by K T Brodland
Cat studied them carefully for several minutes before looking across at Olivia. “They look remarkably alike.”
“Yes, they do. Which is interesting, since they are both supposed to be pictures of William Underwood.”
“Are you suggesting that this one,” Cat tapped the one from the funeral. “That this is a body double?”
“That’s exactly what I am suggesting. Which begs the question, why does Underwood need one?”
“Hm. Personal security comes to mind.”
“Go on.”
“Or…” Cat said. “He is too elderly or ill to make a public appearance.”
“Exactly. According to the data I have been able to dig up on him, he can’t be that old. Late fifties, early sixties as the most. So that leaves the possibility of illness.”
“If he is that sick, makes me wonder who’s really pulling the strings. Rhodes is out of the picture, so is Leo Winter. Does he have any family?”
“None listed. Which means nothing, of course.”
Olivia drummed her fingers on the desk. “I’m thinking its time we dug even deeper into Underwood’s background. I already have a file on him, but it’s not conclusive. Not at the moment anyway.”
Cat nodded. “I agree. Right now, though, I would prefer to focus on Wild Bill. If he is taking on Rhodes role as enforcer, he could be making moves of his own to consolidate his position.”
Olivia spread her fingers on the desk, considering their next move. “Okay. He’s next up in our investigation. Where do you want to start?”
A thin smile tugged at the corner of Cat’s mouth. “With whatever we can get our hands on. And you don’t fool me for one minute. I know damn well you are going to check out Underwood every chance you get.”
“And your point is?”
Grinning, Cat shook her head. “None whatsoever. Now, back to my original question. Where do you want to start?”
Olivia grinned back at Cat. “I want to check his phone records, but equally important, we should put this puppy under surveillance and see where he takes us.”
“Good. I am also pleased to hear we and us in that sentence.”
Olivia rolled her shoulders. “Well, we agreed this was going to be a team effort. At least for now anyway.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
O livia was barely awake when her phone rang. “Have you seen the news this morning?”
She rubbed sleep from her eyes and yawned. “No, Cat. I just got up. Anything special happening?”
“Yeah. Turn your tv on. I’ll be right there.”
Still in her pajamas, Olivia padded down the stairs, wondering what had caused Cat to sound worried. She put the coffee on, then flicked on the tv. A bright-eyed, twenty-something reporter was blathering on about the weather. Somehow, she doubted that the forecast for rain was what had Cat’s tail in a knot. It wasn’t until she read the headlines streaming across the bottom of the screen that she realized why Cat had called her so early.
Police were summoned to an address on Willow Drive in the early hours of the morning. Several bodies were found outside the home, including the watchman at the front gate. Inside, three bodies were found on the main floor. Upstairs, the owner of the house and his elderly mother had both been shot to death as well. As yet, police had no suspects.
Cat arrived just as Olivia was reading the headline for the second time. She poured a cup of coffee, sat down in the second recliner. She took swallow of her coffee, set her cup down on the side table.
“I guess you already know who lives on Willow Drive?”
“Yeah. And given what has been happening lately, it doesn’t take any great genius to figure out who’s behind this massacre.”
“No, it doesn’t. We expected Wild Bill to make moves to set himself up as the new head honcho. Rumor on the street has it that he has been harassing his dealers into upping their sales, using a cattle prod on some of them to provide extra motivation.”
Olivia frowned down at her empty cup. “That alone is reason enough for us to come down hard on him. And if he is responsible for those killings last night, and I have no reason to think otherwise, we need to step up our surveillance.”
“Okay, why don’t we grab a bite to eat somewhere, then pay Bill a visit, see what he has to say for himself?”
Nodding agreement, Olivia headed upstairs to change, then rejoined Cat in the kitchen. A glimpse of the holster under Cat’s jacket confirmed that the PI was armed. Probably a good plan if the new enforcer was feeling trigger-happy.
They were halfway to the door when Cat’s phone rang. She stopped in mid-stride, listened for a second, then put the call on speaker mode.
Jean’s voice came through loud and clear. “Hi, Cat. Have you and Olivia heard the news about the Underwoods yet?”
“Yeah. As soon as I heard the address I knew what that was all about. I’m at Olivia’s place right now. We were just heading off. We need to pay a visit to a certain party.”
“Well, be careful. If we are talking about the same guy, he must have shot out every CCTV camera in the area. We have no proof who did the shooting, only suspicions. And I can’t get a warrant based solely on those. I will have the crew go through the house with a fine-tooth comb again today once the coroner gives us the all clear.”
“Good idea. Maybe he will have been careless. And don’t worry. We’ll be careful. If we come up with anything, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Glad to hear it. Are you packing?” Jean laughed. “You know what I mean. Knowing you, of course you are. Anyway, I’m on duty. Give me a shout if you need backup.”
“We’ll keep that in mind. Talk to you later.”
Olivia waited until Cat put her phone away. “I’m guessing there is a joke there about packing?”
She watched, amused, as Cat’s ears turned red, a sure sign she was embarrassed about something.
“Yeah, and someday I’ll explain it to you. Right now we have more important matters to attend to.”
Grinning, Olivia retrieved her directional mic and camera from the storage chest where she kept them, then followed Cat out to the Mustang. She squinted up at the overcast sky, guessed that the weather forecaster wasn’t too far off the mark. Rain was in the offing, and soon. She stored her equipment in the Mustang’s trunk, then settled in the front seat. The windshield was dotted with the first drops of rain before they reached the end of the driveway.
Three hours later, fortified with several cups of barely passable coffee and sausage biscuits from a fast food place, they were still parked in the brush across the street from Wild Bill’s house. His Cadillac was visible in the garage attached to the house. Bill had apparently been too distracted, to close the garage door when he returned home earlier. So far there was no sign of him. The directional mics hadn’t even picked up any sounds from inside the house.
Olivia was about to suggest she exercise her gifts on the front door, when Cat suddenly sat up straight, her attention on whatever it was she had heard. She swung her own mic toward the house in time to catch what sounded like a heated argument. A male voice was shouting.
“I don’t give a flying fuck if you are tired and hungry. We are meeting our suppliers at one o’clock. That’s one hour from now. So, get your asses in gear or don’t be here when I get back.”
If there were any further complaints, they were cut off by the sound of slamming doors.
Olivia shot a side-long glance in Cat’s direction but kept her attention on the front of the house. A few minutes later, Wild Bill appeared, followed by three more men, all dressed in the funereal black suits the Alphas favored. They made their way to the garage and disappeared until the Cadillac backed out onto the driveway. She lowered her mic and shrank down in her seat. With any luck the brush would be thick enough to hide the bright red Mustang from sight. Better still, the men in the Cadillac would be too distracted by whatever it was they were up to and wouldn’t notice them. Much to her relief, the big car swung left at the end of
the driveway and headed toward town. Minutes ticked by and she was about to ask Cat what she was waiting for, when Cat keyed the ignition and eased the Mustang out of its hiding place. Maintaining a discreet distance, she followed the Caddie as it headed toward town.
Not long afterward, Wild Bill and his men turned off onto the bypass just before the bridge and made their way toward the lake front. When they pulled into an abandoned warehouse, Cat carried on for a hundred yards or more until she found a place where she could leave the Mustang out of sight.
Olivia sighed. “This is your party, what do we do now?”
“First, I’m going to give Jean a heads up. Then we are going to go for a little walk, see if we can find ourselves a suitable vantage point to keep an eye on what’s going on in that warehouse.”
“Remind me, will you, why I have worked from my office all these years? It’s much safer.” Nodding at the rain streaking the windshield. “It’s also drier.”
Cat chuckled. “Welcome to my world.”
She made quick call to Jean, gave her the few details she had on the situation, along with the address where they were hanging out. She hung up, then tugged her gun out of its holster, checked the magazine, then returned it to the holster. Gathering up her camera and mic, she undid her seat belt. “Okay, Livvy, let’s roll.”
Olivia followed suit, but left her equipment behind in the Mustang’s trunk. She had a hunch she was going to need her hands free for the next little while. Besides, she told herself, much as she hated to admit it, Cat was better at this sort of thing than she was.
Trotting alongside Cat, trying to avoid the sizable puddles, she was quite relieved when Cat found a small shed almost directly across from the warehouse. They would have a clear view of the interior and whatever took place. It was also dry.
Inside the shed, they took up positions on either side of the door frame. While Cat set up her equipment, Olivia studied the layout of the warehouse on the other side of the road. Wild Bill had parked his car facing out, presumable so he could make a fast getaway if need be. All four men were still inside the car.
Right on time, at exactly one o’clock, a tan Dodge short box van pulled into the warehouse. Since there was a limited amount of space to maneuver, the newcomers were forced to park nose-in.
Tense moments passed, then five men, all of them carrying what looked like automatic weapons, emerged from the van and assembled next to the rear doors. After another few minutes passed, Wild Bill and his men got out of their car and took up positions by the trunk. Like the new arrivals, they too were armed.
“Oh, this should be interesting,” Olivia whispered.
Cat must have heard her, for she whispered back. “You got that right.”
A stocky older man, whom Olivia assumed was the leader, approached to within a few yards of where Wild Bill stood.
“Who are you?” he snapped. “Where is Rhodes? I expected to deal with him.”
“There’s been a change of plans. Rhodes is no long available. You’ll deal with me from now on.”
“On whose say so?”
“Mine. I’m in charge now.”
“Since when?”
“Never mind since when. I’m here and you’ll deal with me. Or else.”
There was a decided sneer in the other man’s voice when he replied. “Or else what?”
“Or else I will make sure you never deal with anyone else.”
Wild Bill’s relaxed posture, leaning back against the rear of his car, legs crossed at the ankles, arms folded across his chest, seemed to only aggravate the man further.
“You arrogant pup! Do you know who I am?”
“No. And as long as you keep your end of the deal, I don’t care. I have the money, you have the drugs. We swap, go on our separate ways until the next time.”
He snapped his fingers and one of his men produced a silver hard-sided case from the back seat. Wild Bill took it from him, advanced a few steps. “Here’s the payment. One million dollars as agreed upon.”
Olivia could almost see the dealer’s nostrils flair at Bill’s arrogant tone.
“The price just went up. It’s two million now.”
“That’s not the price we agreed on.”
“That was the price Rhodes arranged. He isn’t here anymore, and you aren’t worth even one of him. Take it or leave it.”
Olivia wiped sweaty palms against her jeans.
Oh shit oh shit oh shit.
This was not going well. She hoped Sergeant Gordon showed up pretty soon. Otherwise this was going to get messy, and damn soon. She had no idea how good a shot Cat was. Regardless, the PI and her gun were no match for nine automatic weapons. She wasn’t too sure she could handle that many bodies, either.
Wild Bill straightened. “I think we will take it. Delivery of the drugs, that is. And you will take the agreed-upon fee.” He snapped his fingers. “Alphas, assist these gentlemen in unloading their products.”
One of his men leaned forward and whispered something to his boss. Olivia couldn’t hear what was said, but the leader of the other group did. He burst out laughing, a raucous sound that put her teeth on edge.
“You fool, you don’t even know how much product you were getting for that million dollars, do you? I can tell you, your man is correct. It will not fit in the trunk of your car. Not even close.”
Laughing and shaking his head, he threw open the rear doors of the van. Olivia gasped at the stacks of bags containing a brownish powder that filled the entire compartment.
Wild Bill compounded his mistakes. “Fine, we’ll just take the van. A million should cover its replacement.” He barely turned his head. “You three. Get their weapons and the keys. And make it snappy.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when all five men had their weapons trained on him.
Their leader snarled. “Take one step and they will open fire. And then we will take your money and sell our products to someone else a little more appreciative of our way of doing business.”
By now, Olivia was beginning to think the new enforcer had a death wish. Wild Bill actually took one step forward, daring the man facing him to carry out his threat. Five AR-16s were aimed at him. Behind Wild Bill, his three men had their weapons trained on the dealer’s crew. Bill took a step forward. A shot rang out and one of his men crumpled to the ground.
Olivia drew in a deep breath, caught Cat’s eye. Cat had her cell phone out and was talking to someone in hard, clipped tones. She nodded to Olivia as she put the phone back in her pocket. Gun in hand, she mouthed encouragement. “Go ahead, Olivia. Help will be on the way shortly. Feel free to do what you can in the meantime.”
Nodding acknowledgement, Olivia drew in a deep breath and focused all her attention on the scene being played out across the road. One of Wild Bill’s men was kneeling beside his wounded companion, yelling at Bill. “He needs medical attention. Help him.”
With his weapon aimed at the nearest thug, Wild Bill ignored the man’s pleas for help and took another step forward.
Olivia was ready for him this time. Wild Bill suddenly yelped and dropped his gun as if it had turned red-hot. Which in fact it had. Olivia swiftly proceeded to disarm the remaining men in much the same way. With Cat covering her, she immobilized the gang, leaving them looking bewildered at this turn of events. She then dashed the short distance to the warehouse and scooped up the abandoned weapons and dumped them in a corner of the building. She then proceeded to relieve the men of any other weapons they had concealed on their persons. By the time she finished, sirens were screaming as two cruisers, a police van and the emergency response van showed up. An ambulance arrived moments later.
The emergency response squad piled out of their van. Weapons drawn, they handcuffed all eight men and hustled them into the waiting bus. The wounded man was treated and placed in the ambulance. The paramedics confirmed he was not badly wounded. He would survive to end up in jail along with every one else who was arrested.
When th
ey were alone, Sergeant Gordon fist-bumped Cat and shook Olivia’s hand. “Thanks, you two. You were great.”
Olivia sagged against the Cadillac, feeling as though she had aged another twenty or thirty years. “Just keep my name out of the news, please.”
Jean smiled. “Not a problem, Livvy. I just hope that one day, you will tell me how you managed to disarm all those men.”
Cat laughed. “Don’t hold your breath. I saw her do it and even I don’t quite believe how she did it.”
“Okay, I need to head back to headquarters. You know the drill, Cat. Statements on my desk by the end of tomorrow.”
Cat nodded, waited until Jean get back in her cruiser and drove off. She turned to Olivia, frowned at the way Olivia was sagging against the door frame. “Let’s get you home,” Cat said. Olivia merely nodded.
Cat regarded Olivia closely for a second or two. “Stay put. I’m going to bring the car around. You aren’t going to make it that far on your own.”
She didn’t wait for a reply, but strode off in the direction of the Mustang. She returned a few minutes later to find Olivia slumped on the ground inside the shed, seemingly unconscious. When she didn’t respond to Cat’s voice, Cat lifted her up in her arms and carried her around the passenger side of the car. Once she was settled in the seat and buckled in, Cat got behind the wheel. After a brief consideration, she put the Mustang into drive and headed toward her home. There was no way she was going to leave Olivia on her own, not in her present condition.
By the time she pulled into her garage, she was almost ready to turn around and head for the hospital. Olivia had not stirred even once during the twenty minute drive. Frowning, more concerned than she was willing to admit, she punched the keys for the alarm, propped the door open after making sure the alarm wasn’t going to go off, then returned to the car. She lifted the unconscious woman out of the car, hip-bumped the door closed. Upstairs she managed to get the guest bedroom door open and set Olivia down on the bed. She pulled muddy shoes off and lifted Olivia’s legs up onto the quilted coverlet, then drew a thin blanket over her friend’s motionless body. That done, she pulled the armchair from near the window closer to the bed and sat down to wait.