Shadows of Deceit (A Series of Shadows)

by Mell Corcoran

  “So it didn’t surprise you when you heard Casius had found Angela fooling around with him during their trip?” Lou wondered if he realized the other man had been his cousin.

  “I didn’t even want to go there.” Carlos blew out a breath. “Casius told me he caught Angela with a cabana boy, but I knew in my gut that it was Manuel. What could I do? I was keeping my mouth shut about her real identity. That I was her uncle, that Manuel was her uncle and not a cabana boy! That is where things started going down hill for sure.”

  “How did this tie in with Luis Arcano’s death?” Dillon pulled them back to the point. “Casius start throwing himself into his work? Got close to uncovering your operation?”

  “As I said before, Luis had been giving Casius more and more responsibility in the company.” Carlos resumed. “Which was fine because Angela kept him distracted when I needed her to. But after they broke up, with Maria about to come in, they were going to take the shipping oversight away from me and have that under Maria’s purview. With all three of them at the helm, Maria, Casius and Luis, I was getting thinned out of the picture. When I went back to Columbia for the annual holiday party I told Ernesto I was concerned.”

  “I bet he wasn’t too happy.” Dillon said as he cracked open a bottle of water.

  “He seemed fine!” Carlos paused to take a sip of his own water before he continued. “I was horrified when I got the call that Luis had died! I knew immediately my brother had done it!”

  “But you said nothing to anyone.” Lou reminded him. “You took over during the Arcano’s time of grief and covered your ass.”

  “It wasn’t like that!” Carlos pounded his fist on the table. “I loved Luis! I love the Arcanos! You need to understand that I knew my brother had killed our father, and now Luis! I kept my mouth shut and avoided Ernesto like the plague!”

  “Which is why he showed up at your office in Columbia, three weeks ago.” Dillon reminded him. “He demanded to see you?”

  “Yes!” Carlos confirmed. “I snuck back to Columbia as quietly as I could so that he wouldn’t know I was there, but he showed up! I couldn’t make a scene! I had to take his visit. Trust me, I stalled as long as I could! I thought about sneaking out the service elevators but I knew he had his cartel thugs watching the building.” Carlos was shaking as he took another sip of his water. “When he got to my office he grabbed me by the hair and told me I was dead when I left the building if I didn’t get my shit together and get with the program. He told me that I needed to get back here, to Los Angeles, because he was dealing with another problem and he didn’t need me screwing things up. Something with his distribution set up falling apart and I needed to have things ready for his new contacts as soon as he had them in place.”

  Lou looked at Dillon and he nodded slightly. That part of the story fell right in line for when Gilroy and the corrupt Sanguinostri agents were swept out by Max and the Aegis Council.

  “And you know nothing about that end?” Lou verified. “This is your one chance to come clean on all this, Carlos.”

  “I specifically made a point not to know!” Carlos insisted. “I came back here and waited for instructions on the next shipment. I heard nothing until the day before Casius went missing. I got a call in the morning about four cargo containers that I knew nothing about, but they were allegedly Arcano shipments. There was no one scheduled to pick them up and at first I wasn’t even sure if they were part of my brother’s operation. I wasn’t about to take any chances! I signed off on the receipt and told the dockmaster we would make arrangements for pick up.”

  “What happened to the containers?” Lou asked.

  “I was on my way home from the office and stopped to pick up Chinese food, like my wife had asked me to.” Carlos was stammering again. “While I was sitting, waiting for them to pack up my order, Ernesto sat right down next to me! He handed me a piece of paper and told me not to try anything cute. That he had people watching my wife and children at all times. That accidents happened every day! This was my brother telling me this!”

  “What was on the paper?” It was Dillon who asked this time.

  “Information on the transport company that was going to be picking up the cargo containers.” Carlos answered. “I called the dockmaster as soon as I got home and gave him the information, then had my office fax a pick up order based upon the data I was given. I ate dinner with my family and tried to forget everything before my head exploded! You cannot even imagine the pressure I was under!”

  Lou rolled her eyes. “Yeah, drowning in a criminal conspiracy can cause a little stress, I’m sure.”

  “What about Casius and your niece? The murders at Casius’ house?” Dillon asked.

  “I had nothing to do with that! I swear to God! I never left the house after I came home on Friday night! I didn’t leave until I got the call Casius was missing and you know I was at the office! You saw me there!” He pointed at Dillon.

  “Did your brother try to contact you again?” Lou wondered if he was going to even remember.

  “I think he sent one damn good message when he left those three bodies at Casius’ house then torched Angela and Casius in her bed! Don’t you think?” Carlos shouted.

  “How was that a message to you?” It was Dillon who inquired.

  “Seriously? Three headless bodies?” Carlos gawked at him. “Don’t you know anything about how cartels send messages to people who have crossed them?”

  “So you’re sure it was your brother that killed them?” Lou wanted him on the record saying it.

  “There is no doubt in my mind!” Carlos was emphatic. “My brother likes drama. Putting the heads with Angela and Casius was just the exclamation point on his telling me if I talked I was dead! My life is over anyway so my only hope now is to make a deal with you to protect my family!”

  “The District Attorney is drawing up the papers as we speak.” Lou informed him. “Your wife and children are being taken into protective custody right now. The faster we get your brother, the safer they will be.”

  “I have no idea where he is!” Carlos insisted. “For all I know, he is back in Columbia!”

  “And you are sure you haven’t spoken to him since you picked up the Chinese food?” Dillon asked as he made more notes.

  “No!” Carlos insisted. “And I pray to God I never see or hear from him ever again! I hope you shoot the bastard!”

  In typical Carlos fashion, he hung his head into his hands and began weeping. Again. Dillon and Lou figured they had gotten everything they were going to get from him so they wrapped up the interview, leaving Carlos Vargas sobbing alone.

  “Good job, you two.” Captain Davidson congratulated them. “The D.A. is on her way in now so she and her people will be taking custody of Carlos and he will be officially out of our hair.”

  “Thank God!” Lou blurted. “I cannot take that man’s blubbering for one more minute!”

  “No kidding!” Dillon agreed.

  “Detective Donovan?” A uniformed deputy stepped up and spoke. “You have an urgent conference call from a DEA agent Jessup and an Agent Callahan from Homeland Security. They insisted on holding for you.”

  “Oh this cannot be good.” Lou said with a sigh. “Thank you.”

  “No problem.” The deputy turned and left.

  Lou hobbled to her desk as fast as possible, checking her cellphone for any missed messages on the way. There were none. Dillon was right behind her and watching intently as Lou took her seat then hit speaker so that Dillon and her captain could listen in.

  “This is Donovan, your on the air with me, my captain and partner.” Lou wanted them to know other ears were listening.

  “Detectives, Captain, we’re so glad we were able to catch you before you left.” It was Callahan who spoke first.

  “I hear you got a confession on our red hot heroin?” Jessup chimed in, clearly pleased.

  “Yeah we just wrapped up the interview.” Lou confirmed. “Looks like Ernesto Vargas is the point m
an for the operation. His brother just gave him up.”

  “That’s what your D.A. just told my boss.” Jessup informed her. “Which brings us to why we are calling.”

  “Am I gonna hate this?” Lou was sure she was.

  “Maybe, maybe not so much.” Callahan took over. “Jessup called me as soon as he heard you guys had arrested Carlos Vargas. I just got intel that has Ernesto crossing the border into Tijuana this morning.”

  “I have calls in to our people down there to get eyes on him but that could take some time.” Jessup added. “Especially now if he knows we discovered the warehouse and that his brother is in custody.”

  “You can say that again.” Lou was clearly not pleased. “So the bad news is that Ernesto Vargas is out of our hands, right Jessup?”

  “Not stepping on your toes, Detective.” He assured her. “It’s just our jurisdiction now but I promise you are my first call as soon as we find him.”

  “One other thing that you’re not gonna be happy about...” Callahan broke in. “Manuel Rojas landed in San Juan yesterday morning. Local constables brought him in for questioning but they let him go.”

  “What the hell?” Lou shouted.

  “Detective, sadly it is not a crime to be a creepy asshole.” It was Davidson that spoke up now. “Even with Carlos Vargas’ statement, all he is guilty of is taking his cousin’s money to look the other way. That and being an utter pervert.”

  Lou knew her captain was right. “Well, crap!”

  “He’s right, Detective.” Callahan concurred. “If he doesn’t know what’s going on with his cousins and his niece by now, you bet your ass when he does he is going to vanish too.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Lou hated they were right. She only hoped as Principate she would be able to make the man pay. “Well, I thank you gentlemen for filling me in. Let me know if something changes.”

  “Absolutely.” Jessup assured her.

  “You got it.” Callahan echoed. “Have a great weekend detectives, captain. Oh and Happy Birthday, Detective Donovan.”

  “Alright, yeah, thanks, goodbye.” Lou rushed to end the call. Embarrassed that Callahan had announced her birthday to the entire room. She didn’t even know how the man knew. “Not a word!” She glared at Davidson and Dillon.

  “Lou, I’ve known you long enough to know better.” Her captain said with a chuckle. “Well, it looks like you two get a nice, quiet weekend!” He smiled as he got up. “Take the time to get some real rest, rather than do more damage. Please, Lou?”

  “Very funny, sir.” She rolled her eyes at him.

  “I told DeLuca to head straight home from the Vargas house. He had issues to deal with.” He paused before he walked out. “Something about having to deal with soybeans and patchouli?” He shrugged then made his exit.

  “Poor Vinny.” Dillon chuckled, remembering Vinny’s mother-in-law was still visiting.

  “No kidding!” Lou agreed. “Lets pawn our notes off on a rookie and head out. I’ll buy if you stop and get us some chili dogs on the way home.”

  “Deal!” Dillon exclaimed and raced to gather all their stuff so they could get out of there.

  The McAllister guest house was bigger than most two bedroom apartments. With a small, but fully equipped kitchen, master bedroom, second bedroom, full bath and a living room that had a magnificent view of the park, courtesy of the folding glass wall. Max tried not to think about the added perk that Lou’s room was only a short walk away. Yuri, Finn and Connor were working at the dining table while Niko, Abby and Frank worked from the coffee table in the living room. Max opted to open the folding glass wall and park himself in one of the two chairs perched on the patio. The last of the day was fading into twilight but the air was still warm and laden with the scent of spring flowers. It was more peace than Max felt he deserved at the moment.

  “Alright!” Connor broke Max’s musings. “Jessup and Callahan just made the call so Lou and Dillon are on the record as being off the hook with Manual Rojas and Ernesto Vargas. We are in complete control of locating and handling them.”

  “Good.” Max approved. “What about Timms?” He was the one Max wanted, with a vengeance.

  “He got written off as a blip in Carlos Vargas’ statement. No one is even thinking about him.”

  “Also good.” Max was pleased. “Are we any closer to narrowing down his whereabouts?”

  “I have every local agent available running down all the places even remotely tied to Timms.” Abby answer him. “Once they are done with that, they are going to start on the list that Carlos gave Frank and Lou in the car earlier. I’m still doing searches on the other system but nothing else is popping up other than what we have already.”

  “And who knows if he’s even going to be stupid enough to use a place that can be traced back through his own family or the Vargas brothers.” Max didn’t think Cameron Timms was stupid at all.

  “He can’t hide forever.” Frank reassured him.

  “Like Albert Von Messenbach can’t hide forever?” Max reminded him of Lou’s assailant whom he himself had to let go or risk letting Lou die.

  “That’s different.” Niko suggested. “Albert’s been around the block about a million times and is far more cunning than Cameron.”

  “Perhaps.” Max was not convinced.

  “Lou just texted.” Frank informed them. “She and Dillon are on their way back. They’re stopping for hot dogs first though.”

  “Oh man, that sounds good.” Connor said and his stomach growled in agreement.

  “Didn’t you just have a dozen of those little sandwiches?” Abby gawked at him.

  “What’s your point? Connor looked offended but Abby just rolled her eyes.

  “Want me to text her and have her bring us some?” Frank asked.

  “Nevermind!” Max scolded. “You two are not going to starve!” A knock at the door had him getting up to answer. “Just let her get home so she can rest.” Connor and Frank were clearly not happy they were not getting hot dogs but Max ignored their pouting as he opened the door.

  “Am I disturbing you all?” Shevaun asked, smiling up at him.

  “Not in the least!” Max smiled back and gestured for her to come in. “I was just sitting out back, admiring the beautiful evening.”

  “Oh! May I join you?” She was genuinely pleased Max was enjoying his stay. “Hi y’all!” She giggled and waved at the brood as she followed Max to the back. “I just wanted to make sure we were still a go for Sunday, with Lou’s surprise party?” She asked as she sat down in the chair beside him.

  “Oh yes yes!” Abby bounced out of her seat and ran over, sitting on the ground between them. “Please say yes, Max! I have everything arranged!”

  “Why wouldn’t we be a go?” Max grinned at the two women. “It’s not like she is going to be expecting the usual Sunday family golf and brunch given she is hobbling about. I doubt she will expect anything two days out from her actual birthday either.”

  “Oh I know she won’t!” It was Shevaun that bounced now. “She will never expect it! Plus, she will still be out of it, just waking up and all.”

  “If you say you are just going to brunch at the club, and she walks downstairs and, well, surprise!” Abby clapped.

  “Are you sure you won’t wake her with all the setting up?” Finn could not figure how they were going to pull off having the party right downstairs from Lou without her hearing them. “That’s going to be a lot of noise.”

  “Have you seen Lou when she wakes up?” Niko asked him. “She’s a freaking zombie. You could land a plane on her bed and it wouldn’t wake her up!”

  “Especially if Connor gives her a double whammy of one of his magic shots.” Shevaun grinned.

  “You might never get her up in time!” Niko laughed.

  “I can get her up.” Shevaun assured him. “I’ve been practicing her whole life. Liam already agreed to meet the guests at the front door so they don’t ring the bell.”

  “And we have everyth
ing else handled!” Abby could barely contain her delight.

  Max smiled at the excited women. He was excited too. “All of us will be here to help as well so we can pull this off without a problem, I am sure.”

  “Fabulous!” Shevaun bounced out of her chair. “I better go tell Joe and Marta to keep their lips zipped! Thank you all so much! This is going to be wonderful!”

  “It will be wonderful.” Max agreed as he stood to lead Shevaun out. “I can hardly wait.”

  As Max took a few steps toward the door, a loud beep sounded from one of the terminals, followed by another, and another. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Niko, then Frank.

  “What is that?” Shevaun detected something from Max’s expression.

  “It’s Dillon’s beacon.” Frank replied and ran for the computer then began typing.

  “What the hell does that mean?” Shevaun demanded.

  Max turned and looked at the woman with a now blank expression. “We will find out.”

  Dillon pulled his SUV into the only open spot in the entire parking lot, completely on the other side from their actual destination. It seemed Friday night was hopping at the hot dog joint. He shut the car off and confirmed Lou’s order before he got out.

  “You can turn on the radio if you get bored.” He told her.

  “You think it’s gonna take that long?” Lou groaned.

  “Did you see the line when we pulled in?” He snorted. “Take a nap. I’ll be as fast as I can.”

  Lou watched Dillon sprint across the parking lot and thought his suggestion was spot on. She snuggled back into her seat and closed her eyes, immediately starting to doze. Lou was so tired she didn’t even care about her pain anymore. All she wanted was to stuff her face with chili dogs and fall into a food coma that lasted the entire weekend. She was almost sound asleep when she heard the car door open.