Shadows May Fall

by Corcoran, Mell

  “Is everything alright?” They heard the concierge yell from the other end of the apartment.

  “We are not sure.” Dillon responded and waited for the man to find them. “Would Ms. Sturn leave this out like that? Or do you know?”

  “Absolutely not!” He insisted. “She is extremely neat and tidy! She would never leave that out, even if she were in a rush! Oh my, you’re right, something is wrong!” The little man started to panic.

  “Now calm down.” Lou insisted, ushering the man back to the main entrance to the apartment. “You obviously know Ms. Sturn very well. Help us figure out where she might have gone so that we can help her.”

  “Oh yes, right. Let me think a moment.” He requested. “Can we please go back down? I just feel like I am violating her space by even being in here.”

  “Sure but can you tell us if she has a computer here? Maybe that could help us locate her?” Lou suggested.

  “No, no.” The man shook his head. “I mean she does, but it’s one of those little tablet, laptop combo things and she takes it everywhere. She never leaves it home, ever.”

  “You’re sure about that?” Dillon asked as they exited the apartment.

  “Oh I am sure. She missed a flight once coming back for it when she accidentally left it on the reception desk.” He explained as they waited for the elevator. “I told her I could have had one of the staff bring it to the airport for her, but she made me swear not to let it out of my sight until she got here and picked it up herself.”

  “Does she have any emergency contact information?” Lou asked. “Or any alternate addresses?”

  “She has a place in the Hamptons, a pied-à-terre in Madrid. Let me look, just a minute.” The man pulled a tablet from the reception desk drawer and started swiping back and fourth on its screen. I have an emergency address she gave me personally, but no phone number.”

  “Can we have that, please?” Dillon flipped open his notepad and jotted the information down when the man showed him the screen of his tablet. “May we also have your number? In case we need to contact you in a hurry?” Dillon handed him his pen and pad.

  “Of course!” The man scribbled and handed the pad back. “Is there anything I should do? Anyone I should call?”

  “Absolutely not....” Dillon looked at his pad to find out what the man’s name was. “Byron?”

  “Yes, Byron.” The man blushed a little. “My mother was a Lord Byron nut.”

  “Nice to meet you, Byron.” Lou smiled.

  “Likewise!” He tried to smile but was too distressed. “So I shouldn’t call anyone?”

  “No.” Dillon continued with his previous thought. “It’s so important that you act normal, like nothing is going on.”

  “Even if Vanessa comes home, she may not know anything is going on and we don’t want to stress her out, right?” Lou asked him but was actually telling him.

  “Of course not!” He agreed.

  “Especially if this is all just a silly misunderstanding, we really don’t want you getting in any trouble for letting us in.” Lou reminded him. “With as fastidious as she is, and all, right?”

  “That makes perfect sense.” Byron agreed.

  “You just call us immediately if Ms. Sturn comes home or if anyone calls or comes looking for her. Okay?” Dillon handed him his business card.

  “I absolutely will!” Byron clutched the card to his chest as if it were the most precious thing in the world.

  “We’ll be in touch, I promise.” Lou spoke to the man as if he was a small child.

  “Alright. Thank you, Detectives.” Byron waved as Dillon and Lou left the building.

  “Where are we headed?” Lou asked as they got into the SUV. “Hidden Valley?” Dillon wasn’t familiar with the location. “Crap.” Lou knew exactly where they were headed and that they couldn’t go in alone.

  Hidden Valley was an extremely affluent area comprised of sprawling multimillion dollar estates tucked into the Santa Monica Mountains. She was very familiar with the location because it had been one of the areas she and Joe scouted to build their home. Joe had opted for the northern hills due to its accessibility. Hidden Valley was far more out of the way and isolated, something Joe felt wouldn’t be as convenient or healthy for them since Lou’s mother would be home alone a good bit. Otherwise, Hidden Valley was a dream location for anyone who valued their privacy and wanted an authentic country lifestyle. The primary problem for Dillon and Lou was that it was in Ventura County Sheriff’s jurisdiction. The isolation as well as high security was also going to make the element of surprise tough.

  After stopping to grab a coffee, Lou started making calls to her contacts at the East Valley Ventura Sheriff’s department. She had an excellent relationship with the commanding officers over there and knew getting cooperation and support was not going to be that much of a problem. She also called a couple of the guys at Lost Hills Station to see if she could get eyes in the sky to do some reconnaissance of the property. That way they would have an idea what they were heading into. Unfortunately, air support was tied up and wouldn’t be available for a while. They had at least an hour drive to get their ducks in a row even though they had nothing to justify raiding the location yet. Lou and Dillon were both praying that Vinny could get their people to find something before they crossed into Ventura County.

  “I’m being told she has some sort of cloud account thingie where she stores all her stuff.” Vinny told them. While they basically sat parked in traffic. “The problem is our guys can’t seem to get into it. They’re gonna keep trying but there’s something about layered encryption and without that pesky ‘probable cause, we’re on thin ice here.”

  “What about the company that the property is held under?” Dillon asked. “Venganza, LLC?”

  “Yeah, that’s a privately held offshore deal. We are digging into that too, but there is the obvious here.” Vinny grumbled.

  “The fact that the word is Spanish for vengeance?” Lou knew what it meant and the irony wasn’t lost on her.

  “Right.” Vinny confirmed. “There are a lot of permits for all kinds of modifications to the property, but they’re pretty nondescript. Some inspections on subterranean space, extra electrical.”

  “Subterranean means basement.” Dillon said as he looked in Lou’s direction. They were clearly thinking the same thing.

  “Can you take a snapshot of the blueprints so we’ll know where ’re going once we get in?” Lou asked.

  “Consider it done.” Vinny told them. “I’m gonna follow up with our Ventura brothers and make sure they are sending you enough back up. Get your ear pieces ready because I want to hear everything when you head into this place. I wish you would wait until we had warrants.”

  “Then get us one!” Lou demanded. “Find us something, anything, to get us in there.”

  “We’re workin’ on it kiddo!” Vinny’s voice squeaked again. “I’ve got everyone on the phones lookin’ for anyone in this contact list that might even hint at being missing. If we can get them in the general vicinity of that ranch, I’ll personally pound the District Attorney until he gets us that warrant.”

  “Given we are basically parked on the 405, you’ve got about an hour before we hit Ventura County.” Dillon told him.

  “Then let me get off this damn phone so I can make it happen!” Vinny grumbled then hung up.

  There was no way for Lou to get linked into the contact data so she could use her special tools her Principate position afforded her. She had to rely on the people in the Sheriff’s Department to find something, anything, that could get them in the door to Vanessa Sturn’s estate in Hidden Valley. The brutal truth was that if Vanessa wasn’t there, she was already out hunting one of the last two men that were at Marcus Medina’s party. The question was, why was that party her trigger? Why did those five men land on Vanessa’s hit list? None of the people they had interviewed had anything but a
cursory connection to the woman. They had only met her in passing, all but Deidre Love. She was the one person who had a significant personal relationship to Vanessa Sturn, and there clearly was no love lost there. At least on Deidre’s end. There had to be more to it, but Lou was at a loss on how to find it. It wasn’t even as if they had any window of opportunity; it was more like their hand was being forced. The only option Lou could see was to ask Vanessa Sturn, point blank, and see what happened.

  The room they placed Jakob Koch in looked like any other law enforcement interrogation room. For all Jakob knew, he was being held by federal agents, handcuffs looped into the bolt on the cold metal table that sat in the center of the empty cinder block room.

  It was evident to Max within the first minutes of watching the live feed that Jakob Koch was utterly clueless about his role in the Black Blood operation. Before Henrik ever laid a finger on him, he was already sobbing and had wet his pants somewhere in transit. Though Max’s Danish was a little rusty and Jakob spoke no English, he was able to discern that Jakob was approached by a man that worked at the port. He was offered a small stipend to misrepresent delivery records to show that the bottles were going one place when they were being delivered elsewhere. It took Henrik only seven minutes to obtain the actual location of the delivery and the details surrounding the drops.

  Jakob Koch ate breakfast every day at the same small cafe near the fishing docks where he made his regular pickups. Once a month a man would sit next to him at the counter and slip him an envelope that contained one-thousand kronor in cash and fake papers. Jakob would deposit the money into his mother’s account then head for the port to pick up the shipment. Jakob owned his own truck and freelanced delivery service, so he had no boss to check in with or fancy tracking system to worry about. He drove past the fake delivery location each time just in case. The paperwork on the bottles would be marked as delivered then the false papers would come into play for the real drop. Jakob would deliver the shipment to the train depot up north where the cargo was listed as anything from fish and produce to wind turbine parts. Once the papers were turned over to the foreman at the depot, Jakob’s role ended and he would toss all his copies of the paperwork in the fire when he got home. With this newly gleaned information, Henrik had his people pulling up all the shipping records from the train depot so they could go over everything with a fine-toothed comb. The only thing the young man could remember about his last run was that the fake documents listed the cargo as fish feed from some company with the word ‘bio’ in it.

  That drop had taken place three weeks ago which meant Jakob’s next delivery would happen within the next two weeks. They needed to get Jakob back in play as if everything was business as usual.

  “I’ll have Sven wipe Jakob’s memory of this, and we will put tracking equipment in the truck. We’ll also have eyes on him at all times so we can grab his contact at that cafe after his next payoff.” Henrik seemed hopeful.

  “Keep the rest of your agents chasing Albert in St. Petersburg.” Max recommended. “If they have informants on the inside, making Albert the priority will give them a false sense of security.”

  “Agreed.” Henrik nodded. “According to our decoy, only two people have asked about him instead of Jakob’s working the route. We’re going to make sure Jakob has a lovely meal with a little kick to it before we take him home, wipe his memory and plant new ones. Our story that he has the flu will work, I have no doubt.”

  Max grinned. “Nether do I, Henrik. Thank you for letting me watch the interrogation.”

  “Absolutely.” Henrik smiled. “We are in this together, my friend. Unfortunately, patience is required now as far as my region is concerned. Might I suggest patience on your end as well. If you uncover something before we do, it might start a chain reaction of everyone closing up shop until things quiet down.”

  “That crossed my mind as well.” Max agreed. “I’m going to have my people keep digging for leads quietly, but we’ll hold off on anything actionable for the time being. You have the hottest trail right now. I won’t let our work here jeopardize that.”

  “It is a coordinated effort, as always.” Henrik assured him. “Take the weekend to catch your breath. Have a drink with Niko for me! We’ll talk Monday.”

  “Will do.” Max smiled. “Thank you again, Henrik. I owe you several rounds of drinks.”

  “I’m going to collect soon!” Henrik laughed. “Take care, my old friend!”

  Henrik cut the video feed and Max was left in silence for a change. Things had been moving at lightning speed since he returned from Juneau and he realized he was still wearing the sweats that he was in when Lou visited him in the middle of the night. There was nothing else he could do for the moment. Joe, Abby, Niko and the rest of his Aegis were all working their own angles. He needed them to know where they were with the Denmark connection, though. Keeping things quiet until Jakob’s contact was snatched up was critical. Max took a moment to type out an encrypted memo to everyone so that they would be up to speed. He made sure to exclude Lou from the recipient list since he knew she was dealing with her own time sensitive issues. He could fill her in later when she got home.

  The upside to hitting the brakes a bit in their investigations was that Niko would be able to look into whatever he had up his sleeve for Max’s grand gesture for Lou. As Max leaned back in his chair, he couldn’t help but chuckle. How ridiculous was it that he was grateful for a pause so that he could plot and scheme on such silly things. Well, they weren’t silly. Lou was the most important thing to him if he were being honest, but he wasn’t ready to broadcast that just yet. A simple private text to Niko requesting he get back on his Las Vegas assignment would suffice. Once sent, the next order of business was a shower and a change. After that, he would check in on Lou and see if he could be of any assistance with her case. He realized he was behaving exactly as he asked his people not to, where Lou was concerned. He had even chastised Abby and Frank for helping her too much with her new duties. It was important that she learn her way, on her terms, and in her own time. This was different, though, or so he chose to think. Max wanted to help Lou with her case as a Detective, not his Principate. Surely that didn’t count as the same thing.

  “Lou’s got an issue.” Niko walked in without knocking.

  “Is she alright?” Max stopped dead in his tracks.

  “Yes, but she’s in a tight spot and texted me, asking if there is any way we can give her a hand.” Niko sat down at one of the laptops.

  Max took a seat across from him, relieved that Lou was alright. Everything else could be dealt with. “What’s the issue?”

  “She and Dillon are on their way to a location that she believes belongs to her murder suspect. She was holding off bothering me, given recent events, but she’s run out of options.” Niko paused to pull up Vanessa Sturn’s information. “Apparently Vinny has all their techs trying to find anything that could tie this woman to the victims to get a warrant. I mean, seriously, what are they going to do? Knock on her door and ask her to confess out of the goodness of her heart?”

  “Can we hack in and do a faster job?” Max knew it was risky, but he had to ask. “No offense to the Sheriff’s Department techs but, they have limits that we don’t.

  “Perhaps.” Niko was hesitant. “But there might not be anything there. Or anything that would get them a warrant. I think they are looking for the names of two other possible targets as well.”

  “Get her on the phone.” Max instructed. “Let’s find out exactly what it is she needs from us. I don’t want her going anywhere blind if we can help.”

  “I figured that would be your position.” Niko grinned as he dialed and the phone began to ring.

  “Niko?” Dillon’s voice asked.

  “Yeah, and Max.” Niko frowned. “Why are you answering Lou’s phone? Is she okay?”

  “I’m here too!” Lou shouted. “He’s got my phone plugged into his car.”<
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  “That’s rather smart.” Max noted.

  “Yeah yeah, so people keep telling me.” Lou sounded annoyed. “How can we assist you, Detective?” Max got to the point.

  Lou relayed the situation as they crawled through traffic at a snail’s pace. She and Dillon explained how they were sure Vanessa Sturn was their killer, but they had no real reason to do anything but question the woman. Lou detailed what they had uncovered about Marcus Medina’s party, how they had confirmed Timms and Esterhuizen were present along with two as yet unknown males. The men were described only as being major players in the film and or music industries. Both Niko and Max agreed that they had to be next on the killer’s hit list and understood why Lou was asking for help.

  “I wouldn’t do this if there was any other way!” Lou told them. “We have two choices at this point, get our mystery men into protective custody or get Vanessa in a box so she can’t go after them.”

  “So, you just need probable cause for a warrant that gets you on that estate without warning and a reason to hold Vanessa Sturn.” Max thoroughly understood.

  “Exactly.” Lou sighed. “I have faith that our techs in the department will come up with something eventually, but we don’t have time for that.”

  “We just made the transition on to the 405, heading west and it looks like a parking lot.” Dillon grumbled. “Surface streets will be just as bad at this time of day, so we are stuck more ways than one.”