Justice in Mystic Grove

by S F Bose

  I looked at Newmont. “When we were out at the old Peabody Cemetery, you said you got an anonymous call about the shooting fifteen minutes before you and the Chief arrived. But the shooter had fired at Rose and me five minutes before you arrived. That’s why Rose O’Ryan thought someone was setting up the shooter.”

  Newmont nodded. “I remember.”

  “Someone called in the shooting before it happened?” Tommy asked. “I wonder who? What do you think Larissa?” He looked at her and smiled.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she snapped.

  Dom didn’t admit to the shooting but he gave Larissa a dark look.

  “You set Dom up? Why?” I asked Larissa. She ignored me.

  “That’s an easy one,” Tommy replied. “Larisa wanted Dom out of the picture. As soon as Dom reached the cemetery, she hung up and called the police. I think she hoped the cops would either capture or kill Dom. Maybe they’d even think he was a good fit for Meagher’s murder. If they arrested him, she knew he’d never turn on her. So in the end, she’d be rid of both her husband and her lover. That would leave her with a big, fat insurance payout all to herself. I tried to tell Dom that Larissa was trouble but he wouldn’t listen.”

  Dom’s face turned beet red and he stared at Larissa. She kept her eyes on the table.

  “Who left the rifle cartridge on my car?” I asked.

  “What rifle cartridge?” Tommy asked. Dom looked surprised too.

  “Someone left a Federal .338 cartridge in an envelope under my windshield wiper,” I replied.

  “Federal .338?” Dom asked.

  “Was it you?” Sam asked sharply.

  “No! I use Federal .338 ammo in my elk rifle, though,” Dom replied.

  Tommy chuckled. “Has Larissa been in your house lately?”

  Dom’s mouth dropped open and he looked at Larissa.

  Larissa folded her hands and said, “I’m not saying another word.”

  “Tommy was right. You did try to set me up,” Dom said angrily. “You sent me out to shoot at Liz Bean and then called the cops to get me out of the way. You must have been really disappointed when I called to tell you I was back home that night. Then you planted one of my rifle shells on her car. How could you? I loved you!”

  Larissa didn’t reply.

  Newmont arrested all three of them for the murder of Steven Meagher. He read them their Miranda rights. I watched Officers Williams and Morales cuff them and lead them out of the interrogation room. Tommy shouted his offer of audio recordings for a deal, as they walked him down the hall.

  “Today was a good day,” Newmont said and shook our hands.

  “It sure was,” Sam agreed. “Glad it’s over.”

  “Me too,” I said. “But my intuition has never been so bad. I really believed Larissa’s story.”

  “Me too. She was an excellent liar,” Sam replied.

  I nodded. I thought I would be elated when we solved the Steven Meagher case. Instead, I felt discouraged because Larissa had fooled me so completely.

  “Don’t dwell on it, Liz,” Newmont said quietly. “She duped all of us. The important thing is we nailed the killers and can close the case.”

  “That’s true,” I agreed. Sam and I would also have a happy client. Suddenly, I felt better. It had been a good day.

  Chapter 41

  On the drive back to the office, I heard Neville humming in the back seat. I twisted around and smiled at him.

  “What did you think of the interrogation?” I asked.

  Neville’s eyes lit up. “It was fantastic!” he replied with a smile. “It proved my belief that criminals are stupid. They all should have asked for a lawyer from the get go.”

  “That surprised me too,” I agreed. “Especially after Newmont brought in the evidence they found at the houses and in the cars.”

  Sam glanced over. “They were afraid if they asked for lawyers, they’d be taken out of the room. Then they couldn’t hear if any of the others made a deal.”

  I nodded. “I’m sure you’re right.”

  “Newmont played it well. By telling them they weren’t under arrest and could leave at any time, he didn’t have to read them their rights. I think if he’d Mirandized them, Tommy might have clammed up,” Sam added.

  “Probably Dom too,” I agreed.

  Then I remembered something and looked back at Neville. “I know I said we’d wait, but would you like to tell Sam about your possible plans after school starts?”

  “What’s up?” Sam asked, looking at Neville in the rear view mirror.

  “Well, I mentioned to Liz that I’d like to work for you part-time after I start school. If the offer is still on the table, that is. I have to wait for my schedule before I know how many hours I can work, though,” Neville said.

  “That’s awesome, Neville,” Sam replied. “You’ve been a great addition to our team. Let us know when you get the schedule and we can talk about hours that will work for both of us.”

  “Will do,” Neville said. I looked back and he was grinning.

  We drove in silence for a few minutes.

  Neville cleared his throat. “There’s something else,” he said and I looked back at him.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  Neville unzipped his backpack and extracted the small stack of bitcoin paper wallets he had taken with him. “I had a chance to check the public keys of five of these bitcoin wallets. I don’t suppose you found a flash drive in the briefcase?”

  I shook my head. “No. Just the two envelopes filled with those paper wallets, a photo, and some brochures. No flash drive.”

  “Okay, no problem,” Neville replied.

  “Paper wallets?” asked Sam.

  I looked at him. “Oh right. I didn’t have a chance to tell you. Neville looked at those papers we found in Meagher’s old briefcase. They’re bitcoin paper wallets,” I replied.

  “Really? I never saw a paper wallet. Just those online wallets,” Sam said.

  “Me too,” I agreed. I looked back at Neville. “You said you checked five of the wallets? Did you find anything?”

  “I did. All five wallets had exactly fifty bitcoin. The current value of a bitcoin is around two hundred and thirty-eight dollars. That means each wallet is worth almost twelve thousand dollars,” Neville replied.

  “Are you kidding? There must be two hundred paper wallets in each of the envelopes!” I said.

  Neville held up a hand to stop me. “We don’t know if all the wallets have fifty bitcoin. If they do, then each manila envelope would be worth over two million dollars.”

  “Two million?” Sam asked. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously,” Neville confirmed. “Tomorrow I’ll spot-check paper wallets in each of the two envelopes. Since we don’t have electronic data, I’ll scan the public keys using the QR codes.”

  Sam looked at me. “Did you understand that?”

  “He’ll scan those square boxes on the paper wallets. That will help him to check the balance in each wallet faster,” I replied and Sam nodded. He still looked bewildered.

  “After the spot check, we’ll have a better idea of what we have here,” Neville said.

  “Sounds good,” I replied. “Millions. That’s hard to comprehend. What if Aggie Beal forgot to check that hiding spot in the closet? What if she’d just tossed the briefcase in the trash?”

  “Scary thoughts,” Neville agreed.

  “We should tell Newmont about the wallets,” I said.

  “We will. Let’s let Neville assess their value first,” Sam replied. “If Meagher used his gambling winnings to buy the bitcoin, the Feds will end up getting the lot.”

  “That’s true,” I agreed. Figuring out who was entitled to any of Meagher’s bitcoin wasn’t a headache I’d have to deal with.

  ***

  When we returned to the office parking lot, Neville shrugged into his backpack. Then he headed for his motorcycle, which he’d parked in one of the guest spots. Sam and I w
ent upstairs to his office and called Simon Goodman to give him the news of the arrests. Simon was so happy, he didn’t mind being on speakerphone.

  “Tell me their names again,” he asked.

  “Sure. Larissa Meagher, Dom Fontana, and Tommy Vann. Larissa was Meagher’s wife. Fontana was Larissa’s lover. And Tommy Vann was an acquaintance of Steven and Larissa Meagher,” I replied.

  “And Steven Meagher wanted one of the men to kill his current wife?” Goodman asked.

  “Yes, he hired Tommy Vann to kill Larissa because of her affair with Dom Fontana,” I said. “However, Tommy immediately called Dom, hoping to get money for the information he had about the planned hit. In the end, Dom and Larissa flipped the plan. They hired Tommy to kill Steven Meagher. Tommy and Dom confronted Meagher at the cabin and Tommy ended up killing him with a pipe.”

  “We have the murderers in jail and your son is in the clear, Mr. Goodman,” Sam added.

  There was silence and then Goodman said, “I don’t know how to thank you.” His voice cracked. “I knew Mac was innocent, but I really wanted the killers found so we could have justice. I have that now, thanks to both of you.”

  “You’re very welcome, Mr. Goodman,” I replied quietly.

  “And Steven Meagher got his own justice, as well,” Goodman added.

  Sam and I locked eyes and I shrugged.

  Goodman cleared his throat. “I’m going to be in Mystic Grove tomorrow to see Kerry and Mac. We’ll stop by in the afternoon, if that’s okay,” he said, his voice stronger.

  We assured him that would be fine and after thanking us again, he hung up.

  After that, we called Rose O’Ryan and gave her the news.

  “Larissa was involved?” Rose asked in surprise.

  “Yes, she was,” Sam replied. “She conspired with two others to kill her husband.”

  “That’s a shock,” Rose said. “Larissa always seemed… nice. But I’m relieved the real killers have been caught.”

  “I’m sorry we didn’t solve the case sooner, Rose,” I said.

  “That’s okay,” Rose said. “I explained everything to my boss at Danvers Realty and he said my job was safe. Then I talked to the village president and the trustees and they were supportive too. The news about the real killers will reassure everyone I didn’t have anything to do with the murder.”

  When the call ended, Rose sounded happy.

  “What a relief that she didn’t suffer any repercussions,” I said.

  Sam leaned back in his chair and stretched. “I agree. I hope she does run for village president someday. I’d vote for her.”

  “Me too,” I agreed.

  Now that we knew we might be sitting on a bitcoin fortune, Sam locked the briefcase in the office safe hidden in his closet and we called it a night.

  Chapter 42

  Neville was hard at work when I walked into the office the next morning. Sam must have arrived early and retrieved the briefcase from the safe for him. It sat on the floor next to Neville’s desk.

  “How’s it going, Neville?” I asked and he jumped.

  “Hi Liz,” he replied, pushing his wire rims back up the bridge of his nose. “Sorry, I didn’t hear the door chime.”

  “You’re really focusing,” I replied with a smile. “How’s it going with the bitcoin wallets?”

  He shook his head. “It’s amazing. I just finished sampling thirty wallets from the first envelope. I’m using my cell phone to scan the QR code for each public key, so it’s going a lot faster. I took ten pages each from the front, middle, and back of the envelope. It turned out that every one of them contained fifty bitcoin. That’s over three hundred and fifty thousand dollars from the sample alone.”

  “No way!” I exclaimed. “Really?” My messenger bag slid off my shoulder to the floor. Sam came to the door of his office, a shocked look on his face.

  “Neville, did I hear you say you’ve hit over three hundred and fifty thousand dollars already?” he asked.

  Neville stood and ran a hand through his hair. “That’s exactly what I said, Sam. So far, Meagher limited each paper wallet to fifty bitcoin.”

  “That’s incredible,” Sam replied and walked over to join us.

  “Any guesses why he only put fifty bitcoin in each wallet?” I asked.

  Neville shook his head. “I’m not sure. It may have been easier for him to remember what he had in each wallet. Or he may have thought he was reducing his risk in some way by keeping it to fifty bitcoin per wallet. However, that doesn’t make sense because he wasn’t using exchanges that might fail. I don’t understand it myself.”

  I saw Sam’s confused look and shrugged. “Maybe Meagher was superstitious,” I suggested.

  “It’s possible,” Neville replied.

  “A lot of gamblers are superstitious,” Sam agreed.

  “This could turn out to be a huge amount of money,” I said.

  “Well we have to remember this is just a sampling,” Neville cautioned. “There could be some wallets that are empty, others that have fifty bitcoin, and some that have more than fifty bitcoin. It would be a lot of work to check all of the wallets.”

  Sam shook his head. “Yeah, I don’t want you to check all of them. Go ahead and sample the second envelope and see what that batch looks like.”

  “Will do,” Neville agreed.

  I walked with Sam to his office. “Sorry I was late, Sam. I brought Grandma Addie and Nana Anna up to speed about Meagher’s death over breakfast. It took longer than I expected,” I said.

  “No worries. Were they surprised?” he asked.

  “They weren’t surprised about Meagher. They felt he had a violent side and could certainly have harmed Larissa. But the fact that Larissa and Dom turned the tables and orchestrated Meagher’s murder did shock them,” I replied. “I was amazed that Addie and Nana hadn’t already received an update from the Mystic Grove rumor mill.”

  Sam laughed. “Newmont will be happy to hear that. Maybe he’s plugged the leaks that the rumor mill passed along.”

  “That would disappoint a lot of people in the village,” I replied and smiled.

  I went to my office and took a deep breath. I felt a letdown. Without a case to work on and the associated adrenalin, I was moving in slow motion. It was difficult to get motivated.

  After getting a cup of coffee, I updated the online case file with details of the final interrogation of Larissa, Dom, and Tommy. Once I completed that, I ran out of work. So I relaxed and surfed the web for a while.

  Around lunchtime, Sam called me into his office. Neville sat in one guest chair and I took the other.

  “What’s the verdict?” I asked.

  Neville looked down at his notebook and sighed. “I ended up checking a total of eighty paper wallets and they all contained fifty bitcoin. So I’m going to assume all the paper wallets contain fifty bitcoin. However, we’d need a full audit for complete accuracy.”

  “Using your sample, how does it look?” Sam asked.

  “Okay, each manila envelope contained roughly two hundred paper wallets,” Neville said. “At fifty bitcoin per wallet, that would work out to two million three hundred and eighty dollars per envelope. The total for both envelopes would be four million seven hundred and sixty thousand dollars. That’s using the value of bitcoin as of today.”

  “That’s a freaking fortune,” Sam said.

  “It is, indeed,” Neville agreed. “Meagher started buying bitcoin in 2010, when the cryptocurrency was still fairly new and worth pennies. He accumulated a lot then and continued buying over the years. Meagher created a paper wallet, sent fifty bitcoin to it, and let it sit for years. None of these wallets show any withdrawals. Consequently, in five years he built up a real store of wealth.”

  “You can see when he bought the bitcoin?” I asked.

  “Yes. Each wallet transaction has a date when you look it up online,” Neville replied.

  “How often does the bitcoin value change?” I asked.

  “
It goes up and down daily,” Neville replied. “Compared to last year, it’s been trending down. However, many in the cryptocurrency field are betting it will trend up again.”

  “If these were your wallets, what would you do with them?” Sam asked.

  Neville sat back. “The problem is we don’t know if there’s another copy of Meagher’s paper wallets in somebody else’s hands. So I’d want to secure control of the bitcoin. The first thing I’d do is sweep each paper wallet into a new digital wallet. Then I’d have 400 online wallets that I controlled. After that, I’d decide if I wanted to cash out some of the bitcoin. I won’t go through the mechanism to do that, but taking a certain profit is a good thing. Next, I’d move a portion of the bitcoin to new paper wallets that I created. I’d print off two copies and lock them up in separate secure locations. I’d sit on the paper wallets long term. The rest I’d leave in digital wallets.”

  Sam nodded. “Great job, Neville. Put everything back in the briefcase. We’ll call Newmont after lunch.”

  “Will do,” Neville replied and jumped up. He returned shortly with the briefcase and Sam returned it to the safe.

  Sam turned and smiled. “Lunch at the Farmhouse Café? It’s on me.”

  “I’m in,” I replied. “I need a bacon burger.”

  “Me too,” Neville said and hurried out of Sam’s office.

  Sam lowered his voice. “I‘m really happy he’ll be working for us part-time after classes start.”

  “Me too. He’s really pulled his weight on the Meagher case,” I agreed.

  Sam smiled. “Maybe he’ll hate graduate school.”

  “Sam!” I hissed and he laughed.

  Then I noticed that Sam’ dog was nowhere to be seen. “Hey where’s Flip?”

  “I brought him to the B&B last night. I wanted him to have a doggie play date today. Now that I can see what he does when he’s home alone, I realized he’s a regular couch potato.”

  “He’ll get a lot of exercise with Grace’s dogs,” I replied. “You must have stopped by late. I was in the B&B dining room pretty late.”

  “Yeah it was around 9:00 p.m. I called ahead so Grace knew I was coming,” he replied and I nodded.