My Sister's Detective

by T. J. Jones

  By evening I was livid and started calling for the jailer. A large, square jawed Sergeant walked back to my cell and scowled at me. "You keep yelling and you aren't getting any supper."

  "I want my phone call. I want to call my lawyer, right fucking now."

  "You cuss at me again and a phone call will be the least of your problems. Phone calls are a courtesy we don't give murderers until they're charged. I don't know that you need a lawyer, you haven't been interrogated or charged."

  "I still get a phone call. I was a MA in the Navy, everybody gets a call within twelve hours."

  The Sergeant leaned against the bars and nodded like he was interested. "Oh yeah, military man huh? Where'd you serve?"

  I was hoping he was going to relax and let me make my call. "Here and there, San Diego my last few years. Come on Sarge, everybody gets a phone call."

  "Not tonight." He said stubbornly. "This isn't San Diego and it damn sure isn't the Navy. I got word you're not to get a phone call until morning, after they decide if they're going to charge you with murder or not. Are you going to yell and cuss some more, or are you hungry?"

  ***

  My cot wasn't very comfortable, which was alright because I couldn't sleep anyway. The man in Sam's apartment had been a paid assassin, I was sure of it. And from what he'd done to Sam it was clear he was after information, information Sam either couldn't or wouldn't give up. The assassin hadn't had a lot of time, just the time it took to go to the grocery store and back. Maybe Sam had given the man what he wanted. Maybe that was why he went after Dedra right away. Kill her, silence her, and be on his way. Then what? Was he supposed to get rid of Rosalyn and Sandy too? Did Gary not have the stomach for cold blooded murder?

  Gary Jeffries was a sick bastard, very possibly responsible for several people's deaths indirectly. But as far as I knew, despite the way he had brutalized Rosalyn, he hadn't killed anyone personally. Davey might be the exception, but that remained to be seen. The fact that he seemed to be stalking Sandy Foster and Rosalyn didn't necessarily mean that he was trying to kill them. Granted, it was likely, and I planned to alert Susy the minute I was released that her sister was not delusional. As for Rosalyn, I didn't want to imagine what would happen to the individual that Manny and his compadres caught trying to hurt her. Actually, I could imagine it. That's what I was doing when I finally drifted off.

  "If I was you, I'd be calling my lawyer." It was a different Sergeant who took me out to use the phone after breakfast. "Somebody really wants to keep your ass in jail."

  "I can do better than that, I have a friend with an Army of lawyers."

  Chapter Seventeen

  Maryanne Thatcher's legal team had me out three hours later. The bespectacled man that stood beside me while I retrieved my belongings expressed his regret that it had taken so long. "I can't imagine why they even detained you. The law written the way it is, you had every right to shoot. How did a homeless man get up on the fifteenth floor anyway?"

  "Homeless man?"

  "Yes, that's what I was told. I understand the doorman left his post and has been released because of it. Still, how did he get in the apartment?"

  "Now they're saying he was a homeless guy?" I was dumbfounded. "Where is Dedra?"

  "Dedra? Was she the prostitute that was at the apartment?"

  "No. She wasn't a prostitute, she was Sam's girlfriend. What did they do with her?"

  "I was told she gave her statement and was released. She exonerated you, so that should be the end of it. I don't expect you will face any further charges."

  "Listen, I appreciate what you've done, but there's something really wrong here. That guy was a hired killer, I would bet anything on that. Would a homeless guy have cut Sam into little pieces? What about his parents, they have to have been told."

  "I can't tell you that, I have no way of knowing. I just know that the woman was released, she testified that you shot in self-defense, and no one will be charged."

  "Son of a bitch! Sorry, but this stinks of a conspiracy of some sort." I was given my belt, wallet and cellphone and we walked out of the county building together. "Any idea where my truck is?"

  ***

  The lawyer took me to the impound lot and I had to pay to get my truck released. Once out of the lot, I checked my cellphone. There were three messages from Maggie and two from Susy Foster. It was Sunday and I was supposed to meet Susy in Titusville on my way home. If she had heard about Sam, the afternoon lunch would be off and she had to be a basket case. I called her first.

  "My God, Slater! Dedra called and told me what happened. She said she told them you had nothing to do with killing Sam and that you shot the man who did it, but they took you in anyway. She said Sam was dead and it looked like he'd been tortured. She's hiding out at a girlfriend's place because she's afraid they might be after her, but she wouldn't tell me where. She called on a burner phone because she thought hers might be pinged. She said she tossed it, just to be on the safe side."

  "Smart girl, but I really would like to talk to her. They made damn sure to keep me locked up until today, almost like they wanted to do cleanup before I got out. The doorman's been replaced, so I can't talk to him, and they're claiming Dedra was just some random hooker that Sam had hired. That was no homeless man that killed him, he must have been a pro. He cut poor Sam up pretty bad before he killed him, like he was trying to get information out of him."

  "Oh God." She didn't say anything for a moment, and I could hear her struggling to talk.

  "The cops are covering things up, but any kind of autopsy would verify what I'm saying." I insisted.

  "I talked to Sam's parents, his body has already been cremated. In his culture, they do it as soon as possible, and they couldn't get out of India right away, monsoon season, I guess."

  "This is getting out of control, they're covering things up Susy. Your sister isn't delusional. I think she really did see Whitey, or the man that used to be Whitey."

  "What would make you say that?"

  "I know someone else, someone who might have seen him too." My caller ID buzzed and I saw that Maggie was trying to reach me. "I have to go, but you be damn sure that your sister has protection. Someone is targeting women, just a few that Davey had on a list, and I may know who it is."

  "Who, Slater? What list? Eric?"

  "I have to go, Maggie is calling. I'll call you back in a bit."

  "What list? Is it about the White Devil? Is that who you're talking about?"

  "Sorry, I need to talk to Maggie, she's called several times." She was still talking when I ended the call and answered Maggie's.

  ***

  "What the hell Slater, why haven't you been answering your phone?"

  "You told me not to get in trouble down here, but that didn't work out." I told her the whole story, leaving out the fact that I thought her uncle was alive and might well be Diablo Blanco. "I'm not a conspiracy nut, somebody is covering things up."

  "Yeah, there's something going on. Edith Templeton called me, that's why I called you again. Claire picks her up for church Sundays, and Eddy was out of town. Somebody broke into the house while she was gone this morning and tore the place apart. She said none of her jewelry was touched, nothing was taken as far as she could tell. She called me and I told her to call the cops and that I would call you."

  "What did Eddy say?"

  "I don't know if those two are talking, she said he's out of town and she wasn't even going to bother him. She also said the cops are worthless and she wasn't going to call them either. There wasn't any real damage, just stuff thrown everywhere. They were looking for something."

  "My guess is they're looking for Davey's notebook. I think I know what this is about."

  "Yeah?"

  "I'm not saying any more over the phone, the cops had it overnight so for all I know it's bugged. How's the leg?"

  "I'm a quick healer. The swelling is gone and I can manage the stairs."

  "That's good. Can you manage to shoot a burg
lar if you need to? Keep Davey's gun handy. Whoever is behind this, they know we're all connected." I wasn't sure if it was even possible, but I really was starting to worry that my phone might be hacked. If it was, perhaps I could use that. "If they know he and Angela were close they might even go after her. She doesn't know anything, but whoever is behind this might think she does. Call Edith and tell her I'll stop over there when I get back. It'll probably be after six, I have one more stop to make. I'll go talk to her, then I'll come over and fill you in."

  "I feel so bad about Sam, and poor Dedra. I'll have to call Susan Foster and get her number."

  "I think Dedra's in hiding. How did you get Susan's number?"

  "She called me the other day, she had my number from the time we went to the Agency. She called to see how I was, if my leg was healing."

  "Yeah? What day was that?"

  "I don't know, Wednesday maybe? Yeah, it was Wednesday, the day I fired the nurse. Are you going to call her?"

  "I suppose I'd better or she'll just keep calling me. I'll fill you in when I get back." That was one too many coincidences. Now I was sure about Susy Foster.

  ***

  I turned off the Coast Highway and drove into Titusville. I came at Sandy Foster's house from a side street and turned up the hill without driving directly past the house. Susy's car sat out front, but there was no sign of the agent from the FBI that had been keeping an eye on the place. I drove around several blocks, looking for anything that seemed out of place. It was a quiet Sunday in Titusville. I drove back to Sandy's house and knocked. I really didn't want to go back to jail, but I wasn't about to tell Susy Foster everything I knew.

  Susy pulled the door open, looking surprised. "Slater, I called you back, twice."

  "Right, like I want the FBI listening in when I incriminate myself. And thank you by the way, for making sure I sat in jail overnight."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Diablo Blanco, Susan. You asked me about him that first day, the first time I met Sandy. Slip of the tongue, kind of like when I told you about the list. But then you already knew it existed, didn't you?" She looked like she might deny everything, so I continued. "How would a woman working at a talent agency have heard of Diablo Blanco? It is a name you might hear down at Billy's at South Beach if you knew to ask. I figured it was possible that Davey might have heard the name and said it to you, but there was more. You checked on Maggie after the shooting, a couple days before I ever mentioned it. Not like it was on the news down here. But then, being FBI, you probably have our names tagged on a computer somewhere."

  "Maggie seems nice, I was worried about her."

  Sandy delivered drinks, then glanced nervously between Susy and I. "Should I go watch television in my room?"

  "No, stick around. You may be able to help." Susy looked back at me and nodded. "Okay, I was planning to level with you pretty soon anyway. I don't work for the FBI, but I do work with them. My agency is a part of Homeland Security. Child slavery isn't new, and it goes on more than you can imagine. I have seen children as young as ten in unspeakable situations, abused by people without souls. The talent agency got our attention because it was more organized and better funded than a lot of what goes on. There were girls being moved out of the US and taken to the Middle-east, girls from Singapore and Columbia brought here to work in high end brothels, girls from the Middle-east being sent to South America."

  "That's what Davey's notebook showed, at first we thought it was drugs."

  "He told me a lot of what was going on, but he would never tell me anything about Diablo Blanco. Do you know who he is?"

  "No, no idea." I lied. "At first, I thought it was an old boyfriend, but that doesn't add up. All of the people who knew Davey best swear he'd been single for quite a while."

  Susy continued. "When Sandy disappeared, of course I went after Adrian. He told me this Whitey guy had connections at some talent agency, and that he really thought he planned to make her famous. Of course he didn't know what Whitey's real name was and I never was able to find him. Now I think he skipped town when he heard I was looking for him and came back to Miami. Anyway, when Davey got Sandy out, she called me right away and I came here. Davey kept feeding me information and trying to get girls out, but he refused to ever say who got him involved to start with.

  About six weeks ago a girl named Yi Chin was murdered in Panama City. She was in the same hell hole as Sandy and Davey said she had seen some of the American clientele while she was there. Maybe they didn't plan to let her or the other girls out of there alive, I don't know. In hind sight, we should have done a better job of protecting her. Anyway, Davey thought it may have been why she was killed, that she could identify some of the rich clients. He thought there were others, that maybe this Diablo had lined up certain girls for a special customer. He said he would try to make a list of girls who might have been with this one particular guy, a man that would kill to keep his involvement secret. Davey didn't even know who the guy was, but I'm guessing the Diablo did. I never got that list from Davey because he was murdered when he went home that weekend. He did say Sandy would be one of the girls."

  Sandy spoke up. "There were guys I was sure were Americans, but they had me so doped up I could never have identified them. Most of the time I had my eyes shut anyway."

  "So, he went home, made the list and hid it under his dresser, where I found it. Is my phone hacked?"

  "Not by us, or the FBI. Despite what you hear there are legal channels we have to go through. There are ways to do it remotely, high tech stuff without actually putting a chip in your phone. You don't have to be in the FBI to have that equipment."

  "Davey didn't do that great a job of hiding his notebook. I presume you searched the place in Miami and you had access to his computer stuff."

  "Yeah, but he always said he liked to write things down, to avoid the email trails. I wanted to look at his parents' place, but I couldn't get a warrant because of the supposed suicide."

  "He had a meeting that night. Did someone suspect what he knew?"

  "I don't think so, not that he had made that list anyway. You saw Sam, they would have made him talk or gone after his parents. But they might have found out he was the one pulling girls out. It was a complicated operation and a lot of people were involved. One leak would have been enough."

  "So when I started snooping around, they got nervous and maybe started listening in on my phone? Christ, or bugging my house! I talked to Maggie about the notebook there one day and someone broke into my place shortly after that. Of course they couldn't find it, and this morning they tore Edith Templeton's house apart. Or was that you?"

  "Edith Templeton? No, I swear no one that works with me would do something like that. Not sure why anyone would. If your right about your phone, wouldn't they know you have the list and come after you?"

  "You would think so, presuming someone else isn't involved."

  "So what about this list? We need to know who's on it if we're going to protect them. Yi Chin is dead, we have Dedra, Sandy, Rosalyn. Who else?"

  "You know about Rosalyn?"

  "She was the first person Davey mentioned. How many others?"

  "Three more, but if you want their names, I need something, two things really."

  "I can't see that you're in any position to deal. I could drum up some charge, toss you in jail and tear your house apart."

  "You wouldn't find it. I can be a very stubborn man, Susy, and the cot in county wasn't that hard. I even had some decent spaghetti for supper last night."

  Susy smiled. "Better if you and I get along don't you think? I want to find Davey's killer as bad as you do. Odds are finding his killer will be a step closer to shutting down this group of scumbags that are kidnapping kids. What is it you want?"

  "You already gave me one of them. See how easy this is? Make finding Davey's killer a priority. So far, I haven't seen much effort by law enforcement to do that. The locals swept it under the rug and called it suicide. It s
hould be an active murder investigation."

  "Done. I don't think anyone believes it was suicide at this point."

  "And Rosalyn Cabello, she needs her citizenship."

  "I can't make that happen, not in this political climate."

  "If you bring these people down, it will be in large part because Rosalyn was willing to tell her story. You need to make it happen, or no names."

  "Alright. She'll have to go through the process, but I can make sure it's quick."

  "You promise?"

  "Yeah, Slater. You have my word."

  "Is she being protected?"

  "Her boyfriend and his buddies are taking care of that for us. The detail I sent over there couldn't get anywhere near the house without showing their badges, and Rosalyn refused our protection. She said Manny would protect her or die trying. Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

  "I'm not sure I know where to go next. I'm going home and get my real business going. I'm going to start remodeling houses while Maggie heals up. It seems to me these people aren't done. They're nervous or they wouldn't be breaking into houses looking for that notebook. Maybe they'll come to me." I grabbed the pen and notepad that were on the table and jotted down the three remaining names. "That's all, just seven names, four that you already know. There weren't phone numbers or addresses, ages, nothing, just the names."

  "And we're no closer to this Diablo Blanco. No idea, right?"

  "Nope, a guy from Davey's past, that's all I know." I knew I might sit in jail before it was all over, but I wanted to be the first one to talk to Gary Jeffries.

  ***

  I knocked a couple times before Edith Templeton opened the door. She looked tired, but she smiled at me and shrugged when I asked her how she was. "Something like this happens I get mad, it gets my blood pumping. What the hell is going on Eric? I know you didn't want to tell me what David was up to before, but I think it's time you did."