Chapter 6
The next morning, after a nice four-mile run and a refreshing shower, Jane arrived at HQ caffeinated and ready to take on the day.
Her major concerns with the case so far, ignoring the fact some killer enjoyed terrorizing and murdering entire families, had to do with what he might be after.
Why not also take the cash and jewelry from the homes?
Easy money and easy to move. And why not kill the pets?
Did he take them away and kill them later?
Did he keep them or just let them wander away? Yet no one had reported the pets found.
That clue bothered her because it didn’t fit. At all.
The brutality done to the families—to innocent children—had been savage. But the killer had a heart of gold when it came to furry victims? Or those with scales; he hadn’t hurt the fish.
After reading through her emails and attending to some time-sensitive matters, she finally met upstairs with Lisa Chen. The forensic accountant had promised to be gentle about introducing Jane to the world of accounting.
Jane often researched in her own time when she had a case with unfamiliar topics. But the world of cybercrimes and crypto-anything frankly annoyed her. Bits and bytes weren’t her thing. Now murder and normal theft, like stealing some old lady’s purse, she understood.
She wasn’t dealing with common criminals. This one targeted the uber-rich. Wealthy people tended to diversify investments. Nothing so common as savings or checking accounts and 401Ks. The killer had stolen a good $10 million in cryptocurrency.
As she walked into the cybercrimes office, she passed a familiar face. “Gina.”
Agent Gina Holtz, a fellow agent who’d worked on the special task force with Jane at the start of the year, nodded to her. “Jane Cannon. What are you doing up here?”
From what Jane knew, Gina had found her footing in cybercrimes. The task force they’d worked together had been to catch a killer. But Gina had requested to go into cybercrimes upon leaving the special unit. She’d been making a name for herself as someone who got things done.
Jane kept abreast of her coworkers. Though she and Gina had butted heads, they had a mutual respect. And a mutual dislike.
As if sensing Jane’s thoughts, Gina grinned at her. “Stay out of my way, Cannon.”
Jane grinned back. “With pleasure, Holtz.”
Feeling oddly buoyant, she approached Lisa’s desk. “Lisa Chen? Jane Cannon. We’ve met briefly before.” But they’d never worked on anything together.
They shook hands though Lisa didn’t stand to greet her. “Pull up a seat. I just need to finish one thing here.”
Like Jane’s squad’s area downstairs, the cybercrimes squad shared space, though they maintained cubicles with high walls, separating individual desks. For good reason, as everywhere Jane looked, the cubicle walls appeared covered in spreadsheets and documents.
Jane grabbed a chair and pulled it close, studying the duty expert who’d been added to the home invasion investigation.
Lisa appeared to be around Jane’s age, with a petite frame and short, dark hair.
According to Jenn, who knew everything about everyone, Lisa had been with Seattle for the past six years, was everyone’s favorite go-to for accounting-related cases and questions and had recently gotten engaged.
A computer geek with an addiction to luxury purses, she and Jenn bonded over a shared affection for Louis Vuitton and Prada.
Jane glanced at the bag tucked neatly in the corner of Lisa’s desk.
Lisa saw her looking and grinned. “Jenn’s been telling stories, I bet. This isn’t an actual Birkin bag. It’s a knockoff my sister got me as a gag gift last year.”
“Ah. Good to know.”
“Trust me. If I could afford a $25,000 dollar purse, I doubt I’d be working here.”
Jane gaped. “Twenty-five thousand? For a purse?”
“I know. It’s a dream. I’d totally go for the royal blue. It’s my color.”
“Er, right.” As someone who only owned dresses and wore makeup because her profession demanded she sometimes look the part, Jane had no business discussing fashion. She loved being a woman, but she preferred workout clothes to playing dress-up.
Hard to chase a perp in heels.
“Okay, so I’m fairly up to speed on the millionaire home invasion cases. And yesterday’s find makes three.”
Jane nodded. “Though we found the Strands yesterday, it’s likely they were killed this past Monday. Like the other families.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah. We already know the Duvalls lost millions. Local PD was already checking into the Coatneys’ financials. Now we have to add the Strands’ as well.”
“But? You have the look of someone who wants to add a but in there.”
“Aren’t you clever?”
“That’s why they pay me the big bucks. I’m smart like that.”
Jane liked her. “Well, our killer isn’t hacking the victims’ financials. He seems to be stealing their passwords and moving money before we know it’s gone. As soon as the banks release the info on the Coatneys, my bet is we’ll find millions missing there, too.”
Lisa nodded. “The Duvalls were big into cryptocurrency. I’d be surprised if the other two families aren’t as well.”
Many of those with wealth invested in art and real estate, in addition to their lucrative money market, brokerage, and cash management accounts. But crypto had been making a splash for investors over the last few years.
Lisa studied Jane. “How much do you know about cryptocurrency and how it works?”
“Not much. Probably less than our thief knows. He stole passcodes to bank accounts as well as bitcoin, I think.”
“Those are two different things.”
“What?”
“Bank accounts and cryptocurrency. Let’s talk about blockchains.” Lisa looked dreamy, as if she’d just unearthed a real Birkin bag.
“Um, okay.” Blockchains? “Please, make it easy to understand.”
“Just the basics. I promise. You’ve sent mail before, correct?”
“Sure. I email all the time.”
“Let’s say you write this letter on paper. You put a stamp on it and send it. Only you and the recipient know what it says—unless it’s been intercepted illegally by a nosy postman. Pretend it hasn’t.”
“I’m tracking.”
“Good.” Lisa tapped her desk with a short, pink-painted nail. “Now let’s say you send a postcard. Whatever you’ve written on the back can be read by everyone who handles it. You, the neighbor staring over your shoulder when you mail it, the postal clerk, the mailroom.”
“Right. I get it. It’s not confidential.”
“Well, think of all those eyes and handlers like an online banking system. All the institutions involved see your transactions.”
“I’m with you so far.”
“Now, instead of a postcard, you send a different message. In this one, you carve your message into a block of steel. Then you send a thousand copies to people around the world. If anyone tries to change one of them, every single copy you carved disagrees. The message gets rejected.”
“Still with you.”
“And that’s known as a blockchain. See, every crypto transaction gets locked into a tamper-proof ledger that lives on thousands of computers. There’s no one handling the package either. No mailman or clerk. And there are no names attached for the sender or recipient. Just wallet-IDs.”
Jane frowned. “But these guys took money from our vics.”
“Yes, but to do that, they stole the keys to unlocking the wallets. Those long strings of code. You get the key, you own the money. Easy-peasy. No ID check or facial recognition.”
Jane nodded in understanding. “So that’s why they’re targeting the homes. They steal the information to unlock those blockchains.”
“I’d bet money—real money—the victims are missing something you haven’t found yet. Biometric devices, backup drives, maybe cold wallets.”
“Cold wallets?”
Lisa nodded. “More like cold storage. Cold wallets keep private keys offline, so it makes them more secure from hacking or malware. You’re essentially using a cold wallet to store your digital assets in an isolated, secure environment.”
“Like a thumb drive, but one that can handle a lot more data.”
“Yep. Like that. And with that, they could be moving millions, hell, billions, through untraceable shell chains.”
“Wait. So we can’t trace the money?” Yet they’d found evidence the Duvalls had lost millions. Jane was confused.
“No, we can. The transactions are recorded on public ledgers called…wait for it. Blockchains!”
“My brain’s about to explode.”
Lisa chuckled. “The crypto exchanges have to report to the IRS. Do you really think the government would be okay with people secretly moving money around without trying to tax it?”
“That’s something at least,” Jane said grimly then had another thought. “So if we’re basically talking about digital storage, then what was stolen might not just be money. Could they be missing data as well?”
“Yes. The question is, who are your criminals gathering the data for, and why?”
Considering the wealth and power of the victims, Jane thought that was the billion-dollar question.