Chapter 10
Shaggy felt the same panic I felt, because he hid his head behind my shoulders and hugged me tightly, like a frightened child. Daphne squeezed Fred's hands and tears welled up in her eyes. I don't know what kind of body language I used to show what I felt at that moment, but I was totally speechless. The discovery meant we had at least fifteen homicides. During all my years woking in NYPD, I had never seen anything like that. For the first time in my life, I admired Captain Jones' sense of leadership, he was the only one who managed to act in that horrible moment.
Fred: Gang, look on the bright side, now we have evidence that fifteen people died there. I need you to notify these hospitals, Velma. I'm going to send my team right now to gather more details on how these organs arrived at hospitals without following protocols, and who are the donors. Plus, we need to find information about the other 20 victims. Norville, you and Scooby will go to Applegate Bank with us, but you can send the other K9s to Liberty right now. We need to know if the K9s can sniff the path the victims took there, and if they can sniff Alan at the crime scene. Daphne, you… you…
Sometimes we forget that our nosy attorney doesn´t work at any division of the NYPD, so we can´t ask her anything. That's exactly what Fred realized at that moment, but luckily Daphne was smarter and quickly thought of a way to help us.
Daphne: I'll notify Interpol, Freddy. I´ll send Velma's samples to Flim Flam and ask him to search for information about the 35 victims in the databases he can access. Shaggy can help me with this, he also knows Flim Flam.
Fred: Great, I'll notify immigration department and try to contact Seoul police.
Velma: Well, I´m sorry, but I'll have to notify FBI, Fred. Clearly, we're not dealing with a local mob or a local serial killer, we're dealing with international organ trafficking, so I think the feds have to know…
I thought putting that horrid discovery into words would make it less horrid, but the opposite happened. The discomfort I felt while admitting that people were murdered and had their organs trafficked was indescribable, and Shaggy returned his head to my shoulders and hugged me way tighter.
Daphne: I think you´re right, Vel. I think we´re not dealing with a simple embezzlement scheme anymore… or, at least, not dealing with normal scammers…
Shaggy: Like, can I notify Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Krishna and all religious leaders, pagan gods, priests, reverends, gurus and psychics I find on Google? ´Cause, like, we will need them, gang… we're truly dealing with the devil!
Shaggy managed to put a small laugh on our lips and dissolve the fear we were feeling at that moment. Immediately, we started our duties: Miller and I looked for information about the other victims in several databases. Emergency division split up to check hospitals and gather information. Machines we collected at Liberty were taken to the cyber crime department for analysis. Shaggy asked Crystal to lead another search at Liberty with Amber and the K9 division. Daphne and Shaggy started a video call with Agent Flim Flam in a private room, Fred notified immigration and his superiors, and during half an hour I trained my Korean on a language app, so I would be able to write an email to the Seoul police. When I finished writing e-mail, Daphne walked out of the private room speaking a fluent Korean with a Seoul police officer, so I took all the anger I felt for working in vain out on the useless email. Daphne noticed my gesture and my questioning look that asked "where the hell did you learn to speak Korean?".
Daphne: You always tell me k-pop is trash and an useless culture, so it's totally your fault for not being able to speak Korean.
I rolled my eyes but I didn't have time to answer her, because Shaggy asked me to send the samples to agent Flim Flam. Minutes after, Fred showed up and let us know about our appointment with Mr. Applegate. I had completely forgotten about the damn visit at Applegate Bank, so I just had time to get my stuff ready and leave an "I love you, stay safe" message for Marcie.
I have passed Applegate Bank thousands of times, but I had never entered that building and that was a terrible mistake I made. I have a vague notion of architecture and my notion of design comes from Ikea catalogs, but I even being a total laywoman, I have to say Applegate Bank building is the most beautiful place I've ever seen. Marble statues outside, huge and heavy bronze doors, an unique floor that I don't even know what it's made of. Inside, there were many counters, dark wood furniture and stairs, early 20th century wallpaper on walls, famous paintings, more statues made of marble, giant iron safes and perfect crystal windows. Everything little thing inside that place had an unique luxury, built by someone who got rich at the expense of others´misfortune during 1929 crisis. The only things that differed from the typical 30s design were some ATMs (not so modern ones, they seemed 20 years old, at least). There were also outdated computers, with cube-shaped green screens, and I panicked to think that I would have to search information through MS-DOS and Windows 95 data. The huge hall was empty, but we were apprehensive about walking around that place. We feared that the killer – or the mafia? – would be on the prowl and we would be ambushed. Scooby-Doo was the only one who was calm. Unlike what happened at the restaurant and at Liberty building, this time he didn't leave his tutor's leash, he didn't bark nor felt the need to sniff every corner of that place. The only abnormal thing he did was grab a plastic bottle inside a bin and chew it to pieces.
Shaggy: Hey gang, like, I think old Applegate is clean, look how calm Scoob is here. He's even playing with a bottle!
Fred: Shaggy is right, apparently there is nothing wrong here. Applegate must be a victim of Mayberry´s mob like George Blake.
Velma: I agree. Someone is using Applegate Bank for illegal activities like scams, gambling, financial pyramids and… organ trafficking.
Shaggy: Like, if that's true, this person isn't alone. Many people must be involved, including government people.
Suddenly, a man in his eighties showed up at the end of the huge hall and greeted us cordially. Daphne walked quickly and hugged him, then he came to us and introduced himself as Steven Applegate. Steven then took us to a splendid old elevator, which looked like a box made of diamond and gold. All the floors had the same beautiful architecture of the ground floor, and some of them, to my surprise, were composed by large bank vaults. The view from the top floor was beautiful, both the outside – a panoramic view of NYC – and the inside – full of relics, paintings and photos. The hallway that led us to Mr. Applegate´s office looked like a museum, its walls showed the history of Applegate Bank since its founding in 1928. There were photos of several Applegate generations with presidents and officials, old coins on pedestals, framed newspaper news and even stock market data in old notes. All that inspired trustworthiness, and demonstrated that Applegate empire, unlike Mayberry empire, was built slowly and honestly. Plus, judging by the technological precariousness of the place and the way Mr. Applegate apparently worked, he was certainly not involved in electronic financial crimes.
Daphne: Mr. Applegate, thank you so much for…
Steven: So now you´re grown up! I remember you as a little girl walking around here with your father… you're George's fourth, aren't you?
Daphne: No, I'm the fifth... the youngest...
Steven: Oh yes, the youngest! The fourth is Daisy… Dr. Daisy…
Daphne: Delilah is the forth…
Steven: Oh sure, Delilah! The one who has George's eyes...
Daphne: Yes… so, Mr. Applegate, I wanted to…
Steven: Wow, you really grew up, huh, Daphne? It's Daphne, right? I thought you were still a teenager! Tell me, do you have a boyfriend? You know, I remember the day you were born, the city was covered with snow and…
I thought that kind of conversation only happened between me and my grandparents, but at that moment I realized that was the kind of subject people in their 80s like to talk about. Mr. Applegate spent half an hour talking about his past friendship with Blake family members, meanwhile, I read the framed old newspaper on the on the walls and Shaggy took Scooby to sniff around the place. After that, we lost half an hour with Steven praising my parents ( because Daphne introduced me as "the daughter of two Nobel laureates"), asking Shaggy about his family origins, and playing with Scooby-Doo. Fortunately, when Steven did the same with Fred and dropped several hints that he would be a good son-in-law for George, Daphne got so embarrassed that she immediately ended the talk.
Daphne: Mr. Applegate, thanks for having us. I'm a lawyer and I'm working on an embezzlement case involving a stockbroker called Liberty. Well, Liberty uses Applegate bank accounts to do its banking and…
Steven: Wait a minute, are you working with the feds? Are these friends of yours feds?
Fred: No, sir, we're NYPD members…
Steven: Great! Because I don't speak to FBI without my lawyer…
The rancour in Steven's voice caught our attention.
Daphne: Did you have some kind of problem with the FBI, Mr. Applegate?
Steven: Some kind of problem? They bankrupted this bank! The feds and those fintech kids with their damn invisible coins!
Daphne: Can you give us the details, Mr. Applegate?
Steven: Well, I can´t say my current situation is not my fault. It is: I trusted the wrong people. Times have changed, internet is all over the world, people don't use banknotes and checks anymore, so I couldn't continue living in the past. Like your father, I´ve made a lot of changes in my bank, I hired the best managers and the best students from the best universities to form the team that would bring modernization to Applegate Bank. I dubbed them "VIPs", because that was exactly what they were: the most important people in my company. The VIPs would be responsible for the digital transition at Applegate Bank… but, in the same way technology has changed the world, it has also changed people. Apparently, people are not as honorable as they were in my day. My father could measure a man's worth by the grip of his handshake, and I was terribly wrong when I did the same. I barely know how to use my e-mail, so I naively believed everything VIPs were doing digitally at Applegate network was honest. I only realized how wrong I was when my grandchildren took the company over. Millions and millions of dollars were gone, I had lots of dissatisfied customers and all the VIPs had their own fintechs doing the same business Applegate Bank does. And here I am now, on the verge of a financial collapse, while these motherfuckers have become billionaires at my expense.
Steven's heartfelt testimony fitted like a glove.
Daphne: Mr. Applegate, how the feds contributed to these events…?
Steven: The damn feds investigated Applegate Bank, but hid all the evidence of the embezzlement the VIPs had done. Apparently, the diversion of funds was done with a secret key... look, I don't know the details because I hate this damn internet, all I know is in the end they couldn't prove the VIPs were responsible for the crimes…
Velma: So they blamed you...
Steven: Exactly! I had to shoulder all the blame for the virtual financial scandals, even though I don't know the difference between an iPhone and an iPad. Moreover, they publicized the details all over the media, and I now I am a criminal… a bankrupt criminal…
Velma: While dealing with such defamation, I guess you've lost your customers, right?
Steven: Of course! Those damn fintechs took them from me…
Velma: And how are Applegate Bank´s stocks?
Steven: They´ve plummeted. If it weren´t for the amazing generosity of George Blake, I would not find ways to keep my business…
Velma: Have you received any purchase proposal since then?
Steven: Yes, all the time.
Velma: That's what I´ve imagined, Mr. Applegate…
