Mary: Following The Money

October 28th, 2008: One last post before I go to bed. It's late, and I want to be up early tomorrow to get the coroner's report of Josh's autopsy. I couldn't get anything else out of the Sheriff today; I'm afraid my display at the murder scene has had the unfortunate effect of causing them to keep me at arms length for what they perceive is my own sake. I won't be taking no for an answer tomorrow.

I couldn't mention it until I had some proof, but even back in Milwaukee I was investigating the financial doings of the family Howland. A client never cares for it when they themselves become the object of scrutiny, but sometimes it can't be helped. In this situation, the fact that the Howlands were wealthy and were the victims of what was probably a specific, targeted attack was too prominent to ignore. It was simply impossible for me to believe that the crash was totally random, yet happened to hit two of Milwaukee's richest individuals. There had to be a connection, and it was probably related to money. When we discovered that Yoshida was murdered in the same fashion, I was determined to delve as deeply as I could into his finances to see if I could find a connection.

I still have no idea what the money was used for or why Mr. Howland wrote the check, but hopefully when I've had the chance to go over the files in more detail we'll know more. In the meantime, at your leisure you may want to pore over Mr. Howland's receipts further to see if there are any other familiar names or unusual expenditures.

Good night, and with luck we'll have a great deal more to go on in the morning from the Sheriff's Department.