The Phantom Photographer: Murder in Marin Mystery - Book 3 (Murder in Marin Mysteries) (34 page)

“Joanne Hill, the teacher at Old Mill School, who had a two year relationship with Michael that ended around 1991, mentioned to Rob that she wanted to speak to someone investigating her ex-boyfriend’s murder. When I met with her, she wanted to tell me about a cash box that Michael kept hidden away under a floorboard in his bedroom closet.”

“Did you find it?” Holly asked excitedly.

“It was there, complete with a stack of hundred-dollar bills and a Walther PPK 380.”

“What’s that?” Sylvia asked.

“A handgun, known to collectors as the James Bond gun. It tells us that Michael understood that his business was likely a dangerous one. The envelope, in addition to eighty-four crisp one hundred dollar bills and the handgun, also contained a ledger, in which Michael tracked his income, and the transferring out of money to be laundered and invested. Well, that begs the obvious question, where did all the money that he collected over all those years go…?”

“Well, a lot of it went to food, booze, and travel,” Holly said.

“True. I don’t know if we’ll ever know how much money Michael extorted over a thirty-year career, but that ledger he kept gives us a shot at making an educated guess. And from what we can tell, it appears that this record, all written in Michael’s small handwriting with a set of coded signals, kept track of the movement of hundreds of thousands of dollars, that over the years grew into millions. And that was one more important way in which Christopher Marks fit into this picture. In Fresno, he runs a financial consulting firm, but in truth, the biggest part of his business, if you want to call it that, is laundering money for a Mexican drug cartel. Therefore, the frequent trips, as told by his travel and passport records, to see his ‘real estate clients,’ in Guadalajara,” Eddie said, as he made air quotes.

“I’m starting to think these two brothers were attached at the hip,” Sylvia said.

“I know, and the worst part is that when I went to see their father yesterday, I really think the poor old guy had no idea what was going on.”

“Really?” Rob asked, raising an eyebrow of doubt.
 

“Well, he’s a pretty withdrawn soul. Seems to blame himself for everything, from his wife leaving the family, to Michael’s life, and by now, I suspect, he’s learned about Christopher being held at the Fresno County Jail as a suspect in his brother’s murder, so add this disaster to his list.”

“Learning that Christopher is accused of killing Michael might be the final blow,” Sylvia said.

“What did you learn from the old man?” Rob asked, as he busily continued taking notes.
 

“Well, one essential was how the boys favorite thing was hunting and target shooting.”

“I suppose he used his brother for target practice?” Rob said.

“Seems that was the case,” Ted added.

“Have you been able to figure out why Milton Cook was murdered?” Holly asked.

“Almost certainly an innocent bystander. I’ve already collected information that, early on, Michael dropped Cook’s name as his insurance guy.”

“What does that mean?” Holly replied.

“Rob and I talked the other day about linchpins in extortion rackets. Michael had apparently told Christopher that Milton was his failsafe guy. He dies, and Cook spills everything to the press. Christopher waited a couple of days; I think he was trying to figure out how much of a potential risk it was leaving Cook alive. Then, he made the decision to eliminate the liability before heading back to Fresno. Having killed his brother, he was already facing a life sentence. Milton’s murder, in Christopher’s twisted view of the world, was simply free insurance. And, it offered one other advantage. It shifted suspicion toward Cook, which might have thrown me, if I wasn’t convinced that the guy was squeaky clean.

“But there is one more essential part of the Michael and Milton story that none of you have heard. Inside of Michael’s ledger, where all his financial transactions were tracked, at regular intervals of six weeks, Michael noted cash disbursements such as 8K then an arrow and the letters “MC.” That also threw me for a loop, thinking he was indicating Milton Cook.
 

“In spending time with Michael’s father reviewing the score sheets and records of their hunting club, the brothers were always designated as MM for Marks, Michael; and MC for Marks, Christopher. Now, Michael loved playing his deceitful games, and he might have suspected that one day, if found, this two letter code might be thought to be Milton Cook. After all, it was Michael who, to the best of our knowledge, first put forth the deceit to people like Fred Winters that Cook was his backup guy.”

“Clearly, Michael lived a double life,” Rob added. “The great guy who was everyone’s friend and the angry boy looking to get even with all those untrustworthy, misbehaving adults.”

“I suppose,” Ted added, “we’ll never know all his motives, but I do wonder why he flashed his money around the way he did.”

“You’re right; there are things we never will know,” Sylvia said, looking at Ted and then to the rest of the group. “But look at his behavior from a different perspective. He had an unhappy life for a variety of reasons, starting with his failure to have one lasting relationship. For a man of his wealth, he lived modestly. He might have felt that, given all the people he had victimized over the years, he was likely living on borrowed time. Certainly, there was a risk in spending a good deal more money than he logically would have, but his photo features for the
Standard
apparently made him a minor celebrity in Mill Valley, and he likely wanted to live up to the image he created. His generous spending just added to that mystique.”

“I think Sylvia has got a good start on her story,” Rob said. “Let’s talk about how we want to cover the rest of the life, times, and crimes of Michael Marks.”

“Sounds like my cue to exit,” Eddie said.

“Not until you answer one more question,” Holly said. “I understand how the pieces fit, I mean the how of Christopher’s actions, but we don’t know the why?”

“Christopher was in over his head with his Mexican drug pals. He had taken them into some investments in Baja that didn’t turn out as he promised. Less lethal clients would have severed their ties to his firm and gone in search of better advice. His friends don’t work that way. They gave him a choice, recover the money you invested for us, or take an acid bath and disappear forever. Christopher had one and only one card left to play, make the bad guys happy by taking his brother’s money and handing it over to them.
 

“So, most of Michael’s extortionist demands eventually went to cover the losses of Christopher’s drug cartel clients?” Rob said, holding back a laugh as he considered the irony of it all.

“That’s right, my brother,” Eddie said. “Christopher saw it as a clear choice; he died or his brother died. He chose the less noble of those two options.”

“You think Michael would have killed his brother when he found out what happened to his money?” Ted asked.

“Let’s just say,” Eddie said with a slight smile, “Christopher was unwilling to find out.”

Over the next few days, as Rob’s team pulled together the rest of the story, the final details fell into place. A court-ordered seizure of Christopher’s company records revealed that he had sustained significant losses in poorly timed real estate deals in several condominium developments throughout Baja California.
 

Naturally, Christopher’s clients, as Rob suggested, were not open to hearing any excuses. Over the years, he had done a good job growing his brother’s money into a multi-million-dollar nest egg. Handing that fortune over to his outlaw clients was Christopher’s only path to survival. Milton Cook was nothing more than collateral damage.
 

When fully revealed, the story rocked Mill Valley like no scandal even its oldest residents could remember. The man trusted to record the life of the community in pictures was revealed to be an extortionist. Equally shocking, he was murdered by his sharpshooting brother, who was all but certain to live out his remaining years in Marin County’s most infamous prison, San Quentin.
 

Barbara and Caleb’s grief over this twisted tale of fratricide knew no bounds. In the end, the two broken and aging parents found solace in each other’s company, and after a four-decade estrangement, reunited as a couple.

As for Walter Douglas, it was a tragic time that brought about an unexpected gift. He mourned the loss of both Michael and Milton. But the legend of Michael grew with each passing month, and it lifted the sagging fortunes of his aging and outdated business. Camera enthusiasts came from all over the Bay Area to buy supplies and to listen in amazement as Walt told and retold the tragic tale of the phantom photographer.

NEXT UP

RELEASE DATE: JUNE 2016!

In Book 4 of the MURDER IN MARIN Mysteries:

News that elderly Henrietta Hammer has died, Sausalito’s retired fifth grade teacher, who once terrified her students including Sheriff's Detective Eddie Austin, newspaper publisher Rob Timmons and his assistant Holly Cross, is greeted with bemused nostalgia.
 

But Hammer, who was left a very wealthy widow by her enterprising late husband, was the target of every one of the town’s charitable societies none of which could afford to await her natural death.
 

It all appeared to be a perfect plan until the secret Mrs. Hammer kept for half a century inconveniently appears.

NOVELS IN THE

MURDER IN MARIN SERIES

The Gossiping Gourmet

(Book 1)

Warren Bradley, renowned as the local gadfly In the picture-perfect community of Sausalito, California, is esteemed by his admirers and despised by his detractors. But for love of his caramel chicken and cherry fudge brownies, everyone has a story to share regarding their fellow citizens--

Stories that too often find their way into his weekly gossip-filled newspaper column, "Heard About Town."

When the great chef and his admirers, the Sausalito Ladies of Liberty, take offense to a newly arrived Manhattan power couple, their insular world of tasty sauces and stinging insults leads to deadly results.

Everyone has their own theory about who killed Warren. But it takes the combined efforts of Rob Timmons, the local newspaper publisher, and Eddie Austin, his childhood friend and Marin County’s top detective, to unravel this tale of delicious dishes and malicious deception.