The Victim at Vultee Arch

by Charles Williamson

  “How was your day off Mike?” Margaret asked.

  “I finished the garage tool reorganization today. That’s one item from my to-do list. I’ve just moved the Quentin Thatcher case up to the top of the list. Margaret, we’re going to solve this murder and get me reinstated. I’m certain of it.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Margaret alternates with other tellers working the drive-in one Saturday morning a month, and it was her turn. After dropping Margaret at her job, I drove to the Sedona Public Library. It’s a beautiful structure, large for a town of 10,000 people, built with a great deal of private support. I located a comfortable chair in the business reference section and began making notes regarding Bank E & A and its executives. I found references to a number of sources that the local library could not immediately provide. They needed to borrow the documents from a library in Phoenix. A helpful librarian named Peggy suggested the business section of the NAU library would be more productive. I had a pleasant drive up the scenic highway to the NAU campus in Flagstaff. I found a parking place a block from campus and asked a student for directions to the library.

  I spent the rest of the morning in the NAU library using their Internet connection as well as their extensive collection of business publications. I’m not a complete stranger to this type of legwork. I’d worked a variety of cases including business fraud before my move to the homicide unit at the Ramparts Division. What surprised me most was the tremendous impact of computer information in the past fifteen years. The research was so much more difficult in the old days. In less than one day, I learned a lot about both the Bank of Europe and the Americas and about its North American CEO. The project would have taken weeks in 1990.

  One of my most interesting finds was an article about Henry Griffin in the Institutional Investor magazine. It was published a few months after he was transferred to the position of Manager for North America in New York from his previous job in Mumbai as South Asian Manager for Bank E. & A. That gave me a source for tracking his earlier career through Internet access to the Indian news services and from them back to his days in London. There were four articles that mentioned Henry Griffin in old issues of the Wall Street Journal and two in the New York Times. By afternoon, I had twenty index cards that covered Sir Henry Griffin and another forty-two cards that contained information about the bank. I was anxious to discuss my research with Margaret.

  Before leaving the NAU library, I checked yesterday’s issues of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. I wanted to see if the death of Quentin Thatcher was mentioned. Both had small articles about the death of the senior bank executive. The New York Times obituary reported that Dr. Thatcher had been a director of the Brooklyn chapter of the Boys and Girls Clubs and a director of the NYC Public Schools Foundation. He was highly regarded for his generosity and commitment to the NY public schools the article reported. He was also the past Chairman of the African American Business Council of Greater New York. Only the Wall Street Journal mentioned the cause of death. “Dr. Thatcher was killed by a rattlesnake bite while vacationing in Sedona, Arizona,” it said.

  The news that his death was a possible homicide had not made the deadline for the New York papers. I wondered if that information combined with the $150,000,000 lawsuit would eclipse the brief reports of Dr. Thatcher’s good works and business success in later editions.

  As I drove back to Sedona, I called my son. “John, I’m glad I reached you at home. Do you have a few minutes to talk? I’ve had a career setback.”

  “Dad, what’s happened?”

  “I was suspended for thirty days. The county is being sued for an enormous amount because those papers we discussed a couple of days ago were stolen from our Sedona office.”

  “All those proprietary derivative calculations? They were probably valuable, but why did they suspend you because of them?”

  “Those documents were my responsibility. I’ve been instructed to have no contact with anyone at Bank E & A during my suspension. I was hoping you’d call someone at the bank for me,” I said.

  “Of course. I’ll help anyway I can, but I think you should tell that hick sheriff to shove it and just enjoy your retirement. You don’t need that job.”

  “John, being fired for incompetence and causing a financial disaster to Coconino County are not the way I want to go out.”

  “Sorry Dad. What can I do to help?”

  “There’s a young lady named Heather Potter, an intern at Bank E & A. She talked with your mother last night, but part of the conversation involved derivatives and engineered securities products. Your mother didn’t follow that part of the discussion. I’d like you to call her at home at 212-555-1513 and listen to her story.”

  “Sure, I’ll call her right now and call you back. What should I ask her?”

  “Your mother and I think that Heather is saying that something is wrong with the derivative business at the bank. It might be the motive for Quentin Thatcher’s killing and for the theft of the documents.”

  “Good Lord Dad, are you claiming someone at Bank E & A killed one of their own managing directors to cover up a trading problem? Perhaps you’re a little stressed out from being suspended; that sounds like a Hollywood script. That sort of thing doesn’t really happen on Wall Street. Investment bankers are ruthless, but it’s not the mafia.”

  “I know it’s a long shot, but that’s the only answer that will get the damn lawsuit dismissed. Maybe it’s wishful thinking that someone senior at the bank was involved. Please call Heather and then form your own opinion.”

  “Sure, I’ll keep an open mind,” he said.

  “Can you also call some friends from your trading room and see what people at your firm thought of Dr. Thatcher and what they know about Sir Henry Griffin at Bank E & A.”

  “I’ll ask, but Sir Henry is top management at Bank E & A. The guys I know in our trading room are not likely to have ever met him.”

  The discussion with John hadn’t altered my hunch that the bank’s senior management was involved, but I knew it was easy to get off track in an investigation, especially if I narrowed the investigation too early in a case. Maybe Captain Horn was correct to focus his attention on Arizona hate groups and on Dr. Thatcher’s ex-wife. Since no one in the department was looking at the Bank E & A, I’d focus my attention there.

  I was half an hour early to pick up Margaret when I reached Sedona. I stopped at the New York Bagel and bought a double espresso. I picked up a Flagstaff newspaper and found an outdoor table to read it. It was easy to find what I was looking for. The headline on the front page was only slightly less prominent than the declaration of war would have received.

  “Enormous Lawsuit in Snake Death,” the headline said. The article explained that valuable information was stolen from the Sedona office of the Sheriff’s Department and that the British bank was suing the county for negligence. My name was not mentioned. Captain Horn was quoted as saying the investigation of the theft was making progress, and that the burglary was not necessarily connected to the death of Quentin Thatcher. Drugs had been stolen as well as the expensive leather luggage that contained the missing documents. I read the article three times before I could believe it. The department was looking for a drug thief who took five pounds of marijuana rather than the burglar of documents worth tens of millions.

  I tossed the newspaper aside and drank my espresso with my mind a blank. I didn’t want to think about the Thatcher case or about my situation. After ten missing minutes, my cell phone rang. It was Rose, the administrative assistant in my office.

  “Hi boss, can you talk?”

  “Sure Rose. How are you?”

  “I’m mad as hell, but that’s not what I’m calling you about. I want to know if you think I should accept a job in the Cottonwood Police Department. They pay slightly more, but it would also save me from the commute to Sedona. I won’t take the job if you want me to stay.” Housing is expensive in Sedona, and many people, including Rose, commute the twen
ty-five miles from less expensive Cottonwood.

  Rose was wonderful at her job, and I certainly didn’t want to lose her if I could get reinstated. I also felt I needed to be honest with her. Was I likely to return to the Sedona Substation after my suspension?

  “If there’s any possible way, I’ll be back at work soon. Please stay.”

  “Thanks Mike, I didn’t really want to leave. Call me anytime you need anything.”

  I had no choice but to get myself reinstated now. I picked up Margaret at the Chase branch at 2:00 and mentioned that I’d talked with John today. He was going to call back later today if he was able to reach Heather Potter.

  “How are the grandkids?” Margaret asked.

  She had caught me with a single question. I’d been too concerned with my own situation to even ask how our granddaughters were doing. When I didn’t answer immediately, Margaret said, “Mike, you’ll be back at work soon. I love you and so do your granddaughters.”

  We went shopping at the Wal-Mart in Cottonwood that afternoon and returned home for dinner. As we chatted in our comfortable kitchen, I opened a bottle of Pinot Grigio while Margaret made angel hair pasta with chicken and fresh pesto sauce. I reported on my morning at the library at NAU.

  “Margaret, I found something interesting in the background of Sir Henry Griffin.”

  “That’s the same guy that Dr. Thatcher went to see when he discovered a problem at the bank last Friday. Didn’t he call Sheriff Taylor and demand those documents the day after the murder? I’ll bet he’s a real sweetheart,” Margaret said.

  “He was promoted to be the head of the North American operations from a position as manager of the South Asian region for the bank. He was transferred from Mumbai to New York about four years ago.”

  “I assumed he was English. Is he from India?” Margaret said.

  “No he was in London before becoming assistant manager in Mumbai. He was promoted to South Asian Manager when his boss was accidentally killed.”

  “Mike, I can tell by your cat-who-ate-the-canary expression that you’ve learned something important.”

  “Henry Griffin got his lucky promotion in Mumbai when his boss was killed by a cobra bite.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  We discussed the case over dinner. I don’t believe in coincidences, but I knew of no evidence to connect Henry Griffin with the death of his supervisor in India.

  “The answer may be in New York,” Margaret said.

  “It’ll be difficult to solve this case from Sedona if the bank’s involved, but there must have been a local connection. Few people would know the location of that Sinaguan ruin. I’m suspicious of Chris Moore. I was scheduled to interview him before my suspension.”

  “I talked with my supervisor this morning,” Margaret said. “She’s not happy with the idea, but she would approve a thirty-day leave of absence if I need one. It would be fun to visit John.”

  “Even if we’re in New York, how would we get anyone at the bank to tell us anything? I no longer have law enforcement credentials, and I don’t have contacts in the New York police force.”

  “Big banks are always hiring temporary workers for filing or other office tasks that don’t require much skill. I could use John and Sue’s address as my local one. I’d be willing to work cheap and probably stay late hours after most workers have gone home,” Margaret said.

  Before I could answer that proposal, the phone rang. It was John. We both picked up extensions to listen to his explanation of his call to Heather Potter.

  “I’m sorry to say Heather’s explanation was too complicated for me too. I’m not from the derivative side of the investment business. I can give you a brief account, but you’ll need an expert to really follow her line of reasoning.”

  “Did it sound like a motive?” I asked.

  “Yes, maybe so. The profits from some derivative trades are estimated through complex formulas. Commissions and bonuses get paid on these estimated profits even when the actual cash flow occurs many years in the future. For example, a contract may call for delivery of natural gas to a utility ten years in the future. The contract to sell gas is often not exactly offset by another contract of the same size to buy gas. The whole thing is more complicated than simply the difference between the two contracts. In those cases, the profit on the trade must be estimated. Heather thinks the formulas used to estimate profits in engineered trades have been deliberately manipulated to show higher earnings.”

  “It sounds like a lot of money might have been involved.” Margaret said.

  “She doesn’t have a clue as to how much might be involved, but she understands that people are being paid on questionable profit numbers. She thinks Quentin Thatcher discovered this misrepresentation and went to Sir Henry Griffin to expose the problem.”

  “Did you get the impression that Heather knows what she’s talking about? She’s only an intern,” I said.

  “Yes Dad. I think she’s for real. I asked a derivative trader at my firm about Bank E & A. They are very solid market participants with a reputation for being innovative. They can sometimes engineer products that my traders don’t know how to replicate. That exclusivity gives them huge pricing advantages in those products. They’re among the top five dealers of long-maturity and exotic derivative products. Our trader confirmed that the formulas for managing their most complicated products would be worth a fortune. The lawsuit in Coconino County, Arizona is not public information in New York, but when I mentioned it, he didn’t think $150,000,000 in damages sounded unreasonable. Loss of their exclusive franchise in certain exotic products would cost them a fortune.”

  “Did your trader know Dr. Thatcher?” I said.

  “Our trader had never met him, but he thought his death was a big loss to Bank E & A. He was regarded as one of the smartest guys in the business,” John said.

  “How about Henry Griffin. Did you call anyone who knows him?” Margaret said.

  John laughed and said, “Yes, I called our head foreign exchange trader. He’s been in the business twenty years. Sir Henry has quite a reputation among foreign exchange traders even though he’s been in management for many years. When he was trading in London and Mumbai, he was known as the Snake. When he went into management, other FX traders started to refer to him as the Big Snake or the Anaconda. He made his name by being the most ruthless guy in the market. He made a killing for Bank E & A on the Singapore Dollar vs. Yen trade in the early 2000’s. That brought his promotion.”

  “John, did you say he was called the Snake while he was still in London?” I said.

  “That’s what I was told, Dad.”

  After our call from John, I answered Margaret’s proposal about a trip to New York. “I’m not sure we can accomplish much in New York, and it might be dangerous for you to snoop at the bank headquarters. Let’s see if we can work from Sedona for now.”

  “It would be nice to see John, Sue, and the girls,” Margaret said.

  “If I haven’t made progress by next week, a trip to New York might be the next step,” I said.

  We spent a quiet night at home watching a Cary Grant movie on TV. The next morning while Margaret was dressing for church, Chad called with an update.

  “I’m not supposed to be in the loop on the Thatcher case anymore, but it’s been fairly easy to keep up with it. They took away my access to the electronic files when the sheriff moved the investigation to Flagstaff. Apparently no one realized that Rose does your input for you. They didn’t shut off her access. She can see anything Captain Horn puts in writing,” Chad said.

  “Don’t let Rose do anything to get either of you in any serious trouble,” I said.

  “Rose is careful, but nothing she’s doing is illegal or violates written policies. You granted her access to these files. There’s been no notice for her to not access them since your suspension.”

  “What did you two snoops learn?”

  “Captain Horn has eight deputies looking into radical groups in northern
Arizona, but he seems focused on a killing-for-hire by Mrs. Thatcher. She gets one half of Quentin Thatcher’s five million dollar insurance policy. The other half goes into a trust for the daughter. The trust is managed by the ex Mrs. Thatcher until the daughter is twenty-one. Dr. Thatcher didn’t change the beneficiary after his divorce,” he said.

  “Those are reasonable leads to follow, but what is Horn doing about the missing documents? We have to find them to clear up this lawsuit,” I said.

  “I don’t think he’s doing much of anything about the documents. He’s not allowed to talk to anyone at Bank E & A, so he doesn’t have much to go on. I think that Captain Horn suspects that it was a competitor who wanted the documents, but he doesn’t know how to proceed.”

  “What about Chris Moore and the physical description of the burglars?” I said.

  “Art is still involved in the case, and he’s focused things completely away from his cousin, Chris. I don’t think anyone has talked with Chris since you did the day the theft was discovered. He falls under the Bank E & A employee restriction. No one from the sheriff’s office is allowed to contact him.”

  “Chad, my current theory of the case is that Henry Griffin used Chris Moore and at least one other person to kill Dr. Thatcher and to steal the documents from our office. If I’m right, with these restrictions on looking at anyone from the bank, Captain Horn can never solve these cases.” I said.

  “Partner, maybe we need to ignore the restrictions. I can get a new job just as easily as Rose if I need one. I’m not afraid of a little career risk for a good cause,” he said.

  It felt good to have loyal friends. “Be careful Chad. We’ll solve this murder, but you and Rose don’t need to do anything to get fired in order to help. By the way, Sir Henry Griffin had a nickname when he was a foreign exchange trader. He was known as the Snake. He got promoted to management in Mumbai when his boss died from a cobra bite.”