Chapter 9
Unfortunately, Stan couldn’t devote all his time to finding the Shepard family’s killers and helping the FBI take down the Burilo Cartel. In addition to law school he had a full-time job selling insurance for Cosmopolitan Life. Fortunately, being a salesman, he managed his own time and only had to show up at the office once a week to turn in applications and talk briefly to his sales manager. He wasn’t the greatest salesman in the world and didn’t really have his heart in the insurance game, but he soon discovered being an agent was good cover for his investigative work.
It was a week after the murders had taken place when Rob’s mother, Marge Shepard, called Stan and gave him the contact information for Todd Watson’s girlfriend. Her name was Tina Small, and she worked in the cosmetics department of Neiman Marcus in Northpark Mall. While Stan was at his office, he looked her name up in the company database and discovered her mother had taken a policy out for her when she was a child. According to the records, the policy had never been turned over to her, so Stan gave her a call.
“Hello, Miss Small. This is Stan Turner from Cosmopolitan Life.”
“Okay.”
“Uh, our records show that you are one of our policyholders, so I just wanted to sit down with you and review your policy.”
“Really? I don’t remember a policy with Cosmopolitan Life.”
“Apparently your mother, Kathy Small, took it out.”
“Oh, that’s right. She mentioned that. So, what do you want to talk about?” she asked.
“There are conversion options I need to explain to you, and it’s always good to review your current situation. You may want to change your beneficiary or something.”
“Hmm. Okay. When do you want to meet?”
“Just as soon as it’s convenient for you. How about tomorrow?”
“Okay. I could do it during my lunch break.”
“Where should I meet you?” Stan asked.
“Well, come to the cosmetics section at Nieman’s at noon, and you can buy me lunch,” Miss Small replied.
Stan laughed. “Okay. It’s a deal. See you at noon.”
The next day, Stan met up with Tina Small and took her to an Italian restaurant in the mall. She was a blue-eyed blond in her early twenties and wore a ruffled front knit dress that matched her eyes. After they’d eaten and he’d reviewed her insurance policy with her, he eased the conversation to her boyfriend.
“Did you know your dress matches your eyes?” Stan said.
She smiled. “Is that right?”
“Yeah. What color is that anyway? I love it.”
“Prussian blue,” she said warily.
“Oh? Are you German?”
“Yes. My grandparents immigrated to the US from Berlin after World War I.”
“Oh, that’s cool. So, do you have a boyfriend?”
“Well, more or less.”
Stan laughed. “What does that mean?”
“It means he hasn’t asked me to marry him yet.”
Stan felt guilty flirting with Tina, but in his mind, it was for a good reason. He didn’t want Tina telling her boyfriend about meeting Stan. If Todd Watson learned about their meeting and recognized the name, he might realize Stan was investigating him. Stan figured that if he flirted with Tina, her boyfriend would be the last person to ever hear of it.
“Hmm,” Stan said. “Doesn’t sound like he’s a very smart guy. What kind of business is he in?”
“He’s kind of a troubleshooter for a businessman up in Richardson. You may have heard about him. He’s being investigated by the FBI.”
“Oh, do you mean Brad Thornton?”
“Yes. He’s the one.”
“So, your boyfriend works for Mr. Thornton, huh?”
“Unfortunately. I haven’t seen much of him since the shit hit the fan.”
“Oh, so you’re not busy then—if I wanted to see you again?”
Tina’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you just wanted to sell me some more life insurance?”
“Well, initially that was true, but you’re beautiful Prussian eyes have mesmerized me. I’d like to study them some more.”
“Hmm,” she said, blushing slightly. “That’s quite a line.”
“So, were you out with Todd the night Rob Shepard murdered his family?”
“No. He got busy the day before when the FBI decided to search Thornton’s place.”
“What do you think he’s doing for Thornton?”
She shrugged. “Who knows. Cleaning up one of his messes, I guess. The guy’s always got some kind of problem. That’s why he needs a troubleshooter.”
“So, how does someone train to become a troubleshooter like that?” Stan asked.
“Tom’s always been tough. He joined the Marines when he was seventeen. He had nine kills to his credit in ‘Nam, and he loves to talk about each and every one of them.”
“You probably know them by heart, I bet?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Do you think Rob Shepard really killed his family?” Stan asked. “I mean, how could a father kill his children like that?”
“I don’t know. They said he was very depressed.”
“Right. Did Todd know Rob?”
“Yeah, I think they knew each other.”
“But you haven’t talked to Todd since it happened?”
“No.”
“What an idiot, ignoring a woman like you,” Stan said with a sly smile.
Tina studied Stan a moment like she was considering something. He met her eyes and smiled warmly. “You know,” she said. “I could call my boss and tell her I’m not feeling well. Then we could go to my apartment and you could make me forget about my lousy boyfriend.”
Stan’s heart quickened. The idea excited him, but he knew it could never happen for many reasons. “Yeah, now that’s a plan,” Stan said treading carefully, “but I don’t want to get you in trouble, and I’ve got to meet my manager at two-thirty. I’ll call you, though. I’ve got your number.”
“You sure? My boss won’t say anything.”
“You’re lucky. My boss is a real asshole. He’d give me hell if I didn’t show up for our meeting.”
“Well, don’t take too long to call. You’ve gone and got me stirred up. You shouldn’t do that to a woman if you’re not serious.”
“I’ll call you, I promise, “Stan lied and then made a hasty exit. It had been fun flirting with Tina, but he realized he’d gone a little too far and things could have gotten out of hand. He felt relieved that the encounter was over.
While he was driving back home, he ran what he’d learned through his mind. First, Todd was working for Brad Thornton when the murders took place, and since he was Brad’s troubleshooter, he’d be the most likely one ordered to do the Shepard hit. Secondly, Todd was a Vietnam vet who’d killed plenty of times before and wouldn’t have had any qualms about killing the family. Finally, Brad Thornton still had his men working overtime. Stan wondered what they were doing. Were they really trying to tie up more loose ends before the FBI discovered them, or was something else going on?
Later that afternoon, Stan met up with Officer Jenkins at Denny’s in Plano. The waitress served them a cup of coffee, and then Jenkins told Stan what he’d found out from the police database.
“Okay. Carlos Morales is an accountant who used to work for a prominent Mexico City accounting firm until he suddenly quit two years ago. The feds apparently believe he has been recruited by the Burilo cartel. The story is that he had been caught embezzling from his firm, and when the Burilo cartel heard about it, they paid off his employer on the condition that he come to work for them. Apparently, the cartel felt he had to be a pretty talented thief to steal from a national accounting firm, so they wanted some of that talent for their organization.”
“Interesting,” Stan said. “Any arrests or convictions?”
“No, but he’s been questioned several times by the FBI in conjunction with the cartel’s activities.
So far, he’s been loyal and hasn’t said much about their operations. It does appear he was the front man for Silver Springs Ventures, though. In fact, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s records, he was the incorporator and one of the initial members of the Board of Directors.”
“Okay, Were you able to get any financial information on Silver Springs?”
“No. There wasn’t anything in the database about it. I think the FBI has locked everybody out of the Silver Springs file. Unfortunately, since I’m not working the case, I can’t go ask them for it. I did find out, however, that his loan officer at First National Bank was Don Karnes.”
“Don Karnes? He’s on the Republican Executive Committee. I bet he’ll talk to me,” Stan said.
“Good. He probably has copies of all the financial records. Legally he can’t give them to you, but he might bend the rules if he believes in what you’re doing.”
“Rob referred me to him, so I’m sure he’s as upset about Rob’s death as anybody. He’ll help out, I bet.”
“Good. What did you find out from Tina Small?” Officer Jenkins asked.
Stan told him about the lunch and what he’d learned about Todd Watson. Then he told Jenkins he was thinking of taking the family to Silver Springs Lake to look around and get the lay of the land.
“I don’t know if that’s wise. Do you really want to drag your family out there amongst the criminals?”
“I’d rather have them with me than be worrying about them back at home. Besides, nobody will know we’re going out there, so it’s unlikely they’ll know we ever made the trip. I’ll just tell anyone we run into that we’re thinking of buying a lakefront condo.”
“Be careful.”
“I will.”
The next day, Stan took his family on a picnic to Silver Springs Lake. He called Agent Rutledge before they left to update her on his meeting with Todd Watson’s girlfriend and to alert her of the trip to Silver Springs Lake. She thanked him for the update and promised she would assign someone to follow him out there in case there was trouble.
It was about a ninety-minute drive East on I30, deep into beautiful East Texas. It was a hot, dry day, and Rebekah had brought a picnic basket, hoping to find a park near the lake where they could eat and enjoy the view. When they arrived, they were not disappointed. Adjacent to the information center was a small park with picnic tables overlooking the lake. A playground complete with swings, teeter totters, and lots of sand adjoined the park. Stan parked the station wagon in the parking lot and then claimed a picnic bench. Since it was the middle of the week, there weren’t too many people around. After lunch, the kids went to the playground, and Rebekah watched them while Stan walked up to the information office. A middle-aged lady was manning the desk.
“Hi,” Stan said casually as he walked in.
“Good afternoon. Welcome to Silver Springs Lake,” the woman said. “I’m Ruth Snowden.”
“Hi. Nice to meet you,” Stan said. “Pretty nice place you have here.”
“Yes. Isn’t it beautiful? Are you up from Tyler?”
“No. Dallas.”
“Oh, that’s a nice drive this time of year.”
“Yes, it is. . . . So, how’s business?”
“Oh, a little slow, as you can see.”
“Yes, I was expecting a little more activity.”
“Well, it’s late in the year. Spring and early summer are our best seasons. Nobody wants to move after school starts in the fall. It will be dead the rest of the year.”
“How many units do you have up here?”
“I think around 440.”
“That many? Wow. How many have you sold?”
“Seventy-nine by my last count.”
“So, you have 361 units still available?”
“Something like that.”
“That’s a lot. How long have you been operational?”
“About nine months.”
“What do these babies go for?”
“Uh, they range from $80,000 to $120,000. Would you like to see one?”
Stan thought about that for a moment and then decided that might not be a bad idea. On a tour, he could ask a lot of questions without creating any suspicion. He also might get a sales packet that might contain some useful information. “Sure. Let me get my wife and kids. I left them at the park.”
“Okay. I’ll meet you at Unit 139,” she said and pointed to a map on the wall. Stan looked where she was pointing and nodded.
“Alright. We’ll meet you there.”
Ten minutes later, Ruth Snowden was unlocking the door to Unit 139. She held the door open and Rebekah, Stan, and the kids walked inside and stood in the entryway looking down into a sunken living room. Off to the left was a big dining room, and beyond it was the kitchen. Stan walked into the living room and saw a large window that over looked the lake.
“Wow! I could get used to this view.”
“Oh, I know. Isn’t it gorgeous?” Ruth said.
“I heard this place was a dried-up swamp just a few years back. Is that true?” Stan asked.
“Actually, it is. Brad Thornton, the founder of Silver Springs Ventures, discovered this place three years ago when it was pretty much a swamp. Fortunately, he was a man of vision and saw not what it was, but what it could be.”
“He must have been one gutsy guy to put all his money into swampland.”
“Actually, I don’t think he had to put much of his money into it. I doubt he’d have had enough. Fortunately, there are a lot of people looking for tax write-offs, so finding investors isn’t that difficult if you’re a good salesman like Brad.”
“Is this the same Brad Thornton we’ve been reading about in the newspaper?” Stan asked.
Ruth nodded. “Yes, I’m afraid so, but I wouldn’t worry about that. Brad assured me they’ve dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s on this project, so the FBI is just spinning their wheels.”
“That’s good to hear. Did they come out here?”
“Yes, the same day the article came out in the newspaper.”
“What did they do when they came out?”
“They hauled off all the records we keep here. Luckily, I had backup copies. Otherwise, I would have had to shut down this place. You can’t run a business without your records.”
“Yeah,” Stan said. “I don’t understand how the FBI can just saunter in and take all your records. I could understand it if they just went through them, but to take them away? That’s ridiculous.”
“I know. They acted like Brad was guilty already.”
“I think in the paper they mentioned a guy Tony...Tony—”
“Oh, Tony Rubio?”
“Yeah, that’s him. Was he one of the investors?”
“Uh huh, but I can’t believe he’s a criminal like they say. He’s been by many times, and he’s a real gentleman.”
“Really? Have you seen him lately?”
“No, not since the investigation.”
“Has the FBI been able to track him down yet?”
“I doubt it, unless they’ve chased him down to Costa Rica.”
“Costa Rica? Is that where’s he from?”
“I don’t know where he’s from, but he spends a lot of time at his beach property there.”
“Did you tell the FBI that?”
“No. They were nasty to me, so I just answered their questions and didn’t volunteer anything.”
Stan chuckled. “How were they nasty to you?”
“They came in and stuck their badges in front of me and started bossing me around. I didn’t appreciate their arrogant attitude.”
“Yeah, you give a badge to some people, and it goes to their head.”
“Boy, ain’t that the truth?”
“Where in Costa Rica is his beach property located?”
“Playa Langosta. I’m not sure what the address is, but it’s a Mediterranean style villa in a gated community. He told me that much.”
“Sounds expensive.”
>
“A little under a million according to the local listings. I checked it out when he told me about it. I was curious.”
Rebekah and the kids had finished their inspection of the condo, and they were getting bored, so Stan thanked Ruth, and they went back to their car. As they were leaving, Ruth handed Stan an application packet. When they got back in the car, Stan inspected it and found it contained a sales contract, brochure, and confidential prospectus. Stan wondered why she’d stuck the prospectus in the packet since he hadn’t expressed any interest in becoming an investor. Then he realized Ruth must have known who he was and decided to help out. He opened the prospectus and smiled broadly. Inside were the names and addresses of all the investors in the Silver Springs Ventures. Stan went down the list looking for anybody he knew. He saw Rob’s name, referencing his $25,000 investment, but he didn’t expect to find Commissioner Paul Barnes on the list, indicating he’d invested $100,000!
Disillusioned, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 2 Page 9
