Cal Rogan Mysteries, Books 4, 5 & 6 (Box Set)
Page 1
Cal Rogan Mysteries
Books 4, 5 & 6
Robert P. French
Copyright © 2020 by Robert P. French
This book is a work of fiction. Characters, incidents, names and places either are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
Contents
Three
Foreword
Acknowledgments
1. Tomás
2. Stammo
3. Cal
4. Cal
5. Stammo
6. Tomás
7. Cal
8. Sam
9. Cal
10. Cal
11. Stammo
12. Cal
13. Cal
14. Tomás
15. Cal
16. Stammo
17. Sam
18. Cal
19. Cal
20. Tomás
21. Cal
22. Stammo
23. Cal
24. Cal
25. Tomás
26. Cal
27. Ellie
28. Tomás
29. Cal
30. Stammo
31. Cal
32. Stammo
33. Cal
34. Max
35. Sam
36. Cal
37. Tomás
38. Cal
39. Cal
40. Sam
41. Cal
42. Stammo
43. Cal
44. Cal
45. Cal
46. Stammo
47. Cal
48. Max
49. Cal
50. Cal
51. Stammo
52. Cal
53. Max
54. Cal
55. Stammo
56. Cal
57. Max
58. Cal
59. Cal
60. Cal
Afterword
Cabal
Foreword
Acknowledgments
1. Annalise
2. Cal
3. Cal
4. Nick
5. Cal
6. Nick
7. Cal
8. Cal
9. Nick
10. Cal
11. Cal
12. Nick
13. Cal
14. Nick
15. Cal
16. Nick
17. Cal
18. Jen
19. Cal
20. Jen
21. Cal
22. Jen
23. Cal
24. Cal
25. Jen
26. Cal
27. Cal
28. Nick
29. Adry
30. Lucy
31. Adry
32. Cal
33. Jen
34. Cal
35. Nick
36. Cal
37. Damien
38. Cal
39. Jen
40. Cal
41. Jen
42. Cal
43. Cal
44. Jen
45. Nick
46. Cal
47. Nick
48. Cal
49. Cal
50. Cal
Afterword
Captive
Foreword
Acknowledgments
1. Zelena
2. Cal
3. Zelena
4. Nick
5. Cal
6. Zelena
7. Cal
8. Zelena
9. Nick
10. Cal
11. Adry
12. Cal
13. Zelena
14. Cal
15. Adry
16. Nick
17. Cal
18. Zelena
19. Nick
20. Adry
21. Cal
22. Zelena
23. Nick
24. Cal
25. Zelena
26. Nick
27. Cal
28. Zelena
29. Adry
30. Cal
31. Nick
32. Cal
33. Nick
34. Cal
35. Zelena
36. Nick
37. Cal
38. Cal
39. Zelena
40. Cal
41. Zelena
42. Cal
43. Adry
44. Cal
45. Nick
46. Cal
Afterword
Foreword
Thank you for purchasing Three the fourth Cal Rogan Mystery. At the end of the book there is information about the other books and an offer to join my Launch Team.
Copyright © 2019 by Robert P. French
This book is a work of fiction. Characters, incidents, names and places either are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Acknowledgments
So many people go into the writing of a book and I would like to thank those who helped me with Three.
A big thank you goes to Sergeant Lyndsay Irwin of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, that wonderful Canadian organization which helps to make this one of the safest countries in the world. She filled me in on some details of police procedure that were really helpful. Any mistakes I made in that area are 100% mine. Thanks too to my good friend Don Siemens for his advice in an area which I won’t mention here because it might be a spoiler.
Most of all, a thousand thanks to every single member of my Launch Team for your support. You guy’s rock!! I would like especially to thank the following members of the team who helped me hone the plot and whose eagle eyes found errors missed in the proofread. I made some significant changes based on your feedback. You all made this a better book. Alphabetically: Alice Campbell, Andrew Tucker, Beverley Canuel, Cindy Warrick, Connie Charron, Eleanor Andersen, Eva Beaton, Francine Bloom, Gina Hines, Helen Heald, Janet Cline, Jeffrey Benham, Kathy Lindback, Larry Branson, Linda Dimezza, Linda Harbour, Lisa Mauk, Lorraine Garant, Mel Calaby, Reg Allen, Roz Wood, Sheryl Korljan, Sue Ann Kelly, Susan Brauner, Susan Sullivan and Terry Cochran. I apologize if I missed anyone.
As always, I would also like to thank the Vancouver Public Library for providing the perfect working location for any writer. Every word of Three was written here.
Dedication
To my wonderful wife Penny who believed in me when I had stopped believing in myself.
Tomás
Monday
“I have some strange news Patrón.” He has difficulty with the last word. For him Patrón was always my father. He will learn. My father was quite clear that I would be the one to succeed him if anything happened but these people need more than my father’s instructions. They will need to respect and fear me as they did him. Javier, as the number two man in the Santiago organization, is the key. I look at him and give an almost imperceptible nod.
“Our lawyer says that a man was arrested and charged with the murder of your
father, the politician and the Bookman,” he says.
I avoid showing any surprise. “That’s not possible. You and I were both on the boat that night. We killed the assassin. Both of us saw his boat explode and sink.” He must be dead. Except for one small thing: our lawyer has always been completely reliable.
“I told the lawyer that. But…” he shrugs.
A wave of uncertainty passes through me but he doesn’t see it; I have too much control. We killed the man trying to escape. I’m sure of that but maybe there was more than one assassin.
“Did the lawyer tell you the man’s name?”
“Yes Patrón. It’s a strange name: California Rogan.”
“Get back to the lawyer. Tell him I want to know everything there is to know about Mr. California Rogan. Get our own people on it too. If he was involved in the killing of my father, he’s going to repay the debt with a very high rate of interest.”
“Yes Patrón, immediately.” The word came more easily to his lips this time. He’s starting to learn I am a worthy successor to head the Santiago empire, perhaps even better than my father.
He leaves. Now to get back to the task of rebuilding that empire following the loss of our headquarters on Samuel Island. Sadly, we can never return there. But I can rebuild. It’s what I was born to do and trained to do.
If this California Rogan had a hand in your death, I will avenge you Papa.
2
Stammo
We don’t get a lot of clients looking like this one, that’s for sure. She’s one of the rich ones Rogan’s limey buddy often sends us. Not that I’m complaining; we made a fortune out of that Bradbury woman for finding her kid. And this one looks like she can spare a buck or two. I wonder what she needs us to do. I can’t help noticing her looks. She’s like a model but right now she looks troubled and sad. I smile at Adry and wheel over to where the client’s sitting.
“Good afternoon. Ms. Summers?” I ask.
“Mr. Rogan?” she smiles. It’s a real warm smile and it brightens up the whole reception area.
“No,” I manage to say through the catch in my throat. “I’m Nick Stammo, his partner.” The last word brings the flood of emotions I can’t seem to shake. I push them down. “Cal’s been delayed so I’ll be taking the details of your case.” Delayed, that’s a polite word for it.
She puts out her hand. “Marly Summers,” she says. Her hand’s cool and slim but her grip’s firm. I find myself wanting to just hold on to it. It’s something steady.
“Nice to meet you,” I say. “Before we start, would you like a coffee or water?”
“Do you have tea?” She smiles again and doesn’t seem to be annoyed that Rogan’s not here.
Before I can ask, Adry gets up from her spot behind the reception desk and says, “We have English Breakfast, Earl Grey and some herbal teas. What would you like?”
“Earl Grey would be lovely; black please.”
Adry goes off to our office kitchen.
“Well, follow me please,” I say, wheeling toward the tiny conference room we use on the odd time a client comes to the office. Rather than follow, she takes an extra step and walks along beside me.
“Arnold Young spoke very highly of your firm,” she says uncertainly, “I feel rather embarrassed talking to a detective agency.”
From some people I might not like that sort of talk; it’s like there’s something shady about us. But from her it was said OK.
I look up at her and smile. “Don’t worry. We’re very discreet. You don’t need to worry that anyone will even know you’ve been here.”
I wheel up to the conference room door. “After you,” I say. She pushes the door, walks in and holds it open for me. Damn wheelchair. I’d give anything to hold the door open for her, or for anyone for that matter.
She sits down and smooths her skirt. The movement’s elegant, like her. I need to focus on business now. “How can I help you?” I ask.
She looks at me for a moment and smiles nervously. “You’ll probably think I’m being very silly,” she blushes.
“I promise you I won’t,” I say just a bit too quickly, wondering why this woman is making me nervous. “Just tell me what’s worrying you,” I manage to say.
She smiles again but this time she just looks sad. She pauses for a second or two, takes a breath and then the words tumble out. “It’s my husband. Something’s wrong but he won’t talk to me about it. I think he may be having an affair or maybe I’m just being paranoid. Maybe it’s something at work. I’ve tried so hard to get him to open up and tell me but he insists nothing’s wrong. But I know there is and I need to find out what it is. I need you to find out for me.”
I can see a hint of tears starting in her eyes. I lean forward and push a box of tissues toward her. We get a few tears in this room.
“You did the right thing to come to us,” I say. “I doubt he’s having an affair.” I can’t imagine your average man would have an affair if he had her as a wife. I want to tell her this but I know for sure it would come out all bollixed up. Talking to women has never been my strong point. “Tell me what he’s been doing that has you worried.” There’s something in her face I can’t quite read. Maybe this is more than the usual cheating husband case.
“He’s always worked hard but recently he’s been staying late at the office and sometimes he doesn’t even come home. If I ask him about it, he just says they’re slammed at work and he’s got to put in the hours if he’s going to make partner. He’s a Chartered Accountant.”
Her words stir up a bit of guilt in me. I said the same stuff to my ex when I was fooling around on her, except it was to make sergeant, not partner. “When he comes home late, does he smell of alcohol?”
“Sometimes. He usually says he just went for a beer with one of his colleagues. But he’s never drunk. Dale’s not much of a drinker.”
“Does he ever smell of perfume?”
She shakes her head. “Never.”
Nor did I. It makes me wonder if it’s the same thing with Dale.
“So what makes you think something’s wrong?” Maybe she is just being paranoid. She looks at the box of tissues and takes another one but just holds it in her hand, worrying it with her fingers. Now we’re getting to it and I’m betting I know what she’s going to say. I give her time.
She’s just about to speak when Adry walks in with coffee, tea and my favourite cookies. Everything’s on a tray with elegant china cups, saucers and plates. Adry made me spring for them. ‘You can’t serve clients out of paper cups or those disgusting old mugs you and Cal use,’ she insisted.
When Adry leaves, I prompt her, “You were saying…”
She sips her tea once… then again… then nibbles at a cookie until finally she speaks. “He’s stopped, you know… having relations with me.” I was right. Something must be seriously wrong. She moves the tissue to her face and wipes away a tear trickling down beside her nose.
“Don’t jump to the wrong conclusion,” I say in an attempt to comfort her. “It may just be the pressure of work. Some of those accounting firms are pretty high pressure places. Sometimes the stress of—”
“It’s been over a year since he…”
“Oh… I’m sorry.” It’s all I can think to say.
She wipes her eyes and blows her nose, then smiles at me but all I can see is her sadness. “Anyway, he hasn’t been home since Thursday morning. I’ve texted him several times and all I got was ‘I’m working’; he hasn’t even replied to the last two. It’s the first time he’s been gone so long.” She takes another tissue. “Yesterday was our fifth wedding anniversary.”
What a bastard! My heart really goes out to this woman. It makes me wonder if I hurt my ex this much when I was fooling around on her. I hope not. She was no angel herself, probably still isn’t, but nobody deserves this kind of pain. I’m gonna make sure we get everything there is to know on this woman’s husband so she can sue the ass off him.