I was the main detective on the case, my name is Evergreen Johanson and I had all my life worked on this peculiar case which was closed in the early 2100s. It was kind of like the peak of my career where if I had managed to crack the missing clues behind this troubling case, it would be akin to winning the Nobel Prize in detective work.
I poured through the pages of newspapers covering the case yet again 20 years in the future, once it had closed due to insufficient evidences. As I scanned every line to get more hope as to close the case, it brought me further away from solving the case with each word in the articles. They were something like a distraction maybe, or perhaps even false evidences.
We walked up the escalator into the police station where I once worked as an attendant and this was our biggest case. As I found myself in the company of people who worked on these new cases since 20 years ago, a familiar tint and hint of cases that relates touches my spider sense. I knew that Johnson Stratom had something to do with a lot of the new cases, yet I could not figure out what or how he was involved in them. The IBM5100 never gave another clue. Perhaps Johnson had managed to clone the machine but no one could tell for sure.
Just besides the familiar and sometimes comfy police station with neon blue lights is a house that went through without the renovations of the blocks of flats. They were the only odd one out who did not accept the renovation procedure despite it's high payout. The elderly couple could have wanted to maintain their home as a property to pass down to their children instead of the limited time of 99 years of the new flats, seeing that the landed property was freehold. Yet even the three million dollars prize seemed attractive to people who are not even into money as the property itself was only worth $500,000.
As the elderly man opened his mailbox, a advertisement on real estate slipped away from him through a brush of cool breeze. He and his wife were the only two persons still leftover from the whole estate renovations. He was only known as Jerald from his next door neighbours. His wife remained unnamed.
Despite the unfamiliarity, I made a distinct effort to get to know our neighbours. Especially because they were getting older year by year and may require our assistance. Mr Jerald was always a pleasant man to speak to but I was not as sure about his partner. They seemed like people who never wanted to be in the spotlight yet as each passing year came, they seemed more and more aloof, due in major part their insistence on staying in the freehold estate rather than sell out for extra cash. I never came to know of their reason not to add to their cash flow despite having less earning power as elderly people without an income source but the most I knew was that they did not come from money or had had any inheritance. This made me slightly suspicious of them through time, but never enough to open a case against them.
Jerald and his wife lived a quiet life. They did not regularly have parties in their homes but instead opt to rent out entire flats in order to have birthday parties and the like. Jerald and his wife were never well to do, that's why it was quite a mystery why they did not take up the offer of a lifetime to get enough money that will last for generations and would allow them an early retirement but I guess they liked their home more than the amount of zeros it could provide them with.
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Mr Jerald would always have the television put on in the background and reading through newspapers as he retired earlier than his spouse. He would fill in his time playing the lottery or on the phone with friends and family. Jerald always had something to do to occupy his time meaningfully despite not having the involvement of his closest family member which is his spouse. Meanwhile, Jerald’s wife enjoyed her work at the civil service building counters, where she would hit up on random strangers to ask about their day and more. His wife enjoyed the conversations that never went too deep but instead was nuanced enough to get to know the other party much better. As a human being like their likes and dislikes, without getting too involved in their cases especially those that needed financial help.
Jerald, once he was still working, would make an effort to go grocery shopping and pick up the newspaper for the day. He would always enjoy cooking up dinner for the family as he was the earliest back home. The dinners that he cooked were some of the most sumptuous home cooked food I ever had the experience of enjoying. His wife was so lucky to have him being able to cook.
However Jerald was much more senior than his wife, by exactly ten years despite their birthday months being the same. They often celebrated birthdays together to save money. But as the years rolled on, more and more of the burden of the house went towards his wife and thereby she was eventually forced into retirement when Jerald couldn't move up the stairs anymore
As the wife quit her job, many people came by to visit her for one last time to enjoy her company. She was always one of the most popular service counter assistants. Jerald knew about his wife's popularity which was one of the reasons why he married her in the first place and drew him to her.
As their combined retirement drew closer, Jerald was in favour of selling the house to the estate agents but his wife was vehemently against it as they needed a property to pass down to their children. The couple usually had intense arguments about these issues into the night which I always had the pleasure of enjoying their somewhat meaningless arguments as I always knew the guy would win.
As the deadline of selling the house came closer, so did the length of their discussions and arguments. However the wife respected Jerald’s insistence on not to sell out at the end and instead have a meagre retirement so that their grandchildren have a property to rely on as rental income in the future years.
As people who did not have huge expenditures, they scrimped and saved up the remaining of their work years so that they will have a properly budgeted and slightly sufficient retirement capital. They still struggled somewhat when they were deep into their retirement but never so much that they had to worry about where their next three meals would come from.
When both retired seniors passed away at roughly the same time, I was one of the only people unbeknownst to their family who was crying at the funeral. I had known them the entire time I was working at the police station and they treated me like their own granddaughter. And that made me very fond of the two of them.
As I waved goodbye to the years of caring and love they shed upon me, their deaths came as a shock to the case as their belongings told an entirely different life they lived which was not even known to their children. They were living double lives as criminals.
Jerald, was a pseudonym that was used on every official document and tax ordinance. His real name was Johnson Stratom. And he moved in when his last crime was committed. His tote bag, his work belongings all pointed to him and his wife as the co-conspirators on the major case that was closed without notice. It was amazing that they could spend so many years avoiding detection and living side by side with the police without even being alarmed that their cover may be blown at any time. It was simply incredible and right out of a story book.
As I went over the couple's belongings with the approval of their children, it became clear as to why they wanted to retain their home. It was being used as an outlet for crimes including money laundering. They used the same address on every one of their major expenditures spent on outwardly luxurious getaways and purchases. But was never spotted as the wife did their accounting for the main company and hide it beneath layers of information which was always and also sneakily including legitimately done activities and purchases that involved normal activity.