Pyramid Deception

by Austin S. Camacho

  Copyright © November 2015 Intrigue Publishing, LLC

  All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, photographic including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained herein. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN 978-1-940758-06-0

  Cover Design by instinctivedesign

  Published by:

  Intrigue Publishing

  11505 Cherry Tree Crossing RD #148

  Cheltenham, MD 20623-9998

  Printed in the United States of America

  Also by Austin S. Camacho

  The Hannibal Jones Mysteries

  The Troubleshooter

  Blood and Bone

  Collateral Damage

  Damaged Goods

  Russian Roulette

  The Stark and O’Brien Adventures

  The Payback Assignment

  The Orion Assignment

  The Piranha Assignment

  The Ice Woman Assignment

  Stand Alone Thriller

  Beyond Blue

  -1-

  Wednesday

  Was the woman he loved really trying to kill herself?

  Hannibal had to consider the possibility. Cindy Santiago had apologized for taking the phone call in the middle of their rare mid-week lunch together. At first she tried to make the news seem unimportant, but he was, after all, a detective. He had seen the breath catch in her throat. He had watched her smooth, Latin face segue from stunned to angry to lost during the short conversation. He noted her careful choice of words, as if trying to conceal the topic of their meaning. And afterward, she was looking across the table toward him, but he doubted she was seeing him.

  “Cindy?”

  Her hand appeared to go numb, her phone slipping from her fingers. The phone made a cold, plastic noise as it bounced off the table. Her lips quivered without sound. She stood up, letting her napkin tumble silently to the floor. Her blank eyes moved side to side, searching.

  “Cindy?”

  She stepped toward the door and he rose to follow, grabbing his Oakleys but ignoring her phone and purse. Their things were safe in Rockland’s, although he hated to abandon his barbecue. But DC lawyers never abandon their IPhones. For them it was like pulling a scuba diver’s air hose loose. His girl looked dazed or in shock and he wasn’t about to let her just wander away.

  Outside, the sun burned through the thin strands of cotton candy clouds and Hannibal’s eyes needed a second to adjust before he slid his sunglasses into place. When he pulled the world into focus, he saw Cindy standing between two parked cars about to step into the midday traffic pouring down Wisconsin Avenue.

  A black Cadillac Escalade was bearing down on the spot she would step into. The driver was chatting on her phone, maintaining a paper-thin margin between her vehicle and the parked cars, trying to beat the light about to turn red on the corner. Cindy would be invisible to her until too late. A strangled cry jammed in Hannibal’s throat. His right arm shot forward. He made eye contact with the driver, even as he clamped onto a handful of Cindy’s shoulder-length hair and yanked back hard. A few auburn strands popped. Tires squealed just as the spiked heel of her left pump was about to touch asphalt. Then her back arched and her left foot flew upward. The Escalade jerked to a halt before she fell back into Hannibal’s arms.

  Before falling backward onto the sidewalk Hannibal saw her right shoe bounce off the Cadillac’s grille. Had he pulled her so hard it flew off? Or had the Escalade really knocked the shoe off her foot? He would never know how close she came to death, and it was not the most important question of the day, anyway. He twisted her in his arms so he could see her face.

  “What the hell is the matter with you? You could have been killed.”

  “Hannibal, it’s all gone,” Cindy said, her eyes welling up. “A fortune, all the money I had made, my entire savings, everything I’ve worked so hard for, it’s all evaporated in a day.”

  -2-

  Hannibal handed Cindy her missing shoe and shoved her into his Volvo before running back to the restaurant for her phone and purse. The drive was not pleasant.

  “Have you lost your mind?” Hannibal snapped as he pulled into traffic. “Were you trying to get yourself killed? And what the hell does that mean, it’s all gone?”

  Cindy seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilating during the drive. Hannibal thought back to their lunch, when they were planning a vacation on the Riviera to celebrate her recent good fortune. She had been able to cash in on a business offering she set up, and become an instant millionaire three times over thanks to the value of her stock options. Even after taxes that left a handsome sum. He was of course very proud of her because she earned her fortune through her own business and legal expertise, but he could not deny a certain discomfort in having his woman pay for their vacation.

  Hannibal’s modest flat wasn’t exactly nearby but it was easier to drive to than Cindy’s townhouse in Alexandria.

  By the time he had her seated in his living room she was calm—or numb. She still sat with her single shoe in her lap, where she had carried it during the ride down to Southeast DC. Now she lifted it and waved it at him.

  “This was a $300 dollar pair of Via Spiga pumps,” she said, dropping the shoe on the floor.

  Hannibal used his French press to brew two quick cups of coffee and set them on the coffee table as he settled on the sofa beside her. She showed her first smile since the phone call when she lifted her cup to her mouth.

  “That smells so good. Thank you, lover.”

  Hannibal tasted his own coffee and waited. In a lifetime as a police detective, secret service agent and now a private detective he had learned that victims are more likely to tell you what you needed to know if you leave them some silence to fill. He savored the rich, hearty flavor of the exotic Costa Rican beans and watched her fawn colored eyes. After a moment, Cindy looked over as if a surprising thought had wandered into her mind.

  “You’re waiting for me, aren’t you?” she asked. “You’re sitting there, waiting for me to tell you why I’m so upset. You want to help me. I’m a client now, aren’t I?”

  “Is that the only way I can help you?” Hannibal asked, leaning toward her. “Can’t I just be worried about my woman and want to help her?”

  “But you’re the world famous Troubleshooter,” she said, moving from a defensive stance to offense. “This is what you do. You bail out losers.”

  Hannibal let the better part of a minute pass before he spoke again, and did so in a very soft tone. Her left foot was curled under her. He rested a hand on her left knee.

  “Losers? Baby, you’re a successful attorney at ground zero of lawyer central, earning a fat salary. Then you get a phone call and life suddenly seems to lose its meaning. What do I have to do to find out why?”

  “It won’t matter much,” she said, turning away. “Even you can’t fix this. It’s my own fault, and there’s nothing anybody can do about it. I’m afraid our vacation is off, Hannibal. I’ve lost the house, I’ve lost my savings, and I’m back to square one. Overnight I’ve lost everything.”

  A
s eager as Hannibal was to hold Cindy, he knew this was not the right time. In some ways this was not the woman who had come to his home so many times before. He was seeing things he had never seen in her before. Hopelessness. Depression. And now bitterness. In some ways, he would have to treat her like a client to help, but one way or another he had to take care of the woman he loved.

  “All right, you’re talking about the money you made off that big offering for a client, right?”

  Cindy nodded.

  “I know it was a big chunk of change, and I know you committed to a million-plus dollar house on the edge of Georgetown just a couple of days ago.” The house that would redefine her success, he thought. The money that placed her suddenly so far above his modest income as an inner-city private investigator.

  “Hannibal I fell in love with that house, and now I don’t even have the down payment.”

  “Cindy, I know you loved the house. What I don’t know is how you lost the money or why you think it was your fault.”

  “Because I invested it all in one place, looking for one big score to double my money. And it turned out to be a big scam.” Her fists were clenched tight, and the edge on her voice was meant to cut her, not him. Behind the self-loathing Hannibal realized for the first time how much of his girl’s self-esteem was tied up in her net worth. As much as he loved her, as well as he knew her, he wondered why he had never seen that before.

  “Okay, it sounds like you went for an investment scheme of some kind,” Hannibal said, keeping his voice gentle. “Some of the sharpest businessmen alive have made that kind of mistake. Was that your accountant who called you at lunch?”

  Cindy’s face clenched as if he had hit her in the gut. “No, that wasn’t my accountant. This was all against his advice. That was Jason.”

  “Jason Moore?” Hannibal asked. “The other lawyer they hired when they got you? Drank a little too much at your birthday bash? You’ve always talked about him like a friend.”

  “He is,” Cindy said. “Jason is my best friend in the world. Well, best male friend. You know how hard it is for a woman to be just friends with a man.”

  Hannibal didn’t believe that, but knew a lot of women who did. Seeing them together, he knew for sure that their relationship was just that: close, solid friends. “You’ve known him longer than you’ve known me, right?”

  “We’ve been back to back since I got to the firm, him doing tax law while I focused on the business law side. He’s a good man and he knows his stuff. That’s why I trusted him when he brought me this opportunity. It just seemed too good to pass up.”

  “So, he called to tell you he suspected a problem?” Hannibal stood and began pacing across his small living room.

  Cindy rolled her eyes. “If that was the case you might be able to do something. No, Jason called to tell me it had all collapsed. He checked his account on line this morning and found it empty. There was nothing there. Further online investigation told him that Weston-Wellesley Investment Services had folded. There was no trail to follow, no contact information, nothing. It’s just…gone. Maybe I just didn’t deserve to have all that money.”

  She was staring at a point a thousand miles away again. How could the woman he loved be so tied up with money? There was so much more to life, yet she was acting like her life was over. He had a prepared speech for people like that who came to him for help, all about how they had their health and were loved and anybody who could build one fortune could build another and he would find the person who had stolen from them and make them pay. Looking at the pain in Cindy’s eyes he couldn’t bring himself to go there.

  “And how did Jason find such a marvelous opportunity? Online?”

  “He’s not stupid,” Cindy said. ““It was a personal connection, Hannibal. Someone close to the president of the company.”

  Probably a lie, Hannibal thought, glancing briefly at the crouching panther on his bookshelves, a figurine Cindy had bought him because she said it reminded her of him.

  “That’s a start,” Hannibal said. He pulled his black driving gloves back on and slid his Oakley sunglasses into place. “We have a place to start. Why don’t we go back to your office and talk to Jason? Maybe we can follow his connection back to the owner of the company and get some restitution.”

  Cindy stood, suddenly on the edge of tears. “You think it was a scam, don’t you? A scheme to take money from people without much sense.”

  “I think it was fraud, yes. And I have some experience in this area, so why don’t you let me do what I can?”

  “Yes, you must have your chance to be the big hero,” Cindy said, snapping to her feet. “I bet you’re glad the money’s all gone. It brings me back down to…” If Cindy hadn’t bitten off her words and turned away, Hannibal might not have known where that sentence was going.

  “To where?” He asked, a little harder than he intended. “To my level?” When she didn’t respond he walked over and opened the door for her. Cindy stopped at the threshold, not looking at him but rather down at the floor. “I’m sorry lover. Really. And thank you, Hannibal, for not laughing at me.”

  “If you don’t want anyone else laughing at you, we’d better stop by your apartment for a pair of shoes.”

  Approaching the outer office doors of Baylor, Truman and Ray, Hannibal considered how precious a name on the door could be to a lawyer. He knew that before the year was out that door might well say Baylor, Truman, Ray, Santiago and Moore. Of course, that might not be the direction their careers took if the world learned of a disastrous lack of judgment that left them penniless.

  When Cindy pushed Jason Moore’s private office door open, he spun from the window. The sandy thatch of hair was corralled into an expensive haircut. He was tall and gaunt in his thousand dollar suit, but paler than anyone should be. He looked to be Cindy’s age, which meant that he left law school perhaps six or seven years before, just about when Cindy did. Moore jumped to his feet and gave Cindy what passed for a hug in the Washington business world, complete with an air kiss past her ear. Then he thrust out a hand, leaning forward over his desk.

  “Hannibal Jones. Haven’t seen you since my rather embarrassing performance last year at Cindy’s party. We’re all way too busy, man, but it’s great to see you again anyway.”

  “I wish we were meeting up again under better circumstances,” Hannibal said. “You know why I’m here?”

  Hannibal looked around while Jason got up and closed the office door. His office was identical to Cindy’s, big enough and tastefully decorated in a modern style. His desk was covered with papers, books, and small sheets covered with scribbled notes. A vase of lilies on a side table gave the room a slightly effeminate feel. Cindy settled into a deep visitor’s chair while Hannibal dropped onto the edge of the other. Jason returned to his own seat, already squirming in it when he finally answered Hannibal’s question.

  “You’re here about the financial difficulty I got our Cindy in, aren’t you?” Jason asked. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I called her as soon as I found out…”

  “How much did you lose?”

  Jason’s eyes cut to Cindy. She nodded. Why were people who dealt with other people’s finances every day so shy about their own, Hannibal wondered.

  “I’m down about 750,000 dollars. Every cent I’ve managed to save since I left law school. Nothing like Cindy’s loss of course, but…”

  “How did you find out about this investment company that no longer seems to exist?”

  Jason sat back in his chair, his eyes going to Cindy again, then back to Hannibal. “My, we are direct, aren’t we?”

  “We are in a hurry,” Hannibal said, lacing his fingers in front of him. “We are trying to pick up the trail of a probable experienced and professional swindler before every trace of evidence evaporates and you and Cindy become just another pair of over-optimistic investors on some FBI victim’s list. How’d you find out about it? Cindy thinks you know somebody.”

  Jason clenched hi
s whole face, and then forced his mouth open. “I was told that investors were only invited into this opportunity by word of mouth, and that I’d better keep mum about it for fear that a stampede of investors would dilute the return. I was allowed to share the idea with one trusted person. I chose Cindy.”

  Hannibal’s voice was dry. “How lucky for her. You know this person who shared such a wonderful opportunity?”

  “Yes.” Jason closed his eyes, but his fists were opening and curling in rhythm. “Irene is my…we’re dating.”

  That brought Cindy to her feet. “Your girlfriend? Seriously? The expert adviser you told me about to convince me to hand over every cent I had in the world is your girlfriend? And you didn’t tell me?”

  Cindy started forward and Jason recoiled with fear in his eyes, but Hannibal grabbed the girl’s arm and pulled her back to her chair. When she plopped down on the seat he turned and pointed a gloved finger at her face.

  “Be still. This all just got a good deal simpler than I expected it to be. We might be able to trace her source right back to the con artist who took you.” Then he turned to Jason. “Have you spoken to this Irene since you found out your investment has evaporated?” Jason shook his head. “Then get her on the phone.”

  “I can’t.”

  Cindy glared. Hannibal focused on the scent of the lilies to stay calm. “You do know your lover’s phone number, don’t you?”

  “I can’t just call in the middle of the day,” Jason said. “She’s watched.” When Hannibal raised an eyebrow, Jason added, “Her husband.”

  “She’s married?” Cindy almost shrieked, her Cuban accent getting stronger with her anger. “You take investment advice from a bitch who’s cheating on her husband?”

  “We needed the money,” Jason said, standing and staring into Cindy’s anger. “I had to raise enough so we could take off for Mexico.”

  Cindy took a menacing step closer. “Not just doing another man’s wife,” she said, accenting every word with her hands, “but breaking up their marriage. I thought I knew you, Jason.” Then she turned to Hannibal. “Honest to God, honey, he told me he got this tip from a trusted friend but never hinted even for a second that he was involved with this mystery source.”