Chapter 3

Amy and I got on a plane a week later and within an hour of landing we walked into the prison where George Raven was incarcerated. I knew immediately this was no place I wanted to be, but it could happen to me just from my association with the Clarks.

We were ushered into a room and we knew we were being observed. Both Amy and I had been patted down. George could sit on one side of a long table and us on the other. There were benches going the length. There was an eighteen inch high plastic barrier between us and we were warned not to reach or pass anything over it to the inmate. Luckily we were the only visitors at this particular time so we could talk privately.

George had short grey hair and he was about 5 foot 11 inches tall. He was trim and neat, weighing I would guess at 160 pounds. He looked very, very happy to see Amy. "Amy, so good of you to visit. I thought when you said in your last letter that you had a boyfriend you would forget about me."

"George, this is my friend, Beau Dixon and I would never forget you. I consider you my friend." George acknowledged me with a smile and a wave but his attention was solidly on Amy.

"More questions from me about my life of crime?"

"I might ask a few if I can think of any." Amy went on to tell what she had been doing since seeing him last. She told him that the personal interest story she had written about him had garnered some interest. "May I ask more, if not so personal?"

"Sure, anything. I'll do whatever to make you happy."

"Good, I know you were sent up here for money laundering. How is that accomplished? I mean if a person had a million dollars in cash, how could he spend or convert it into a vehicle that didn't attract the police or the government's attention?"

"There are people who do this for a living. There are several possibilities and some of it would depend on how much time you have before you need it. If you were in a hurry, it would cost you sixty percent and you would get forty. If you had plenty of time and could wait awhile, you might reverse that and get the sixty percent. Of course if it was bills in sequence you might only get twenty percent.

"If young people like yourselves didn't need it for anything immediately you could spend it in small quantities and over a period of twenty years you might realize the full face value. When you bought something, it would have to be below what the bank would report. Anything less than $10,000 would be the figure on that. You could buy a decent used car and could change vehicles often.

"If you wanted a better or later model car, you would have the first car to turn in and a few thousand in cash to purchase the newer car. A used car dealer wouldn't think twice. You have to be careful about living with a high income lifestyle if your yearly income is way below what your income would support. If you own a business it is easier. No one thinks it odd to pay cash for small tools or a case of supplies. On the other side, if you sold something you would want the money to come back to you as a check that you could deposit."

"Interesting. So George, what are your plans when you leave here?"

"I'm getting the hell out of Dodge. If I stick around here I'll be drawn back into the same lifestyle. Can I come and live near you? You ought to have a baby by that time. I missed out on my own child because someone stole her. I hate to think of it being dead, but Eleanor and her family and what they were wasn't a very good environment in which to raise a child. Maybe it was for the best that it worked out the way it did."

"It's a terrible thing to lose your child. It must have been a shock to lose all that money too?"

"Yeah some, but the money didn't actually come from my pocket. Union slush funds are created to use in emergences, pay politicians, and influence union elections. I was high enough up in union management so all I had to do was ask. I suppose being tapped to be the one to take a fall and serve time goes back to then, but I haven't minded that much. I've changed my thinking on how the world works since I came in here."

"So how would you feel if you found out your daughter was alive and the person who stole her raised her as his or her own and she was reasonably happy?"

"I've never considered something like that happening. I don't know how I would feel. I'll have to give it some thought."

"Of course there is the money that they took as well."

"That part I don't give a damn about. I'll wager that it has created more problems for the kidnappers than they ever could imagine. That may trip them up yet in trying to convert it. Look at me, I was in the money laundering business and here I am sitting across the table from you."

"So George, you're going straight when you get out of here?"

"Yes, and you damned well better believe it." George paused and then grinned and continued, "But then I do have a little stash that needs converting too, and I still have some contacts. I have to have something to live on. Maybe just enough to live quietly someplace ... a place where I have a young couple who are friends of mine and if they'll have me around."

"George, we'll give it a lot of thought. I see the guard is motioning us our time is up. I will be back next month to see you again."

"Amy, thank you so much for coming to see me. You don't know how lucky I feel knowing you. I wish I could kiss you. And Beau you're quiet and I wish I could shake your hand. Take care of this fine young lady."

"I will. I've known her for a long time and there is no one finer."

We took our leave and headed out for lunch. I asked, "Would you like to stay over tonight and fly home tomorrow?"

"I'd love to. The shuttle plane wasn't too full so we should be able to get a flight."

"I'll call. What else do you want to do?"

"Can we go see the Henry Ford museum? I always wanted to see the old cars they built here."

"That would be fun so we will find out where it is." We located it in Dearborn and were able to reach it by bus. We made a day of it, topping it off with dinner and dancing in the hotel we were booked into. Harking back to what George said about spending cash where you could, we pooled what we had and paid that way.

In the morning before our flight, Amy had the address where George and Eleanor lived many years previously. She wanted to drive by their home. The kidnapping had happened when Renee and her nurse got out of a taxi in front of the residence. Mary had confessed much of this to Amy and Amy had read some of this in newspaper archives when doing her story on George.

The man with Mary had overpowered the nurse while Mary snatched up the child. Chloroform for the nurse and masks for the kidnappers had been used and the deed was done. The nurse couldn't say what the kidnappers or the car looked like. Roger Clark hadn't been involved in this part of the snatch. His involvement came later in getting away with the ransom money.

The estate where George lived was impressive with a cast iron gate and a bell to call the house. The driveway was long and had shrubs that had now turned into trees were planted the length of it. You could barely see the house. Amy had never asked if George still owned the place. It was doubtful. Amy said, "Just think Beau, I was born and lived in that house twenty-six years ago."

"Any regrets?"

"No, not really. I have to remember that George was a crook and so were Dad and Mom. I've had a lot of sad times. I had to leave you. I was so sad I cried for days. Of course I lost Dad at the same time, which made it a really bad time for me. Then recently Mom got sick and died. I do like all of you and that includes George. I guess I'm as crooked as everyone else by lugging around a trunk full of cash and I still think well of the two people who took me."

"I'm not much better by condoning and loving this bunch of crooks I'm neighbor to. Also I like George now that I have met him."

"You're the best of all of us. You love me and you've been very helpful to Dad. I think you're going to be helpful to George before this is all settled."

"You can help me if I get caught and put in jail. You can bail me out. Just remember to pay the bail with cash." This struck us funny and we laughed and giggled over it until we went to exploring each other's body and the giggles turned into begging ... not to stop, but for more.

-- Over the next eighteen months Amy and I sometimes went up to visit Raven in Detroit, either together or she alone. Amy and he became real close. We never mentioned money to him again. I liked the man. At home, Amy lived with me, but we were constantly with Clark. He went to work everyday at the restaurant, satisfied to do his work without any complications. Amy had rented a locker and put the money she brought with her in it. I took $50,000 from the locker that had been in Clark's. I went to the well twice. Yes, we had a program to use the money as safely as we could.

The three of us spent cash, always. We bought money orders from the postal service and purchased travel checks at different banks. We found we could use Travelers checks to buy debit cards and then they were accepted the same way as checks. Surprisingly, we found that some brokers would accept all three and sell us stocks so we began to put together a portfolio.

We were always conservative and had planned how to treat these transactions with the IRS in the back of our mind. After a bit, though, we found that we had run out of options. We had to at least back off until another year rolled around. I had managed to convert $67,000 from cash to securities. We had paid cash from the stash and used up another $28,000 on incidentals. We didn't try and purchase items that we didn't need or couldn't use.

We had a meeting where we laughed at our efforts and about how difficult it was to get rid of the cash. "We need someone to launder the money for us. We are amateurs at this. Let's back off the program for now. We can still buy coffee though, and no one will suspect us of anything if we upgrade to latté."

Clark was slowly getting his house renovated and had turned that project over to me. Still we had to appear honest and the house did give us a way to continue our program.

We now turned to what we were going to do about George Raven. He wanted to move here close to us. He informed us he wanted nothing to do with his former associates. Could we keep to our program of converting cash with him around ... it doubtful.

Finally Clark said, "Let's put all the remaining money in one locker and give it back to Raven. You two have become his friends and he won't turn you in for associating with a known kidnapper. Me, as one of the original kidnappers I'm the only one that should be charged with the crime. I'm sick of looking over my shoulder and outside of you two I don't have any friends."

"But Dad, you aren't my friend, I'm your daughter. No, that didn't come out right. You know what I mean. I love you as my father and also as my friend. You always have been." Tears came into Clark's eyes and tears were running down Amy's face.

"We'll think about it."

We slowed our project down and continued on at a modest pace. Amy worked in my office when needed, but mostly she wrote fiction. She had found her niche in writing about late teen-age and young adult characters. They all had happy endings and she didn't hold to one genre.

She even did a couple of westerns. Mainly the stories involved mysteries or had romance for plots. She had tried for hard cover books, but that didn't work too well and she quit sending when her manuscripts kept being rejected. She then stuck to publishing e-books. These were short novels of 60,000 or less words. She figured this was about as long as her public would be entertained before putting the story down and might not get back to the story if they were any longer.

I was called on to submit bids and create plans for several different types of buildings I had a great staff and we were often the quickest to have plans ready before any other firms for approval. Needless to say my plate was full.

Amy went up to visit George a month before he was to be released. "Amy, my dear, would you look around and find a house for me to purchase so I can live near you. It doesn't have to be next door, but close. As you are aware there is nothing in Detroit left for me." He smiled. "You know there is a younger more sophisticated crop of crooks out there that have replaced me and I don't fit in anymore. There are more laws on the books to catch you too.

"Do you have any money and what is the price range I should stay within? How many rooms do you need? You must also realize that property is a lot more expensive now than what it was when you were first incarcerated. My father owns the house I grew up in the first years of my life.

"My Mom moved away when I was fourteen. I came back to be with Dad and found Beau still living next door and we are a couple now. I have a suggestion. Come stay with my father or us and we'll find your ideal home."

"I can do that. Amy, are you and Beau planning on being married? He seems perfect for you. I see love for each other coming from both of you."

"Yes, someday. We have waited because we want you at our wedding."

"Oh, Amy, that would please me so much."

"Just come, I want my father to be with us when I tell you why we have waited so long. I'll be up and at the prison door when you come out next month."

"I'll be looking for you."

I drove to Detroit with Amy to get George. He came out and the first thing he did was to hug Amy and kiss her on her cheek. Then he turned to me and hugged me too. There were tears of happiness in his eyes. My question when we returned to normal, "Do you have things you want to take with you?"

"No, I've lightened my burden as far as goods are concerned in the last fifteen years. My lawyer will send me some things. I want to get new clothes soon, but I have some sweats and shoes and a change in my satchel. FedEx comes by your father's house doesn't it? I've arranged for finances to come with the courier in a few days. Let's go home."

George did have us drive by his old home before we headed south. He was amazed how the city had changed. "My God, look at that. That used to be a nice section of the city. It's just a slum area now. What happened?"

"The city is bankrupt and things haven't got done. That's the easy answer."

"Bunch of stupid crooks running things, I suspect, and I've met a few of them in the last few years on the inside." That's the only comment we had from the newly released felon.

It was late at night when we arrived home. We were tired. George had slept some, but all of us were beat. "George, I have a room with a bath upstairs and it's yours. You stay here until you get settled. This is your home until you decide what to do."

"You two young ones are the best to take in an old man and him a crook at that."

Amy lit into him, "George maybe you were, but you have paid your debt to society so you aren't a crook now. I don't want you to be referring to yourself that way ever again. What if someone hears you? That will make Beau and me look bad and that's no way to pay back your friends."

"You're right sweetheart ... never again. I'll go up to bed now. God, once again I'm a free man, I can't believe it. Thank you." George was getting emotional and turned away. We watched him slowly climb upward. He turned at the top. "The stairs are so soft with the carpet on them. Some different than the welded steel I'm used too. Good night, you two."

"Beau, are we doing the right thing, by manipulating him like we are?"

"I think so. We are manipulating your dad at the same time. I wish your dad was stronger minded."

"I know and that is what bothered Mom so much about him. I don't see him as weak. I see him as a man who loves his daughter. Beau, you know him better than I do, what do you think he will do about the kidnapping and the money? Will he confess to George?'

"I think he will. My question is what will George's reaction to the confession be? You've bonded closely with him these last two years. What do you think?"

"I don't know."

Clark came over for breakfast. I could tell how apprehensive he was about meeting the man whose daughter he had kidnapped. George, after a good night's sleep in a real bed was affable and happy. We could tell he immediately wanted to be friends with Clark, but George was held at arm's length at first.

Amy showed George around town and brought him into my office where she worked part time. She also took him to the restaurant where Clark worked. This was at the busy lunch time and she and George sat in the corner of the kitchen watching Clark manage the staff sending food out to the dining room. Amy told me she didn't realize how hectic a time this was. "Dad tells me it is even worse serving dinner in the evenings."

We became comfortable having George living with us. Amy and I were now talking about getting married. It was a Saturday after dinner and Clark had stopped in for a beer before going across to his house. George spoke, "What is planned for tomorrow?"

None of us had anything special. "That's good. I want you to sit down here in Amy's living room and I'll tell you about my life. Is that agreeable? I'd do it tonight, but it would take too much time. Roger and Beau are tired from working all day, so it would be best to wait until tomorrow."

I spoke up, "I'm not that tired."

Clark said he wasn't working tomorrow and wouldn't be going to bed early. "I'll listen if it takes all night long."

"Okay then, we'll call this a bed time story. I also don't want any of you to speak until I finish. I'm positive you will all have something to say at that time.