Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #4: Books 13-16 (A Dead Cold Box Set) by Blake Banner (best ereader for academics .txt) 📕

“That’s why it surprised me when you asked if her husband wanted to join us. You knew she wasn’t married.”

“But that day we were checking on Robles’ research, I had seen her with a man, and they were behaving like a couple. I assumed at the time it was her husband. But then it began to dawn on me. Maybe it wasn’t her husband, but her lover. So while you were doing a background search on Meigh, I did a background search on Agnes, and found out that she really was a brilliant economist, and was on the boards of a number of corporations. When Yeltsin mentioned Electron, I recognized it as one of the corporations she was connected with.”

She snorted. “Son of a gun. So when Meigh realized the potential for the research Robles and Am were conducting, she suggested to Agnes that they should sell it to Electron.”

“Yup. Meigh knew that the real brains behind the research was Am, so she recruited him, and soon discovered he was able and willing to do more than just design batteries. And when LightYear came along and complicated matters by making Robles an offer, and Robles seemed determined to accept it and cut Am out, they decided he had to die.”

“So it was Am who killed Robles.”

“Oh yes, that was clear from the beginning. And note that neither Am nor Meigh had any interest in wine.”

“OK,” she said, turning from the fire to look at me. “But how does Yeltsin fit into all this? We had it all sewn up!”

“Meigh had it all sewn up. Did you notice the security company that the university uses?”

“No.”

“VMS, stands for Veteran Military Security. A lot of major corporations who have very sensitive, valuable material use them, because they only employ very high caliber military vets. But like many high level security companies, these guys don’t only supply security guards, they provide the whole range of personnel, all the way up to mercenaries. Meigh is a very clever, subtle woman. When she and Agnes had first come up with her plan, she had recruited Yeltsin. She didn’t have to go very far to look for him. He was on VMS’ books. She was aware that Am could become a problem at some point in the future, so she had Yeltsin befriend him and keep an eye on him. As it turned out, she was right to do so, because when Costas showed up, demanding a deeper investigation and talking to Am about how Robles was planning A, to reveal their relationship to the media and B, take LightYear’s offer, it was clear that not only did Robles have to die, but Am had to take the fall for it. Hence the suicide.”

“So the whole thing was planned and orchestrated by Meigh and Agnes, so that they could sell Robles’ and Am’s research to Electron.”

“A company in which Agnes had a stack of shares.”

“So Costas was telling the truth?”

“Costas was a fool, but apart from lying to his wife and trying to scare us off the case, he was telling the truth.”

“But hang on a second there, big guy, that is a hell of a coincidence, isn’t it? That Costas should employ Yeltsin to scare us?”

“Not a coincidence at all. Remember, Yeltsin had got Am to introduce him to Costas. In Yeltsin’s story, it was to commit murder, in reality it was so he could keep tabs on them both. It was Yeltsin who offered himself to scare us off. Remember Costas told us that?”

“So basically Meigh and Agnes employed Yeltsin to manage the murder and keep track of what their pawns were doing. That is scary.”

“Very subtle and very intelligent women.”

“And the guy who called, who threatened to kill me?”

“Meigh’s final attempt to scare us into accepting Am’s confession and dropping the investigation. What caused us so much confusion was that Meigh and Costas both wanted the same thing, and each made an attempt to persuade us to give it up. Hers was more subtle, his was more desperate.”

“And she offered you the name of the LightYear Corporation to lead you away from Electron and into accepting Am’s suicide story.”

“Yup.”

“That was one hell of a risk Yeltsin took, offering that deal.”

“He was never supposed to get caught. But when they realized it was inevitable, they came up with the idea of the deal. I imagine he was paid very well for that.”

“And the four withdrawals of five hundred bucks each at the ATM, from Costa’s account?”

“Simple, Am clones Costa’s card. All too easy these days.”

I sipped my wine and watched the flames for a while as it grew dark outside. “One thing I don’t get, and will probably never get, is why Yeltsin gave us the name Electron.”

“A slip of the tongue?”

“Maybe. You want your Christmas present now, or in the morning?”

“That depends, will I have to pack?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’d better give it to me now…”

BOOK 16

JACK IN THE BOX

ONE

It was spring, and all the trees that had been cold and naked during the long winter were now responding to the watery, early sun by sprouting small, succulent, bright green leaves. The air was chill, but I had the windows of my ancient Jaguar open and Dehan, in her black leather jacket, was watching me through her aviators as the spring air whipped her black hair across her face. I glanced at her and smiled. She was a nice thing to smile at.

She spoke, outlining the facts.

“Thursday, October 7th, 2014, Helena Magnusson, thirty-five, drives to Underhill Community Center in the Bronx to teach her creative writing evening class. When she gets there, at five thirty, a parcel arrives for her by special delivery. When she opens it, it contains her husband, Jack’s head.”

“Huh!