Chapter 188 – McGinty Explains
Wynn and Dee turned and headed to the office to talk to McGinty and see what was all going on. Wynn was not happy with his son-in-law, but he was sure that his daughter had been the one to suggest that he come out here. Why was she so stubborn? Then, he smiled and realized why – she was like her mother. When they walked in, McGinty was there with Abigail. Wynn looked around and saw the satchels of information from Williams as well as two briefcases with locks.
"The auditors asked to leave their briefcases." Abigail said. "I said it was fine as it was only the mayor and the Mounties that had keys to this office. I didn't catch their names, but they were going to go check into the saloon hotel. Also, they don't know that I am the mayor yet. I was out with the supply wagon when they asked."
"It is fine." Wynn said. "The auditors are my son-in-law and his brother. I am completely surprised that he is here. He also brought the paperwork for the adoption."
"Okay." Abigail said. "Was there something that you needed from me today? I came over because I knew they were here."
"We will start tomorrow." Wynn said. "I need to deal with what is going on with McGinty and what has happened over the last few days."
"Okay." Abigail said. "I will head back to the cafe. There is plenty to do there. Thank you for being here to help with all of this."
"Glad to be here." Wynn said. "According to Inspector Williams, I should remain here until the escaped prisoner is caught."
"Hopefully he is caught soon." Abigail said. "But I am still glad that you are here. According to your wife, you will be at least through the twenty-eighth since that is when the science fair is."
"Noted." Wynn said.
Abigail left and Wynn took a seat at the table with Dee and McGinty.
"Now tell me what has happened." Wynn said. "Since your arrival in Buxton."
"I checked in at the Mountie office there." McGinty said. "From there, I got Bandit settled and then headed to the land office. Once I was able to get access to the files, which I will explain later as it relates to the arrests. I first pulled everything I could to fill in the map of who owned what in and around Hope Valley. Let's start with the buildings in town. I have been able to identify what they were and who owns them. Most of the ones marked that we didn't know according to Dee's and my maps are actually owned by the town. The exception would be the three empty buildings between the bank and the last one on this side of the street at the end. The one that used to be a laundry is owned by the town and is supposed to have a two bedroom apartment above it.
The next three buildings between the old laundry and the bank are owned by Wilder. Starting from next to the laundry, they used to be a photography studio with a two bedroom apartment. A cobbler with a one bedroom apartment and finally next to the bank is a law office also with a one bedroom apartment. Behind us is the old gunsmith that is owned by the town. Across the street, the building next to Coulter Enterprises is owned by the town and used to be a pharmacy and is town storage. The barber shop is owned by the town and the guy comes from Buxton three days a week. The empty half lot past the jail is owned by the Mounties.
Across from the jail is the old tailor shop and the dentist. William Bolt owns the tailor shop and the town owns the dentist office, according to the paperwork I found there is supposed to be a one bedroom apartment above it. The dentist comes from Benson Hills two days a week. The butcher and ice house are owned by Charlie Thompson and he lives above the butcher office. The last two buildings on that side are both owned by the town. One used to be a hardware store and has a small two bedroom apartment. The other larger building used to be a carpenter shop and is supposed to have a two bedroom apartment.
The row across the jail the other way where the newspaper office is, is all owned by the town, except the two William Bolt owns for his newspaper. Those supposedly have a large connected two bedroom apartment above the buildings. Starting on the far end, so closest to the schoolhouse are the two newspaper buildings. Then it was mine supply, the mine office, a closed land office, the railroad office, what used to be an assay office. Those buildings all are owned by the town and there is a two bedroom apartment above the land office and a one bedroom above the assay office. There is supposed to be an apartment above the mining office as well.
Unless marked on the map, all the other property from the town proper to the mountains are owned by the town. I looked at everything for ten miles north. Then half way to Benson Hill and then half way to Buxton. All those are marked on the map. Much of the land plats are owned by two major names – Lee Coulter and one I didn't recognize,WinStar, Inc. Most of what Mr Coulter owns is timber land, which makes sense. WinStar, Inc owns farm land, timber and a lot of land along the river and what I have gathered is a proposed railroad line. I looked into WinStar, Inc, but there wasn't much I could find about it. It appears to be based out of Calgary, but there wasn't much. I couldn't even find the name of a person."
"Wow, good job." Wynn said. "Did you look into the buildings owned by the town at all?"
"A little." McGinty said. "Most of them were bought by Pacific Northwest under Henry Gowen. I think that was why he wanted to be mayor, he knew that he would be able to easily transfer them to Wilder or even his name outright. As far as I could tell, he did it slowly and I don't even think that Pacific Northwest realized that Gowen was doing it. I believe that the only reason that only three buildings were transferred to Wilder was that with the mining trial there was too much scrutiny into the actions of Pacific Northwest. No building was transferred to Wilder until Gowen had taken over as mayor.
I honestly don't even think that Silas Ramsey knew what Gowen was doing. I looked at the parcel of land that the two houses owned by Silas and Dottie Ramsey sit on and then I looked at the other buildings that the town acquired through Pacific Northwest and the signatures didn't match. Gowen transferred one building a month for the three months that he was mayor. I think he wouldn't have been rounded up, everything in this town would have been owned by Wilder. I looked at the original owners of most of the buildings and they are all either dead or have moved on and are no longer listed in these parts. I think that was why it was so easy for Gowen to use Pacific Northwest money to buy the buildings and then quietly transfer them to the town.
I don't think anyone would have questioned the actions because talking to some of the older residents, most didn't know what happened to the original business owners. Most could tell me what had been there and who owned it at one time, but they weren't sure if they were the original owners. When I asked them why they left, the most common answer I got was Gowen. If it wasn't Gowen then it was they had died. I can see how it would be easy to take over buildings that were sitting empty. I can also see why Gowen didn't want people looking too closely at things. There were no full time Mountie here and from what Jack told me, the ones in Benson Hills and Buxton at the time didn't seem to care about this town. I can also see why Jack has had the trouble that he has and the pushback he had when he enforces things.
This is only my opinion and I can't prove it. But I think that Gowen killed Noah Stanton for more than pushback over mine safety. From what I have been able to piece together, Noah had been to Buxton several times to look up different parcels of land. There is a notation in the file, everytime information was requested on that parcel and by who. I think that Noah and/or Peter were on to what Gowen was doing with pushing people out and taking things over. From what I understand, Silas Ramsey was a fool and didn't breathe without Gowen approving it. Like I said, I can't prove it, but it makes sense to me."
"You did good." Wynn said. "Thank you for your opinion and I would lean toward believing you, but it doesn't change anything for Abigail. There is no reason to tell her. Gowen is dead and at this point all I want to do is unravel this mess left behind and make sure that his victims are compensated. Dee, we will have to see about getting the buildings owned by Wilder forfeited back to the town. Also look into WinStar, Inc."
"All ready on the list to ask Andrew." Dee said. "I don't need to look into WinStar, Inc. I know what it is."
Wynn turned and looked at his son.
"I will explain later." Dee said. "It is nothing bad, but I know exactly who WinStar, Inc is."
"I will trust you, but you will explain later." Wynn said.
Wynn wasn't happy with his son at the moment, but he hoped that he had a very good explanation as to why he wouldn't tell him at the moment. Wynn had turned so fast that Dee was pretty sure that he had not seen the look that had crossed his face, which was usual for his father. It might have been that he was still reeling from seeing Andrew or that he was so focused on taking his own notes about what McGinty had been saying, even though Dee was taking excellent notes. All Dee knew was that he wasn't looking forward to explaining WinStar to his father. He had learned about it by accident and had been asked to keep it quiet. He was wondering how he was going to explain without breaking a confidence.
"Thank you, McGinty, that was a lot of work." Wynn said. "Was there any other land held by Wilder?"
"Yes." McGinty said. "Where the settlement was plus another larger parcel out that way toward the river. Also several parcels closer to Buxton."
"Dee." Wynn said.
"Already on the list." Dee said.
"Now tell me about the arrests?" Wynn asked.
Before McGinty could say anything, Jacobs walked in.
"Will Walker is sitting with Captain Cook and Bill at the jail." Jacobs said. "They know to check his homework and he owes them an hour. After Will leaves, I have arranged for several of the cadets to clean the jail top to bottom, you know that there is an office upstairs of the Mountie building. It needs some new outside steps."
"Thank you." Wynn said. "I wondered, but Jack never said anything."
"I don't think he realizes." Jacobs said. "Bill found a set of keys when he was looking for something. They were marked Mountie office, but when he tried the front door, they didn't work. He walked around the building and that was when he noticed the door up on the second floor. The steps are missing, which is why no one realized. I have already talked to Lee and he will have some of the men help the cadets make a new set of steps this weekend."
"Thank you." Wynn said. "McGinty was just going to tell us about the seven arrests he made while in Buxton and Union City."
"Speaking of arrests." Jacobs said. "Here is all the paperwork from Bill and I about the transfers."
Jacobs handed Wynn some papers and then took a seat.
"So it started when I walked into the land office in Buxton." McGinty said. "The two guys working were really nervous, so they asked me what I needed and I said I need to pull files. Well, they said they could pull any document and make a copy that I want. I said no I was going to pull the actual files and look at the original documents because I didn't trust what was going on. They told me that I didn't have the authority, so I told them I did and if they had a problem, they could call Captain Taylor at the Mountie Office or better yet, they could call headquarters in Hamilton since I was working on a case for them.
The guys let me start pulling files, but were hovering watching what I was doing. I started with land in and around the immediate area of Hope Valley. As I started taking notes and filling in the maps in my sketchbook, I started noticing a pattern of names. Everything connected to Pacific Northwest, Gowen, Wilder and Silas Ramsey were signed off on and filed by three men. The more that I dug, I realized every questionable piece of property from the line dividing Union City and Buxton, all the way to the line for Benson Hills to mountains on the west were done by these three guys who had been working there for several years.
I thanked the men for their help and left. I went straight to Captain Taylor and he authorized the arrest of those three men. I also had given him two names of gentlemen over at the courthouse in Buxton. While I headed to Union City following an additional lead, Buxton made the five arrests. When I got to Union City, I went straight to the land office to check something. It didn't take long to connect more dots. One man at the Union City land office and one at the courthouse were arrested as part of it. They have been arrested on falsifying documents, embezzlement and conspiracy to defraud. Also think I have a lead on the name of the lawyer coming out to collect at the settlement."
"You have been busy." Jacobs said.
"So what is the name of the lawyer and where is he?" Wynn asked.
"If I am correct." McGinty said. "The man you are looking for is Neil Tomkins. He has a law office in Union City that was currently staffed by a very young lawyer, a paralegal and a woman answering calls. I left my name and asked him to wire me here or better yet, to come talk to me if possible. Union City will also be keeping an eye out for him. According to the woman at the front desk, Mr Tomkins had gone back to Calgary for some business and should be back next week. When she asked what I wanted to talk to him about, I just told her I was interested in some land and was told he could help me. I was out of uniform at the time."
"Good man." Jacobs said.
"You are sure the name was Neil Tomkins?" Dee asked.
"Yes." McGinty said. "He looked pretty close to the sketch you had, at least according to the painting that was hanging in his law office. Why?"
"At Christmas." Dee said. "One of the men arrested and moved to Calgary was an Ian Tomkins. He was working for Pacific Northwest Mining in Canmore. He was the superintendent there."
"Do you think they are related?" McGinty asked.
"I can wire Calgary and find out." Dee said. "All the men arrested in that sweep are still being held there pending trials. Those that have been granted bail are restricted to the city."
"Check it out." Wynn said. "But wait until we are done. I have a feeling there will be more messages to deal with. McGinty, what can you tell me about the real Captain Campbell?"
"He was found on a cattle ranch outside Longview." McGinty said. "According to what I gathered, he had been ambushed by three men. They were holding him, mostly unharmed on a remote part of the ranch where they worked. They were hired to grab him and hold him until told otherwise. They promised him if he just did what they said they wouldn't kill him. They had their faces covered, but he was able to pick them out based on their voices.
The team that was searching for him, arrested the three men and then moved Campbell to a hospital for treatment. He was dehydrated and suffering from some cracked ribs from being pulled from his horse. He will be okay, but it will take time. It took awhile because they wanted to make sure no one else in the area was working with them. They knew that there was some kind of middle man, since the three arrested were not smart enough to pull it off, nor did they appear to have any connections to the Bernardi family. The three guys were born and raised in the area and were known locally to the Mounties for a few bar fights and drinking a little too much. Nothing major, but just enough to be known as troublemakers."
"In your opinion." Wynn asked. "Do you think we have all the men connected to the illegal land dealings that are part of the whole Pacific Northwest mess?"
"In this area." McGinty said. "Yes. But if it were me, I would have a Mountie put eyes on original land documents in any area where Pacific operated if there is even a question of something wrong. What I found when I went through the files were basically two sets of papers – the real ones and the fake ones they would copy and give to someone if they asked for documentation. I think that is how they got away with it for so long. From what I could tell, one of the three we arrested was always working."
"I will let the teams working on the larger case know." Wynn said. "Anything else?"
"I think I covered it all." McGinty said. "If I think of anything else I will let you know."
"Thank you." Wynn said. "I know it was more than you were thinking, but you did a great job."
"Then if you don't mind." McGinty said. "I am going to grab some food and get some sleep as I haven't had much the last few days."
"You do that." Wynn said.
McGinty saluted them, left the office and headed for the cafe. Jacobs sat back and waited a moment. He could see that Wynn was thinking. Dee finished scribbling his notes and then got up and left. But before he left, he discreetly handed a note to Jacobs. Jacobs was wondering what was going on, but was going to give it a few minutes.
