From "Readin', Writin' and Route 33"

Chapter One

The body lay in the center of the floor. Its condition—obviously dead. It failed to stop the violent downward stroke of a ten inch filleting knife directed at its back just to the left of the spine. The victim put up a brief fight—the hands and forearms had a half-dozen slashes, received while the victim was trying to fend off his attacker. There was some blunt force trauma on the front of his neck which may have been put there when the attacker put an arm lock on his neck to gain more control. When the knife blade went through the back and through the heart there was no question— that single stroke was all that was needed to do the job.

At this point in the investigation Coeur d'Alene police chief, Roger Mullins, called the Kootenai County coroner's office and requested that the coroner come out to the crime scene which was on Rural Route 95, about two miles south of the town of Coeur d'Alene. He left instructions that the coroner leave his vehicle on the shoulder of the road and to not walk on the driveway leading up to the house. If the killer came in a car Mullins did not want any tracks destroyed or altered with additional vehicle traffic.

"Well, what do we have here," asked Mullins. "It looks like a two thousand page instruction manual for the printing of currency, and documentation of the machinery, ink and other chemicals required. My god, this is a publication put out by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. What the hell is it doing here?"

"Roger, will you take a look at the steel door right behind us. I'd say it's a door to a room that probably contains the printing press, the ink, chemicals and the paper to print your own fortune," said detective Dale Toepler.

"Dale, let's dust the door for prints and we need to get some prints off of the victim. Maybe he had a partner or maybe there was someone who was aware of the setup, went to rob the place and was confronted by the victim."

"Look, we don't even know the name of the guy we're dealing with. Can we remove his wallet and check his ID," said Toepler.

"Okay Dale, let's see what you come up with. Meanwhile, I have to call the Secret Service as I'm sure we are dealing with a counterfeiter—who knows, maybe a gang of counterfeiters."

After Mullins got off the phone with the Secret Service he told Toepler to secure the crime scene. The Secret Service agent was on his way. No doubt Mullins was going to be in the middle of a turf battle: he naturally would take the position that the homicide was under Kootenai County's purview and the counterfeiting business would be handled by the Feds. But he wouldn't be surprised if the Feds wanted it all. He made a note to himself to get in touch with Larry Bystrom. Bystrom had worked for the FBI for almost twenty years and was a Private Investigator for the last ten years. He had been living in Coeur d'Alene for the past year but he kept in contact with agents he had worked with in the FBI and the Secret Service. It was said that Bystrom had a ton of markers out there so if any help or information was needed he would be the go-to guy since there were still many in the Bureau that owed him some favors.

"Roger, I'd say we have a bit of a problem with the victim's identity," said Toepler.

"For now he's Mr. John Doe. How do you mean as far as identity goes?"

"Well for starters I'm looking at four different sets of ID—so which ID set is the real deal," asked Toepler.

"Wow. I don't suppose any of those sets include a Social Security card?"

"None that I can find," said Toepler.

The lack of a Social Security card brought up a red flag for Chief Mullins. It wasn't mandated by law that you had to have a Social Security number. But if you were employed in the USA it was mandatory. You could get around the employment issue if you were self-employed and didn't report any income. It wasn't easy but if one lived a very low profile existence, one could remain off the radar. Mullins also noted that there were several radical right-wing groups that espoused the idea that their government had no business knowing about their families, their incomes or their politics, for that matter. Maybe the victim was a member of such a group. Mullins took out his pocket memo pad and wrote down 'must talk to Bystrom' and underlined the passage.