by Rayna Morgan
“I couldn’t help but notice a willful side about her.”
“It comes from the way she was raised.”
“How was her family life?”
“In high school, she accused her stepfather of abuse. Her mother ignored her to save the marriage. That’s when Holly dropped out and started working. She went through a series of jobs and a string of abusive boyfriends. I probably treated her better than previous guys she dated. Her bad luck in relationships caused her to focus on business instead of a personal life.”
“She never expressed an interest in getting married or starting a family?”
“Quite the opposite. She used to make fun of Cate’s idealism and fairy-tale notions. Nevertheless, I think she harbors the same hopes and dreams.”
“You should get in touch. At least, let her know you’re safe.”
“I will. The way things are going, I can’t afford to lose friends.”
Chapter 32
Ron Townsend welcomed Warren with an easy-going affability.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been visited by a police chief. If you’re soliciting for the department, I’m happy to contribute.”
“Not since I retired,” Warren said, taking a seat. “But I encourage your donation.”
“To what do I owe the honor of this visit?”
“Disturbing information about you has fallen into my possession.”
Townsend’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You must be familiar with the person who paid me a visit last week slinging accusations.”
“Lea is my daughter, but I’ve come on a more urgent matter. A new wrinkle has come to light in the investigation of Cate Palmer’s accident. I thought you should be the first to know.”
The other man’s face reflected concern, but his tone remained casual. “I didn’t realize you were still active in such matters.”
Warren leaned back, savoring the man’s discomfort. “Keeps my mind sharp. Gives me something to do in retirement.”
“I see. Well, get to it.”
Warren pulled out the tape he played earlier for the assemblyman. A flicker of shock on hearing the words suggested Townsend knew where the conversation was headed.
“Where did you get that?” he sputtered. “Cate told me—”
“The tape would be destroyed. Is that what she said when she blackmailed you? Shame on you for believing her.”
The developer squirmed.
“Except you didn’t believe her, did you?” Warren continued. “When you paid her off, she promised to erase the tape but you went after her to get the recording and dispose of it yourself. In the process, you destroyed much more than a strip of plastic.”
Townsend locked eyes with Warren. “Don’t be absurd. The tape isn’t damaging enough to warrant such an action.”
“Who are you trying to kid? We’ve already identified donors who made large political contributions when your last project was reviewed at City Hall. The bulk of that money went to your buddy, Assemblyman Kirk. All of those donors have been linked to you.
“In addition, I spoke to people listed as contributors who either claim they don’t remember making those donations or deny doing so. Their responses raise questions about whether someone else provided the money, a practice which violates campaign finance laws. I even found a contributor who admitted being reimbursed for one donation. As you know, repayments of that nature are prohibited because they obscure the source of funding.”
They stared daggers at each other across the table.
“You may be brash enough to accuse me of circumventing limits on political donations, but you’re in no position to do anything about it.”
“You’re right. I leave it to the Feds to investigate campaign finance violations. My sole interest is finding Cate’s killer.”
“You’ve come to the wrong person. I was engaged all evening the night of Cate Palmer’s accident. There are witnesses to prove it.”
“Let me guess. You were playing poker with Allen Kirk.”
“You must have had that information before you came,” Townsend bellowed. “Your conduct is a definition of harassment.”
“My conduct defines harassment as much as Kirk defines a fool-proof alibi.”
Chapter 33
Lea was lost in thought, barely paying attention as Ricardo pointed out places of interest on the way to the airport.
The ring of his phone startled her.
She couldn’t understand the rapid Spanish, but there was no mistaking Ricardo’s anger as he clutched the steering wheel.
At the end of the call, he turned toward her.
“What did you do to my cousin?” he demanded.
“We talked, that’s all. What’s wrong?”
“Mario has disappeared.”
• • •
At the ticket counter, Lea was startled once again by the chirping of her own phone.
“Where are you?” Mike asked.
“At the airport.”
“Did you hear what happened?”
“I was with the cousin when he got the news. When did you find out?”
“The local police called an hour ago to tell me the man I’m looking for has vanished. I’ll be at the airport soon myself. My work here is finished. If the drug ring tracked him down, they may have already killed him for double-crossing them. He was warned how dangerous it can be to mess with those people.”
“What do you intend to do?”
“It happened on this side of the border. My hands are tied.”
Lea disconnected without further comment.
As she walked to board the plane, pre-flight jitters were heightened by racing thoughts.
Did Mario bring on his own demise by dealing with the drug ring?
Would death make him a convenient scapegoat in the event Cate’s case was reopened?
Had someone besides the cartel come to Chapala to hunt him down?
PART FOUR
FINAL VOYAGE
Chapter 34
It was late afternoon when Lea retrieved her car from the parking lot at the airport. With the freeways filling with commuter traffic, the short drive to her parents’ house took twice the time.
Dropping her bag in the hall, she went straight to her father’s study. They spent the next several minutes listening to the tape.
Lea shuddered when she heard the final exchange between Kirk and Morris.
Kirk: “Keep an eye on her for a day or two. I don’t want any trouble.”
Morris: “That’s what you pay me for. Keeping you out of trouble.”
She paused the tape and looked at her father.
“How far do you think Morris went to protect the assemblyman?”
Warren pressed the play button. “It gets better.”
Lea recognized Townsend’s voice in the next conversation. She listened closely as he was informed of Cate’s eavesdropping and heard his last words to Morris, “In that case, I may have extra work for you.”
“What was Morris up to, Dad? It seems he used Cate’s underhanded behavior to improve his position with both Kirk and Townsend.”
“He may have seen a means to profit in a third way.”
“What do you mean?”
“He may have decided to change the team he was playing on.”
“Are you suggesting Mike crossed the line?” she asked.
“He wouldn’t be the first cop to cross over. Someone who works Vice as long as Morris gets frustrated with the futility of the battle. Criminals hire high-priced lawyers who get them off on technicalities. Prosecutors face a growing phenomenon of juries acquitting based on the defendant’s manner in court instead of the facts of the case. Even when detectives are lucky enough to win a conviction and put a dealer behind bars, another comes to take his place.
“Policing differs from other kinds of employment. When a civilian’s hard work doesn’t produce desired results, the person moves on to another job. A policeman is expected to spend months, even years, on investiga
tions that end with guilty parties walking free. It eats away at an officer.”
“Do you believe that happened to Mike?”
“The line between a cop and a criminal is sometimes thin. What drives their personality may be the same. The difference comes in the profession they choose. We have to consider the possibility that either Mike or Mario changed roles.”
“Your theory will be hard to sell without being substantiated.”
“I tried running the notion past the chief. He’s not willing to accuse any officer without proof.”
“I understand his position,” Lea said. “He’s afraid of the elephant in the room. If your supposition is correct, the actions of a dirty cop might be responsible for Cate Palmer’s death.”
Warren pulled out the easel which stood in the corner of his study for as many years as Lea could remember.
“Let’s consider the people with means, motive and opportunity.”
With a marker from his desk, he wrote names on the board.
Ron Townsend
Allen Kirk
Mike Morris
Mario Torres (Macario Torres Gomez)
“What about the drug cartel?” Lea asked.
“All we can do is prove one of these people guilty or eliminate them all as suspects. If the crime was committed by the cartel, it’s too dangerous for us to handle. That will be up to Vice to prove.”
He proceeded to fill in alibis. “Townsend and Kirk alibi each other. Mario was supposedly in Chapala getting his passport. Mike’s location the night of the murder is unknown.”
“I consider Mario the least likely suspect on the board,” Lea said.
“I tend to agree based on your conversation with him in Chapala. He seems incapable of hurting a woman he loved so deeply, but you have to ask—”
“If he’s innocent, why has he run?”
“We can’t assume he left of his own volition. The mob may have got their hands on him.”
Her face saddened. “If that’s true, this case won’t have a happy ending.”
“Let’s get back to Morris,” he said to distract her. “Even if Mike is involved in illegal activities, it’s hard to believe he had anything to do with Cate’s death.”
“He may not have murdered her with intent, but due to circumstances or opportunity during his search for the stolen drugs. Still, he should have known the severity of consequences if the cartel caught him.”
“Unless he planned to use the situation to his advantage by returning the stolen drugs as entry into the drug ring,” her father suggested.
Lea stared at the names. “There may be a fifth person we should consider.”
“Who?”
“Holly Hanson, the party staffer who was Cate’s friend.”
“Any particular reason to add her to the list?”
“Because there could be a link we’re missing. Holly presented herself as a friend who introduced Mario and Cate. What if she’s more than a friend to Mario, and less of a friend to Cate?”
“Are you suggesting she’s still in a relationship with Mario, that he was keeping both women on the string?”
“I doubt it. He may have had a fling with Holly at one time, but the relationship I’m suggesting now is not as a lover but as a boss. What if Holly runs drugs through her business? Her slogan is providing everything clients need for their festive occasions. Perhaps that includes drugs as well as bartenders and waiters. She receives weekly deliveries at her office. Those packages may contain the goodies she sells at the parties she staffs.”
“Do you think she works with Mario or directly with a supplier?” Warren asked.
“She may be using Mario now, but planning to establish a more direct line to the producer. Her telling me about Mario’s involvement may be throwing him under the bus to eliminate him as a middle man.”
“Or to divert attention from herself,” he said. “You could be on to something about her intention, but it would be difficult to accomplish on her own.”
Lea snapped her fingers. “Wait a minute. Holly wouldn’t disclose the other person invited to her dinner for personal reasons. I assumed that meant the man is married. Do you know Mike’s marital status?”
“He’s gone through a nasty divorce. Holly would hesitate to disclose a relationship to avoid involvement in legal proceedings.”
Lea looked at the board and continued. “That dinner provided Mike an opportunity to find out what Cate knew about the stolen drugs. Let me paint a scenario.
“Mike knows Cate will be on that road. Instead of going to the dinner, he lies in wait. He pulls her over under the guise of stopping her for speeding and starts a friendly conversation trying to figure out what she knows. Maybe he mentions seeing her at the party Friday night. As he asks more questions, she gets scared realizing she’s alone with him on a secluded road.
“When he returns to his car for something, she runs away. He chases her, hits her with a branch he picks up, then puts her in the car and stages the scene as a hit-and-run.”
“It’s as plausible as other explanations,” Warren said. “We need to find out which patrol car he used and check for damages.”
“In any event, it warrants another chat with Holly. Mike had means and motive. She may have provided him with opportunity.”
“Let’s not keep our hopes up about proving a case against either Mike or Mario,” he warned. “It’s hard enough making a case against a dirty cop. It’s almost impossible convincing people a policeman took the life of a member of the community he’s sworn to protect.”
“We have no choice but to try. If we don’t, a cop could get away with murder.”
• • •
Barbara poked her head in the door. “I’m going to the store. Do either of you need anything?”
Before they could respond, she saw the board filled with criss-cross lines.
“What’s that? It looks like an old-fashioned murder board.”
“I’ll ignore your reference to my outmoded ways,” her husband snorted. “You recognize this from being married to a cop so many years.”
“That’s for certain.” She pulled the door shut. “Go about your business.”
Warren returned his attention to the list of names.
“Let’s review your conversation with Mike in Chapala. Tell me again his reason for being there.”
“He was searching for Mario as a person of interest in Cate’s murder.”
“On what grounds?”
“Once he pegged Mario as a drug runner, it was less than a quantum leap to figure he double-crossed the supplier in some fashion.”
“How does he relate that to Cate’s death?”
“Mike assumes the supplier hunted Mario down and Cate got caught in the crossfire, another innocent victim of illegal drug activities.”
“You mentioned him placing the blame on Mario.”
“His second theory centers on Mario killing Cate when she learned of his drug dealings and threatened to turn him in.”
Warren leaned back and crossed his arms across his chest.
“Let me play devil’s advocate by proposing a third theory.”
Lea leaned forward. “I’m all ears.”
“Mario suspects Morris is dirty, but has no way to prove the allegation. He takes Cate to meet his family and stays in Chapala figuring out what to do next. Before he decides on a course of action, Cate is killed. The next thing Mario knows, Morris is after him.”
“Are you suggesting Mike found Mario in Chapala and killed him?”
“If he thought Mario was preparing to turn him in…”
“Drastic times call for drastic measures. I hope your theory is based on a worst case scenario rather than personal dislike.”
“I wouldn’t have been in a position supervising hundreds of policemen if personal feelings interfered with my job,” he said, indignantly.
“Don’t get huffy. I know that. I’m only testing your reaction in case the chief makes the same suggestion.”
>
“He already questioned whether my intentions are unbiased.”
“Tell me your progress with the other two suspects while I was gone.”
“They corroborate each other’s alibi. Plus, Kirk’s wife will back his story to prevent public humiliation. Frankly, I don’t believe her any more than I believe either of them.”
“What are we going to do? Without proof, someone gets away with murder. Either a dirty cop, a greedy developer, or a corrupt politician.”
“We can employ an interrogation tactic of putting the suspects together to see if one of them cracks.”
“How do we do that without warrants for their arrest?”
“Kirk and Townsend enjoy playing cards. We’ll use the more relaxed atmosphere of a poker game.”
“What makes you think they’ll participate?”
“I’ll suggest they prove their innocence by helping reveal the identity of the guilty party.”
“What do you expect will happen?”
“Put a bunch of greedy people in the same room defending their possessions or reputation and they turn on each other like animals struggling to survive.”
“You sound cynical.”
“I’ve had years of experience.”
“How will you convince Morris to take part?”
“Leave that to me,” Warren said. “I only wish Mario was here.”
Lea cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I can arrange a dealer for the game. I’ll send a message through Ricardo. He claims not to know where Mario is, but I’m certain he knows.”
“It’s worth a try.”
“I need to spell things out,” Lea warned. “If Mario doesn’t see this as a way to clear himself, he’ll have no reason to come.”
“Don’t worry. If he’s blameless as you believe, it will be his chance to prove it. Even if he’s guilty, he’ll show in order to maintain an appearance of innocence.”
“Without consequences to face, any one of them may refuse.”
He pointed at the board. “These men are fools if they don’t understand this is a high stakes game.”
