"Thank you. All I need tonight, detective, is to hear there is hope for the sixteen other girls you found tonight, hope given by Sandra Jenkins life."
"Yes, sixteen, sir. Shutting them down, who knows how many more lives these monsters would have pulled in."
"Goodnight detective," Walker said and turned for the exit doors. He slid into his SUV and picked up the address for Steven Ashland, Sentinel's President. The DA was getting the warrant so he needed to wait. He also realized, at the moment it wasn't interrogation on his mind and the flash vision of squeezing the life out of Steven Ashland might vent some pain, but it wasn't who he was. He reached for his phone.
"Is that you Chief?" Edwards answered.
"Yes, we lost her."
"Oh no, damn it! I'm sorry, chief. I know how much you needed…it to be different. We'll get these bastards!"
"We will, Edwards. Yes, we certainly will."
"Did you get anything from Santa Cruz PD?"
"They pulled sixteen girls out of there. We'll see the detective in charge of the bust at Santa Cruz PD in the morning. I'm headed home," he said and put his phone down.
*****
Charlie and Jenny were making their rounds greeting the guests in the dining room for breakfast. Julia pulled Jenny aside, "I need to talk to you and Charlie… in your office."
Jenny saw the urgency on her face. "Ok, I'll get him now."
Julia took them through the events at the Sea Cliff Motel the night before as Stan had relayed it to her.
Jenny sat down, cupping her face with her hands. "Dear God! I know this hit your husband hard…and that Chief Walker is devastated. Did Sandra have family here?"
"Captain Becker contacted them when she went missing. They live somewhere back east. Becker will notify them this morning."
"At least the chief is saved that miserable task," Charlie said pacing the office. "He won't see success that sixteen walked away. He'll never be thick skinned, having to tell her parents…would have crushed our friend."
"Should we tell Eden?" Julia asked.
"I think so, she is so hell bent on leaving today," Charlie said surprising himself at the emotion driving his words. He saw both Jenny and Julia looking at him. "I mean, she needs to take the safety of Emily more seriously."
Jenny stood up and, without breaking eye contact with Charlie, walked over and put her hand on his shoulder. "Charlie, we are all on edge with Sandra's death. I am certain Eden is not taking her daughter's safety lightly."
Charlie let go of a deep breath. "I know…I just don't want to see anyone else hurt here and I feel so helpless to prevent that."
"Julia, I hate to impose…"she started to say when Julia interjected.
"I was going to offer telling her, but only that she was found and died at the hospital."
"Thank you Julia. How is Stan holding up?" Jenny asked.
"As expected. He was so elated when they found her alive which only made the news of her death a greater drop. They're going to Santa Cruz this morning and I hope will bring something back to guide them to those responsible."
Chapter 18
Detective Edwards was riding with Chief Walker in his SUV for a follow up with Santa Cruz P.D. It had been an awkwardly quiet ride, Edwards shifting in the passenger seat and Walker staring straight ahead at the road.
"I should have pressed Black sooner, figuring they were involved with Sandra," Walker said.
"There was so much detail on the others in their brief case and nothing, not even her name was in there, Chief. Besides neither one of them said anything at all until your new source linked them. You had nothing to go on."
"That source pointed to Assemblyman Mitchell also," he said picking up his phone to take a call.
"Captain Becker?" he answered.
"Andy, I wanted to bring you up to speed after we talked to Santa Cruz P.D., but Sandra Jenkins died in the hospital last night. I have a source that sat beside Mitchell in the Sentinel office when whoever is behind this informed them of the intent to kill Sandra. We are getting a search warrant for Sentinel, but Assemblyman Mitchell is an accessory to her death and I want his ass hauled in for questioning."
"Your source can't name who's behind Sentinel?"
"She doesn't know who he is. They were on a speaker phone."
"Your source, she is creditable?"
"Yes, and her testimony is the basis for the warrant. I hate keeping you in the dark, my friend, but I was ordered to do so by the DA. Not to mention my oath to protect my community and it's … officials."
"She, as in don't lose sight of the chain of command?"
"Exactly, but again I'm sorry I can't reveal her name or position."
"I'll bring him in. Why don't you head my way after your meeting with Santa Cruz and we'll put the pieces together."
"See you in a couple hours unless the warrant comes through. I'd feel just awful if Mitchell had to wait in holding if we are delayed," Walker said and put his phone down.
"Mayor Gayle is your source?" Edwards asked turning to face Walker.
"I never mentioned her name, Edwards. You're just showing off your detective skills and hopefully your power of keeping your wild guess to yourself."
"Wild guess stowed away Chief."
They parked in the visitor parking just outside the front doors of Santa Cruz Police Department. As they were walking toward the entrance, Walker said, "I'm guessing Captain Tucker is going to be thoroughly pissed off that I didn't notify them before going into Sea Cliff Motel. So don't let him get under your skin as he vents, it was my call."
The moment they approached the desk the Sergeant directed them to the conference room down the hall. They entered to find three unknown men in suits spaced around the conference room table, Detective Carmichael sat beside Captain Tucker at one end. Captain Tucker was gray haired, in his sixties and short and stocky, not fat, but at 5' 8" his 200 lbs looked like a fire plug linebacker it would be hard to move.
"Chief Walker, "Tucker said after standing to greet him at the door with his hand extended. "Come in please, we were sorry to be informed about Sandra Jenkins."
Walker shook his hand. "Thank you Captain. This is Detective Edwards."
They shook hands and Tucker continued to introduce them to his two detectives, Carmichael and Sanchez, and the two FBI agents, Howard and Simpson. They all sat down.
"We've had Max, Edward Maxwell on our radar…" Tucker began and was cut off.
"Chief Walker," Special Agent Howard said. "I have read the incident reports that you faxed over this morning and I'm shocked, not only were we not notified of the kidnapping, but you were acting outside of your own jurisdiction here."
Captain Tucker jumped back in. "When Chief Walker contacted me en route to the Sea Cliff Motel as undercover muscle and given the sense of urgency, he was in my jurisdiction with my blessing, Agent Howard. We were standing by as backup."
"That wasn't in the report," Howard responded.
Walker gave Tucker an appreciative nod then said, "I had just received the location of Sandra Jenkins from one of her abductors. We didn't know what was there and our intent was to remove Sandra Jenkins as she had been delivered there under orders from the head man without incident. When that failed, well…it's in our report. What background do we have on Max and his organization?"
"Until this, he's been small time, ran a few girls and covered his tracks well," Detective Carmichael said.
"Then it looks like a money man is, was backing him at Sea Cliff?" Walker asked.
"We discovered the Sea Cliff was sold four months ago, a cash sale through a legitimate real estate firm in town," Carmichael said checking his file. "Paradise Reality, the new owner is listed as Thomas Benton, who resides in Dallas, Texas. His phone has been disconnected and I requested that Dallas P.D. check the address listed."
"Is the skinny guy that was working the counter there talking?" Edwards asked.
"His name is Samuel, David, did 2 years for coke possession
and on parole. He's talking, but has little to say. Worked at Sea Cliff for three months, but couldn't tell us by whom or where the girls were brought in and as far as he knew Max was the top guy."
"Captain Tucker, we're waiting for a search warrant for Sentinel and its president, Steven Ashland, related to our case in Marina. We welcome your involvement," Walker said.
Special Agent Howard spoke up, "As I informed Captain Tucker, the FBI will assume the investigation into the Sea Cliff Motel and the two survivors of your shoot out at the OK corral, Chief Walker."
Walker had plenty to say but remained silent.
Special Agents Howard and Simpson stood at the same time as if a telepathic communication transferred between them and put their files in briefcases. "We'll be in touch if further information is needed," Howard said.
"I know I'll sleep better knowing you guys are on the job," Walker said as they were leaving the conference room. Howard turned back wanting to reply, but turned and left.
Walker turned in his chair to face Captain Tucker. "I am sorry, Captain that I couldn't give you a heads up on Sea Cliff and am very grateful you covered my ass with those two."
Captain Tucker smiled, and said, "We share an affection for those pompous federal boys, Chief Walker. We would like to be brought up to speed on Sentinel and involved when the warrant is approved." Walker and Edward spent thirty minutes bringing the group current on their investigation. Walker and Edwards were just leaving when Walker's phone rang.
"Hello?"
"It's Jacque, Chief. The warrants just came in."
Walker turned to Captain Tucker, "What's your fax number?" He relayed that information to Jacque and disconnected the call. He hit speed dial.
"Watson Investigations," Jenny answered.
"Marina P.D. just received search warrants and would like very much to have Watson Investigations enter Sentinel with us."
"Where do we meet you, Chief?"
"Santa Cruz P.D., you and Charlie can ride in with Edwards and me."
"On our way. Will you cover a speeding ticket?"
"Take your time, Jenny. I probably should not pull you back in, but you two were there before and will have some insight we'll need."
"Thanks, see you in a few," Jenny said turning to Charlie with the news.
*****
Captain Tucker took a few officers to search the home of Steven Ashland while Chief Walker went to the Sentinel Corporation office. Edwards picked up a box of computer discs locally while they waited for Charlie and Jenny to drive to Santa Cruz. Walker and Edwards approached the building's entrance when they saw Charlie and Jenny pull into the parking lot.
"Finally, we'll get some answers," Charlie said as they approached the front door. He held it open for them to enter the building lobby. Jenny took the lead to the Sentinel office and opened it, letting Chief Walker present the warrant.
"Hello, I'm Chief Walker. What's your name, miss?"
"Lauren … Henderson," she replied overwhelmed and scared.
"I have a search warrant for this office Lauren and will need to have you move away from the desk."
"Chief that’s a different girl," Jenny said as Lauren moved away from the desk.
"Lauren how long have you worked here?" Walker asked.
"Three hours, first day. Office Temps, where I work, sent me over to set up the computer and load software," she said pointing to the stack of boxes the new computer was packed in.
"This computer is new?" Edwards asked as he sat down in front of it ready to search its files.
"I helped Mr. Ashland bring in the boxes last night for me to set it up this morning."
"Were you going to be a new employee here?" Jenny asked.
"No, I'm a computer tech and just set up new systems."
"Lauren, did you get any web sites or email accounts to set up?" Edwards asked.
"Yes, Mr. Ashland has me setting up a web site for them. Told me Sentinel Corporation was a new company and needed new accounts set up."
Edward removed his hands from the computer key board in frustration and started pulling desk drawers open. General office supplies, pens, post-it notes, printer paper and bound lined paper tablets were all he found. "Was there a computer here when you arrived this morning?"
"No, again I was told this was a new office for them."
Walker had gone through the empty file cabinets and turned back toward Lauren seated in a guest chair. "Do you have a key for this room?"
Edward pulled the desk lap drawer back open and pulled out a key. "Try this one Chief." The key fit and he opened the door to expose an empty conference room. He switched on the light and walked around the table slowly. The table surface reflected the overhead lights almost blindingly from the recent waxing. Vacuum cleaner tracks were fresh in the medium pile carpeting. The only thing on the table was a brand new speaker phone, still in the box. He turned the light off and pulled the door closed.
"Thank you Lauren, we're done here," Walker said as they followed him out of the office.
"After what we saw in there," Jenny said. "I doubt they were stupid enough to use the dumpster."
"My next stop," Walker replied. "Unfortunately, with the same lack of optimism." They reached the dumpster for that building and found it a quarter full. Most of the contents were in large green-brown janitor bags. "They wouldn't dump anything important, any records. They'd be moved. I hope we're in time to find them with Ashland."
"Often it's the simple name on a scratch pad or a phone number jotted down during a phone call," Jenny said looking around the other buildings in the area. They tore into the top bags and found things from the other companies in the building. Half way down Jenny commented, "It'd be on top from last night." On the opposite side of the common parking area she saw another dumpster.
Charlie catching her gaze said, "It's worth a look." They all set off walking toward it.
"Chief, we were so sorry to hear about Sandra. We know how hard you took her loss," Jenny told him.
Walker turned toward her. "Thank you, Jenny. Needing to pull her out of this went deeper than even I understand… so much promise…wasted."
The new dumpster had the same collection of green-brown garbage bags as both buildings were probably serviced by the same janitorial service. Charlie tossed the top two bags to the side exposing a computer monitor. With a new ray of hope, Edwards started pulling the bags out in search of the computer.
When they had removed enough bags to be certain it wasn't there, Edwards said, "That would have been too good to be true." They started tossing the garbage bags back in.
"Wait, Edwards," Walker said. "If that is from Sentinel, and they realized only the computer had to go with them, they may have dumped the office trash here as well."
Charlie and Jenny's eyes met. They had both been looking over the rim of the dumpster and spotted the smaller, black garbage bags on the bottom.
"If you give me a hand up, I'll volunteer as dumpster diver." Jenny said to him. Charlie lifter her up and over the rim and she handed him the two black plastic bags. He tore into one of them and found junk mail on top with Sentinel's unit number on it.
"It's from their office," Charlie reported smiling.
"We'll take them both with us," Walker said. "Let's get over to Steven Ashland's home and see what Captain Tucker found."
Jenny moved to the edge inside of the dumpster. "Can I go too?"
Charlie looked up at her from his squatted position beside the recovered garbage bags, and then shifted his glance to Walker and Edwards. "What do you think guys?"
"I'd say she earned the right to tag along," Walker said.
"Yeah, I agree," Edwards concurred laughing.
Charlie stood up and pulled her out of the dumpster. "Looks like you're in, Jenny."
Chapter 19
There was a coroner's van in the driveway when Chief Walker parked his SUV across the street from Steven Ashland's residence. The front yard was filled with crime scene investigator
s and detectives going in and out of the house. Neighbors were gathered of both sides of the house and had little to share with the officers trying to get statements. Captain Tucker spotted them and crossed the street.
"Ashland?" Walker asked.
"Yeah, in bed, ME says between ten to twelve last night. Single shot to the head, never saw his attacker. I have uniforms canvassing the neighborhood, but nothing yet."
"Sentinel was sanitized," Walker said. "We have a couple trash bags to go through, but this guy is damn good at covering his tracks. Any leads here?"
"Our shooter didn't want to be seen carrying anything out. The bath tub is full of paper and acid. The computer was wiped clean by reformatting the hard drive."
"We dead ended with Sentinel's off shore banking," Walker said. He picked up his phone to make a call.
"Captain Becker."
"Hey Andy, it's Rodney. Tell me you have Assemblyman Mitchell in custody."
"Tracked him down to a motel by his Visa card this morning. We found his dog on the front porch of his home and once animal control cleared the way, we went inside. Looks like his dog got a healthy bite out of a man breaking in. A silenced 38 was on the floor just inside of the front door along with a good deal of blood."
"We just found the President of Sentinel, Steven Ashland dead, shot last night. That should get Mitchell talking. Maybe our hit man's second house call," Walker said.
"Ashland was shot?"
"Yes, and the silenced 38 explains why this neighborhood is of little help, they really didn't hear anything last night. I'll have Santa Cruz send ballistics when they have something."
"Are you still coming to talk to Mitchell?"
"I have a pressing source in Marina I need to check on. I'm hoping this was the second house call last night and not the third," Walker said, disconnecting the call, and entered another number.
"Mayor Gayle's office, how may I help you?"
"This is Chief Walker, is she in?"
"She just left for lunch, Chief. Can I take a message?"
Watson Manor Investigations (Watson Manor Mystery Series Book 3) Page 11