Off The Table

We arrived at the Medical Examiner's Office within the next hour....Doc Gibbons was there with Bonnie Shay...

"Hey Liv, Beverly....Donnie Ray....I thought you guys should be here to hear and see this...In the spirit of fairness, I have called Attorney Arthur Trout also." he said.

 "That's fine with us Doc."said Olivia.

 "Hi Doc!" said Beverly...

"Hi Doc...As my wife said..that's fine with us.." I said. "And thanks Bonnie for doing the follow up work for me." I said.

"Oh No problem...."said Bonnie Shay...

Just then Attorney Arthur Trout walked in...

"Sorry I'm late guys.." he said trying to straighten up his clothes...

"Hard to get out of Florry's bed isn't it Arthur?" whispered Perri in his ear and giggling....

''Well folks...Mrs. Shay here told me that Dorrie Silver has been identified as your hacker...and that she died of so called natural causes...a few months ago....I looked at photos of the body....She was a young and reasonably healthy woman...She was only 34....And I asked myself...How would a woman like this,in the prime of her life with no prior history of heart disease just drop dead?   I relooked at the tox
screens..We had urine and blood samples taken from her body....Which was listed as unknown cause of death....Which meant we were still investigating....And I found...Well actually, Dr. Hazel Baylor found two chemicals inside her bloodstream and urine...one..a muscle relaxer and the other designed to stop the heart....Last week...

They're manufactured in Europe...Germany to be exact and they're illegal..which means they were purchased on the black market or by somebody that had some real connections.." he said.

"So she was murdered?" I asked.

"Yes....This case is officially being classified as a homicide...Thing is...She's been dead over six months now..The trail may be cold...but I'm not a detective." he said.

"This changes everything Arthur......Plus we've discovered that Ike Weisbord may be still alive...." said Olivia.

"What?" he said.

"We got it straight from the FBI....He faked his death and may have killed another man in Germany.."said Beverly...

"Oh My God..So there is a criminal conspiracy going on here.." said Arthur Trout...

"What Law School did you go to again Arthur.?? I'm sure you were at the head of your class..."smirked Perri...

Doc Gibbons cracked up laughing....

II-

 As it turned out...We had one last meeting with Brianna Hunsinger in the conference room at Arthur Trout's law firm......

"So The lawyer and the hacker may have been in on this together huh? Both were let go." said Brianna Hunsinger..

 "That's correct....This is much deeper than any normal operations....This was,This is way above my client's head." said Olivia.

"If you are going to sue anybody...You need to sue Ike Weisbord...When he's found by the authorities..."said Beverly...

"So Uh...About that offer of 150 K? Is it still on the table?" asked Brianna Hunsinger..

 "No..We are not paying a thing!  "said Olivia..

"It's off the table!...Good Day Arthur, Ms. Hunsinger." said Beverly as she and Olivia and Perri got up..

Perri smiled.....

"So where are you going?" asked Arthur Trout..

"We are leaving...That's usually what you do when a conversation is over!" I said and we got up and filed out...

Bonnie Shay met us in the hallway...

"Think she'll take this to court?" she asked..

"I seriously doubt it...We'll kill her in court....Arthur Trout doesn't want to go to court and I think Brianna knows that at this point , we hold all of the cards...

"Olivia...I'll wire the payment into your account tomorrow...Thank you again..I knew you guys would win this.. Please allow me to take you guys to lunch....On Me!" said Perri..

"Cool,I know I great place, not too far from here..."I said.

She looked at me, then Olivia and said..

"I am so envious Olivia...He's sexy...A great Investigator and knows his restaraunts too...Ohh you lucky girl." she said.

"I know..I know...I thank the Lord for him everyday." laughed Olivia putting her arms around me..

''Come on Talented man...Lead the way" joked Beverly.

III-

We all sat in a very Tony Restaurant in Midtown...

''Donnie Ray,this food is incredible" said Bonnie Shay..

"I told you you'd like this place.."I said.

"Nelson's birthday is coming up....I'm going to have to talk to you."said Beverly...

"He told me all he wanted was you ,naked with a ribbon tied around your waste..." I joked...

"He told me that too." laughed Olivia...

"Well...The man has to eat at sometime...He can't live off of just THAT!"laughed Beverly...

"HA!  You don't know men yet Bev."laughed Perri...

 She and Olivia high fived each other..

But we weren't laughing too long....The waiter came back with Perri's Corporate card...

"Mam...It's Declined..." he said.

"What? there must be some mistake..I eat here all the time.."said Perri..

"I know...and we tried it twice...We thought there was some mistake..but it came back declined.." he said.

"That's impossible..I have Millions on that account...That's a Black card..." she protested...

"I'm sorry mam...It's declined..

She passed him another card...

"Here try this..It's one of my personal cards." she said.

He came back within a few minutes...

"That one was good mam!" he said...And she signed the receipt..

"My corporate card...I-I-I don't understand..

"This sounds like a problem I once had...I suspect you may still have a problem with a hacker.."said Olivia..

"Let us look into this and see what's going on.."I said.

IV-

Two Days Later...Perri stopped by our office as we asked her...

She looked around....


"Nice place you guys got here... Nice little office and you guys live upstairs huh?  Guess nobody here is ever late for work huh?" she laughed...


But I could tell she had been crying...Her business was bankrupt...Her accounts had been looted.. Slowly...and steadily...She couldn't make payroll or even pay the rent for her office space...She was done.. She couldn't even pay us...for helping her dodge yet a third lawsuit...


Things did look bad...


Josie led her to our conference room, Where Olivia, Beverly,Nelson ,Bonnie Shay and myself were sitting, either working on the computers or going over legal and business briefs...

She scanned the room...

"Wow...for folks not getting paid...you guys sure are working hard.." she half joked..

"Well we do intend to get paid eventually...That's why we are trying to get your money back." said Olivia..

"And you can do that?" asked Perri.

"We think Bonnie Shay and D.R. can do it.." said Beverly...

"I've already located your hacker's IP address and where he looted your accounts and transferred your money to....It's in a bank in Punta Canta under the name- "Abel Fortune." said Bonnie Shay.

"I don't know any Abel Fortune." said Perri...

"Of course you don't...It's a phony name...This bank account was opened up..one month to the day that Ike Weisbord was reportedly killed in a car accident in Germany.
Since we know it wasn't him...I tracked his movements under this and another alias...To Punta Canta.."I said.

"Bev and I tracked your accounts....All of em...and we noticed a pattern..."said Nelson..

"First a little bit, then large amounts of your cash began vanishing ,starting in November ...all wire transfers to this account...And what's worse...There were no attempts to close the account and reroute it as most criminals do."said Beverly..

"He wouldn't have to....No one suspects him of any wrong doing...No one is looking for Abel Fortune...You don't know him...And Ike Wesibord...is dead and beyond suspicion.." said Olivia.

"At some point he could find out that inquiries have been made into his phony account." said Perri..

"Yup...Which is why Donnie Ray and I just did a huge wire transfer of your cash from all of Abel Fortune's accounts and rerouted them through an empty, defunct bank in Sweden back into your account...And I put several firewalls around your accounts so he won't be able to hack back into them....As of the past half hour..All of the money he stole from you has been returned...and he's broke...."said Bonnie Shay..

"I also had my friend in the FBI alert the local authorities to him and who he really is...He should be getting arrested soon." I said.

"Oh My God.!!!..You guys aren't just lawyers...You're detectives too!" laughed Perri..."Better than the Feds and the cops." she added..

"I wouldn't say better....I used to be a Detective....In my other life...the one she saved me from."I said hugging Olivia and kissing her cheek...

She smiled...

"He's our in house dispenser of Justice." she laughed.

She looked at Bonnie Shay...

"And you...Are you sure you're just an Attorney?" she said.

"I am an Attorney...I have a P.I.'s License too and some computer skills I picked up along the way."gushed Bonnie Shay...

"I don't know how to thank you guys."said Perri...

''Well now that you have your money back...We can think of some ways..." joked Beverly...

Nelson,Josie,Olivia and I and Perri busted out laughing....

EPILOUGE-

At a five star Bistro in Punta Cana , Abel Fortune AKA Ike Weisbord sat at a table with a very shapely and attractive Blonde....They had just finished a delicious meal...He was waiting for the waiter to return with his credit card...

"Ohhh Abel...That meal was fabulous...It must cost a fortune to eat here." said the woman...

"Money is no object for you my dear.....Now is it true ,you're staying a few blocks from here?" he asked.

"Yes...My Hotel is near the beach..."she gushed...

The waiter returned...

"Mister Fortune...Your card was declined sir.."he whispered...

"What? That's impossible..."he said.

"I'm sorry sir and so were the other three you gave me...In fact we got a message to snap them and call the police."he said..

''What? Surely there must be a mistake..I demand to see the manager." he bellowed..

"That won't be necessary Mister Fortune OR IS IT IKE WEISBORD?"said a black man, who appeared with five uniformed police officers...

"Who the hell are you?" he said..

"I'M FEARLESS FOSDICK....FOSDICK is the name...CATCHING INTERNATIONAL CRIMINALS IS MY GAME!" he said... "Mr. Weisbord...You're under arrest....Wire Fraud for starters and Murder in Philadelphia PA. and in Germany....Represenatives of the FBI and Interpol will be here soon.."he said.

"WHATTTT? THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!! MY ATTORNEYS WILL SUE THE PANTS OFF OF YOU!" he screamed...

"From what I hear you don't have enough money to pay for this meal,let alone a lawyer...Cuff him boys."said Fosdick...

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT...I'M BEING ARRESTED!" he bellowed...

"Oh my God...All I meet is bums and criminals...I should have known."said the Busty Blonde...Who got up and stormed out...

Detective Fosdick and the officers arrested Ike Weisbord and turned him over to the authorities....The FBI and Interpol would decide whether he should stand trial in Philadelphia for first degree murder or Germany.for Murder..

Later that night in our bedroom...Olivia was sitting on my lap kissing me passionately...When we both came up for air...She asked me a question..

"Donnie Ray...Why would Ike Weisbord do this? He was Chief Counsel...I know he was paid well." she asked.

''Sure he was...but after the first lawsuit...The one he made go away...He saw the handwriting on the wall..That such a venture was only going to lead to more law suits and Heaven forbid if he loses the next one...It would bankrupt the company and he'd be unemployed...So he decided to use a little initiative...After they caught and fired Dorrie Silver...He realized that she had skills...Much like our Bonnie Shay....He made a secret pact with her to hack into the company accounts and loot it and split the proceeds and quietly vanish..
Dorrie showed him how to do just that...And he decided...He no longer needed her help, so using chemicals he bought on the black market...He put Dorrie to sleep.....for good!  Made it look like natural causes...And really Livy...Nobody had any reason to look any deeper..I wouldn't have if we hadn't been trying this case...Yet another pesky lawsuit...He then tendered his resignation and went to Germany ,where he murdered a poor sap and blew his own car up and made it look as if he was dead...Next stop...Punta Canta..A new identity and a new bank account loaded with millions of dollars that he siphoned from Perri's business slowly and unnoticable until he bled her dry..." I said.

"MYYY GOODNESS!" said Olivia..."You know ,Perri told me she's shutting that site down...She's going to actually practice law again....She's moving to New York...."said Olivia...

"Good for her...She'll be fine.....OH By the way....She did pay us didn't she?" I asked...Giving Olivia the side eye...

"Yes....She paid us...She even paid Bonnie Shay a little something too for her help." said Olivia..

"MMMmmmm. now where were we?"I said as we continued kissing.....

"Donnie Ray, you have a one track mind..." laughed Olivia...