Page 27 of Go Alone

He decided to dig deeper into her past and search for another interaction between them. As the hours wore on, he stopped only for the occasional restroom break and a lunch ordered from a local sandwich place. Kate texted twice, once to say that she and Gabe were both working hard to discover what the mysterious document referenced in the cipher was and once to inform him that the FBI had no records of a Linus Varne ever living in the Greater Columbus or Akron areas. Anita texted once, stating that there was no connection she could find between Greer and Deborah Holt in the city’s records and that neither ever used the same legal team.

Their leads were drying up. If Marcus didn’t find something here, they’d be forced to reset and find a different angle.

Finally, as the sun dipped below the horizon, Marcus reached the end of the records Deborah kept. He sighed and drummed his fingers on the desk, wondering where to go from here. Maybe he didn’t need to go anywhere. After all, screwing with the Garfields was motivation enough. The killer hadn’t mentioned why Deborah messed with them, only that she had. He hadn’t even mentioned the aftermath when she took the sale money to which they were entitled.

It was only a hunch that kept Marcus going. He reached for the phone to call the bank Deborah had worked for but stopped before he dialed the number. The bank wasn’t going to want to tell him anything. He could press the issue, but that would mean days of getting Winters approval to seek a court order for a subpoena, getting that court order, and dealing with the bank dragging their feet every step of the way.

Instead, he called the Chamber of Commerce. After a minute wrestling with the automated menu, he got a patiently exasperated representative. “Hello, thank you for calling the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, this is Elsie, how can I help you?”

“Hi, Elsie, this is Special Agent Marcus Reid of the FBI, badge number 1031-DG. Verify that now because I’m going to ask some questions that I need answered much more quickly than normal.”

Elsie hesitated a moment before offering a wary, “All right.”

Marcus glanced out the window at the darkening sky and frowned. It wasn’t likely that their killer would kill again the night after killing Deborah Holt, but likely and impossible were oceans apart, and one day really wasn’t that much shorter than two. So maybe it was likely.

A different voice from Elsie’s broke the silence. “Agent?”

“Yes. Who’s this?”

“This is Walter Platt. I’m the records manager on duty tonight. May I ask to what this call pertains?”

“I’m investigating the murder of two individuals in the Greater Columbus area,” Marcus said. “I need to look up any suspicious records belonging to a mortgage broker named Deborah Holt. I have her driver license number if that helps.”

Walter was quiet for a moment. “Did this individual happen to work during the housing crisis of 2008 to 2009?”

Marcus frowned. “Yes, as a matter of fact. She was with Midwestern First Bank.”

“That… could be a lot.”

“I’m sure it could be,” Marcus agreed, “and the faster we get started, the faster I get what I need. And since you brought up the housing crisis, let’s start with those years.”

“Very well. Can you give me that license?”

Marcus gave it to him. Walter put him on hold, and he leaned back and watched the sky darken a shade. A passing truck flickered as its automatic headlights switched on, its computer deeming the dimness enough to justify the activation of that safety equipment.

“Agent?”

Marcus leaned forward. “Yes, I’m here.”

“I’m forwarding two files to you. That’s actually not many. It seems Mrs. Holt wasn’t a major player.”

Major enough for the Garfields, Marcus thought. “What stuck out on those files?”

"Neither of them is officially questionable; however, a quick review suggests that Mrs. Holt might have taken advantage of somewhat looser enforcement at that time."

Marcus smiled. “You’re a pal, Walter.”

“I do hope it helps.”

A moment later, Marcus's email inbox received the records in question. He perused them and decided that Deborah had, in fact, taken advantage of looser enforcement at the time of the housing crisis. It continued the pattern of someone leveraging the legal system to take homes that belonged to others. In Howard Greer's case, he used his power as zoning commissioner. In Deborah's case, her financial acumen and ability to read the market.

Like the Garfields, Deborah had insisted on pushing for foreclosure rather than renegotiating the loans. One woman, Jane Houston, had fought the action but lost in court and then lost two appeals. The other, Beverly Marsh hadn’t bothered. Marcus looked both of them up and found that Beverly Marsh remained a Columbus resident for most of that time, but moved away five years ago and hadn’t returned to the area since. Jane Houston had taken her own life six months after being forced to leave her home.

Marcus frowned when he read that. He was supposed to advocate for Deborah Holt and Howard Greer, but it was difficult to feel sympathy for them when evidence kept popping up of what horrible people they were.

He read on. According to the records—detailed enough that Marcus suspected Deborah had kept them herself and then deleted them from her work computer later—those homes had subsequently been condemned and then rezoned as commercial property.

Commercial property developed by A-Plus Home Inspection. Zoning approved by none other than His Eminence Howard Greer.