Scottsdale Squeeze: a romantic light-hearted murder mystery (Laura Black Mysteries Book 2)

by B A Trimmer

  I turned into the main entrance and drove past the resort’s huge tropical themed fountain. I then drove up the twisty road to the largest of the ornate buildings on the top of a small hill. I knew this building contained the main lobby, reception, several high-end shops, an art gallery, some outstanding restaurants, and day spa. It also apparently contained an office for Tony DiCenzo.

  Without thinking, I pulled up to the main entrance. A man in a red uniform opened my door and helped me out of my car. Now, I never use valet. First, I can’t afford it and second, I always need the exercise I get from walking in from the parking lot. But tonight, I didn’t even think twice. I let the man hand me a claim token and I walked into the lobby.

  I briefly registered the beauty of the huge indoor space of the main reception area. It had a tropical theme, of course, but was done in a skillful; and stylish way, giving you the feeling you were on a tropical island in the middle of the south Pacific. The center of the space consisted of a large waterfall splashing down into a lava rock basin. Several huge fish tanks, filled with thousands of colorful tropical fish, were imbedded in the lava rock making up the room’s walls. Most of the tanks were eight or ten feet high and one was built with a tunnel you could easily walk through. Vines and lush tropical plants seemed to cover every inch of the lava rock walls.

  Max was near the front reception desk talking with one of the hotel employees, a woman with a red pants suit. I noticed the woman was rather pretty. I was somewhat surprised I felt a twinge of jealously at how pretty she was.

  So, what’s up with that?

  Max saw me walking toward them. He lightly touched the woman’s shoulder and softly told the woman he would talk to her later. Again, there was the slightest twinge of jealously.

  Stop with the jealously, you have a boyfriend. Don’t you?

  “Are you OK?” Max asked as we walked across the lobby.

  “Not really but I have some information Tony needs to hear. I won’t be able to sleep until I pass it on.”

  Max didn’t press me for more information. As always, I was impressed he let me work through things in my own way.

  Max led me up a wide curving stairway that went up to the second floor. We went past several ballrooms and conference rooms. At the end of a wide hallway there was a large pair of glass doors with Scottsdale Land and Resort Management, Inc. stenciled on the doors in large gold and black letters.

  On either side of the doors was a security podium, each with a beefy, armed, and uniformed guard. As I got closer, I saw each had an ASE patch on their shoulder. I had some experience with Arizona Security Enterprises before and I inwardly smiled at the memories.

  We went through the glass doors and into what was a large and luxurious office reception room. Max then led me down one of the hallways branching out from reception.

  Although it was getting to be later in the evening, a few people were still working in various offices and cubicles. We walked by the finance department, the purchasing department, and the resort operations department.

  We turned a corner and went down a long hallway that was much nicer than the rest of the offices. We passed several large offices, each the vice president of some department or another.

  At the end of the hallway was a living room like setting, complete with black leather sofas. In this reception area was a large and beautiful wooden desk. On the wall, there were several original oil paintings, all of which had a southwestern theme. Past the desk was a large and ornate door, which seemed to lead into yet another inner office.

  Even at this late hour, a secretary was at her desk, typing some memo into her computer. As we walked past her desk, I saw it was neat and organized but still appeared to be very functional. The secretary was in her thirties and tall, with long black hair. She turned her head and I suddenly saw that it was Gabriella. This was the first time I had seen her dressed in anything other than skin-tight leather. Apparently, she had duties in addition to being Tony’s personal bodyguard.

  As we walked by her desk, she glanced up at us. I saw and felt her eyes looking directly at me. As always, her eyes gave me a cold chill. They were the cold and unemotional eyes of a shark. I then saw her reach under her desk and push a button. When she did, there was a faint click in the door. Max pushed open the heavy door and we went inside.

  The office we walked into was huge and the first thing I noticed was the floor to ceiling window. It looked out over the lobby of the Tropical Paradise. Two things struck me as unusual about it. The first was from the angle of the office, you couldn’t see many of the people in the lobby. What you got was a great view of the waterfall, the fish tanks, and the lava rock walls, all covered in tropical vines and flowers. It was as if Tony had a private window onto a tropical island. The other thing I noticed was when viewed at an angle, the window distorted everything in the lobby a little bit. It was like a window at the drive-up teller at a bank. It must have been several inches thick and bulletproof. Maybe even more than bulletproof.

  Tough Tony DiCenzo was seated behind an enormous desk. He had several papers in front of him and was in the process of signing one when we walked in. Tonight he had on a white button down shirt and he was wearing a pair of black rimmed reading glasses. It made him look less like a gangster and more like a businessman.

  DiCenzo looked up as we came further into the room.

  “Laura Black, please take a seat.”

  I sat in one of two wooden chairs in front of Tony’s desk. As with the chairs in front of Lenny’s desk, these chairs were rather short and uncomfortable. The word hot-seat went through my mind. Max sat a respectful distance away on a black leather couch.

  “Max says you have something you’d like to discuss with me. But, before we start, how is your friend? I hear she is being held by a man called Carlos the Butcher. I believe Max told you we know almost nothing about Carlos or his group. If there’s anything we can do to help, please let Max or myself know.”

  “Actually, it’s Carlos I need to talk to you about.”

  I took the folder out of my purse and handed it to Tony. He opened the folder and held up the single page of paper. He scanned it for about ten seconds and then his eyes opened wide. He continued to stare at the paper for a good minute before he sat it down. When he spoke, his voice had taken on an overly polite tone with undertones of anger. It was more than a little unsettling. I’d never heard him talk like that and it scared the willies out of me

  “The man in the photo on this page appears to be the same man I saw two years ago in my meeting with Roger Wade and Howard Spencer,” DiCenzo said. “The same man we talked about as we walked the golf course on Saturday.”

  “Yes,” I said. “Everything fits together. He’s the same man.”

  “I assume you believe the rest of this information is accurate?”

  “As far as I know. It comes from some sort of government database. Actually, I’m not sure the information was ever meant to leave the law office.”

  “This is not a problem. You can return this to your office. A lot of things have become clear that were not clear before. Would you mind if I showed this to Max?”

  “Of course,” I said. It still struck me odd that Tony was still being so polite at a time like this.

  Max got up and came to the desk, standing next to where I was sitting. Tony handed the paper across to Max. He took it and started reading aloud:

  “The Muerte Negra, also known as the Black Death narcotics cartel. Current operational territory: Widely throughout north central Mexico and Arizona. Current status of group: Attempting to consolidate cocaine and heroin importation and distribution throughout southern and central Arizona including Phoenix and Scottsdale. Group organization and structure: Cartel leadership is located in central Mexico under Escobar Salazar, with field commanders located in northern Mexican and central Arizona. Arizona field commander is identified as Mexican national Carlos Valentino, also known as El Carnicero, also known as The Butcher, also known as Carlos t
he Butcher.

  Max glanced up at Tony. As often happened between these two, they didn’t say a word, although I could sense there was a lot of information going back and forth between them.

  “Carlos Valentino,” Tony quietly said. “Well, Laura Black, it appears I now owe you two favors.”

  TWELVE

  I drove home and tried to go to sleep. I was exhausted from events of the past week but I was also scared to death about what was going to happen in the morning.

  I was in the twilight stage between almost being asleep and being awake, when I was jolted awake by a scream. A woman’s scream.

  I sat up in my bed, my heart pounding, listening for what it could be. I heard the scream again and then heard a loud thump. It took me a second to realize it was coming from behind the wall in Grandma Peckham’s apartment. It sounded like she was in trouble.

  I was still groggy, but I got up, went to my purse, and pulled out my 9-mm Baby Glock. I was walking out of my bedroom to the living room, when I heard a sound from Grandma’s that sounded like giggling.

  What the hell?

  I stopped, then went and stood against the wall separating my bedroom from Grandma’s. There was another thump of something hitting the wall, then another, and then another. I heard the scream again but this time I realized it was actually more of a moan. The screaming and moaning went on for several seconds, followed by more thumping against the wall.

  Oh, OK. Good job, Grandma!

  I put the gun back in my purse and laid back down on my bed. The thumping and moaning went on for a few minutes and then quieted down. But by then, I had fallen asleep.

  ~~~~

  Even as exhausted as I was, I had a hard time sleeping. I woke up about two o’clock after having a nightmare about the last time I had been involved in a big exchange. In that one, I had gotten shot at and the building had exploded. Several people had died and I had been lucky to escape with only a bad bump on the head.

  I got back to sleep around three, but by four-thirty, I was up again. Adrenaline was pumping through me to the point I knew sleep was over for the night.

  I went to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. It was more to have something to do rather than the need for caffeine. As I turned the coffee pot on, Marlowe appeared at my feet, demanding to be fed. I told him it was too early and he could wait, mostly because I didn’t want to watch him throw up his breakfast.

  I went back to the bedroom, took a long shower, and then put on my combat outfit. Black stomper boots, black cargo pants, and a black t-shirt. I knew it wouldn’t protect me from bullets or bad guys, but putting it on made me feel better and somewhat more in control, which was good enough for me.

  I walked back into the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee. Marlowe was still yammering, so I plopped a can of Ocean Delight into his bowl. As always, he sucked up the food like he was starving and there were three other cats trying to take it away from him.

  I went into the bathroom, put on a few swipes of makeup to cover the dark circles under my eyes, and pulled my hair back into a ponytail.

  From the kitchen, I heard the Aaack! Aaaaack! Aaaaaaaaaak! sound of Marlowe throwing up. In my current nervous state, this really grossed me out. I grabbed my purse and hurried out the door.

  ~~~~

  As I got to my car in the parking lot, I couldn’t help but notice that the sunrise was going to be beautiful. I drove over to the office and parked, but I realized didn’t want to sit around an empty office waiting for everyone to come in.

  As I got out of my car, I again noticed it was a beautiful spring day in Scottsdale. The day was already warm and thousands of birds were singing. I decided to walk over to the Morning Squeeze.

  It was still early enough to walk in and get my pick of tables. I ordered the eggs Benedict and coffee but I really wasn’t hungry. I tried to read the paper but I kept losing focus.

  The thing that really got to me was to the rest of the world, this was just another Tuesday. People were getting ready to go to work, students were finishing up homework assignments, and nobody knew what a truly shitty day this was going to be, at least for me.

  I walked the three blocks back to the office and the walk did me a world of good. It relaxed me and got me ready for whatever was going to happen. By the time I got back to the office, I was itching to go out and take on Carlos and his entire gang to get Jackie back.

  I walked into the front door. Gina and Sophie were standing in reception, both hysterical with laughter.

  “How can you two be laughing?” I asked. “Don’t you remember what’s going on today?”

  “I know,” Sophie said between laughing. “But Gina was just telling me what happened yesterday with Raul the pool boy.” She looked at Gina and started laughing again.

  “Well,” I said to Gina. “Go ahead and tell me. I need to hear something funny today.”

  “Well,” she said, “you remember the assignment. Our client, dad, needed to get evidence that mom was having an affair to break the pre-nup. Since I wasn’t having any luck with the cameras in the bedrooms, I got permission from the client to install a few more around the rest of the house and the grounds. After I left the office last night, I went home and reviewed yesterday’s tapes. Long story short, it turns out that mom gets together with Raul while little sister’s at school in the morning. Mom spends an hour or so getting her needs fulfilled, then she takes off to do her charity events and shopping, leaving the house empty for little sister to have her turn at Raul when she comes home from school. Apparently, mom’s favorite place to play is in the cabana by the pool. It’s a beautiful and secluded setting and I can see why she likes it so much. But that also explains why I haven’t been able to get any evidence on her before.”

  “Well, tell her what happened,” Sophie said, still with tears in her eyes from laughing.

  “So, yesterday morning, mom and Raul are going at it hard in the cabana when little sister suddenly appears. I still have no clue why she just showed up. She walked right up to them, then stood perfectly still with her mouth hanging open. Mom’s back was to the pool gate and she didn’t see her daughter come in. Little sister watched her mom grinding on Raul for about two minutes. Then little sister starts yelling and screaming at mom. Mom hops up and before long they are both yelling.”

  “Tell her about Raul,” Sophie said, now laughing again.

  “The funniest part was Raul. Little sister and mom are yelling at each other and Raul is standing between them. He’s still naked, he has an incredible erection, and he has a huge grin on his face. For him, it was like watching a tennis match, with his head going back and forth between the women as they yelled at each other. I imagine he was hoping to have one last go with one or maybe both of them.”

  “So, tell him about dad.”

  “After about five minutes of yelling, like out of nowhere, our client shows up. So now, they’re all there, dad, little sister, naked mom, and naked Raul, still with his monster stiffy. Dad quickly gets the not so subtle drift that both mom and little sister have been having a go at the pool boy and so he starts yelling, right along with the mom and little sister.”

  “And Raul? I asked.

  “Oh my God,” Gina said. It was hilarious. If anything, Raul got even bigger and harder watching all three of them yelling and screaming at each other. Like maybe he was getting visions of a family orgy.”

  Sophie was laughing again and tears were rolling down her face. “OK, now tell her the best part,” Sophie said.

  “OK, so it’s about an hour later and things seemed to have calmed down a bit. Little sister is still fuming at her mother and I guess she wanted to vent to someone.”

  “So who does she call?’ Sophie asked between a fresh burst of laughter.

  “No,” I said. “She didn’t.”

  “Oh yes, she did,” Gina said. Now she was laughing again too. “She got on Skype and called big sister up in Flagstaff. She spent a good ten minutes crying and telling her big sis all
about Raul and about how much she loved him and about how their mom had ruined it all by sleeping with him and how she thought mom had been doing him for months, if not years. The entire time, little sister doesn’t notice big sister is about to blow a gasket. When the explosion came, it was like an atom bomb going off. Big sister called her every nasty name I’ve ever heard of. She was so mad she started making up new words to call her sister. She called her a bitch o’slut and a whore-a-sourus.”

  “She’s an English major,” Sophie said. “Probably took some creative writing classes.”

  Well,” Gina said. “I imagine things are going to be a bit tense at the client’s house for the next few months. But, Lenny will certainly get his fee. There’s no way the wife can deny infidelity now.”

  “Lenny heard the laughing and he stuck his head out of his office.

  “Laura, glad you could make it. Nice outfit. OK, it’s time to save the world, or at least save the client. Everyone, come into my office and let’s go over this one more time.”

  The three of us went in Lenny’s office. He sat at his desk and we sat in the three short wooden chairs.

  “The document Carlos wants is in this folder,” he said holding up a blue file folder. “We need to give this to him as quickly and as smoothly as possible. Has he called you yet to tell you where to go?”

  “Not yet. He said this morning,” I said. “He didn’t say when.”

  “We’re assuming it will be somewhere near the warehouse if not actually in the warehouse,” Gina said. “Apparently Carlos wants to get all of his crime done in one day.”

  “What’s the latest information we have on the drug drop off?” Lenny asked Gina.

  “From what our alibi client says, it’s between one o’clock and two this afternoon. He’s been careful to say he doesn’t know for sure where it will take place, but he infers it will happen at the loading dock of the south Scottsdale food warehouse. He’s also been clear he’s going to be in Tucson all day. He still believes if he isn’t at the scene of a major drug exchange today, then it will shed doubt he was present at the previous crimes.”