The doctor’s tape was bothering her. Snapping on the bedside lamp, she reached inside for her tape player. Adjusting the ear phones, she rewound the tape and started at the beginning. A few minutes later, she blinked back tears as she listened to her own voice describing the deaths of her parents and what happened just afterward.
She frowned and hit the stop button. Hitting rewind, she backed the tape up and listened again. Her frown deepened as she heard the end of the session. They hadn’t played the tape all the way through before. Now as she listened to the tape she remembered all too clearly the rest of the events of the night her parents died.
Simon did get a call that night. It was from a man named Cyrus. She had told the doctor in Phoenix that Simon was screaming at Cyrus not to tell his father and uncle about the murders. He would take care of everything. She recalled the panic in Simon’s voice pleading over the phone.
Shiloh pulled off the head phones and stared at the tape player. She got off the bed and went over to the window. Pulling back the drapes, she stared out into the darkness. She didn’t see the backyard or the lights below the clubhouse. With the recall of the final events of the night, Shiloh had finally put together everything that had happened.
Simon was afraid of Cyrus’s father and uncle for some reason. She had to find out who Cyrus was and his connection to Simon.
She got dressed and careful not to wake anyone, she crept through the clubhouse. She sneaked out to the parking lot and soon she was on her way to the hospital to see Charlie. He was the only man, other than Demon she could trust.
As her car pulled away, she could only hope Demon would understand. When she got to the hospital, Shiloh was surprised to see the police vehicles everywhere. Their flashing blue and red lights lit up the parking lot. Going in the Emergency Room entrance, she made her way to the front desk. When she asked which room Charlie was in the nurse checked the roster and told her. Making her way to the fourth floor, she found the room and went inside.
Charlie was laying in the hospital bed asleep.
Shiloh slowly walked over to him. She pulled a chair near the bed and sat down.
There was a big bandage on his shoulder and another on his leg. His leg was propped with several pillows under his knee. He was hooked up to an IV and a machine that recorded his blood pressure and heartbeat.
She was glad for the steady beeping of the machine. He looked so helpless and she realized how fragile and precious life really was. Reaching out her hand, she covered his carefully so as not to wake him. She suddenly felt the need to connect with someone from her past. His hand was warm and felt so strong. She leaned forward and laid her head on the bed beside his hand. Minutes later, she was asleep.
A little while later, Charlie opened his eyes and looked around the room. When he saw her sleeping next to him, he had to smile. Lifting his hand, he laid it on her head. He looked toward the door and saw Demon standing there.
Raising his finger to his lips, he motioned for Demon to be quiet.
Demon nodded and pulled up another chair. He glanced from Shiloh back to Charlie. “I should have known she’d be here,” he whispered.
Charlie chuckled softly. “I don’t know when she got here. I just woke up myself.”
Demon nodded. “I fell asleep for a while and when I woke up I went to check on her and she was gone. I guess I panicked.”
“I wonder why she came here?” Charlie asked. “I would have thought she would be comfortable with you.”
“She did say earlier she didn’t feel this was over. She mentioned there was still something out there she was forgetting about.”
“I wonder what that could be?” Charlie whispered.
“How about the fact that Simon had a partner twenty years ago? A partner that may still be working behind the scenes,” Shiloh muttered as she opened her eyes and sat up.
Demon sat forward in his chair.
Charlie also leaned forward. “What are you talking about?”
Shiloh tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at Charlie. “Do you remember me telling you Simon got a phone call right after the murders?”
Charlie nodded. “You also said you couldn’t remember who he spoke to.”
“I didn’t then,” she admitted. “But I went back to the tape the doctor in Phoenix made. We hadn’t listened to the whole tape. I recalled the phone call Simon received when I was six. I even recalled who he was talking to moments before my aunt came to find my parents.”
“Who?” Demon wanted to know.
“He was talking to a man named Cyrus. He was screaming at him not to tell his father and uncle about the murders and that he would take care of everything.” Shiloh looked at both of them. “The only thing I don’t know is who this Cyrus person is.”
Charlie was quiet for a moment then he said, “I know him and this is not good news.”
Demon swung his head to stare at Charlie. “Who is this Cyrus person?”
Charlie laid back against his pillows and grimaced. “Cyrus Briggs is the son of Steven Briggs and nephew of Ralph Briggs.”
Demon snorted and sat back. “What is the connection between Simon Pratt and the Briggs family?”
“Who exactly are the Briggs family?” Shiloh asked.
“Steven and Ralph Briggs began small,” Charlie said. “But over the last twenty years, they learned the ropes quickly and they became major players in the underground crime scene. They did everything from running numbers to extortion.”
“Why didn’t you stop them?” Shiloh asked.
Charlie shook his head. “We tried but every time we thought we had them, we couldn’t get a conviction. Witnesses would disappear, juries would find them not guilty, or evidence would come up missing.”
“Don’t tell me? You can’t touch them now,” Demon muttered.
“That’s about it.” Charlie nodded. “If we even tried to make an appointment with them they’d hide behind their lawyers.
“I wonder how Simon got involved with them?” Shiloh asked.
Charlie glanced over at Demon. “Give Stan Flynn a call. If anyone would know, he would. Stan has been trying to build a case that would make it to court for years.”
Demon reached for his phone. “Do you think he’ll mind a middle of the night call?”
Charlie chuckled. “Knowing Stan, he’s still up.”
Demon placed the call and was surprised when Stan answered before the first ring was through.
While Demon was talking to Stan, Charlie turned his attention to Shiloh. “You look tired.”
Shiloh tried to smile. “I am tired but with everything that’s going on, I can’t settle my mind enough to rest.” She stood up and began to pace. “My stomach is all tied up in knots and my heart is pounding too fast. I want this drama over.” She turned her head to look at Charlie. “How did Donna live with the stress for so long?”
“What makes you think she didn’t have a melt down every so often?” Charlie laughed.
“I never saw her this frustrated.”
“She had someone to talk to,” Charlie told her quietly. “After she left with you, she knew she was alone in the world. She would call me sometimes in the middle of the night and we’d talk for hours. She told me I was her outlet.”
Shiloh smiled. “Then I’m glad she had you.” She hesitated then asked, “What would she talk about, if you don’t mind my asking?”
Charlie grinned. “She would talk about anything and everything but mostly, she talked about you.”
Shiloh frowned. “Me? What on earth would she tell you about me?”
“Are you sure you really want to know?”
Demon snapped his phone shut and glared at Charlie. “Well, you’d better get back on your feet real quick old man.”
“Why? What did Stan have to say?”
“When I told him Simon might possibly be working with Cyrus Briggs he said that wasn’t good. He said he would check out a possible connection and call me back.”
“What if the Briggs were the real brains behind the smuggling ring?” Shiloh asked.
“What do you mean?” Charlie frowned.
“I mean what if the Briggs not Simon were the kingpins all along? If they are as high in underground crime as you say they are, they would have the contacts needed to set things up. Then they sit back and get the rewards while someone else takes all the risks.” She shrugged. “It makes sense to me.”
“The question is how can we prove it, if it’s true?” Demon asked.
“Maybe if we can find a connection between Simon and Cyrus, we can track it back to the beginning,” she suggested.
“We don’t know where the beginning is, and that’s the problem.” Demon shook his head.
“What about all the information Thomas and his group has?” she suggested. “Surely, they can come up with some kind of starting point?”
Demon shook his head. “We still need a way to connect Simon and Cyrus. Otherwise, we’ll never be able to prove the Briggs are connected to the smuggling ring.”
“How about the fact that Simon and Cyrus were best friends all the way through high school?” a voice asked from the doorway.
Everyone turned to see a man standing there holding a file in his hands. The man was older, with salt and paper hair and a full beard. His blue eyes were serious from behind the dark rimmed glasses he wore.
“Stan, it’s good to see you again,” Charlie called out. He glanced at the clock, “That was a fast trip.”
“I was actually on my way in to see you when I got Demon’s call.” Stan came further into the room and held out his hand to Charlie. “It’s good to see all of you again too.” He clasped hands with Charlie and Demon and turned to Shiloh. “I’m Stan Flynn.” He held out his hand.
Shiloh took his hand in hers and felt the warmth. “I’m Shiloh Tremaine, although you might remember me better as Georgia Corbin.”
Stan’s eyes went from her back to Charlie. At Charlie’s nod, he looked at Shiloh again. “Well, I’ll be. You sure grew up fast.”
“Not really,” Shiloh told him.
“Well, I guess it has been a few years in between.” Stan chuckled. He turned back to Charlie and Demon. He handed Demon the file. “This is everything I know about the Briggs family.”
Demon took the three-inch-thick file and opened it. Inside were surveillance photos and police reports going back eighteen years. In the middle of the file were photos of young Cyrus as he grew up. In nearly all the pictures was another young man Demon identified as Simon Pratt. “It seems Simon and Cyrus have been friends a very long time.”
“That would certainly explain things.” Charlie nodded. “We need to check with Thomas’s group and see if any of the stuff from the smuggling ring belongs to the Brigg family. I’ll give Henry Wall a call. He was the man Thomas was talking to. At least, he was the one who answered the phone when I called to report Thomas’ death. Henry stepped up the round up part of the sting when I told him about Thomas.” Charlie looked saddened. “We lost good men yesterday.”
Shiloh saw his expression and patted his hand.
“How did you arrive at the probability that the Briggs family was involved in this anyway?” Stan asked.
Shiloh answered this, “Shortly after Simon murdered my parents, he received a phone call from someone he called Cyrus. He begged him not to tell his father and uncle about the murders and he would take care of things. Before he could do that, the police arrived and Simon got away.”
Stan stared at her for a moment then twirled around to look at Charlie. “This could be the break we’ve been looking for to finally break them.”
“Stan, we have to wait and see where this new lead takes us. Don’t get so juiced you forget the mission,” Charlie warned him. “We still have to dot the I’s and cross the T’s.”
“I know but this just may be their downfall and you can’t take away the feeling of hope I have right now.” Stan sighed.
“We have a lot of information to sort through,” Charlie stated. “Not only with the Whiskey Bend PD but with the DEA and other agencies. It’s going to keep us all very busy for a while.”
“Busier than you realize,” someone from the door said.
Everyone turned to see who else joined them.
The man standing there was younger than Stan and he was dressed in a suit. He waited for someone to invite him in.
“And who are you?” Charlie frowned.
“I’m Henry Wall. I flew in from New York. Someone named Charlie Boone called to let me know my colleague Thomas Gerard was killed in the line of duty.”
“I’m Charlie,” Charlie called out. “I never expected you to fly out here.”
Henry walked over to them and shook hands with Charlie. “I appreciate the call.”
“So exactly why are you here?” Charlie asked.
“I’m here to help you dot your I’s and cross your T’s.”
His statement told them he’d been standing outside the door long enough to hear at least part of the conversation.
“I hate to ask this but can we see some kind of ID?” Charlie asked.
Henry hesitated briefly then reached into his pocket for his agency badge. He handed it to Charlie
He looked at it and passed it to Demon.
“We had to ask, I hope you understand,” Charlie commented.
Henry nodded. “I do, I should have offered it sooner.”
“What did you mean earlier?” Stan asked.
Demon handed the badge back to Henry.
“We have more information on the smuggling ring then you realize. We’ve been tracking it for many years but we couldn’t make the connection. Then five years ago we put an undercover agent in the task force New York had going. When he lost his life in a shootout at the airport and we realized more than one agency was working on the same thing.”
“Wait a minute,” Demon interrupted. “Are you saying Pete Webber was an undercover agent?”
Henry turned to him and nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. He was assigned to the task force to find out exactly what the task force knew in an effort to combine the two agencies involved into one.”
“You’re lucky that never happened.” Shiloh shook her head. “Another member of the task force was a member of the smuggling ring. Richy Hall is Simon Pratt’s nephew.”
Henry nodded. “That’s what we’ve come to understand.” He turned to Charlie, “I hope we can work together to wrap this up.”
“I don’t see why not.” Charlie nodded. “It doesn’t really make a difference who brings the smuggling ring down as long as it’s brought down for good. Working together, we can get the job done.”
Chapter Twenty
“Is there somewhere we can move this meeting to?” Henry asked. “I’d rather not work out of a hospital room.”
“I can’t go anywhere for a while.” Charlie motioned the hospital bed.
“Maybe we could get you transferred somewhere a little more private,” Henry suggested.
“We could go back to the house.” Shiloh nodded. “All of Thomas’s things are there anyway.”
“Thomas mentioned a green book,” Henry said. “He said it had names and dates and tied in nicely with what we already had.”
Demon nodded. “The book is being tested at the police lab. I had a copy made before I turned it in so we can work off that.”
“Great.” Henry rubbed his hands together. “I’ll make arrangements to have Charlie transferred and we can get started.” He turned and left the room.
When he was gone, Charlie looked over at Demon and Stan. “He seems just a little too eager, don’t you think?”
Demon stood. “I’ll make a call and check him out.”
When he left the room, Charlie glanced at Shiloh and Stan. “I’m just being careful. There’s too much at stake not to be. At this point, I wouldn’t put anything past the Briggs family. That’s what makes them so dangerous.”
Demon came back a few mi
nutes later. “I guess he is who he says he is. I talked to Terry Branch, from the task force. He’s been in touch with the DEA and said Henry Wall is here in Chicago. He said he would text a picture, just to be on the safe side.” Demon’s phone chimed and when he checked, he found he had a message. It was the photo of Henry Wall. Demon glanced at the photo for a moment then looked at Charlie. He turned the phone so Charlie could see the picture. It was the same man they met earlier. “I probably should tell you that I called the MC to update them. Lucifer and Hades are on their way here as well.”
Charlie shrugged. “Okay, he is who he says he is. Let’s see what the man has to add to our investigation.” He paused and shook his head. “I know you had to call them I just hope they don’t cause any trouble.”
“They have the right to be here,” Demon insisted. “We suffered at the hands of Simon Pratt too.”
Charlie nodded. “I know. That bastard caused pain and suffering wherever he went.”
Henry came back to the room with Charlie’s doctor and a nurse.
Charlie looked at his doctor and shrugged.
Dr, Michael Paulson shook his head. “Charlie, it’s really too soon for you to leave but I can set you up in another room, at least for tonight. Depending on how you do, I can think about letting you out tomorrow. It’s the best I can do.”
“I understand, doc, no problem. We could use the bigger room.” Charlie replied. “By the way, how are Richy Hall and Leroy Younger doing?”
“Richy is recovering well and Leroy just went to recovery,” Dr. Paulson replied. “He needed surgery for his wound. Each of them has a police officer outside their door and are handcuffed to their beds.” He glared at Charlie. “I’m not sure I appreciate the extra presence of the police, it tends to disrupt the flow of quiet.”
“Yeah, well I’m sorry about that doc, but it necessary. If those men hadn’t been shot in the commission of a crime, they would be in jail. They won’t be here long.”
After they settled in the new room, Henry began unloading his briefcase.
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