by Kay Bigelow
“Stay alert,” Cots said. “According to our information, we should be nearing him. We’re approaching the restaurant he’s rumored to eat lunch at every other day.”
“Hey, this is where the Amarosa used to be,” Peony said. “Remember? This is where Becker wanted to meet us. It’s been rumored to be a mob hangout for decades.”
“This exact spot?” Cots asked. “Where the phuc is this place?”
“There it is on the left, Cots. It’s been renamed the Bonne Bouche,” Peony said.
“Is anyone else amused knowing a gangster eats at a French restaurant named Bonne Bouche?” Leah asked.
“Maybe he has a softer side,” Peony said with a grin.
“Not bloody likely. It’s probably because he or a family member owns the place,” Cots said. “And more than that, why would Becker direct us to the Amarosa when he had to know it’s now the Bonne Bouche? I don’t think he wanted to meet with us.”
Cots pulled into a newly vacated parking space two hundred feet from the restaurant’s front door. He and Leah climbed into the back of the van with Peony.
“Are we sure he’s in there?”
“No. One of the things we’re hoping to verify is that our information is correct and he eats here regularly.”
“How are we going to get enough info to have this guy arrested?”
“Patience,” Cots said. “We continue doing searches, listening, and watching. He’ll slip up. And we’ll be there when he does.”
“Pay attention,” Peony said as two men came out of the restaurant.
The men talked for a couple of minutes, shook hands, and walked away in opposite directions.
“I got photos of them. Leah, watch the guy on the left. Peony, take the guy on the right.”
“My guy got into the black sedan three cars back behind us,” Leah reported.
“My guy did the same thing. He’s in the dark green SUV ahead of us,” Peony said.
Neither car pulled out of its parking space.
“They’re waiting for someone.”
Two more guys, bigger than the first two, came out of the restaurant. Both looked up and down the street and scanned the rooflines of the homes across the street. One of them stepped back into the restaurant and stood holding the door open.
“That’s him,” Cots said.
A slim young man dressed in a black suit and white shirt with a blood-red tie stepped out of the restaurant. An older man followed him out. The two men paused on the sidewalk long enough to shake hands. The younger man said something to the older one, and stepped away. From the expression on the older man’s face, it was obviously not welcomed news and he said something to Daichi. Without warning, the young man pulled a gun out from a holster beneath his suit jacket, put the gun against the man’s forehead, and pulled the trigger. The man hadn’t even had time to react to Daichi pulling a gun on him. Since no shots were heard, it was obvious the man had been shot with a silencer. The man who was shot fell in a heap onto the sidewalk, while the shooter was escorted to the green SUV. The three men did not hurry, not wanting to draw attention to themselves.
“What the phuc!” Peony exclaimed.
Leah wasn’t as shocked as Peony at the suddenness of the shooting or it happening on a public sidewalk at midday. Nothing much shocked Leah after twenty years on the police force. She was, however, surprised at the audacity of the murderer.
Chapter Thirty-three
We’ll stay where we are to see who else is involved,” Cots told them.
Nothing else happened. No one appeared on the street, no one exited the restaurant. After a half hour, Cots climbed into the driver’s seat, pulled the van away from the curb, and drove slowly away from the crime scene.
“Phuc,” Leah said. “Daichi is a stone-cold killer. This was personal. If it hadn’t been, he’d have one of his gang members take the guy out.” Leah had put away her share of killers and knew there were some people who killed another human being without a second thought. I never thought I’d be surprised by any murder or the reason for it. Maybe I’m just getting old or maybe I’ve been away from the police force too long. Whatever the reason, I’m glad I’m not the one having to deal with this shit on a day-to-day basis anymore.
After their return to Black Orchid Investigations, they gathered in Leah’s office.
“Are we vulnerable in any way?” Leah asked.
“No. I took care of the cameras in the area, they suffered an unexplained malfunction. Anyone hacking the cameras won’t see us driving away from the scene. An added bonus is the van doesn’t have its identifying plates yet.”
“Am I the only one freaked out by what we saw today?” Peony asked.
“No, you’re not,” Leah said.
“Even though I’ve been convinced that nothing a human does will ever surprise me, this guy does. I read some of the reports on what he’s done to his own gang members and this guy’s one sick man. I finally had to stop reading because it was all so disgusting,” Cots said.
“Aside from what we’ll see on the vidnews tonight, will we know something more?” Leah asked.
“I’ll probably be able to identify the dead guy, what Daichi said to him just before he shot him, and maybe the identity of the four bodyguards.”
“What are we going to do?” Peony asked.
“I’m thinking we don’t want to interact with this guy. Right now, I want to hand him over to Maggie McGregor and let justice take its course.”
“I certainly second that,” Peony said. “I am totally freaked out by him. He’s got dead eyes, and if what Cots has said is true, no soul.”
“I’ll add my vote to that,” Cots said.
Leah was surprised that Cots would want to abandon their case so easily.
“If we do that, we will not have solved Sarah’s murder,” Leah said.
“It’s not our fault that Sarah’s killer murdered someone else,” Peony said.
“What’s really going on with you, Peony?” Leah asked.
“This guy scares me. I’m not sure why, but he does. He’s terrifying. And, he’s pure evil.”
“And you, Cots?” Leah asked.
“I’m with Peony. And he’s come to believe he’s smarter than the rest of us and that he’s invincible. That makes him even more dangerous.”
“What do we have to do before we send our evidence to Maggie McGregor?”
“Why can’t we just hand it to her?” Peony asked.
“Because I want nothing—absolutely nothing—that will lead anyone back to us. Understand?”
“Yes, Boss,” Cots said. “We can do that.”
“Let me know when you’re done with it. Don’t send it to Maggie until I give the go ahead, right?”
“Right.”
It felt strange to Leah that the three of them would so easily give up on finding evidence that Daichi killed Sarah. Leah had a hand in finding evidence against a vicious serial killer who tortured his victims on New America. He, too, had shark eyes with no hint of humanity. She hadn’t been afraid of that killer, but then she didn’t have a dozen innocents who would be in danger if she went after him. And she hadn’t been in love with Jardain then, either. She would protect Jardain with her life and if she were responsible for her death, she’d never forgive herself. Ever.
Chapter Thirty-four
After Cots and Peony left her office, Leah turned her back on her desk to look at the activity on the lake. She briefly noted there were more ducks and swans on the water, more flowers in bloom, and some trees looked as if they were in full bloom. She knew that the vicious world of mobs was nothing she wanted in her life again. She was more content than she’d ever been before. She loved being able to watch the Vincas and smell the flowers and she wanted to be able to do that every day, preferably with Jardain in her life.
However, she needed to put the case at hand to bed. She again mulled over what they were doing. It felt right, but in her years with the police force, she’d never backed away fr
om a case. Of course, she’d had a large team backing her up and they were armed to the teeth. Here, there was only Peony and Cots working with her, and worse, she had a handful of inexperienced young people working for her who would be vulnerable.
Her processing of what was going on was interrupted by her phone buzzing. She looked to see who was calling. It was Jardain. Leah was surprised. She hadn’t been sure she’d hear from Jardain so soon again after their meeting earlier.
“Good morning,” Leah said, glancing at the clock on her computer to ensure it was still morning. It was, just barely.
“Leah, what are you doing on June twentieth?”
“I have no idea. That’s six weeks away. If it’s important, I can look at my calendar.”
“It is.”
Leah quickly pulled up her calendar. There was nothing on the June twentieth page.
“I’m free. What will I be doing?”
“It’s a surprise,” Jardain told her.
“Jardain, just for the record, I hate surprises.”
“Noted. Will you have dinner with me tomorrow night?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Save the twentieth for me. Love you.”
And she was gone.
“What the phuc?” she said out loud.
“Trouble?” Cots asked as he entered the open door of her office. He was followed by Peony.
“I have no idea,” Leah said.
“I scrubbed the tape—twice. I gave it to Peony.”
“I scrubbed it and verified it was clean. Then I gave it to Alex to verify.”
“She scrubbed it again and verified it was clean,” Cots said.
“We’ve taken the liberty of identifying the shooter and the victim for McGregor,” Peony said.
“Who is the victim?” Leah asked.
“He’s a businessman who has an import/export business. There are rumors on the dark matter web that if you need weapons, he’s your go-to guy. My guess is Daichi killed him for two reasons. One would be the gun dealer didn’t want to give Daichi a discount on his guns and/or two, Daichi wants to take over the gun trade here,” Cots said.
“When do you want us to send the tape to McGregor?” Peony asked.
“You can send the tape to McGregor as I’m meeting with Lionel Bensington.”
“Let us know when the meeting is,” Cots said.
After Peony and Cots left her office, she again swiveled her chair around to face the lake outside her window. She sat, lost in thought. She wondered if they were doing the right thing by sending the tape to McGregor. Perhaps we should stay the course and prove Daichi murdered Sarah as a message to ShaTin. No, that was too dangerous, and it could take months to build a case against Daichi using evidence provided by Rodrigo, a lovestruck rent boy. Better to get Daichi off the streets now before he gets into running guns and continues to expand his territory.
She picked up her office phone and punched Stacy’s number.
“Stacy, make an appointment with Lionel Bensington for tomorrow morning. If he asks, tell him we know who murdered his daughter.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Five minutes later, Stacy stuck her head into Leah’s office. “Boss you’ve got a nine o’clock meeting with Mr. Bensington.”
The die is cast now. I wonder if Bensington will pay us the two million credits since we didn’t prove Lei killed Sarah.
Leah called Cots into her office.
“I’m meeting with Lionel tomorrow morning. You can secure the murder board on this case. The only question remaining as far as I’m concerned is whether we’ll get paid.”
“I hope so. Two million credits will set us up for a very, very long time. I can expand the cyber team and pay off the van. There’s some new equipment I want to purchase. And, I want to take over the vacant floor beneath us for the cyber arm of our business.”
“Hold your horses. We haven’t even gotten the money in the bank yet and you’ve already got it spent. I’m sure others will also have suggestions on how to spend it.”
“I’ll leave them a few credits,” Cots said with a smile.
“Do you really want to expand the cyber side of the business? Is there enough business on Xing to make the expenditures viable?”
“If the dark matter web is any indication, there’s more than enough business to be had to sustain my expansion. Plus, if we jump on it, we’ll be way ahead of any competitors there might be out there.”
“Put together your business proposal and present it at next month’s partners’ meeting.”
“Thanks, Boss.”
“Send Peony in will you?”
“Sure.”
When Peony entered Leah’s office, she said, “Close the door.”
After Peony settled into one of the two chairs in front of her desk, she said, “What’s up?”
“If you were going on an exotic two-week vacation, where would you go?”
“That’s easy. I’d go to Wild.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Is that it?”
“Yes. No. Who owns it?”
“That’s easy, too. Camryn McDonald is the only named owner of the planet. However, your girlfriend, Jardain, is rumored to be one of the unnamed owners. In fact, when we first got the Bensington case, I remembered there had been much speculation years earlier that Jardain owned the planet and Camryn was a front for her. That, however, was never proven.”
“How long has it been in existence?”
“That’s harder. I think for at least six years. Anything else? Do you want me to send you the details about Wild? Can I go there and investigate it for you?”
“Yes to the first question, no to the second.”
“Phuc. I’ve never been to the planet, but want to go.”
“Why haven’t you been there?”
“The place is really expensive. When I had the money, I had no girlfriend to go with. When I had a girlfriend, I had no money,” Peony said, heaving a huge sigh. She left Leah’s office.
Did Peony just come out of the closet to me? What’s with her and Cots then? Maybe she’s bi. Maybe she meant a friend who was a girl.
Stacy came into her office, diverting Leah from thinking about the status of Peony and her love life.
“You wanted me to remind you when it was time to review the candidates for promotion.”
The last thing Leah wanted to do was to think about personnel reviews. She heaved a big sigh. Stacy must have heard it because she said, “They’ll keep for another week.”
“Stacy, block out two weeks for me starting on June twentieth.”
“What shall I say you’ll be doing?”
“I’m going on vacation.”
“Consider it done,” Stacy said with a smile, knowing Leah hadn’t taken a vacation day since their doors were open and seldom even took a day off.
It didn’t take Peony long to send her information about Wild. After reading about the planet known for its women-only and anything-goes policies, she murmured, “Of course Jardain would own this place.”
Leah spent the rest of the day trying to avoid second-guessing herself on the Daichi matter and on whether to go with Jardain to Wild. She didn’t doubt she’d want to go to the pleasure planet. For phuc’s sake, I need to step out of my comfort zone just this once. Go to Wild. Fuck the sexiest woman in the galaxy for two weeks. It will probably do you a world of good. She knew it wasn’t the two weeks on Wild bothering her. It was what would happen after they returned to Xing that was worrisome.
Chapter Thirty-five
The next morning, Leah arrived at her office just after dawn. She’d not been able to do much more than doze the night before. She still wasn’t one hundred percent sure about her decision, but she had convinced herself during the night the alternative would be so much worse. She’d dressed in her favorite power suit because she suspected she’d have to fight Lionel for their money.
She took her cup of coffee from The Coffee Pot outside to a picnic table near the lak
e. It was warm enough now to be able to sit outside and she enjoyed doing it without being bundled up similarly to when she’d lived on New America with its nine-month winters and nonexistent summers. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been able to sit in nature and enjoy the sounds of birds singing and watch the ducks and swans dipping their heads beneath the water in search of breakfast. Oh yeah. Last summer.
She knew she didn’t have a lot of time to be alone and she wanted to make the best of it while the silence was still hers. She turned her face to the sun and closed her eyes. She willed away all thought. She tuned in to the different chirps of the birds. She heard something rustling in the nearby undergrowth. She heard the honk of a Vinca coming in for a landing on the lake. She felt the tension draining from of her.
“Leah?” Cots asked. “It’s eight and Lionel is supposed to be here in an hour. Are you all right?”
“I am. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to having the sun on my skin in April.”
“Are you second-guessing yourself?”
“That was yesterday. Today I’m sure we made the right decision.”
“So am I. And so is Peony.”
“I’m glad to hear that. While I’m with Lionel, send the information to McGregor,” Leah said.
“Don’t you want us with you?”
“I think its best that neither of you be with me. Peony will remind him of Sarah and we already know he has a problem with you.”
“You’re right, of course.”
“Let’s go inside. It won’t do to keep our first wealthy client waiting.”
Lionel arrived ten minutes early. Amara Bensington came in behind him. And Jardain followed them into Leah’s office.
“What do you have for me?” Lionel demanded.
“Lionel,” Amara said with a warning in her voice.
“Good morning, Mr. Bensington. Would you care for coffee?” Leah asked pleasantly.
