THE EVERETT INTERPRETATION

CHAPTER 8

“I don’t believe you, Ellie! You actually stalked the man in the park!” It was the following Thursday, Ellie’s day to drive. It was late, almost dusk. Elongated shadows stretched out before them as Ellie arrowed the car eastward. Brad rode shotgun—and rode Ellie for her obsession with Bryce DeWitt.

“I told you! I simply bumped into the man while I was jogging. It was a coincidence! Nothing more! End of story!” Ellie hadn’t intended to tell Brad about the meeting. In fact, she had done a good job of avoiding the issue all week. They had been comparing their latest intel when Ellie let it slip; she had spoken to DeWitt in the park the previous Sunday.

“Ellie, you live like what, ten miles from that park?”

“I like the area. Where else in the Valley can you get a view of a lake while out for your morning run?” scoffed Ellie, still sounding defensive.

“Yeah! Sure! You enjoy the view. Some view! Chatsworth Lake is fenced. You can’t get within two hundred yards of it.” Brad blew out a long slow breath, showing his exasperation.

“Look Ellie, I know this DeWitt guy has gotten under your skin, for whatever reason. I also happen to agree with you; it looks like something isn’t kosher. But you need to be more careful. If he files harassment charges, I’ll have to break in a new partner.” He paused a beat.

Lowering his voice in a conspiratorial tone, he smiled at her. “I was just getting used to the nutty behavior of the one I already have.”

“I still like the area,” pouted Ellie.

“Okay, okay! Just do me a favor. Next time call me to join you. If your ambition is to get busted, you might as well take me down with you. We good, Amigo?”

“Si, Gringo.” Ellie flashed Brad a mischievous smile. “Besides, he won’t be filing charges. He’s hiding something. I’m certain of it. The minute I pressed the issue he clammed up and walked away.”

Brad cradled his face in his hands, “Jeez! Now you’re making accusations without proof to back them up. Anything else I should know about?”

“Hey, it’s cool. What’s done is done and can’t be undone. So, you want to hear what else I’ve uncovered about Mr. DeWitt, or not?”

Brad glowered at her. “Like I really have a choice?” He moaned in mock defeat.

“No!” She glanced in his direction, knitting her brows. “There really isn’t much to add anyway. Which, by itself, is odd. It’s like I pretty much found all the available information on my first run through, last week. I mean, usually the deeper you dig, the more you find, right? Here, I’ve got no college records, no military, no arrests, no warrants. Nothing! I swear the man is a ghost! Or a saint, which I doubt!”

“But we know he dropped out and disappeared in Europe for like what…, twenty years! How much more did you expect to find? Did you check with the authorities in Europe?”

“Sure, I tried that route. But it’s kind of hard to track someone when I don’t know where he was. Or when! Besides, LAPD doesn’t exactly have jurisdiction in Europe. They’re doing their best to ignore me. I’m waiting to hear back on what little progress I made, but I’m not very hopeful.

“I did manage to turn up one peculiar factoid though. I checked a couple of areas that wouldn’t normally be checked. The history is kind of sketchy, and I’m waiting for more details, but I checked the census from 1970 and 1980, and the insurance records. The census in 1970 lists his mother and father as residing at a house in Iowa. Then in Santa Barbara in 1980. But there is no mention of a son. Supposedly a lot of his money came from the parents’ life insurance policies. They listed each other as sole beneficiaries, no son. Since they died together, the money stayed in the estate. Normally someone would reclaim it—but apparently no one ever did.”

“Well, the insurance has got to be some kind of clerical error, don’t you think? Those records are almost thirty years old and, you said it yourself, DeWitt was awfully clever in the way he set up the offshore accounts. Maybe the money was deposited directly into one of those. Probably not even under his real name. They moved when? 1979? The year before the official census. There was probably a lot of confusion.”

“Yeah, could be. Like I said. The history is sketchy, and I’m still waiting for confirmation on all of that. Probably be another week before I hear anything concrete.

“There’s another thing. His information is being monitored, but I don’t know by whom. When I log in to check the usual sites, like the DMV or voter registration, my IP address is being noted. I didn’t notice it the first time. It’s pretty well disguised.”

“That is odd. Does whoever is doing the monitoring know it’s you specifically?”

“I doubt it. Just that the LAPD has been doing some checking into his background. Like I said, whoever installed this did a good job of covering their tracks. I only discovered it by chance. I’ve covered my own tracks since then, so they won’t know when I go back in for additional searches. Still, I would sure like to know what that’s about. I suppose it could be DeWitt. But he doesn’t strike me as someone being particularly computer savvy.

“Anyway, what did you get from your uncle, the General?”

Brad laughed, “He’s a Colonel. He gave me what little he could, without getting into trouble. Davis is a theoretical physicist. Pretty brilliant, by all indications. Graduated near the top of his class from MIT. He’s been attached to Kirtland Air Force Base for the past six years. His work there is classified, very top-secret stuff. Before that, he worked for an outfit called the Copernicus group, a big think-tank in Washington State.

“But get this! He grew up in Santa Barbara. In fact, he graduated from Santa Barbara High School the same year as our Mr. DeWitt. So, they do know each other. Or, at least, know of each other.”

Ellie shook her head in discouragement. “Okay, this just gets weirder. I asked DeWitt about Davis when I bumped into him at the park.” She emphasized the word “bumped”, shooting Brad a glance in the process. The glance said, ‘Don’t say it!’ Brad didn’t.

“He swears he doesn’t know the guy.”

“Well, he’s obviously lying,” Brad said with conviction. “The fingerprints prove they know each other. This is starting to make some sense now.”

“Sense to you, maybe. I’m still in the dark. Why lie about knowing an old high school buddy? Especially one as high profile as Davis?”

“Think about it, Ellie. We don’t know what DeWitt was doing all that time in Europe, where he was doing it, or who he was doing it with. Five years ago, he turned up here and resumes a friendship with Davis. Coincidentally, Davis had started working for the government the year before. You said yourself, whoever ransacked DeWitt’s house was looking for something.”

Apprehension dawned on Ellie. “Oh my God! Brad, you think these guys are selling government secrets?”

“Everything fits. It may not be a cold war any longer, but there are still a lot of bad people in Eastern Europe. Not to mention Chinese and the North Korean agents. Davis has got to be working on something with weapons overtones. Maybe they are selling those secrets to the highest bidder.

“DeWitt had twenty to make connections with any number of bad guys. Maybe on purpose, maybe by accident. The money started to run out. He has no skills to speak of. So, he makes some kind of deal. He comes back here and somehow convinces his old buddy Davis to use his security clearance and they can make a fortune. It also explains why his information is being monitored. Whoever is sponsoring DeWitt, wants to know if someone is getting too close.”

Ellie looked at her partner, apprehension flooding into her face. “As Robin said to Batman, holy shit Brad! This is bad! If you’re right, this isn’t simply a police matter. We need to tell someone. Turn the whole mess over to the feds.”

Brad was about to tell Ellie to slow down. The puzzle was coming together now, but they still didn’t have all the pieces. They needed to make sure of their facts, before they started telling everyone the sky was falling. Before he could say a word, the police radio crackled to life.

“Unit 12, respond to a disturbance in progress at—”

Ellie and Brad looked at each other.

The DeWitt house!