Tahoe Dark (An Owen McKenna Mystery Thriller Book 14) Read Online Free Page A

in to get a closer look. From my perspective, he was upside down, not the best angle for recognition. I backed away and walked around to see him from the proper perspective.
    When the sergeant had first mentioned the name David Montrop on the phone, I didn’t recall the name. But I certainly knew the face.
    I turned to Sergeant Lanzen. “I was wrong. I do recognize him. From a long time back. Let me think a moment. It would have been twelve or more years ago. In San Francisco. Probably the reason you didn’t find criminal activity is that he went by a different name. I don’t recall what it was, but David Montrop doesn’t seem familiar. He was a con man who should have spent a decade in San Quentin for voluntary manslaughter. But because of multiple procedural mistakes the prosecution made and some sloppy evidence collection on our part, he got off with just probation.”
     
     
     
     
    THREE
     
     
    “You know David Montrap as a former manslaughter suspect,” Sergeant Lanzen repeated as if to be sure she understood correctly.
    “Correct. I was a Homicide Inspector when he was charged and prosecuted,” I said. “Although I don’t think Montrop ever knew my name. I had no direct dealings with him. The cop who brought him in was Bill Riley, a colleague of mine who is still with the SFPD.”
    Lanzen was frowning. “If Montrop didn’t know your name back then, do you think it’s a coincidence that Montrop names you as someone threatening him?”
    I shook my head. “No. In this business, a good default position is to assume there are no coincidences.”
    Lanzen said, “You said Montrop was a con man. What do you mean by that?”
    “He ran a music swindle that began when he discovered a great new band with a great song and a really good demo video. He convinced the band that he was an agent and that he could sell them to a big record company. Of course, the band got excited. Two weeks later, he came back to them with the great news that one of the biggest record companies had made an offer and believed the band was going to become the next big thing. They were supposedly offering a contract that would give the band a little advance money but no royalties until the band became a hit. Of course, he made it all up. Then he told the band that the recording label was also starting a new producing and publishing program where they’d allow certain, special bands to become co-investors. In return for the band putting up a sizable amount of cash, the label would give them a much bigger royalty percentage and a generous sliding scale of bonuses if they hit certain sales targets.”
    “So the band members coughed up money,” Lanzen said, shaking her head.
    “Yeah. A lot. Two of the band members had families with money, and Montrop got them to invest two hundred thousand in return for a contract that he said would possibly give them huge returns, potentially ranging into the tens of millions if they became a hit.”
    “Let me guess,” the sergeant said. “He kept the money and never even contacted any record company.”
    “Worse. He did contact a record company, played them the demo, said it was by a different band, the name of which he made up, and told them that the band was his creation.”
    “What does that mean?”
    “He told them that he created the entire package, hired the band members and the songwriters and even paid for and produced the music video.”
    “Does that really happen?”
    “Often, yes. Famous bands like The Monkees and NSYNC and the Spice Girls were fabricated from scratch by ambitious managers. Montrop got a record company so excited about this fake band of his that they offered a traditional contract with a large signing bonus.”
    “Which Montrop also kept,” Lanzen said.
    “Right. But one of the band members suspected the truth and tracked Montrop down and accosted him at Montrop’s high-rise apartment by the Embarcadero in San Francisco. They scuffled, and the singer fell off