What’s in the bag? (unabridged)

B – What’s in the Bag?

If there is one thing I hate doing, it’s laundry. If I owned a washer and dryer, it might be easier to get my laundry done, but I don’t. So every week or so I fill up a bag with laundry and trudge on down to the laundromat. It’s so boring. I have better things to do.  Most of the time I just start my laundry and leave. At some point, I come back, and if I’m lucky and late some other customer got pissed off enough that I wasn’t there and has taken my laundry out for me and dumped it on a table. The same thing goes for the dryer. I mean, who wants to wait in a laundromat for over 2 hours. Not me. 

Things changed yesterday. I did my usual trip, brought my bag of laundry, threw the clothes in the machine, and left. I got delayed at the bar I frequent, so didn’t return until 3 hours later. When I got there, there was no one in the place. My wet clothes which should have been either in a washing machine or thrown out on one of the tables were nowhere to be seen. However, I did notice my laundry bag in a corner, tucked in behind one of the dryers. I checked the bag and it was mine; no one else would put their laundry in a tie-dyed bag with a sign on it that said, “If found, please wash or burn”.

Someone must have not only unloaded my clothes but then dried them, folded them neatly, and even wrapped them in separate packages of parcel paper. Not wanting to appear ungrateful, I wrote a thank you note and signed it with my first name. No need to give more information out than necessary. 

The bag seemed a lot heavier than I thought it would be. It must have been due to the excess wrapping paper. When I got home I just threw the bag on a chair next to my bed and didn’t give it another thought until this morning. 

I dumped all of the packages onto my bed. The strange thing about it was that all the packages were pretty much the same size. I hadn’t noticed that yesterday. I was beginning to get suspicious. I carefully unwrapped one of the top parcels and found it was a pair of my pants and t-shirt. However, to my surprise, the package underneath it did not contain any of my clothes. It contained a stack of $100 bills. In fact, 500 hundred of them. As I moved on to open other packages they pretty much all contained large stacks of money. When I was done, I had unpackaged, two shirts, one pair of pants, 6 pairs of socks, and $500,000. 

I wasn’t sure what to do next. Should I go back to the laundromat and return the bag with the money? Should I go back to the laundromat and try to retrieve the note I left and then keep the money? Should I report what I had found to the police? 

… to be continued in “D – Decision to be made.”

D – Decisions to be made

This was a big decision to make and I didn’t want to make it alone. I decided to call my friend Ronald up for advice. Ronald had been my friend since elementary school in the Bronx. He was always coming up with ideas of things to do and I trusted his judgment despite the opinions of others, mostly my family. Suffice it to say, Ronald and I had made a few decisions that hadn’t turned out the way I expected they would.

Regardless of public opinion, I called Ronald and explained what had happened at the laundromat. His response was quick.

“Definitely keep the money. Think of all the things we could buy and places we could go.” Ronald was quite enthusiastic and used the word “we” a lot. 

“But what if this is tainted money and we get caught?” I asked. 

Ronald answered, “Why would we get caught? Who’s going to admit that they left $500,000 in a laundry bag at a laundromat, especially if it is ill-gotten gain.”

This didn’t help my decision. I had some fear that if it was illegal money that I could get in real trouble and possibly put in jail.

Ronald suggested that we keep the money hidden at home and periodically go to the laundromat and see if there were any signs posted for lost cash or any suspicious characters hanging around that might be connected with stolen or counterfeit money. And that’s exactly what we did. One or both of us would pass by every day and look for clues as to the money’s origin. And since I occasionally had to do laundry there, I could get a closer look at the inside of the laundromat. Of course, I was smart enough not to bring my dirty laundry there in my tie-dyed bag, so it wouldn’t be recognized and I stayed there for the entire time my washing and drying took to be done. 

We continued this for three weeks and felt sure that whoever had left the money there, was not coming back. As Ronald said, “Finders keepers, losers weepers.”

The next decision we had to make was where to keep the money. I was afraid that if I put it in a bank there would be too many questions asked. But I also wasn’t comfortable with leaving it home, in case someone broke into my house and found it. Ronald suggested that we could keep it at his house, where he had a lockbox that would keep it secure. So without thinking, I threw all of the money into my laundry bag (the tie-dyed one), slung it over my shoulder, walked over to Ronald’s house, and gave him the money. 

In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have used the same bag that originally held the money. Little did I know, I was being followed. Something I found out the next day when I received a rather alarming phone call from Ronald. The money was gone.

…to be continued in “G – Gone!”

G – Gone!

I grabbed a jacket and left my house and headed for Ronald’s. I had not gone more than a block when I noticed a car with tinted windows following me on the road. I knew it was following me because it went at the same speed I was going at. When I stopped, it stopped. When I moved, no matter what speed, it matched me. I didn’t know whether to run and try to escape or stop and confront the driver. I tend not to be very brave in times like these, not that I’ve been in a situation like this before. I prepared to run.

Needless to say, my hesitation was noticed and the decision was taken out of my hands. The car pulled right in front of me, the passenger door swung open and the driver called out, “Get in the car!” He had a slight French accent. This wasn’t a request. 

As I said I’m not a very brave person so I did what was asked. 

When I got into the car, the driver said, “Close the door!” rather emphatically. Which I did. The driver was a rather tall, muscular man. His hair was slightly gray. He looked to be in his late 60s.

“Where’s the money?” was the next thing out of his mouth. 

“Wha…Wha…What money?” I replied.

“Don’t play stupid with me, what did you do with the money in the bag?”

Before I could even consider an answer, a voice from the back of the car piped up. “Yves, don’t be so rough on the boy, or we won’t get his help.” I turned around to look and there in the back seat was a woman, with dyed red hair, brown eyes, and what appeared to be a pleasant disposition. She looked to be in her 50s. She had a gentle smile on her face as she looked at me and said, “Don’t be alarmed, Harvey, we need your help in finding our money. My name is Eve, same as my driver, only spelled differently. We work for an organization called Rescue Undocumented Immigrants Now. We raise funds to help those poor people that want to become hardworking members of our country. We were supposed to receive an anonymous donation of money a few weeks ago. It was supposed to be left at a local laundromat. When we got there the money was gone. There was a note with your name on it. But no one else was around. We, unfortunately, left the note there. It took us a while, but as you can see we discovered where you lived. Isn’t the Internet wonderful for finding people? Now can you help us find the money? Those immigrants are in desperate need. 

It sounded true to me. She had such a way with words. I told her I didn’t have the money anymore but would try to find it and get it back to her. She seemed pleased. 

“Thank you so much, we do appreciate it.” She handed me a card with her phone number on it and said that she would be in the area for only three days. “Just give me a call when you have the money.”

I opened the car door to get out and as I was about to shut it, Yves, the driver, called out, “Don’t forget, you got three days to get our money back. You don’t want to know what will happen if you don’t find it. Our donor, will not be very happy.”

With that, I closed the door and their car sped off. I immediately ran to Ronald’s house. When I got there and knocked on his door, he opened it an inch to see who was there. Seeing me, he opened the door wider, grabbed me, yanked me into the entryway, slamming the door and locking it behind me. 

My eyes surveyed his front room. It looked like a tornado had hit it. Furniture was tossed all over the place, pictures were torn off the wall, floorboards pulled up. All he could do was hand me a copy of today’s Newsday, and pointed to the headline on the front page. 

 “$500,000 Stolen From Chase Bank”.  

A quick read explained about a robbery that had occurred 4 weeks ago that was just being publicized now. Police were looking for anyone that had information that would help in the apprehension of the criminals involved. A reward was mentioned. 

Before Ronald could tell me what had happened, I told him what had happened to me.

He told me his story about stepping out to buy the paper that morning and coming home to the mess I saw now. He cried out, “That’s it! Forget what I said, I want nothing to do with that money.” 

“But we have to do something. We have important information that could help the police. And there is a reward also.”

“You’re on your own,” Ronald said. 

There are some risks Ronald will take. Obviously, this wasn’t one of them.

I thought about what to do. I did have a friend in the police force. I was pretty sure he would be discrete and give me a hand. I took out my cell phone and dialed Jeff’s number. Jeff Jameson was a 7th precinct detective and has been a friend of mine ever since we met at the community group center working on writing grants. He’d know what to do. 

…to be continued in “J – Jeff comes up with a plan”

J – Jeff Comes Up With a Plan

I got hold of Jeff right away and explained the situation to him. He had me ask Ronald if he had called the police yet about the break-in? Ronald said that he hadn’t. Jeff told me to sit tight for a while as he had some things to check out and said he would call me back within the hour and not to let Ronald notify the police. 

It only took 45 minutes for Jeff to get back to me. He gave me some instructions as to what to ask Ronald and then told me that he was not going to contact me again until the time was right. He said any communication with me should go through his friend Rhonda. 

Jeff had been friends with Rhonda since their college days. I knew that she was a retired CIA agent in covert operations. Now she worked as an advisor to certain art museums and charity groups. I had met her a few times at some of the writing groups I attended with Jeff. The interesting thing about Rhonda was she never looked the same and she never used the same name. Jeff had explained that it was part of her CIA cover. I got used to it. 

Jeff’s idea was that, as a cop, he might be recognized by those involved in the bank heist. Based on the description I gave of Eve, Jeff said she was an employee of Chase Bank, and probably with the help of the other Yves were the people the police were looking for. Jeff had a plan to catch them, but it all depended on the answers that Ronald gave me. Based on stories I had shared about Ronald with Jeff, he seemed to have the same opinion of Ronald as my parents. 

After I hung up with Jeff, I confronted Ronald. The two questions I asked him were – What was the real story behind the stolen money? and  How much of the $500,000 did he still have that he didn’t put in the lockbox?

At first, Ronald tried to convince me that the story was real and that all the money was taken. But even I knew Ronald well enough to know that he was lying. Eventually, I got the truth.

After I had left Ronald with the money he took it to the lockbox. This was a very strong lockbox with only one key, which he had. When he purchased it he was told that it was super secure and that nothing could break into it without the key. As he was putting the money into the box, his greed got the best of him and he decided to skim some of the money from the bag. In fact, he skimmed $100,000 of it and stashed it between his mattress pad and box spring in his bedroom. As luck would have it, the lockbox had been found by the thieves but the $100,000 had not. The part about him going to the store for the paper and coming back to the trashed house was the only true part of his story, so guess he hadn’t actually lied to me; he just left out a bit of information. He tends to do that a lot.

I called Rhonda on the phone and explained what Ronald had reluctantly shared with me. To my surprise, Rhonda said that was what Jeff was hoping for. Rhonda told me that the next part of Jeff’s plan all depended on me and on the inexperience and greed of the crooks. I was to wait for 2 days and call Eve up and arrange for a meeting. Rhonda said from this point on, I would always be watched and wired. I was to meet with Eve and Yves at my house. I was to tell them that I discovered that the money had been in a lockbox but the lockbox was stolen. I was to tell them that the money should be safe since I was the only one with the key for it. And then say nothing more and let Eve make the next move.

It was clear that Jeff and Rhonda were not letting me in on the entire plan, but I did what I was told. Rhonda visited me later that afternoon under the guise of an old friend named Pat with her boyfriend Larson. Larson was the guy who wired me up and told me how it worked. After they left, I occasionally went out on errands but nowhere in particular. I knew that Rhonda was having me watched, but I didn’t see anyone.

Ronald had to give up the $100,000 to me and the key to the lockbox. Jeff sent someone to his house to relieve Ronald of both items and to make sure that he stayed in his house for the duration of my activities. 

After 2 days I made the call. Both Eve and Yves agreed to meet with me. I did exactly as Jeff said. They both reacted with enthusiasm. 

“That’s great news,” said Eve. “Why don’t you give us the key for safekeeping? Then you can continue trying to find the money.”

Had I not known that they were the crooks, I would have begun to be suspicious, but I played dumb and said, “That sounds like a good idea,” and gave them the key. 

…to be concluded in “M – Where’s the Money?” 

M – Where’s the Money?

As soon as Eve/Yves left, I got a call from Jeff. “Well done, Now we wait.” 

I was confused. “Wait for what? They have the key, meaning now they have access to $400,000. Aren’t they going to just take it and run?”

“You might think that,” Jeff explained, “but those two are greedy. Once they figure out that what they have is $100,000 short, they’ll be back. They won’t get away, we have them covered. However, if we nab them now, they’ll be able to implicate you and Ronald in their scheme. We need to catch them with all the money.”

So now the scenario was changed. With one day left on their 3 days warning to me both of the crooks were watched carefully. Making sure that they weren’t anyway near my house, both Larson and Jeff staked out my house. Hidden cameras and more mics were installed and we waited. We didn’t have long to wait.

It was early the next day that I got a call from Eve. She said that she had recovered the money and had passed the money on to her organization as it was intended. She said that was coming over to my house to return the key and lockbox. I told her that I was happy they were successful, hoped the immigrants appreciated the donation and awaited the return of the key and lockbox. 

When they arrived at my house, all was set in place. I let both Eve and Yves into my living room. Not surprisingly they weren’t carrying a lockbox.

“Where’s the lockbox and key?” I asked, sounding confused. 

“Oh yeah, about that,” said Yves, pulling out a gun and aiming it in my direction. “There appears to be some of the money missing. You wouldn’t by any chance know where it might be?”

Jeff had warned me this might happen but assured me that I would be all right. Staring at a gun aimed at me did not inspire my confidence in Jeff.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” I replied.

“You’ve got a choice, Harvey.” Eve pointed out, “You can give us the money, or you can give us your life. Pick one…and I’d do it quickly if I were you. We’ve got a plane to catch.”

Jeff had suggested that I act afraid for the next part. Trust me I had no problem showing fear at this point. 

I pointed to my stereo cabinet and said that the money was in there. 

Eve went over to the cabinet and opened it. Inside she found my tie-dyed laundry bag filled with $100,000. “I trust it’s all there.” She said glaring at me. 

I replied, “It is. When would I have had time to do anything with it?”

“Good answer” was Yves’ snarky remark.

“This money isn’t going to help immigrants is it?” I asked.

“Yeah right,” Yves answered, “We go to all the trouble of taking this money off of Chase’s hands just so we can help some lousy foreigners. Do you think we’re stupid or something? The two of us did the work, we get the rewards. Now if you excuse us, we’ll take our leave.”

“I think you’ve said enough,” Eve called out to her partner. Then turning back to me she said, “It’s in your best interest to forget this ever happened. We’ll be long gone before you can do anything about it.”

The next thing I know, I’m tied up and gagged and they leave. I guess they didn’t want to have a murder charge added to any of their crimes, should they ever be found out. 

And found out was, in fact, exactly what happened. No sooner had they left the house Larson and Jeff came out from my back room, untied me, and joined a number of police at the thieves’ car and arrested them. It didn’t help their cause that they were in possession of the $500,000 ($400,000 from their trunk and $100,000 in a tie-dyed laundry bag) and that the serial numbers of the bills matched the ones that had been stolen from Chase Bank.

To top it all off, I received a $10,000 reward for not only providing information but actual assistance in the capturing of the culprits. 

And what did I do with the money? I gave $500 to Ronald. Even though he had lied to me and had taken some of the money, he was still my friend and did get his house messed up. After speaking with Rhonda, I was pointed to an organization called “Make the Road New York” which is a real organization that helps immigrants and working-class people achieve dignity and justice. I donated $8,000 to them. As for the remaining $1,500, you better believe that I bought myself a washer and dryer for my house. There is no way I wanted to see the inside of a laundromat again.

—————

Special thanks to two of my writing group friends, Rhonda and Jeff, for their help in giving me direction for this story. They are not to be confused with the Rhonda and Jeff that helped me solve this crime. Check on Yves and Eve’s arrest record and trial if you doubt me.