“Yes.”
“Do you know how the two met? And approximately when?” Lou wanted as many specifics for their timeline as possible.
“They met at a charity event. I can check my calendar for the exact date but I know that’s when they met.” Taylor fished out his cell phone and started tapping away on it. “He was smitten with her from the get go.”
“Love at first sight?” Lou smiled at him.
“You would think.” He swiped his finger from left to right on his phone.
“You have his calendar from that far back on that thing?” She was a little surprised.
“Oh yes. You’d be surprised at how often I have to refer back to specific dates with this job. I keep at least five years at all times and auto back-up.” He tapped rapidly with his fingertip now. “Its critical if I have to look for travel details, meetings and such. Casius is very thorough and wants meticulous records kept.”
“I am horrible with dates. If I don’t write things down and have someone thump me over the head to remind me, it’s gone forever.” Lou admitted with a chuckle.
“Here it is.” He announced. “Four years ago, the annual Fair Trade Fair. It was held in San Diego that year. I remember now because the following weekend was when I met Jeremy.”
“Jeremy, your partner, right?” Lou asked as she checked through her file.
“Right.” He smiled. “We did the long distance romance thing since I was based in Colombia with Casius. We were here a good amount of time during the year, don’t get me wrong, but up until he met Angela we didn’t have permanent office space in Los Angeles. I mean, the company did but not Casius and me. He used his father’s office when we were here and I got whatever cubicle was free.”
“You mean you lived in Colombia with Casius up until five years ago?” Lou hadn’t put that together from the notes and wondered if Vinny or Dillon already knew.
“Yes, for nearly two years. I’d been working here in the marketing department for three years when the opportunity to move to the main office in Colombia came up. Casius is very hands-on with the marketing and public relations divisions, that is where I met him personally and was able to work with his assistant at the time. David Perez was his name. He was a royal asshole. Casius approached me after about three months and asked me if I would be interested in working for him directly.”
“So you’ve worked for Arcano Imports for eight years, total?” Lou scribbled some more.
“That’s right.” Taylor nodded.
“Casius fired Perez and you got his spot?” She wondered how Perez liked that.
“No, David quit.” Taylor corrected her. “He had already given Casius his notice when he approached me. He got a job with some oil company, a lot more money and extensive travel. He made sure he bragged about it as soon as he found out I was taking his place.”
“OK so you were here in Los Angeles for three years, then took the transfer to Colombia five years ago. Moved back here a year after that?” Lou was trying to make a timeline in her head.
“Well, no.” Taylor was trying to explain as best as he could. “Casius technically never permanently moved here. We got more permanent accommodations because we spent every other month here and that happened four years ago when he met Angela. He used the corporate apartment and I would stay at my sister’s or my parents. Until Jeremy and I got serious, of course. Then I would stay at his place.”
“What about the house in Calabassas?” She asked.
“He leased that about a year ago, when he and Angela were getting really serious.” Taylor frowned. “Casius gave her his black card and let her play house. She lived there full time until they broke up. He had an option to buy on the place and was looking into that before their Costa Rica trip.”
“So she lived there for a few months?” Lou wondered why Jane hadn’t mentioned Angela or why she wasn’t listed as a resident with the guards.
“That sounds about right. I would have to check my records for when he signed the lease exactly.” Taylor made for his bag again.
“That’s OK, we have that information somewhere.” She stopped him before he could rummage. “You said Angela was given carte blanc to decorate the house?”
“Yep and she racked that card up in no time.” He leaned back in his chair. “I almost had a heart attack when I opened the bill the first month.”
“You didn’t like her?” It was the perfect opening to start zeroing in on Boone.
“About as much as I’d like having bamboo shoved under my toenails.” He smirked. “She’s a phony, gold digging tramp as far as I’m concerned. I couldn’t stand her tacky ass from the first second I laid eyes on her.”
“I would appreciate it if you could tell me how you really feel.” Lou grinned at him, making him laugh out loud.
“Sorry but I have serious issues with her.” He regained his composure. “She hated that I was so involved with his personal life. Made doing my job properly a living hell. Like my records? When I looked up the Fair Trade event? If she had her way, I wouldn’t have any of that to reference back to. She tried keeping everything they did together a secret.”
“And this all started in the beginning? Or did this start later on after they had been dating a bit?” Lou wondered what Angela had been trying to cover up.
“Well, as I said they met at the Fair but I didn’t meet her until a few weeks later. We had gone back to Colombia for a week then came back here for the company’s Fourth of July picnic. He brought her to introduce to everyone.” Taylor grimaced as he recalled the event. “The picnic was at Mr. Vargas’ house. The Colony in Malibu, not Leo Carillo state park, you know what I mean? This woman shows up wearing a tube top, cut off shorts and like ten inch platform heals. Absolutely not Casius’ usual type of woman by any means. I was so embarrassed for him but I never said one word, even when it became office gossip.”
“Vargas has a house in the Colony?” Lou didn’t recall seeing that information about Arcano’s in-house counsel. It would have sent flags up given it was within a mile of Boone’s beach house.
“Well it’s actually his father’s.” Taylor clarified. “His father is too old to travel and never comes to the States anymore so Carlos uses it.”
“Thank you for clearing that up.” Lou could tell by Taylor’s facial expression that he was telling the truth. He had no clue who Vargas’ father really was. “His father must be very wealthy.”
“From what I know but that isn’t a whole lot. Supposedly his family is old money from cattle ranching in Colombia. But don’t take my word for it.” He shrugged uncertainly. “I may be totally assuming based upon water cooler gossip.”
“That’s fine. I really don’t need that information and if I do I can always ask Mr. Vargas directly.” She smiled sweetly and moved the conversation back to Boone and Arcano. “Casius and Angela were together for four years then?”
“Yes, almost exactly four years.” Taylor thought for a moment. “The Fair Trade Fair was at the beginning of June and then the Fourth of July picnic was, well.” He chuckled.
“I get it.” She grinned again. “You told my partners that Casius left her in Costa Rica when they broke up?”
“That’s right. They had been there a few times for their anniversary, so to speak.” He made hand quotations when he said anniversary. “She surprised him the first year after she had wormed her way into the family. Casius’ father let her use the company jet and ultimately everything was paid for by his father. Sometimes I think she was really gunning for Luis. Had it not been for his wife and Casius’ sister, she might have succeeded.”
“Really? She was that bad?” Lou found that interesting.
“Oh she was worse.” He waved his hands in the air for dramatic effect. “Maria hated Angela with a bloody blue passion. She confronted Casius about her Christmas before last, right in his office. She had flown in from Oxford specifically to talk to him about it before they all went to the family home in Colombia for the holidays.”
“Maria, Casius’ sister, correct?” Lou knew but wanted to clarify for the record.
“Yes.” Taylor confirmed. “Estella is his mother. You could see at any gathering the whole family was present for that the women despised Angela. And she was ultra tacky and trampish whenever they were around, I think out of pure spite. Take Luis’ last birthday party for instance...” He scooted his chair in and hunched over as if he were telling her a secret. “She literally sat in Luis’ lap and sang him Happy Birthday, Marilyn Monroe style! It was so embarrassing but Casius just could not see it. He thought she was being adorable.” Taylor rolled his eyes and pretended he was gagging.”
“She sounds like a piece of work.” Lou shook her head. “So, getting back to the last trip to Costa Rica.”
“Right, sorry.” He sat back in his chair again. “I knew something was really wrong when Casius called and said he was heading home early, but he wouldn’t go into any details. He just gave me instructions and I followed them to the letter. He was really grumpy and out of sorts when he got back. It was bad and out of character for him so I finally spoke up and told him I was worried about him and asked what happened. Mind you, the whole time she had been calling non-stop but he told me that he was unavailable for her no matter what. I just started hanging up on her when she got abusive.”
“Abusive? Towards you?” Lou was getting a much clearer picture of the woman now.
“Oh yes, she used the foulest language. Telling me that I was getting in the way. She’d scream and scream saying she knew I wasn’t telling him she was calling, that I was preventing her from talking to him, seriously warped crap.” He shook his head. “When I asked Casius point blank what happened, he told me the whole story. Even cried at one point. It was just so sad.”
“What did happen?” She asked him.
“He told me that he had gone snorkeling alone because she said that she was going to get her hair done for dinner at the salon. He had come back much earlier then he planned and there was some lowlife in their villa, half naked and she was in the shower.” Taylor crossed his arms and gave her a knowing look. “What woman takes a shower after they have their hair done, hmm?”
Lou found it funny that Taylor was focused on the hair rather than the half-naked stranger. “Did he confront the man?”
“You bet he did! The guy told him to piss off and mind his own business! You know did not go over well with Casius! He charged at the guy and a huge brawl ensued. I guess the noise is what got Angela out of the shower. The guy was beating the crap out of Casius!”
“Seriously?” Lou’s eyes went wide.
“Seriously! I’ll never know why he told me that part, I would have lied and said vice versa, ya know? Anyway, Angela finally got the man off of Casius and shoved him out the door but you can imagine Casius was just livid! He said that she tried to bullshit him with some story that the guy was her cousin and nothing happened but the man was in his tighty-whities for God’s sake! She was in the shower!” Taylor’s voice had gone up a couple octaves, he was getting upset retelling the story. “Casius wouldn’t hear anything she was saying. His heart was shattered. So, bleeding with a black eye and a broken nose, he shoved all his stuff into his suitcases and left. Never spoke to her again.”
“Never?” Lou now had a significant point in her timeline.
“Never. At least to my knowledge and I can’t imagine how she would have pulled it off. He had the locks changed on the house and her removed from the access list on everything.” Taylor was calming down. “She was barred from even entering the building! Do you know that one night she called my cell so many times and was texting me non-stop that my phone crashed! It was ridiculous!”
“Borderline stalking, I would say.” Lou made a note to check Taylor’s phone records to see where Angela was calling from. “So he kicked her out of the house?”
“Before he was even back! That was the first instruction he gave me.” He nodded for emphasis. “He called me when he was on his way to the airport in Costa Rica and had me go straight to the house. He told me to hire whatever help I needed but he wanted all of her stuff boxed and out before he got home.”
“What did you do with everything?” Lou asked and had come to the determination that Peter Taylor had nothing to do with Casius Arcano’s death. She wasn’t looking forward to telling him.
“I was able to get a moving truck and some movers, at a premium expense mind you.” He rolled his eyes in disgust. “They filled the truck up and I had them bring it all to her garage down in Long Beach.”
“Her garage?” She raised an eyebrow. Nothing had popped for Angela Boone owning any sort of garage anywhere.
“Yeah, where she raced out of.” The man was getting comfortable and it appeared he was enjoying having a good vent session. “That’s another thing! She said she was a race car driver but if you tried to pin her down on specifics like what kind? Drag, formula one, anything, she had an amazing gift for changing the subject. I mean, I pulled up some stuff off the internet and they said she drove stock cars but there was very little I could find. You’d think it would be a big deal, a female racer but it was one of those weird things. I never saw her race and I know that Casius never did either. She gave some story about losing her sponsor or some crap but it never made sense to me. She drove Casius around a track once, that was where the picture was taken in the digital frame but that was it. I mean, NASCAR is like a religion, you know what I mean? What driver doesn’t brag or want to share that with everyone?”
“That does seem weird.” Lou pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. “You wouldn’t happen to know the address you sent her stuff too off the top of your head?”
“I have it here.” He started tapping at his phone again then turned it for her to see. “Here you go.”
Lou texted Vinny the address. “That’s great, I appreciate it.”
“I’m sorry, I know you can’t discuss an ongoing investigation but I can’t help but wonder...” Taylor leaned in again. “Do you think Angela had something to do with Casius’ disappearance?”
“Mr. Taylor.” There was no stalling any longer. Lou had to tell him. “I’m afraid I haven’t been very forthcoming with you and I sincerely apologize.”
“What do you mean?” He looked confused but before Lou could continue, the door opened and Dillon entered the room.
“Hello again Mr. Taylor.” Dillon smiled, handed Lou a pad of paper then offered his hand to Taylor.
“Hello. Detective Cole, right?” He smiled warmly at Dillon and shook his hand.
“Yes, good memory.” Dillon took a seat next to Lou. “I’m afraid we have some news that Detective Donovan is only just being made aware of.” He was getting Lou off the hook.
“Oh?” The man looked even more confused now.
“Mr. Taylor, are you aware that Angela had a beach house in Malibu?” Lou asked him.
“She did?” He was genuinely shocked. “No way. Maybe some sugar daddy but no way that leech had enough money for a beach house in Tijuana let alone Malibu.”
“Detective Cole has just brought me verification. She purchased it in January of last year.” Lou was reading Dillon’s notes as fast as she could.
“Excuse me? The woman was living in an apartment in Studio City up until she started squatting at Casius’ place.” Taylor folded his arms and sat back again in his chair. “That dump was as tacky as she was.”
“You’d been to her apartment?” Dillon asked him.
“Yes. Unfortunately.” He rolled his eyes again. “She’d given Casius a key about a month after they started dating. He wanted to surprise her and take her away to Italy for a week so while he took her to dinner, I went to her apartment and packed for her then brought her things to the airport. They left dinner and had dessert on the jet. That was the first time I was there.”
“That was quite romantic.” Lou noted.
“You and I would think, right?” His head started to bob from side to side, the catty s
ide Vinny detected was making an appearance. “The woman bitched from the get go that I had packed all wrong! So what happened? Casius got to buy her a whole new wardrobe! Shoes, jewelry, the whole kit and kaboodle. Even her freaking toothbrush was wrong! There was only one toothbrush to pick when I packed for her! Can you believe that bitch?”
“Very opportunistic.” Lou snickered.
“That is the perfect word for her! If you need to be polite that is.” He snorted. “So you see what I mean when I say that beach house had to have been bought by some brain damaged sugar daddy? The woman had no shame. She wore knock off everything until she got Casius’ black card. Not even good fakes! Everyone saw it, everyone except Casius that is.”
“So it was completely over after Costa Rica?” Dillon wanted to be clear. “They didn’t reconcile for even a little while?”
“Hell no!” Taylor waved the question off, literally. “He was so devastated by her! He got Luna about a month after he was back and she became the love of his life.”
“Luna, the dog?” It was Lou who wanted to be clear this time.
“Yes. Oh dear God where is Luna?!” It suddenly occurred to Taylor.
“We found her at a shelter not too far from Casius’ home.” Dillon reassured him. “She is fine and being well taken care of.” Forensics had come up with nothing when examining the dog and Lou had made sure she was released to Jane as promised as soon as she was done.
“Where is she? She must be so upset!” Taylor nearly started biting his nails.
“She is with Casius’ neighbor, across the street.” Lou told him the truth.
“Oh good! The man immediately calmed down.
“Mr. Taylor, I am so sorry to have to tell you this but we’ve found Casius. He is dead.” Lou ripped off the bandage, so to speak. There was no good way he was going to find out.
“What?” Peter Taylor’s face turned an ashen gray instantly and he slumped down in his chair. “What?” He repeated himself unintentionally.
“This morning we found two bodies burned in a house fire. Dillon just brought me a note from our medical examiner that they have confirmed one of the bodies is in fact Casius.” Lou reached over and put her hand over Taylor’s. “I am so sorry.”
Shadows of Deceit (A Series of Shadows) Page 18