CHAPTER 31

AN: This book is past the halfway mark. I hope you guys are enjoying the ride. Leave a review and let me know your thoughts.

DAY 62

Saturday Evening

We enjoyed a relaxing dinner on the deck after skiing, knee boarding, and tubing all over the lake. While stuffing my mouth with the perfectly grilled fish that Oz had caught this morning, I listened to my dinner companions discuss past cases and people they knew.

"What's a private banking system?" I asked when Oz started discussing a recent case he had solved.

"In this instance," Oz said, "the owner of the local dry cleaner allowed a select group of clients to make deposits and withdrawals. We had difficulty tracking the money because he noted everything in an encoded ledger."

"Ahhh. They couldn't deposit their money in a regular bank because they earned it illegally, and the dry cleaner guy kept it all anonymous."

"Exactly."

"I guess that's better than keeping it under the mattress, but wouldn't you have to trust the so-called banker wouldn't steal your money? I'm assuming it wasn't FDIC insured."

"You would be correct. But these bankers have reputations."

"I'm from Trenton. I know all about shady reputations. If you can't be trusted, you end up sleeping with the fishes." Oz nodded in agreement, and things were quiet until I couldn't hold back my curiosity. "So, how'd you figure out the dry cleaner was running a private bank?"

"Followed the money. If it's not a crime of passion, money is usually involved. Remember that." He went into the house and came back with a manila envelope.

After Oz sat down, Finn began clearing the table. "I'm going to clean up while you two talk."

Oz handed me the envelope. "Obtaining these documents wasn't legal, so I want to keep Finn out of this as much as possible."

Nodding, I opened the flap and pulled out a passport, birth certificate, and driver's license. I said the name out loud. "Clare Foster." Could I be a Clare? Yeah, it fits nicely. "Thank you. I don't know if I'll ever use these, but from how my life's been going, it's best to be prepared."

The night air blew across my sunburned skin, and I shivered. Oz lit the logs in the fire pit, and we both pulled our chairs around the warmth.

"Having a new identity won't help if you don't know how to stay under the radar," he said.

"How do I do that?"

"With your history, the first thing I'd do is set up an untraceable shell company. It'll allow you to stay anonymous in plain sight."

I sat up a little in my chair. "A shell company? How would I set that up?"

"The simplest way is to establish a Limited Liability Company."

Rangeman is an LLC. Is that how Ranger guards his privacy? "Tell me more."

"Right now, your apartment, bank accounts, credit cards, utilities, and car note are in your name, so anyone searching the various databases can find all kinds of information about you. But if you had the LLC listed on all those accounts, they couldn't tie them back to you. Say that someone was following you and ran your tag number. They'd only find out the car is owned by an LLC called whatever you named it. Do you understand?"

"Yeah. I definitely want to do that. But what if that's not enough, and I still need to leave Trenton without a trace. How could I manage without being spotted?"

"That requires pre-planning. You'll need transportation that no one can connect to you, a lot of cash, and most of all, determination to remain hidden because it isn't easy. Most people mess up. They can't maintain the ruse for long. It's a lonely life."

Obviously, it would be my last resort because I was not looking forward to leaving my family and friends.

"Can you have more than one LLC?"

"You can have as many as you need." He studied me carefully. "Why? What are you thinking?"

"If I go back to Trenton and change everything into the ownership of my new LLC, won't that cause people in my life to ask questions?"

"How would they know unless they were checking up on you?" When I just looked at him, he sighed. "I will ask you again… are you afraid of someone? Is that what this is all about?"

"No. It's nothing like that. It's just that some of my good friends are involved in the security business and have ways of monitoring me."

"Monitoring you?" He sat up straight, not liking that one bit.

"My job is dangerous, and they care about me. Sometimes their actions are intrusive, but they've saved my life more times than I can count. I can't just tell them to butt out."

"You can't?"

"I mean, I can, but I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings."

"Are you talking about Rangeman?"

My eyes bugged out. "How'd you know?"

"I told you I read your file." He was quiet again while he mulled things over in his mind. "I can see the wisdom of having them help you as long as it doesn't violate your comfort level." When I didn't protest, he continued, "Do you have enough money to purchase a non-descript second car, one nobody associates with you?"

"Yeah, I can swing that." I had some of the money left from the reward. I didn't have a problem spending it on my safety. "But where would I store it?"

"A storage facility or long-term parking garage rented under the LLC. You should be able to get a decent car off Craig's List and register the title under the LLC. Keep your regular car, apartment, existing credit cards, and bank accounts in your name. That'll keep you from setting off alarm bells with your friends. If you truly think you'll have to use this identity, you won't want anyone to know you're capable of this type of subterfuge. Your presumed ignorance on the subject will be an asset."

"So, I'll have two identities as soon as I return to Trenton, complete with a car, bank account, and credit cards. One in the name of Stephanie Plum and the other under my new LLC?"

"I think that's how you need to play it under the circumstances. Before I leave, I'll provide you with a standard NDA."

"What will that do?"

"It'll ensure that anyone acting on your behalf will act with discretion regarding sharing information about you."

"Okay, but what if, after I leave town, I need to contact someone from back home?"

"That'll be risky."

"My grandmother is old."

"I wouldn't make contact unless absolutely necessary, but it's good to be prepared. I'd begin accumulating burner phones. Purchase several, but only one at a time, and from different locations on different days. Always pay in cash."

"I'll do it just like you asked, but why can't I buy them all at once?"

"They can track you through batch numbers. So, if you buy five phones at once, they can go to the next sequential phone number on both sides of the one they now have and find you that way. A communication trick I've used in the past was to set up a prearranged code."

"How do you mean?"

"Once you're gone, hit up a restaurant like Starbucks where you don't have to sign in to use their Wi-Fi service. Then set up a Gmail account, but be careful to use a proxy server like Cyberghost."

"A what now?"

"It's a VPN, a Virtual Private Network, that will bounce your IP address through different routers, making it look like you're elsewhere. You'll make up another name with your new email, not the one on your alternate identity papers. Make contact through a message board or do what Finn and I do and create a profile on Pinterest. You can add lots of boards with things this made-up person likes."

I laughed before I could stop myself. "So, this is where Finn got his obsession with Pinterest?"

"The boy has an affinity for the site," Oz joined me in laughter, "but honestly, it's just plain old, out-of-the-box thinking and completely anonymous. In the old days, we'd put a coded ad in the newspaper." He paused for me to mentally catch up. "Before you leave town, you'll need to prearrange a meme or a picture theme to let the other person know you're okay, and on the flip side, they can let you know if there's trouble at home."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"If all is well, you'd pin a picture of a woman on the beach with the caption, Living My Best Life, or something to that effect. And if you're in trouble, you could pin something like a movie poster titled Big Trouble in Little China. Anything that conveys your message."

"Okay, I see what you mean. Those are vague enough that only the person expecting communication from my fake account would understand their meaning."

Now that I was on the same page, he moved on. "Start accumulating cash as soon as you get home. Use some cash to purchase prepaid credit cards the same way as the burners, by varying purchase locations. They'll be good for online purchases or hotel stays that require a credit card number. Store these in the same location as your 'go bag.'"

"What should be in my 'go bag'?"

"Enough essentials to get you through at least a few days. Water, food, cash, clothes, hygiene items, burner phones, food, first aid, medications, sleeping gear, basic survival tools, and last but most important… your weapons. Store it in a convenient location. Best place is probably with your second car."

"I feel like I need to write all this down."

"Don't worry. We'll go over it all again before I go."

"I'm hoping that all of this ends up a waste of time. I don't want to go on the run." I looked toward the lake, watching the sun disappear through the trees. Thoughts of Durant slipped past my defenses, and I hunched my shoulders inward, hoping to ward away his evil. "Sometimes, I feel like he's still after me," I whispered. "He stalked me. He locked me up where no one could find me. I thought I was going to die. I just need it to be over. You know?"

Barely above a whisper, he said, "You know he's dead."

"Yeah, but in my mind, he seems capable of the impossible… even coming back from the grave."

"You've turned him into the boogeyman."

I let that thought wash over me. I had turned Durant into the boogeyman but didn't know how to exercise his ghost.

"You know what I think?" I looked at him, curious about his take. "Your body got out of that hole, but your spirit is still trapped down there. Let it all go, or it'll destroy you. I've seen it happen."