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Authors: Haggai Carmon
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lot of guys in his position, who are just there to mark time until their pension kicks in. I tried to imagine
what David would do in retirement, but it seemed so out of character for him that no clear picture materialized in my mind’s
eye.
“Let me put you on speaker,” he said. “Bob Holliday is also here, and I want him to get involved.”
“OK, I’m facing an interesting question. Who would know that a bunch of apparently unrelated young American men in their early
twenties left the United States at about the same time, leaving no trace behind them?”
“There are many young men, Americans and other nationals, who take off and never return to their homelands. That’s no news,”
David answered.
“I think there’s at least one common denominator to all these cases,” I continued, “but the FBI takes it even a step further.They think all the scams were perpetrated by the same person.”
“I saw that. Their conclusion is based on paper-thin evidence. You know that from a false premise, any conclusion can be drawn.
I tend to think that the FBI found itself in a cul-de-sac, or it wouldn’t have off-loaded the file on us.” David sounded tired.
“I didn’t get back to you on this because I had no answers either. So maybe you shouldn’t follow their way of thinking, or
you’ll end up where they ended—facing a brick wall.”
“This is strange, now that you mention it, David,” I said. “Because it goes along with my line of thinking. If what I’ve discovered
so far checks out, then the entire theoretical structure the FBI is working from will collapse. They had just one chink in
the armor. Maybe we don’t have Albert C. Ward III assuming eleven aliases. Maybe we’ve got ourselves a Mr. Anonymous with
twelve aliases, including one as Albert C. Ward III.”
“I hear you,” said David, digesting my words. “Anything to support it?”
“Ward had a pronounced stutter. None of the imposters is described in the files as having that disability. On the contrary.
The suspect in each of the eleven indicted cases actually has been pretty articulate,” I said, gaining confidence with my
theory.
“Go on,” said David, sounding interested.
I picked up speed. “Let’s establish, just for the sake of our little discussion here, that twenty-year-olds couldn’t have
pulled off the scams, because they weren’t sophisticated enough, and because the little evidence we’ve gathered shows the
perpetrators appeared to be much older. Therefore, let’s suppose that whoever assumed the identity of four, and maybe even
all twelve, young American men made a hit on a bank or on un-suspecting investors and ran with the money. Now, I don’t even
have this con artist’s picture, if Ward’s identity was also stolen. The yearbook picture and the photos that Donald Peterson,
the retired school principal, sent me were definitely of Ward. Butapparently the FBI never asked any of the victims whether the scam artist’s photo was in a photo array that included that
year-book photo of Ward. If my target wasn’t Ward after all, then whom was I chasing? I’m back to square one, hunting a single
ghost or a cemetery’s worth.”
“Dan, it’s Bob. Didn’t you just tell us that you think the FBI was wrong, and even the person calling himself Ward was an
imposter who assumed Ward’s identity, and not Ward himself? So if the FBI was wrong on that, why wouldn’t they be wrong on
the entire concept? Take your idea even further.”
“How?”
“How do we know that the twelve cases are connected? Maybe just two or three or none at all,” said Bob.
“The FBI said so.”
“They could be wrong, you know. You’ve just suggested it,” added David.
“Anyway, the FBI’s conclusion isn’t proof, but assumption,” concluded Bob.
“OK,” I said. “Although we’ve enough doubts concerning the FBI’s conclusion, we also must make assumptions that could turn
out to be
what David would do in retirement, but it seemed so out of character for him that no clear picture materialized in my mind’s
eye.
“Let me put you on speaker,” he said. “Bob Holliday is also here, and I want him to get involved.”
“OK, I’m facing an interesting question. Who would know that a bunch of apparently unrelated young American men in their early
twenties left the United States at about the same time, leaving no trace behind them?”
“There are many young men, Americans and other nationals, who take off and never return to their homelands. That’s no news,”
David answered.
“I think there’s at least one common denominator to all these cases,” I continued, “but the FBI takes it even a step further.They think all the scams were perpetrated by the same person.”
“I saw that. Their conclusion is based on paper-thin evidence. You know that from a false premise, any conclusion can be drawn.
I tend to think that the FBI found itself in a cul-de-sac, or it wouldn’t have off-loaded the file on us.” David sounded tired.
“I didn’t get back to you on this because I had no answers either. So maybe you shouldn’t follow their way of thinking, or
you’ll end up where they ended—facing a brick wall.”
“This is strange, now that you mention it, David,” I said. “Because it goes along with my line of thinking. If what I’ve discovered
so far checks out, then the entire theoretical structure the FBI is working from will collapse. They had just one chink in
the armor. Maybe we don’t have Albert C. Ward III assuming eleven aliases. Maybe we’ve got ourselves a Mr. Anonymous with
twelve aliases, including one as Albert C. Ward III.”
“I hear you,” said David, digesting my words. “Anything to support it?”
“Ward had a pronounced stutter. None of the imposters is described in the files as having that disability. On the contrary.
The suspect in each of the eleven indicted cases actually has been pretty articulate,” I said, gaining confidence with my
theory.
“Go on,” said David, sounding interested.
I picked up speed. “Let’s establish, just for the sake of our little discussion here, that twenty-year-olds couldn’t have
pulled off the scams, because they weren’t sophisticated enough, and because the little evidence we’ve gathered shows the
perpetrators appeared to be much older. Therefore, let’s suppose that whoever assumed the identity of four, and maybe even
all twelve, young American men made a hit on a bank or on un-suspecting investors and ran with the money. Now, I don’t even
have this con artist’s picture, if Ward’s identity was also stolen. The yearbook picture and the photos that Donald Peterson,
the retired school principal, sent me were definitely of Ward. Butapparently the FBI never asked any of the victims whether the scam artist’s photo was in a photo array that included that
year-book photo of Ward. If my target wasn’t Ward after all, then whom was I chasing? I’m back to square one, hunting a single
ghost or a cemetery’s worth.”
“Dan, it’s Bob. Didn’t you just tell us that you think the FBI was wrong, and even the person calling himself Ward was an
imposter who assumed Ward’s identity, and not Ward himself? So if the FBI was wrong on that, why wouldn’t they be wrong on
the entire concept? Take your idea even further.”
“How?”
“How do we know that the twelve cases are connected? Maybe just two or three or none at all,” said Bob.
“The FBI said so.”
“They could be wrong, you know. You’ve just suggested it,” added David.
“Anyway, the FBI’s conclusion isn’t proof, but assumption,” concluded Bob.
“OK,” I said. “Although we’ve enough doubts concerning the FBI’s conclusion, we also must make assumptions that could turn
out to be
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