by Kieran York
“I’ll tear up as many resignations as she hands me. And we’re not letting Jill go. She’ll be back on the police force before I’ve had a chance to blink. She’s totally trained, bright, and makes a huge contribution to the Team.” Jill was perfect for the Team. Quick, professional, and confident. Everything that made her an excellent cop.
“Is Clarissa making any kind of contribution to your love life?” Rachel’s laugh accompanied her question.
“Two obvious criminals visit her book shop and question her. Terrifying her. She wants no part of me or my life. They menaced an innocent, non-violent citizen.”
“Sorry I asked. But I can see her point. However, you usually don’t take your profession to the bedroom with you. And these bad guys are particularly evil. The sex trade is filled with rough hombres.”
“They know I’m related to Boyd, and maybe they wanted to intimidate her. Or me. Get someone to lead them to Boyd.” I paused. “Anyway, I’ve got to concern myself with the cases.”
“And that includes chasing the wicked three?” she inquired.
I changed the subject. “Rach, I don’t want to run into Dimitri until he has a chance to cool down. I thought I’d have Ravyn meet me somewhere. She knows more than she’s saying. The receptionist might know my voice, so if you could contact her to find out when and where we can meet.”
“Trev, if she’s in with them, she might be setting you set up for them.”
“True. Make sure our meeting is in a public place. Maybe at the mall. Coffee shop would be fine.”
Rachel reported, “I’ll see what I can do. Mickey Coleman is probably running the operation. He’s good at standing back. When he got out of the slammer years ago he was in for pimping. He went back to the streets immediately, but then cleaned it up to a string of massage parlors. Now he may be sex trade trafficking to build an escort service. That’s his M.O.”
“This is going to be a tough solve. Two kingpins are working their gigs from one another’s arena. We’ve got the sex trade and the treasure ship business.” I paused. “Interesting to see how they play their games. A fresh new start for Coleman. But not.”
“Enforcement doesn’t really expect them to clean up. I’ve heard that the sex trade is going more youthful. Now they kidnap younger and younger women, girls. And men, boys actually.” Her sigh through the phone was discouragement. “Trev, if we take them out, we’ve made a major improvement in our community. If not, it is going to be the same as usual.”
“And then we’ve got the other case, a clean-cut guy marries a chic millions-of-bucks-heiress. And their expectations fizzled. They face divorce. Donald Ogden is murdered. He leaves behind a question mark. No one hates the guy. His buddies have young ‘stud pissing’ battles, but nothing too unusual. Wife hates him, wants to be rid of him. But why would wife, Mona Ross, send out a hit that is a bloodbath?” My mind whirled when I thought of the horrific crime.
“It makes no sense,” Rachel grumbled.
“Rach. She has money to buy a miserable hubby off. A divorce dump. Where do the dynamics of it all lead?” These were the questions that circled my mind. Mona might have hated Donald enough to stage a killing on the beach walkway. Killing on a trail. But leaving a corpse that would require a billion sutures? “She couldn’t have over-powered him herself. Blood and guts aren’t her style. My guess is that she’d have offed him a few bullets. Maybe it was some slasher mentality junkie who was high.”
“Be careful, Trevar,” she cautioned me. “I’ll try to get in contact with Ravyn and get the information to you.”
“I’m going to find a safe way to get over to talk with Mandy and Boyd. I might as well assume that either Mickey or Dimitri will be tailing me in their quest to find Boyd. I’ll need to give whichever tail the slip.”
“Maybe the trinity will send in one of their goons.”
“Rach, I don’t think they want the staff to know what they’re up to.”
“Just take care. I’ll let you know if Summer finds anything incriminating about Gary’s activities. And why don’t you use my BMW to visit Mandy and Boyd. We know Dimitri has seen your Mercedes up close and personal.” Rachel muttered, “He probably has nightmares about it.”
“Good point. I’ll drop back to the yacht, shower, disguise and take your car. We need to get all our vehicles swept.”
Driving back to the yacht, I realized how tricky this was all getting.
Rach agreed that we needed to step up our undercover game. I showered, changed clothing and when I got to the door, Rachel chuckled, “Be careful.”
I slipped sunglasses over my eyes, and then tossed the printed Aussie hat on my head. I tucked my blonde curls inside. Walking across the luxury dock where The Radclyffe Hull was securely in her slip, I glanced around the marina parking lot. There were rented security guards – robo-cops, but they probably were only trained at taking down pickpockets. The turnover was weekly. I knew at least one of the guards was barely out of high school. A nice kid, but the only shootout he’d seen was watching TV drama.
Scanning the horizon of high-dollar yachts, and the beach, I didn’t see anyone suspicious. I broke into a jog across the parking area, then curved my run back to the ocean. Again, I gave a check. It was clear. I waited several moments, then turned my hat inside out. It was now white. I took off the over-blouse I’d worn and shoved it into my handbag. Before heading back through the marina parking area, I rolled up my pantlegs. There was a car on the other side. The driver was watching my yacht. Whoever he was, he was even more interested in slamming down a breakfast burrito and fancy-dancy iced coffee and cream drink.
Nonchalantly, I went across the lot to where Rachel’s BMW was awaiting my arrival. I then zipped right past the sports car that had eyes on the yacht. Mickey Coleman was sitting in the driver’s seat. He didn’t bother looking up from his eats. When I was a couple blocks away, I called Rachel with the auto’s ID. We could at least have security keep eyeballs on Mickey Coleman.
I was on my way to visit cousin Boyd, and my friendly confidential informant, Mandy. I contacted her to let her know I was on my way, so I could be buzzed in immediately. Mandy and Boyd were in the sunroom, sipping iced tea. “Come on through,” Mandy called as she poured me an iced tea. On the rectangular wicker tabletop was a thick glass covering, and a jigsaw puzzle with edges finished, and pieces strewn. “Every time I see the two of you together, I’m more convinced that you’re twins.”
Boyd and I laughed at the same time, with the same wildly wide grins. I explained the camouflage and deceit I used to safely sneak into the apartment. They seemed slightly impressed with my wily dress. But after I told them about the ordeal with Dimitri, my two consorting pals became fully attentive.
“You nearly shaved off Dimitri’s manhood?” Boyd exclaimed.
“It was a very snug, close shave,” I admitted. “I have no idea how I would have beat that charge in court. But I wanted to ask you about the pecking order. Coleman, Laski, Simon, and Dimitri.”
“Dimitri,” Boyd explained, “was the lowest on the totem pole. The expendable one. The arm, as they call it in gangster talk. Dimitri is nuts, and physically determined. Vicious and cruel. It’s just my take on it. I was an outsider. Skipper Laski, Jurg, seemed to be at the helm, as it were. But yet, Mickey had equal footing. Dimitri knew what was going on, and he would boss the others on the crew, but he marched to Jurg’s whims.”
“And Simon?” I questioned.
“Simon was somehow logistically near the three. It was as if he’d been a part of Mickey’s past. You know, they went back. But they didn’t talk much about their private lives. That’s why I didn’t believe Simon would steal the treasure. Not from a longtime pal like Mickey.” Boyd frowned, concentrating. He placed a puzzle piece carefully where it belonged.
“And Jurg and Dimitri were from Russia, and could they have historically gone back together?”
“In their case it was as if Jurg lived here most of his adult life, and Dimitri pro
bably only a few years. But Jurg often talked to Dimitri as if he were the underling. They talked Russian, and that really upset Mickey. He’d tell them to stop that babbling. If the four of them colluded, I mean, if Simon was in on anything illegal, the conversation may have been when I was scouring the sea bed.”
“So, there were times when Simon wasn’t diving with you?”
“Some days there would be two divers, sometimes three or four. They ran the diving in a haphazard way. Never really a schedule.”
Mandy had been placing puzzle pieces along the lower right side. “Tom Powers called yesterday to say they might need to interrogate Boyd again.”
“Stall him,” I quickly answered. “I’ll drop by and chat with him in the morning. Update him on the threats that the real killers of Simon are inflicting on us. How seriously Mickey and his Russian buddies are trying to find Boyd.”
Mandy honed in on that. “The three will only turn tables and maybe ask that you be charged for nearly emasculating Dimitri. They can buy some witnesses.”
Boyd added, “And they’ll probably say that it is revenge for losing their pal and employee. They have contempt for women anyway, so they’d love to take you apart.”
“Speaking of women,” Mandy’s right eye lifted. “I know a woman who is very crazy about you.”
“You haven’t talked with her lately. I mean,” I corrected, “if you’re referring to Clarissa. She doesn’t want to be threatened by the criminal world. And I don’t want her to be endangered. She won’t spend her life with a woman strapping on a gun holster every day.”
“She only mentioned it would have been nice.”
“Mandy, Jurg and Dimitri paid her a visit to find out about Boyd. That’s why I went after Dimitri.” I wanted to pound the table but all the puzzle pieces would have jumped from their correct position. “Jill is now her bodyguard.”
“You’re taking care of her, protecting her,” Mandy argued.
“Mandy, I’m her evening bodyguard, and she is not happy. I slept on her cot last night. She wants no part of me.”
Boyd offered, “Beryl, this is an unusual circumstance.”
“I chase criminals for a living. Anyone wants to get to me, all they need to do is get to a person I care about. The Team has experienced that over the past years.” My dejection showed clearly. “Sorry, I wish it could be possible. But it isn’t.”
Boyd shook his head. “Hey, if she was straight, I’d give up my career for her. She’s a special woman.”
It would do little good explaining that detective work was my career, and my life. But a fine, decent, smart, delicate, and honorable woman could be a wonderful life.
Yet, my appointment was set with Ravyn. And I headed that way.
Going from thoughts of Clarissa to meeting Ravyn – Rhonda Reed, was mind-boggling. She’d selected a place, where I’d never been before, to meet for our luncheon. It was a small, off the grid, barbeque hut on the edge of West Palm. We sat as near as we could to the window air conditioner. I could smell the spices of the BBQ pit outside. It could clear my sinuses, I figured.
I almost didn’t recognize Ravyn out of her costume. Her denims were mid leg, and her faded blue tank top was haphazard. Her face was desolate without the thick layer of cosmetics she used in her striptease act. She wouldn’t be taken for a soccer mom. However, she certainly contained the sexy runway walk, and the gyrating pole motion. “This is a little out of the way, but it’s safe from having to explain to my bosses.”
“Your bosses are or have something to do with a guy name Mickey Coleman or Dimitri Zhenya, right?”
“Look, I could get wacked for talking to you. You tried to kill Dimitri last night. He told us all about it. He’s fuckin’ irate. That’s why I agreed to see you. Somebody needs to warn you off. These guys have no normal in ‘em. Simon found me and stuck by me. That saved me from beatings, and bullshit. Simon did that for me.”
“Who exactly owns Sheeran’s?”
“They call it a corporation. But Mickey sort of had to divest all his ties to crime when he did time. I met the treasure hunter, Jurg, but he’s not much more than in business with Mickey. He recruits the girls sometimes. Gets them offshore where he’s safe. International waters. I try not to know what’s going on. Simon always said that I should know nothing and I’d be safe.”
“Can’t you get out?”
Shame covered her face. It was a relief when the server brought us each a platter of huge ribs. After she had fidgeted and picked on one of the ribs, she spoke. “How the hell can I get out? Where would I go? How would I make a living? I make me some good money. I got no papers. I got no recommendations. I got no documentation. And going back to my family isn’t an option. They got no money. I send them the bucks to survive. I’m trapped now.”
“Were you recruited?” I quizzed, hoping she’d answer.
“I got doped up at the wrong place and time. Next thing I knew I was on the way to Puerto Rico. They kept me there for a couple years. Told me that I owed them money.”
“It was involuntary servitude.”
“Hell, some parents in other countries sell off their daughters. If their kid survives, the parents are disgusted by them. Well, like me. Shamed by my family. Mickey brought me to Miami. Finally, I met Simon and he was working with Mickey. Simon was loyal to Mick. Simon talked Mick into giving me a good job here. He was keeping me safe.”
“Ravyn, how do they recruit so easily, without getting caught?”
“Easy. Kidnap a girl. They’re wanting younger and younger kids now. I hate Mick and Jurg for this. They steal women. If they can get ‘em across a border, no one can find them. Yeah, exploited, sold to pimps. It’s an ugly road and there’s no way out. Hell, yes, it’s slavery. But it goes unnoticed. They got child sex tourism. Minors, they don’t give a damn.”
It was sickening, yet I understood the complexity of it all. “Mickey is a very bad actor.”
“And beware. You made Dimitri pissed off at you. He’s unequalled in punishing. The guy is a nightmare. He makes me want to vomit. He has this virgin fetish. He is a monster. If you’re smart, you won’t let him catch you.”
“I want to catch him.” I thought of the young women he raped and brutalized. Youth in its middle time of going through hoops of romance/sex, has enough of a difficult time. I wasn’t going away from this case. I was looking for some punishment, and an end to him and Mickey. “I want to catch him. I want to capture Mickey.”
“Mickey Coleman is too smart to go back to the slammer.”
“Mickey gets sent to prison, and he comes out with more ideas about the trade?” I inquired.
“Sure. Brothels masquerade as legitimate business. Massage parlors. Illicit fronts for prostitution. It begins with ‘hand relief’ or genital stimulation. Then intercourse. You’d be surprised about how big this business is. Mickey and Jurg have big holdings in the sex trade.”
“You know where they take these kidnapped women, don’t you?”
“You don’t understand. Sit there with your purity. You don’t give a damn what happens to me. I’m complicit with this. Sister, you don’t know. These men will take their AR-15’s and make me mincemeat. And they won’t blink. Simon was the only one who took care of me. I don’t think I ever loved anyone. But he was the closest I come to loving anyone.”
She finished her meal in silence, then walked away. I knew she was finished talking. And she didn’t want lectures. She knew what she was allowing to be done to those young women. She fully understood that she was implicated. She didn’t trust Mickey Coleman. And she didn’t trust me. Self-preservation was her only goalpost.
That afternoon, I spent checking with confidential informants and leads. Informants wouldn’t talk much when I mentioned Mickey Coleman.
My inquiries were leading me to believe there were no exemptions for law and order. The course of life was set. We just did our best, or worst in the cases of the rotted hearts of evil. Two cases. One was a body that drifted ont
o the beach. The resolution seemed to be lingering, and perhaps disseminating into a cold case that would never be solved.
The other was a case that had tunnels of criminal activity that junction from one crime syndicate to another. It was personal because it led to a sex-trafficking gang. A war against women, youth, innocence…So many ugly crimes. Trevar Investigators case began with a lifeless body, found on another beach. Simon Wagoner, had probably been killed elsewhere. I presumed on board a ship. Had he escaped, jumped, tried to outswim the spray of bullets? Or had he been murdered by the crew of Sea Fortune? Then thrown from the side deck of the ship, perhaps.
I parked in a lot a couple blocks from Pages. When I entered the bookshop with its multitude of books and shelves, and the sweet floral smell, I couldn’t help but smile and be calm. Of course, this serene spot relaxed me. Clarissa didn’t want her peace disturbed. I didn’t want that for her. I could never provide a placid life for her. Because I could never assure it for myself.
That didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate the state of calm in the bookstore. And I loved the way Clarissa looked up from the counter, and her smile was automatic. She may not have wanted to encourage me, but her smile hadn’t gotten the message.
I returned her smile just before she went back to the customer she was helping. Then I nodded to Jill. “Jill, I can take the overnight shift.”
“Trev, you managed to stay alive today. Good work,” she teased. “I heard that both cases are in a lingering state. All clear on this front.”
“Right. You can fill me in when you come back tomorrow morning. Not much to go over. Cases are not terribly active.” My frown ruffled as I considered the translation of our professions. In my work – nothing happening, dead ends, and no perp in jail. For Clarissa, my guess would be no books would sell that day. But that wasn’t the case. Jill lifted a stack of books as she headed for the entrance. “Rachel called for a stash of books?”
“Yep,” Jill answered. “Clarissa knew exactly where to find them all. Did you know she’s a former librarian? She has her Master’s Degree in library science.”
