annuity? Most university faculty do."
“I'm afraid it's too late to ask him,” said Dan.
“Can you trace that money back any further?” Brandy asked. “This is a weird financial picture—as if he wanted that money easily accessible, if, say, he had to cut and run. I wonder if he got it legally?"
Dan traced another bank transfer, this time from the bank where Land had kept his savings during graduate school in California. But the mysterious lump sum had come there as over $36,000 from yet another bank, and increased during its stay. There were weekly small deposits, probably from a part-time job, but the withdrawals outran them, and he used some of the interest from his CD's.
“Shall we try to access his grad school records?” Dan asked.
“Later,” Brandy replied. “First let's follow the money to the end of that trail."
Her instinct was right: Land's nest egg had not come to Berkeley from Chapel Hill, home of his supposed alma mater, the University of North Carolina. The money had been transferred from Oxford, Mississippi. The Oxford account had been opened with $27,800.00. No transfer from another bank. And during the four years when it should have been depleted steadily, if Land had been a full-time college student in another state, the money had grown to the amount transferred to Berkeley.
Brandy was ready to quit when the numbers began to blur before her eyes. Then she had a hunch. “Just two more items. Land's tax returns for the years this account was open in Oxford, and his records from Chapel Hill."
The university's records showed Land as a full-time student—but the IRS showed him working as a realtor in Oxford, Mississippi! “He went home on weekends and vacations and sold houses?” Dan suggested.
“And made enough in his spare time to sock away nine thousand dollars in four years? Dan, we're onto something here. Get his undergraduate records."
Land had been a B to B- student for two years, then an A student when he hit his stride in his junior and senior years. “So he was there,” said Dan.
“Was he?” asked Brandy. “Call up his other university records. The financial stuff. Did he have a scholarship, a student loan? What about housing?"
And there they drew a blank. Except for four years of courses and grades, there was no evidence that Everett Land had ever attended Chapel Hill.
“What would he have needed to get into graduate school?” Brandy asked.
“His transcript, the GRE, some letters of recommendation,” Dan replied. “I suppose the letters could be faked, but there's always the chance that someone at Berkeley knows the person whose name you've forged."
“Well, we can check those records tomorrow if Berkeley still has them. IRS computer records go back a few more years. Let's see what Land did before he became a real estate agent and forger of college records."
There they encountered a blank wall: Everett Land filed his very first tax return the year he went to work in Oxford. The same year he was supposedly a freshman at Chapel Hill. “So he was older than he claimed,” said Brandy. “No kid straight out of high school would get that real estate job."
“Brandy, we don't know the whole story,” said Dan. “He could have had family connections—"
“He had that lump sum of money. Maybe he stole it."
“More probably it was an inheritance."
“But he faked his undergraduate records—yet he obviously knew what he was doing at Berkeley, or he wouldn't have gotten his doctorate. He had to have a bachelor's degree from somewhere. We're looking at an identity change, Dan. Who was this person before he was Everett C. Land?"
----
Chapter Three—Bonnie and Clyde
Brandy eventually found herself unable to follow what was happening on the computer. It was 10:08pm, and she had to be up early.
“I'll take you home,” said Dan.
Her car—
Church would pick her up in the morning if she called at breakfast time. “Thanks,” she said wearily.
Dan put on his
“I'm afraid it's too late to ask him,” said Dan.
“Can you trace that money back any further?” Brandy asked. “This is a weird financial picture—as if he wanted that money easily accessible, if, say, he had to cut and run. I wonder if he got it legally?"
Dan traced another bank transfer, this time from the bank where Land had kept his savings during graduate school in California. But the mysterious lump sum had come there as over $36,000 from yet another bank, and increased during its stay. There were weekly small deposits, probably from a part-time job, but the withdrawals outran them, and he used some of the interest from his CD's.
“Shall we try to access his grad school records?” Dan asked.
“Later,” Brandy replied. “First let's follow the money to the end of that trail."
Her instinct was right: Land's nest egg had not come to Berkeley from Chapel Hill, home of his supposed alma mater, the University of North Carolina. The money had been transferred from Oxford, Mississippi. The Oxford account had been opened with $27,800.00. No transfer from another bank. And during the four years when it should have been depleted steadily, if Land had been a full-time college student in another state, the money had grown to the amount transferred to Berkeley.
Brandy was ready to quit when the numbers began to blur before her eyes. Then she had a hunch. “Just two more items. Land's tax returns for the years this account was open in Oxford, and his records from Chapel Hill."
The university's records showed Land as a full-time student—but the IRS showed him working as a realtor in Oxford, Mississippi! “He went home on weekends and vacations and sold houses?” Dan suggested.
“And made enough in his spare time to sock away nine thousand dollars in four years? Dan, we're onto something here. Get his undergraduate records."
Land had been a B to B- student for two years, then an A student when he hit his stride in his junior and senior years. “So he was there,” said Dan.
“Was he?” asked Brandy. “Call up his other university records. The financial stuff. Did he have a scholarship, a student loan? What about housing?"
And there they drew a blank. Except for four years of courses and grades, there was no evidence that Everett Land had ever attended Chapel Hill.
“What would he have needed to get into graduate school?” Brandy asked.
“His transcript, the GRE, some letters of recommendation,” Dan replied. “I suppose the letters could be faked, but there's always the chance that someone at Berkeley knows the person whose name you've forged."
“Well, we can check those records tomorrow if Berkeley still has them. IRS computer records go back a few more years. Let's see what Land did before he became a real estate agent and forger of college records."
There they encountered a blank wall: Everett Land filed his very first tax return the year he went to work in Oxford. The same year he was supposedly a freshman at Chapel Hill. “So he was older than he claimed,” said Brandy. “No kid straight out of high school would get that real estate job."
“Brandy, we don't know the whole story,” said Dan. “He could have had family connections—"
“He had that lump sum of money. Maybe he stole it."
“More probably it was an inheritance."
“But he faked his undergraduate records—yet he obviously knew what he was doing at Berkeley, or he wouldn't have gotten his doctorate. He had to have a bachelor's degree from somewhere. We're looking at an identity change, Dan. Who was this person before he was Everett C. Land?"
----
Chapter Three—Bonnie and Clyde
Brandy eventually found herself unable to follow what was happening on the computer. It was 10:08pm, and she had to be up early.
“I'll take you home,” said Dan.
Her car—
Church would pick her up in the morning if she called at breakfast time. “Thanks,” she said wearily.
Dan put on his
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