by Dale Mayer
“Let’s do it then,” she said. “So far this outing really sucks.” She settled into the back seat of the car and watched as the scenery went by. She’d never spent much time in Boston, so the area was new to her.
Once again, they followed the GPS, which took them to a small residential area outside of the main city. Small houses and yards, with playground equipment in the backyards and small children running around.
“This is really a family area, isn’t it?”
“Playgrounds everywhere,” Logan said.
They made several turns and ended up on a small side street lined with beautiful poplars on both sides. Harrison drove to the second-to-last house on the left and said, “That’s it. Number 211.”
They looked at the nondescript two-story family home, painted a soft blue with white shutters and a white door. A tricycle was in the front yard. There was no garden but a small picket fence with a gate to keep children inside. Bright cheerful curtains were pulled back at the windows and tied.
She could see no basement. “If there was ever a less likely looking house to find trouble, I’d want to see it.”
Logan laughed. “That’s almost enough to make me suspicious.”
She understood what he meant—almost too much complacency and niceness about it. Then the back door opened, and a woman holding the hand of a toddler and a baby in her arms stepped out onto the porch, then walked down to the grass. She stopped a little bit ahead, easily seen through the wire fence as she let the toddler walk a few steps in the grass before he fell. She laughed, picked him up and stood him on his feet again.
“Still think it’s suspicious?” she asked.
“We’ve seen a lot worse things in our lives,” Harrison said. “We never take the surface at face value. But I’m not getting a hit on my instincts on this one at all.”
“Neither am I. I think it’s exactly what it looks like it is. But it’d be interesting to know who owns it.” He bent his head and worked on his laptop.
She figured he got the name, phone number, and probably everything down to the type of food the family ate within minutes.
“The names aren’t connected to any of the four that I can see,” he said. “The owner is Richard Noble. He and his wife, Tabitha, bought the house three years ago.”
They watched as the toddler went up the stairs and back down, joined by the mother with the baby.
“That’ll be why they bought the house. Family time. She was probably pregnant with the one and had the second since.” Alina hoped to hell they weren’t involved. The last thing she wanted to think of was the mother and two kids involved in something as scary as the murder at the last house or human trafficking, like her situation.
Harrison drove around to the front again and parked not too close to the picket fence. He studied the small house, a frown on his face.
Finally Logan asked, “What’s bugging you?”
“It’s not that house, but the one beside it that has me off.”
“Why is that?”
She hadn’t even considered that maybe they had a wrong house number, and they wanted the neighbor instead. But when she saw the curtains twitch in the main living room, and a face look out only to jerk back again, she realized he was completely right. “Did somebody give you the wrong address on purpose?”
“Informants can give you all kinds of shit for numerous reasons,” Logan said calmly. “Just like you. It could be simply the fact that somebody knew Colin was up to this or had seen something suspicious.” He shook his head. “Unless the intel is three years old, I don’t see this house being involved. But the house beside it, yes, it’s all too possible.”
Harrison looked over at him. “I’ll talk to the mother on the other property. Stay here. This is one time when a single male is better than two.”
Logan nodded. Together Alina and he watched Harrison exit the car, walk across the road to the front yard and enter the side gate. He called out, and a few moments later the woman appeared around the side of the house with the baby in her arms. Logan and Alina were too far away to hear the conversation, but it lasted several minutes. Apparently, Harrison was getting some information.
When he came back to the car, it was hard to read his face, unlike when Logan had left the condo after finding the dead man. It had been easy to see he was pissed off. She struggled to read Harrison’s body language.
When he got back in the car, he said, “The family moved in three years ago. A single male lived there originally. The property was owned by their neighbor, Lingam, and his brother was living in the house.”
Silence reigned in the vehicle.
A moment later Harrison added, “She hasn’t had anything to do with the neighbor since they moved in. He’s a loner, no family, not friendly at all. Keeps a big dog in the backyard most of the time.”
“Did you see a dog?” Alina asked.
Logan answered, “I bet if we drive around back now, we’ll find the dog is outside. The brother’s been watching us from the front window.”
“True, but I’ve seen all kinds of people in my life as a nurse,” Alina said. “A lot are plain paranoid and not necessarily for any valid reason.”
Logan brought up the information on the neighbor’s house. “Lingam. He owned both properties until the one was sold three years ago. He also owns another in the Melville District.”
She waited a few minutes for him to come up with more information.
“Doesn’t have gainful employment and appears to be forty-four years old. One brother deceased a year ago.”
“The trouble is he seems too suspicious,” Alina said.
Harrison gave a chuckle. “In our business, everybody seems suspicious, so too suspicious? … Is it really a thing?”
“But you know what I mean. It’s almost textbook. Some guy peeking out behind the curtains of the windows, watching everything. Doesn’t work, is a hermit.”
“I’m not sure he’s the bad guy at all,” Logan said. “But you’ve got to consider if he isn’t, the way he watches everything going on, he might very well know something.”
Logan looked at Harrison. “My turn?”
Harrison nodded.
Logan opened the car door, slammed it closed, then knocked on Alina’s window as he walked around the vehicle. She watched him approach the second house, go up to the front door and knock. He waited and waited, and then he knocked again. Finally, the door opened just a hair.
And Logan stepped forward to talk to the occupant.
Alina sat in the car and wondered what the hell he was asking the man?
*
Logan smiled at the tall, stocky man and introduced himself, holding out one of his cards. “Good afternoon. Are you John Lingam?” At the man’s suspicious nod, Logan added, “We were looking for the previous owner of the neighbor’s house. And I understand from her that she bought it from you.”
Lingam stared at him with anger and a hint of fear. “Yes, it’s mine…was mine,” he corrected. “I needed the money, so I sold it off.”
Lingam walked with a cane. Maybe that was why he didn’t hold a job anymore. And it would make sense as to why he had sold the property.
“What do you want to know about that house?” Lingam stared at him. “I don’t know nothing. I mind my own business and stay out of trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?” Logan said quietly. “Is there any with that address?”
Lingam stiffened. “Nothing’s going on there now. When my brother, Joe, lived there, it was a different story. He was no good. He was supposed to pay rent, but every month I had to fight him to get something. He never understood money, that I still had a mortgage to pay. Every month he gave me a fraction of what he owed me. He was bad news.”
“Was?”
Lingam nodded. “Yes, he’s dead now.”
“How did he die?”
“The way most do in his world.” Lingam shook his head. “He ran with some bad people.” He stared out at the car. “I don
’t even know or want to know how bad. But he was shot one day on his front doorstep. I found him.”
Logan nodded. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Don’t be. He was an idiot. He got hooked up with all kinds of nasty stuff.”
“Drugs?”
Lingam shrugged. “He took several of his own. But I don’t think he was dealing. It was way worse than that.”
Logan studied him carefully. “Human trafficking by any chance?”
Lingam’s face went white, and his gaze darted anywhere but to Logan’s. His voice rose. “I don’t know anything about that. And I don’t want to. If he was involved, then he deserved what he got.”
Lingam backed up and tried to shut the door.
Logan didn’t argue with him. He said, “We need to find the truth. We’re trying to break up a ring. If you have any information that can help these women, I would appreciate it.”
Lingam shook his head. “I don’t know anything about any women. That’s all over with.” But he stopped shutting the door. He looked hopeful as if Logan would confirm his words.
“No, it isn’t. Not at all. We saved a woman yesterday. But we’re missing fourteen right now.”
Lingam’s eyes opened in horror. “I don’t know anything about that.”
“Did you ever see any women come through that place?”
Lingam snorted. “You kidding? My brother had women coming and going all the time.”
“Did he travel much? Did he have a large suitcase?”
A frown appeared on Lingam’s face. “He did buy a really large one, saying he was going to travel. But he never went anywhere. He was too drugged and drunk, lying around the house all the time. He never worked, never did anything. It was hell to get my damn rent money.”
“Interesting. I must ask, when he died, did you inherit anything? And if you did, was there any cash?”
Lingam nodded. “That was the weird thing. About sixty thousand dollars was in his account. And I found several more in the house when I cleaned out the place. He lied to me the whole time and refused to pay what he owed, yet he was stacking it up.” He shook his head. “That’s no way to treat family. And hell, I don’t even know how he earned that money, and I don’t want to. Good riddance to him.”
“Do you know any of his friends? Remember any names? Men or women? Anything that would help us? And when he died, what did you do with his belongings? Was he living there alone? Or was there any evidence of someone else there?”
“He was living alone, but, yes, I cleaned out his crap.” Lingam nodded. “It’s all in the back shed. I don’t want any of it. And if he’s got anything to do with that human trafficking garbage, I really don’t want.”
Bingo. Logan gave him a slow smile. “How about I take it all off your hands?”
Lingam looked at him suspiciously. Logan nodded at the card in Lingam’s hand. “Our company is working with the Boston Police Department. We’ll see if anything in your brother’s belongings connects to the current case. I can take it all now.” If he had room. He glanced at the rental car and realized it depended on how much there was. “Or I can let the cops know it’s here.”
Lingam’s face shut down. “No cops. I won’t talk to them. I don’t want to have anything to do with them. If you want it, you can take it now. I sold and got rid of whatever I could. The rest is sitting there. I didn’t know what to do with it. Drive around to the back alley. A gate’s there. I’ll show you, but you have to forget my name. No cops coming around.”
“I’ll try to keep you out of it,” Logan said. “But you understand, they may come back to confirm all the stuff came from you.”
Lingam shook his head. “You drive to the side. I’ll unlock the gate and show you the boxes. While you load, I’ll write you a letter giving you permission. But no cops. I won’t even open the door.” And at that, he slammed the door in Logan’s face.
Still, as far as gaining something valuable from the encounter, this could potentially be huge. He walked back to the vehicle and got in.
After relaying the info to Harrison, they drove around the block, parking behind the house in the alley.
Lingam was waiting for them and had opened the gate. They drove toward the shed. Logan hopped out and swung open the door.
A half-dozen boxes were stacked on one side. “This is all of it?”
Lingam nodded. “That’s it. Take it all. Good riddance to him and this crap.”
Harrison stepped in and grabbed two boxes, taking them to the car. Logan grabbed the next two. By the time he reached the car, the trunk was open. Then the last two were loaded in beside Alina.
Lingam locked the gate behind them, calling out, “And don’t come back.”
With letter in hand, signed by John Lingam, they drove away.
Chapter 9
Back on the road again, Alina studied the boxes. They were dusty, old, and she couldn’t imagine what was inside. She understood the theory that everything was important and any detail could lead to another, but it was hard to imagine these dirty, busted boxes held anything of value to the case. “Are we going back to the hotel now?”
“Yes.” Logan added, “We’re about fifteen minutes away.”
“Can we pick up some lunch to take back with us first? Or do you want to eat at the hotel?”
“I saw a deli around the corner from the hotel on the same block. How about we try that?”
“It sounds good to me.” She settled back, happy to know they hadn’t forgotten about food.
At the hotel a few minutes later, the men got out with the boxes and carried them upstairs. Once inside the room, they put everything down on the floor.
“I’ll get the food,” Harrison said, “and we can go through all this stuff while we eat.”
“Okay.”
While Harrison was gone, Logan and Alina picked up the first box and opened it, carefully laying the contents across the bed. With the empty box on the floor, Logan went through every item of clothing, checking all pockets to see if anything was in them. He also made note of the sizes for each article.
She felt useless as she watched. “Is there anything I can do?”
He nodded. “Sure. Go through the clothing, check the pockets, see if anything’s of interest.”
She walked to the far side of the bed and stared at what appeared to be a sack of socks. She was sure it wouldn’t have anything of interest. As she looked closer, the socks looked more dirty than clean. She said, “You might want to use a pair of gloves.”
He laughed and threw her a pair of gloves from his pocket.
She was surprised, shook her head, and said, “If you’d seen all the things I’ve seen …” She put on the gloves and went through all the dirty socks, finding a few pairs of underwear, also not looking extremely clean. “Where do we put the stuff that has nothing in it?”
“Back in the box,” he said.
Methodically they went through everything. When they came to the last shirt, he picked it up, checked it out and then put it in the box. Before they could open a second box, a rap was at the door as Harrison called from the outside.
“Logan, my hands are full.”
Logan opened the door and let Harrison in. He carried a tray of paper coffee cups and two bags of food.
Placing the food down on the small dresser, he handed out the coffee. Then he opened the bags and handed Alina a large sandwich. They didn’t make very much conversation while they ate. She settled back with her coffee as the men rose to start again.
Logan opened the second box, repeating the process with everything. This box was also full of clothing, including shoes. But nothing else of interest was found.
When they opened the third box and repeated the process, she wondered if this was worth the trouble or if it was all junk.
By the time Harrison opened the fourth box, she could see from his face that he wondered about it too.
He glanced over at Logan and smiled. “We’ll have a ton of garbage to g
et rid of. Hope they have a bin downstairs.”
“Me too,” Logan said. “I don’t know why Lingam didn’t do that in the first place.”
Alina put down her coffee and said, “Let’s do a trip now. It will give us more space.”
The men looked at each other, glanced at the two boxes on the floor, and Logan asked, “Do you think you can lift it?”
She laughed as she stood. “Well, only one way to find out.” She picked up a box and nodded. “This one’s light enough.”
Logan picked up the other. “I’ll come with you.”
She shot him a look. “I am pretty sure it’s safe to walk to the garbage area.”
He grinned. “But what if it’s not?”
Together they walked downstairs and outside to find the dumpsters to get rid of their loads.
Motioning back to the hotel room, he said, “Let’s go. After this, I really want a shower.”
“Yeah, you and me both,” she said. “Sitting in the shed for a year. It’s gross.”
“More than that, it’s probably the way the man lived.”
She winced. “That doesn’t sound like fun either.”
Back in the hotel room they found Harrison had filled the fourth box back up again. Making a sudden decision, they picked up the two newly searched boxes and headed back out for another trip.
Afterward, Logan grabbed his coffee and sat for a moment. Harrison was laying out everything from the fifth box on the bed.
She really appreciated the methodical way they handled this, although it was frustrating. But still, she likely would’ve dumped this box upside down, gone through each piece and tossed it as useless.
However, this box appeared to have more knickknacks, books, notebooks, and the odd pair of shoes. She grabbed what looked like a small journal, flipping through it. Every page was blank. She set it off to one side and reached for a stack of papers, pulling it toward her, studying the scribbles on each. She didn’t know if the men would throw this out because it was almost impossible to make heads or tails of any of it. She went through a dozen pages and found nothing legible. She placed them with the journal.