Cedar Lane Properties—The Wallace Brothers

Chapter 19

The sheriff’s department was in the basement of the courthouse. They found the door unlocked and followed the stairs down to the dispatch window.

“Hi, um, I’m Crystal Pierce. I’m supposed to meet a Marshall here?”

“I’ll buzz you in,” the deputy said. “Conference room on the left.”

The Marshall greeted them at the door. “Please, come in and have a seat.” He pulled out a vintage mini tape recorder.

“You guys still use those?” Mike asked, incredulous.

“Yes,” the Marshall replied. “The tapes may be easy to destroy, but the audio is harder to edit. I’ll also be recording us digitally, too, with this little camera, but any kid can get on a computer and edit voice and video. Most have no clue what these are,” he tsked.

“First, if you could jot down your contact info, I’ll get this set up.”

After they’d given their phone numbers and emails and all three had a clip mic on, the Marshall pressed record on the tape player.

“First, we’ll state our names. This is US Marshall Brian Slaughter. It is Thursday, June 7, 2018.”

“I am Crystal Pierce,” she said when the pointed to her.

“I am Mike Wallace.”

“Sometime before December 2017, your brother Caleb Pierce was reported missing and later found deceased. Is that correct, Ms. Pierce?”

“Yes.”

“What was your brother’s relationship to Allen Ames?”

“They were best friends, roommates and real estate partners.”

“Do you know what the name of their real estate business was?”

“No—I wasn’t really close to my brother. He allowed me to live in his house, in a converted part of the garage, to be exact, after I aged out of the foster system and had no family left.”

“He never asked you to join him in anything work related?”

“No. He rarely invited me to do anything.”

“Why do you think that was, Ms. Pierce?”

“Please. You can call me Crystal. We were separated in the foster system when I was about 7. Caleb was 6 years older than me and developed anger issues. I didn’t see him from the time he was taken away until I tracked down about 11 or 12 years later. Then, I was busy working to help pay the bills and put myself through school.”

“So you paid rent and a portion of the bills to Caleb?”

“Yes.”

“How did you pay?”

“In cash. I waitressed a lot and always had cash on me.”

“Did your brother collect coins?”

“I often paid him in coins and he gladly accepted but never mentioned a collection.”

“Did your brother have a lot of visitors?”

“Not that I noticed.”

“How well did you know Allen Ames?”

“Just as my brother’s friend for the first few years.”

“You traveled with Ames after your brother’s death?”

“Yes.”

“How did that come about?”

“He told me that he’d had a secret crush on me but that Caleb wouldn’t have approved of him dating his sister.” Crystal half laughed. “He was really kind at first and when the insurance money came in, he asked if I wanted to join him on a hunt for his next business deal. Red flags had started emerging by then, but I chalked it up to him suffering the loss of his best friend.”

“Did you meet any people while you were traveling? Anyone Allen seemed to know prior?”

“I didn’t. He usually left me in a hotel room. He even picked out my clothes.”

“So you were like a captive?”

“Looking back, it didn’t seem so at first. But then, yes, that’s what it started to feel like. He was started becoming angry and it was always somehow my fault.”

“If I may interject here,” Mike spoke up. “I have a minor in psychology, a brother in law enforcement and a sister who is a counselor that works with domestic violence victims. Ames made the hair on my neck stand up when he checked in with Crystal. I took the garbage out one night and overheard him threatening to cut her off without a penny if he caught her making eyes at me again. I don’t know when he thought she was staring because she rarely came out. He often took her food up to her claiming she wasn't feeling well.”

“I tested him that last night,” Crystal blushed. “Tested to see if my instincts were right. I dropped and broke my cell phone a few weeks prior to our arrival in Missouri. Allen told me we couldn’t afford to replace it until he found a new business deal because Caleb’s money wouldn’t last forever. I don’t have many people I stay in contact with but knowing I couldn’t call for help bothered me. I had started to become afraid of him. Something about Mike told me that if I was going to break free, Cedar Lane was the place to do it.”

“Did you question Allen being Caleb’s beneficiary?”

“Not really. They were best friends and closer than Caleb and I were. Another investigator who questioned me said it looked legit. That Allen had been the beneficiary for years.”

“You were the beneficiary until about 2012.”

“I was?”

“Yes. And we have been trying to figure out why that might be.”

“I never knew Caleb even had an insurance policy,” Crystal said, clear and calm.

“I have some photos to show you. I want you to tell me if you recognize any of them.”

Crystal studied the photos. There was one of Caleb and Allen at an outdoor eatery with a third guy whose back was to the camera.

“That’s Caleb and Allen, but I can’t tell who the third guy might be.”

“How about the others?”

Crystal shuffled the photos. “I don’t know his name, but this guy used to come into Betty’s Bar and Grill when I worked there.”

“Ok, I’m going to be up front with you. First, you’re not a suspect. I investigated you pretty hard before I sought you out. I believe you don’t know anything and I hate to be the one tell you, but we believe Caleb and Allen’s “real estate” business was a front for a s*x trafficking ring.

“It was—-w-what??” Mike slid his arm around Crystal as he stammered out the question. She seemed to have gone into shocked silence.

“A s*x trafficking ring,” Marshall Slaughter repeated. “We’re trying to learn the identity of the man with his back to the camera and was hoping maybe Crystal had met him.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “My brother and I led pretty separate lives.”

“I knew that, but I had to try,” Marshall Slaughter smiled kindly. “I’m sorry I can’t give you any details on the case, but you should know that Caleb had a bank account with roughly $15,000 in it and no beneficiary was listed. Which was odd since he went through the effort to make Allen the beneficiary in his insurance policy. Anyway, there are steps you can take to claim the money.”

“I don’t want it. Not if it’s dirty,” Crystal said adamantly.

“Most of his deposits came from the advertising agency and other deposits matched up to the sale of rare coins. Others may match up to your rent payments. Investigators found a few receipts in Caleb’s belongings and at first thought he was being paid in rare coins or was stealing them. Maybe he just knew what to look for when going through the change you paid him with. Regardless, investigators have thought for a while that he kept his dirty money somewhere else or it would have been confiscated.”

“I still don’t want it. I—“ she looked to Mike. “I’m starting the beginning of a new chapter and I don’t think I’m going to need it.”

“You could always donate it, but you should contact the bank either way. I will email the information to you. I’d also like to suggest a security system. I understand you’re starting a new build, Mr. Wallace?”

“Yes, about fifteen minutes from here. Why are you suggesting a security system?” Mike asked

“These trafficking rings can be pretty dangerous. I’d like to say no one would see either of you as a threat but I can’t predict that with certainty. I’m sure with a deputy for a brother, you know your self defense rights.”

“I certainly do,” Mike confirmed.

Marshall Slaughter promised to email information on trafficking and would let them know if any new discoveries were made that he could share.

“If you see anything suspicious, don’t hesitate to call me or Detective Campbell. You folks have a good rest of your evening.”

Back in the F150, Crystal summarized the encounter perfectly: “That’s f****d up.”