Murder in the Dorm (7 page)

What about the entries in the right hand column? The higher and lower numbers could be McDermott and Kelsey’s shares and the difference of the two from the middle-column number could be the third party’s share. Why the caution about the drive? That wasn’t hard. The key thing about the files was the account numbers because they could be checked, even if it took a good while to do it.

That evening Charlie filled Kate in on what he’d learned and how it all fit his idea about a hacking scam. Kate took several minutes to think about what he’d told her and then made a telling point.

“Do you think Kelsey knew everything that was in McDermott’s files? Could that lower figure in the right hand column have been what McDermott told Kelsey they’d made, when what they’d actually made was the higher figure? Or the higher figure on the right was what McDermott took and the lower one what he gave Kelsey?”

“You know, you’re getting into this as much as I am.”

“Trouble is, if McDermott was the one cheating, why argue with and kill Kelsey?”

“I’d say Kelsey caught on, started the argument, and got killed for his trouble.”

Before sleep that night Charlie grinned at Kate’s interest in the case. She’d come up with a couple of good points and probably would come up with more. As he shifted a bit to get more comfortable something niggled at him. It was something DeVries had said earlier. But what was it? Charlie tried to put the thought aside and go to sleep.

It was as he was just dropping off that it happened. In his mind’s eye he saw a dumpster. What was important about a dumpster? Then he had it. DeVries had said McDermott’s body had been found behind a dumpster, not in a dumpster. Why would the killer not do a better job of hiding the body? Perhaps it was because the killer couldn’t lift six-foot McDermott into the dumpster and could only push the body behind it? That meant the third party was likely a woman.

Chapter 10

The Second Weekend

Saturday morning Charlie awoke wondering if it was it okay to call DeVries on a Saturday. She’d obviously been working last weekend, but she might be off on this one. He decided he’d wait till ten to be on the safe side.

Charlie got up, careful not to wake Kate, and went downstairs to fix some breakfast. He thought some more about the differences in the right-hand column that DeVries had mentioned. If McDermott was skimming, if he was cheating Kelsey, then their argument made sense. Somehow Kelsey had found out or at least suspected. They argued. McDermott hit Kelsey with the bookend. Then the third party had reason to get rid of McDermott. He or she may have guessed why Kelsey and McDermott argued. McDermott would have suddenly looked like a risk. Probably the scam wouldn’t work without Kelsey or someone to replace him, and if there was need to get someone new, might as well not take any chances and replace McDermott, too.

Charlie was halfway through his second cup of coffee when Kate entered the kitchen. He knew better than to start chatting so waited till she had her coffee.

“Do you think I’ve got enough to call DeVries?”

“I think so. You don’t have to spend a lot of time talking to her; just fill her in on your idea about the scam and explain you think McDermott was short-changing Kelsey.”

Charlie finished his coffee and went to shower. Just after ten he called DeVries.

The woman answering the phone said that DeVries was in her office but had someone with her and would call Charlie back.

A good forty minutes went by while Charlie frittered. Finally the phone rang and it was DeVries. Charlie first gave her a brief account of the sort of scam Blake had described and how it fit in with McDermott and Kelsey’s computer expertise. Then he told her that he and Kate thought the right-hand column of figures might indicate that McDermott was cheating Kelsey. DeVries asked Charlie to wait while she had a look at the figures.

“Charlie, you may be onto something. I’ve worked out several right-hand column pairs at random and they all come up differing by almost exactly twenty percent. It looks like McDermott may have been skimming a fifth of what they got, assuming the larger figures were his cut.”

After hanging up, Charlie felt frustrated. On Monday he’d talk to Sommers again, but that seemed too far off. He tried to think of what he might do now. After stewing a bit he went to the Merritt directory and found Sommers’ home number. It wouldn’t hurt to speed things up a bit. First he’d check with Kate.

Kate suggested they take Sommers to lunch or for drinks later that afternoon, as she was interested in what Sommers might have to say.

Charlie called Sommers. He explained to her that he’d learned some things since their last conversation and that he and Kate would welcome her ideas on what they’d learned. He proposed lunch or drinks later.

“Sorry, Charlie, but I have something on this afternoon; my nephew is visiting. How about brunch tomorrow? We could meet at eleven. He wants to see some friends before I drive him to his train at five-thirty.”

“That sounds good. What about meeting at The Eggnest? They do a great brunch, complete with champagne spritzers.”

Arrangements made, Charlie read through the paper while Kate dressed for their Saturday lunch and a little shopping.

Sunday morning was clear and sunny. Kate and Charlie were at The Eggnest early and took a table by the window. Charlie ordered three EggBursts, the doctored-up spritzers. The server had just delivered the drinks when Sommers turned up.

“Janice, this Kate; Kate, Janice. Do sit down; the drinks just came.”

Charlie watched the two women size one another up while exchanging pleasantries, an unspoken ritual Charlie thought was hardwired into double-X chromosomes. The usual innocuous chitchat ensued, the menu was perused and discussed, orders placed, and then Charlie filled Sommers in on what he’d learned, particularly the scams Blake had described.

“That sounds interesting, but I assume you’re hoping I might help with more details?”

“Since you teach senior courses in computing I thought you might discuss some scams to warn off students.”

“Well, it’s not so much to warn them off. The fact is that scams have become part of the material we need to cover. The latest one is scary. Users are conned into downloading email attachments that secretly install software. When the software is installed, it encrypts all the data files on the computer’s drive. Then users get emails telling them that in return for payment their files will be unencrypted. Virus programs don’t seem to be coping with this new scam. What the authorities are trying to do is to trace and block the payments. Amazing how many people don’t back up their files and have no choice but to pay a ransom for their files.”

Their orders arrived at that point and little was said while they started on their dishes. After a bit Charlie prompted Sommers a little and she continued.

“One scam that we discussed in class was pretty much what you said Blake described, but maybe a bit more complex. It involved two people, a hacker and someone who worked for a brokerage firm. What they were doing was triggering or delaying automatic-sell orders. These orders are all computer exercised because their point is to prevent losses on stocks, so don’t involve anyone actually executing them.”

“I understand that much. What were these two doing?”

“Two things; they found auto-sell orders lower that a stock’s price then triggered the sell orders and bought the stock themselves at the auto-sell price. They’d wait a few minutes and sell the stock at the corrected price. That’s pretty much what Blake described to you. The added fillip was that they also sold stocks short, you know, essentially borrowing shares from their brokers as people do when they think a stock is going to drop. Then they triggered the auto-sell orders and bought the stock at the auto-sell price. They paid back the borrowed shares and kept the difference.

“Certainly big money could be made that way.”

“Definitely, but it wasn’t easy. One guy had to hack into the auto-sell computers and trigger or delay the orders while the brokerage insider exercised and doctored their own orders. They were caught because all brokerages have multiple backup systems and the insider couldn’t doctor them all. But they made a lot in just a few months.”

“Janice, this has been very helpful. The detectives I’m trying to help need to know as much as they can about the possibilities, and this auto-order scam you’ve just described seems to me the best idea of what Kelsey and McDermott were doing.”

Kate, Charlie, and Sommers talked a bit more. She told them about her nephew and they finished brunch. It was getting on to one o’clock and Sommers said she really should be going. Kate and Charlie stayed for more coffee and discussed what Sommers had told them. Both agreed DeVries should be told, but both wished there was more to tell her.

“You know, Charlie, Janice said that in the scam she described one of the scammers worked for a brokerage company. I’m willing to bet that even if Kelsey was doing the actual account stuff, the third party is in a brokerage and was providing information for Kelsey and McDermott.”

“Yes, given their expertise, I can see McDermott doing the hacking of the auto-order computers and Kelsey doing the buying and selling, but they’d either need or could do better with information provided about the accounts. I can’t help thinking that Kim Berger works in a brokerage. Trouble is, she’d hardly volunteer that McDermott had an account with Raymond, Teller if she was in on the scam.”

“You said she blurted out McDermott was a client to Janice.”

“Yeah, but if she were involved I doubt she’d have blurted anything to Sommers. I did spend a little time looking up Berger in the social media. She wasn’t on Facebook or Twitter but does have a LinkedIn account. Unfortunately, it’s all business contacts.”

“You should mention her to DeVries. For one thing, Berger might have been trying to look innocent, you know, by being up front about McDermott’s account. It’s something the police would eventually have learned, or at least she had to assume so.”

“That’s a good point. But as for calling DeVries, this is all conjecture. She’s got the basics and a lot of professional help. I’m not sure I’ve got enough to bother her.”

With that Charlie and Kate went home. The rest of the day passed uneventfully and that night Charlie decided that he might as well call DeVries the next morning. He did have a little more detail and she might have learned something she was willing to share.

Chapter 11

The Second Monday

Over his morning coffee Charlie had second thoughts about calling DeVries. Mainly, he still doubted that Berger could have been involved with Kelsey and McDermott and have told Sommers and himself about McDermott having a Raymond, Teller account. Still, Kate did have a point. Berger might have been anticipating what the police surely would have found out. Charlie was still dithering as he showered, shaved, and dressed. When he got to his office, Charlie prepared for his seminar and put off calling DeVries.

The seminar went well and absorbed Charlie’s attention. He was a bit late getting back to his office because of a discussion with one of the students, and was hurrying to get to lunch when his phone rang. It turned out to be DeVries.

“Charlie; I hoped I’d get you before you went to lunch. I’ll just be a minute but thought I should pass this on in the hopes you might speak to your computing colleague again. I think her name was Sommers?”

“Yes; what’s up?”

“Well, it’s rather odd. The techie that did most of the decrypting of the drive we found in McDermott’s apartment came up with something strange. It seems that while the files of McDermott’s e-statements from Raymond, Teller were his own, the files with the mysterious sets of numbers weren’t his. Kelsey originated the files. They’re Word files and have details about their originator and date first opened.”

“That’s surprising. Could Kelsey have been cheating McDermott and not the other way around? We may have been wrong about McDermott being the dominant figure, though he certainly sounded like it. I don’t know how this fits what I wanted to tell you, but Kate and I think it’s just possible that Kim Berger, the woman working at Raymond, Teller who told me about McDermott’s account, might have been involved in the scam. Her position makes that somewhat likely. Kate thinks she might have told about McDermott’s account to look innocent. It may be a stretch, but there could be something to it.”

“So Berger could be the third party?”

“One thing that fits is that if she shot McDermott, she wouldn’t have been able to lift him into that dumpster.”

“That’s a point, Charlie. As for the account, we would have found out about it, so mentioning it wouldn’t have been much of a risk and it would look like an innocent slip. Interesting. I’m going to have to have a closer look at Berger. In any case, could you see if you can get any more from Sommers or perhaps someone else?”

 
After finishing with DeVries Charlie wasted no time.

“Janice Sommers.”

“Hello. This is Charlie. Glad I caught you. Is it too late too invite you to lunch at the Club?”

“Decidedly not. I was just sitting here staring at an uninviting tuna sandwich. See you there in about three minutes.”

Seated at a table for two, Charlie ordered wine for them both and began by filling in Sommers on what he’d learned so far, leaving out references to Berger for the moment.