Counterfeit Road

by Kirk Russell

  ‘Everyone in the family knows what happened when your inspector came to Calgary and that worries me because my mother has mental health issues. She suffers from depression but refuses to take anything for it. She’s fragile and I feel like I should be there when you question her, but I can’t travel right now. So I don’t think now is the right time.’

  For the next twenty minutes Raveneau worked to convince her that this was the right time.

  ‘I’d also like to talk to your dad. Do you have a way I can get in touch with him?’

  ‘I don’t have much contact with my father.’

  ‘Do you know where he lives now?’

  ‘He’s in China.’

  OK, that’s easy, Raveneau thought. I’ll just look for him in China. But in the end she gave him an email for her dad, and then gave him her mom’s phone number after he promised not to ask Barbara Haney to come to San Francisco.

  ‘I don’t want you to upset my mother.’

  ‘I’m sorry for whatever happened when our inspector interviewed her last, but your mother and father may be the only ones who can say whether our new lead is worth anything or not.’

  ‘First, I don’t really believe you.’

  ‘You can believe me, Cheryl.’

  ‘And secondly, it’s not my mother’s responsibility to evaluate something like that. I don’t want you to put pressure on her.’

  ‘The pressure is on me, not on your mom. I’ll make sure it stays that way.’

  That got silence, then, ‘She lives in Truckee. Her husband is an American.’ She said that last in a way that suggested that was a life mistake her mother had made. ‘He’s an executive for a ski corporation based in Colorado so they live half the year in Colorado. Do you know where Truckee is?’

  ‘I do.’

  He called Barbara Haney as soon as he got off the phone with the daughter. She must have known the call was coming because almost immediately she asked, ‘Can you bring Inspector Govich with you?’

  ‘I’m sure he’d like to come with me, but he’s retired.’

  She laughed and Raveneau chuckled and guessed he was going to like her. He said, ‘I could drive to Truckee Monday morning.’

  ‘It’s that urgent?’

  ‘It’s the case I’m working.’

  She was quiet before saying, ‘I knew this wasn’t over.’

  NINE

  Seven floors up at the FBI Field Office on Golden Gate Street Special Agent Mark Coe picked up the phone and called Ben Raveneau’s cell phone. He assumed Raveneau’s work day heading the Cold Case Unit was more orderly than when he was on-call and in the rotation. San Francisco was staring at a three hundred eighty million dollar deficit this year and he knew the police department was keeping close tabs on overtime. Raveneau was probably about done for the day. But then you couldn’t know with him. Raveneau would work with or without pay.

  When Raveneau answered Coe said, ‘Raveneau, I’m back in your life and I’ve got information to share. It’s important enough to show you as soon as possible. Is there any chance of getting you to stop here early tomorrow morning?’

  ‘Not tomorrow.’

  ‘What about now?’

  Raveneau took a right at the next light and called Celeste. This would disappoint her. She was ready to hire a cook with the title of chef, a New Orleans transplant named Bo Rutan, and had asked a week ago if he’d make the time to meet Rutan. That was supposed to be now. Rutan was there for a final interview.

  Raveneau liked Mark Coe. He liked it that Coe never seemed serious about appearing serious, which was a pretty good trick when you worked for the Feds. Coe sounded serious now though. He looked it too. He stood patiently as Raveneau dug coins from his pockets to quiet the FBI metal detector. Coe was physically fit in a wiry way, four or five inches shorter than Raveneau, but probably one of those guys who could run up a mountain without panting. He carried the same sort of confidence at work without seeming full of himself.

  ‘Did Brooks tell you the counterfeit bills you’re chasing with your cold case may have a connection to a threat against the President?’

  ‘He didn’t tell me that part, but our victim was killed in 1989.’

  ‘Did he tell you Krueger was carrying the same series of counterfeit bills as were used to buy explosives last July?’

  Raveneau nodded.

  ‘We’re coming at this from a different direction and I’m going to give you more than Nate did. I can do that because we got there a different way. We were working a fraud case. I’ve got wiretap transcripts from that investigation I’d like to play for you. I can put them on audio or if you’d rather hear and read I can give you both.’

  ‘Give me both.’

  Raveneau followed Coe into a conference room. There was a long oval table with an American flag in a stand, a big-screen TV to the side of it with a computer set-up. The screen came to life and Coe said, ‘These transcripts are from a wire worn by one of our agents out of Salt Lake.’

  Raveneau pulled a chair over in front of the TV.

  ‘This conversation is between a former Utah banker named Jamison Garner and our agent who’s making a contribution using the alias Robert Jenner. Garner used to work for Zion Bank but now works for a very private and political group. Within that group we think may be people who belong to yet another more exclusive group. There’s twenty minutes of talking before they really get to it, and I could fast forward but I think it’s worth hearing all of it. Coffee?’

  ‘Sure, double espresso, refined sugar, not brown.’

  ‘You bet, and would you like some fresh pastry?’

  ‘I would. Bring the cart out and I’ll pick something.’

  Coe left as the audio started and Raveneau leaned back and listened to Jamison Garner, deep voiced, easy going, sounding like a big guy who life had treated well. They were talking politics and Garner, like many on either side in these times, was confident he was right. He quietly trash-talked Obama and Congress before launching into the gold bugs’ rap about the Federal Reserve destroying the US dollar. It was talk you could hear a lot of places nowadays. You could turn on the TV and hear experts like Garner on any number of channels. Garner and the man he was talking with were brushing around the edges of ‘something needing doing’ when Coe walked back in.

  ‘I didn’t look for any milk. Hope you like your coffee black. Sorry it’s in a paper cup.’

  Raveneau took a sip. He was watching the transcript and listening to Garner as he asked, ‘Does the Bureau have a file on Alan Krueger?’

  ‘I knew if I invited you here you’d start asking questions. To get hired on to the Homicide Detail do you have to prove you can ask two hundred questions in an hour? We do have a file. Yes, you can read it. No, it hasn’t been updated since he was killed.’

  ‘Was it started before or after he left the Secret Service?’

  ‘After.’

  ‘Good guy or bad guy?’

  ‘Good guy doing business with bad guys as near as I can tell.’

  ‘Who set him up with the bad guys?’

  ‘That’s a big open question.’

  ‘Was he an embarrassment to the Secret Service?’

  ‘No, but they were worried about it at the time and something happened there they’re fuzzy about.’

  ‘They shut out our inspectors.’

  ‘They had their own investigation going and they were working hard to figure out who Krueger was dealing with. They had supernotes starting to spread around the world.’

  ‘Did they begin to question Krueger?’

  ‘Maybe, probably, and it’s possible more than one party was making supernotes.’

  ‘Could that party have set-up the North Koreans?’

  ‘They may have, yes.’

  ‘What was the Bureau’s theory of who killed Krueger?’

  ‘We never concluded anything. You’ll read it.’

  Raveneau quit talking as the conversation between Garner and Jenner changed abruptly, Jenner getting a l
ittle whiny when Garner asked, ‘Can I deposit this today?’

  ‘You can, but when is anyone going to talk to me? A hundred thousand dollars is still worth something. I just want some sign things are progressing.’

  ‘We’re doing fine and I’m talking to you, and you knew when you got in that your contributions would be directed to making the changes we know need to happen.’

  ‘Give me something concrete. You know damn well it’s not going any farther than me.’

  ‘I don’t know the things you want to know. My job is to gather and pass the money on to those overseeing the work.’

  Raveneau heard exasperation creep into Garner’s voice. Exasperation as if he’d had this same conversation before.

  ‘Jamie, you’re treating me like an outsider.’

  A chair shifted, probably Garner.

  ‘We can return your money.’

  ‘Don’t be so hardnosed. I’m not asking for much. Three contributions downstream I’m owed something, so just give me a time frame. Am I going to turn on the TV in three months, six months, and see things have started and there’s news?’

  ‘You’re making me think I misread you initially, and I don’t like making that kind of mistake. I rarely make a mistake about character but you’re starting to disappoint me. You’re asking something you have no business asking and I’m advising you to stop now. I strongly suggest you don’t make me question you any more than you already have today. I don’t want to think I’ve made a mistake that needs to be rectified.’

  ‘Are you threatening me?’

  ‘I’m being honest with you.’

  Something got whispered that Raveneau couldn’t make out and no text appeared on the screen.

  ‘The agent didn’t hear it either,’ Coe said. ‘Whatever Garner said, he said under his breath.’

  ‘I’m as certain we need change as anybody,’ Jenner said. ‘I’m as solid as anybody and you shouldn’t talk to me the way you are. Three hundred thousand dollars is what I’m in so far.’

  ‘Three hundred thousand dollars is nothing compared to what others are contributing. All you need to know is it’s in motion now.’

  ‘Just tell me it begins with him.’

  ‘I’m tearing this check in half. The rest of your contributions will be returned to you. Good day, sir.’

  Garner hung up.

  ‘How long did it take your agent to get that close?’

  ‘Over a year and a half and it wasn’t easy. We were asked by the Secret Service to push harder, so we did and as you heard it was a mistake. There are other pieces. There are two former Army snipers we’re also watching. We believe there are military links but that’s not confirmed. This next clip is an individual talking about a military supply depot in Kentucky. In this passage the individual working with us is X4. He’s not an FBI agent. He came to us and the man he’s talking to he’s never met or seen. X4 is trying to sell him black market current grade US military hardware.’

  X4: ‘I’m calling about the parts order. I can get what you need in time.’

  Unsub: ‘Then we’re probably doing business.’

  X4: ‘There is a glitch though. My supplier won’t disassemble and ship.’

  Unsub: ‘Disassembly and separate shipping is the only way we’ll do this.’

  X4: ‘I know. He’s not set-up to disassemble.’

  Unsub: ‘That’s a problem.’

  X-4: ‘It’s my problem.’

  Unsub: ‘You’re right about that and you’ve got a week before I go somewhere else.’

  X4: ‘Understood.’

  Coe changed the screen now. ‘Here’s another Garner and sorry to do this with scraps, but I’ll sketch it together for you. This is an older Garner tape from last July. We don’t know who he was talking to. The party on the other end had a throwaway phone.’

  Raveneau listened and read the text as it passed by. It was all Garner, a monologue, a diatribe on social values that morphed into protecting the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic as if somehow there was a natural connection. He segued into corruption in Washington and said they were using someone in Washington to gain access, but that those getting paid for that would not ‘make the long trip with us.’ ‘Their purpose will have been fulfilled,’ he said. He spoke about sacrifice and necessary shock to the country, corruption trials, and public executions ‘after the mobilization.’

  ‘What do you think the mobilization is?’ Raveneau asked. ‘And what are you calling this guy?’

  ‘We call him Jericho.’ He paused. ‘You’ll think we’ve gone nuts in here.’

  ‘I already think that.’

  ‘Let me say first we have no real theory yet, but there is a link to weapon purchases and this counterfeit series you’re caught up in. We’ve recorded references to a first event. The Secret Service believes that’s an assassination plan and we gather that’s just the initial step. These are planners. The mobilization, and this is where you’re going to shake your head and laugh, is later and involves some aspect of our military and a temporary occupation of Washington. It’s possible the planning began a decade or more ago.’

  ‘Oh, come on—’

  ‘Ben, I’m with you, it’s another wacko conspiracy hunt, but something is going on. Garner is well-connected and the group he’s with is well-funded. A year ago you could never have convinced me that anything like they’re talking was even remotely possible. But now I’m not as sure. Maybe I’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid. Maybe I’ve listened and read too much into these conversations.’

  ‘They’re living a fantasy.’

  ‘I know and I agree with you, but I think they’re going to try.’

  TEN

  Snow was alongside the road in the foothills but the road was dry as Raveneau drove over Donner Pass. The high mountain rock caught early sunlight though the snow-covered slopes lower were still shaded, the snow smooth and hard looking. He lowered his window and let the cold air reach him as he exited in Truckee and found a gas station, then called Barbara Haney from there, his breath clouding in front as he told her he was close.

  ‘Do you need directions?’

  ‘It’s been awhile but I can still find my way around.’

  The big Cottonwood sign was still up there on the hill and it was easy to remember sitting out on the deck. He drove toward the Tahoe Basin and turned off into the shadowed snowy Martis Valley. He found her house among the big new houses built in the last decade.

  When she opened the door he saw a tall woman nearing fifty, big-boned but not heavy. She had a fluid walk, an athletic ease to her. Her cheekbones were sharp, eyes dark, iron-colored streaks running in her black hair. She led him to a large, high-ceilinged, open room that could have been the lobby of a boutique mountain hotel. Heavy fir beams held up the roof. The stone fireplace was big enough to set up a card table inside. Tall windows looked up toward the backside of the Northstar ski resort up above in the near distance. Skiers were on the slopes, not too many but some, dark and small as they skied the runs. He watched a fast skier and asked her, ‘Do you get out there?’

  ‘I usually ski once or twice a week, but not lately. We need a storm. It’s hardly snowed in January. The snow is hard and I’ve become softer, and I don’t really like to ski alone. But when I’m here I’m usually alone.’

  ‘Where’s your husband?’

  ‘Working. We have a house in Colorado and the corporate headquarters my husband works out of are there. He’s there most of the time.’

  Raveneau could ask why they didn’t move from house to house together, but instead said, ‘I used to ski but I haven’t in awhile. It’s one of those things I don’t seem to do any more.’

  ‘That’s how it works, one day you just don’t do what you used to and you wonder why not.’

  She smiled and Raveneau saw sadness. He looked from the mountain slopes and the skiers to her. ‘Some new evidence came in on the Alan Krueger murder and I’m actively working the case.’

  ‘Wel
l, where do you want to start?’

  ‘With your ex-husband, how do I get in touch with him? Your daughter, Cheryl, gave me an email address. Do you have a phone number?’

  ‘Not any more. I email him. He always responds. Just don’t tell him you’re a San Francisco homicide inspector. Did my daughter tell you I’m fragile?’

  ‘She said you suffer from depression.’

  ‘I suffer from her theories but there’s nothing unusual about me and I’m certainly not fragile. I won’t burst into tears after you leave, but I would like to think I can put what happened in 1989 behind me at some point. We were tourists on our honeymoon.’

  ‘I understand.’

  ‘Good, and I understand we brought suspicion on ourselves. I have to admit we did avoid Inspector Govich when he came to Calgary. My husband simply couldn’t stand him.’

  ‘You can tell your ex that Govich retired.’

  ‘I don’t think retired would be quite enough to satisfy Larry. He’d want a little more than that.’ She smiled a wry smile now, brushed a strand of hair from her face and said, ‘Bit of an irony that all you had to do was call me yesterday to set up an interview this morning. Don’t tell Govich how easy I’ve become. What about Govich’s partner? I’ve forgotten his name.’

  ‘Henry Goya.’

  ‘What does he say about us?’

  ‘He’s circumspect.’

  ‘Wonderful, we’re making progress. It’s been how many years?’

  ‘Twenty-two.’

  She smiled again, but less brightly.

  ‘Let’s move into the kitchen. It’s warmer there.’

  She got out a plate and put scones on it that she said came from a bakery in town. She made coffee as she talked and Raveneau ate a scone and drank a mug of coffee while Barbara offered pieces of what she remembered of the day Alan Krueger was murdered. She was nervous. It showed in her hands and voice and Raveneau wanted to put her at ease.