Nathan March Investigations - Book 1: Jaded Justice - episode 11
episode one
episode two
episode three
episode four
episode five
episode six
episode seven
episode eight
episode nine
episode ten
Episode Eleven
“Sam you’re going with them?” asked Dina looking curious.
“Oh don’t you dare try to tell me that you and your gentleman friend will miss us,” George said knowing that shortly Dina’s favorite security guard would be coming in for some hot coffee and a little nuzzling.
“Remember don’t move too fast or he’ll lose interest,” said Sam as he kissed her goodbye.
“You stay safe for us, while we pick each other’s brains for some fresh ideas elsewhere,” said John as he embraced this beautiful lady who had made living at the manor house feel like a home for them.
“If you decide your new boyfriend is not up to the task, I’ll be waiting,” said George seriously wishing her all the happiness in the world.
On cue Dennis Cleary came into view and now she hoped she looked better than she felt. When she went inside with him and closed the door, his sweet kisses told her that she looked great to him.
Thirty minutes later Sam Weiss heard his desktop, which was sitting on his passenger seat, alert him that an email had just arrived. He was surprised that Kiki, a nickname he used for a very successful friend, might have already located an offshore account in a Cayman Islands bank after searching through two-hundred and eighty of them.
Kiki had been asked to search for an account that had been established in the last seventy-two hours in the name of Anderson, Godfrey, Mason or Phelps. It wasn’t exactly legal to ask for assistance like this but Kiki, a Cayman citizen and highly respected banking expert owed Sam a favor since college days which Sam had called in, with no guilt for doing so.
At the stop light he opened the email and there it was a message that two new offshore accounts in the name of Adrian Phelps, and Thomas Mason had been set up, but the Phelps assets were quickly transferred to another account back in the states and that’s all the information he could access on the account. The Mason account, was supported by proper identification, work history, references, etc., etc., and opened with a bank draft the amount of which Kiki couldn’t verify. He did relay that the money had been transferred by a U.S. bank out of New York, with a branch in Concord, New Hampshire.
Sam’s reply was short and sweet as he typed “Debt Paid in Full.”
”Speak to me,” said John Barry answering his cell phone.
When Sam relayed the information he had just received, John was very pleased. The verification cleared up a lot because if Godfrey had money in an offshore bank account that undoubtedly was set up by Phelps, than any motive he had to kill Phelps was non-existent.
He discussed it with George at the diner where they met up with Sam, and they all drew the same conclusion. Neither Godfrey nor Miriam killed Phelps, so whether it was an unsatisfied client he sold phony artwork to, or a supplier who felt cheated of his money, Phelps’ death like Mason’s could have had a different murderer than the first three.
“Okay let’s take our thinking all the way out of the box,” said John. “What if the psycho socialite and her mate, the king of thieves, didn’t commit all of the murders, just the murder of Thomas Mason? Let’s agree that after learning from Mason’s wife about the vandalism, that his murder had to do with keeping him from talking to the cops and sending his partners both to jail,” said John.
“Yeah, Detective Moynihan hated admitting it but he said there wasn’t a shred of physical evidence to link Godfrey or Miriam to any of the other murders,” said George.
“What about the old woman, that Mrs. White. She swore Godfrey was perusing her property right where Ursula Mills was found?” said Sam.
“I think Godfrey was as surprised as the cops to learn of Ursula’s murder and went by to learn anything he could about it first hand,” said George.
“I‘m still stuck on the fact that Tina Bach spent months blackmailing Miriam and Godfrey, yet they didn’t attempt to kill her and save themselves all that money. Instead she actually killed herself. Then the man who gave her the information that proved that the Sheridan marriage could be annulled on a technicality, is murdered,” said Sam.
“No, no,” said George, “that‘s the wrong order. Wally Finch was dead for about a week when they found him, and when they did Tina had just committed suicide. Speaking of which why would Tina go to Manchester in the first place and spend time with her brother knowing that Miriam had to be there too, and furious about paying blackmail to her,” he added.
“Okay let’s go back one more time. Tina’s blackmailing Miriam because she knows Miriam’s sleeping around on the judge. She gets greedy maybe she wants a lump sum, so she hires Finch to dig up some more on her cheating sister-in-law, which he does and gets killed for it,” said John.
“Or we could try this. What if Tina was supposed to meet Finch at Doggin’s Lake to swap documents and pay him for his services. When she gets there Finch is already involved talking with someone who sees Tina, then shoots Finch and flees forgetting the documents. Tina realizes Finch is dead, she takes the documents and heads back to the Sheridan place,’ said Sam.
“With all the information on Miriam why would Tina off herself just when she could really collect the fortune she’s wanted all along,” said George.
“Hold everything what if this is what happened. Tina catches her sister-in-law with several law clerks and others, she begins blackmailing her and after a while she gets tired of receiving her money a little at a time. She needs something really big to get one last very large blackmail payment from her sister-in-law, so she can start over again somewhere new.
“She hires Finch hoping he can dig up something juicy and when he does just that, he notifies her that he’s got some hot information on Miriam. Tina is supposed to meet Finch at Doggin’s Lake to pick it up. She’s slightly delayed and arrives to hear Finch and someone else talking. A fight ensues and in minutes Finch is shot dead.
“Still hiding she gets a look at the perpetrator but the perpetrator never sees her. Tina grabs the papers Finch had on him not even knowing what’s in them. When she gets home, she is confronted by Miriam who’s terrified that the judge is suspicious and bound to find out about her diverting money from his charitable contributions, so she can pay Tina’s blackmail money. Tina doesn’t seem to care so Miriam loses it, swings and misses hitting her hand on the closet door knocking her diamond out of its setting.
“Tina throws her out of the room cleans herself up comes down for dinner as if nothing has happened. Ursula Mills has overheard the entire argument upstairs and heads for Tina’s room. She searches and finds the documents, reads them and realizes what a gold mine she’s found. Tina later discovers their gone, and feeling overwrought by all that’s happened, she kills herself,” said Sam.
“I think we’re getting there. “For sure we know a couple of facts. Fact number one, all the murders took place in three states and the one common thread is the Sheridans. Chet Simpson was murdered in Guilford, Ursula and Wally in Manchester, and Tom Mason and Adrian Phelps were murdered in New Hampshire. Fact number two, Tom Mason was the only one we know for sure was killed by either Lawrence Godfrey, or Miriam Sheridan.
That means we’ve got four murders to solve. Let’s start at the beginning. Tina kills herself. Someone felt it was necessary to kill Chet Simpson. Next who is it that Tina allegedly saw shooting Finch, because it makes perfect sense to me that it was the same person who killed Ursula Mills because she had the documents Finch was supposed to turn over to Tina. Finally, the same person took out Phelps and then the murderer diverted his Cayman money to his own bank account in the U. S.,” said John.
“It’s personal then isn't it,” said Sam.
“I think so,” said John.
“So let’s order more pancakes to go along with more brainstorming,” said George.
Under the influence of Vicodin, Miriam’s trip to the hotel hairdresser brought her dark locks back. Her hair was a bit shorter but she still resembled her passport picture. A month earlier at the DMV with a fresh haircut and dark hair color Larry already planning to dissolve his relationship with Tom, matched Tom Mason’s old photo close enough to allow him to replace his “lost” license by simply producing Tom’s social security card and his check book, which he retrieved from his drunken friend while he slept off a drinking binge. With a license in hand it wasn’t difficult at all to use Tom’s background information to get a passport he now possessed.
The money in Tom’s account at the bank which he’d siphoned from a joint account he’d shared with his trust fund bride Audrey was more than enough to ensure that Miriam and Larry had everything they needed to enjoy their first few months on the Grand Cayman Islands. Then they’d empty their own Cayman account and pick a location to permanently call home.
“What time’s our flight again?” asked Miriam sounding more like the personality that always scared Larry a whole lot. He figured she probably had four personalities at least, but the one in control at the moment was far too cocky for him.
“It’s nearly time to go. We need to be at the gate an hour early, remember?” Larry responded.
“Relax it’s only a short walk away baby. I can’t wait to kiss the past goodbye and start all over again. This time it’s going to work isn’t it Larry?” said Miriam swinging from one personality to the next so fast it made Larry’s head hurt.
“If we keep our cool, after we arrive in New York as the Conroys, thanks to your lifting Mr. Conroy’s wallet at the airport bar, we’ll become the Masons who’ve been booked on a flight to the Caymans where we’re going to be sipping some Mojitos and feeling some warm island breezes” said Larry hoping he sounded convincing.
Looking into the mirror one last time Miriam realized that the makeup she’d purchased had done its job and although her midriff and stomach were still sensitive where the hot water had scolded her, the linen pantsuit she chose was comfortable and made her feel absolutely beautiful.
“I feel like a new bride, starting off on her honeymoon so much in love with her new husband,” said Miriam who was now clearly the personality that Larry loved best, as she kissed him sweetly and stayed in his embrace long enough for Larry to feel the love between them. This was the Miriam he did it all for, the one who’d never cheat on him or make him sorry he’d ever met her, like the other personalities that she became, off and on.
At this moment Larry knew what Butch Cassidy, and Sundance, Bonnie and Clyde and Ma Barker and her boys, must have felt like as they were about to take part in the last noteworthy event in their lives, not knowing for certain that they were not going to walk away.
Still regardless of whatever the outcome was for him, Larry hoped that when it was over, Miriam would get the help she needed so badly.
Detective Daniel Moynihan knew what the others at State Police Headquarters thought of him and his inability to locate Miriam Sheridan and Larry Godfrey, but right now he didn't care. He felt certain that despite how stupid it would be for them to show up at the airport in Manchester, New Hampshire for the first leg of their trip, it was exactly what he’d do in their place.
He’d use phony identification to book a flight just to get them out of the state and once they arrived in New York it would be the Masons who would show up for their flight to the Caymans. He believed it so firmly he sold the whole thing to the other two jurisdictions involved by accepting the blame if this final day of the stakeout fell flat.
So here he was representing the Massachusetts State Police, with six New Hampshire State troopers, and Milt Pierce, the Chief of Police from Guilford, Vermont and two of his officers, all strategically placed all over the gates with flights heading to New York from the airport in New, Hampshire. The others didn’t even try to hide the fact that they thought he was out of his mind, however to their credit holding photos of Miriam Sheridan and Larry Godfrey they were all watching the crowds very carefully.
The foreign taste at the back of his throat always there in times of great anxiety, was getting more pronounced as Larry and Miriam cleared the baggage area and passed through the metal detectors. Careful to stay within the center of the foot traffic up ahead they moved toward their gate and got in line. It was going perfectly even though Larry spotted a State Trooper scanning a photo in the area where they were.
“Little boy, don’t step on my foot again, it hurts,” said Miriam to the blonde little boy in front of them, whose parents simply ignored her.
“Easy Miriam we don’t want to draw any attention,” Larry whispered.
“Tell those two to keep their brat, off my feet,” said Miriam.
When the child’s mother turned and gave Miriam a look of disgust she was punched in her face so hard that it broke her cheek bone. The woman folded like a wet cardboard box to the shock of her husband, who barely prevented her head from hitting the surface of the airport’s floor. Minutes later Larry Godfrey and Miriam Sheridan were finally in custody.
Detective Daniel Moynihan led the police convoy back to Police Headquarters to iron out the jurisdiction situation. He’d had a lot of dark days since this all began but at the moment for him the sun was back out, and two very dangerous people were no longer a public menace.
Riding in the New Hampshire State Police van side by side each other, Miriam cried quietly as Larry did his best to whisper comforting words to her. Facing a long jail time due to the fact that she’d brought them both down all by herself, there was no anger in Larry Godfrey, and in fact he was totally relieved. With all the fight out of her she was his Miriam again, and that Miriam was the one with whom he always wanted to share his life with and still hoped to one day.
Tyrone Carson, Judge Elliott’s Chief of Security, never saw the bullet that struck his left temple, he simply dropped where he stood in the hallway entrance where the thick carpet muffled the sound of his body hitting the floor. The shooter moved through the large reception area of the Sheridan estate and went on to the library, where Judge Elliot Sheridan sat watching the news of the arrest of Lawrence Godfrey and Miriam Mason-Sheridan.
His security guards allowed no one on the grounds and although the phone rang an answering service was picking up his calls, as Elliot dealt with the news. Wearing jeans and a maroon sweater there was a drink in his hand, his second one in under thirty minutes. His mind was concentrating on the high jinx that would begin at the arraignments of Miriam Anderson and Lawrence Godfrey, the names under which they were booked.
The door to the library opened slightly and Evelyn watched the man she’d cared for and loved for all these years looking broken and in pain. She hated that he would suffer the shame and disgrace his wife’s arrest would bring to him. She should have killed the two of them one at a time, the way she had all the others, but she thought for sure with all the help she had given the two they would make it out of the country, and take the blame for it all with them.
She’d forgiven Tina a long time ago for being such a detriment to her brother’s career with her fast living and lack of control of any kind. It seems that although her brother had found a path in life that added so much to the lives of so many, Tina couldn’t seem to find one aspect of her life that was noteworthy in any way.
The whole mess had begun with a phone call Evie took on the house phone which she never would have taken, if Tina hadn’t misplaced yet another cell phone. For some reason when Tina picked up the line, Evie didn’t hang up the way she always did. She supposed that if she had the nightmare would never have begun. She would never have heard the news that Wally Finch had some information that would make Tina’s day even though it would probably disgrace the judge, when and if it went public.
Evie raced ahead of Tina to Doggin’s lake to get that information and destroy it. Of course all Wally Finch had to do was give it to her but he wouldn’t and then the gun she brought just went off. The noise was so loud, she ran forgetting to take any of the documents he was carrying.
Back at the estate, Tina approached Evie about arriving late to Doggin’s Lake for an appointment with Finch and seeing her shoot him. Next she bragged about all the months of receiving payments from Miriam for her numerous affairs and how she’d use the papers from Finch to get enough together to live at least as well as her brother had, throughout the years. All she wanted from Evie was for her to keep her eyes and ears open and for her future loyalty, Tina would forget all about Mr. Finch’s demise.
Everything unraveled that same afternoon. Miriam confronted Tina in one of her rages and young Ursula heard it all. It was only natural that the young maid would go to the friendly housekeeper, to tell her everything she’d heard.
She told of hearing Miriam tell Tina she wasn’t going to pay her anymore. She would come clean and take her chances that the judge would forgive her all her indiscretions. Tina assured her that what she had on her about her first marriage, would take Miriam’s entire future from her unless she came up with a million dollars in a lump sum. Miriam was so shocked she reached out and struck Tina and on trying to slap her again her hand hit the wall so hard she nearly lost her balance making it easy for Tina to throw her out of her bedroom. It was shocking to Ursula that within minutes both women were downstairs sharing lunch with the other guests as if nothing had happened.
Ursula listened carefully to Evie’s advice that day about them both getting rich using the information Tina had hidden somewhere. The young maid waited until lunch and then carefully searched and found the documents Finch had brought for his client. She placed them under her mattress as Evie had instructed her and in doing so, she had sealed her fate.
Evie rationalized that Tina’s suicide was the result of her realizing that the paperwork Finch had prepared for her was stolen, for certain by Miriam. She must have believed that Miriam would confess her sins to the judge and be forgiven. Miriam might even tell the judge that his sister had profited from keeping Miriam’s extra-marital affairs a secret. Convinced that her brother would never believe anything she had to say again, and that he’d never allow his sister back in his good graces, Tina took her own life.
It was Chet Simpson’s friendship with Evie that was her most fortuitous as he was a very bright young man. He constantly spoke of wanting the lavish lifestyle his father had described to him constantly, which the judge and his friends were able to enjoy.
The cash Evie gave him for his attempts to discourage Nathan March from investigating for the judge, made him take chances in obtaining chemicals and a silencer which would have given him Federal prison time, had he been caught buying them from one of his seedier acquaintances.
Sadly Chuck trusted Evie completely. Because of her age, size and cheerful demeanor she threatened no one, in fact she moved among most people nearly invisible as they passed her by. That gave her the advantage and even as she smothered the life out of young Chuck while he slept under the influence of a sleeping pill in a hospital bed, she regretted only that it was all so necessary.
Observing the comings and goings at the nurse’s station while carrying flowers as if she was a visitor, helped her schedule his murder later that night. Beforehand with the help of a short metal latter, she removed the video from each of the elevators while dressed in a pair of overalls and ball cap. Though hardly an easy task to perform, once done it assured that her comings and goings were kept from those searching for Chet’s murderer.
Young Ursula, who had set up a meeting between herself and Evie, hadn’t brought the documents Finch provided for Tina to that meeting. Instead she came only to discuss the fact that she would need to get the lion’s share of any blackmail money they would receive from Miriam, so that she could help her family and finish school.
Right out in public the older woman strolling with the young girl was never observed and when she used the silencer on the gun, she actually had the time to watch the life ebb away from the young girl, who never saw death coming at all before she fell on her side on the grassy hillside. Sadly Evie hadn’t counted on Finch’s information being found before she could get to Ursula’s home to get it and destroy it, and for that she was most disappointed in herself.
Miriam’s visit to the mansion after she’d escaped from the hospital was a stroke of luck convincing everyone that Miriam and Larry, her accomplice, were serial murders, while allowing Evie to come across as a frightened and easily intimidated old woman.
The burglaries happening all around Manchester were discussed over dinner frequently during Nathan’s visit to the estate and finding out about Phelps was a result of his name being postulated as someone with the skills to move stolen goods. The phone calls to and from the March Manor House gave her his vicinity and there she was first clubbing him and then putting a shot behind his ear. His last digital transaction was on screen so that his Cayman bank account was hers for a few keystrokes. She redirected only the last very large transaction to a savings account she’d established earlier under an alias kept open with small but regular deposits. With his laptop in the ocean along with his cell phone, she left the warehouse with no regret because Mr. Phelps was not a nice man.
She didn’t want to hurt Tyrone, that was never part of her plan, but unfortunately he was watching her far more carefully than she knew and when he decided to bring her to the judge to make his accusations, well that wouldn’t have given her the ability to maintain her dignity, so she really had no choice.
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.
- Albert Einstein