Deceptive Practices

by Simon Wood

  His look was probing. She could feel him picking apart her words. After a moment, he nodded. “Okay, okay, don’t fret. We can use your car.”

  They climbed into her car, and she saw her chance to plant the phone disappear.

  She was forced to sit there and watch Roy check every bundle of bills. When he was done, he repacked the money into the grocery bag.

  “You did well, Olivia. I can’t believe you pulled all this money together so quickly.”

  “You’re not the only one.”

  “The banks didn’t give you any trouble?”

  “Yeah. They bitched, but it was my money, so what could they do?”

  “And now it’s my money.” Roy opened the door to leave.

  “Is that it?”

  “Yes,” he said and climbed from the car.

  Olivia jumped out of the car and blocked his path. “What happens now?”

  “Nothing. We go our separate ways. Our business relationship is at an end.”

  Just as she feared. As soon as he walked off with that money, he was gone, and so was her chance at sneaking him the phone. It was down to Andrew and his guys now.

  “We’re not done,” she protested. “You have the knife. That money buys the knife.”

  “It doesn’t, Olivia. You cost me a lot of money. Far more than I have here. What you’ve bought is my silence.”

  “That’s not right.”

  “You can take the money back, but then you’ll take the risks that go along with that. Let me keep it, and I will protect you as best I can. Your choice.”

  Olivia said nothing. There was nothing to say. Roy was lying. She’d spoken to too many of his victims to believe there was protection. There was only ruin. But she couldn’t force the issue. It was down to Andrew now.

  “Thought not.” Roy sidestepped her and kept on walking. “Don’t leave for twenty minutes.”

  Olivia waited until Roy was out of sight before using her high ground to her advantage. The third-story vantage point meant she had a bird’s-eye view of the comings and goings in and out of the science center. She tracked Roy’s progress out of the parking structure and over to his familiar Chrysler, parked around the corner from the main entrance.

  She pulled out her phone and dialed Andrew. He picked up on the first ring.

  “I didn’t plant the phone,” she told him.

  “That’s okay. That’s what we’re here for. But he took the money?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Do you know what he’s driving?”

  Roy’s car rounded the corner, heading toward Skyline. He stopped at the stop sign, then turned left.

  “He’s driving his silver Chrysler 300. He’s coming back down Skyline toward Highway 13.”

  “He’s coming straight toward me. I’ve got this, Liv. And remember . . .”

  “What?”

  “This is going to work.”

  She smiled and hung up.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Keep it together, Andrew thought. It’s all falling into place. He’d had to pull a plan together on the fly once Roy called. It worked out in his and Olivia’s favor that Roy had kept this meeting local. It took no time to mobilize his guys and just five minutes to come up with a plan once he’d checked out the area on Google Earth. And now that Roy was coming back down Skyline to pick up Highway 13, his plan was a lock.

  But he only had one shot at it. He had to rig the fake accident before Roy turned off Skyline for Joaquin Miller Road. Once Roy was on Joaquin Miller, there were too many variables to control. Too much traffic. Too many side streets. The situation wouldn’t be Andrew’s to determine. The best place to take Roy out was at the intersection where Joaquin Miller intersected with Skyline. It was the only spot he could control.

  Andrew had parked his truck facing uphill on a turnout on the last bend before the intersection. Around the corner, in another of his construction trucks, was Manny Reyes and his son, Alex. Manny had been with him since he’d started Macready Construction. Together they’d assembled a no-nonsense, hardworking crew that put up good-looking houses. Five years older than Andrew, Manny was both a brother and father to him. When he asked for help, Manny was there. Yesterday, when he told Manny he needed to rig a car accident in the next couple of days because it was important, Manny didn’t ask why . . . he asked when. He wrangled the crew together, and they were on standby.

  The other half of his crew was staked out on Pinehurst with a similar setup, should Roy have chosen that route. He called them and told them to go home for the day. Then he called Manny.

  “Our guy is on the way. He’s driving a silver Chrysler 300. He should be coming by in the next five, six minutes. I’ll give you the heads-up as soon as I see him. Stay on the line.”

  “You got it. You want this to go down like you said?”

  “Yes. Just sideswipe him. Superficial damage only. I want this guy mobile. But you can go heavy on the theatrics.”

  “You know us hotheaded Mexicans. We don’t know any other way.”

  Andrew laughed. “I owe you, man.”

  “Yes, you do. Now watch the road.”

  Andrew focused on the road. He played over and over again the various ways he could slip the cell phone into Roy’s car. He liked a couple of his ideas, if Manny and Alex could provide enough of a distraction while the occasional vehicle went by.

  After a couple of minutes, he got antsy and started the truck’s engine. He didn’t expect Roy quite yet, but he didn’t want to be caught napping if Roy was a lead foot.

  His hands began sweating. The anticipation was getting to him. He wiped his palms on his jeans.

  “Be cool,” he said to himself.

  “Say again,” Manny said over the phone.

  He’d forgotten the phone line was still open.

  Roy’s silver sedan appeared, rounding the left-hand curve four hundred yards ahead.

  “Our man is here. He’ll be with you in thirty seconds tops. Be ready to pull out.”

  “We’re ready.”

  “He’s coming toward me. Now he’s slowing for the bend. He’ll be with you in five seconds. He’s rounding the bend now. Get him! Get him!”

  It all happened out of Andrew’s sight, but he heard it. The crash happened in stereo. The thud and scrape of metal on metal spilled through his open window as well as over the phone line.

  “Gotcha, you prick.”

  He jammed the gearshift into drive and pulled a wild U-turn that almost caused a wreck when he cut off a Prius coming uphill. He raced around the corner and slithered to a halt before he added to the damage.

  Manny had done a good job. Their vehicles were almost parallel to each other. Manny had clipped Roy’s Chrysler at a sharp angle, starting at the front passenger door, down the rear passenger door, and finally driving into the rear fender. It looked like what it was. Manny had pulled out into the side of Roy’s sedan.

  Roy, Manny, and Alex were already out of their vehicles, examining the damage. Roy was a big guy with a bouncer’s build to go with it, and he towered over Manny and Alex. Despite the height difference, Manny and Alex were screaming at Roy and each other in Spanish. Roy looked ready to flatten the both of them as he tried to squeeze a word in.

  Part 1 of the act complete, Andrew thought. Now on to part 2. He snatched the cell phone they’d be tracing off the charger and jumped from his truck.

  “What the hell, Manny?” he yelled as he rolled up on the trio. “Again? How many more times are you going to wreck one of my vehicles? You’re a goddamn liability.”

  Manny rounded on Andrew and told him he was a “no good fucking piece of shit” in Spanish. They’d joked about whether they should carry the argument on in Spanish in order to chat among themselves about what to do next, but Andrew decided against it. He didn’t know if Roy spoke Spanish, and what if a Spanish-speaking bystander overheard?

  “English,” Andrew fired back. “You’re in America, buddy.”

  This set off Alex, who ran
up to Andrew and jabbed his finger in his face while spouting what he was going to do to him.

  “Will you three shut the fuck up?!” Roy bellowed.

  They did.

  Andrew held up his hands. “I’m so sorry. These clowns work for me. I’m insured. You won’t be out-of-pocket because I’ll be taking it out of these assholes’ pockets.”

  “That’s fine. I’m covered. Don’t worry about it. I’m in a hurry.”

  Andrew was worried he wouldn’t want the fuss. He had to plant that phone in the car.

  “Look at this damage,” Andrew said. “I can’t let you do that.”

  “I’m good. Seriously.”

  Andrew ignored Roy. He circled around Manny’s truck to get close to the damage. He needed to get inside the car. Roy tried to follow, but Manny and Alex got in his face.

  “You speeding,” Manny said in heavily accented English. “Crazy speed. Very dangerous.”

  “You could have killed us, man,” Alex added.

  “And you weren’t watching the road,” Roy said.

  Andrew ran a hand over the damaged passenger door. “I don’t know. This looks pretty fucked up. We need to check these doors.”

  “You say my dad wasn’t watching the road. He was. He’s a good driver. It’s you cochinos who don’t look.” Alex leaned in, forcing Roy to take a step back.

  Andrew used this moment to pull open the front passenger door. “This one’s okay,” he called.

  A driver coming down the hill passed the wreckage and yelled, “Move that shit off the road!”

  “Trying to!” Andrew yelled back.

  “You know what? You’re right,” Roy said. “I was speeding, but you shouldn’t have pulled out. Let’s call it even. That’s what our insurance companies will do.”

  Andrew moved to the rear passenger door. He had to yank on it hard to get it open. “This one’s working too.”

  “Great,” Roy said. “Then why don’t we get back on the road?”

  Manny and Alex maintained their protests, but Roy was pushing them aside. Andrew had seconds. He palmed the cell phone into his hand and shoved it into the gap where the seat cushion and the seat back met. “Yeah, I don’t see any major damage here.”

  “Then I don’t see that we have any business,” Roy said.

  Andrew slammed the passenger door. “You sure?”

  Roy opened the driver’s door. “I am.”

  “Thanks, man. I really appreciate it. Now I just have to get these assholes to pay me back for the damage to my vehicle.”

  Manny and Alex started up with Andrew again. Roy simply got behind the wheel and drove off. They waited until he was truly out of sight before they dropped the charade.

  “Did you do it?” Manny asked.

  Andrew held up empty hands. “I did. Do you think he bought it?”

  “Yeah, because of our fine-ass Mexican acting,” Alex said.

  “Thanks, guys. You don’t know what this means. Now round up the crew. Hit whatever spot you want to. It’s on the company credit card.”

  Alex high-fived Andrew.

  Manny told his son to get behind the wheel. When they were alone, he said, “Is everything cool? You’ve got me worried.”

  The elation Andrew felt ebbed away. “A friend is in a tricky spot. It’s going to be okay though. Don’t worry.”

  “I’m going to hold you to that.”

  “Go. Have fun. Don’t get too shit-faced. I expect everyone back on the job site tomorrow.”

  Manny managed a smile. “And I expect the same of you.”

  They got into their trucks and cleared the ruse off the road.

  As soon as Andrew was moving, he called Olivia.

  “It’s done,” he told her.

  “It is?”

  “Yes. I’ll meet you back at your place.”

  He liked the sound of relief in her voice.

  At last, something’s going right, Olivia thought. She was far from being out of the woods, but for once she felt like the odds of surviving this nightmare had swung just a bit in her favor.

  She checked the time. Roy had had his twenty minutes. She drove the Audi out of the parking structure and got on Skyline. She let the car coast down the winding road, allowing gravity to dictate the speed.

  Roy was leading them home. It would be interesting to see where he lived. What kind of lifestyle had the victims of Infidelity Limited afforded him? She hoped it wasn’t lavish. It would be horrible to think he’d built a kingdom based on misery and deception. The only comfort she could take was that with a little luck, whatever standard of living he had would be gone soon.

  She thought of Andrew’s money. He’d worked so hard for it. He’d handed her the proceeds of a house he’d built from the dirt up without a moment’s thought. She had to get it back for him.

  She prayed Roy was leading them to his little black book. Once they had that, she could sic Finz on Roy. It would solve two problems by letting her aggressors neutralize each other. That would be perfect.

  A sharp impact from the rear snapped her head back into the headrest. The force sent her Audi surging forward as it went into a tight bend. The car slithered on the road, but it made the curve. Olivia checked her rearview mirror. An aged Crown Victoria had just rear-ended her. It looked like it had been a police car in a previous life, judging by the cowcatcher over the front bumper and the spotlights still on the door. From the sedan’s poor outward condition, she guessed the brakes had probably gone out on it.

  She really didn’t have the time for this. Roy was what counted. She’d just swap insurance details and get back on the road. There wasn’t much room to pull over on the narrow, descending road, but she slowed her car on the straight before the next hairpin ahead.

  The Crown Victoria didn’t slow. It accelerated. The Ford’s big engine roared, and she looked in her rearview as it bore down on her. She hit the gas, but it was too late. The old cop car slammed into the back of her again, this time with enough force to send the Audi into a slide. She’d been up to Tahoe enough times in the snow to know how to steer into the slide. She caught it, but the rear passenger-side wheel slipped off the roadway onto the dirt. She blessed the car’s four-wheel-drive system for keeping it all together. It was an extra Richard had insisted on. Now she could have kissed him for it.

  The Crown Victoria came at her again. Olivia out-accelerated him.

  The hairpin loomed. She was a dead duck going into the switchback. As soon as she braked for it, the Ford driver would simply torpedo her. But if she kept it tight to the corner, she’d at least give the son of a bitch as little to hit as possible.

  She stamped on the brakes. The Crown Victoria locked its brakes a second before it smashed into the back of her sedan. The impact sent Olivia’s car spinning around, which only served to help her around the bend, while it forced the Ford driver to overshoot the corner and slow down.

  She took her small advantage and mashed the gas pedal to the floor. The Audi leaped forward, helped by the steep downward gradient.

  One thought filled her mind—why? But she already knew the answer. This was no case of road rage. This was Roy’s doing. He wasn’t content to take her money. He wanted her life too. While he’d left the likes of Karen Innes to rot in prison, Olivia wasn’t getting off that lightly. She was too much of a liability since she knew about Heather and Amy. She had to die too. All police investigations stopped at the grave. Roy’s words came back at her. “Our business relationship is at an end.”

  The Crown Victoria gathered pace behind her. A tight left-hander was coming up, but she had enough of a gap to make that turn and not have him ram her off the road. The next bend, she wasn’t so sure.

  The ex-cop car closed in over the next two curves. She glanced at her would-be assassin, and she recognized him. It was the man she’d chewed out for following her after she’d visited Nick’s sister, Mandy. Roy had had his employees following her. Had any part of her life been her own since hiring Infidelity Limited?


  The Crown Victoria nudged her again, then again. Her trunk lid popped open. Cocooned inside her car, she’d been somewhat insulated from the violence and danger trying to get at her. With the trunk lid open, the Crown Victoria’s engine’s roar filled her car’s cabin, its angry snarl at her neck.

  Another hairpin bend approached. Beyond it was just sky. Only one car was making it around that corner. The other was taking a faster route down. It wouldn’t be her.

  The Crown Victoria zeroed in on her bumper. It nudged it twice, with the sound of buckling metal and splitting plastic. He was teeing her up so he could drive her straight over the edge, but she had other ideas.

  “C’mon, c’mon, keep it coming, buddy,” she murmured.

  The Ford driver backed off, letting a fifty-foot gap open up. She didn’t panic. He was just getting breathing space before he rammed her again. She maintained her speed.

  “C’mon, c’mon, ram me. You know you want to.” She hoped to God her idea worked.

  As if the Ford driver had heard her, the Crown Victoria surged forward. The engine growled. The switchback was two hundred feet away, but her gaze was on her rearview mirror. The sedan’s reflection filled the mirror. When the car was just feet from smashing into her, she spun the wheel hard to the left, then stamped hard on the brakes. When the Crown Victoria struck her, it slammed into the rear corner of the Audi, sending it into a fast, tight spin. The Ford driver wasn’t so lucky. The Crown Victoria had made only a glancing blow to Olivia’s sedan. The Ford, large and heavy, plowed on. Its brakes locked up, smoke peeling off the tires, but they did nothing to slow the car’s progress. The Audi spun back around in time for Olivia to see her attacker, still at the wheel of his car, fly off the edge of the road. The car clipped a tree as it went, sending it into a flat spin.

  Olivia’s Audi finally came to an untidy stop in the middle of the switchback, after clipping a dirt verge. She couldn’t believe it. It had worked. She was alive. It took a moment for the realization to sink in.

  She climbed from the car and staggered over to the edge of the road. The Crown Victoria lay on its roof nearly two hundred feet below. It had been a brutal fall that caved the roof in. If Roy’s man was still alive, he’d be crippled. The son of a bitch deserved it.