Old Growth & Ivy (The Spook Hills Trilogy Book 1)

by Menard, Jayne

  At that point, Ivy's dinner came in. It looked like turkey and gravy and smelled better than Mathew might have expected. Either that or he was getting hungry. Ivy tasted it, looked pleasantly surprised, and started to eat. He continued talking.

  "The next morning was a Saturday in mid-July. Steve was in his office and from what I could tell, he had been there most of the night. He canceled our morning meetings, which was something he hadn’t done before. He appeared to have gone for a swim and as always was in crisp, pressed clothes -- even on weekends he wore a suit. He was banging away on the keyboard like an oversized rock star on a set of bongos. If he had been less intent, it might have been comical.

  "Around 11 he burst out of his office, shouting excitedly and calling us to our meeting table. While we hustled over, Steve phoned in a lunch order. From that time right up to lunch, he ran a computer model he had built showing scenario after scenario, which shifted banking transactions over time and between accounts, selected from the broad spectrum collected from the banks in our database. The model kept sets of running totals at the top of the screen, showing comparisons to the accounts where the money sat in Cairo. On the left he displayed a table of anomalies -- outlier transactions that did not adhere to the pattern.

  "Steve pointed at the screen and explained that the money transferred out of a certain group of twelve accounts showed staggered totals that over each three-week period, exactly matched the money that came into other accounts we identified in Cairo. The pattern went back through the most recent six-month window he had selected and likely further. Moreover it was continuing day after day. This money transferred out was systematically flowing somewhere and it was our job find out where."

  Ivy pushed a piece of floppy bread aside and drank some of the milk from a carton on her tray. "He built that model from scratch?"

  "Yeah. It was a combo of code written in C and Excel. He embedded Excel in a window, so he could more readily show the detailed transactions in a drill down. He put one team on tracing the money after it left the twelve identified accounts in Cairo. Another had to go back in time to see how long this money-laundering scheme had been active. He assigned my team the daunting role of auditing the computer model he built and resolving the outlier transactions -- the ones that did not fit the pattern that he had found.

  "My understanding of program code is not great. I can read straightforward logic but the more advanced techniques lose me. Luckily Brian had taken advanced classes and had performed several program code reviews on cases. In addition Moll had become quite expert at database structures and at searching and manipulating data.

  "Steve told us the location of his code and granted us read access permissions. He instructed us to set up our own library and to start with a clean copy of the database of banking transactions, in case he had gunked up the data. His eyes glittered with excitement. This was the first time I had seen him totally focused on the hunt -- his intensity was a bit scary. An hour later having come down from his high of discovery, he left. He was back in the early evening, again with his hair wet and in a fresh set of clothes. He called us together for an update.

  "Brian had been leading the code review and at my insistence, he was to report the results. When he stood up to present our findings, his voice quavered as he started to speak. He reviewed the procedure we followed and discussed how we tweaked Steve's code, since it did not seem to be running properly.

  "Steve's face went pale. His shoulders sagged. He motioned for Brian to continue.

  "Brian inhaled deeply and said something to the effect of, 'The results are even cleaner. Those code changes reduced the outlier anomalies by about 80%. We are close to having it nailed.' Brian paused, and then added more quietly, 'Your model was brill, Chief, really brill. That's one for the book.' He reddened and sat down, surprising himself with his temerity.

  "Steve sank back into his chair with a slow satisfied smile that had a hint of pride. Then he stood up, walked around and shook Brian's hand, something he only did when an agent exceeded his expectations. He nodded at Moll and at me still with that smile. After each team had accounted for their activities, Steve gave us his big toothy grin, nodded and said, "Been a great day for us -- a breakthrough day. Let's call it a night. Drinks and dinner on the Bureau. We'll hit it fresh in the morning. I'll get a table at that upscale Italian place down the street – the one called Val d’Orcia. Be there at 8:00.

  "I noticed his use of 'us' and I was to find that Steve always credited victories to the team and if blame came down, he took it. I remembered that at the Academy we considered him superhuman. After a couple of weeks of working with him, I realized we only had an impression. The reality was far broader and deeper than any of us grasped. He was demanding; he could be impatient. On the other hand he was insightful, technically adept and committed. He led by example and he was a great mentor in all the ways that counted."

  Ivy squirmed in her chair. Mathew rose, moved her dinner out of the way and helped her over to see Steve again. As they walked, she said, "We have never really sat like this and talked about Steve. It gives me a very different perspective on him. Let me spend some time with him. When I'm back in bed, maybe you can tell me about this case against Astuto until I nod off. Then you better go, have dinner and get some sleep. Are you staying at the Portland house?"

  Mathew said, "Not exactly. I shower there, but I have been sleeping here."

  Ivy looked at him in surprise.

  "And I will continue to do that until you both are released into my care."

  She pressed his arm and smiled her appreciation. Tears welled up in her eyes, though she quickly wiped them away as she bent down to kiss Steve. Once she had settled herself back in bed, she asked Mathew again to tell her about the recent case against the drug lord.

  "Okay, but first there is something I want to say. You and Steve are so good to me. You treat me like an equal and yet like a son too. You let me lead when I want to; you act as my sounding boards. You even give me a good swift kick in the pants when I need it."

  Ivy laughed a little, remembering the time in the kitchen when she had lectured Mathew.

  "Most of all, you give me a wonderful example of a loving relationship between two strong people. More than ever, you make me want to get married, have a home and start a family. You gave me a refreshed raison d'être. I have more to say but that will wait until all three of us can be drinking champagne, lying back in the sun, gazing down at our embryonic vineyards and our homes-to-be, up on those high knolls we call Spook Hills."

  Ivy leaned forward and stared with concern at Steve. He remained as motionless and unaware as before.

  "We have to believe that day will come Ivy. We have to. Remember what Virgil said, Amor Vincit Omnia -- Love Conquers All Things." Mathew said softly.

  Ivy nodded but continued to regard Steve anxiously. Mathew decided to talk about the drug lord to distract her from worrying about Steve. Just to be safe, he scooted his chair closer to the side of Ivy's bed so he could talk in a less-carrying tone.

  "So this case against Astuto . . . we became embroiled in it because of money laundering; in fact the patterns were similar to the 2007 case, but involving different banks, locations, accounts and companies. This time we had much improved software and the knowhow to find the blueprint for the transactions relatively quickly. Someone was storing money in accounts in Colombia, for now letting it appear like a long-term investment, spread into mutual funds, stocks, etc. In total, the same amounts from different accounts moved systematically out of Colombia."

  "Do you think it was a copy-cat crime or just coincidence that the pattern was the same?"

  "Since it was such a good scheme in the 2007 case, we filed that part of the evidence under seal at the Court."

  Ivy thought for a moment and said. "Therefore the scheme from the 2007 case should not be available to the public. So either Astuto reinvented the scheme or . . ."

  "We have a mole at the Bureau. Steve was worried about
that though he kept it quiet. He only mentioned it to me after we departed."

  A look of deep concern crossed Ivy's face. She pulled up the covers a little higher, as if she were just then realizing the power of the perp they were dealing with.

  "You sure this is the right time to talk about this Astuto character?" Mathew asked.

  "I need to know." Ivy's body language might look as if she were feeling vulnerable, but the determination in her face told him she meant to hear it all.

  "We began unraveling the owners of more than 150 suspect accounts across the 14 different banks involved in the transfers. Each account belonged to one of 25 companies in six countries. The final destination, except for about 30% siphoned off in Zurich, was a series of accounts at three banks in Turkey, which is not one of the best countries at cooperating in these money-laundering investigations. We couldn't tell if the money was used to buy drugs coming out of the Middle East, passed on to terrorists, or stockpiled for some other purpose.

  "We now had to bring in the FBI's Joint Action Task Force that dealt with terrorist activities, the DEA, and several other agencies, making for slow going at the beginning. This was in addition to working within the Department of Justice, and with the Treasury Department which included the Office of Foreign Assets Control. We began to have far more help than was productive. Several agencies began lobbying for control of the case."

  "Bet that made Steve happy," Ivy said quietly. She had slipped a little lower in bed but was listening intently.

  Mathew laughed as he recalled that time. "Steve started shaking things up at HQ to either retain control of the case or move him to another matter. He did this with his characteristic charm and aplomb. We could hear a number of heated conversations echoing out from under the door to his office. No agency wants to give up control of an investigation but taking all aspects together, this operation belonged in the FBI.

  "In the end the Bureau appointed Steve to head a joint task force for the field operation of apprehending the perps. About five team members joined our core team to serve in the additional coordination roles. Steve brought in a senior HQ type to oversee them -- a position he sarcastically referred to as the Coordinator of the Coordinators or the C.O.C. which he sometimes pronounced as ‘cock’. He added twice-daily standup briefings with the C.O.C. and his project team leaders to make sure we all stayed synchronized."

  "The ‘C.O.C’ -- love it. Be a funny title on a business card."

  "Yeah. We had to keep the other departments organized and in communication. Anyway back to Astuto -- of the 30% of the money siphoned off in Zurich, about half stayed in the account. The balance went into an account for a benevolent trust called, 'The CCE Charitable Foundation'. Its alleged purpose was to fund security and safety programs in poor neighborhoods with concentrations of Latinos in the United States. We went after more detail. Steve charged my team with researching the myriad of shell and sham operating companies that owned the money laundering accounts. We were seeking commonalities in ownership, officers, signatories, type of business, location -- anything that would lead us to the top of the pyramid. Moll set up a database to house these characteristics. We analyzed it for congruities and disparities based on both actual and fuzzy searches -- you know, those “sounds like” type searches.”

  Ivy nodded. “We used those a lot at my company searching client data. We kept expanding the degree of fuzziness until we would reach the point of diminishing returns.”

  “Us too. Nothing popped out though. We tried matching spellings both forward and backward. We translated names between Spanish and English. Out of ideas, we sat down with Steve to identify other approaches. He suggested various methods of encoding. We tried dropping letters and shifting letters from front to back. Steve suggested we try to find patterns in the abbreviations of the company names. After numerous dead ends, we discovered that they all abbreviated to Spanish common names of animals or plants or insects -- all native to Latin America."

  "That's odd. Makes me wonder why," Ivy said quietly.

  "We also scrutinized the names of the officers, signatories, etc. After running into a bunch of blind corners, we found that if we took a list of common Spanish first names and paired it with a list of common Spanish last names from each end of the alphabet, we could create the officer names by age of the company. The second name on the list would be the reverse -- the first name came from the end of the alphabet and the last name from the beginning, the third would be taken from the middle and then the pattern would repeat itself. For example, the first company, which dated to the year 1998, had the following three officers, Presidente: Adan Zermeno; Vicepresidente: Vincente Alvarez; Secretario: Luis Martinez.

  "The companies were registered in Spanish-speaking Latin America, including Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela and Cuba. Many of the companies listed shipping, tourism, or investment management as their type of business. Several listed ships as assets. As we researched, we found these ships to be very expensive yachts. We began to investigate the operations of these companies and attempted to verify the existence of the named officers. As we obtained copies of specimen signatures from the banks for those individuals who could authorize bank transfers, our graphologists or hand writing specialists identified three patterns in the penmanship. This was our most exciting discovery to date. We then checked to see if any of these names were linked to travel to or from the United States. About a dozen had been, three fairly frequently. Six held U.S. passports. We acquired photographs from the passports on file. Photo and signature analysis revealed that they likely belonged to two individuals using multiple identities. In fact, the two men bore a remarkable resemblance to each other and might even have been the same person, although one had a scar on his forehead, which possibly was applied with makeup or hidden by it. Unfortunately, no fingerprints were on file.

  "We were dealing with a mastermind who had set up a brilliant web of financial transactions and likely had a mammoth drug ring and other illegal operations behind it. We began an intensive action to run this man to ground. After some weeks of networking and searching, we finally received intelligence through the DEA that the perp was on a yacht off the coast of Manzanillo, on the southwest coast of Mexico.

  "Steve picked his field team of six. Brian, Moll and I were on it. We now reported to Steve full time. It made me pleased that the four of us were working together. Steve's choices told me what he valued, including performance, commitment, attention to detail and creativity. Right when we planned to move to Guadalajara to prepare for a possible raid in Manzanillo, the judge signed the data order in the child trafficking case, so off I went to Guadalajara and as you know Steve, Brian and Moll appeared in your offices that same Monday morning.

  “On the morning of the fourth day, we planned to board the yacht with a small team from the DEA and with support from a Mexican SWAT team.”

  “So that’s why Steve left after the first day,” Ivy noted.

  “Yeah. Turned out the actual sting was easy, since the crew was small and mostly unarmed. All we caught was an actor traveling under a U.S. passport hired to be the double of the owner of the yacht, a man who paid him and who he knew only as El Zorro Astuto. We arrested and questioned the crew hired in Veracruz where the yacht was registered under one of the Astuto corporations. The actor and the crew accounted for all the prints we found on the yacht. Either the real Astuto had never been there, or he had the yacht wiped clean after his last visit.

  "We were stalled. Our quarry appeared to have gone underground. The flow of funds into the accounts in Colombia stopped also, and the phony passports were not used again. Thanks to you, we had a lead to follow on the child trafficking case and we shifted our primary attention to it. During this time, I never saw Steve do the bar scene, outside of a drink with the team, although we did share a number of plates of cookies. He told me that he began his life as an FBI monk a few weeks after we talked back in 2007. The asceticism made him cranky as hell for about six months and th
en he was clearer-headed and lighter-hearted. He kept swimming, often twice a day. We joked that he was trying to freeze it off.”

  “Glad that didn’t happen,” Ivy said sleepily.

  “I can’t say he became less demanding, but he was different, even more focused and yet, sometimes somewhat dreamy. So why is all this important to you, Ivy? Because you should appreciate how much it meant to Steve when he met you. As far as I know, he had been sexually abstinent for five years and emotionally isolated perhaps all his life. He did personal soul searching. If a man had to find his dream ahead of me, I am glad it was Steve. With luck, I still have some time in front of me. You should also recognize how damn excellent he was at his work and how hard it was for him to leave the Bureau. Now we have to nail the bastards who did this to you. This vendetta has to end. We will catch them, even if I have to rejoin the FBI to do it."

  Mathew stopped talking. He had been staring into space, unaware that Ivy like a little girl had drifted off to sleep during her bedtime story. No matter -- he could repeat the last part in the morning. He gazed over at Steve who lay in his bed as he had for days now. Mathew said a prayer for his recovery. Although he was not an overly religious man, unlike Steve and Ivy, he believed in some omnipotent power. He prayed that Steve was Vulneratus non Victus, Wounded but not Conquered.

  He rose, stretched and pulled the covers up over Steve. This man had saved his life in Mexico. Even without that, they had bonds of friendship and they had their new vineyard partnership. He bent and kissed him on the forehead, then went over and did the same for Ivy. He was meeting Brian and Moll for a late dinner. After that he would shower at the Portland house where they were staying, put on fresh clothes and come back to the hospital for the night.

  Chapter 17