Chapter 14:End in Sight
In the morning, Cassie woke up to find Alex and Olivia sleeping in one room, just like her Mommy and Daddy used to.
"Livia!"
The detective woke up to see Cassie. "Hey Cassie?"
"I'm hungry."
"How about we make breakfast and bring some to your Mama?"
Cassie nodded.
"What should we make?"
"Pancakes!"
"Pancakes it is."
Olivia got out the ingredients and measured them. Cassie got to pour them all in a bowl and Olivia handled the stove.
"What do you like on your pancakes?"
"Butter and blackberries."
Olivia looked and luckily there were blackberries.
She fixed three plates and they put one on a tray to take to Alex.
"Baby, wake up."
"We made you breakfast Mama!"
Alex opened her eyes and she saw her two girls smiling at her. She knew her family was complete.
2-7
Stuckey didn't contest his transfer to New York. He knew the first man to make a deal would get the best one, and he had the most information to offer, so he decided to talk.
"I want to make a deal," he said unapologetically as he got to the station, "but first I want my lawyer."
A public defender came to counsel Stuckey.
"You do realize that testifying against your co-conspirators could make you a target."
"I have a lot more contacts in Rikers than any of them. If they come after me, they'll get got."
"Do you have any proof that she's the one who hired you?"
He shrugged. "She called from a payphone. I was not to call her ever. She hasn't called since Marsh got caught. I assumed she was bailing on the job, so I skipped town. No reason to stick around for no money."
Steele cut right to the chase. "Solicitation of murder is a capital offense. You're facing a needle right now, not to mention the other charges."
"What other charges?"
"Conspiracy to kidnap a minor, kidnapping a state official, may I go on."
"I didn't kidnap anyone."
"No, but your co-conspirators kidnapped Cassie's foster mother in an attempt to get her. Since you were a part of the conspiracy, you can be charged with every crime committed to further the conspiracy."
"Is that shit true?"
The lawyer nodded. "We can argue that there isn't a sufficient nexus, but his premise is correct."
"So what you gonna do for me?"
"Well that depends. What do you have to offer?"
He told them who had hired him and how it came about.
"My sister works as a housekeeper for this rich ass woman in MA. I went to visit my sister up there once, and her car broke down, so I had to pick her up.
Anyway, I didn't think they'd much care for a street rat like me, but the woman asked me if I knew how to get jobs done.
I was like, what kind of jobs.
She said the kind of jobs where she pays lots of money in cash and no one asks any questions.
I said, that's what I do Baby, and she wanted my number. She said she'd call me, but I was never to call her.
Two weeks later, she calls and says she wants Jessica and Henry whacked.
I know Marsh. He's a sick son of a bitch. I tell him he gets 100k if he does it. She had given me 25k upfront and 100k was coming after she got the girl. The difference was my finder's fee, not that I told him.
Anyway, he kills the parents and fails to get the kid.
She calls me after the story hits the papers, and says she won't pay until she gets the kid.
I tell Marsh he ain't getting shit until he gets the girl.
That's the last I talked to anybody. When he got caught, I figured he'd name me, so I skipped town."
Lupo and Green had to put the pieces together.
"Why couldn't we find the sister before?" Van Buren questioned.
"She had left the country years ago," Lupo told her. "We thought she hadn't come back, but apparently, she came back last year as Hannah Wallace."
They were able to get Wallace's DMV photo, and it matched Margaret Greenfield, brown hair, blue eyes 5'6. It was the same woman all right.
"So the sister leaves the country, stays for a while, comes back as someone else, and then has her sister and brother in law killed and tries to take the girl, why?"
"We should probably get ahold of the father's estate lawyer," Green suggested. "Something tells me that money is somehow at the bottom of this."
Olivia came to Casey's apartment after the ADA was done with work.
"I'm sorry about our fight," Casey told her.
Olivia waived her off. "I haven't been totally reasonable either."
"It's your job. I know how much that means to you."
They shared a kiss. Olivia did care for Casey, a lot, but she wasn't Alex. Maybe they could have been happy together if she had never met the blonde.
"I think the protective detail is almost over," Olivia told her. "They've got a main suspect now."
"Really?" Casey was ecstatic. She wanted to take Olivia to bed right now.
Olivia could see the gleam in her eyes and had to find a way out of it. "Why don't we go out to dinner?"
"You want to go out?"
"When is the last time I've taken you out?"
Casey nodded. "It has been a while."
"So let's make a night of it."
The detective's actions were counterintuitive, but she thought if she was going to have to deliver the break up fairly soon, she should at least be good to Casey while they were still together.
They enjoyed a nice Italian dinner and dancing at a lesbian club that Alex and Olivia used to frequent together; it was tamer because it was a Monday. Thursdays through Saturdays, the club was cruising central.
"Let's go to bed," Casey husked.
Olivia carried her there.
Tuesday
They had the Greenfield's estate lawyer available on Skype.
"Thank you for speaking with us," Lupo said as they got started.
"Of course, anything I can do to help the family. It's terrible what happened."
"Can you tell to us who benefited from Marcus's estate and how?"
He nodded. "One fifth of the estate went to charity. I can break down the organizations if you would like, but I doubt they're the part you want to get to. One tenth was set aside for longtime staff members, the housekeeper, they had the same gardener for forever, you get the picture.
1/10 of the estate belonged to any daughter who gave him a grandchild before his time of death, and the rest of the money got split equally between the grandchildren, each getting a trust.
Each grandchild inherits his or her share at 25."
"So in order for Margaret or Jessica to inherit, they had to birth him a grandchild?"
"Exactly."
"How many grandchildren did he have?"
"Two. Margaret had a daughter a few years ago and there is Cassie."
"Did Jessica know of the will?"
"Yes, I had a responsibility to contact her after her father died. She sounded surprised that her daughter would inherit so much money."
"And what would happen if one of the grandchildren died."
"It depends on when the child died. If a grandchild died before Marcus passed, then their share reverts to the other grandchildren. If a grandchild dies after Marcus passed, then the money goes to that child's next of kin."
"And how big is the total estate?"
"250 million dollars."
If each daughter had a child, then they split 1/10 of the estate. 1/20, which would be each sister's share, was 12.5 million not exactly chump change.
"What are you thinking?" Green asked Lupo.
"I'm thinking that Margaret has no daughter. Either she was stillborn or she died or she was never pregnant at all. Without a child, then all of the money goes to Cassie and Jessica, but if she stays in Europe and acts like she has a child, then she gets a share of the money."
"But why kill Jessica. It's not like her sister thought to challenge the distribution of the funds."
"To get Cassie. Margaret supposedly had a daughter tat he same time that no one ever saw. If she kidnaps Cassie, then she can pass of Cassie as her own daughter and can manage the girl's trust, a lot of money.
It was easy for her to get her allotted share, but she would have trouble controlling her daughter's trust without a daughter to show people."
"So she had to kill Jessica because no matter how many years passed, Jessica would keep looking for her daughter and would recognize Cassie."
"Exactly. Also, if she could keep the rouse going long enough, she could have Cassie declared legally dead, take all the money as the next of kin, and then could kill Cassie (while people think Cassie is Margaret's daughter) later, getting the entire lion's share."
They ran the theory by Van Buren. "This is a convoluted idea."
"I …" Lupo started.
"Hold on. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just saying it will be hard to prove. First, we need to see if we can prove that Margaret never had a daughter at all."
According to the birth certificate they had, Josie Greenfield was born in Paris France in July 2003, which would make her only a few months older than Cassie.
According to the State Department, no passport had ever been issued for the girl, and they couldn't find any evidence that she had ever been to the US.
None of Margaret's neighbors had ever seen a little girl. None of her former employees had ever seen a little girl.
"There is no girl," Lupo insisted.
"I'm inclined to agree," Van Buren stated. "But, we have a long way to go from estate fraud to pre-meditated murder."
They called in Steele and Cabot to explain their findings.
Cabot had an idea, but she didn't want to be the one to introduce it, lest the defense make a note of it. She asked for a moment with Steele.
"What is it boss?"
"I have an idea, but I want you to take credit for it."
"Me?"
"I can't steer this investigation. The defense will tear into me on cross."
"What do you want to do?"
"Let's suppose there is no girl and we want to be able to prove that. What's the easiest way to get her to admit it?"
"Offer her immunity if she confesses and returns the money?"
Alex had a similar thought. "She might not have her guard up for a murder investigation if she thinks it's a fraud investigation."
"Can we charge her for fraud?"
Alex shook her head. "It's a MA crime, but the Boston police can prosecute her for fraud, and she may take a deal to make it civil penalties."
"We just ask that she have to allocate to what she did, and we can use the statement here."
"Exactly."
Alex excused herself, while Jim pitched his idea.
A week later, Boston PD came to Hannah Wallace's door.
"Officers, how may I help you?" She had her hair in a messy bun and was wearing a blue wrap around dress.
"We're here to speak to you about your inheritance."
An hour later, she was in the police precinct with a high priced lawyer.
"Officers, I assure this is a misunderstanding."
"You say misunderstanding, we say fraud. Her father's will read very carefully. In order to inherit, she had to have a living child. She has no child despite the birth certificate that she submitted to the estate lawyer."
The woman started to cry. "It was so hard. I loved Josie and she died overnight. The doctors called it SIDS. I was too traumatized to tell Daddy. When he'd call, he'd ask about his little Josie, and I'd say she was okay. How could I say I lost his only granddaughter?"
She feigned ignorance about Jessica's girl Cassie. "I haven't spoken to my sister in years, and I don't pay attention to the news."
The story was in every paper and on television all over the country. The cops knew she was lying, but they didn't much care. They just needed her to admit that Josie had been dead long before the will was executed and she stole the money.
"Hasn't my client been through enough? She just found out that her sister and brother in law were murdered."
They agreed to dismiss the charges if she admitted her conduct in a signed and sworn statement and she promised to repay the stolen money.
"I'll never do this again," she claimed.
The last part of the saga was getting Margaret (or Hannah) to New York.
Alex had an idea. "Why don't you get someone to call saying they are DCFS and ask if she will come to New York to take custody of the girl? You can get her to just walk into the station."
"I didn't hear you," Anita said loudly.
Green said, "Why don't we get someone to call saying they are DCFS and ask if she will come to New York to take custody of the girl? We can get her to just walk into the station."
"Great idea Detective Green. I'm glad you came up with it."