Octopus Alibi by Tom Corcoran

Author:Tom Corcoran
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

19

DEXTER HAYES’S UNMARKED CRUISER smelled of spilled coffee and stale cologne. The upholstery was worse than smooth. It looked as if someone had cleaned the fabric with Simple Green. A Car and Driver lay on the cola-stained passenger-side floor, under several Nestlé Crunch wrappers. A two-inch speaker crackled with police message traffic, codes, acronyms, and slang. I tried to roll down the window. The crank spun around free.

I said, “Did a blue Shimano come out that gate?”

“I didn’t see a thing,” said Hayes.

“Right,” I said. “This street’s not paved, and it’s pouring rain. People who work together don’t rat each other out. Which way did she go?”

Dexter twirled his index finger, which meant anywhere. “What do you think of Mr. Randolph?”

“I think he’s an octopus,” I said. “His arms go eight directions at once, like his alibis, and dozens of suckers grab his prey. Makes it worse, he’s got the brains to keep up with his bullshit.”

Hayes nodded his head. “I got him for a jellyfish. Ugly up top and down low he’ll sting your butt bad. He’s dangerous where you can’t see it coming.”

“Obviously you know more than I do.”

“One or two things,” said Hayes. “It’s meaningful shit, let’s put it that way. He acts like he comes from money. But he looks like he comes from hunger.”

“You don’t want to reveal your inside information, right?”

“He was bill collecting the other day.” Dexter counted his fingers. “Four days ago. We had a solid tip, but we held back on nabbing him. Since then, we’ve watched him close.”

“Bill collecting?”

“He goes out in the morning, after people go to work, and boosts mail. He works it like he’s got an address list, full-time locals with big money. He beats the carrier to the outgoing letters.”

“And what, of value, would be in that mail?”

“Bill payments. Checks made out to utilities, phone companies, credit card companies. You name it. The guys who run this scam stack up the best checks, for the highest amounts. They open a bank account with a phony driver’s license, fake name, and a local address. They use chemicals to blank out the payee’s name, and write in the fake name. They deposit the checks early in the bank’s statement cycle, then pull the money from ATMs. It takes a few weeks for people to realize that their payments aren’t getting where they’re supposed to. By the time they complain, the fake account’s cleaned out.”

“Randolph’s doing this?”

Dexter Hayes nodded. “Sure as hell.”

I felt questions bouncing in my brain. Why would Whit Randolph let me see all those Post-it notes? What did Deputy “No Jokes” Bohner’s stakeout at Camille’s three nights ago have to do with city business? I couldn’t imagine the county and city coordinating efforts on a fraud case.

“I saw stuff back there in his condo that supports his scam. Can I ask why you don’t bust him?” I said.

“Piss on it,” said Dexter. “Fraud means paperwork and permanent court cases. The world’s insurance companies can deal with that shit.

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