37
TOUGH LOVE
It wasn’t an intervention, or at least, not exactly. Gina knocked loudly on her brother’s door. She heard some groaning sounds and knocked that much harder.
“Let me sleep,” said Peter.
Gina opened the door slightly. “Get your clothes on,” she said, unable to hide the fury in her voice, “and get downstairs. Now!”
Two minutes later Peter walked downstairs. Seated in chairs were Gina, Bryan, Bennie, and Carol.
“Sit down,” said Gina.
“Don’t I get coffee first?” he asked. “Or how about a blindfold?”
“Shut up,” said Gina.
Peter suddenly seemed to awaken to the seriousness of his situation. “Look, Gina,” he said, “I know there are a few things we need to work out, but can’t we do them in private?”
“Sit down and shut up,” she said once more.
This time Peter complied.
“I talked to your wife yesterday,” Gina said. “She was out of her mind with worry. Apparently, she thought you were in Canada contemplating suicide. According to Sara, she had to talk you out of killing yourself the last time the two of you spoke.”
“Sara is—”
Gina interrupted him. “Not another word. I’ll tell you when you can speak. Everything you told me about your situation was a lie. Sara is carrying your child. Kumar never had an affair with her. And he wasn’t the one who gambled away your business with a derivative scheme. You were.
“Just so you know, as if it might actually matter to you, in your absence Kumar and Sara have being doing their best to try and make things right with your investors. They have promised them that over the next three years, they’ll see that they get fifty cents on the dollar. With a miracle, that might save you from being arrested for securities fraud.”
Peter nodded to show that he was listening.
“It wasn’t enough for you to make a shambles of your own marriage. You did your best to sabotage my relationship and my happiness. When Bryan was in the picture, it was harder for you to play poor little Peter, wasn’t it? So you managed to make me think Bryan was hooking up with the bartender at Snooki’s, the same bartender that you’ve been seeing. How am I doing so far? That’s how you were able to get that graphic and disgusting footage, substituting Bryan’s face for yours.
“Of course, I know you don’t have the technical skills of a third-grader. Someone else was in on this—the same someone who happened to send you the footage on a phone you’d just borrowed from Bryan that night at the restaurant.
“I was blind, Peter, because I never expected my own flesh and blood would betray me time and again. I should have been aware of the timing, but you played me like a fool, didn’t you? Like when I lost my cell phone. You took it, hid it, and then gave it to your psycho partner in crime so that he could put a bug in it. That was the same partner who you allowed to place bugs in my office.”
Gina stared her brother down. “Is that about right?”
“You mean I can talk now?” he said. “No, Sis, that’s not completely right. You left out the part about me being desperate and broke and needing a few crumbs thrown my way. So, was it wrong earning some cash for a few business transactions? My guy, Larry, was willing to pay me some good coin for getting a little insider information.”
“Bryan saw you talking to some character before we met for dinner. Was that your guy, “Larry,” as you call him?”
Peter nodded.
“We need to hear about your guy,” said Gina. “We need to hear every detail.”
Carol joined in on the questioning. She learned all she could about “Larry,” and how Peter communicated with him. Carol was able to get times and places and specifics. Soon, they would be able to put a face to “Larry,” even while Henry was trying to place a name to him.
The physical description provided by Peter and Bryan was good enough for Bennie: “That sounds like the squirrelly guy who was spying at Angus’s wake.”
“And he sounds just like the bastard who caused the crash,” said Gina, “and who almost killed me.”
“I didn’t know that,” said Peter. “I just thought he was hustling for another law firm. He told me all he wanted was the inside scoop to help the other team of legal sharks.”
“You betrayed me in the ugliest kind of way,” said Gina. “You lied and connived and could have even caused my death.”
“I’m sorry. I made some mistakes.”
“I don’t forgive you,” she said. “It’s doubtful I ever will. I am sending Sara a check for fifty thousand dollars. That money is to be used for the care of my not-yet-born niece or nephew. I will make provisions so that you will not be able to touch a penny of that money.
With his best abashed little boy manner and voice, Peter said, “Come on, Gina. You don’t mean that.”
“Have you ever known me not to mean what I say? As of this moment, you are dead to me. The best thing you can do for yourself now is to make things right with the rest of your family. We don’t have to be like our father, Peter. You can be better than him.” Tears formed in Gina’s eyes. She wasn’t sure if her words were more for Peter or for her.
“I can understand why you’re pissed,” he said. “But I’m going to need some money to get back on my feet.”
“Then you had better earn that money. It’s time to grow up, Peter. It’s time to be a man. As you know, Sara had to sell your home. She’s now living in a one-bedroom apartment. I have bought you an airline ticket to go home to her. Even after all you have done, Bryan has volunteered to accompany you.”
“But we’re family,” Peter pleaded. “The two of us have always looked out for one another.”
“Your flight leaves in two hours,” said Gina, turning her back on him and walking out of the room.
38
INTO BONDAGE
“I have a name for your guy,” said Henry.
“I’m all ears,” said Carol.
“His name is Ivan Verloc. I don’t have his address yet, but that might be a good thing.”
“Why is that?”
“You ever hear of a troll hole that wasn’t defended? I imagine he has all sorts of booby traps. I know I do.”
“Remind me not to make unannounced house calls,” said Carol.
“He’s in the Midwest,” said Henry. “In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s in Ohio. I can probably have his address in twenty-four hours, but I’ve got something that might be better than that right now.”
He waited for Carol’s response. “You need heavy breathing, Henry? You need applause? I am listening closely and then some.”
“I’d like to hear Gina’s heavy breathing,” he said.
“Quit insulting me,” said Carol, “and quit being a pervert.”
“Bingo,” he said.
“Bingo?”
“The old advice about catching crooks is that you follow the money. But it’s even easier following the kinks.”
“What kinks are those?”
“She calls herself Queen Dominique. On the third Wednesday of every month, she is visited in her Hinckley, Ohio, home by a man her QuickBooks scheduling software identifies as Ivan Cannon. Queen Dominique’s accounting software doesn’t have a credit card on file for Mr. Cannon; like much of her clientele, Mr. Cannon is a cash customer. He supposedly pays her eight hundred dollars in cash and no doubt a hefty tip as well. But even without a credit card, I am all but certain Ivan Cannon is an alias for Ivan Verloc.”
“How do you know this?”
“I did some searching on Queen Dominique and Ivan and found correlating matches.”
“And Queen Dominique is a dominatrix?”
“Yes. Or perhaps I should say, ‘Please, Mistress, may I have another?”
“Try not to be naughty, Henry. What can you tell me about Queen Dominique?”
“Her real name is Jessica Hill. She’s thirty-one years old and very attractive, both in leather and out—”
“Details!”
“Her business name is Controlling Enterprises. Last year she had gross revenues that exceeded six hundred thousand dollars.”
“And she’s able to do this in Hinckley, Ohio? Isn’t that a Cleveland suburb?”
“It’s a very well-off Cleveland suburb.”
“What’s a dominatrix doing in Hinckley, Ohio?”
“She can hide in plain sight,” said Henry. “According to property records, her home is situated on a little more than an acre. When you take a look at Google Maps, the place is pretty much an upscale, fairly secluded, modern brick home. She doesn’t have to worry about nosey neighbors. Maybe I should move to Hinckley.”
“Animal control would have you busted inside of a week,” said Carol. “I seem to remember Hinckley for something else.”
“Would you like a hint from a little birdie?”
“Buzzards,” said Carol, remembering.
“They’re actually turkey vultures,” said Henry, “even though Hinckley says that every March fifteenth the buzzards return home. The town even holds a festival welcoming them back.”
“And tomorrow our buzzard is supposed to return to Queen Dominique?”
“At eight in the evening.”
“We owe you, Henry.”
“Will you be wiring the money, or would you prefer I steal it electronically from your company bank account?”
From their vantage point, Carol, Bennie, and Gina monitored the home of Jessica Hill, a.k.a. Queen Dominique. According to her QuickBooks timetable, the Queen scheduled clients at ninety-minute intervals. They had watched a car pull into her driveway at six thirty. That same car was now leaving at seven forty-five.
“It looks like the Queen tries to give herself fifteen minutes between appointments,” said Bennie.
“She probably has to tidy up the dungeon,” said Carol.
Gina said nothing. They were parked far enough away so as to not spook Ivan, but she was still nervous. Gina wished neither Carol nor Bennie were there. She had passed on Henry’s information to Deke; during that initial conversation both of them had wondered if they could handle Ivan without involving Carol or Bennie. Neither of them wanted their friends to be potential accessories to the crime each was contemplating.
That’s why Gina had visited Carol’s office earlier in the day and had closed the door behind her so that no one could hear what was being said. Without offering specifics, Gina had said, “Carol, you might consider sitting this operation out. I was thinking maybe Bennie could get Louis to go in your place.”
That had gotten a smile out of Carol. “Funny,” she had said, “Deke called me a little while ago and suggested much the same thing. And I’ll tell you what I told him: Angus was my friend too. And it was on my watch that his home was bugged and his car was electronically hijacked. So there’s no way I sit this one out. I’ve been a hands-on, in the trenches investigator for decades. I’ve put myself in much more dicey situations than what we’re looking at here.”
Gina had tried to explain. “I will need to . . . talk . . . to Ivan to learn what he knows. That will require breaking some laws.”
“You’ll get your chance. You, Bennie, and I will be team one. We’re the out-of-towners. The second team will primarily be there to transport our boy. They’re the locals. I already discussed my plan in detail with Deke and he approved it. Does that work for you?”
“It works for me,” Gina had said.
“I hope you brought rainwear,” Carol had warned. “We’re flying out in two hours and it’s supposed to be pouring in Cleveland.”
The weather prognosticators had gotten it right. It was raining. Gina didn’t know if that was good or not.
“Normally, I would prefer to have at least two ground teams working the initial takedown,” Carol said to Gina, “but because of the circumstances, we will do our best with just the three of us.”
“Four of us,” said Bennie. “I’m counting on Queen Dominique to do her part.”
“He’s hoping she’ll tie Ivan up,” Carol explained. “I understand that’s the usual MO for most dominatrixes. That would make our job considerably easier, especially as we have to assume the worst from Ivan. But Queen Dominique will still be the wild card. While Bennie and I are taking down Ivan, you’ll need to be convincing Dominique that we’re recovery agents just doing our job.”
“Recovery agents?”
“Bail agents,” explained Carol, “although more commonly known as bounty hunters. What I’ll want you to do is show Queen Dominique our identification which shows we’re recovery agents and calmly explain to her that we are apprehending a felon wanted for murder.”
“You brought along identification for me?”
“I did,” she said, “but just flash it at her. We don’t want her reading the fine print. Even though we’re representing ourselves as bounty hunters, what we’re doing is in no way legal, and if it weren’t for Angus I would never be taking chances like this.”
Carol passed Bennie and Gina slickers emblazoned with the wording, BAIL ENFORCEMENT AGENT. “Bennie and I also brought a few items to help in the raid. Before we go into the house, Bennie will identify where Ivan and the Queen are with a thermal imaging device. He’s also carrying an electronic door pick, and both of us are packing pepper spray, tasers, and batons.”
“What about me?” Gina asked.
“We’re the brawn,” said Bennie. “You’re supposed to be the brains.”
“Car coming,” said Bennie.
“The time is seven fifty-seven,” said Carol.
“The car is turning,” he said. A few seconds later he said, “He’s parking in the driveway.”
Both Bennie and Carol took out viewing scopes. The seconds passed, and no one said anything. “He’s now is in the house,” Bennie finally said.
“The time is eight o’clock,” said Carol.
“The figure appeared to match everything we know about Ivan Verloc,” said Bennie.
“Agreed,” said Carol.
Neither Bennie nor Carol made a move to get out of the car. “Shouldn’t we get going?” asked Gina.
“In half an hour we’ll move the car,” said Carol. “That will allow Bennie to take a closer look and give us some confirmation of where our boy is in the house.”
An eerily quiet half an hour passed. Very little traffic passed by. The only break in the silence was when Carol once more went over what everyone would be doing at the start of the operation. Bennie started the car, and when they were within fifty yards of the house, he turned off its lights and let it drift forward in neutral. The vehicle came to a stop just short of the driveway.
“It’s eight thirty-three,” said Carol.
Bennie opened the door and disappeared into the darkness. Five minutes later he returned. “There are two people down in the basement. I couldn’t find any other heat sources in the house. Someone is moving around; the other is stationary.”
“You think he’s tied up?” asked Carol.
“I do. Grandma always told me timing is the key to any good rain dance. It’s time, ladies.”
“Then let’s go.”
All three of them exited the car; Gina followed Bennie and Carol’s lead. Staying low to the ground, they crossed the lawn and climbed the porch steps. Bennie had already disabled the porch light. He hunched over the lock; there was a sound like that of a bug zapper, and then he turned the handle and opened the door.
Using hand signals, Bennie pointed the way. All three of them huddled together for a moment at the top of a stairway leading down to a basement, and then Bennie began his descent. A few of the stairsteps didn’t cooperate, announcing their passage with loud cracking, but no one slowed. Bennie tested the basement door; it was unlocked. He opened it an inch, and they heard voices from within.
“You are a worm. Do you know what I do with worms? I step on them.”
They heard the sound of a heel coming down and a muted scream.
“You have been ba
d, haven’t you?” a female voice said. “I know what bad boys want.”
A whip sounded; there was another muted scream and some gurgling. They had heard enough. Bennie threw the door open and began running. Behind him, Carol and Gina both began shouting, “Recovery agents! Do not move!”
As it turned out, Queen Dominique was too frightened to move. And because Ivan Verloc was as trussed as a Thanksgiving turkey, he wasn’t going anywhere either.
“Queen Dominique,” said Gina flashing her badge, “Ms. Hill, we’re recovery agents. This man you know as Ivan Cannon is a felon wanted for two murders.”
Dominique looked to be in shock. She was wearing a black leather outfit with crisscrossing lashes that exposed plenty of cleavage. In her hand was a cat-o’-nine-tails. And her stiletto heels hadn’t been used only for walking; their indentations could be seen in Ivan’s exposed derriere.
He was secured facedown onto a large white-painted cross, where his hands had been bound by leather ties. The leather chaps he was wearing didn’t conceal much. Covering his face and head was a mask; it had been tightened from behind causing a red rubber ball to be pushed deep into his mouth. No muzzle could have worked as well. The most Ivan could do was gurgle. He raised his head and looked at Carol and Bennie with panicked eyes.
As Gina continued to talk to Dominique, the dominatrix never saw Carol slip a needle into Ivan’s vein.
39
SOMETHING TO CHEW UPON
“I think you should consider yourself lucky to be alive, Ms. Hill,” said Gina. “The man you were entertaining has been doing bad things to people for years. Now we can call the police in if you would prefer, or we can deal with this matter ourselves.”
“No police!” she said. “Please!”
“Whatever you think is best.”
Carol had already called team two. She said they were ten minutes out and then announced the time as “Eight fifty-five.”
“We’ll be out of your hair by nine fifteen at the latest,” said Gina. “That will give you a little time to compose yourself before your next client, won’t it?”
Law and Vengeance Page 26