by KG MacGregor
“We call him Andy.”
While Lily explained the circumstances of Andy’s adoption, Anna tried to get a peek at the contents of the folder. It was already several pages thick, which she found both encouraging and unsettling. “I see you’ve been looking through Andy’s case. Have you found something?”
“Actually I did. It may or may not be relevant.” Cooper paged through to what looked like a second police report. “There’s nothing in our records for Andy or Andres Kaklis, but I got a hit on your housekeeper, a Serafina Casillas at your address. That’s what all these papers are from. Apparently she was a key witness to a stabbing last night at the festival.”
“Oh, my God! What about Andy?” Anna’s heart hammered as she scooted to the edge of her seat. Several photos had scattered from the folder, including a mug shot of a man whose neck was colored with tattoos. Another was the apparent weapon, a rounded, talon-shaped dagger that looked especially vicious.
Lily patted her arm. “Just a witness, she said. I take it she wasn’t directly involved in the incident?”
“No, ma’am. And there was no mention of your son anywhere in the report. These were gangbangers already known to the LAPD. We arrested four, including the victim. Right now he’s hospitalized but he’s expected to recover. There were several festival-goers who gave statements regarding the fight, but Ms. Casillas was the only one to have witnessed the actual stabbing. She identified the assailant.”
“And now she’s gone missing,” Lily said, as though finishing the detective’s thought.
“We can’t automatically assume those two things are related, but it is a disturbing coincidence. I’ll bring the arresting officers in on this investigation. We’ll need to speak to all the parties again and see if we can identify anyone else who might have gotten involved after the fact.”
“After the fact?” Anna shuddered at the implications while her mind worked to fill in the pieces. “Are you suggesting Serafina and Andy might have been taken by someone to shut them up?”
The detective pursed her lips. “It’s not something we usually see with gang-related incidents. Involving so-called civilians, that is. Mostly they fight amongst themselves. But it’s definitely something we’ll look into. If there’s a reason to suspect they’ve been taken by a gang, we’ll get warrants to search all the places they frequent.”
Anna liked Cooper’s straightforward manner. She was forthcoming about the facts, and she seemed to grasp that Andy and Serafina’s disappearance was highly unusual, unlike the officers at the West LA station.
Lily drew out her phone. “Here’s something that might help. Our daughter—she’s good with computers and apps—she sent us this a little while ago. It’s an app we use to keep up with our family. It lets us check where everyone’s phone is. We couldn’t locate either of them—I guess their phones were off—but then Eleanor wrote a program to record their whereabouts every sixty seconds in case they turned them on. Serafina’s phone popped up a little while ago. Nine thirty-two, to be exact. Just for a couple of minutes, like it was turned on and off.” She showed Cooper the map. “It’s in the Maywood area, possibly King Taco.”
“Send me that. I can pull their surveillance video.”
Anna was terrified to think Andy and Serafina were being held somewhere by a violent gang. Or even worse—she shook the horror from her mind. It worried her that Andy might lose his temper. Surely he’d know better than to mouth off to someone who posed a genuine threat. Serafina would keep him calm. “I know my son. If he’s being held somewhere, he’ll try to talk his way out of it.”
Lily nodded. “She’s right. He’ll tell them his ma’s a judge. If that doesn’t work, he might even offer them money. Andy knows how to make a deal and he won’t take no for answer.”
“Okay, that’s good. Before you think the worst, keep in mind this is all still speculation. There could be another explanation that doesn’t involve anyone being threatened. We just haven’t found it yet.” She scribbled notes on a legal pad. “By the way, I ran a check on the hospitals and didn’t find anything relevant. That’s good news. There’s nothing yet on the vehicle. I put out an ATL—attempt to locate. It’s possible one of our patrols will pick it up tonight.”
“My father and I drove through all the parking areas around the park this afternoon,” Anna said. “The signs say no overnight parking, that violators will be towed.”
“Right, we also check all the impound lots. If it was left there, one of our enterprising tow services would have collected it by now.”
If Serafina’s car had been abandoned or impounded, it could only mean they’d been taken by force from the park. Anna couldn’t fathom a single harmless explanation for why that would be. “What does your experience tell you, Detective?”
“Sometimes people just go off. They get drawn into an adventure and turn up later, oblivious to the fact that everyone’s out looking for them.” Her grave expression suggested otherwise. “I’m not saying that’s what happened here. Andy and Serafina sound like they’re responsible people. Would you agree?”
“Definitely. Andy wouldn’t go off like that, and even if he had, Serafina would have called us.”
“How long will it take you to check the impound lots?” Lily asked.
“I should have it by morning. It’ll take a day or two at least to reinterview our suspects with their attorneys.”
“That’s a long time for a kid if he’s being held against his will.”
“I understand. We’ll cover all the bases, but there’s another scenario I think we should look at in this case. I did some background on the two of you. You’re both in the public eye, not famous by LA standards but certainly prominent. Am I right that you have substantial means?”
“You think this could be a kidnapping?” Lily asked, then shook her head. “I can’t see it. I mean, think about all the rich celebrities in LA. Why would they pick us?”
Anna’s heart began to pound as she suddenly considered the thousands of employees who knew Andy from their visits to the dealerships. “Because I just struck a deal to sell my company for half a billion dollars.”
Several seconds passed before Cooper spoke. “I wasn’t aware of that. Is this information widely known?”
Anna described how she’d informed her staff in a conference call barely a week ago. Yes, some of her employees were anxious, but she couldn’t imagine anyone was angry or desperate enough to do something like this.
“We can’t necessarily assume it was someone you know. It could be one of their family members.”
“Or practically anyone,” Lily said. “They put out a press release so the news is all over town. What doesn’t make sense though…we were all supposed to be in Los Cabos. Andy staying home was a last-minute thing. How would they have known he’d be at the festival?”
Cooper flipped her notepad to a new page. “Could be they were watching your house waiting for their chance. Again, we’re only speculating, but this is an avenue we need to pursue.” She scribbled again on her pad. “I’ll have someone check street cameras to see if there was a vehicle following them from the house to the festival.”
Anna was able to provide the precise time they left the house based on the alarm. While it frightened her to think someone was holding them for ransom, it was better than them being in the hands of violent gang members trying to shut them up permanently.
“I’d like to get our technicians inside your house first thing tomorrow to set up phone tracing on all your lines and accounts in case you get a ransom call. And just to be on the safe side, they should look through everyone’s computers to see who you’ve been talking to. I suggest for now you go home and get some sleep. Frankly you both look whipped, and it could be a long few days.” She closed her folder and stood, signaling an end to their meeting. As she escorted them down the hallway, she calmly assured them of the steps she’d take to follow up with the arresting officers and others at the scene. “I can only imagine what you’r
e going through. But this case is mine now and I promise it’ll get all the attention it deserves.”
As they walked through the parking garage to their car, Lily said, “I feel like we’ve been dropped into someone’s idea of a horror film.”
Anna stopped and grabbed her by the shoulders. “If there’s a ransom, we pay it. I don’t care if it takes everything we have.”
Chapter Eleven
The gangbanger raised his weapon, a hook-shaped dagger.
Anna shouted, “Andy, I love you!”
He looked back with narrowed eyes, his lips pressed tightly together—refusing to answer.
“I love you, pal. I love you.”
“Anna!”
She went limp as Tawna grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her hard.
“Anna! Anna…wake up, sweetheart. It’s just a dream.”
Breathless and shaking, she opened her eyes to find Lily looming over her in their bed. “A dream…”
Was she awake for real now? She sat up and looked around the room. The bed, the alcove, the clock.
“Honey, are you okay?”
“How am I supposed to be okay when we don’t know where our son is?” She regretted the sharpness of her reply and planted a light kiss on Lily’s cheek. “Sorry. I dreamed they were holding Andy in a basement, some gangbanger with a knife and one of my GMs. They wanted a million dollars in ransom, but Hal was trying to negotiate a better deal.”
“It’s no wonder, what with all those things bombarding your head.”
She threw back the covers and swung her feet to the floor. “I’m surprised no one called me a cunt.”
They’d arrived home last night to find JUDGE CUNT spray-painted across their front door, raising the specter of yet another potential threat—Claré Zepeda’s rabid fanbase. Their doorbell camera had caught a clear image of the vandals, a young male with a spray can and two women who cheered him on. Lily had sent the video to Detective Cooper and also to the security team at the courthouse.
They’d barely dressed and made it downstairs before Cooper showed up with Peter Nguyen, a police technician. He set up his computer gear on the dining room table and went to work right away linking their devices to a program that let him monitor their communications.
Cooper followed them into the kitchen, quietly assuring them Peter was a trained police officer and not to be put off by his worn jeans and sneakers, or the headphones that were a permanent fixture around his neck. “He ID’d your vandals already, caught them on street cameras pulling onto Wilshire Boulevard and ran their license tag. Patrol officers dragged them out of bed at four this morning. I seriously doubt they had anything to do with Andy, but I guarantee you they’re going to be very sorry they messed with a judge.”
As Lily passed her a mug of coffee, Anna said, “I never saw a need for a gated driveway, but now that you’re a judge I’m calling Samuel to put one in this week.”
“Probably a good idea.” Lily stifled a yawn before addressing the detective, “Any news on Serafina’s car?”
“As a matter of fact”—she paged through her notes—“it was located in the impound lot at Pepe’s, not far from Hollenbeck Park. They towed it at three a.m. on Sunday. We’re running some prints, but there was nothing unusual in the search.”
“Your guys have been busy,” Lily said.
Cooper held up a hand. “That’s not all. Those street cameras they used to track your vandals? They also tracked Serafina’s vehicle on Saturday night, and it doesn’t appear that anyone was following from the house…which makes it more likely their contact was at the festival.”
“That means it probably wasn’t one of Anna’s employees either, because they had no way of knowing Andy would be there. Same with Claré fans.”
Anna shuddered at the implication. It was looking more and more as if someone from the gang had taken Serafina and Andy to keep them from talking. If so, how could they ever let them go? “It has to be something else. What if Andy told a friend at Brock’s house where he was going? They could have met him there. Or…or maybe we’ve got it completely wrong. Say it has nothing to do with Andy. What if it’s someone Serafina knows? A stalker or something like that.”
The detective nodded, albeit indulgently. “If she has an admirer, there’s probably a record of it on her computer. Peter will check that out.”
“Detective Cooper, you need to see this,” Peter called from the dining room, where he was scrolling through what looked like a series of messages. “Looks like you guys were doxed last Tuesday on Claré-2-Z. This is a forum run by fans, basically a free-for-all. No moderators that I can see.”
“What does doxed mean?” Anna asked.
“They posted your home address and both of your work phone numbers. Also the Premier Motors website…and your email at work,” he added with a nod to Lily. “This post also mentions Andy, with a link to an article in LABizMag. Looks like a profile of Anna.”
Anna rushed around to have a look. “That’s an interview I did eleven years ago when I became president of the chamber of commerce. We’d just adopted Andy and they asked me about balancing work and home. I had no idea it was still out there.”
“The internet’s forever,” Peter said glumly.
Cooper sighed. “We should at least find out if any of these fans are here in LA and keep that line of inquiry open for now.”
After living her entire life in LA, Anna was mostly numb to its celebrity culture. Premier Motors drew a steady stream of actors, singers and sports stars in search of a stylish BMW to fit their upscale image. Plus she and Lily were on a first-name basis with several stars whose kids attended Hills Academy. But this side—an army of fanatics willing to do harm to those who dissed their idol—was something she couldn’t fathom.
She couldn’t stand around and wait for some computer geek to trace a number to a whacko fan. “I’m going to the dealership to go through my mail. Call me if you hear something.”
Lily walked her to the door. “I take it you need some head space, right?”
“That’s part of it. The other is if they’re sending stuff to work, I’m the best person to go through it. The sooner I do that, the sooner we can focus somewhere else.”
“Okay…” Lily tugged the lapel of her sweater. “But don’t be gone long. I need you here.”
Anna crushed her with a hug meant to hide her tears. “We’ll get him back. We have to.”
* * *
With the couch throw wrapped snugly around her shoulders, Lily paced the pool deck watching for Anna’s return. The police had given them prepaid cell phones so they could keep the other lines open. She was talking to Kim, who’d called to say they all were booked on a midday flight that would have them back in LA by two thirty.
“Anna’s a wreck, Kim.”
“We’re all zombies here too. Your kids were up at five o’clock begging to come home. Eleanor already had her suitcase packed. That kid…I tell you. She knows what she wants and she won’t take no for an answer.”
“Hmm…remind you of anyone?”
“No shit. Who all’s there?”
“George is on the way over, but right now it’s just the detective and a technician. Officers keep coming in and out with reports. They’ve set up in the dining room. It looks like command central for a space launch. They’ve got all our phones wired into a computer program that records and traces. The good news is they’ve checked all the hospitals and didn’t find anything.”
“That’s one thing off the list to worry about.”
Hearing her children’s voices in the background made Lily glad they were coming home. “Sorry about ruining everyone’s trip, Kim. I know you guys have been looking forward to it.”
“You’re fucking kidding, right? We’re all scared to death, Lily. Even Jonah. He’s trying to pretend it’s no big deal, but I see him checking his phone every fifteen seconds to see if Andy’s posted somewhere. We’re all in this together.”
Lily sighed. “I know a
nd we appreciate it. You and Hal…we owe you big time.”
“Sell us your house and we’ll call it even.”
“Sorry, you’ll have to take that up with the boss.”
Moments after they ended the call, she heard the garage door go up, signaling Anna’s return. Lily met her at the back gate. “Anything?”
She shook her head. “No mail, no packages. A couple of crank calls over the weekend, Trina said, but she blocked them from calling back. I texted the numbers to Peter.”
Inside at the kitchen bar, Lily shed her blanket and shared the update from Kim. “She’s worried about Eleanor and Georgie. They’re both anxious. I asked if she’d mind keeping them at the Big House for a few days. I don’t want them here with all these cops in and out. We can’t leave them by themselves if we have to run out in a hurry.”
Anna grunted her disapproval.
“You disagree?”
“I think there’s something to be said for all of us being together.”
Lily recognized the impulse. Anna wanted her family under her protective wing. “Okay, how about we ask George to stay with us? He’s on his way over now.”
“Fine.” Her tone was sullen. “We never should have let Andy stay home by himself.”
“If you feel that way, then I have to assume you’re blaming me because I’m the one who sided with Andy. Do you?”
Anna angrily pounded her fist on the bar. “Of course not. I just wish we hadn’t is all. What bothers me most though”—her eyes suddenly filled with tears—“when we were hanging up the other night, Andy said he loved us. I don’t remember saying it back.”
“But Anna—”
“No, it’s true. He already believes I try to hurt him on purpose…selling the company, not letting him get his driver’s license. It kills me that wherever he is right now he could be remembering the last time we talked. He might think I refused to say it because he hadn’t measured up in my so-called perfectionist eyes. Isn’t that what you said?”
“Don’t go putting words like that in my mouth. Besides, it’s utter bullshit. Andy knows you love him. I was on that call too. If he’s thinking about it, he’s remembering how the three of us laughed and teased each other. And how we couldn’t wait to see him.”