M – Where’s the money?

“This is a conclusion of B – What’s in the Bag?. It was followed by D – Decision to be made, G – Gone!, and J – Jeff comes up with a plan. You may want to read them first if you haven’t already.”

M – Where’s the Money?

As soon as Eve/Yves left, I got a call from Jeff. “Well done, Now we wait.” 

I was confused. “Wait for what? They have the key, meaning now they have access to $400,000. Aren’t they going to just take it and run?”

“You might think that,” Jeff explained, “but those two are greedy. Once they figure out that what they have is $100,000 short, they’ll be back. They won’t get away, we have them covered. However, if we nab them now, they’ll be able to implicate you and Ronald in their scheme. We need to catch them with all the money.”

So now the scenario was changed. With one day left on their 3 days warning to me both of the crooks were watched carefully. Making sure that they weren’t anyway near my house, both Larson and Jeff staked out my house. Hidden cameras and more mics were installed and we waited. We didn’t have long to wait.

It was early the next day that I got a call from Eve. She said that she had recovered the money and had passed the money on to her organization as it was intended. She said that was coming over to my house to return the key and lockbox. I told her that I was happy they were successful, hoped the immigrants appreciated the donation, and awaited the return of the key and lockbox. 

When they arrived at my house, all was set in place. I let both Eve and Yves into my living room. Not surprisingly they weren’t carrying a lockbox.

“Where’s the lockbox and key?” I asked, sounding confused. 

“Oh yeah, about that,” said Yves, pulling out a gun and aiming it in my direction. “There appears to be some of the money missing. You wouldn’t by any chance know where it might be?”

Jeff had warned me this might happen but assured me that I would be all right. Staring at a gun aimed at me did not inspire my confidence in Jeff.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” I replied.

“You’ve got a choice, Harvey.” Eve pointed out, “You can give us the money, or you can give us your life. Pick one…and I’d do it quickly if I were you. We’ve got a plane to catch.”

Jeff had suggested that I act afraid for the next part. Trust me I had no problem showing fear at this point. 

I pointed to my stereo cabinet and said that the money was in there. 

Eve went over to the cabinet and opened it. Inside she found my tie-dyed laundry bag filled with $100,000. “I trust it’s all there.” She said glaring at me. 

I replied, “It is. When would I have had time to do anything with it?”

“Good answer” was Yves’ snarky remark.

“This money isn’t going to help immigrants is it?” I asked.

“Yeah right,” Yves answered, “We go to all the trouble of taking this money off of Chase’s hands just so we can help some lousy foreigners. Do you think we’re stupid or something? The two of us did the work, we get the rewards. Now if you excuse us, we’ll take our leave.”

“I think you’ve said enough,” Eve called out to her partner. Then turning back to me she said, “It’s in your best interest to forget this ever happened. We’ll be long gone before you can do anything about it.”

The next thing I know, I’m tied up and gagged and they leave. I guess they didn’t want to have a murder charge added to any of their crimes, should they ever be found out. 

And found out was, in fact, exactly what happened. No sooner had they left the house Larson and Jeff came out from my back room, untied me, and then joined a number of police at the thieves’ car and arrested them. It didn’t help their cause that they were in possession of the $500,000 ($400,000 from their trunk and $100,000 in a tie-dyed laundry bag) and that the serial numbers of the bills matched the ones that had been stolen from Chase Bank.

To top it all off, I received a $10,000 reward for not only providing information but actual assistance in the capturing of the culprits. 

And what did I do with the money? I gave $500 to Ronald. Even though he had lied to me and had taken some of the money, he was still my friend and did get his house messed up. After speaking with Rhonda, I was pointed to an organization called “Make the Road New York” which is a real organization that helps immigrants and working-class people achieve dignity and justice. I donated $8,000 to them. As for the remaining $1,500, you better believe that I bought myself a washer and dryer for my house. There is no way I wanted to see the inside of a laundromat again.

—————

Special thanks to two of my writing group friends, Rhonda and Jeff, for their help in giving me direction for this story. They are not to be confused with the Rhonda and Jeff that helped me solve this crime. Check on Yves and Eve’s arrest record and trial if you doubt me.