Chapter 14

We got a telephone call the next morning just before Dad was scheduled to leave for his office. “Hello, this is Special Agent Anthony Peterson of the Treasury Dept. I am in Hampton and ready to come by your home to talk to Mr. Jack Harbinger. Is that convenient?”

“Yes, that will be fine. I’m Jack Harbinger. Do you want to talk to my Dad, too? He is the one who called you.”

“Hmm, how old are you, Mr. Harbinger?”

“I’m 17.”

“Oh, we had assumed that you were older. In this case, it would definitely be a good idea for your father to be present during the interview. Is that convenient?”

“Wait a minute and I will ask him.

“Dad, can you hang around while I talk to the Treasury agent?”

Dad nodded agreement, so I said, “Yes, he will wait here until you finish your interview.”

“Excellent, I should be there within 30 minutes. Goodbye for now.”

I said goodbye and hung up. “This guy sounds nice, but all business. I do have one question, though. How do I introduce Liz. Can I introduce her as my wife?” Liz glowed at that and Dad nodded, so that was the way we let it stand.

The agent showed up within about 20 minutes. Dad met him at the front door and took him into the den. That way, my mother could fix her breakfast when she finally got up. Liz and I were waiting in the den for them. I had brought in the box of counterfeit money and the two bills and had them sitting on the coffee table.

When he came in, Dad introduced us, calling Liz my wife. That did not cause any special reaction from Agent Peterson. The first thing the agent said was, “Please keep everything said at this meeting confidential. Premature disclosure could cause problems in a court of law.” We agreed, so he asked to see the two bills that had started all of this. I showed them to him, and I actually saw a raised eyebrow when he moved the paper around in his fingers.

His comment was, “This is an excellent job, except for the quality of the paper. I am sure that no one would spot that the bills were bogus on casual examination. May I see the rest of the bills?”

I said, “Here they are in the original box. I did not open the box once I saw the two bills and figured that they were counterfeit.”

“Excellent, Mr. Harbinger. That will make life a lot easier for our lab people. However, I will open the box to get an idea of how much is here. I will be wearing latex gloves, but I must ask all of you not to touch the box or its contents because of the possibility of leaving fingerprints.”

The agent slit the box open with something he called a box-knife. Damn, that thing was sharp! We were amazed when we saw how many bills were in the box. Peterson commented, “This is the largest number of counterfeit bills that I have ever personally seen. I am amazed.” He used a folding ruler to measure the depth of the box and measured one sheaf of bills.

“It looks to me like there is the equivalent of over half a million dollars of counterfeit bills in this box. Normally, there is no reward for turning in counterfeit bills, but I suspect that the Secretary will make an exception in this case. It is my guess that you, Mr. Harbinger, will receive a check for around $5,000 as a reward for your help in this case.

“Now, Mr. Harbinger, please tell me in excruciating detail how you came upon this box of counterfeit money.” He smiled at his choice of adjectives, and we did too.

“Okay, Agent Peterson, but first, please call me Jack. When you say ‘Mr. Harbinger,’ I automatically think that you are talking to Dad.” I told him how Liz and I got interested in the rape and murder case and how it led to Mr. Enfon. I told him about staking out the Enfon house in hopes of learning something about Mr. Enfon and discovering the boxes being delivered and his trips to Cuba every time within a couple of days.