“Are you going to tell Jim about the girls?” The meal over, Derek had helped her into a chair and was massaging her wrists where he’d bound her.
“Not if I can help it. They already know the Oglethorpe’s travel with women. They might think that’s strange but they don’t have proof anything is going on. I was hired to deal with drugs not women who don’t seem to be in much trouble.”
The noise at the door was just under a pounding. Thia looked at her bare legs. “Shouldn’t I put on more clothes? There’re some things the models left in the bathroom, though I don’t have bra or panties.”
“I like you in just my shirt.” The look he shot her was heated and possessive, and though she would have liked underwear, she warmed at what wearing his shirt meant. “But maybe you’ll be more comfortable wearing a bit more.”
“Probably.” She ducked into the bathroom and found a brightly embroidered peasant blouse and a skirt. By the time she was dressed, she looked nothing like the wanton she felt.
By the time Jim rang the bell on the studio door, coffee had been started and Thia sat at the table.
Derek led Jim into the kitchen.
“Hi, Thia,” Jim said, nodding to her as he walked in. His quick glance at her and the room, followed by his raised brows and half smile at Derek, showed he understood some of what had been going on. “Lucky shit,” he said to Derek, appreciation and a little jealousy in his tone.
Then he turned all business. “So, Thia, this is a picture of your husband?”
“Yes, Henry Williams.”
Jim glanced quickly at Derek, who’d sat across from Thia. “Well, this is also Howard Whitmore. Our people and yours—” he nodded at Derek “—have confirmed the identification, and the computers matched fingerprints we got in Russia to some we got from Oglethorpe’s office last night.”
Thia opened her mouth to ask how they’d gotten fingerprints from the Oglethorpe’s but Jim said, “Don’t ask,” so she didn’t.
“He’s not only shown up in Russia, but on surveillance tapes here in San Francisco. Good catch, Derek.”
“It was both of us. I took the photos of the helicopter but Thia and her instincts made me believe there could be something more. She’s the one who put the name to the face.”
“Well, good for both of you. So, how do you want to handle this? What do we have on Oglethorpe?”
Thia looked at Derek, pleading with her eyes.
“Can I assume you want info on who’s running the operation locally? Or do you think Whitmore is the leader? Because I don’t think Oglethorpe is involved in the drug smuggling—not beyond helping them get into the country. I think I can convince him to help us, though, if you can work a deal for him on that and a couple of other issues.”
Jim’s expression didn’t change but he went right to the core. “You have something on him and think you can turn him?” Derek nodded. “Spill.”
“I can’t. I promised someone I wouldn’t unless I had to. If Oglethorpe won’t cooperate, I’ll let you know everything.”
Jim studied Derek for a long time. “Give me one good reason why I should trust you after what you pulled in Bosnia last year.”
“I’ll give you three. You know I always deliver. You know there’s something going on with the Natant Revel you haven’t been able to prove, even with all your boardings and inspections. And, you know I was right to do what I did in Bosnia.” When Jim snorted a laugh, Derek added, “You would have done it too, if you’d been able to.”
“That’s what comes from being private instead of tied by federal laws.” He sighed and tapped his finger on the photo lying before him. “This guy’s in drugs up to his eyeballs. If he’s not the leader, he’s high up. We need to talk with him.” He turned to Thia. “He disappeared a few months after the major influx of drugs started. What do you think, Thia?”
Thia had been listening carefully, but the question caught her off guard. “Oh, he used to talk about disappearing, how nice it would be to be rid of the problems we faced running our own company. But he always said he’d never be able to do it without money, and knowing Henry, it would have to be a lot.”
They sat quietly. Then Jim spoke. “So, you think you can get the info we need to round up the dealers, stop the drugs from coming in, and arrest Whitmore? We don’t want to put this off any longer.”
“I think I can.” Derek glanced at his watch. "If I can meet with the Oglethorpes this afternoon, can you meet back here tonight?”
“To close this case, I’m at your disposal.”
“Let’s do it.”
* * * *
Derek called Sylvester and Lilly and arranged for them to meet at the loft. They knocked on the double metal doors and Derek opened the door. “Good afternoon. I appreciate your rushing into the city like this.”
“Well, when you said you had sketches we just had to see for the great room, we were too excited to wait.” Sylvester followed Lilly into the studio. “We’re going to combine the trip with a good dinner. Will you join us?” He saw Thia at the kitchen table. “And you, too, my dear.”
“Oh, Derek, I love your work space,” Lilly said. “And your view is divine.”
“Please make yourselves comfortable.” He motioned to the sofa. “I’m afraid we can’t join you for dinner, and I also have to apologize for getting you here under false pretenses. But we have something important to discuss.”
Lilly shot a startled look at Sylvester whose face sharpened into grim lines.
“My name is Derek Hawkins and I do paint, but not as a profession. I’m really a private detective and I contract frequently to the DEA.”
Lilly gasped and sank onto the sofa beside her husband. “And you, too?” she asked Thia.
“Thia is an innocent in this. Talk to me. Because I’m the one who can prevent your asses from being jailed for the next thirty years.”
“Oh, Lord, Sylvester!”
Sylvester took Lilly’s hand. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I understand you might think you have some idea of our bringing in girls from abroad, but that has nothing to do with drugs. I told you how I feel about drugs.”
“Don’t try to bullshit me, Sylvester, because I saw Howard Whitmore at your place. Whitmore has been identified as a major player in bringing opiates from Russia into the city. And funny thing, the DEA thinks it’s brought in on your ship. Now, they might not have found sure-fire proof, but I can make sure they do have proof on human trafficking. Just as nasty a crime.”
Lilly started to speak but Derek cut her off. “Oh, maybe not the way you do it. Maybe your girls are well treated, well-educated, earn a ripe retirement, but selling humans is selling humans when it gets into the courts.”
Tears rolled down Lilly’s face and she stared at her husband in horror. “What would happen to our girls if we went to jail?” Thia wanted to assure Lilly it would be all right if they just trusted Derek.
“What do we need to do?” Sylvester’s voice was low and broken.
“Tell the DEA how you got the drugs past them all this time, and help us trap Howard Whitmore. Plus cooperate with any information you have.”
“What if we decide to take our chances?”
Derek heaved a sigh. “I wouldn’t, Sylvester. Except for finding the drugs on the ship, the government has you. Now that we’re ready, they will impound the ship and strip it to its last bolt and nut, and I can assure you, they’ll find what they’re looking for—the hiding place with traces of opiate. Then you’ll do the time for the drugs, too.
“I sympathize with what you’re doing, saving those girls, but there’s a greater good here than the few girls you’ve saved. I’ll do whatever’s necessary to get the drugs off the street.” Derek held out his hands. “Make up your minds.”
“How long do we have?”
“You aren’t going home alone tonight one way or the other. My contact will be here in a few minutes. If you cooperate and make a deal, he’ll send you home with an operative.
If you decide to take your chances, he’ll call his men to impound the estate and ship, and you’ll be taken into custody.”
Lilly cried a little louder.
“I’m afraid there’s no good way out for you.”
“Except by cooperating,” Thia insisted, speaking for the first time. She addressed herself to Lilly. “Derek will help you make a deal, he’ll help you settle things for the girls and maybe stay off the federal radar. But only if you help him.”
“Thia’s right.” Derek’s tone allowed no wiggle room.
“There’s nothing to decide, is there, Sylvester?” With some hope, Lilly looked into her husband’s eyes.
“No,” he said with some bitterness. But Thia thought there might also be some relief mixed in. “Tell your contact we’ll tell all we know about the drugs and that bastard, Howard Whitmore. He blackmailed us into helping him by finding out about the girls, and now you’ve done the same thing. Maybe it’s time for a change.”
Chapter 15
“Are they here?” Jim Jenson stepped into the studio. Derek closed the door behind him.
“In there.” Derek cocked his head toward the main area. “They’re ready to talk and cooperate. In exchange, I want you to get the feds out of their lives.”
“So you want immunity for the Oglethorpes.”
“Of course.”
“Immunity from what?”
“From everything.”
“You know I can’t make promises like that.”
“Then their participation in the smuggling. I know you can do that and you have.” Derek blocked Jim’s entrance, feet braced and arms crossed. Jim mimicked the stance and the two stood in a stubborn standoff for a long moment. Then Jim looked away and Derek knew he’d won.
“How far over the line are they?”
Derek relaxed and drew Jim aside. “Not that far. They did little more than reluctantly supply transportation. It’s best you know as little as possible, so you’ll have to trust me on this. What they’re doing for the drug smuggling will stop once Whitmore is out of their lives. However, they are the key to wrapping this whole case up.”
Jim frowned. “I don’t know. Transportation. Isn’t that enough?”
“I’ll make sure their involvement with drugs stops completely. They’re doing some good, Jim, and I can’t do anything to help if they’re constantly being harassed by the government.”
Jim thought for a moment. “Okay, I’ll handle things on our end. But I can’t give you an indefinite time on the promise. Next year I could be overruled.”
Derek clasped Jim’s arm. “Thanks.”
He turned but Jim held him back. “That’s if they help us get Whitmore and provide all the information they have.”
Derek nodded. “They’re aware of that.”
Jim sighed. “I hope I don’t regret this.” The two men joined Thia and the Oglethorpes.
Derek made the introductions. The Bay was a splash of blackness over the rooftops from the studio window. The far hills of East Bay mere humps of coal against the horizon. Having been through this kind of debriefing before, Derek knew the night’s activities had just begun. He settled on the facing sofa beside Thia.
“Okay,” Jim began. “Tell me how you met Howard Whitmore and got involved in drug running.”
Sylvester looked at Jim for a long moment, “This conversation never happened right?”
“I promised Derek something like that and I keep my word.”
“Then everything I say is hypothetical and won’t be used against us?”
“No. What you tell me will be used as evidence and had damn well better be true and factual. But what you say here won’t be used against you.” Jim’s face hardened. “My job is to keep our streets free from drugs. You helped make that job harder. People might have died because of what you did. For damn sure you added to the misery of the city, so what leeway I grant is only because I trust that man over there.” He pointed to Derek. “It’s not because I like you or buy into whatever other fun and games you take part in.”
Lilly started crying again. Thia poured her another cup of coffee. “It’s the only way, Lilly,” she said in a soft voice.
“Yes,” Jim said harshly. “It’s the only way.”
Clearly upset, Sylvester looked to Derek, who shrugged. “What if I’ve changed my mind?”
Derek sat forward, arms on his thighs and looked directly into Sylvester’s eyes. “Then this man and his colleagues will keep digging until they find how you’re involved or—” he paused for effect “—until they find something.”
Sylvester and Lilly were silent except for her near-silent crying.
“How did you meet Howard Whitmore?” Jim started.
“He approached us a year or two ago in Vladivostok.” Sylvester’s voice was lifeless and flat. He took a deep breath and continued. “He asked if we ever took cargo on our trips, since the ship was so large and he saw we made many trips back and forth to the States. I told him we didn’t. He said he thought we did—very special cargo and he knew all about it.”
Jim was instantly alert. “What kind of cargo do you take?”
Derek interjected, “That’s within the bounds of ‘better you don’t know.’ Take my word it’s not drugs.” Derek looked at Sylvester. “Better keep that information a little vague. Let’s just say it has something to do with saving girls from being killed in China. You know the one-child policy.”
Jim shifted in his chair. “Yes, it is dreadful what happens to unwanted girls.”
Lilly wrapped her hands around her husband’s in his lap. “Whitmore is an awful man. When Sylvester told him we didn’t want anything to do with taking on cargo—we had an idea of what he had in mind. It was that part of the world, after all, and we aren’t stupid—” she glared at Jim and Derek as though trying to prove the point “—he told us he’d found out what we do, he’d tracked us. He said he had several—” she glanced at Jim again and licked her lips in nervousness “—people we knew held hostage, and he showed us a picture of one. Su Li. She was just thirteen and she’d been. used horribly. He said if we did not cooperate he would tell the Chinese authorities what we did.” She buried her head in Sylvester’s shoulder.
Sylvester picked up the conversation. “What could we do? If he had threatened just me or Lilly, well, we have means to take care of ourselves. But when he attacked the others, our friends—whom we owed protection—I took his bags of poison. After that, we were trapped.”
There was silence in the room for a moment. “How did you hide the stash? Your ship has been stopped and searched many times.”
“Whitmore had it all worked out. We spent a little longer time in port to have a new stove put in the galley. It worked on the surface, but it wasn’t usable. The bags were hidden between layers of cast iron, safe from any detection. The drugs were in air tight bags and the cooking smells fooled the dogs.”
“You agree to help us to capture Whitmore and assist in any other way we deem necessary to close this case?”
Derek thought Sylvester looked like an old man when he nodded and said, “Yes.”
Jim looked at Derek. “I’ll keep everything else under the radar, though I’m sure some eyebrows are going to be raised. And I’ll keep them out of the spotlight for as long as I can.”
Derek shifted his gaze to Sylvester. “Good enough?”
“It has to be.”
Lilly raised her head. She reached to touch Sylvester’s face. “No, it’s good.” She waited until he nodded and then looked at Derek and then Jim. “Thank you.”
* * * *
Derek watched Howard Whitmore—Henry Williams to Thia—stride down the dock toward his boat and walked out to meet him. Whitmore wore an expensive suit and Italian shoes instead of the Dockers, Polo shirt and deck shoes Derek had on.
He was glad Thia was hiding in the small cabin off the galley. It was hard enough for him to face this bastard after all the grief he’d caused her, but he was afraid she’d lose it
totally. Which is why he never should have brought her along. In every venture they’d had before, he’d judged there’d be no danger. This time, the danger level was sky-high. But she’d begged him to let her have a final word with Whitmore, and how could he deny her?
Now, getting ready to meet the asshole, he knew he was wrong. He hadn’t even exchanged words with Whitmore and Derek wished he could cut the S.O.B. up for fish bait. Trouble was, they had to take the guy in—he had valuable information. He’d have to stay close to Thia and make sure she didn’t try to kill her husband. She had good reason. He sure didn’t want her to get hurt—he just wanted her to have closure.
“You must be Howard. Sylvester called and said you need a ride to their place. I’m Derek Anderson. I’m helping them with some redecorating of the house.”
Whitmore gave a quick handshake and then handed Derek his bag, as though he were the purser of the boat instead of the captain. Derek ignored the slight, knowing the man was headed for federal justice.
“I usually take my helicopter but the thing is having problems.” As though by habit, Whitmore reached up and smoothed his moustache, which drooped on each side of his mouth.
Thanks to the mechanics of the DEA. Derek shrugged. “Isn’t that the way it always goes?” He stepped on board and stowed the bag in the closet off the salon. “I think I’m going to get something to drink before we shove off. Want anything? There’s beer, soda, and juice in the galley.” He led the way down to the galley where the sound system would pick everything up clearest.
“Wine. I have a little time yet before the meeting.”
Wine? What a weenie, Derek thought as he handed Whitmore a glass of Napa Valley’s finest.
“Have you known the Oglethorpes for very long?”
Derek settled in the seat over the compartment that housed his gun. “No, I’m creating the artwork for their remodeled rooms. That’s why I’m going up today. It’s quite a place they have up there. Have you known them long?”
“Going on two years. They help me with my import business.”
She Shouldnt, But She Will Page 23