Sanders nodded. “I will let you know, thank you. If I can help you out in any way with this other thing, call me. I would like to do to Adrian Phillips what you did to the man who attacked your daughter. You should have finished him.”
“Finished who, Mr. Sanders?”
Sanders laughed. “Of course. Goodbye for now my friend. I will call you in a couple of days with my answer.”
Sotello shook hands with Sanders, “I look forward to it.”
Sotello went back to his office and spent the rest of the day answering phones. He updated everything on his board, making notes on new cases expected in. Many of his cases were solved, before the client came in, by Sotello’s two young employees. If he asked the right series of questions, wrote proper notes, and then delegated exactly what he wanted done, Sotello managed to find the solution to many paying cases before he ever laid eyes on the actual client.
He also kept a free web site on Microsoft on-line communities, advertising his office. Potential clients all over the world could approach him with investigative work, and leave messages on his electronic message board right on his site. Sotello answered questions, gave out billing information, and advised clients he could not help, how to obtain what they needed. His website had nearly two thousand members now, because he had passed out his web address to all past, and present clients. He also listed it on his business card.
At four o’clock in the afternoon, Ellen and Craig came in. Sotello met them in the front, after his motion detector went off. Craig walked towards him exactly as Sotello walked, right down to his right toe pointing slightly outwards. His head stayed back, with his shoulders square, and very little side to side movement. Ellen howled in laughter behind him. Sotello just watched his son in stunned amazement. When Craig reached a spot directly in front of Sotello, he held out his hand.
“Jim Sotello here, can I help you,” Craig mimicked perfectly, as he hit the exact tenor of Sotello’s voice.
“My Lord Craig, you have reached the frightening level with this,” Sotello said in awe.
“He…he’s been torturing me Dad,” Ellen gasped. “He has not quit doing you since we left the office. My ribs hurt. My sides hurt. My face hurts. Make him stop.”
“You’ve been holding out on us boy,” Sotello laughed.
“I don’t want to be a clown,” Craig said seriously. “I get a charge out of making you and El laugh, but I want to make a dent doing something real.”
“Don’t underestimate the value of entertainment Craig, and boy, you are entertaining. It seems kind of a shame to waste talent like yours on us alone,” Sotello concluded.
“I hear what you’re saying,” Craig said, shaking his head. “I just want a hard edged piece out of life. Like I said, I don’t want to be a clown.”
“Well, you can entertain us anytime, no matter what you decide to do for a living.”
“Yea Craig,” Ellen broke in. “Don’t worry about what to do with your talent. You can take your time figuring any way you want to use it. Dad’s right though, you have rock star talent. I can see your point about the repetition. If you don’t love performing, it could get old real quick.”
“I just could not pass up doing Dad,” Craig admitted smiling. “Would you like me to do Lynn tonight?”
Sotello’s mouth dropped, but when Craig laughed, he relaxed. “No, butthead, do not do Lynn. I will let you know when I would like a performance of your talent in front of a stranger. I doubt she would be a good sport about your particular brand of entertainment.”
“I know what you mean,” Craig agreed. “Some of my friends at school cannot get enough of me doing them. They laugh the loudest, but some others would really get mad. They will be laughing their butts off if I do someone else, but clam up tight if I do them. I only mess around like this for a few of the people I know well. How did it go with Sanders today?”
“Well, I think,” Sotello replied. “He plans on getting in touch with me, on whether he wants to do it my way or not. Do you know he found out about Placerville through his sources?”
“Good Lord Dad,” Ellen broke in. “That’s a little scary, don’t ya think?”
“He did impress me with his connections today,” Sotello replied. “I started doing equations in my head as to how he could get the information so fast, and decided I did not want to know how at this time.”
“He must have good police sources,” Craig added. “What part don’t you want to know about?”
“I cannot think of a good reason why anyone on the police force would be keeping Sanders apprised of anything I do” Sotello pointed out. “Add to the mix how few actually knew anything about Williams coming here from Placerville, and it makes me worry. It may have gotten loud when Williams returned with Tank and Jay, so it may not mean much.”
“I bet they had a loud meeting,” Ellen agreed. “They would not have thought anything about being overheard, and Williams was mad.”
“You’re probably right,” Sotello replied. “I’ll let you two get on with your homework or whatever. I have our caseload caught up. If you want, both of you can head over to the house, and I’ll finish mapping out a strategy for retrieving our wayward Sanders girl. You could probably use a couple of hours sleep, huh Craig?”
“I could go for that,” Craig admitted. “You want us to stop and get a movie for tonight?”
“Sure, but get something you two will like. I want to go over my idea of how to proceed with Lynn after dinner.”
“Great Craig,” Ellen said. “Let’s get Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.”
“Don’t even joke like that,” Sotello said grimly, as his two children laughed at his reaction. “You two weasels had better be armed when you start that movie, because you will have to shoot your old man.”
“You haven’t seen it since we were little Dad,” Craig reminded him. “It will be just like old times.”
“Bring it on you little twerp. I will make you eat the celluloid masterpiece.”
“How about Chitty, Chitty Bang, Bang, or Mary Poppins or…”
“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…” Sotello growled. “You two had better leave while you still can.”
“Okay Dad,” Ellen said, kissing him. “We’ll see you at home.”
Craig paused as he walked by Sotello, but when Sotello raised his open hand as if to smack him, he ducked and kept going. “See ya Dad.”
“Get some sleep boy.”
“I will.”
Sotello went back into the computer room, and began typing up an outline of how he wished to proceed with the Sanders case. He researched flight times, hotels, maps, and potential meeting places. Sotello gathered projected plane flights, accommodations, and meeting places, which coincided with the information he had downloaded. After making notes concerning what approach they should try in the meetings, he printed all of it out and put it in a folder. The phone rang as he shut things down to go home. He picked it up on the third ring.
“Oakland In…”
“Sotello?”
“Yes, Jim Sotello speaking, may I help you?”
“Sotello, this is Fletcher.”
Sotello flicked on the phone scrambler.
“Yes, Mr. Fletcher, did you get my notes and pictures on the case?” Sotello asked.
“Yes, my wife just called me. She said you were going to murder them all, and you had already almost murdered the man she was staying with.”
“My daughter did the field work up in Placerville Sir. The pictures, you have of your children, were taken by her. Your wife asked her to come inside their house to talk it over. She knew to be watching, because you had called your mother-in-law, and tipped them off we were investigating them, something you said you would not do. The man living with your wife worked my daughter over, cracking a few of her ribs. I hold you partly responsible for that, Mr. Fletcher. The police told me this morning someone found the man who lives with your wife by the roadside with his elbows, knees and back smashed. They also want to b
lame me for what happened to him. As to your wife fearing I would kill her and your children, well, you would have to be retarded to believe I would harm your wife.”
“Did you work over the Daniels guy?”
“I was taking care of my daughter last night. I advise you to send me a check for the balance you owe me, and then never call me again.”
“If anything happens to my children, I…” Fletcher began threateningly.
“Shut up, and listen closely, you moron,” Sotello hissed through clenched teeth. “Never call here, and do not finish with your threat, because you never want to meet me again, ever. I have a clear picture of my daughter sitting in a Placerville Emergency Room with her face swollen to twice its normal size. Until time, and my daughter’s complete recovery, erases that picture, I will be a very dangerous man for you to be around. Do you understand me? Answer up, because if you don’t, I will feel as if I need to fly back there, and hear the answer face to face.”
“I…I understand.”
“Good, send your check, and our interaction will be at an end.” Sotello hung up, and sat with his fists balled up at his sides. He gradually brought himself back from the brink. He focused on spending the night with his kids and Lynn. Sotello’s breathing slowed, and he finished closing up. He picked up the folder with his outline to show to Lynn, and left.
Sotello played the oldies station, and calmed down more from his talk with Fletcher. The trip to his house passed pleasurably. He would only be home an hour before Lynn would arrive. He spotted a beat up old Ford F100 pickup truck, he had never seen before, two doors up from his house. Sotello could see Craig and Ellen were not there yet. He pulled over quickly, and called Craig’s cell phone. Craig answered it on the fourth ring.
“It’s your nickel,” Craig quipped.
“Craig, where are you two right now?”
“We’re waiting in line at the video store. They are packed. What’s wrong Dad?”
“I saw a strange pickup on the street a couple of doors down, and I want to check the house before you two get here. Stay where you are until I call you, okay?”
“Sure Dad, but…”
“No buts Craig, I forgot to even check on that Daniels guy to find out if he has any contacts around here. I am probably overreacting, but with the roll I’m on, I better play this safe. I’ll call as soon as I check out the house.” “Okay Dad, be careful, you have the hair standing up on the back of my head again.”
“Good, I’ll call in a few.” Sotello hung up the phone and turned off the Dodge. The wind blew coldly as the fall evening crept down in temperature. No children played at any of the houses, and Sotello could only see one of his neighbors up the street doing something to his garbage can along the side of the house. After checking the Ruger 9mm he carried in a shoulder holster, he took two extra clips and a night vision scope out of his glove compartment. He reached up and turned off his dome light before stepping out in the street and closing the door quietly.
Sotello walked along his neighbors’ yards up near their houses until he reached the gate to his fenced in back yard. He undid the latch, and slowly opened the gate, happy the wind had picked up to muffle the creak of the gate hinges. Slipping past as small an opening as he could manage to get through, he closed the gate carefully, and continued on around the back of his garage. He reached the back window of his kitchen first. Sotello could see inside easily, the sill being only six feet from the patio cement. He edged close to the frame, peering inside through the monocular night lens. Through the green tinted glow, he could see no movement at all. Suddenly a brief flash from the adjoining living room blinded him for a split second, causing him to look away. He ducked down and made his way over to the picture window, which looked out over his back yard. Through the gaps in the blinds, he could see two figures crouching behind his couch, facing back towards the entryway door. One smoked a cigarette as he held on to a twelve-gauge shotgun. The other man knelt quietly next to him with what looked like, from the glimpse Sotello could get with the night vision lens, to be a machine pistol of some kind.
Sotello retreated out to his fence. He called Lynn at the number he had for her house. She answered on the first ring.
“Lynn, stay where you are for now, I…”
“Jim,” she interrupted. “You will not back out of our dinner. I have almost everything re…”
“There are two guys in my living room, waiting in the dark with a twelve-gauge shotgun, and a machine pistol. They may be hungry, do you want me to go in and ask?”
“Christ Jim, what the hell are you going to do? Your kids aren’t in there are they?”
“No, I called them already and told them to stay away,” Sotello said quietly. “I am going back out to my Dodge and call the police, unless you think I should just do an OK Coral on their butts. Of course I might end up dead too.”
Lynn chuckled in spite of the situation. “Sotello, you have the worst luck of any guy I ever met, next to Adrian.”
“I was fine until I met up with you.”
“Touché,” she laughed. “Now, what are you going to do?”
“Stick around, and hope I know a couple of the Castro Valley Police I get over here. I can advise them how to do this if they’ll listen. Then maybe, my house won’t look like the beachhead in Saving Private Ryan. Stay close to the phone, and I will send my kids over to your house to eat. You can fill them in on what you found out today, and then I will come over later.”
“You may need a lawyer tonight, be careful.”
“I will, and I will call over to your house whenever I can.” Sotello hung up the phone, and called Craig. Craig picked up on the first ring.
“Dad?”
“Yea kid. Unfortunately I called this one too.” Sotello filled him in on what he had planned and told him how to get over to Lynn’s house.
“I’m glad you’re not charging in there. Ellen keeps smacking me, to let her hear, so I am going to tell her, and then put her on.”
“Okay, but hurry up, I have to get things going.”
Minutes later, Ellen came on the line. “Dad, get away from there. The hell with the house, you can let the insurance people fix it if things go bad. At least you won’t be there when all hell breaks loose.”
“Honey, I don’t want any police getting killed over my problems, okay? If I can find someone who will listen, I can end this without anyone getting hurt,” Sotello explained.
“I’ve heard this a few times in the last few days Pistol Pete,” Ellen said.
“If Mom were alive, she’d come over there and pull you out by your ear.”
“If your Mom were alive, you would not be such a smart ass little knowit-all, now get on over to Lynn’s house and wait for my call.” Sotello ordered.
“I love you Dad. Don’t screw this up. This makes two nights in a row.”
“Yes dear, now get going.” Sotello hung up again, and then retraced his steps back out to his car.
Sotello called his friend Tank at home. Tank answered.
“Hi buddy, guess what?”
“Oh my God, what the hell have you gone and done now? Hold on.” Sotello heard Tank call out for his partner. Kids crying, and general kitchen noise in the background, told Sotello he had caught his friends having a little dinner get together. Tank told Jay to grab the extension. A minute later Jay came on with Tank.
“Say brother,” Jay quipped, “you P.I.’s sure live exciting lives. Tank here thinks there must be dead bodies somewhere for you to call him at home. Just goes to show how you’ve gone and left your friends behind.”
“Are you done now?” Sotello asked, as he listened to muffled laughter.
“Maybe,” Jay replied. “Now, what have you been doing since Tank and I put our butts in a sling over at the station for you with Williams. You’re welcome, by the way.”
“I kind of got an extension of that problem sitting in my living room with a shot gun and machine pistol.”
“Jesus, where’s Craig an
d Ellen?” Jay cut in.
“Safe, and well away from here.” Sotello filled them in on what he had saw, and asked if they knew anyone on the Castro Valley force, who might be open to suggestions on how to proceed, without turning his house into a war zone.
“What do you have in mind?”
“I thought it might be possible for me to sneak four or five guys into my back patio area, then signal out, and have a couple of guys in a cruiser with their lights on pull up across from my house. My visitors then panic, and rush out the back, and we’re waiting for them. It could get done without a shot fired.”
“I like it Jim,” Tank replied. “Jay and I will go on over and see who we can round up. If we get the wrong guy, we’ll end up with negotiators, and a swat team in full regalia, and it will be out of our hands. Hang tight at your car. If things go well in Castro Valley, we’ll come in quiet. You in that same piece of shit as always?”
“Yes, I will be in my custom Dodge.” Sotello heard them snort in the background.
“At least we will be able to find you easily enough,” Jay laughed. “Give me your cell number in case we run into problems.”
Sotello gave him the number, and then hung up. He kept the house under surveillance with his night scope as dusk turned into darkness. Sotello noticed three sets of headlights starting down his street, and then the headlights blinked out. An Oakland squad car pulled up next to his, with the others right behind. Sotello left his Dodge, and motioned for them to stay in their cars as he entered the back of the Oakland police car.
“Hi guys.”
“We have some real hot dogs with us Jim,” Jay sighed. “Hell, it was all we could do to keep the whole department from joining in. We explained to the watch commander what you thought would work. He agreed it would be better than a ten o’clock news extravaganza, with swat teams and news vans. You know Steve Pensley, right? He said to say hi, and he wants your ass in his office when this ends.”
Sotello: Detective, ex-FBI, ex-Secret Service (DeLeo's Action Thriller Singles Book 1) Page 14
