Murder in the Dorm (11 page)

Charlie understood then that he’d gotten all he was going to get from DeVries, so when she glanced at her watch he told her he shouldn’t keep her. She rose and gathered her bag and coat.

“Goodbye, Charlie. I do hope the next time we talk it won’t be about a murder. Take care.”

With that DeVries was gone and Charlie sat over his now cold coffee. Rather than have another cup, he paid the bill and left. At home he gave Kate the gist of what had transpired.

“You’re not satisfied.”

“No. First of all, there’s a ton of money missing. Second, there’s whoever pointed the shooter in McDermott’s direction. I still think Berger may be involved, but without more information, I just don’t know what else I can do.”

“Tell you what, you go and open some merlot while I nuke some of that chorizo stew we made and we’ll forget about the case for a while.”

Charlie thought that an excellent idea and went for a bottle.

Sunday morning Charlie slept late and it wasn’t until eleven that he was showered and dressed. Kate was making noises about doing some food shopping, remarks he carefully ignored. She liked the relative quiet of markets on Sundays while he preferred not to go out and certainly not to wander around the aisles of a market.

“Look, we’ll make a deal. Forget about the shopping and I’ll take you to lunch. Okay?”

“Okay, but I really do have to get some muffins for breakfast.”

After a brief stop at a shop, Charlie took Kate to a sushi place that, like most other Japanese restaurants in Kingsford, was really owned and run by Koreans. It struck Charlie that the place had a broader selection of sake than the Eggnest had of wine.

“I know we were going to forget the case, but just let me say this. Somebody getting DeVries’ suspect to do in McDermott establishes there’s a third party. At least there’s someone who knew about the scam. I may be wrong about it being Berger, but I’m right about there being a third party.”

“Charlie, there’s one way to make some progress, though it’ll take a little courage. Why don’t you invite Berger to lunch and just be frank about your doubts. You don’t have to put her on the spot or anything. You can just admit you thought she might have been involved and put the emphasis on there being a third person involved. She might have something interesting to contribute.”

“I think that’s a good idea. And I promise that if I don’t get something out of talking to her, I’m going to forget the whole thing. After all, I didn’t know Kelsey or McDermott, so I really have no stake in any of this except satisfying my curiosity.”

“Don’t give me that, Charlie. It’s not just curiosity. I’m sure you are curious, but I think you want to impress DeVries again. I’m sure that’s what this is all really about.”

They both laughed and got up to leave. In the car Charlie admitted to himself that Kate was partly right. He’d gotten a big kick out of his success in the Wilson case and he’d very much like to have a similar success regarding Kelsey and McDermott. He relished the idea that this time success would be even more impressive since DeVries and Matson obviously thought they’d already wrapped up the case.

Charlie would take Kate’s advice and contact Berger the next day. And if she agreed to meet, he’d be straightforward about his suspicions and make it clear that what most concerned him was determining whether there was in fact someone else involved in what Kelsey and McDermott had been doing. If Berger wasn’t involved and felt that she was under suspicion of being the mysterious third party, she might well put some real effort into helping Charlie. He’d call or email her and arrange a meeting.

Chapter 17

The Third Monday

Charlie was at his office by eight-thirty and the first thing he did was email Berger. He thought calling might be pushing it. What he suggested, keeping it cool, was that she contact him as to when they might have lunch. Charlie sent the email and went off to his nine o’clock seminar.

 
As usual, the seminar went well and Charlie forgot all about Berger and the case while talking with his students. At noon he returned to his office to put away his books and checked his email. There were a number of messages but the one that got his attention was from Berger. In the message she said she couldn’t make lunch that day, but that she’d be happy to meet Charlie for coffee that afternoon if four-thirty wasn’t too late. Charlie immediately responded, saying he would see her at the Club at four-thirty. He then went to lunch, thinking that the markets closed at four, so Berger wasn’t going to hang around Raymond, Teller for long.

The Club table was sparsely populated, as was normal for a Monday, and Charlie was deprived of his favorite interlocutors. However, as luck would have it, Sommers appeared at the main door and seemed to be alone. Charlie knew she wasn’t a Club table fan, so he got up and went over to ask if she’d like some company. She gave him a big smile and they went to a table for two. Charlie said he’d be a moment and went to rescue his sandwich and glass of wine from the Club table. Once seated with Sommers he explained he was anticipating seeing Berger that afternoon.

“You still think she might be involved in the Kelsey and McDermott business?”

“I’m trying to sort that out. I thought some frank questions might do it.”

Charlie then gave Sommers an edited account of what he’d learned from DeVries and explained he wasn’t sure things were as neat as DeVries and Matson seemed to think.

“Of course, they want it simple and wrapped up, but that doesn’t mean they’re wrong. Have you anything solid to make you think otherwise?”

“The money is missing, but it’s mainly whoever tipped off McDermott’s killer.”

“As far as the money is concerned, I’ve read about millions going missing in laundering schemes and complicated arrangements for dodging taxes. Big bucks get transferred over and over till they vanish in a mare’s nest of electronic bank transactions, but you’re right about mysterious tipster.”

Neither had any bright ideas so Charlie and Sommers talked about the latest gaffe on the part of the University provost and how the local rag had made it into big news. Charlie offered Sommers dessert or an after-lunch drink, but she said she had to get back and both left the Club. Back in his office, Charlie checked his email and found confirmation from Berger that she’d meet him that afternoon.

Berger was prompt, arriving at the Club just a minute or two after Charlie. They found comfortable chairs in one of the lounges and Charlie went for coffee and pastries. After giving Berger her coffee and offering her some pastry, Charlie got down to it.

“I won’t waste your time. I can’t quite credit the idea that with your responsibility to your mother you really planned to quit your job and start the Ph.D program next Fall. Frankly, I can’t help wonder if you what you were really interested in when you talked to me was the Kelsey and McDermott case.”

Berger sipped her coffee and looked like she’d be a great poker player, giving nothing away. After what seemed to Charlie like several minutes but couldn’t have been more than a few moments, Berger put down her coffee and spoke.

“I do want to begin a doctoral program. And I did think I could on a scholarship until I learned better. I even investigated the possibility of doing it part-time and learned only in the last few days that even though I could do the program part-time, I still can’t afford to do it. I do intend to apply, and very much want a letter from you, but I can’t apply for this coming September. But aside from the doctoral program, I did want to learn what you might know about McDermott. He was a client and I oversaw or handled a lot of his trades. When he was killed, I was concerned that if he was into something illegal it might reflect on me at Raymond, Teller.”

Berger then surprised Charlie by putting a different spin on his suspicions.

“It occurred to me when you emailed me today that you might be thinking it was McDermott who swindled my mother and that I may have had something to do with his murder. I haven’t a clue about who did swindle my mother. I checked the little information she had and got nowhere, even using Raymond, Teller resources. And that, I’m afraid, is all I can tell you.”

“How was your mother swindled?”

“A close friend told her of a great opportunity and she contacted someone going by the name of Ernest Simpson who told her she could beat bank interest if she moved her savings into what he described to her as an investment account. He told her that her friend had done so. What he didn’t tell her was that the friend only put in five thousand dollars. My mother foolishly transferred everything she had in two savings accounts, some eighty thousand, to this Simpson. She did it with certified checks, so there was no accessible bank information at his end as there’d be on a cancelled personal check or transfer. The two banks that issued the certified checks wouldn’t tell my mother or me where they were deposited without a court order. All that my mother had in hand was a worthless receipt and a so-called prospectus about the nonexistent investment account. She was left without a dime and had to sell her house to cover debts and living expenses for nearly five months. She didn’t own up to what happened for that long. I thought she was selling the house to down-size.”

“Did your mother’s friend know anything?”

“Same story, except that she only lost a fraction of what my mother lost.”

“Did you go to the police?”

“Of course, but it was useless. They sent me to some department dealing with such scams but all I got was a lecture about the credibility of the elderly. They had other complaints about Simpson, but though they tried to sound like they were on to something I don’t think they had anything at all. We heard from them a couple of times, but only reassurances that they were still on the case.”

“On the other matter, in strictest confidence, can you give me a ballpark figure of the sort of money McDermott dealt with in his account? I need to know to compare with some figures the investigating detective gave me.”

“The most I recall seeing in his account, both in cash and stock holdings, was a bit over twenty-eight thousand. He did very well; he only started with about ten thousand.”

“Thank you. The total is an interesting figure because it’s far below what we estimate he and Kelsey were juggling and what is still missing, so wherever McDermott’s share was going, it wasn’t to his account with Raymond, Teller.”

“Now let me ask you a question. You thought I was giving McDermott information when you learned he was a client and because I asked about him, right?”

“Guilty as charged.”

“Okay, I would have thought the same, so fair enough. But I can tell you this much, if they really were good at hacking, they could get account numbers just as readily as anything else. That’s an ongoing problem for brokerages, banks, retailers, and anyone else that carries accounts. I’m sure you’ve read about hackers getting thousands of credit-card account numbers from various companies. I don’t think Kelsey and McDermott would have needed anyone’s help in that respect.”

“I was told very much the same thing by someone knowledgeable about scams.”

By that time Charlie was feeling both that there was no more to be learned from Berger and that her version of events was likely right and he’d jumped to conclusions. They talked a little more and Charlie then offered her a lift. She said she had her car and they left the Club.

That evening Charlie felt down rather than relieved as he told Kate about his conversation with Berger.

“Charlie, DeVries knows what she’s doing. She’s probably right in her analysis and conclusion. I think you’re casting around for something to keep you involved in the case. I admit that the money still being untraced is a sticking point, as is whoever fingered McDermott, but I don’t see what you can do about either one.”

Later, Charlie was dropping off, still musing about Berger and leaning toward believing her. He awoke with a start about three in the morning with a smile on his face. He’d had an odd dream about Kelsey and McDermott carrying dozens of laptops. The dream had morphed into a waking realization: DeVries told him they’d found McDermott’s iPad and computer. Singular. But McDermott had two laptops. One computer was still missing.

Chapter 18

The Third Tuesday

Charlie was on his second cup of coffee, anxiously waiting for Kate to get to the kitchen so he could tell her what he’d realized. When Kate wandered into the kitchen he still waited until she’d had most of her first cup of coffee. He then told her about the missing laptop.

“Charlie, that’s important. It could mean McDermott had some other place to keep stuff or that the man in custody took it after he shot McDermott.”

“That’s a possibility. I’ll call DeVries when I get to my office.”

Charlie went to the university in time to allow him to make the call before his class. Once in his office he dialed her number but was told she was unavailable. Concerned she might want to avoid him, he left a message that he’d learned something new and important but that he’d not be available till noon as he had a class.

DeVries didn’t call until nearly one and sounded impatient.

“Charlie; I got your message. What’s up?”

“McDermott had two computers, as well as his iPad. If you found the pad and one laptop, there’s one missing, and I’ll bet it’s the one with the important stuff.”