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“That’s a room,” noted Francine. “Where is it?”
“Heard of the metaverse?”
“The nonreality reality where we all have avatars doing shit we could either do for real, like going to a party or attending a concert, or insane stuff we would never do for real, like BASE jumping in a wingsuit.”
“Right,” said Gibson. “And you can also buy stuff thatdoesn’tactually exist. Well, it does in the metaverse. Including real estate. Anything from a house to ad space at a football stadium, at least virtually.” Gibson pointed at the computer screen. “That room is in a piece of real estate Harry bought on the metaverse.”
“Where is it located?” asked Francine.
“That I’m not sure about. The digital trail was obscured for some reason. Usually, it’s pretty well laid out.”
“What’s that on the walls?”
Gibson hit a key to zoom in. “Artwork.”
Francine leaned in for a better look. “What sort of artwork?”
“Digital images of famous pieces of artwork. I’ve already identified them.” She used her cursor to hover over each. “This is a Degas, that one’s a Monet, the one on the left is a Vermeer. The three along this wall, the first one is a Winslow Homer, the next a Mary Cassatt, and the last one is a John Singer Sargent. There are others, in other rooms. But you get the gist.”
“Okay, but these are digital copies, not the real things. How much could they be worth?”
“I checked on that, too. These are authorized one-of-a-kind copies with blockchain provenance. I guess museums and people who own these works saw a way to make some money without actually selling the original. Everyone’s getting in on it. I calculated that all told, these NFTs add up to about fivemillion bucks total. I think that was pretty much a vanity purchase. I mean, who would want to shell out that much money for a digital copy, even with authentic provenance? I doubt he could resell it or make money.”
“But that’s nowhere near the fortune that I calculated he left behind. And he ripped off Trask, too, so there has to be more.” She glanced at the screen. “And is there any way to at least get ahold of these NFTs?”
“Not without the private key.”
“Is that contained in some other clue we haven’t found yet?”
“It might be. I did learn that your father used things like substitution ciphers when he was doing the books for the mobsters. So he might have employed that here, too.”
“Really good work, Mickey, but we seem a long way from getting any money out of this.”
“I know.”
“And let’s not forget the very real possibility that my father has screwed us over.”
Gibson glanced nervously at Francine. “So, tell me more about seeing Rochelle and your brother. Did you learn anything new?”
“I learned that back in New Mexico Rochelle rode shotgun for me in a way I didn’t realize.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning she took shit from some others so they would leave me alone.”
“Why would she do that?”
Francine slid her sunglasses down and eyed Gibson. “Principally, because she loves my brother. My brother loved me. So, as she said, I wasprecious. She sacrificed her body for mine.”
“Damn.”
“And all this time I had seen her as the enemy.”
“And Bruce Dixon?”
“Dougie admitted to killing him, but Rochelle said that Bruce came after him with a machete when they showed up at his place. Dougie had no choice. It was him or Bruce.”
“Why would Bruce do that?”
