The Way of the Guilty

by Jennifer Stanley

  “The thing that strikes me most is that only two of these cars have liens.” Felicia pointed to the first papers on the pile. “None of these are inexpensive vehicles, yet all these customers were able to pay cash on the spot?” She whistled. “I’d like a few of them to buy from us!”

  “Who fills out the information listed on the titles?” Cooper inquired.

  “The title clerk at the dealership fills in the information, but the title itself is printed at the DMV. They’re the only ones who can print titles.”

  So much for my theory that these titles are forgeries. Cooper felt discouraged.

  Shuffling the titles, Felicia looked thoughtful. “Maybe there’s a logical reason why most of these cars are lien-free, but it seems as though these customers are family members who just happen to be able to afford a fifty thousand-dollar car. See? This Caddy and this Suburban were both sold to the Williamses.”

  “I didn’t notice the name repetition,” Cooper admitted.

  Felicia laid out the titles across her desk. “The Williams have different addresses, so it could just be a coincidence, but then look at these two. Ryan and Kathleen Sears share a residence and they each bought new cars within two weeks of another. And the Picklers? Two vehicles for them within four weeks. Something fishy here. Do you have any idea where these cars are now?” she asked.

  “No. I’d have to get someone at Love Motors to look that up for me.”

  Felicia returned the folder to her. “That should be a piece of cake. You’ve got the VIN numbers printed right on the title, so their title clerk or finance manager can pull up the car history for you, if they’re willing to do so.” She stood, frowning. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more, but it’s unethical for me to look up that kind of information without the owner’s consent.”

  “Oh, I’d never ask you to do that,” Cooper assured her with a smile. “And it was worth it to come down here and see you in your element. Fizzy.”

  Felicia handed Cooper a business card. “I’ve got to get back out there and issue bills of sale, tags, and promises of title. Please let me know when you’d be free to go out to dinner. This time, it’ll be my treat.”

  Cooper thanked her again and headed back outside. As she walked past the groups of animated men, she couldn’t stop herself from looking for Edward. She also noticed that although there were cars, trucks, and SUVs lined up for sale, there didn’t appear to be a single motorcycle in the line.

  Did Edward lie to me? she wondered. Brushing aside all thoughts of her former temptation, she unlocked her truck and, after settling inside, quickly dialed Ashley’s number.

  “Ashley, it’s me,” she spoke to the answering machine. “I need Lincoln to meet me at the dealership. I’ve got to ask Alek for some help and she might require his permission, but Ashley, I think some kind of scam has been going on at Love Motors. I’m going to head over there right after I grab a bite to eat. Please call me back as soon as you get this message!”

  Cooper fought her way around the Short Pump Mall traffic, marveling for the hundredth time how poorly the exits and entrances to the gargantuan structure were designed. She usually went out of her way to avoid the entire stretch during the weekend, but she had a craving for a grilled cheese sandwich on rye, a bag of crisp potato chips, and a few dill pickles from Jason’s Deli, so she sat through endless traffic lights until she finally found a parking space toward the very back of the Dillard’s parking lot.

  During lunch, she kept her cell phone on the table in case Ashley returned her call. As she chewed the perfectly toasted cheddar cheese sandwich, she jotted down the questions she’d need to ask Alek Jones or whoever else might be available from the Love Motors finance department.

  The dealership was mere minutes from Jason’s Deli, so Cooper called Ashley one more time before getting back in the truck.

  “I’ll just have to see if they’ll work with me without Lincoln’s blessing,” Cooper declared firmly.

  However, as she turned into the dealership, she spotted her sister’s Lexus in one of the visitor parking spaces. Cooper opted for a less prominent spot, being that she wasn’t a customer. As she gathered her notebook and purse, she cast a brief glance out the windshield at the sky. It had darkened ominously since she’d left the auto auction and it looked as though Richmond was about to receive more freezing rain. In fact, the instrument gauge on Cooper’s dash showed that the temperature had dropped over the last hour, falling from forty-four degrees to thirty-four.

  “I can’t wait for spring.” Cooper held her coat tight at the neck, grabbed her purse, and hurried inside the dealership. Just as she opened the side door, a few needle-sharp raindrops fell onto the pavement.

  The dealership was quiet. Cooper knew that the service department closed at noon, and the three salesmen seated at desks around the perimeter of the showroom were languishing. A bored receptionist sat at an elevated desk near the front door, sipping coffee from a Love Motors mug as she studied the pages of People.

  “I guess they won’t be rushin’ in to buy today in this weather,” one of the salesmen told another. “Let’s grab lunch. Harry’ll cover for us, won’t ya, Harry? He brown-bagged it today.”

  The third man gave a friendly wave but didn’t look up from his crossword. “Bring me something for dessert.”

  As the two men departed, Ashley emerged from the restroom. She spied Cooper and smiled broadly. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Coop. Lincoln’s visiting with his daddy and it wasn’t the kind of visit that could be interrupted.” She unwound a pale pink cashmere scarf from about her neck and stuffed it in her Coach hobo bag. “So you get me instead.” She removed a slip of paper from her coat pocket. “We’ve got carte blanche to ask Alek anything we want.” She smirked. “After all, Lincoln is the boss here. It’s like having a note from home telling the teacher to give you recess all day long.”

  “Thanks, Ashley.”

  “Is this about Maria’s box?” Ashley asked. “You never called to tell me what was inside.”

  “I’m sorry, but there wasn’t a real lead to follow until today.” Cooper showed her sister the folder of titles. “The secret lies with these, but we need Alek to look up the vehicle identification numbers on her computer in order to see the history of each of these cars.”

  “Let’s get on with it, then!” Ashley moved forward impatiently. “I’m as antsy as a kid in church.”

  Following Ashley to Alek’s office, Cooper wondered how receptive the finance manager would be when presented with a note from Lincoln requesting that she aid his wife and sister-in-law.

  Ashley knocked lightly on an open door midway down the corridor. Alek, who was talking on the phone, indicated they should enter. She wrapped up her call with a few terse but polite phrases, and then rose, eying the sisters with interest. “What an unexpected pleasure,” she said, sounding rather insincere. “How can I help you ladies?”

  “Could we sit down for a moment?” Cooper asked, warning Ashley with her eyes to let her take the lead.

  “Of course.” Alek made a slow, regal gesture with her slim hand and resumed her seat. She waited patiently for Cooper to continue, her unreadable blue eyes shifting from one sister to the other.

  “I was wondering if you could look up these car titles on your computer,” Cooper began. “I’d like to see if any of them have liens or anything . . . unusual in their history.”

  Alek looked surprised by the request. “If there is a lien, it will say right on the title.” But she accepted the folder and flipped through the papers. “Where did you get these?”

  Cooper hesitated. She didn’t want to mention Maria, but as she was asking Alek to bend the rules, she figured the woman deserved to know the truth. “From Maria Gutierrez.”

  “She should not have these in her possession,” Alek remarked, her eyes briefly sparking with disapproval. “These are the original titles and are supposed to be in the owner’s possession. Not only that, but Mrs. Gutierrez is no longer
an employee of Love Motors.”

  “Perhaps that’s why she gave them to me,” Cooper answered lamely. “I believe they contain a clue as to why her son was murdered.”

  Alek seemed to ponder Cooper’s bold statement for several minutes. “I’d like to help, of course, but it would be highly unethical for me to look up a vehicle’s history without the owner’s permission.”

  Ashley, who had been miraculously silent up to that moment, leapt out of her chair. “Don’t worry about that! You’ve got Lincoln’s permission. And if Lincoln Love says it’s okay, it must be. I do believe the name of this dealership is Love Motors, so let’s get on with the search.” Without waiting for Alek to reply, she unfolded her husband’s note and placed it on the other woman’s desk. “Can we stand behind you while you search your database or whatever? Otherwise we can’t see the computer screen.”

  Retrieving the note, Alek read it over carefully and then issued a small sigh of irritation. “Very well.”

  She didn’t bother waiting for Cooper and Ashley to reposition themselves and Cooper saw a password screen and another screen flicker by as Alek rapidly typed in a set of VIN numbers. She recited a stream of information in a robotic monotone. “This is the vehicle history on a 2010 Cadillac Escalade. The vehicle was new when purchased. The vehicle was purchased here, at Love Motors, November second of last year. The vehicle was delivered to Love Motors direct from the factory and had 400 miles on it at the time of purchase. Purchase price was $78,900. No lien. The buyer was a Mr. Charles Hancock.”

  Cooper was having trouble viewing the entire screen. It looked as though there was a note added at the bottom of the vehicle report. “Can you scroll down, please?”

  Alek complied. “Ah,” she read, her voice belying a sudden interest. “The vehicle was reported missing on December twentieth.”

  Removing her notepad from her purse, Cooper asked Alek to enter in the next VIN number. It appeared that six vehicles, all costing over fifty thousand dollars, had been reported missing over the past four or five months.

  Cooper turned to Ashley. “Didn’t you say that sales were unusually high for the months of January and February? The months when sales are usually the most sluggish?”

  Ashley nodded. “Yes. Lincoln said some of the sales went to buyers in the same family.”

  Tapping on her notepad, Cooper thought for a moment and then looked at Alek. She pulled the top three titles off the pile. “Can we find out if Charles Hancock, Sandy Mitchell, Burt Knupp, and the rest of these people were some of those family buyers?”

  “It is possible.” Alek regarded Cooper with her icy stare. “But what would the reason be?”

  Feeling excited, as though she were finally on the right trail, Cooper clasped her hands together to prevent them from shaking the finance manager by the shoulders. “Because they might have committed insurance fraud. And Maria Gutierrez and Hector might have helped them.” The picture was becoming clearer now. And they were working under Albion Ivan’s orders. Cooper kept this thought private.

  “What?” Ashley and Alek exclaimed in unison.

  Cooper inhaled and then explained her theory as succinctly as she could. “Listen. Hector produced fake IDs and sold stolen Social Security cards as well. Charles Hancock’s stolen card, for example. Hector then makes ‘Charles’ a matching driver’s license and ‘Charles’ comes here to buy a Cadillac Escalade using the real Charles Hancock’s credit. He then reports the car as stolen and resells the car. Probably privately.”

  Alek issued a dry laugh. “You have a vivid imagination.”

  “Do I? How long does it take for the bank holding the loan to look for a title after the sale’s gone through?”

  “That depends,” Alek answered evasively.

  Ashley threw out her arms. “Just give us an estimate!”

  “Financial institutions don’t really look for the title in the first ninety days,” she replied tersely.

  “That’s a lot of time!” Cooper was certain she was on the right track. “Look, even if I don’t have the details or the lingo right, there was a reason Maria gave me these titles. She wanted me to set the record straight, and something’s definitely shady about half of these cars going missing in less than two months after their purchase dates.” Cooper gave Alek a hard stare of her own. “I need to know more about these customers and their relatives or spouses. This could be a major case of insurance fraud.”

  The finance manager looked at her watch, an expensive gold affair with a gemstone-studded face, and then closed the program on her computer. “We’ll have to go back to the file room to view their individual customer folders, but the only records we have in there are the bill of sale, the odometer statement, and the title application.”

  Cooper said, “And a copy of their driver’s license.”

  Alek nodded. “We moved the files when our offices were getting painted in the fall and we never got around to moving them back. We’re storing them in an oversized closet in the service area. Let me get my keys and I’ll take you there.”

  “This is so exciting!” Ashley squealed. “You’re onto something, Coop! I can feel it! You’ve got that bloodhound air about you.”

  “Not bloodhound, bulldog,” Cooper corrected. “I’m not leaving this place until I have the proof Investigators McNamara and Johnson need to put that strip-club slime bag in jail.”

  Alek arched an eyebrow. “I don’t know what you’re investigating, but I too am intrigued as to why Maria had copies of these titles.” She wiggled a bunch of keys. “If you’ll follow me.”

  The three women buttoned their coats, wrapped scarves around their necks, and hunched their shoulders as they stepped out into the freezing rain. The dealership seemed deserted. The only cars in the rear parking lot had sale stickers on the windows and were being coated by a thin but slick layer of precipitation.

  Hustling forward to the employee entrance of the darkened service area, Alek unlocked the door’s deadbolt. She waited for the two sisters to enter and then shut and locked the door behind them.

  When Cooper threw her a questioning glance, Alek gestured at the assortment of cars in the service bay. “I’m responsible for these cars while we’re in here. After all, it will take some time to sort through a dozen folders.”

  “Right.” Cooper knew that Alek’s comment made sense, but it was creepy to be in the empty garage. Their footsteps echoed on the cement and the rain drummed on the metal roof above. Alek walked with brisk confidence to a shadowy hallway at the rear of the building. She flicked a switch and a weak fluorescent light hummed to life, casting an orange-yellow glow on the gray carpet and the gray-and-beige speckled wallpaper.

  “Do you come out here to file things?” Ashley asked. “Seems like a hassle.”

  Alek opened the door to a small room and turned on another overhead light. “Someone of a lesser position than mine does that.” She made a beeline for the row of horizontal file cabinets covering the longest wall of the room. “The drawers are arranged alphabetically. Feel free to get started. I need to make a phone call and then I will return to help you.” She turned and walked away, closing the door gently behind her.

  “Let’s hurry, Coop,” Ashley whined. “It’s cold and spooky in here.”

  Cooper nodded and, because she opened the drawer containing the letter M, began to search for Sandy Mitchell’s file. Ashley chose Charles Hancock.

  “Look at this!” Cooper exclaimed and rushed to Ashley’s side with Mrs. Mitchell’s file. “She did take a loan out on her car!”

  “Then why does the title say ‘no lien’?” Ashley sounded doubtful.

  “Maria must have changed the title electronically,” Cooper replied. “That’s what she felt guilty about. She falsified the titles on the computer, and since only the DMV can print them out, they’d be printing whatever Maria inputted into the database. See here? Mr. Ronald Mitchell also borrowed money to buy his Saab, but his title claims no lien as well.”

  Ashle
y shook her head. “I can’t believe that! She was such a sweet lady!”

  “She told me that it felt like she wasn’t hurting anyone. All she did was hit a few keys and collect money from Ivan. Hector took care of the forged document side of things and he got paid, too.” Cooper laid the Mitchell file on her lap. “If you hadn’t found Miguel’s body, who knows how long this scheme would have continued?”

  The door eased open. Alek entered, gripping something shiny. “Not for much longer, clever Cooper. We only stay in one place for three or four months. It’s too risky to continue after that. Someone always gets greedy. Someone always threatens to talk.”

  Cooper gaped at the woman blocking the exit.

  Alek raised the object in her hand and the light glinted off the metal. It was a gun, a very substantial and lethal-looking gun. “Yes, you have figured out a portion of our operation, but not all. Unfortunately for you, you won’t have the opportunity to show those pesky policemen just how clever you are. No one knows you’re back here and by the time they find your bodies, I will be long gone.” She smiled her first genuine smile and raised the gun.

  “Oh, please!” Ashley cried. “You can’t shoot me! I’m pregnant!”

  18

  The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction . . .

  Galatians 6:8 (NIV)

  Despite the fact that a gun was being aimed at her, Cooper turned to her sister. She looked over Ashley’s head, however, hoping to spy something on the file cabinet behind her to use as a shield against Alek’s weapon. “You’re pregnant? Why didn’t you tell me?”