What Happened To Flynn Read online

  I called Danny and arranged for the money to be sent to Los Angeles.

  I decided to give Roger Moorish a courtesy call since I liked his professionalism. I told him Flynn’s prints had not been found on the bills and Dollar’s cash was being sent to the LA sheriff.

  “Why isn’t my client’s money being returned to him?” he asked.

  I didn’t want to tell him that Dollar’s monies were likely to be confiscated. Instead, I temporized. “The Los Angeles sheriff office has some questions about the cash and will contact you.”

  “Do you know what these questions are?”

  “I’m not at liberty to tell you.” There was no point lying, since Moorish knew the cash had been analyzed in San Diego. Moorish said nothing, so I moved to another subject. “We are satisfied that Alisha was present at the fishing camp on the Monday.”

  “Does that mean my clients are eliminated as suspects for the murder of Mr. Flynn?”

  “Not completely, Mr. Moorish. However, I am currently investigating other suspects.”

  Steve had been calling Avalon owners for several days, and it was he who found gold. It made me envious. He reported a woman in Escondido, a Mrs. Shannon, had said her black Avalon car had been stolen, and she’d confirmed it had a chrome fish on its rear bumper. She was not sure the exact date it had been stolen, since she had lent it to her son, a student at San Marcos State University. He’d thought the missing car had been towed due to an expiration of his university parking permit. He had gotten the runaround from the towing company that serviced the university, so it wasn’t until later that he’d realized it had been stolen and had reported it. On September 18, a zealous resident of Santa Rosa, a city fifteen miles from the Russian River fishing camp, had called the police about a car on his street that had not moved in the seventy-two hours allowed by law to remain parked. The police impounded the Avalon, suspecting it had been stolen, since the license plates belonged to another vehicle. Mrs. Shannon had changed her home address since she last registered the vehicle and had not reported the change to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Thus, the police had been unable to contact her. Mrs. Shannon had met bureaucratic indifference in trying to locate her missing car, and did not find out where it was until early November.

  “I and my son had to drive all the way to Santa Rosa, pay for a hotel, and pay over eight hundred dollars to get my car released from the police impound yard, as well as pay for new license plates,” she’d told Steve angrily. “Those damn thieves ruined my car. They sprayed oil all over the interior and the exterior. It took me hours to clean it to where I could sit in it and see out of it. And on top of that, the DMV is going to fine me for failing to register my change of address.”

  “I had to add to her fury by telling her we needed to impound the car again for a forensic examination,” said Steve. After she had calmed down from this fresh insult, Steve had asked her about the mileage on the car.

  “It had a trip mileage of five hundred miles on it when I got it back,” she’d told him with fresh anger. That mileage was roughly consistent with a single trip from Escondido to the Russian River fishing camp and some local mileage. We had identified the car. Would it give us more information? Steve called Danny Chu in the Forensics department and arranged for the black Avalon to be brought to the lab and examined.

  I let Thompson know of our progress on the case. “We have not fully eliminated Dollar and Johnson as suspects. We are concentrating on the Mason couple and have evidence to believe they used a stolen car having fake license plates. The car had been driven a mileage consistent with it being driven from North County to Guerneville. So far, two people have tentatively identified Joseph Bailey as being with Mason.”

  Thompson appeared pleased with our progress. “All you need to do is positively tie that car to Bailey or identify Mason, and then we’ll have enough to go back to the DEA.”

  We had to wait a few days until Danny Chu called me about the Avalon. “The owner of the car did a good job cleaning up the oil the thieves sprayed on all the surfaces,” he said. “I didn’t expect we would recover any fingerprints there. The guys who stole the car knew what to do to hide their identity.”

  I was acutely disappointed at this result and fumbled acknowledging it. “I wonder why they didn’t torch it,” I finally remarked.

  “Because that would cause too much attention,” replied Danny.

  “That’s really sad we’re not able to find out who they were, especially after all the effort we put in to locate the car and the inconvenience we’ve caused poor Mrs. Shannon, the owner.”

  “You should have let me finish,” said Danny. “Only the car was wiped. In the glove compartment was an emergency escape hammer. They forgot to wipe it or spray it with oil, and there are multiple fingerprints on it.”

  My heart leaped. “You rascal, Danny! You shouldn’t have kept me in such suspense.” He chuckled. I immediately asked him, “Well, have you been able to identify those fingerprints yet?”

  “No. We are working to exclude Mrs. Shannon and any of her friends and relatives who might have been sitting on the passenger side of the car.”

  “Keep me posted,” I said. “Let’s hope it leads to our perp.”

  I phoned Danny two days later to see about the fingerprints. “You’re in a hurry,” he said. “Bet you’ll be pleased to hear that I found a Joseph Bailey thumbprint on the hammer.”

  I was elated. We had closed the loop. I promptly notified Steve and Thompson.

  “I think we have enough to show there was a concerted effort to kill Flynn and that the Mason couple were sent to the camp to carry out the assassination,” said Thompson. “I’ll contact Jackson at the DEA… And get a warrant issued for the arrest of Bailey.”

  Thompson was quite chatty as we drove to the DEA office. His mood and mine were reflected in our office address, still at Cop St. Jackson sat waiting for us this time, with Drew Ryan in an adjacent chair, and he shook my hand this time with a normal grasp. Jackson asked the status of our investigation. Thompson had both me and Steve talk about the work we had done on the case. I was miffed at this. I was the lead detective, and I felt it was my place to call in a junior if he could offer more detail.

  “You’ve done your homework,” said Jackson. “You have a good-enough basis for suspecting that Flynn was murdered to stop him giving evidence about money laundering by Swift. However, I will need to get the approval by our division head here to open up a joint task force. I’m sure we will get that approval.”

  Thompson’s face beamed his delight at the decision. Jackson continued to speak. “When we set up a joint task force, any assets that are seized are shared among the participants according to a federal formula that is based mostly on the number of hours spent by the respective parties. Our office will set up an accounting program in which your staff will record their billable hours and the tasks they were on for those hours. The DEA will not pay for the hours you spend on our joint effort unless we are able to get a grant to do so. I will ask our head to explore this with the justice department in Washington. Our manpower resources are more limited than yours, and that is why we are encouraged to set up the joint task force. We need to prepare an action plan to show that money laundering has taken place, where and how it was done, and who were the participants. We can obtain help from other DEA offices and expect to be most useful in undercover operations and in determining the scope of Swift’s businesses. I would like you”—he nodded at Thompson—“to prepare a plan detailing what activities your department would address. We can then put our plans together and prepare a joint plan, one that will hopefully sway the Justice Department to give grant money to fund the operation.”

  We all murmured our understanding of this approach. Jackson stroked his chin and continued. “At this point, it is essential that Swift and his associates do not know we are looking into the matter again. Therefore”—he looked intensely at Thompson, me, and Steve—“the people involved on your side of t
his issue must say nothing to their peers or their families. You should segregate your staff working on this and keep the number of people working on it to as few a number as possible. All documents must be kept in locked drawers when you are not working on them. None are to be taken out of the office. All original evidence relating to the money laundering is to be given to us, since any prosecution will be in the federal courts. No documents are to be taken outside your office. The same strictures apply to our office.” He stroked his chin again. “Drug money laundering involves very dangerous men who have no scruples in killing or injuring anybody who stops or gets in the way of their business. Anybody you assign to this investigation should be aware of this enhanced danger to themselves and their families.”

  Thompson spoke up. “I and my staff fully understand what you are saying and will take the necessary security steps. Meanwhile, we are continuing to investigate the murder of Arthur Flynn.” He looked at me and Steve. “Have you any questions?”

  “Will you be our contact person at the DEA on the task force?” asked Steve.

  “No,” replied Jackson. “Drew Ryan here will be the point man.”

  I said, “We need the list of Swift’s businesses and business partners before we can prepare our plan. We need to know who and what we are to surveil. That will determine how many of our staff are to be involved and how long it will take. There is an obvious tradeoff. The more people we put on our side of the task force, the more likely it is that there will be a disclosure, but it will be quicker and cost more money.”

  I could see Thompson grimace as I spoke, since he should have been asking the question of the staffing level. I saw a smile on Steve’s face. Jackson pondered for a full ten seconds before he responded. “I think fewer people will be better, at least at the early stages. I will have Drew Ryan here get you that information as soon as possible.” He paused. “How long do you think that will take, Drew?”

  “It’s a little complicated,” replied Ryan. “Normally, I would go to the county recorder office and search the fictitious business name list. However, our preliminary work finds Swift has ownership of many of his businesses through partnerships, and also corporations registered outside California and even outside the USA. I’m afraid I will be giving you that information piecemeal. I cannot give you a definitive date when I will have it all.”

  Thompson realized he had to grasp his leadership role and belatedly said, “In view of that, our plan will have to be more general in nature. The specifics will be based on the data you give us, and we will update it as new information arrives.”

  “I think we have enough suspicion to justify to a judge that a wiretap be put on Swift’s phone,” I added. “We have both the connection to money laundering and to murder.”

  “I agree,” said Jackson. “Just keep us posted on what you learn.”

  As the three of us left the DEA office, Thompson could scarcely contain his glee. “From what Jackson is saying, Swift is worth several million if not tens of millions of dollars. If we get even twenty percent of that from the seizure of assets, we could have as much as half our office budget for the year. It would be a feather in our caps.”

  I felt the need to question the ethics of this. “Suppose Swift is not guilty of money laundering, or suppose we can’t prove it. What then?”

  “Shane, we would not arrest or charge a man of Swift’s prominence without a high degree of expectation he would be found guilty.”

  “But if we seize his bank accounts and the cash on him and then close his businesses, aren’t we depriving him of the right to a good attorney to defend himself?”

  “Shane, it will be difficult to get a verdict in which Swift is convicted and sentenced. These men are resourceful, talented, and dangerous. Holding their assets is one way we can get them to admit their guilt in return for a lighter sentence.”

  I refrained from continuing this line of conversation and merely nodded, not so much to agree with Thompson, but more to acknowledge I understood his argument.

  “Your proving him guilty of conspiracy to murder is going to be the key to getting him to admit his role in money laundering,” he added as we got into the car.

  He’s already made up his mind about Swift’s guilt or innocence.

  Steve, who had been only a listener to this conversation, spoke up. “It has been fascinating working on this case, which has evolved from a missing person case to a murder and now to money laundering. I enjoy working with you on this, Shane, and look forward to its closure with you.”

  I appreciated the compliment, but felt saying this in front of Thompson was for Steve’s benefit as much as mine.

  CHAPTER 15

  Steve and I worked on other cases while Thompson consulted with the homicide lieutenant to discuss manpower and budgeting. A week later, Thompson gathered us into his office and told us to close the door. “I’m going to install you and Steve in a two-man office with a door that locks on closure,” he said. “That will give the project the security it needs. Given that the DEA doesn’t know whether they will get a grant and given that the data we will need is going to come in slowly, only you two will work on investigating Swift to start with.”

  “What about our old cases?” asked Steve.

  “Take your files from your old desks and cabinets and put them in your new office,” replied Thompson, “but keep them separate from all money laundering information.”

  He gave us each a door key. Steve and I were happy to leave our previous desks in the homicide detective pool. We spent a couple of hours transferring files to our new office, where our desks had lockable drawers, as did the adjacent filing cabinets. We also had our own copying machine. Our peers in the homicide pool expressed envy that we had our own private office and asked the reason. We simply told them we were working on a special project.

  A day or so later, Thompson opened our office door with his key and opened the discussion on what we could do to assist the DEA. “The most important thing for you to do, Shane, as lead investigator, is to continue to investigate the murder of Flynn. It would be great to find his body, since convicting Swift of murder will indubitably help the money laundering prosecution. With just two of you working on it, I would appreciate your suggestions on what we are able to do in the money laundering investigation.”

  “The purpose of any surveillance we conduct is to determine where the drug money is brought into Swift’s system and where and how it is processed,” I said.

  “That’s correct,” replied Thompson. “How long it will take to make that determination will depend on how many businesses Swift operates.”

  “I think we should provide random surveillance of Swift’s office and businesses in San Diego County,” I offered. “I also propose we identify all the employees of these establishments and run background checks on them. I propose DEA monitors any of them with criminal backgrounds. We would provide manpower for raids and arrests.”

  “What about Swift’s home?” asked Steve.

  “His home is in an exclusive area of Lake San Marcos,” I replied. “It would be very difficult to put a monitoring vehicle there for an extended period of time without attention being called to it. I think that surveillance of his home will have to be done with undercover personnel. I would suggest the DEA undertake that task.”

  “Do you guys have anything else to add to this before I write it up?” asked Thompson

  I had nothing to add and said I would not conduct any surveillance until we had received information from Ryan and had an agreed plan in place.

  “Is assisting Shane going to be full time for me?” asked Steve.

  Thompson looked at me for the answer.

  “Steve, I will need some help, but you should have time to work on other cases,” I answered.

  That evening before dinner, I went to the gym and jogged five miles on the treadmill. I watched the news on the television as I jogged. The steadily increasing unemployment depressed me; I felt lucky to have a safe, secure j
ob. I switched the television off and began thinking about what Jackson and Thompson had said as well as the questions I had posed a little earlier. I was uncomfortable about the notion of taking someone’s assets before he was found guilty. I could not help thinking how Marge Holmes and her sick daughter would be affected if Larry Swift were indeed convicted of money laundering. It took me awhile to get to sleep that night, consumed as I was by these thoughts.

  Steve asked me the next day if there was anything he could start doing on the case. I told him I had the same problem. I could do nothing until our superiors had reached an agreement with the DEA. Those superiors would include not only Thompson, but the homicide lieutenant and legal counsel and possibly an accounting department supervisor. Only if Bailey were arrested would we have something to do until the agreement had been reached. For the next ten days, we worked on our old cases as well as new cases assigned to us by Thompson. We enjoyed the privacy of our two-man office while working.

  Two weeks later, Thompson turned the key to our office door and walked in. The door closed automatically behind him.

  “We have a preliminary agreement in place and it covers those activities we discussed together,” he said with a big smile on his face. He handed us each a copy of the agreement. “The hours you spend on this are to be billed to project Theta, our codename for the joint task force. You, Shane, will be the point of contact at this office. Drew Ryan will be your point of contact at the DEA.” He then produced two cell phones and gave us one each. “You are to use these phones to call each other and DEA with information pertinent to the Swift case. Don’t use them for your other cases. You are not to go through our central communication system. You are not to discuss this project or the activities you undertake with your friends and family members. That also holds for your colleagues, who already know you both are on a special assignment and have been told not to ask you questions about it. So, please read through this agreement. If you have any questions about it, get back to me right away.”