Dangerous Testimony

by Dana Mentink

  “Lots of little things were bugging me. I guess we should just chalk it up to instinct.”

  “You’ve been watching my house, haven’t you?”

  He shot her a sidelong glance. “How much trouble am I going to be in if I say yes?”

  She sighed. “I guess not much, since you saved me from Rico.” A mischievous grin lit her face. “Are you sure your nickname isn’t Secret Agent Man?”

  He laughed. “Yes, I’m sure, and don’t ask because I’m not telling.”

  “Okay.” She leaned her head against the headrest and closed her eyes. “I thought maybe you came back because you missed me.”

  More like ached for you. He shut down the thought. This is going to end soon and Rico will lose and I will leave. It was the right choice for Candace and Tracy. They deserved a happy future, so he’d give it to them, but first he had to deal with one last, very dangerous obstacle.

  Coming for you, Jay Rico.

  TWENTY-TWO

  The information from Dan’s contact indicated that Champ lived most recently in a trailer at a nearby RV park. It was agreed that Angela and Candace would check in at the desk and try to sweet-talk some information out of the clerk. Working in teams, the investigators would put a tail on Champ and corner him when he left the park, so as not to force a dangerous confrontation close to any residents. With the plan as firm as possible, they headed out. The drive took them an hour, the two sisters in Angela’s car, Marco and Lon in the truck, and Dan, Donna and JeanBeth in another vehicle, planning to take up position at the trailer park’s back exit in case Champ should become aware of their presence too soon and attempt to bolt. They would have an excellent view of the comings and goings.

  The clerk was a friendly woman with a puff of white hair and a plaid dress. She was eager to talk about anything and everything. Angela finally maneuvered the conversation to the subject of Champ.

  “Oh, sure. Champ’s a quiet fellow. Don’t have a phone number for him or anything. He keeps to himself, but I can leave a message for him under his mat. That’s what we usually do for our residents.” She gave them a slightly disapproving look. “I can’t tell you which one’s his place, of course, because that would be giving out private information.”

  “We understand,” Candace said. “If you could just give him this message, he can call me.” She scrawled a made-up number on a pad that the clerk offered. “Thanks so much.”

  “Glad to help,” she said. “Champ could use some visitors.”

  Angela and Candace left, waving to the clerk as they drove out of the park.

  JeanBeth radioed in less than five minutes. “She’s putting the note on the end unit, white trailer with blue trim.”

  “Hooray for binoculars and Mom’s eagle eyes,” Angela said.

  They watched for the better part of the day from a discreet distance, but no one came or went from Champ’s trailer. Candace’s back was aching from sitting. “Whoever said detective work was glamorous never did any of it.”

  “He might have gotten wind of what happened at your cottage last night with Rico, and taken off.”

  Candace groaned at the prospect of another dead end.

  Angela grabbed her arm. “Look. There he is. He’s heading for his car.”

  Champ got into a tan two-door and drove out the front entrance. Angela and Candace ducked down as he passed, and then followed along behind. When he left the graveled drive and turned onto the main road, the traffic became heavier. Angela and Candace struggled to keep him in view for the next few miles amid the bustling traffic.

  “I lost him,” Angela said. “Where did he go?”

  Candace strained at the seat belt. “There.” She pointed. He’d turned into a small parking lot that faced a strip mall. There was a tiny grocery, a comic book store, and a gas station on the corner. Champ headed into the grocery shop. Marco and Lon pulled up in the parking space on the driver’s side of his car. Dan made Donna and JeanBeth join the other women in their vehicle before he pulled in on the passenger side.

  Donna flopped into the backseat with her mother and slammed the door in a huff. “Your fiancé is bossy, Angela.”

  Angela laughed. “Then he fits well in this family. He’s trying to protect you and Mom. Brent would totally concur and you know it.”

  She grumbled something. “Anyway, he said to keep back a couple of yards and follow him if he takes off.”

  They waited a painful ten minutes before Champ reappeared with a paper sack of groceries and a newspaper tucked under his arm.

  Oblivious, he fished for his keys, before he noticed Marco leaning on his driver’s side door. He stiffened, eyes darting to the passenger side, where Lon stood, palms drumming on the roof of Champ’s car.

  “Is he going to run?” JeanBeth whispered.

  Candace gripped the door handle, ready to chase him on foot if that’s what it took.

  Angela inched the car closer, near enough that Champ realized he would not be able to back out of the space, either. She lowered the window so they could hear the conversation, but kept the engine running. Candace moved to get out of the car, but Angela shook her head.

  Teeth clenched, Candace listened in.

  Champ squeezed the bag against his side. “I don’t want trouble.”

  “Neither do we,” Marco said. “We want Jay Rico.”

  “He’s dead.”

  “No, he’s not, so quit giving us the runaround.”

  “Don’t ask me. I’m out of the Pack, what’s left of it,” Champ said.

  “Yeah? Then you can give us some info. You’re not a fan of Rico’s. You were ready to turn on him at the clinic, or so you said. Was that just a lie you spewed out when I caught you in the stairwell?”

  “Nah. Rico was acting more and more crazy, taking wild risks to get Fuzz out of jail. Showing up at a clinic? Man! Suicide. Couple of us figured we’d wave you and the girl off before Rico got there, but we were too late.”

  “Why did you want to help us?”

  “I didn’t,” Champ snarled. “I wanted to keep Rico from losing it. Didn’t want him shooting up the clinic and getting us all arrested.” He blew out a breath. “I did everything for him. I was faithful, paid my dues, and got nothing to show for it. Plus some of us were wondering why he fawned over Fuzz. Now I find out he kept it secret about Fuzz being his son. That wasn’t cool, man. It was like lying to all of us. Never lifted a finger to keep my brother out of prison and expected us all to take crazy risks for his own kid.”

  “So you’re gonna help us?” Marco said.

  Champ looked from him to Lon. “No, I’m not.”

  Candace’s spirits plummeted. He was too scared of Rico. In a way she didn’t blame him.

  Marco cocked his head, considering. If he was disappointed with Champ’s decision not to assist, he didn’t show it.

  “Actually, I think you are going to help us,” he said.

  “Why would I do that?”

  “Because deep down you’re worried that when Rico takes control of the Pack again, he’s going to start by cleaning house. He’ll reward those that stood by him and punish the ones who didn’t. That’s you, Champ. He won’t forgive and he won’t forget, not ever.”

  Champ scuffed his toe in the dirt.

  “All you need to do,” Marco said, “is tell me how to get him.”

  “You tried, and the Cliffs, too. He’s still alive and a free man. Untouchable.”

  “Not this time. He shot up Candace’s house, so the cops can make an arrest if we find him. Are any of his chop shops still in operation? Or maybe you have an idea about where he’s holing up.”

  Champ grimaced, but Candace’s heartbeat ticked up at the tell on his face. He knew, or he suspected where Rico might be, she was sure of it.

  Marco stare
d at him. “Give me an address and we’ll drive away, business over, and never bother you again.”

  Champ looked again from Marco to Lon. “You don’t know who you’re messing with.”

  Marco’s expression turned to hard steel. “Yes, we do.”

  “If you don’t get him quick, he’ll kill you.”

  “He’s not going to get the chance,” Marco said. “We’ll find him, bring in the cops, and he’s out of the picture.”

  Candace felt again the sensation of being bound and gagged, Rico fueling her terror word by word before he tried to shoot her in her own home, in Tracy’s home. What if Tracy had been there instead of visiting her grandparents? Candace shut down the thought and whispered to her sister, “What if he doesn’t cooperate?”

  Angela shook her head. “We’ll have to find another way.”

  But there was no other way and they both knew it. The seconds ticked by. If Champ insisted on leaving, there would be little they could do to stop him. She clenched her hands and prayed that he would cooperate.

  “Okay,” he said finally.

  Candace felt like shouting in exultation out the window, but she didn’t want to miss a word.

  “I know where one of his shops is. It’s still operating, and Rico hangs there sometimes.”

  “Address?” Marco asked.

  “Outside of Brewster, on Rich Street in a warehouse. I heard they got an overload of product, and Rico’s gonna be there tonight to collect his money.” Champ glared at him. “Now can I go?”

  Marco moved aside and the man got into the car.

  “Remember what I said,” Champ said out his open window.

  Candace knew every syllable. If you don’t get him quick, he’ll kill you.

  Angela moved her car and Marco and Lon watched Champ drive away. Dan got out and joined them. “So you got what you needed?” he asked.

  Marco nodded.

  “What?” Candace said, noting the hesitation in his eyes. “Something is bothering you.”

  Marco stared in the direction Champ had taken. “He may have just handed us the key to getting Rico once and for all.”

  Candace waited for the rest.

  “But he also might be laying a trap to get into Rico’s good graces again.”

  “How will we know which one it is?”

  It was Lon who finally spoke up. “When the bullets start flying.”

  That evening they were in position, in the town of Brewster, with much the same setup as the first time they’d tried to bust Rico’s chop shop. Now it was Marco and Lon who were ready to make entry into the warehouse. Candace and her sisters were relieved to see both men wearing body armor. This time, both were also armed with guns, she knew.

  “What about the police?” she’d said again, just before they had made the drive to Brewster.

  “We’ll confirm that he’s there, and we’ll call them in. If we tell them beforehand they’ll try to make a bust and scare him off,” Marco said.

  She had shoved down the worries that threatened to claw their way to the surface. How could they be in the same frightening situation as that first time, when Dev had been injured?

  “So that means you’re going to be careful,” she said, touching her fingers to his cheek. His skin was roughened with a five o’clock shadow that tickled and made her want to stroke the hard edge of his jaw. A good man, her heart told her. She was deeply grateful in that moment that the Lord had put Marco into her life.

  “Always.” His gaze met hers and then flicked away, as if the connection caused him pain.

  I’m sorry, Marco. I’m sorry I can’t be what you need, what you deserve.

  Outside the warehouse, JeanBeth switched on Lon’s camera. “Now listen to me,” she said to the men. “I will have no one getting hurt on this mission. Am I making myself clear?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” both answered.

  “Okay then,” she said, kissing them each on the cheek before they crossed the darkened street.

  Candace didn’t think her heart could accelerate much faster, but it was pounding away in her chest like a runaway horse. The laptop feed showed Marco and Lon approaching, making their way around the side to the back. With each step she thought about Champ. He might have laid a perfect trap. And how would they know?

  When the bullets start flying.

  Candace’s mother gripped her shoulder, Angela took her hand and together they poured out prayers for the safety of the two men.

  Lon’s camera showed Marco testing the door. It swung open under his fingertips, unlocked. Candace’s body tensed as they entered, as if she, too, were creeping along with them into the darkness.

  The space was crowded with car parts, pallets and an entire vehicle up on jacks, clear evidence that a chop shop was operating there. She sat up straighter. The cops could arrest Rico this time.

  The door in the back must lead to the room Champ had described, the office and Rico’s home away from home.

  Marco and Lon approached, and JeanBeth held the cell phone, ready to alert the police.

  “Just one look and get out,” Candace whispered, though they couldn’t hear her.

  Marco and Lon stopped and froze, listening, Candace imagined. Had they heard something? The tension was unbearable.

  There was a small window above the door. Marco knelt and Lon used Marco’s bent leg for a boost to climb up. The camera panned across the wood, dizzying her until Lon reached the top.

  “What’s in there? Can you see?” Candace muttered.

  Slowly, Lon’s camera picked up the view inside.

  With her breath held prisoner in her lungs, she strained forward as the seconds ticked on.

  TWENTY-THREE

  Lon jumped down and Marco knew it was all over.

  “Nothing,” Lon said. “No one there.”

  Marco slapped his thigh in disgust and used the radio. “Got anything out there?”

  “All quiet,” Dan responded.

  He was glad it wasn’t Candace who answered. He didn’t want to hear the disappointment in her voice as she realized they’d been thwarted again.

  “You figure Champ warned him off?” Lon said.

  “Looks that way, but they didn’t have time to clean it out properly this time.”

  They checked again for any hidden dangers and found nothing, nor did they find anything that might indicate where Rico could be.

  “I’m coming in,” Candace said over the radio.

  Lon raised an eyebrow. “Gonna try to talk Gumdrop out of it?”

  “Wouldn’t do any good, anyway.”

  She came in with Angela and JeanBeth behind her.

  “Dan and Donna are keeping watch,” Angela said. “So far there’s nothing. He said he’ll call the cops in fifteen minutes to report a suspected chop shop at this address.”

  “There must be something here that can tell us where he is,” Candace insisted.

  Lon put his hand on the office door.

  “Easy,” Marco said. His suspicion was born of long hot days in deserts and jungles where the threats were unending and unexpected.

  Lon nudged the door open a fraction. “Looks clear.”

  Marco handed him a flashlight. “Look again.”

  Lon shone the flashlight into the crack, then peered closer. He straightened with a sheepish grin. “Sorry, Chief. You were right.”

  “What is it?” JeanBeth asked.

  “Trip wire,” Lon said. He took a knife from his belt and disconnected the wire before he slowly opened the door.

  Marco and Lon went first. It was a crude device. Stepping into the wire would have triggered the mechanism to detonate rounds of ammo. Lon set the thing on the floor with gloved hands. It might give the cops something to work with.<
br />
  Candace stepped into the room, ignoring Marco’s objections.

  “He couldn’t have had enough time to remove everything.” She went to a small bed in the corner with a sleeping bag tossed over it. On the floor was a pair of balled up socks and a gym bag with running shoes and a half-empty water bottle. “Maybe it’s enough for the police to prove he was here along with these stolen cars.”

  Marco didn’t answer. He had his doubts about the police being able to do anything to Jay Rico.

  A phone rang, the sound loud in the dusty warehouse. Marco shot a look of disapproval at the women. “Didn’t remember to silence your phones?”

  “That’s not mine,” JeanBeth said. “I’m not a complete amateur, you know.”

  Candace went to the corner and pulled her jacket over her hand before she picked something up. “It’s here, a cell phone,” she said. “It’s got to be him calling.”

  The phone rang again. Marco moved to take it from her, but she’d already answered, holding it to her ear.

  Fifteen seconds ticked by, but that quarter of a minute visibly changed Candace Gallagher. Terror erased the life and spirit from her expression, the color completely drained from her cheeks and she staggered as if Jay Rico had walked into the room and struck her.

  Marco leaped forward and grabbed the phone, jamming it to his ear in time to hear Rico’s soft laughter before the dial tone. Enraged, he threw it down. How could he keep losing to this guy?

  JeanBeth reached Candace first. “What it is, honey?” she said.

  “Rico,” she whispered.

  Her mother gripped her hand. “What did he say?”

  She opened her mouth to talk, then swallowed convulsively. “Three rings,” she said.

  Marco wondered if there had been something more, but that was enough, wasn’t it? Rico intended to follow through, terrorizing her until the final ring.

  “He’s not gonna win, Candace,” Marco said.

  But she didn’t seem to hear. Her eyes were fixed on some faraway spot where he couldn’t reach her, like the place where Gwen had been when he’d lost her, too.

  No. He wouldn’t allow it.