The Mind Man

Chapter seven

That evening Ted wasn't interested in small talk with his family and ate his supper mostly in silence. Sally wanted to talk more on the winery subject but she could see Ted was distracted. She figured he had brought police work home with him in his mind as was so often the case and she left him alone with his thoughts. Even the children had learnt to respect their father's privacy when he was in one of these moods. Ted retreated to the upstairs study and connected to the Internet.

He brought up a search engine and typed in 'Ardlethan' checking the spelling against his scrawl on a Fortex letter head. With almost a quarter of a million search results Ted was initially taken aback. He could see his reasoning going nowhere but after sifting through all the background information it became clearer, although Ted remained puzzled. Ardlethan, it seemed was not a large American based investment company which he had expected to dominate the search, but was instead a small rural town in Australia. The multitude of search results all related to specific aspects of the town. Ted failed to see a logical explanation as to why anyone in this small rural wheat growing community in Australia would be interested in a hearing device manufacturer in Sacramento. He was disappointed that his investigation had stalled so abruptly and went downstairs to make himself a hot drink.

"Howard called again Ted; he wants to know what you're doing." Sally interrupted his thoughts in the kitchen.

"What did you tell him?"

"I said you had some department matters on your mind and you would call him back tomorrow."

"Thanks."

"He's made an appointment to look at the winery this weekend. He's going with or without you he said."

"Okay that's good. I'll call him in the morning and let him know what I am doing."

"You seemed to have lost interest Ted. Hopefully you've come to your senses."

"I'm not in the mood Sally, I'm going back upstairs."

"Is something wrong?"

"Just a case at work which I can't figure out. You know that phone call from Frank the other day, to go and see a car wreck over on the Interstate? Well, there seems no reason for the guy to have crashed and it's puzzling me as to why he did."

"But isn't it up to the collisions unit to work that out? It's not your problem anymore is it?"

"No, they are putting it down as undetermined, but I'm not so sure."

"You take your job too seriously...you shouldn't worry; it's not your problem anymore. Let Jack handle it. If you relaxed and didn't worry you would enjoy your job more and you wouldn't be thinking about this silly winery thing."

"Yeah perhaps you're right. I'll just go back upstairs for a bit. I'll see you in bed in a minute."

"Okay, I'll clean up down here."

Ted returned to his computer. Sally was right although it was hard to admit to. He did bring his work home with him far too often and he knew in his mind it was over compensation for the feeling of inadequacy he had towards his job. The cops down at the precinct who lived for their jobs and who were good at being cops. They could switch off when they were off duty and immerse themselves fully in their personal and social lives. Jack was a good example of that. But Ted felt the only way he could live a balanced life was to leave the force. He had to convince Sally of the benefits to the family when he was happy and content. He took a mouthful of coffee and looked back at the computer screen. This Warren Turner thing was something different. Maybe it was seeing a beautiful car destroyed on the highway. Maybe it was the wholesome family lifestyle of the victim brought dramatically to an end; the striving, successful businessman that still possessed those down-to-earth honest values. Maybe it was just that he felt a sense of resentment towards the faceless fat-cat executives, sitting behind large mahogany desks in a city somewhere who somehow had made a killing from the man's death. He wondered if they even knew the man had died. If he did nothing else, he was going to find out who these people were. He thought back to Mrs. Turner's drawn face at the cemetery. He felt a sense of duty to at least provide her with the truth. There was some sort of wrong doing going on here and he could sense it. He leant forward to continue the painstaking job of clicking through the pages of search results so he could be certain he didn't miss something.

The links to the Australian town appeared endless. Ted trawled through links to the local council, the school, local businesses, municipal trees, accommodation, weather, agricultural products and services and more. He was impressed that such a small town of five thousand or so people had so many links directed at it. He quickly became tired of scanning the pages and concluded that it was a hopeless endeavor. Sally was right, it was not his problem anymore and he would be much better off putting his energy into deciding his future. As he moved his mouse to close the browser window he noticed a link to an Ardlethan that did not relate to the Australian town.

He clicked on the link and a page came up providing some information on a company registered in the Cook Islands. The page, even to Ted's inexperienced eye, appeared amateurish and only revealed a mailing address, a street address and a phone number. He again couldn't see the connection between a company located on these islands, wherever they were, and buying large amounts of stock in a Sacramento company.

Ted had never heard of the Cook Islands so he promptly performed another search to learn more. The pages revealed a small group of islands in the South Pacific with some political and strategic links with New Zealand. What caught Ted's attention more than the idyllic pictures of white-sand beaches nestled between clear blue seas and shady palm trees was the mention that the Cook Islands were a tax haven with very strict secretive laws. Ardlethan, it seemed, was an offshore investment company with all its finances going through these islands. This would substantially reduce the tax liability on its profits, Ted presumed. Having realized this connection he became more intrigued. He picked up the phone and dialed the number off the webpage, but it just rang out with no voicemail. He scrolled through the Cook Island's web pages again to determine the time zone and noted the difference against his watch. He did a quick mental calculation and ascertained that his call should have reached the islands before the end of the working day, so he was surprised no one had answered.

Before terminating the Internet connection Ted printed the page about the company and then went to a stock market site and found the NASDAQ market. He typed in Fortex and noted their stock price over the last couple of weeks. On the graph he pin pointed where Warren's death had taken place, but the numbers didn't make sense. In the days prior to his death the price of the stock had steadily risen. Ted presumed Ardlethan's involvement in the market had caused the rise. But then after Warren's death the stock price fell sharply. Ted couldn't see the logic.

He found the Fortex business card which Larry had given him and picked up the phone. "Sorry Larry, for disturbing you at this time."

"It's okay...I'm still in the office."

"I've been thinking about our talk this afternoon."

"Oh yeah, something come up?"

"Ardlethan is an offshore investment company registered in the Cook Islands."

"Really...I had no idea."

"But it doesn't make any sense, I looked up a graph of your stock and it shows the price rising just before Warren's death, but when Warren died the stock fell. They missed out big time, so what's the deal? Were they unlucky?"

"Yes, the price of our stock did drop; quite substantially actually, as you probably saw. It was to be expected as Warren was a good CEO and had the company in very good shape. Markets don't like uncertainty. But what I didn't mention to you was all our stock with Ardlethan was dumped just before he died, then they bought back in again when it hit rock bottom. Now that some certainty and confidence has crept back in regarding Fortex's future, the stock price has recovered almost to the point where it was before Warren died. The markets are nervous beasts as well. So what it means is that Ardlethan, on paper at least, has made quite a sizable killing."

"You could say that's quite a lucky coincidence." Ted replied after a substantial pause to think the information through.

"Yes, I suppose you would have to conclude that seeing that there has been no foul play suspected. A report I received from your MCIU confirmed that."

"Yes the report did suggest that. Well thanks Larry, for your time. Good luck in the future."

"Thanks Sergeant, all the best."

Ted replaced the handset and thought about the 'lucky coincidence' that the stockholders at Ardlethan had just enjoyed. He wasn't so sure that luck had anything to do with it.