A Deepening Mystery

One Week Later!

Sepia found the Facebook and Twitter pages of both Mary Salinas and Brian Carson...There was nothing on either of their pages about any deep sea fishing trip . Not only that...There was no activity on either of their pages from five days before. Mary was the type of person who was on Facebook and twitter daily...and now there was a five day break. Same thing with Brian!

I checked on both of their credit and debit cards...There hadn't been a bit of activity on either person's credit and debit cards in a week. Very odd...It was said that Mary was a shopaholic! I called Brian's bank...I was told that a huge amount of money was withdrawn in Maryland two days ago, leaving almost nothing. The Money Market account was depleted as was the checking and savings accounts.

This was really weird.. Sepia, Clerow and I drove down to Baltimore and went to the bank where they said the accounts were closed from. I talked to the official who closed the accounts..A Milliard Filmore.

''Mister Filmore, you say that someone came in here and closed all three of Brian Carson's accounts?" I asked.

"Yeah..I'm assuming it was Mr. Carson...He had his ATM card and identification." he replied.

I showed him a photo of Brian Carson. "Is this who you saw?" I asked.

"No...That's not Mr. Carson... He was much slimmer than that." said Mr. Filmore.

"Okay, how about this photo?" I said showing him a photo of Ellis.

"Yeah, that's him" said Mr. Filmore... There was nothing else to say, so I left.

We drove to the Baltimore Harbor and to my surprise...There was Brian's Boat!!!...Just sitting there! I couldn't believe it!!

Sepia, and I approached the boat...It was eerily silent....We entered the boat...There was no one on the boat at all...It was clean...It looked like it had been wiped clean...We could smell bleach all over the boat.

Clerow came back with the Harbor Master...

"Boss..He said that this boat has been here for days and that no one has been seen on this boat, nobody remembers it coming here or seeing anybody ever on it." he said.

"You guys have video cameras all along the harbor...do you think you can show us some film from the past few days?" I asked.

"Well we can, but it'll take hours..." he said.

"That's okay...let's take a look." I said.

Sepia drove into Baltimore to get us coffee and food...Crabcakes, Hot Roast Beef sandwiches and coffee. Clerow and I and the Harbor Master's crew went over film for what seemed like the longest...Finally we saw what we had been looking for...We saw the boat coming into the port. Strangely enough it was the morning before Brian's bank accounts had been closed. That would make it four days ago. Then we saw what I had been looking for...There he was coming off the boat...Ellis Carson!!!! He was by himself....There was no sign of anyone else!!

We printed the photo...It was all I needed. We thanked the Harbor master and his crew...They thanked us for the food and the three of us headed back to Philadelphia.

"Kevin, Do you think Ellis is in Philly ?" asked Sepia.

"I don't know....but if he is..I've got some questions for him like where is Brian and Mary? and why did he loot his brother's accounts?" I asked.

"You think they alive boss?" asked Clerow. That was a question I didn't want to answer and yet had to answer.

"Honestly? No I don't." I said.

Sepia looked at me in horror...Clerow just held his head down... It was right there in front of us...No way Brian could be alive and his money gone like that....I was going to find Ellis and get to the bottom of this!

(Conclusion Next)