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you,
Dr. Beckman and you, Mrs. Goldman, are sisters. The RE agency is
under suspicion for unethical and possible criminal actions
already. You two cooked up a scheme to defraud the institute of
funds. You then needed someone who could convince the institute it
should purchase the land the fraud was built on and Marcos was
obviously the weakest one on the board and the easiest one to use.
He was caught in a nasty divorce and desperately needed
funds.
    “ Things
were going along beautifully! You could get the funds and get out
of Panamá and it would be virtually impossible to ever charge
anyone with anything, except maybe Marcos, who was purposely set up
as the goat if anything went wrong. The whole crooked deal depended
on nothing being discovered until it was done – then Donna
discovered it.
    “ Now
Marcos couldn’t be the goat because it wasn’t completed to that
point, so the bunch of you would end up in the pen – unless you
could shut Donna up. You were suddenly in a panic. Marcos and
Goldman were going to meet with a representative of the institute
to try to lay a foundation where they could weasel out of direct
charges, but Beckman would then be the goat because it would come
out the scheme was her idea in the first place.
    “ That was
NOT going to be allowed, so she made a plan. Marcos and Goldman
would go to the meeting to more or less feel out Dr. Goodwin to see
if their plan to get out of charges would work and Beckman would
try to get Donna not to testify. Maybe a big bribe. Perhaps that
was something you actually tried, but Donna wasn’t about to take
any bribe.
    “ You came
prepared. Had you simply grabbed a knife and killed her it would be
murder two, but you bought a paring knife of the same type used at
the institute for the purpose of killing her if she didn’t make a
deal. Buying that knife and taking it there makes it murder one.
Period. The institute buys those items by the dozen or more. Did I
miss anything?”
    “ Only
that I wasn’t the only one with motive and opportunity!” Beckman
cried. “Anyone could have killed her! This is crazy!”
    “ Oh?”
Menendez asked. “Who, for instance?”
    “ Hell!
Someone from the island in a boat!”
    “ All
boats coming here are noted and none came in the time period,
though one left,” Llanas replied. “Boat four, with a single female
in it.”
    “ Well,
anyone here at the institute!”
    “ All are
accounted for,” Clint pointed out. “Even those who had the time
couldn’t have come out here without being noted. You are the only
one who has no alibi for the critical time. That’s what I meant
when I said people in a panic miss the details. Now and then things
work out very much like the books in the courses lay them out. This
was one of those times. I won’t count on it ever happening
again!”
     
    The Old Ways
    (Author’s note: This story is based on an
actual happening. There is a scam that is exactly what is described
that has been going on here for quite a number of years. Certain
past administrations would turn their backs on it because they
obtained property using the method. This is what happened, with
some modifications to protect the innocent. The murder is, of
course, just a vehicle used to tell the story. No such murder has
taken place – as of this writing.)
     
    “ Oye’!”
Ronaldo yelled as he passed by Clint as Clint came from the China
(super market) on Calle 1. He waved and smiled his infectious
smile.
    Ronaldo Vesta was an Indigeno (Indian) from
nearby Isla San Cristóbal. He and his family were close friends of
Clint.
    “ Oye’!
Motwoinyo!” Clint replied in the local Indio dialect.
    “ Coin,
gracias, pero con pocos problemas con mi propiedad.”
    (The rest is in Spanish, translated here.
Clint is learning Spanish and there are some problems at
times.)
    “ Problems
with your property? I thought that group from Panamá City had
pretty much closed the deal where they would buy it. You went to
the trouble of