“Wh…what?”
“Tell me about the Morningstar Apartments,” she said.
He looked blank. “I don’t know what you mean.”
I didn’t either, but I was curious to see where her questions were going.
“Sure you do. Two-story apartment building on Fort Lauderdale Beach. A friend of yours was camping out there, wasn’t he?”
It took him a moment. “Oh, yeah. I never knew the name of the building. Where that Asian dude was staying, right?”
I ran through what I remembered of the investigation into Dorje Brewer’s death. Did Eric know him? Well, Frank did, so it was possible that Frank had introduced them.
“That’s correct. Did you know Dorje Brewer?”
Eric looked around the room like a caged animal. “I met him once or twice.”
“At his residence at the Morningstar Apartments?”
“Why?”
“Because your fingerprints were found there,” Cespedes said. “And because that’s where he was murdered.”
She leaned forward and stared directly at Eric. “Did you kill Dorje Brewer, Eric? Was that one of the odd jobs you did for Frank Cardone? Because this is the time to man up.”
“No! I didn’t kill him. I swear. It wasn’t me. It was this other guy, this Russian dude. I wasn’t even inside the building when it happened. I drove the guy over there, and pointed out the building. Then when he came out I dropped him at the airport.”
“A Russian dude?” Cespedes asked. “You sure that’s not you shifting the blame to some imaginary friend?”
“This Russian dude,” I said. “You get his name?”
He swallowed hard. “Just his first name,” he said. “Nicky.”
36.
Interesting Lives
I looked at Cespedes and nodded my head toward the door. She ended the interview and told Eric we would be back in touch with him.
“I presume you know someone named Nicky,” she said, when we were out in the hallway.
“The name has come up in another Bureau investigation.”
“You know where I can find him?”
I could give her Nicholas Geier’s name, and let her track him down and interview him. But that might screw up Katya’s case. I knew she was trying to get hold of Geier and I wanted to give her that leeway. But what if Geier ran again, as he’d done when he left New York? It was a tough decision, but finally I said, “No, I don’t. But we’re on his trail.”
“You realize that Morozov has implicated this Nicky in the murder case I’m investigating. I need to be able to follow up.”
“When we find him I’ll let you know.”
I called Katya, but she didn’t answer. I left her a message that I needed to speak with her urgently. On my way back to the office, I stopped at The XXX Factor and showed the clerk the photos. He made a positive ID of Nicky Geier.
Geier was showing up in too many places to be a coincidence. His prints were on Verenich’s boat, he was connected to the local branch of the Organizatsya, and now he was moving into the operation of the porn store. Would he take over the filming operations soon, too?
I gave the clerk my card. “If he comes in again, call me. But be careful. He’s a dangerous guy.”
As I was leaving the store, Katya called. “I got in touch with Nicky. Surprise, surprise, he’s here in Florida. I’m having dinner with him tonight.”
“I have a date tonight,” I said. “Why don’t he and I have dinner in the same place you guys will be? Then I’ll be there in case you need backup.”
“That would be good,” she said.
Nicholas Geier wanted to meet her at a steakhouse on US 1 at seven o’clock, and I said I’d be there. “Are you going to wear a wire?”
She shook her head. “Nicky’s too smart to say anything incriminating, and I don’t want to tip my hand by asking him specific questions.”
“But weren’t you IDed at the poker game? Will he know that you work for the Bureau?”
“That’s part of what I want to find out. If he knows about me, then it’s clear he’s connected to Kurov somehow.”
“This sounds like a dangerous game, Katya.”
“That’s why we’re meeting in a public place. And I’ll have you in the background in case he tries anything.”
I checked with Lester and he was free to meet me at the restaurant at six-thirty—I wanted to get there early enough to stage the scene properly.
I got there before Lester did and I went inside. I showed my badge to the hostess and said, “I’d like to ask you a favor. A couple’s going to come in at seven, and I’d like to be seated close enough to watch them, but not on top of them.”
She had to get the manager, a middle-age Korean man in a sharp business suit. I explained the situation again. “There isn’t going to be any risk to other customers, is there?” he asked.
“Not at all. This is a training exercise—another agent believes that she’s meeting with an informant, and I’m here to observe how she acts.”
That wasn’t quite a lie, right? Katya was another agent, and she believed that Nick Geier had some information.
The manager agreed, and when Lester got there we were seated in a booth along one wall. “What’s going on?” he asked, after the hostess had left us.
I explained about Katya and Nicky. “They’re going to be seated at that empty table across from us,” I said. “I’m just here to keep an eye out in case there’s trouble.”
“You lead an interesting life, G-Man,” he said.
“And you’re part of what makes it interesting.” I smiled at him. “You’re free all evening, right?”
He smiled back at me, and I thought for a moment about what a nice, open face he had. “I am indeed.”
We dawdled over drinks and appetizers, waiting for Katya and Nick to show up. They walked in right at seven and were immediately ushered to the table.
“Your gal pal’s pretty,” Lester said. “Though my tastes tend toward the guy she’s with.”
It was my first good look at Nicholas Geier in the flesh. I disagreed with Katya—I didn’t think Nick was that handsome. His scarred chin was too weak and the bushy hair was out of control. But he had an animal magnetism and he moved with a grace that reminded me of Felix the cheetah, aware of his movements and the impression he made.
Katya had dressed up for the occasion, swapping out her street clothes for a low-cut blouse that clung to her breasts, a short skirt, and the kind of high-heeled shoes my female friends called fuck-me pumps. She wore mascara, dark eye shadow that accentuated her blue eyes, and a bright shade of coral pink lipstick.
Nick hadn’t gone to as much trouble, but I had to admit that his body rocked, in sharply creased jeans and a light blue polo shirt that stretched tight across his chest.
Lester and I talked idly as I observed the body language between Katya and Nick. They smiled a lot, and she often leaned forward intimately. At one point he took her hand and squeezed.
I was dying to know what they were talking about, but I wasn’t close enough to hear anything.
“Not to be rude, because I know you’re working, but we are on a date, aren’t we?” Lester asked after I’d been ignoring him and the piece of prime rib in front of me.
“You’re right,” I said. “Sorry. So tell me what’s new in Lester-world.”
“I decided it’s time to act like a grown-up,” he said. “You inspired me, you know.”
“How so?”
“You figured out that you didn’t like accounting and found something better,” he said. “I need to do that.”
“So what’s your new plan?”
“I met this guy at Eclipse,” he began, and immediately I felt jealousy rising in me. I sliced into my beef so hard that the knife skidded against the plate.
Lester didn’t seem to notice. “He’s a sales rep for this new line of premium liquors,” he said. “The same thing is happening with hard liquor as with beer. You know, the whole microbrew thing. Thes
e independent small-batch distillers are coming up with new versions of bourbon, gin, whiskey, and vodka. There are literally hundreds of them around the country, with more coming online every year. And our generation is going for them in a big way.”
I loved his enthusiasm. “Sounds cool.”
“This company has distribution agreements with a bunch of small outfits. He’s getting promoted to district manager and he needs a guy to take over his job, going around to bars and talking about the products, running tastings, doing social media.”
“You’re interested?”
He nodded. “I met with him on Monday for an interview, and we did some product tasting, too. There’s a lot to learn, but he’s willing to send me to seminars run by some of the manufacturers, and the company will pay for classes at the hospitality management program at FIU. I might end up getting a master’s degree.”
“That’s awesome, Lester. I’m impressed.”
“It’s going to be hard at first. I have two weeks of training before I start going out to meet with customers, and he warned me the hours are going to be long if I’m taking classes and working.”
“If there’s anything I can do, let me know,” I said. “I can help you study. I wouldn’t mind learning more about that kind of stuff myself.”
“And you’d be cool if I couldn’t go out with you too much, at least at first?”
“You still have to sleep, right?”
He cocked his head. “Uh, yeah.”
“So do I. If all we have for a while is pillow talk and the comfort of sleeping together, then that’s OK.”
He smiled broadly. “I really dig you, G-Man,” he said.
“Right back at you.” I lifted my water glass and we toasted.
We ordered a slice of key lime pie to share, and I looked over at Katya and Nick. They were finishing their entrées too, but Nick mimed writing in the air for the check.
He gave his credit card to the server, and Katya stood up. It didn’t look like they were parting on friendly terms. She grabbed her tiny purse and stalked toward the front door on her high heels.
“I’ll be right back,” I said to Lester, and I headed after her.
Katya wasn’t leaving though—she was going to the ladies’ room. I hovered outside until she came out. “Everything OK?” I asked.
“He knows,” she said. “And he’s not happy about it.” She suddenly pulled me back into the shadows. I turned and saw Nicholas Geier stalking out of the restaurant, letting the big glass front door slam behind him.
“Did you find anything out?” I asked, as we watched him go.
“I had to read between the lines because he wasn’t going to say anything incriminating. But from what I can figure out, Verenich was the middleman between Kurov and a lot of his operations, like the porn house. With Verenich out of the way, Kurov needed somebody to fill in, and Nicky got the call.”
“I agree with that.” I told her what I’d learned from the manager at The XXX Factor, and what Eric Morozov had said about Geier during the interview with Ana Cespedes.
“He didn’t mention anything about that kid who was killed on the beach, did he?” I asked. “Dorje Brewer?”
“No. But if Nicky killed Verenich then I wouldn’t be surprised if he killed Brewer, too.”
I was trying to work out all the connections when my phone rang. I thought for a moment it was Lester, worried that I’d been gone from the table for too long.
When I saw it was an unfamiliar number, I was tempted to ignore it. But with so much going on, I knew that was a mistake.
“Angus? It’s me, Dimetrie. The shit’s hit the fan here and I don’t know what to do.”
“Slow down, Dimetrie. What’s going on?”
“I got a text from Ozzy a couple of hours ago. Frank couldn’t get a reservation at this hotel in Key West he wants to go to until Sunday, so they’re camped out at the apartment building where Dorje was staying.”
“That’s great, Dimetrie. Thanks for letting me know.”
“I told Shane, and he freaked out. He said he’s going to go rescue Ozzy. Angus, he has a gun! I don’t mind if he shoots Frank but I don’t want Ozzy to get hurt and that boy is the kind of nut who’d do something dramatic.”
Craptastic. “Don’t worry, Dimetrie. I’m going to head over there right now.”
37.
Managed
“What’s going on?” Katya asked as I stuffed my phone in my pocket.
“That was one of the boys from the porn house. He got a text from the other boy that he’s still in town with the older man who was running things. They’re camped out at an apartment building by the beach—the place where Dorje Brewer was murdered. I’ve got to get over there right away.”
“I’ll go with you. Just give me a couple of minutes to change. You have your gun?”
I patted the holster on my hip. “You?”
“In the car. See you in a couple of minutes.”
I hurried back to the table. “Sorry, I’ve got to run.” I explained the situation as I pulled cash out of my wallet to pay the bill.
“Be careful, G-Man,” Lester said. He walked outside with me, and we kissed quickly. At my car, I pulled my Kevlar vest out of the trunk, shucked my shirt, and belted the vest in place. I felt a familiar twinge of pain as it pressed against the nerve that had been damaged when I was shot.
I was buttoning my shirt again when Katya joined me. She’d changed out of her high heels into a pair of sneakers, and the shoulder holster with her gun edged against her low-cut blouse. As I pulled out of the restaurant’s parking lot, she looked up the street address for the Morningstar.
“This is where the boy was killed,” she said. “And you think Nicky is the one who shot him?”
“Yes, it’s where he was killed,” I said. “But you know Nicholas Geier better than I do. Is he that kind of stone cold killer? Slice a beautiful boy’s face up then shoot him in the head?”
She blew out a big breath. “I wish I knew. When he was with me, Nicky could be tough, but gentle, too. He picked up stray cats from the beach, took them to be cleaned up and neutered, then pestered people to find homes for them.”
“A regular Mother Teresa,” I said.
“I know. I sound like an idiot because I fell for him.”
“Love makes us all fools,” I said. “Look at this boy Ozzy, chasing after the man who abuses him and makes him act in porn. Why?”
“Because this man makes him feel,” Katya said. “I’ve talked to a couple of girls who act in porn and they’re so numb to what they do. The sex has no meaning. Sometimes the only way they can feel anything is when they get hurt.”
There was a lot of traffic heading to the beach, and I worried that Shane would get there first and get into trouble with Frank Cardone. Shane was obsessed with Ozzy, and that was not good. He had been abused, but he seemed to have come through it and became a good guy. Even though he’d told me he grew up around guns, I worried that he’d do something stupid, and one dumb move could destroy everything he’d built over the last few years.
When I pulled up beside Shane’s car in front of the Morningstar, the night hummed with the sound of distant trucks, an owl’s hoot, and Latin music floating in from beachfront bars. In the shadow of the trees, the Dumpster was almost invisible. “Follow me,” I said.
I hopped up and legged it over the fence, with Katya right behind me. Once I was on the ground I listened again, and this time I heard raised voices. I crept forward, trying to minimize the noise I made through the dead leaves. When I rounded the corner, I saw the pair of plastic lawn chairs where Shane and I had met Dorje before.
Only a sliver of moon illuminated the area, but it was enough to see Frank and Ozzy against the wall, Shane across from them. “Come on Ozzy, come with me,” Shane said.
“I hate you!” Ozzy said. “You’re a monster.” He reached out for Frank’s hand. “Frank is going to take care of me.”
There it was, the emotion that Katy
a had mentioned. Frank made Ozzy feel something—so Ozzy was sticking with him.
I looked back at Katya and nodded down along the fence. She moved quietly forward and I turned my attention back to the three men in front of me.
“Come back to Lazarus Place with me,” Shane said. “The other kids miss you. We can get you back in school, help you work through whatever you’re feeling.” He paused, and I could hear his voice catching in his throat. “Let me take care of you.”
“Yeah, like you did before.”
My heart was racing and I regretted not calling for backup before Katya and I came to the apartment building. It was up to the two of us to make things right.
I stole a glance down along the fence and saw that Katya was in position. When I looked back, Frank Cardone had put his arm around Ozzy’s shoulders and pulled him close. “Leave the boy alone,” Frank said. “He’s with me of his own free will. Now beat it before you get into trouble.”
I drew my gun and stepped forward. “FBI!” I called. “Everybody stand down.”
With my eye on Frank Cardone, I didn’t see Shane raise his arm and fire his gun until it was too late. I was stunned to see Ozzy fall to the ground instead of Frank. I knew it. Shane had done something stupid. He’d shot the very boy he was trying to protect.
I rushed ahead and tackled Shane. We both fell to the ground and the impact knocked his gun from his hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Frank Cardone turn to run from the scene. I managed to get up on one knee and aim at him. “Freeze Cardone, or I’ll shoot!”
Katya rushed at Frank and grabbed his arm. I was impressed at the way she was able to keep Frank’s arm immobilized behind his back, while at the same time whipping Frank’s belt off. Then she flipped Frank around and used the belt to tie his hands behind his back.
I followed Katya’s lead, pulling out my own belt and using it to tie Shane’s hands together. “I didn’t mean it,” Shane kept repeating, tears streaming down his face. “I never meant to hurt him.”
“Your aim was off,” I said. “Ozzy and Frank were too close together to get a clean shot. That’s why you should leave the shooting to the professionals, Shane.”
Nobody Rides For Free Page 23
