What Happened To Flynn Read online

  “I guess Collins’s photo being new and Bailey’s being old made John certain about the former and uncertain about the latter,” I remarked. Angie asked about progress on the case, and I told her only that I expected to make a break within a week.

  Before I went home, I called Steve to see if the wiretap was producing useful information.

  “Not so far,” he replied. “I’ll look at tonight’s recordings in the morning.”

  CHAPTER 18

  The next morning, I monitored the movement of Collins’s blue Honda. I saw no point in tailing it, since I expected it to be going to a vacant house for sale. The car stopped at the same restaurant for the same short interval of time, but then it travelled in a different direction from the day before. I watched the coordinates of the transponder move to a location in Mira Mesa, a community adjacent to a Marine base in northern San Diego and popular with Asian residents. The car stayed at that location for about five minutes before it returned to the Swift office parking lot. I made a note of the GPS coordinates and then found the corresponding street on a Google map. I then looked on the San Diego Multiple Listing Service (MLS)—law enforcement has free access to it, unlike the general public—and was pleased to find a vacant home listed for sale at an address on that street.

  I called Steve at our communications center, told him of the different drop location, and asked if he had learned anything from yesterday’s wiretap on Collins’s phone.

  “Stuff you’d expect,” he replied, “two phone calls from realtors asking him to photograph their newly listed houses, a commercial shoot in three days, and a couple of personal calls including one to his brother. He was reminded about a seven o’clock photo shoot for a children’s birthday celebration, to which he clearly went.” He paused. “An interesting thing is that Collins is a modest gambler who bets on basketball games using the internet. I don’t know if he gets tips on the games, but in the late evening, someone sent him a text message, a series of numbers that I couldn’t make heads or tails of.”

  “Really, what were they?” I asked.

  I could hear Steve fumbling for his notes. “One, three, four…six, two, three…six, eight, zero, five,” he replied. “I wondered if it was a tip on a game, and then I thought it might be a phone number, so I called it to find no such number existed.”

  I wrote the numbers down and wondered if this somehow related to the vacant house for the money drop in Mira Mesa. I said to Steve, “I don’t know what these numbers mean, but just in case they are significant, could you monitor the wiretap to see if there is a similar call tonight and ping it?”

  Steve acknowledged my request, and I studied the numbers. MLS listings had seven digits, and here were ten. I looked up the listing of the Mira Mesa drop house, and to my delight, I found it numbered 1346236. That left three numbers, which I readily interpreted as the time Collins was required to arrive at the house.

  “Steve, I’ve got it!” I shouted to him over the phone. “The numbers refer to the listing and the pickup time.”

  “They match the vacant house in Mira Mesa?” he asked.

  “Yes, they do.”

  “That’s terrific, Shane. Now we can predict in advance where and when Collins will go to next… You should let the DEA know.”

  “Will do, but I want to do a little research first.”

  I looked through Collins’s phone records and found a very short phone call made in the late evening of every Sunday through Thursday from a wide variety of calling numbers. I deduced they were geared to money pickups being made every weekday. This conformed to Swift’s office operation. I called the phone company and asked for the identity of these callers. Eventually, a supervisor from the phone company called me.

  “These phone calls were made using a small Mexican carrier, who won’t release the names unless requested by the Mexican police.”

  I thanked the supervisor. I certainly did not want to call the Mexican police, because my request might get back to the money laundering operators. I called Steve at the communications center and told him that the phone call would likely come from Mexico, so he might not be able to determine its location.

  “Too bad,” he said. “Still, after I get the number call tonight, let’s get the vacant house surveilled before Collins arrives to see who comes to make the drop.”

  “My plan also,” I responded. Get me the numbers, and I’ll identify the address… I’ll get a camera-equipped car and meet you there. In the meantime, I’ll let Thompson and the DEA crew know.”

  “Good work, Shane. I’ll call you later.” He paused. “You know this money laundering business has sure taken us away from investigating Flynn’s murder.”

  “It’s related, but I don’t think we will ever be able to close that case until we find his body.”

  I then set up a conference call around eleven o’clock with the same participants as yesterday. I started off the call by recounting what we had discovered last night and that morning.

  “Well done, Shane, for connecting those numbers to the house listing number and getting info on the delivery man,” said Thompson. “We need to get arrest and search warrants and set up a crew to catch the delivery man or follow him to his source,” he added.

  “Not so fast,” said Jackson, a tone of irritation in his voice. This case is to be prosecuted under federal statutes. The capture and arrest of all the participants in money laundering is the DEA’s responsibility. We need your help, but we expect to approve any plan where arrests are to be made. The arrest warrants will be obtained by our office. Furthermore, we need our attorney to advise us on any arrest plan. I’ll get him on the line.”

  While we waited for the DEA attorney, I said, “Steve Hall and I want to surveil the drop tomorrow, Wednesday, and get a lead on whoever brings money to the vacant house. We think it better to identify him beforehand; then we can arrest him later when you are raiding the Swift office and businesses. In that way, no word will get back to the money laundering operation. Thus, I am proposing we schedule the raid for the day after tomorrow, a Thursday. It will also give us time to get arrest warrants and to organize the operation.”

  “What do you think, Drew?” asked Jackson.

  Ryan said that was fine with him.

  Thompson added, “I think Shane is on target.”

  Another voice came onto the phone line. “I’m Niles Svenson, an attorney in the DEA office. Mr. Jackson has not briefed me on the situation. Perhaps someone would.”

  Thompson asked me to do so. I gave a quick summary of how Flynn’s disappearance and his likely assassination had led us to suspecting Larry Swift of money laundering. I then gave him the details of Collins picking up the money at vacant homes and told him that we had determined how the homes were selected. I said we believed there was a physical connection between Collins’s office and Swift’s office immediately below, where we reckoned the money laundering took place.

  “You’re referring to Mr. Laurence Swift who is the Vice Chairman of the United Heritage Fund in San Diego?” asked Niles.

  “That’s right,” replied Jackson.

  “Wow,” remarked Niles. Several seconds passed before he continued. “You need to be very careful when you have a high-profile person involved. All you have at the moment is suspicion. You could easily get a warrant to arrest Collins and search him. Even if he had drug money on him, you don’t have a firm connection to Swift. You need to have the drug money marked and delivered into Swift’s office to have an ironclad case. I don’t think you have enough information yet to get a search warrant for Swift’s office. You need to be especially circumspect here given what a prominent man Larry Swift is. A false arrest or one in which the evidence is thrown out for insufficiency in the warrant must be guarded against.”

  Ryan asked, “How are we going to do that?”

  Since Thompson did not volunteer anything, I spoke up. “Let’s stall Collins somehow from getting to the drop house. We can go in and add some marked bills to the money
package before he arrives.”

  “What if the package is sealed?” put in Steve.

  “We’ll just have to be ready to reseal it,” I responded.

  “But we don’t know how the money is bundled,” said Steve. “It could be rolled, in taped bundles, or even loose.”

  Ryan said: “We will provide you with marked bills in all reasonable possible configurations. Also, you should take in resealing equipment when you enter.”

  I then said, “After Collins has left and we enter the home and find the package gone, we then have clear evidence that he has the drug money. Do you think that we would then be able to get a search warrant for Swift’s office?”

  “That’s much more reasonable,” replied Swenson, “but it would be better once Collins has returned to his studio. Get an on-call judge to approve the warrants and then search and arrest all suspected players and their homes once the marked bills are believed deposited in Swift’s office. Get warrants to seize their bank accounts as well. Raid all the businesses since they are also tainted by drug money.”

  Thompson put in his thoughts. “We need to do this operation surreptitiously so we don’t have the operation screwed up by curious neighbors?”

  “Or the press,” interjected Jackson.

  “I’ll get somebody to walk along the subject street to monitor the pickup and delivery,” I replied.

  “My neighbor has a dog and would be happy to lend it to me,” volunteered Steve.

  I hesitated. A homicide detective investigates rather than participates. I heard no objection from Thompson, and I could see how having my partner monitor the scene might be very helpful, so I said, “You’re hired.”

  “Sounds good,” said Ryan. “We give Collins time to deliver the money to Swift’s office, and then we begin raids of the office and all of the businesses and homes…and seizures of bank accounts, of course.”

  Jackson spoke in summary and also, I thought, to emphasize he was in charge. “That sounds good. Let us know what help you need from us…in addition to the marked bills.” He chuckled.

  ‘Our biggest concern is to delay Collins from getting to the drop house until we have gotten in and added the marked bills to the money package,” I said. “We also have to wait until the delivery man has clearly left the area. We don’t know if he stands around to watch Collins make the pickup.”

  Steve spoke up at that point. “I’m monitoring Collins’s phone calls as we are talking, and he has neither made nor received a phone call this morning from the time he picked up the money until when he reached his studio. Collins’s actions don’t appear to require confirmation.”

  I raised another issue. “I think it easier to delay Collins’s departure from his home rather than near the site. We have more control from that location since access to the drop site could be by several different routes.”

  “It would be helpful if we could identify the drop man and monitor his vehicle before it gets to the vacant house,” said Steve.

  Ryan replied, “I know you think it a good idea to tail the drop man, but the case is too sensitive at this point. If he were to spot his tail and inform his players, our whole basis for Swift’s arrest would be endangered. I do not want you to set up a tail on the drop man tomorrow or to try to put a transponder on his car while he enters the drop house.”

  Ryan’s tone of voice represented a command, not a suggestion. I took my cue. “I agree with your logic, but a camera-equipped vehicle in place will help our arrest plan. It will identify the vehicle, perhaps the drop man himself, and give us the time interval between his departure and Collins’s arrival.

  As if to affirm Ryan, Jackson remarked, “That would be okay.”

  Steve, undeterred, piped up, saying, “we can use the old routine of having Collins’s car blocked at one end by a parked car or a wall and a tow truck with its driver supposedly searching for whoever made the phone call for service. We need to check the logistics of this at Collins’s apartment building as well.”

  “I did that when I put a transponder on his car,” I said. “Collins parks in an assigned space that only allows him to back out. A tow truck driver blocking him should work fine.” Steve had good ideas; I just wished I was presenting them. Still, I expected to be charged with implementing the arrest plan.

  “I’ll have agent Gerry Forbes stand by to get the arrest and search warrants once you have confirmed Collins has the marked bills in his possession,” said Jackson. “Then, half an hour after Collins has arrived at his studio, or sooner if he tries to leave, I and Drew Ryan will lead our team in the arrest and search of Swift’s office. I will need assistance from the sheriff deputies to handle the office staff.” He paused before continuing. “I don’t have staff enough to raid Swift’s businesses. I would like the sheriff’s department to take responsibility for that in executing the federal warrants.”

  “The department will be happy to help,” said Thompson. “Shane Notfarg has been the lead detective in this undertaking. She will be making the arrest plan, and detective Steve Hall will assist as needed.” He cleared his throat. “Have you anything to add to that, Shane?”

  I responded accordingly. “Yes. I am planning to direct the operation from the sheriff’s communications center. I expect to complete our side of the arrest plan by midday tomorrow and will review it with DEA staff in the afternoon.”

  I loved getting this responsibility. Frankly, the task was so huge that Thompson, a sergeant and head of my section, should have undertaken it. A political man like him would love to take credit for a successful operation, but he would dread more the responsibility for failure. I looked forward to the opportunity of proving myself, a black woman, but I knew success lay in covering all the details of the operation and allowing for pitfalls.

  The phone conversation ended, and I walked quickly over to Thompson’s office, where I buttonholed my boss. “Harry, I’ve too much on my plate to organize the raids on Swift’s businesses. Would you do so, please, since you have more administrative muscle to get all the staff and vehicles required? I’ll give you details of what you’ll need.”

  “I’ll do that for you, Shane.”

  “Thanks, Harry. That’ll be an enormous help. You’ll need a detective and two deputies to secure each business until a forensic team can come in. You will have to have them wait until we have the search and seizure warrants in hand. Only then will you be able to tell them which business they each have to go to. Please instruct the evidence teams to seize all cash, the computers, any financial records, and any collectables of value. They should label the computers and records so we know where to send them back in case the businesses are allowed to become operational again.”

  “That’s a lot of deputies to tie up, Shane,” he said. “Your operations precede the raids, so I want you to release the deputies and detectives you use to me once Collins is returning to his office.”

  “Certainly.”

  Thompson then added, “I will be taking the lead in raiding Swift’s home.”

  I bet he’ll call the press during the raid. Quite the man to get credit wherever possible. No different from Jackson wanting to lead the raid on Swift’s office instead of Drew Ryan.

  His reply about Swift’s home reminded me of other places to be searched. “Harry, would you also organize the raids on the Arzeta’s home, Collins’s apartment and photo studio, his brother’s real estate office, and Bert Swanson’s home and the park office?” Thompson affirmed he would, and I added, “Don’t forget to brief the detectives and deputies on how important it is to keep this planned raid secret.”

  “What about the liquor stores as well, and the jewelry and pawn shops?”

  “Tell the deputies to get these stores locked, sealed, and guarded until their stocks have been inventoried and secured. We will arrange for a liquor distributor later to pick up the stock and send the DEA a check. The other stores will require us to check the ownership of the merchandise, which can be done by looking at their computer recor
ds.” Nice to give instructions to Thompson after all these years of him pushing me around. “Also, please come to my planning meeting tomorrow at 10:30. I would appreciate any comments or suggestions you might have.”

  Thompson said he would.

  CHAPTER 19

  I spent the rest of the day planning the operation, and determining the staffing level needed. I had a junior detective, a Norman Bolder, go to the San Diego Realtors Office to request the loan of a key card to open lockboxes and to be shown how to use it. When Bolder returned to the office, I asked him if the Realtors’ staff had been cooperative.

  “They were very helpful and would have loved to have known what it was all for,” he said. “I told them it was a police matter that I could not discuss.”

  “Did you practice opening and closing that lockbox with the key card?” I asked.

  “Sure did.”

  “Norman, I want you to be a key player in a secret raid we are undertaking Thursday. Be at our meeting room at 10:30, where you’ll be briefed, and don’t discuss this.”

  I pulled a camera-equipped car from the vehicle pool and drove it home. Steve called me around ten p.m. from the communications center to report Collins had received another text with a different set of numbers. They corresponded to a house in Clairemont, a community of San Diego not too far from the communications center, and the pickup time was 8:10 a.m.

  “That’s only a mile from my home,” said Steve. “Why don’t you come over for breakfast at my house after you’ve parked the car? I’ll pick you up there.”

  “Very kind of you, Steve. But could you please drive over to that address and make sure there will be no problem parking there in the morning.”

  Half an hour later, Steve called me back to say that the street was lightly parked and that I should have no problems. I thanked him, adding, “I don’t know how soon the drop man comes before Collins. I think they would want to keep the time interval short, but I think they also do not want them to meet. I estimate we are looking at a time difference somewhere between ten and fifty minutes, so I’m planning to park the car at 7:15 a.m. I’ll set the camera recording, get out, and walk to the end of the street, where you can pick me up. That way, it won’t look suspicious to the neighbors.”