Classic Indigo

by R A Wallace

  “I’m staying on the property,” he said, then smiled at the look she gave him.

  As the rest of their team arrived, Greyson addressed the group.

  “I received a call this morning with some additional intel,” he said as he looked at each of them. “It is believed that unknown actors are planning to use the cars themselves to smuggle something in. As you know, there are cars everywhere,” he said drily.

  He got the chuckles he expected as he moved over to several large maps on one wall showing different sections of the airport property.

  “We have the show cars that are already parked in the fields here, here, and here” he pointed. “Those are the ones that are here for people to look at. They’ll also be judged and the winners in different categories will be announced at the end of the week.”

  He moved over to another map.

  “Over here, we have the car corral. These are the typical cars for sale. Anyone can pull into the corral, pay a small fee, and post a for sale sign on a car. Although many are already here, they come and go throughout the week depending on when a vendor arrives or when it is sold. Many of these are locals trying to make a little money. Others have been brought here from out of state.”

  Callie stood near Greyson and studied the maps.

  He pointed to some hangars on the other side of the airport property.

  “Over here, we have the cars that will be sold in the auction at the end of the week. Most of these are being shipped in just for this auction. Many will be sold for six figures or more. Obviously, this is the event that will be televised.”

  Callie didn’t need to know the math to understand that Greyson was talking about a large number of cars overall. Knowing that one or more of them might be used for smuggling did little to narrow their task down for them. Still, it was a start.

  “No word on what they might be smuggling?” Kate asked. She wore the same ballcap over her auburn hair that she’d had on the previous day.

  Greyson shook his head. “That would make our jobs too easy.”

  “Are all of the cars to be sold at the auction currently on the property?” Callie asked.

  “No. They’ll continue to arrive from now until the auction begins. Some are coming from overseas.”

  “What’s the game plan?” Julio asked.

  Greyson took a deep breath as he thought. He turned to Callie.

  “If something might be smuggled in a car, can we assume the buyer is going to know it’s there?” Callie said patiently. “I mean, you wouldn’t want someone to buy a car with a prize inside they weren’t expecting, right? Although a shell game of sorts might be part of the plan to get something to market by hiding a needle in a haystack, you wouldn’t take the chance at the end of it all that your product ended up in the wrong hands.”

  “You’re saying the buyers probably know what they’re buying,” Kate summarized. She shifted her gaze around the room. “Makes sense. It would make more sense if we’re referring to the cars that will be auctioned for big money. More control that way over the buyer.”

  “Anyone can walk up and buy a fifty-dollar car,” Nigel said with a nod. “You’d have trouble controlling that.”

  “It’s one possibility,” Greyson agreed. “Some of us can continue to monitor events and explore other avenues. Some of us should focus on the buyers.”

  “Do you know if they’ve begun to arrive yet?” Callie asked.

  Greyson tilted his head to the right quickly. “A lot of the actual buyers won’t be here personally. They’ll be sending representatives.”

  Callie nodded. That made sense.

  “We know of some buyer representatives in the business who flew into the country over the weekend. We’re expecting them to begin arriving here today. Given that the auction doesn’t take place until the end of this week, that in itself is suspicious.” Greyson turned his attention to Zach.

  Zach sat down in his computer chair and pulled up a group of photos on the large screen monitor.

  “Starting at the upper left, you have Lee Cabal, Marcus Jurgen, and Leon Staverton. On the bottom row, it’s Lucia Herrera, Andre Oberhausen, and Serena Duval. Each of them may represent multiple buyers and more buyer representatives may arrive as the week goes on.”

  “What’s our plan for the moment?” Callie asked him.

  “They already have their assignments,” Greyson said referring to the rest of the team. “I think you and I need to mingle and see if we can learn anything.”

  Callie followed him from the office.

  “You’re thinking that some of the people involved in the car show might be involved with whatever is being smuggled?” she guessed. It made sense.

  “It’s something I’d like to check out,” he agreed as he slid his sunglasses on. He pointed to his large all-terrain vehicle when they stepped outside. “Our ride.”

  “Not bad,” Callie said as she climbed in. “Where are we going?”

  “Your mom and some of the others have a building available for their use during the event. I believe the auction sponsors hope that the special accommodations for the wealthy attendees all week will encourage them to spend a lot at the auction on the weekend,” he explained as he navigated at a crawl through the throng of people who had arrived to see the show before he was finally able to speed up again. “It’s rather like a loge at a football stadium. It isn’t open to the general public and it has a lot of amenities. It’s connected to the main hangar where much of the auction will be held. There are also satellite hangars that will be used for the auction. Your mother’s space has all the comforts of home, including catered meals.”

  Callie smiled. It sounded like her mother. “She’s holding court there, is she?”

  “Everyone who’s anyone stops in to see her, yes.”

  “Then that’s definitely where we need to be.”

  Callie watched the people that they passed through. They were everywhere, walking up and down the long aisles of vendors. Several minutes later, they parked the ATV near a large building. The cool air inside was a relief, even this early in the day.

  “Darling, you’re here,” Margaret said from across the room. There were still platters of breakfast food on a side table. She waved vaguely toward it. “Care for something to eat?”

  Callie shook her head as she reached her mother. “Is the hangar through there?”

  “Yes. There are several people over there now, actually. They wanted to walk around and look at some of the cars that have already arrived for the auction.”

  Callie glanced at Greyson. He nodded his head in agreement.

  “The food looks great, Margaret.” Greyson snagged a muffin as he walked past the table.

  Margaret followed them into the hangar. Callie spotted Philip across the large structure. She touched Greyson’s arm to get his attention. He nodded slightly to indicate that he saw them too. The people currently surrounding Philip Tenley-Mulhern were the buyer reps in the photos they had just been looking at.

  “I guess some of the people who are hired to handle the bidding for others have also started to arrive,” Margaret said. “Those are the people around Philip. I met some of them earlier when I was speaking with Philip.”

  “Is he planning to sell a car in the auction?” Callie asked.

  Margaret frowned. “Not that he said.”

  Callie leaned toward Greyson. “Maybe he’s planning on buying.”

  “Might explain their interest in him,” Greyson agreed then turned toward a commotion on the other side of the building.

  He immediately began walking toward it. Callie quickly followed. They saw Philip turn and begin moving toward the commotion also. They couldn’t make out the words they were hearing until they got closer.

  “She’s dead!”

  Chapter Twelve

  Callie pulled into the airport grounds the second morning of the show with a long line of cars. After flashing her identification, she slowly made her way to the small parking area near the
hangar where they had an office. She knew that Greyson would already be on campus. This morning, she’d approached the airport from a different direction to get a better idea of the layout of the land. She’d seen the area reserved as a campground. Based on the number of campers, trucks, and trailers, she assumed that many of the vendors also remained onsite for the duration of the show.

  She found the team assembled in the office. She was given nods of greetings by some of them when she entered but they quickly turned their attention back to the large screen monitor on the wall. Zach was sitting behind the computer and controlling the monitor.

  “The victim was Sheree Tenley-Mulhern, age thirty-five,” Greyson said.

  “Any cause of death yet?” Kate asked.

  Greyson glanced at Nigel.

  Nigel shook his head. “Nothing obvious. I checked before the first responders got to her.”

  “Any chances it wasn’t murder?” Lenora asked.

  “We’ll know more later today,” Greyson responded.

  Callie shifted her gaze to Lenora. “Why do you ask?”

  “From what I found, she had some serious food allergies,” Lenora said.

  Callie studied the image on the screen. “What about the dog?” She turned to Nigel.

  “It was in that carrier next to the body when I got there,” he said. “It seemed fine, so I left it.”

  Callie’s eyes shot back to Lenora.

  Lenora shook her head. “No pet allergies that I found. Just the food.”

  Zach switched to another photo.

  “This is her husband, Philip Tenley-Mulhern, age sixty,” Greyson continued.

  “The same Philip that was surrounded by the group of buyer representatives we’ve had under surveillance at the time his wife was found,” Callie pointed out quietly as she considered it.

  “Coincidence?” Zach asked.

  Nigel made a noise indicating that it wasn’t likely.

  “What do we know about the husband?” Callie asked.

  Zach flipped to another screen with text. Lenora began summarizing it.

  “He made his money in investments and finance, and he made a lot of it.” Lenora continued explaining the information on the screen.

  When she was done, Greyson asked the group if there was anything else to report yet. The responses were negative.

  He turned to Callie. “What are you thinking?”

  “Someone needs to look into the buyer reps that had Philip surrounded when the wife was found.”

  The rest of the team nodded in agreement.

  “And someone needs to focus on the husband,” Callie finished.

  Greyson pushed away from the desk he was leaning against. “That’s us.”

  He turned to the rest of the group. “You have your assignments. You take the buyer reps, we’ll focus on the husband. In the meantime, if you turn up anything else about Philip in the process, let us know.”

  Greyson motioned to Callie to join him as he began leaving the room. He stopped at the door and turned back to the team.

  “We’ll meet back here and touch base. Call me on the radio if you get anything.”

  ***

  Callie and Greyson spent much of the morning speaking with the other wealthy attendees who frequented the space where her mother was holding court. Additional cars had continued to arrive for the auction and there was a lot of activity. She and Greyson separated for a while as they spoke with various people coming and going throughout the morning. By mid-morning, she realized that she hadn’t seen him for a while. Wondering where he had gone and wanting a break herself, she decided to exit the building. As she reached the door to the building, it opened and a female entered heading straight for Callie. The two women nearly collided.

  “Oh, sorry.” Callie flipped her sunglasses back up and smiled at Philip’s secretary.

  “It was my fault. I wasn’t paying attention,” Tessa said. Her hand went to the small carrier bag looped over her shoulder.

  Callie’s eyes dropped to the bag as it squirmed.

  “Sheree’s dog?” Callie asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s nice of you to take care of it,” Callie said with a friendly smile.

  Tessa had yet to remove her reflective sunglasses. Callie couldn’t see her eyes.

  “The little thing had trouble sleeping last night,” Tessa said in a quiet voice.

  “Sheree seemed very attached to it.” Callie assumed anyone who carried a pet around with them wherever they went must be.

  “It was her therapy dog,” Tessa agreed. She looked past Callie. “If you’ll excuse. I have work to do.”

  “Of course,” Callie said to Tessa’s back. “My condolences for your loss.”

  She thought Tessa hesitated for a fraction of a second.

  “Thanks,” Tessa said as she continued walking.

  Callie slid her sunglasses back down from the top of her head and stepped outside. There were people everywhere out front. She walked around the side of the building where she assumed it would be less crowded. That was when she found Greyson. He was talking to Ariana, but they were both too far away for her to hear. By the time she caught up to him, Ariana had walked away.

  “That was my sister,” Callie said.

  “It was, yes,” Greyson agreed as he turned to her.

  “You two seemed pretty chummy. First my mother, now my sister. Why is it you’re so friendly with my family?” she asked.

  Greyson smiled enigmatically. “I can’t help that you have a very nice family.”

  “You’re dodging the question.”

  “We’re partners. Why wouldn’t I be friendly with your family?” Greyson deflected.

  Callie crossed her arms. “What about your family?”

  He began walking back to their ATV. “I’m friendly with them too.”

  He flashed her a smile as he slid into the ATV. Callie climbed in with a scowl on her face.

  “What did you think of Philip when we spoke with him earlier?” Greyson changed the subject as he began navigating the ATV through the throng of people.

  Callie’s scowl turned reflective. “He seemed genuinely upset at her death.”

  “Did you expect otherwise?” he asked drily.

  “No. I mean, he’s certainly not going to do a dance in front of anyone. The man is worth millions. He’s no fool and he has a lot of high-paid legal advice.”

  Callie’s mind returned to Ariana.

  “What were you and my sister talking about?”

  “We met by chance, actually. She was on her break from the ticket booth.”

  She turned to look at him. “It seemed like a pretty deep conversation.”

  “She saw me tailing one of the buyer reps. She said that she’d seen him on her previous break with a group of people.”

  “She wasn’t in any danger, was she?” Callie asked, sitting straighter in the seat.

  He shook his head as he stopped to let a group of pedestrians walk in front of them.

  “No. You have to know I wouldn’t encourage her to do anything dangerous.”

  “I don’t know that,” Callie said hearing the heat in her own voice. “I don’t know you. I have no idea what you would do and I’m not taking any chances with my sister.”

  Callie watched as a muscle worked in Greyson’s jaw.

  After a few moments, he expelled a breath loudly. “Okay. Fair enough. But I’m telling you that I wouldn’t do that. Now you know.” He turned and looked directly at her.

  Callie decided to let it pass. For now. “Any clue who the buyer rep was with?”

  “Based on her description, it sounded like the other buyer reps that we’ve been tracking.” He began driving again.

  “That’s interesting, but not incriminating in itself,” she pointed out.

  “Agreed,” he said as they reached the building that housed their office.

  They found some of the team still working inside. Nigel, Julio, and Kate were missing. Zach looked up fr
om his computer.

  “The rest are out running down leads,” he said.

  “Anything to pass along to us now?” Greyson asked.

  Lenora stood from her computer.

  “They have a tentative cause of death,” she said. “It was an allergic reaction.”

  Callie frowned. “To something she ate here?” Maybe she had eaten something the caterers her mother had hired and they were unaware of her food allergy.

  “What caused it?” Greyson asked.

  Lenora shook her head. “They don’t have that nailed down yet.”

  Greyson turned to Callie. “She had to know what she was allergic to.”

  “Yeah, but you can’t always tell in advance what will be in the food. Even the servers don’t always know.” Callie thought about her work with Ginny at the restaurant. “Food allergies are so difficult for the people who have them, especially if they try to eat out. Sometimes, it’s the most convoluted things. Like an ingredient that you use was made in a factory that also handles something a customer is allergic to.”

  Greyson rubbed his hand across his face. “So, it could be totally unrelated to anything else.”

  Callie tilted her head to one side and made a face.

  “What?” Greyson asked.

  “You’re falling back on coincidence?” she asked.

  “Yeah. I see your point.” He glanced at Lenora. “Anything else?”

  She shook her head and went back to her computer. “Not yet. I’ll keep looking.”

  Greyson turned to Callie and pointed toward the door with his chin. She began walking toward it.

  “Do you remember her eating anything the night of the party?” he asked.

  Callie thought of their dance. At the time, she’d been focusing her attention on him. “No, but I wasn’t watching her the whole time either.”

  “Yeah, me neither.” He stopped out in the hallway after leaving the office.

  “She might have eaten it here today in the room where my mom is,” Callie pointed out as she continued walking.

  “Where are you going?” he called to her.

  “To ask my mom who made the food.”

  Chapter Thirteen