CHAPTER SIXTY
We went to the lobby to talk to the bank president. Jock said, “I noticed that your teller had the person cashing the check make a thumbprint.”
“Yes, we do that for security. We check ID, but that’s easy to fake. We have to cash checks on our customer’s accounts, so we require the thumbprint. If the ID was fake and we gave cash to a somebody other than the payee on the check, we’ll have a way to find them and prosecute.”
“Could we get a copy of the print on a certain check?” asked Jock.
“Yes, but the checks have already been sent to the processing center.
I can probably get somebody there to find it for you, but it’ll be at least tomorrow morning before I can get it back.”
“I’d appreciate it if you’d get right on that,” said Jock.
I held up the flash drive with the security video. “We’re going to need a copy of this.”
“Take that one,” said the banker. “We’re giving blank flash drives away to new customers. I’ve got a boatload of them in the storeroom.”
“Do you want to bring Lester in on this now?” Jock asked. We were driving back to the key. I felt as if a dark cloud was slowly engulfing me, turning me into block of stone, unable to think or move or feel. Was J.D. really dirty? It seemed so.
“Not yet,” I said. “I know this woman, Jock. She’s not capable of something like this.”
“The money started flowing right after Jim Desmond was killed. Maybe she came across something in the investigation and is being bought off.”
“That’d be a logical conclusion if I didn’t know her. She’s not capable of that kind of betrayal of all of us.”
“You weren’t involved until very late in this. Maybe she wouldn’t do it to you, but by the time you got interested it was too late to back out.”
“She wouldn’t betray Bill Lester and the department. Or her own values. Something is wrong with the picture we’re getting.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“We need to dig deeper,” I said. “Can your people dig up some information on a top secret outfit that ran something called Operation Thanatos back at the end of the Vietnam War?”
“If there’s information on it, I’m sure we can get it. What’s this about?”
“Doc Desmond left our unit and went to a group made up of special ops types, Army Special Forces, Marine Recon, Navy SEALs, CIA. They were super secret and were used to assassinate Viet Cong leaders.”
“Do you think that had anything to do with Jim’s murder?” asked Jock.
“Probably not, but we ran into a Vietnamese speaker, another guy with a Vietnamese name, the Evermore Foundation, and the fact that Doc was in Vietnam and is probably being blackmailed.”
“You think Desmond’s service in Vietnam is tied to the murder of his son in some way?”
“I don’t know, but it occurs to me that Brewster was a Marine sniper who was in Force Recon and Fleming was Special Forces, just like Doc.”
“That’s pretty thin,” said Jock.
“I know. There were a lot of men in all those units, but I’d like to check them out just to be sure.”
“How big was Operation Thanatos?”
“I don’t have any idea, but I’d think it’d have to be fairly small because of the secrecy.”
“I’ll see what I can get.” He unfolded his encrypted cell phone and touched a speed-dial number. He told somebody on the other end of the conversation what he needed and hung up. “He says if they exist he can get them, but it may take a day or two. He’ll send the documents to my laptop.”
“Who were you talking to?”
“The director.”
“Can you get him back on the phone, see if his geeks can run down anything on Nigella Morrissey?”