CHAPTER 27
THE INHERITANCE
Two weeks after the coast guard had declared Naomi lost at sea, her parents held a memorial service in Baltimore. On the day before the memorial service, the agent in charge of the FBI investigative team assigned to her disappearance, met with Howard Green. Howard had used all his influence to put pressure on the Director of the FBI to investigate his daughter’s disappearance. The agent gave Howard Green, an off the record, unofficial review of their investigation.
He seemed to take pleasure in telling her father the FBI believed Naomi had had a lover on board the boat with her when she disappeared. They had found his prints when they dusted two half full glasses they found in cup holders on the boat’s bridge.
Her father’s immediate response to this information was, “Could he have been her killer?”
“It is unlikely. When we ran those prints against our national fingerprint database, we got an unusual hit. The prints belonged to a lawyer by the name of Robert E. Hollander. He was the legal counsel for a contractor that operates one of the government’s top-secret databases. He was responsible for approving anyone who wanted access to it. When we contacted his employer, our investigators found they had reported him missing to the Washington police. This led us to visiting your daughter’s yacht club. We found Hollander’s car in their parking lot. His job demanded such a high security clearance that he was almost always being vetted. When we reviewed his records, we found nothing. His record was remarkably clean, not even a traffic ticket.”
The investigating agent established Hollander’s connection to Naomi. He told Howard how both had been MBA students at Harvard taking many of the same courses. Rather than being a possible murder suspect, the FBI had concluded Bob Hollander met the same fate as Naomi Green.
Being a frequent visitor on the yacht, it was not surprising the FBI found John Cross’ fingerprints all over the boat. Prior to starting their investigation, the FBI had taken his prints so they could eliminate them from the investigation. This avoided the expense of running unnecessary prints against the national fingerprint database. If they had run his prints against that database, they might have discovered the person they believed to be Raymond Powell, was John Cross, a murderer wanted by the FBI in Nevada.
The FBI agent told Howard Green they had found no blood stains or any other indications of foul play on the boat. Their interviews with Naomi’s friends and acquaintances disclosed no conflicts or threats. They also found no evidence that she had chosen to disappear. The only unusual thing their investigation disclosed was this secret relationship with a Robert Hollander. Her friends all reported she had appeared to be happily married to Raymond Powell.
Any sympathy Howard had for his son-in-law’s loss, evaporated after he heard the FBI’s conclusions. As he saw it, if his wonderful daughter had taken a lover, then her husband was responsible for her being unfaithful. His sympathy turned into a suspicion that, somehow, John Cross was responsible for her disappearance. When he voiced his suspicion to the FBI agent, the agent assured him witnesses had confirmed that John had never left the hotel where he was exhibiting his paintings. The security cameras, overlooking the hotel’s entrance, showed his car had never moved until after the Benji Beach police chief had arrived and informed Raymond Powell of her disappearance. Cameras in the hallway even showed him going into his room, after the art exhibit closed, late in the evening. They next showed him coming out of his room for his breakfast, in the morning. The staff at the hotel had reported no unusual or suspicious behavior by Raymond Powell.
Howard was more than surprised when he learned from the FBI agent that John was the sole beneficiary of Naomi’s will. Until that moment, he had not known Naomi even had a will. This meant John would become the second largest shareholder of Greenline Automotive, second only to him. His daughter had always voted her shares in total harmony with his interests. Now, he saw a threat that John might align with other shareholders. He might even challenge Howard for control of the board of directors and the company.
This was an unforeseen business risk. It would not be to his advantage, to have Naomi declared dead, until he had worked out a solution to this threat to his power. He was confident control of her shares could not be voted until she was declared officially dead and that had to wait until seven years had passed. With no immediate threat, he felt he had plenty of time to resolve any threat to his control of the company.
Howard had a flawed understanding of the law in Delaware. On John’s behalf, his lawyer, three months after Naomi’s disappearance, applied to the county’s probate court to have John appointed conservator of her estate. This application detailed the circumstances under which she went missing, what attempts had been made to locate her and the reasons she would have communicated with John during these last three months if she were still alive. A list of her considerable assets accompanied a statement explaining why John was the petitioner. Within sixty days John was directed to provide a written report that outlined the condition of Naomi’s estate. After filing his application, every week, for a month, a notice had to appear in the local newspaper announcing a hearing to be held about the alleged deceased.
Howard Green's lawyer told him what John was doing was legal and unless Howard had evidence that showed his daughter was still alive there was no point in attending the hearing. As for Howard Green’s suspicions that John had somehow caused his daughter’s disappearance, his lawyer warned him, if he ever voiced it, defamation charges could be laid against him.
After reviewing the evidence, the judge issued an order that for the next four weeks, his ruling that Naomi was deceased, was to be published in the local newspaper. Three months after that, if there were no challenges to the notices brought before his court, the judge would declare her dead. John as the conservator and only heir would then assume full control of all her assets, including her Greenline Automotive shares.
Seven months later, John moved from being a common, multi millionaire, to joining the ranks of the super rich. He now controlled assets of more than a hundred million dollars. While he had thought that he had had a full knowledge of all of Naomi’s assets, he was surprised to find there were multimillion dollar investments that she had never discussed and may not even have known she had. Managing these investments would require far more effort than he had expected.
After several months of managing her money, it gave John great satisfaction to give his lawyer a locked titanium suitcase. Unbeknownst to the lawyer, it contained a million dollars in cash. He instructed the lawyer to find a trusted courier to deliver the suit case to an address in New Mexico. To avoid going through airport security, the courier would have to drive to New Mexico and back. For arranging this, John advanced $20,000 to the lawyer for the courier and $2,000 for the lawyer’s effort in arranging the shipment. Although curious, the lawyer knew better than to question what was in the suitcase.
The lawyer’s son, Brent, was home from college and had a few weeks free. When asked if he wanted to make some money for two weeks of work, his son was surprised to find out it would involve driving to New Mexico and back. Two weeks of staying in hotels and seeing the country seemed to him to be a great adventure. His father said he would receive $5,000 for this chore plus all his travel expenses. John’s lawyer knew how to make a profit.
Driving on I-70, across the country, it took Brent only three days to reach Taos. He had strict instructions that the suitcase was to be handed to Winston Hawkins and that he was not to disclose who he was nor where he had travelled from.
Winston Hawkins had received a postcard the day before Brent arrived. It contained six numbers in two groups of three “8-24-3” and “9-21-6”. Below the numbers was a one-line message that read, “Greetings from 41 Boulevard Rochechouart, Paris”. Winston knew who had sent this card and its importance. He put the postcard in his desk drawer and waited.
The next day, his administrative assistant, looking flustered, interrupted him. She told him that there was a young man in the reception area who said he had a delivery to make but it had to be handed to Winston Hawkins. Winston was not surprised and told her to show him in.
Clutching the suitcase tightly, Brent entered Winston’s office. They shook hands and Brent handed him the suitcase. Winston asked him if he had eaten. When he replied that he had not, Winston said that one of his aides would take him to lunch. Brent found the cafeteria to be very much like his own college cafeteria, but the food was better.
When Winston unlocked the combination locks on the suitcase, using the codes John had mailed, he found a short unsigned note from John Cross. It read, “This is the first of many millions. The Sanctuary saved me, and I want to save hundreds of lost children just like I was saved.”
Although John was not aware of it, Winston had been monitoring John’s circumstances for years. He was very much aware of Naomi’s mysterious disappearance and John’s inheritance. With so much money at risk, he realized that the time had now come to assign a guardian angel to John Cross. It would have to be someone who would not hesitate to sacrifice his own life to protect The Sanctuary's investment in John Cross. He asked his secretary to fetch Gabriel LaChance.
Gabriel had been a street-smart kid in Paris. In Taos, he showed that he was academically gifted. He had caught up to his age group and moved through all the high school grades in two years. At eighteen he had completed an undergraduate degree. It had then taken him two more years to complete legal studies, do his clinical field placements, externships, and pro-bono work.
With John Cross’ circumstances in mind, Winston had arranged for Gabriel to complete his five-month clerkship at a prominent, corporate, law office in Wilmington, Delaware. After the clerkship, Gabriel had written the annual Delaware Bar Exam and passed all the required screening procedures. He was now admitted to the Delaware Bar.
That afternoon, Winston met with Gabriel and directed him to proceed to Benji Beach. He was to open a law office and then contact John Cross. Gabriel’s bank account received funds to cover the expense.
With the law office in place, Gabriel approached John Cross, early one morning, at a lobster restaurant that he knew John owned and where he knew John usually had his breakfast. Gabriel walked into the restaurant, pushed his way through the swinging doors that led to the kitchen and took a seat in John’s private booth in the passageway between the kitchen and the dining room. John was sitting in his booth, reading the local newspaper. Startled by the intrusion into his private space, he put the newspaper down and frowned at the young stranger who was smiling at him. He looked like someone that he knew, but not as he remembered that person. John said indignantly, “Can I help you?”,
Gabriel leaned close and whispered, so that only John could hear him, “Mais oui, Monsieur Cross.”
It was like a slap in the face. Raymond Powell’s mask had been torn off his face. John Cross stood there, a naked fugitive. He whispered, “Do I know you?”
“Mais, oui, on the streets of Paris you saved my life.”
For several seconds, John was silent, as his past unraveled in his mind. The panic in his eyes disappeared. He smiled and said, “Gabriel? My God, Gabriel, is it really you?”
“C’est moi.”
“My God, you were just a kid. Look at you, all grown up. What are you doing here?”
“I was sent to help you, just as you were sent to help me.”
“But why?”
“Our leader does not want unknown couriers arriving in Taos with suitcases full of money. He feels that we must establish a more professional arrangement to shelter you and The Sanctuary.”
“What does he have in mind?”
“Can we go somewhere, where we can speak freely?”
“Of course, I’m finished. Let’s go.”
They left the restaurant by the rear entrance and climbed into John’s green Porsche. John drove out of town. He pulled off the highway, into a deserted parking lot by the sea.
They left the car, walked down to the beach, and sat on a large log that had washed up during some long-forgotten hurricane. The wind, the cries of the seagulls and the waves lapping onto the sand were the background chorus to Gabriel’s message. Far away, from all possibility of their conversation being overheard.
Gabriel started the conversation by saying, “You are a fugitive with a large price on your head. Sooner or later, the odds are, someone will determine that you are not Raymond Powell. It is important we do our best to avoid that happening. However, every time you send funds to Taos, you are increasing the possibility that your delivery will be intercepted, and someone will trace it back to you.”
John nodded. He had always understood that possibility existed. Gabriel continued, “I am now a qualified, Delaware, lawyer. Anything we now discuss is privileged and falls under the laws governing lawyer-client confidentiality. You and I see that our purpose in life, is to save lost and abandoned children. Through your business acumen, you have provided The Sanctuary with millions of dollars. It has saved thousands of children. Despite your wealth having grown to over a hundred million dollars, you are still a fugitive. If something were to happen to you, it is important that your millions continue to go towards saving children. We must make sure these millions are never seized by the government, under their assets-acquired-by-crime laws.”
“What are you proposing?”
“I want to create several, interlinked, offshore companies. The Sanctuary will control them, but it will be impossible to connect them to The Sanctuary. I’ll make sure this ownership is so well buried only you, me and Winston will understand how it all works. After they are established, you will sell all your assets to these corporations for a nominal fee. It will then be easy for me to funnel all future income from your business to these offshore corporations and, from there, to Taos. Thus, if you should ever be identified, you will know that what you have created will survive to save the street kids.”
“What will it mean to my day-to-day activities?”
“You will now be an employee with no legal ownership of the assets you are managing. As chief executive of the corporations, you will continue to receive a salary and benefits. It will more than take care of all your needs. There will be no change in your lifestyle. For legal and tax purposes, you will now pay rent to these offshore corporation for all your residences, automobiles, boats, and other toys.”
“My lifestyle will not change?”
“No. Nothing will change.”
“Good, it seems that I now have a new lawyer.”
John held out his hand. Gabriel shook it, before he said, “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about your safety.”
He reached into the breast pocket of his suit and removed an odd-looking cell phone. He put it in John’s hand and explained what it was, “This is a military grade cell phone, with an amazing number of apps built into it. It is waterproof and just about indestructible. Besides a built-in flashlight, a laser and much more. It is always emitting a signal that allows me to see on a map, on my duplicate cell phone, where you are. From now on, carry it with you. It could save your life. If you get into trouble, you press this red panic button on the side, and it alerts me. I will see where you are and immediately come to your aid wherever you are.”
John picked up the phone, looked at it and then put it in his pocket.
Gabriel continued, “If you feel the game is up, the safest most reliable route, out of here, is by sea. You kept your wife’s boat, but we need a backup. One of the new corporations will purchase a second one. I’ll register it as my boat and berth it close to your boat at the yacht club. Then, if you need to get out of Benji Beach fast, and there is some problem with your boat, you’ll always have the second boat as an alternate. Two boats, reduce our risk in handling an unforeseen situation.”
“Don’t you think this is overkill? I think the chances of me, being discovered, in place like Benji Beach is remote.”
“Perhaps you are right but there is nothing wrong with being prepared for any eventuality. We can afford the second boat, but the Sanctuary can’t afford to lose your contributions. I’ll make sure both boats are always fueled and stocked, ready to take you across the Atlantic. Both of us will have keys to the boats.”
Gabriel became quiet. He had covered all the points he had rehearsed.
John smiled and said, “I feel you have lifted a great weight off my shoulders. It feels good, to have someone, I trust with my life, watching out for me.”
“The only thing left to do, is to inform your current lawyer, that from now on, I will be handling your legal affairs. I want them to send me all the open files. Here is my office address.”
Gabriel reached into his pocket and handed John his business card. They stood and made their way back to John’s car.