by Grey, Chloe
“That’s what we suspected.”
“So, what about me? Will I be facing any charges?”
“Not if the information you provide is reliable, and it will help if you testify on our behalf. We believe the people running this operation are in league with local and Mexican drug lords. The DA wants solid evidence more than anything else. It gets us closer to the people who are so powerful, that bringing them down will make a difference in this city.”
“I haven’t done much, but I’ve seen a lot.”
“Depending on what you know, there will be no charges, Chase. No matter what you’ve done.”
Even if I was involved in preparing the stolen cars to be sent out?”
“We assumed you were, otherwise they wouldn’t threaten you in the first place. From what we’ve seen, this is their MO. They get younger workers, like you. Someone working there takes you under his wing. The boss makes it seem as though you’re only there for the day work. You’re well paid. The extra money is just to keep your mouth shut. Then they ask you to work a night shift. Someone else can’t. It’ll be the only one.”
“That’s what they told me.”
“Exactly. As soon as you work one shift, you’re involved, and they know they have leverage. With that leverage, they plan on making you do what they want you to—and that means staying with the shop until they decide they don’t need you any longer. I hate to say it, but someone like you would never have gotten free of them. Your only out is what you’re doing now.”
“I still don’t understand it. Why would they pull me into it if they know my mother’s husband owns the shop?”
“Sorry, come again?”
“My mother is Marsha Moscov. She remarried the owner of the auto shop, Yuri Moscov.”
“Yuri Moscov?” He asked, standing from his seat quickly. “Are you positive?”
“Yes. He lent a man named John Brewer the money to operate the shop, I think. My mom married him a few years ago. I had not been in contact with her for years. She only recently reached out to me when I moved to San Diego this summer, and I think she’s the reason I got the job. Neither my mom nor Mr. Moscov know anything about this illegal activity. So how could the guys running the shop expect me to be loyal?”
“Hold on.” He walked to the door in a hurry. “I’ll be right back.”
Chase waited in the room. They had not processed him yet, so he still had his phone in his pocket. He tried Meaghan’s number again. There was no answer. He thought of calling John Brewer. It didn’t seem like anyone was coming back soon, so he called the number.
“Rudolfo’s. How may I help you?” A man answered on the other end of the line.
“Hello. I’d like to speak with John Brewer.”
“He’s not available right now. What’s this about?”
Chase wasn’t sure what to ask. He couldn’t just come out and say it was about the chop shop, or Meaghan. Just then, it hit him. Meaghan worked at Rudolfo’s. It couldn’t be a coincidence. “I’ll… I’ll call back. Thanks.”
Chase hung up and hurried out of the interview room to look for one of the officers. He had to let the officers know the man running the chop shop and the owner where Meaghan worked were the same person. He had to be involved.
Chapter 5
“We need to find Meaghan now,” Chase implored to Detective Beam when he found him near the detectives cage.
“She’s in the system now. With both San Diego Police Department and the California Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit. Agent Franks has also alerted the FBI Missing Persons Unit, because this case is linked to organized crime. And SDPD Switchboard has sent her picture to officers in the field. We’re on this, Chase. And right now, what we need is your statement.”
“I just phoned the number for John Brewer.”
“What?”
“My mother gave me his number to try. He’s in charge of the auto shop, and I just realized he owns the restaurant where Meaghan worked.”
“Let’s get back in the interview room. We’ve got to get all this on tape.”
“What about Meg?” Chase asked as they walked back to the room. “She’s still out there, and this sounds so much worse now.”
“What’s the name of the restaurant?”
“Rudolfo’s. On Elm Street.”
“I’ll ask a squad car to go by. Wait in here. I’ll get Franks and we’ll start the interview soon.”
“Are you sure we have enough time?”
“Wait here, Chase,” he reiterated. “I’ll be back. Do not call anyone else. We don’t want to tip them off, especially if they have your girlfriend.”
Chase didn’t have to wait very long before the two officers returned. The sat opposite him and Detective Beam turned on the video camera mounted in the corner of the room. Agent Franks pulled a digital recorder from his pocket to record the interview as well.
“Do you want anything before we start?”
Chase shook his head. There was water on the table. That would be enough to get him through. “No, thank you.”
“Let’s begin.” The two officers introduced themselves and Chase, noted the time and the purpose of the interview, and then began their questioning.
“Can you first confirm for us your full name and date of birth, just for the record?”
“My name is Chase Christopher West and I was born on the 9th of January 1994.”
“Thank you.” Detective Beam looked down at something in front of her. “This is confirmation that the San Diego District Attorney may agree to waive all charges against you in exchange for the information you are about to provide on Fast Auto and its operations. Do you agree?”
“Yes. I do.”
“We have a lot of questions for you, but let’s start at the beginning. Chase, we’d like you to tell us how you ended up working at Fast Auto and what you witnessed or learned about their illegal activities. We’d also like you to tell us what you know about Yuri Moscov and John Brewer.”
Starting at the beginning was going to make it a long story. Chase took a sip of water and started. It took over an hour to give his testimony, and after he was finished, they asked several questions on Yuri Moscov, the cars Chase had worked on that night, the names of the other employees who worked that night, and the types and quantities of drugs that were packed into the vehicles.
“Can we go look for Meaghan now?” Chase asked when they paused briefly. He was tired of waiting.
“We have a few more questions. And you won’t be able to leave yet.”
“Why not?”
“If we find Meaghan at one of John Brewer’s restaurants, they’ll know someone reported her missing. They’ll probably assume you talked to us. We need to know more about the upcoming shipments they’re working on.”
“All I know is they wanted me to work at night again on Thursday.”
“This Thursday?”
“Yes.”
Detective Beam looked across at Agent Franks. “That’s tomorrow night. Did they tell you what they’d be working on?”
“Oliver said it was the same as last time. But he told me to stay away from the auto shop. He said we’d work from another location.”
“Did he tell you where?”
“No. He said they’d let me know.”
“Excuse us for a minute,” Agent Franks said. “We need to check on something. Detective Beam, can we have a word?”
The two left again and shut the door.
Chapter 6
When the officers returned to Chase, Detective Beam asked a few more questions, starting with whether Chase had intended to work at the shop for a while.
“No,” Chase answered. “I was only planning to work there over the summer. After working that one night shift, I had already decided to quit, and was going to let Oliver know, but the place was raided.” He lowered his head to his hands. “I wasn’t supposed to work that night at all. Someone was off sick, so they phoned me to come in.”
“Is that what Dav
id told you?”
Nodding, Chase tried to get his head around the fact David had been telling him what he wanted to hear. Swallowing hard, he brushed a hand through his hair. “Yes, he did. He wanted me to get some automotive certifications so I could stick to working on cars during the day.”
“And how did you learn about this upcoming night shift?”
“While I was working on the cars during the day, I overheard what their plans were. They never really hid much information from me. Maybe they wanted me to hear. Before that night, I was loyal to them, and I couldn’t imagine coming here to inform on them like this. But after they made me participate… and then threatened Meg—well, they should never have gotten me involved. Now I have to protect her.”
“Didn’t you ever stop to think the best way of protecting her might have been to leave the chop shop?”
“As soon as I worked that night shift and saw the drugs, I decided I would quit. That was only a few nights ago. The shop is still closed since the raid, so I haven’t worked there since that night. I don’t deny I should have made better choices. I should never have started working there in the first place. If I hadn’t, at least she’d be safe from them. The problem is, I was given bad information. When I started, I was told it was a legitimate auto shop…It’s only after I worked there, I got the sense there was more to it, and all of that was confirmed the when I worked that late night shift.”
“Unfortunately, that’s how many guys like you get involved. As soon as we find your girlfriend, we’ll put the two of you into protective custody. Tell us again about the night shift you worked. Don’t leave anything out.”
“I knew something more was going on from the time I walked into the shop. There were mostly luxury cars in the work bays, and none of them had been there during the day. They had me remove VIN plates from the cars. When I objected, they said I could help, or I could leave. I was wrong to stay, but I did. At one point, I went to look for David in a back room. That’s when I saw the drugs. David gave me a pair of gloves and told me to put them in the paneling of the cars. I refused and they didn’t push the issue. The rest of them wore gloves and hid the drugs in the cars.”
“Have you got any idea where those cars might have ended up?”
“No, I don’t. They mentioned somewhere in Eastern Europe, but apart from that, I wasn’t told anything else. I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to get too involved.”
“You said you overheard things.”
“I know a couple of dates when they’ll have cars in, although they might change that if they know I’ve spoken to you. Normally, according to David, they get a new shipment with a couple days’ notice, and the big boss doesn’t like to it when they work on more than three or four shipments per month.”
“Do you know who the big boss is?”
“From what I overheard, he’s someone who owns several businesses in San Diego.”
“Or she.” Detective Weaver smiled at Chase. “The big boss might be female. Did they ever mention the gender or did you assume the person was male?”
“I don’t know.” Chase thought back to the conversations he’d had with people about the big boss, but he didn’t seem to get anywhere with that. “I can’t remember. All I know is the chop shop is one of about eight. I don’t know where they are, though. Every time I asked if Mr. Moscov was the big boss, Oliver and David would tell me to mind my own business. I asked my mother if she or Mr. Moscov knew anything about it, and she said they didn’t.”
“Tell us what you know about the shipment coming in tomorrow.”
“I overheard David complaining about how close it was to this last one we worked on a few nights ago. He likes there to be a bit more time in between, so no one gets too suspicious. But the location will be different, because of the raid.”
“Do you know where?”
“I already told you I don’t know.”
“And how soon will they tell you?”
“Probably on the day itself. I’m not sure.”
The officers excused themselves again.
“Is something wrong?” Chase looked up to ask.
“No,” Beam answered. “We’re doing what we can to determine whether this information is helpful. Wait here.”
Chapter 7
Meaghan was ready to fight and do damage if she had to. Spending one night in this dark, cold cellar made her angry. She was sure Chase had been looking for her. He would have no idea to look for her here. No one would. She had to give it her all if she wanted to get away. She sat at the side of the door, broken bottle in hand, waiting.
She was already awake and ready when Jeff opened the door to the part of the cellar she’d been trapped in. She had to take him by surprise. Meaghan wasn’t gentle when she attacked him, thrusting the broken end of the bottle into his stomach. It worked, and even better, as he swore and yelled in pain and buckled over, he dropped the phone he held in his hand.
She stopped to grab it and ran past him. This was it! She escaped through the other section of the basement and up the steps. She couldn’t be certain he would be down for long, so she didn’t bother searching for her purse and the bag she had packed up in the staff room. She ran through the empty restaurant and out the front door.
When Meaghan was outside, she headed for the first alley she could see, knowing it was the best route to take. She didn’t stop to look for Jeff. He would be after her. The only option she had was to get to the police before he got to her. She called 9-1-1, and was even more relieved when she saw a patrol car moving slowly at the end of the alleyway.
She screamed to get their attention and the driver stopped. The uniformed officer approached her. He radioed in her call for help, so Meaghan told the 9-1-1 operator she had help, and hung up.
“Meaghan!” Hearing Jeff’s voice made her jump, but he sounded far enough away that she was safe. As he stepped into the aisle, blood soaking through his shirt near his stomach, he noticed the approaching police officer. He quickly turned back and stumbled away through the side of the restaurant.
“Stop him!” she shouted to the officer. “That man kidnapped me last night.”
“Ma’am, are you alright?”
“Yes. I’m fine.” The adrenalin was fading, and when the officer was close, she nearly collapsed into him. “Please help me.”
The officer held her up and walked her over to sit in the back of his car. Meaghan sat, exhausted and overcome. She couldn’t work out how she’d ended up in the middle of something like this. Chase had made some terrible choices, but she’d never imagined she’d end up being kidnapped by the people who ran the chop shop.
Still agitate, she bit hard on her lip and laid her head on the seat’s backrest. The officer asked her for her full name when he sat in the driver’s seat.
“Meaghan Connors,” she answered, still breathing heavily.
The officer used his radio to call in that she was a possible match to a missing persons report. She heard the confirmation over the radio.
“Ma’am, we’ll need to wait here for the paramedics to check you out. Just try to relax. Everything will be okay.”
Chapter 8
Meaghan phoned Chase’s number. She didn’t stop to think too much about whether he’d be able to answer. Instead, she listened for him to pick up.
“Chase?” She said when he answered.
“Meaghan? Oh my God, I’ve been so worried about you, honey. Where are you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine now. The police are here. I’m outside the restaurant. Jeff locked me in the basement last night.”
“What?”
“He has something to do with where you work, Chase.”
“Shit. Yes I just found out too…I’m sorry, Meg. I made some terrible choices. You didn’t deserve to have to go through this.”
“Let’s not talk about that right now. Where are you, Chase?”
“At the police station. I’m telling them what I know.”
“You really did that?”
“They threatened you. The only way I could think of protecting you was by telling the police everything. They’re taking us into protective custody. They had officers looking for you.”
“I’m…I’m glad, Chase. We can’t get through this alone.”
“I love you so much, Meg.”
“I love you too.”
“Hold on,” Chase said, stepping out of the interview room again to look for the officers. “I’ll get one of them to speak to you.”
Meaghan heard movements on the other end, and then a few voices before someone took the phone from Chase.
“This is Detective Weaver. Are you Meaghan Connors?”
“Yes. I am.”
“Where are you, Meaghan?”
“In the alley behind the restaurant where I work.”
“Is an officer with you?”
“Yes. He’s waiting for the paramedics to arrive and make sure I’m okay.”
“Can you put him on? We don’t have time to go through switchboard.”
“Yes,” she answered, hearing the urgency in his voice. “Hold on.”
Meaghan leaned forward and passed the phone through the opening in the glass divider. “Excuse me, sir. This is for you.”
The officer took the phone and spoke to the detective on the other end. Meaghan could only hear one side of the conversation, but it was clear they wanted him to leave the area right away.
“Ma’am,” he said after he hung up. “Here’s your phone. I’m going to have to get you over to the 324 Division precinct.”
“Is that where my boyfriend is…I mean that Detective who spoke to you?”
“Yes. They’ll have a nurse check you out there.”
“Thank you, officer.”
He nodded, and drove off. He couldn’t get there fast enough, as far as Meaghan was concerned.
When their patrol car turned into the station parking lot, Meaghan felt the rush of adrenalin again. The officer let her out of the back seat, and walked inside with her. Her eyes darted to all corners of the building as she searched for Chase. They turned to a row of what looked like small boardrooms. A plain clothes officer motioned to them.
