did he work for Pecora?”
Shaking his head, Lyle swore under his breath. “Pecora would never have hired a sloppy guy, like Richardson. If the family did their thing, they sent men who would have killed and left nothing for the police to find. I once heard about a man and his family disappearing right from their home. No trace was ever found, but rumors swirled around for years that that guy worked for LaRocca as an accountant and the guy stole from the family.”
“So, you don’t believe that their deaths were a hit by the mob?” Kelsey wanted Lyle to tell her his theories. He must have had them at the time.
“I’m confused. I thought the police said it was a home invasion that went wrong. Richardson must have had an accomplice who helped him override Ethan’s security system. Why are you asking if I think it could have been a mob hit? Is that what happened?”
“The police never asked you about possible reasons for Richardson to target the family? Nikki asked before Kelsey had the chance to.
“The detective only asked me if I ever saw Richardson hanging around the office or if I ever saw Ethan talking to him.”
Kelsey leaned in. “What was your answer?”
“I told them I never saw him around our office or Ethan. I first saw his picture in the paper after a string of thefts weeks before that night. The article stated that someone saw a man fitting his description leaving their neighbors home after it had been robbed.”
“The police never asked you about your thoughts on anyone who would have targeted my uncle or his family?” Nikki asked.
Lyle MacConnell shook his head. “Once they found Richardson, they never wanted anything else. I even went to them a couple of years later to tell them about a man who came to ask about Ethan. He was suspicious and seemed surprised when I told him Ethan was dead.”
“Can you describe this man?” Kelsey looked to Nikki to make sure she would be taking notes. Nikki nodded her affirmation.
“He was about Ethan’s height, same build and looked like Ethan as well only older. He also spoke with a thick Scottish brogue; I found it hard to understand some of his words.”
“Did he tell you his name?” Kelsey asked.
“No. After I told this man that Ethan was dead, he asked where Ethan had lived and if he had a family. Since he didn’t know Ethan and his family were dead, I didn’t think this guy knew Ethan, so I didn’t tell him anything else and asked him to leave.”
“You told the police about this?”
“Yeah, but they didn’t seem to care they said that Ethan’s case was solved and this guy probably was looking for Ethan for money or something. Maybe this guy had something to do with Ethan’s past. He was from Scotland, you did know, that didn’t you?”
Kelsey nodded. Her uncle had come to the United States from Scotland a few years before he married her aunt. “Thank you, Mr., I mean Lyle. You’ve been very helpful in piecing together a few things for me. I do appreciate it.” Kelsey stood and walked out of the office.
“You’re quite welcome, but I’m not sure how it helps.”
Nikki took his hand. “As Kelsey said, you’ve been very helpful. Thank you.”
Nikki caught up with Kelsey as they reached the car. “What is the big hurry?”
“We have everything we could get from him. We now have a place to start to look into my uncle’s past.”
“But we didn’t find a reason why someone wanted to kill your uncle, aunt, and cousin.”
“Well, I know Uncle Ethan came here from Glasgow, Scotland. That man who came looking for my uncle two years after he died, knew him before he came to live here. That man might be able to tell us if there is a reason why someone wanted my uncle and his family dead. Didn’t you hear what Lyle said?” Not waiting to hear Nikki’s response, Kelsey continued. “Lyle sai
d the man looked and sounded like Uncle Ethan; you do know what that means?”
Nikki nodded. “Oh my God; you’re right. This man may be related to your uncle.”
“Yes, and my guess is that man may have been my uncle’s father.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Cold Case Behavioral Unit Offices, Morning, March 19, 2012
Kelsey attempted once again to shake off the deep-seated need to get on a plane and visit Scotland. Waking that morning, she kept hearing the same Gaelic words in her head. Gheibh thu na freagairtean agad aig an taigh; is ann far a bheil dìomhair. The old woman in her vision repeated them over and over as she disappeared into a thick fog. The words loosely translated to: ‘you’ll find the answers you seek at home; where secrets lie.’ While inside the vision, she thought the woman meant that she would find the truth in Nanna’s house or maybe her childhood home. Upon waking, Kelsey realized that the word ‘home’ could also be ‘homeland.’ Even though Kelsey was born and raised in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania; both her mother and father’s families’ homeland was in Scotland. Her Uncle Ethan came here from Scotland, and a man with a Scottish Brogue came looking for him after he died. In her gut, she knew her answers lay in Scotland.
“You’ve been more distracted than ever today. I thought that when we went out last night, it would have helped relax you, but I think you’re worse.” Nikki frowned as she took a large swallow of her coffee. “I’ve been talking to you, and you haven’t said one word. What is going on inside of that head of yours?”
Kelsey shook her head. She and Nikki went out the night before as part of losing the bet she made with Nikki about Lyle MacConnell remembering her from years ago. They had dinner at a pub and played pool, which did loosen Kelsey up, but her mind remained on the things they learned talking to her Uncle Ethan’s business partner. “No, I loved going out with you last night, but I keep coming back to what Lyle MacConnell said about the man asking about my uncle. I keep thinking I need to go to Scotland and find the answers we need to figure out why someone wanted Uncle Ethan, Aunt Cat, and Aisling dead.”
“Scotland? You don’t know for sure that the man is in Scotland. Before you go off chasing a twenty-year-old lead, shouldn’t we check into it more?”
“I had another vision last night. This time an old woman told me I’d find the answers at home.”
“So, look for them here or Nanna’s house. Why do you think this old woman wanted you to go to Scotland? That’s a far reach. Is it because this guy is from Scotland and your uncle was from there, as well?”
“I feel it in my gut. I cannot describe it, but it’s in the way, the old woman said ‘home’; it was more like, where I come from, or my homeland. My family all came from Scotland.”
“Okay. So, let’s say you’re right, where do you go in Scotland? It is a big place, lots of places to visit to find your answers.”
“That’s why I have you. I need you to look into my uncle’s past, look for his family, where he went to school, anything at all that could give us some answers about who this man was, who came to look for Uncle Ethan after he died.”
“I have a confession to make,” Nikki said as she dipped her head.
“Let me guess you’ve looked into his past already.” Kelsey saw it come to her from Nikki’s busy mind.
“Some guess. You have to stop doing that; it’s freaking me out. Besides, I’ve been trying to tell you this while you zoned-out on me.”
Kelsey shrugged. “Sorry, but you’ve still got some work to do on blocking me. I think it’s the volume of ideas and things bouncing around in there; there isn’t much room for control.”
“Very Funny. But yes, as I was saying, I was still wide awake when I got back to my hotel room last night, so I did a search for Ethan MacDonald and found everything I could in every database I could access.”
“Don’t keep me in suspense. What did you find?”
“Well, your uncle came to the United States early in 1974; that’s the first time I found anything on him in this country. The thing is, before 1974, I couldn’t find anything in any database for Ethan MacDonald.”
Kelsey should have been shocked, but something had told her, that her uncle’s past was murky and secretive for a reason. “I was afraid of this, but somehow I’m not that surprised.”
“Well, I searched deeper and found no birth certificates or immigration papers, or travel papers for Ethan MacDonald. If he arrived here from Scotland as you said he had, he didn’t come to the United States under the name Ethan MacDonald.”
“So, let’s recap what we do know. My uncle, aunt, and cousin are dead under mysterious circumstances. The police crime scene shows they were all shot in the head, blood spatter all over their bedsheets, and the police found a suspect, he confessed, and then he killed himself in prison. The only thing refuting these facts is my visit to the house a few days later, and I found no blood, everything looked as though my family just up and left. I also had a nightmare of a more perverse attack on my family, one that no one can explain or prove correct. Now, today you tell me that my uncle, who I only know as Ethan MacDonald, came to this country under an assumed name. We also found out a man came looking for, said uncle from Scotland. How am I doing?”
“That’s about it, in a nutshell, but I wanted to answer the question of why would someone come into this country under an assumed name. Then I realized he might have come here under his real name, but then assumed another identity when he settled into the country.”
“What did you find?”
“That’s where things get murky, and I ran into some red tape. Or I should say, my search caused a chain of reactions that brought the CIA knocking at my door.”
“Do you mean literally or figuratively?”
“Literally.” Nikki put down her coffee cup and straightened up.
“Why didn’t you say something earlier?”
“I have been trying to tell you. You’ve been off in outer space or should I say Scotland. I came here to tell you that my looking into your uncle is upsetting some very influential spooks.”
Spooks are what they called people within the CIA that didn’t exist on paper or anywhere. They had the task at wiping out problems or protecting assets for the Central Intelligence Agency. Shaking her head, Kelsey came to the same conclusion, Nikki had been able to find through her search. “Searching for my uncle’s name provoked a CIA response can mean one thing, the CIA and my uncle are involved in some way. What did they say?”
“Once they found out I was FBI, they left me with a warning.”
“What was the warning? Or let me guess, stop our investigation into my uncle’s death and they won’t make our life miserable.”
“Again, why do I even bother telling you anything?”
“Sorry, but I’ve been hearing those words in some version for years. Just the other day my father said, those very influential people would be upset if we keep looking into that night.”
“I’m thinking that soon, we’ll get a call from the Director or even higher up, telling us to stop what we’re doing.”
“I’m not about to do that. I’m even more determined to find out the truth now that we know my uncle wasn’t who he said he was. His death and my aunt, and Aisling’s deaths were not simple murders; they died because of something my uncle did for the CIA or what he did before he came to this country.”
“It makes perfect sense, that I couldn’t find anything on your uncle before 1974; Ethan MacDonald wasn’t his name, and the CIA is covering up his real identity.”
Kelsey felt even more determined to travel to Scotland to find the answers they sought. “Do you have a person in the CIA that could do some poking around, without alerting the spooks to our search?”
Nikki tapped her chin and furrowed her brows. “I may have someone who isn’t in the CIA but may have or may have not allegedly hacked into the CIA.”
“I thought that was a myth; some hackers trying to scare federal agencies into better internet
security when, in reality, they wanted to plant viruses. Is it real?”
“I can neither verify or deny; and don’t use that mind-meld or whatever it is you do, because I’m not telling you anything.”
Smirking Kelsey saw pink unicorns and leprechauns dancing in Nikki’s head. “I won’t pry, I promise. Do you think this person may or may not be able to help us?”
“I can look into it; leave it with me. I’ll do what I can and then get back to you about it.”
“Thank you, Nikki. Until then, I’ve been thinking that we could be doing something more constructive to capture Paul Washburg. The APB’s are not working because Washburg will lie low until he thinks he can make his move without alerting anyone. We don’t have an arrest warrant so we cannot put him on the FBI watchlist. But what we can do is, we can make him think he doesn’t have a choice or we can figure out a way to make him come to us.”
“What are you thinking?”
“We use the resource we have at our disposal; we have Nancy Washburg, and he wants her back. While we have her hidden, he cannot find her, but if he knew where she was, he'd go straight to her.”
“You want to use her as bait?”
“Maybe not use her as bait, but make him think that we’ve made a mistake or use the media to leak the fact that the FBI has Washburg’s mother in New York.”
“It may work but won’t he suspect something is wrong. Until now, we’ve been careful and not let anything leak to the press. How will he think we let it happen now?”
“What if it’s not us, but the hotel staff where the New York FBI office has stashed Nancy Washburg. We could have an anonymous person make a call to the newspaper that the infamous Nancy Washburg from theater-fame is still alive and staying in the hotel. We can then make a statement that refutes the initial article, making it look like we’re righting a wrong. Washburg won’t be able to ignore anything I say. When he does, we’ll catch him.”
“It could work, we have the element of surprise this time too because Washburg hasn’t been able to listen or look in on us.”
“Nikki, you’re a genius. I had wondered how we could ensure Washburg would take the bait. He may not read the paper, or believe an article about his mother, but he won’t be able to ignore anything we do.”