“Oh, dear,” Rita said. “Hasn’t she retired yet?”
“She is semi-retired,” I said, “But her heart can’t give it up.”
My stepmother frowned. “Why she’d want to fill that magnificent house with prostitutes and juvenile delinquents is beyond me.”
“Someone has to help them,” I said.
“Darling, they’ve chosen this life.”
“Not in most cases,” Dad said. “There’s a real lack of knowledge and many misperceptions in society about this.” Surprised, I listened as he went on. “According to Ruth, it’s much easier for people to think of them as delinquents and prostitutes rather than the enslaved, trafficked human beings they are.”
Rita shrugged. “I’m sure you’re right, darling.”
“Ruth sold me four tickets to this weekend’s clambake,” I said. “That was nice of you guys to host it.”
Rita rolled her eyes. “All your father’s doing. Can’t say no to his old school chum. A truckload of those dreadful Porta-johns arrive Friday along with two tents and all the rest. They’ll probably tear up the lawn and we have to have it completely resodded.”
Dad laughed. “I doubt it, darling, and besides, it’s for a good cause. Ricky, you said four tickets? Who’s coming with you.”
“This is my annual sleepover weekend with the Whitley crew.”
He clapped his hands. “Oh, how delightful!” Dad loved my Whitley buddies, especially Katie Briarwood. Everyone loved Katie.
“Well, at least someone will be having fun,” Rita said, nibbling on her cucumber sandwich.
After lunch, Dad and I took a short walk on the beach while Rita napped. At the end, he walked me to my car. “Now this is better,” he said, admiring the Subaru. “When did you buy this?”
“Last week.”
“The old jeep finally gave out then?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
“Well, I’m glad you have safer transportation. Everything okay? You seem a bit off.”
I leaned again the car, thinking for a minute, before deciding I could trust him. “I didn’t want to tell Rita, but there’s more to the Josh story. He’s hired me now.”
“What for?”
“To look into the disappearance of two young girls who were students at the school where he and Jimmy worked, a school that has now vanished. Josh is the only one who insists there was a school in the building Meridian Imports owns downtown.”
“Meridian Imports?”
“That’s where Jimmy, Josh’s roommate worked and the company supposedly funded the school, but it’s gone, No trace of it.”
“That’s very odd. Seems like I’ve heard of Meridian, but I can’t remember where or from whom.”
“Well, if you hear anything about it, don’t ask questions.”
“Why?”
“It could be dangerous. I can’t say why or how right now, but they’re a nasty bunch.”
“Does Ruth know something about them?”
I nodded.
“What did she say?”
“Not much. She’s scared too.”
“Then please stay out of this, darling.”
“Don’t worry. I’m fine. The police are all over it and I have people watching out for me.”
“Still, Ricky, this isn’t like doing paperwork for Bud or helping poor Mrs. Petty with some harmless boarding school pranks.”
“I’ll be fine, Dad,” I said, hugging him. “Gotta go.”
He stood in the driveway, waving as I drove away. After all the years of estrangement, it was almost as if I had the father of my childhood back again.
*****
I spent the rest of the day doing housework, grocery shopping and yardwork. Vinnie stopped by, leaning on the fence to watch me trimming my bushes, offering commentary. Fortunately, he had a date so couldn’t linger long. As I wound up the extension cord for my hedge clippers, he grinned. “Guess you’ll miss Charlie, this week, right? I hear you two are getting on really well.”
“When we have more time, I will be discussing the concept of privacy and how good friends should respect one another’s.”
“Rick, you kill me,” he said, laughing as he disappeared.
I’ll kill you if you don’t watch out, Buster, I thought, hanging the extension cord and clippers in my small back shed.
Chapter 23
The phone’s ringing woke me at six-fifteen and I squinted as I grabbed it, wondering who would be calling so early.
“Good morning, dear,” she said. “Sorry to call so early.”
I sat up, rubbing my eyes. “Ruth?”
“I wanted to catch you before you headed off to work. Late last night, I spoke to one of our people who has been looking into Meridian’s children and he would like to speak with you.”
“Of course,” I said, jotting down the name and phone number. “Did he say when would be a good time?”
“No, but if you call and leave a message, I feel sure he’ll phone you as soon as he can.”
“Thanks, Ruth.”
“It’s with great trepidation that I share this information. Please keep this confidential and be very careful, my dear.”
I put the number aside, deciding that Danny Leonardo would much prefer a call at a more civilized hour. After meditating and some yoga stretching, I took a long jog-walk, first on the beach, then around the neighboring streets. As I headed home, I loped past Charlie’s. The driveway was empty, no Land Rover, and no sign of Josh’s clunker truck. Mike had taken Carter to her apartment and the place looked deserted. I sighed. I missed him.
Showered and dressed, I poured a bowl of Muesli. It was after eight when I sat to eat so I grabbed my cell phone and called Danny’s number.
“Hey,” a gravely voice said.
“Danny Leonardo?”
“Yup.”
“This is Ricky Steele, Ruth Channing’s friend. She told me you’d like to meet.”
“Yup.”
“How does this morning sound? My office is in the Sagamore Mill Building, number three oh one, or I can come to you.”
“Be there at noon, or a little later.” Without another word, he clicked off and I was left staring at my phone.
*****
Wilda was at her desk when I walked in, Mike in my office, deep in piles of paper. Since there was no spot for me in the Inner Sanctum, I took several piles that included current projects and parked myself at Mike’s desk.
“What’s new?” I asked Wilda.
“Gave Frank the morning off.”
“Good, poor man never sleeps.”
“He has people who spell him. He’ll be back on the job by noon.”
I didn’t inquire further about the changing of the bodyguards. I had barely started in on the paperwork, when the outer door opened and Rollo Duffy and two of his goons waltzed in.
“Hey, Rick, long time no see.”
Rollo is a mid-level crook, drugs, petty theft, numbers, loan sharking, whatever he can get his grubby hands on. He and I went to elementary school together. Overweight, greasy, thinning hair, always dressed in bright shiny clothes, Rollo talks like he has a mouth full of marbles.
“Rollo, how delightful. To what do we owe this pleasure?”
“Miss me?”
“Yeah, right.”
“Gotta a minute?”
“Just.”
“In private.”
Wilda rose and stepped into my office, closing the door.
“What’s with the Amazon woman?”
“That’s what you came to see me about?”
“You blue-haired PIs need babysitters now, do you?”
“What’d you want Rollo? We’re kinda busy at the moment.”
“Yeah, I can see that. Who’s that a Bobbsey Twin in there?”
“None of your goddamn business.”
“You makin’ enough to hire two employees? Maybe I outta go into the PI business.”
“Knock yourself out,” I said, shuffling papers, pretend
ing to ignore him. Rollo didn’t make frivolous visits. Someone had sent him and not to say ‘howdy-doo.’
“Look, Rick, I’m semi-retired now and you oughta think about it too.”
“Oh, and why’s that?”
“Cause you’re too god damned old and if you don’t watch out, you’re gonna get yourself killed.”
“Why would you think that?” I asked, staring into his watery eyes.
“Can’t say.”
“Well, thanks for the advice, now if you don’t mind, I have work to do.”
Like lightening he crossed the room and took hold of my arm. I glanced to my left and saw Wilda’s shadow move to the inner door, which she had left open a crack. For a pudgy little guy, Rollo could move. “Listen to me,” he hissed, sweat dripping from his pasty brow. “That cemetery stunt was nothing. Next time, you won’t be so lucky.”
“Let go of me,” I said, standing and attempting to shake loose. He held tight so I stomped hard on one of his shiny leather shoes. He cried out and let me go. One of his goons stepped forward, but he waved him back.
I got right in his face. “What do you know about Meridian Imports? Do you work for them?”
“Fuck you, Steele. Done my job—you’ve been warned. You’re on your own, honey.”
He turned, goons following. As he closed the door, the sickening scent of his aftershave lingered.
The door to my inner offer flew open. “Who was that?” Mike asked, eyes as wide as saucers.
“One of Meridian’s part-timers, I’d guess.”
I rubbed my arm. Rollo Duffy was clearly not the brains of the operation, but probably had a small piece of it. While I didn’t think he’d harm me, he most certainly knew people who would.
Chapter 24
Shortly after noon, someone knocked at the outer door. On high alert after Rollo’s visit, Wilda stood and moved to stand behind the door as I called, “Come in.” I was still working at Mike’s desk, or should I say my new desk.
The door opened and a stranger stepped in, medium height, sandy hair, jeans and a Red Sox tee shirt. In his early thirties by the look of him with a day-old beard, his face wrinkled for someone so young.
“Hey!” he said, calling in to Mike.
She turned and gave him a smile and a coy wave.
“Can I help you?” I said.
“I’m looking for Ms. Steele.”
“You must be Danny.”
“You’re Ms. Steele, not her?” he asked, pointing at Mike as Wilda emerged from behind the door.
“That would be correct,” I said.
To his credit, he caught himself before allowing disappointment to register on his handsome face. “I wasn’t expecting a crowd.”
“No, of course. These are my employees, Wilda and Mike. I trust them implicitly.”
He nodded to each.
Wilda grunted and sat back down while Mike returned to work.
“Come on,” I said. “There’s a quiet place we can talk down the hall.” I led him to one of the empty offices that still had furniture and we sat on matching swivel chairs in a space that had been occupied by an interior decorator until a month ago.
“What the hell is this place?” he asked, looking around.
I shrugged. “It’s a work in progress. Cheap office space that businesses usually vacate as soon as they make it big.”
“Not you?”
“Let’s just say we have our ups and downs.” After slogging along for most of my life alone, saying ‘we’ felt good. “Thanks for seeing me, Danny.”
“I’d do anything for Ruth and the kids. Besides, we may be able to help each other.”
“I sure hope so. How long have you been looking into Meridian?”
“Bout six months.”
“Have you seen any of the children?”
“Only the one little guy that got away.”
“Where is he now?”
“With his new family. They officially adopted him last month.”
“How old?”
“Just shy of five, but he looks like a toddler. Poor diet.”
“Was he able to tell you anything?”
Leonardo shook his head. “Poor little guy was so traumatized. He wasn’t speaking then. No English at all, and only a few words in Cantonese.”
“How did he get away?”
“We think he was headed for a placement. With the little ones, especially the boys, they don’t care about their speaking abilities, or much training.”
I shuddered, clapping my hand over my mouth. “Oh, my, God.”
He nodded. “These people are worse than evil. Anyway, a cop in the North End found him hiding behind a dumpster. The kid had just crawled out with a stash of food when the cop grabbed him. It was late so he brought him to Ruth for the night. He would have gone straight into the system, but Jimmy, Jimmy Chen, identified him from a photo sent through a cell phone. After that, Ruth made sure that the child disappeared behind a wall of paperwork until she could get legally approved for adoption. You know Ruth, she doesn’t let anyone go until she has just the right place for ‘em. The city’s had so many problems with group homes that she won’t release kids to them anymore. Anyway, his status is still pending, but we’ll probably never know where he came from. They estimate a hundred thousand kids a year, maybe more, disappear in Mainland China every year.”
I described what I’d seen at Meridian, the lounge, mirrors, empty classroom and he nodded. “That’s all gone now. We don’t know where they’ve taken them, but they’ll never bring the kids back to the Water Street site. Your break-in and police crawling all over broke that place up. You’ve pissed off some very bad people, Ms. Steele.”
“Ricky, please. Yes, I had a visit from one of their lackeys this morning.”
“What?” His eyes registered fear, and Leonardo started to stand.
“Rollo Duffy, do you know him?”
“Chump change. If Duffy’s involved, it’s low level stuff. He may be a shit, but he’s not in the same class as Meridian’s gang of thugs. I doubt he was involved with Jimmy Chen’s death.”
“That’s what I think. So, what is it that you do, Mr. Leonardo? You’re not with the police. Are you a private investigator?”
He laughed, shaking his head. “Not a PI, no. Let’s just say I’ve been trained to stay in the shadows.”
Mercenary. “Are you from this area?”
“Here and there.”
“Who pays you? Surely the city wouldn’t okay this kind of thing?”
“Let’s stick to Meridian, shall we? Who hired me and how I’m compensated is not relevant.”
“Not unless it’s going to get me killed.”
“Sounds like you’re already doin’ a bang-up job of that yourself.”
“Ha, ha.”
“Tell me about Josh Peabody. Jimmy wouldn’t let us go near him.”
“Probably trying to protect him, as I am. He’s safe. Obviously his teaching responsibilities are over.”
“But he’s hired you?”
“To find two of the missing children. Sisters. The older one vanished a couple of weeks ago, and now the little one, with all the others. Have you been able to find out where they house the kids?”
“Nope. We’ve tried to tail them at the end of the day, when they leave school, but they’re really successful evading a tail. Kids are transported back and forth in several crappy cars, which change constantly. Easier to conceal than vans.”
“What about Brackett and Pearson, the attorneys? Have any of you questioned them?”
“Jimmy went to see them a few times, but he got nothing. I’m not sure how much they really know. Meridian has a pretty busy lively business and that’s all their attorneys seem to know about.”
Bullshit. “Well, I’m planning to have a go at them tomorrow, Phillip Brackett.”
“Good luck with that. Be very careful.”
“What about your person on the inside? Could I talk to him or her?”
“T
oo dangerous, especially after Jimmy.”
My heart sank and I felt sick. “Do you think he was killed because of my visit?”
“Who knows. Jimmy has been pushing the envelope recently. They were watching him. We were actually gonna pull him out the day he was killed.”
“Why?”
“Our other person at Meridian had overheard a conversation and was worried.”
“Poor man.”
“As I said, pure evil. Listen, I gotta go. You have my number. Call if you find out anything. Our concern is getting the kids out, period.”
“Thanks, Danny. I’ll be in touch.”
He went to use the men’s room on his way out and did not take the front stairs.
As I stepped back into the office, a draft shot chills up my spine. “Anyone want to grab lunch?”
“I’m good,” Wilda said.
“I’m starved,” Mike called, setting down a box. She was filthy, attesting to the deplorable state of the Inner Sanctum.
“Are you sure?” I said to Wilda.
She nodded.
“But we said no one should be here alone, right?”
“I’ll be around,” she said, meaning, ‘I’ll be right behind you ladies.’
After lunch at Dino’s, I decided a visit to the police station was in order. Unfortunately, Captain Roberts was out. “So, what’d you want to do?” I asked Mike. “I’m thinking of cruising by Meridian, then stopping in at Brackett and Pearson. You wanta get back to your filing? Wilda can stay with you.”
“What about you?”
“Frank’s Tacoma is two blocks behind me.”
“Well, I’d rather come with you.”
“Not to Brackett and Pearson. No telling who’s watching them. I’d rather they not see you.”
In full pout, she stared at me. “I can take care of myself.”
“I know, but what you’re doing at the office is a huge help. Once you restore order in there, I can get down to work and you can set up your space. Sound good?”
Her face brightened a bit. “Okay.”
I pulled up at the side of my building. “Have you heard from Josh today?”
“No, I’m surprised, too, cause we were thinking about doing something tonight.”
Poof! Page 10