Sins of the Past

by Julia Derek

  But after finding this note, Kate no longer believed there was a less insidious explanation. Instead, she was now even more sure that Trevor was also behind her husband’s murder.

  But what did he mean by “revenge is sweet”? The only thing Kate could think of was that she had dumped him for Diego, and Trevor had been way more upset about it than he had pretended. Oh, God, of course that must be it. The guy was a psychopath. This was why all of this horror was happening to her. First her husband was murdered, then her kids were taken from her. Leaning forward, she buried her face in her hands as the situation became increasingly clear to her. Oh, my God, of course that is why…

  “Kate, what is it?” her mother demanded to know, grabbing her arm. Shaking herself loose and removing her hands from her face, Kate began pacing the room, feeling like she was about to have a nervous breakdown any second.

  “Kate!” Joanna this time. “What’s wrong? Talk to us, please.”

  Kate closed her eyes and stopped for a moment, blocking her mouth with her hands that she had fisted. Joanna and her mom came up to her, her mom placing an arm around Kate’s shoulders.

  “Please tell us what’s going on, Kate,” the gray-haired, short woman pleaded softly, stroking her daughter’s red hair.

  Slowly, Kate lowered her hands from her mouth and turned to her mother, looking at her with haunted eyes. “I think I know why all of this is happening now. Why Trevor has taken the kids. Why he killed Diego. I’m sure he’s the person behind Diego’s murder now. But I don’t think it has to do with him being a member of the Aryan Brotherhood and Diego a member of the Latin Devils. I don’t think it’s because of something that once happened between them. I think it’s because of me. Because of how I treated him. It’s all my fault.”

  “Don’t talk like that, Kate,” her mom admonished. “It’s not your fault. Why would you say such a thing?”

  “Because it’s the truth. Trevor was clearly not as okay with me dumping him for Diego as he told me. Made me believe. And now he’s making me pay for it. It’s the only explanation to what’s going on.”

  “You think Trevor’s trying to get back at you for choosing Diego over him?” Joanna asked, looking at her. “That that’s why Diego was murdered and the kids are gone?”

  “Yes,” Kate confirmed darkly.

  “But, wait, weren’t you with Trevor the night Diego was killed?” Joanna asked, a frown having formed on her forehead. “Wasn’t that what you told me?”

  “Yes, I was with him. But, as I told the detective, maybe someone else from the Aryan Brotherhood killed Diego for him. One of his gang member friends. He’s obviously still a member and they all seem to help each other.”

  “I guess that’s possible,” Joanna said. When Kate’s mom, Beatrice, had arrived a couple of hours earlier, they had filled her in on what Luis had seen on Trevor’s arm. Now she asked, “Do you really think he’s involving other people in this situation? That seems a bit much even for someone who’s been scorned. I mean, to get others involved in his vendetta.”

  “Not really,” Kate said. “If you read about what the Aryan Brotherhood is all about, how violent and loyal they are to each other, it doesn’t seem so farfetched.”

  Kate went out of the bedroom and into the living room where her laptop remained open on the coffee table there. She clicked on the mouse so that the screen lit up, displaying the Aryan Brotherhood’s website. Beatrice was standing beside her.

  “Read about them here and you’ll see for yourself what I mean,” Kate said bitterly and nodded at the screen. “I’m gonna call the cops and see if they have some news for me. If someone’s seen Luis and Anna.”

  “But you just called them fifteen minutes ago,” Joanna said, who was back in the living room as well. “Don’t you think they’ll call you if there’s something to report?”

  “It can’t hurt to call them again.”

  * * *

  Chapter 35

  When Wil and Larry got to Kate Martinez’s house the following morning, the local news had been alerted about what had happened to Anna and Luis. All the channels were asking the public to contact the police if they had seen a four-year-old, dark-haired boy dressed in jeans and a green sweatshirt and a two-year-old girl with long auburn hair in pigtails dressed in a pink dress over a white blouse with a blond, tall, slender man in his early thirties wearing a black jacket, brown cashmere sweater, and black jeans.

  By now, the children had been missing for nineteen hours. The first forty-eight hours were always the most crucial in these types of cases. Sadly, the vast majority of kids who were found after that amount of time had passed were dead.

  Kate’s apartment was full of people—a couple of NYPD officers were talking to an older, gray-haired woman in a blue shirt and beige slacks who Wil thought might be Kate’s mother, two plain-clothes detectives were talking to a man and a woman, and Kate herself was pacing the apartment. Her wide eyes were wild and there were dark circles under them. She was pale and her red hair was a mess. She didn’t look like she had gotten much sleep the night before. It took her a moment to realize that Wil and Larry had stopped near her, trying to make eye contact. When she did, she jerked lightly and stopped walking.

  “How are you doing, Kate?” Wil asked in a compassionate voice.

  Kate ran a hand through her mane of hair that was in desperate need of a brush. “Not good. No one has any idea what’s going on. Where he could have taken them.”

  “So you’re sure that Trevor has taken them then?” Wil asked. “There are no other possibilities?”

  “Not that I can think of.” Kate crossed her arms over her chest.

  “What makes you so sure he has taken them?” Larry asked. “Is it possible that something has happened to them? Could they have been in some accident?”

  “I was hoping for the longest time that that might be the case,” Kate said and blew at a piece of hair that kept falling into her face. Distractedly, she pulled a hairband from her wrist and put her hair in a ponytail. “But then I found a handwritten Post-it note on my nightstand. It was in Trevor’s handwriting and it said, ‘Revenge is sweet.’”

  Larry and Wil exchanged a glance. “Revenge is sweet?” Wil repeated.

  “Yes,” Kate confirmed. “That’s when I knew that Trevor must have something to do with it. The fact that he appears to be a member of the Aryan Brotherhood was what really cinched it for me.”

  Wil stared at Kate. Had she heard her correctly? “The Aryan Brotherhood? You’re saying that Trevor is a member of that gang?”

  “Yes,” Kate said. “My son saw that he had a shamrock tattoo on his forearm. The letters AB were drawn right inside it. That’s apparently one of the Aryan Brotherhood’s main tattoos. Luis told me about the tattoo a couple of days ago, and I forgot to ask Trevor about it. I had all intentions of doing so, but then I got this great job interview and I totally forgot all about it when Trevor came over to babysit for me.”

  She pulled at her hands and stared before her with empty eyes. “Argh. I should have known that he had something up his sleeve all along. No man is that nice and helpful, and especially not someone who has been scorned. I’m such a fool!”

  Wil wasn’t sure exactly what Kate was talking about. All she knew was that she needed to show the woman photos of Pete Dalton and see if Kate recognized him. So she retrieved her iPad and switched it on.

  “Kate, I need you to take a look at a few photos for me,” she said and found the mugshots of Pete Dalton the FBI had shared with them. They were several years old, but hopefully Pete hadn’t changed too much. She held out the iPad so that Kate could see them.

  Staring at the first two photos, Kate sucked in a breath.

  “What?” Wil asked. “You know who this is?”

  “Yes… Yes, that’s Trevor. At least it very much looks like Trevor. But Trevor isn’t bald like this guy. He has nice blond hair.”

  “These photos are from twelve years ago. From an arrest as you can see.
This man, who’s twenty-one years old in this photo, is named Pete Dalton. We have been told he’s dead, but we haven’t been able to find any records of his death anywhere. Certainly there is no grave for him that is known. And now I think I know why.”

  “You think Trevor is really Pete Dalton?” Kate asked, her big blue eyes even bigger now.

  “Yes, that’s what it seems like. Pete Dalton was—well, is still, it seems—a member of the Aryan Brotherhood. And knowing that Trevor has an AB tattoo on his arm further reinforces this theory. Excuse me for asking a private question, but it’s important—did you ever see Trevor naked or at least with a bare upper body?”

  Kate shook her head. “No. I haven’t even seen him in a short-sleeved shirt. It was winter when we dated and we didn’t date all that long. And every time I’ve met him since then, he’s worn a long-sleeved shirt. Not that I saw him very often.”

  Wil frowned. “So you were dating Pete Dalton? Or Trevor as he’s known to you. When were you dating him?”

  “Right before I met Diego,” Kate replied. “I dumped Trevor for Diego.” She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. “I knew Diego was the one for me almost as soon as I met him. Trevor took my rebuff of him surprisingly well.” She grimaced. “Now I’m pretty sure that was all an act, and that in reality he was furious. And that’s why all this has happened. That’s why he killed Diego and took my children. He wants to get back at me, make me suffer for what I did to him. He’s obviously crazy. Oh, God.” She buried her face in her hands and began to hyperventilate.

  Wil put an arm around the other woman’s back. “Take deep breaths, Kate. It’s going to be all right. We’ll find them.” She wasn’t as sure about this statement as she made it seem, but she needed for Kate to think so for now. Having her falling deeper into panic mode wouldn’t do anyone any good. She and Larry had lots of questions for her that could help them find not only the missing children, but also help them find out who had murdered Diego.

  The woman did as Wil had suggested and thankfully pulled herself together relatively quickly.

  “What makes you say that Trevor killed Diego?” Larry asked softly. “To get back at you?”

  “Yes, primarily. Maybe also because he’s a white supremacist,” Kate answered.

  “Okay,” Larry said. “It sounds like you and Trevor have been in touch for a while what with him babysitting Anna and Luis yesterday. How long have you been in touch?”

  Kate bit her lip and glanced down at her hands that she was wringing. “We remained in touch throughout my marriage to Diego.”

  “You mean you were having an affair with Trevor while married to Diego?’ Wil asked, a little taken aback. She remembered thinking that Kate had acted a bit strange when they had asked her about her marriage to Diego, but she hadn’t sensed that Kate had been having an affair.

  “Oh, no!” Kate replied, waving her hands in the air as if distraught. “We were only friends. But it was always Trevor who kept insisting that it was okay if we remained friends. I initially thought it would be better if we parted ways. I didn’t want to lead him on.” She scowled and glared into an empty space between Wil and Larry. “Now I know why he was so insistent. He was obviously plotting his revenge even back then.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us about your relationship with Trevor when we first interviewed you?” Larry asked, gazing at the widow sternly.

  “Because I never thought that Trevor could have killed Diego. See, he was with me that entire night, so I felt sure he must be innocent. I thought it was impossible for Trevor to be behind Diego’s attack.”

  Wil was confused. “So then why are you claiming that Trevor killed Diego now?”

  “I don’t think he did it in person,” Kate said. “I’m thinking he used his friends in the Aryan Brotherhood to do it.”

  * * *

  Chapter 36

  “We also believe that your husband’s death may be related to the Aryan Brotherhood,” Wil said. “But not because Trevor wanted to get back at you and members of the AB helped him kill Diego. We went to speak to some of the AB members in prison, and according to them, Trevor has been dead for many years. We have no reason to believe they were lying to us. So, you see, it would be a bit odd for them to all of a sudden kill someone for Trevor just because he asked them to do it for him. What we believe instead is that Trevor had a long-standing score of some kind to settle with your husband back from when both were active members of the gangs. Since you say you were with Trevor the night of your husband’s murder, he must have used someone other than his old friends to settle the score.”

  “So you think this is all about a long-standing score?” Kate asked, not looking entirely convinced.

  “Yes,” Larry said. “When Diego decided to no longer be part of the Latin Devils, he also forfeited any protection from the gang. He must have either forgotten or not known that someone in the Aryan Brotherhood had it out for him. Someone meaning Trevor.”

  “But why would Trevor take my children then?” Kate asked, frowning deeply. “He’s obviously part of the Aryan Brotherhood. Or was part of it. I agree with that part. But taking the children to get back at Diego for something he did to Trevor many years ago seems like overkill.”

  “We don’t know why he would take your children,” Larry answered truthfully. “He obviously wanted to leave the Aryan Brotherhood for some reason, which is why he’s made them believe he’s dead. Why he would go through all that trouble is another mystery we need to solve. I’m thinking that, if we can solve one, we will also solve the other. Did Pete—or Trevor as you know him—ever say anything disparaging about your husband?”

  “Yes, but only after Diego had died,” Kate replied, looking desolate now. “Before that he never said a single bad thing about him.” She sighed heavily. “I was stupid enough to believe every word of what he told me afterward.”

  “What do you mean?” Wil asked. “What did he say?”

  “I told him about how Diego had kept his former gang membership a secret from me, and how I was beginning to think there might be a good reason for Diego getting killed after all. That it was probably related to the Latin Devils, or something he did while a gang member. That I had been naïve in thinking it was just a random robbery. And how I was now worried that maybe something would happen to me and the kids despite what you had assured me of. Trevor then confessed that he had always known that Diego had been a member of the Latin Devils, but that he hadn’t wanted to worry me, so he never mentioned it to me.”

  “Really?” Wil said, tilting her head. “That sounds odd. What made him realize that Diego was a Latin Devils member? Or had been a member?”

  “He claims that his mother was a freelance journalist who wrote extensively about gangs in America. Years ago, he had seen photos she had taken of the Latin Devils and Diego had appeared in a few of them. Well, at the time Trevor thought that he was just thinking the teen in the photo was my Diego, not that it had actually been him, which was why he kept it to himself. But then when Diego was murdered, he said that he had gone through some of his mother’s research a while ago and seen what he could find out about the Latin Devils and Diego in particular. He had also spoken to his mother about it. He told me he had found out that Diego had been one of the gang’s most vicious members and that he had tortured several people. Someone must have come back to avenge themselves on Diego. Learning this about Diego was horrible of course, and I told Trevor that I had to tell you about it. He asked me for your contact information and told me he would forward all his mother’s information to you.” She gave a sad laugh. “He never did contact you, did he?”

  “No, I’m afraid not,” Larry replied.

  She shook her head. “Why am I even asking such a question? I’m finally getting that he was just making up that story to make me believe Diego had been a horrible person. I’m such an idiot.”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Wil said and patted Kate’s arm reassuringly. “This man is a master manipulat
or. He fooled everyone. His mother is dead, but she was never a freelance journalist. She was a blue collar woman from Oklahoma who was also a member of the AB. If it makes you feel any better, you should know that we spoke to some of the members of the Latin Devils on our trip down south. According to them, Diego was not a violent member, quite the contrary. All he did was commit robberies and serve as the lookout during hits. The only time he hit people was to defend women and children. Trevor absolutely lied to you.”

  “Yes, that does make me feel better,” Kate answered and gave a tired smile. She covered her mouth and nose with her hands for a moment. “I can’t believe I bought Trevor’s story so easily…”

  “Like Wil just said, don’t beat yourself up,” Larry said. “You were in deep grief and this psycho took complete advantage of it. He clearly has many years of practice deceiving people if his own gang believed him to be dead. They’re no dummies. He must be very skilled.”

  Kate sighed deeply. “Yeah, he is very good. He also assured me that I didn’t need to worry about the safety of my kids or my own. According to what he picked up from his mother’s research, whoever wanted to avenge themselves on Diego would have come for me and the kids first in that case.” She glanced at Wil. “Same as what you told me. So I stopped worrying about it. And then I got that promising job interview the next day and had other things to think about.”