Pro Bono

Chapter 19

19

I t was after six when a garbage truck down on the street backed up, and its warning signal’s repeated high-pitched beeps woke Charlie Warren. He got up, made coffee, and went to look at his door. It wasn’t that he doubted his memory. He just needed to see it again while he decided what to do about it.

He went to his computer to find a locksmith. When he signed in he scanned the email messages, and found one that had been sent just after midnight. Then he heard the sound of Vesper’s feet padding in from the hallway and looked up. “Good morning. Did the garbage truck wake you up too?”

“Yes,” she said. “At first I thought last night was a dream.”

“I can’t blame you.”

She nodded at the computer. “Anything interesting going on?”

He looked at the screen. “I think so. A message came in on the office email overnight. It’s from Founding Fathers Vested. Want to hear it?”

“Sure.”

He read. ‘‘Charles Warren & Associates and so on.

“Founding Fathers Vested Investments Fraud Division has investigated the claim you submitted on behalf of Mrs. Vesper Ellis. We have found no evidence of any discrepancy in Mrs. Ellis’s holdings with Founding Fathers. The copies of monthly reports which you appended to support her claim are partial and incomplete, and include only the initial investments made by Mr. and Mrs. Ellis when the relationship was established, and while they reflect a growth of value, recent quarterly dividends, and interest, they don’t include everything.

“There are two additional linked accounts, numbers FF 798423D and FF 135834I, which were also established by the attachment to the agreement that Mr. and Mrs. Ellis signed at that time. These two accounts hold the dividends and interest from quarters prior to the most recent two quarters, as well as the proceeds from occasional sales of stocks, bonds, or other securities, all of it held in cash equivalents for future purchases or other uses as directed by Mr. and Mrs. Ellis.

“Attached please find the most recent reports for FF 798423D and FF 135834I, as well as this month’s report for their principal investments. We can see that Mrs. Ellis’s claim is based on a misunderstanding, probably caused by the unfortunate death of her husband, Mr. George Ellis. Had his death been reported to Founding Fathers Vested Investments, her advisor, Ronald Talbert, could have contacted her with useful information, as well as answered all of her questions. Please see Attachment 7, Report of Change in Account Holder(s), which must be filled out and returned as promptly as possible. Sincerely, Marissa Susquino Esquire, Director, Fraud Department, Founding Fathers, etc., etc.”

“I can’t believe it,” Vesper said.

“Look at these two attachments I’ve got on the screen. Have you ever received one like them before?”

She leaned over his shoulder. “No.”

“Then you’re right not to believe it,” he said. “Instead of telling you that one of their people has been robbing you, they’ve replaced your missing money in these two new accounts and they’re time traveling to make the theft never have happened. They’ve probably got somebody creating monthly reports for the past few years right now.”

“They would do all that?”

“It’s a very risky strategy, but they obviously don’t want to have anybody know the truth. My guess is that either Ronald Talbert has been doing this to other clients and they need to keep it quiet while they top off dozens of accounts, or they’ve already got some other problem, like maybe troubles with the federal regulators. It’s got to be bigger than the damages they should have paid you, which they could have done after a half hour of investigating.”

“What are we going to do?”

“If you do nothing, they’ll replace your lost money. They’re hoping you’ll believe there’s no point in pursuing a lawsuit or anything.”

“But what do you recommend?”

“That we check to see if your money is really in the account. If it is, you close the account today and put the money in a bank. We can still come for them after that.”