Desert Jade

by CJ Shane

  Zhou’s phone rang. It was Letty.

  “Hey, Zhou. I’ve arranged a meeting between you, me, a Tucson police detective who is also my friend, and the lawyer of my client…and Jade, of course. I have a lot to tell you. I’ve made a lot of progress. It’s time to get some help from law enforcement.

  “I also have many things to tell you. I believe Jade and I found what Chong Ma and Bao were looking for at Jade’s house. We found papers in a box, and we found the key to open the box. I want you to see them.”

  “That’s good news. The puzzle pieces are starting to come together.”

  “So it seems.”

  “I’m off now to get some pizza for a couple of hungry teenagers. Tell Jade it’s time for her to feed you.”

  Zhou laughed. “I will see you tomorrow.”

  “Adios, amigo.”

  Zhou turned to Jade. “Please translate ‘Adios, amigo.’ Letty said this to me.”

  Jade smiled. “She must like you. That’s the Spanish way to say goodbye. ‘Amigo’ means friend. So she was saying ‘Goodbye, friend.’ Now you translate for me. What does ‘wah!’ mean?”

  Zhou laughed. “Nothing. It means nothing. It’s like your ‘wow!” You say ‘wow!’ when you are surprised. I say, ‘wah!’”

  “Wah!” Jade repeated.

  “I have more,” Zhou added. “Miss Letty says to tell Jade that she should feed Letty’s amigo Zhou.”

  Jade laughed. “Coming right up!”

  ***

  Later that evening, Letty received another call. It was Marv Iverson.

  “My friends at ICE were very interested in your story, Letty. Seems that they also had heard reports of some smuggling going on, but they didn’t know where or what or when. Your description of the location was the best information they’d received. They called in Johnny Chiago. He’s the Shadow Wolves’ lead officer now. He sent a couple of his Wolves out there today to look for the wash where the contraband is being carried down from the road as well as where the smugglers are crossing the border. They think they found the wash where the goods are being transported. While they were looking for the wash, Johnny went on horseback with your Uncle Mando to see if they could find the abandoned drop-off house. They think they found it, too.”

  “My Uncle Mando? He usually tries to stay out of all that border stuff.”

  “Yeah, turns out he and Chiago went to school together at Sells when they were kids. They were best buds back then. Chiago left for several years to serve in the military. Then he lived in California for a while. He came back to Arizona to join the Shadow Wolves. It was a reunion for those two. They both said they really enjoyed themselves wandering around out there. And they found the house. No one was there, but there were signs that several people had been there. Chiago and your uncle found carpet booties.” Marv referred to the scraps of carpet attached to shoes to erase footprints on dirt and sand paths.

  “That’s a sure sign of smuggling,” Letty pointed out.

  “Right. So now it’s a matter of waiting for them to bring in more contraband. The Border Patrol is setting up a nighttime surveillance so they can see who comes and goes at the abandoned house.”

  “Oh, Marv. You’re a wonder. Thank you so much!”

  “My pleasure, Letty. I quite enjoyed myself today. Sometimes I get tired of being retired, and there’s only so much football a person can watch.”

  Letty laughed. “I never thought I’d hear you say that, Marv. It will be our secret. I won’t tell the Wildcats.”

  Chapter 16

  Another morning began very early for Letty, and it would have to be another morning without a run. She needed her daily jog around the neighborhood because it was the best way to clear her head after a rough night. There were plenty of rough nights full of Iraq nightmares. As usual, she started by putting Millie out and making herself a cup of coffee.

  By eight a.m., Letty was at Jade’s house. Adelita pulled up at the same time in her own car, not a Tucson police unit. Two minutes later, Jessica Cameron’s Mini-Cooper pulled in behind Letty’s pickup.

  Inside they found Zhou and Jade at the computer trying to identify any of the names on the second paper found in the pottery studio the day before.

  Letty introduced everyone.

  “I have called you all together because we’re at a point in this investigation that we need to work together. No single one of us can pull this off. Our first priority is to maintain safety. We know these triad gangsters are killers. We want to find and rescue the two missing girls – one from Hong Kong and the other from southern Mexico. And then we want to stop this smuggling ring.

  “Zhou, you go first. What have you found since we last talked?”

  Zhou explained that he and Jade had spoken to Señor Sanchez at the storage units next to where Carlos had worked.

  “He wasn’t there when you investigated, Letty,” Jade interrupted. “He was in Hermosillo for the winter. That’s why you didn’t find him.”

  Zhou continued. “Mr. Sanchez told us that the triad gang moved cargo to a warehouse in northwest Tucson over a year ago. We found it on Google Earth. I want to go there and find the correct warehouse and determine what is being stored there. Also, I believe that the brother of Carlos knows something. He seemed to recognize photos in my mugshot book. I want to talk to him.”

  He paused for dramatic effect.

  “Best find,” Zhou continued, “is this.” He pulled out the two sheets of paper. Letty, Adelita, and Jessica leaned forward.

  Letty said, “This first page with all numbers looks like bank routing numbers and account numbers. Please put this first number into the search box.”

  Sure enough, the number led to the Pima National Bank, Tucson, Arizona. Further searches led to identification of banks in Phoenix and San Diego, as well as Tucson.

  “I can get a subpoena to look at these accounts,” said Adelita.

  “Right!” Jessica Cameron said with enthusiasm. It was clear that she was very excited. Letty thought to herself that Lawyer Cameron must get tired of the same dull corporate cases she usually handled. Maybe she should take on more criminal law cases.

  “In the second page, we are looking at these names. Some we find are local residents,” Zhou continued.

  Letty looked at the columns of numbers next to the names. “This will have to be determined, but it looks like the kind of information we find in Form 4473.”

  “What is Form 4473?” Zhou asked.

  “When someone purchases a gun from a federally-licensed weapons vendor, like at a gun show, the buyer has to fill out Form 4473. The numbers will be the buyer’s date of birth, whether or not they passed the criminal background check system, and this last column could be the serial number of the gun that was purchased.”

  “This is helpful information, yes?” Zhou asked.

  “Oh, yes. Very helpful. Well done, Zhou,” Letty added. The other three women nodded their heads.

  Zhou said quietly, “Well done, Carlos.”

  Silence. Again, the women solemnly nodded their heads.

  “Any idea how Carlos acquired this information?” Letty looked at Jade.

  Jade jumped up. “Give me a minute.”

  She moved toward a filing cabinet, and opened one of the drawers. Pulling a folder from the cabinet, she opened it and began scanning the papers inside. Suddenly, she stopped and held up one of the papers. “Before Carlos won the big grant, he worked hard to get donations from community organizations and individuals. This is a list of contributors. Barbara Lyle’s name is on the list.” She handed the folder to Letty.

  “So that must be the connection,” Letty said, taking the folder. “We may never know what happened between them.”

  “In any case, we can’t leave these papers here,” said Adelita.

  “Jade, these papers are in your possession and apparently, they belonged to Carlos before he disappeared,” Letty said. “But clearly it’s not safe to leave them here at your house.”

&
nbsp; Jessica Cameron intervened. “Jade, I’d like for my firm to represent you. If it turns out that we find the persons responsible for your husband’s disappearance, you will need legal representation to assure that your interests are protected. In that capacity, this box, key, and papers will become very relevant. They can go into my office safe until we know more. We have security personnel present in the building 24-7. If it turns out that the papers refer to bank accounts and Form 4473 relevant to the Lyle murder case, then I can turn everything over to TPD as evidence. As you know, I am representing the person who is being accused of the Lyle murder, unfairly I believe, so I have a role in that as well.”

  Adelita added. “It’s not safe here, and if it goes into our evidence department, it won’t get the attention it deserves right now. Going to Jessica’s secure office where it is locked up is the best idea for the moment. Also it would be good if you could start working on figuring out what those numbers mean.” She looked directly at Jessica Cameron.

  Jessica nodded. “Will do.”

  “Okay,” Jade said. “So you will be my lawyer now? Is this going to cost me anything?”

  Jessica smiled. “No charge. If it turns out that I can make some money out of this for you, then you can give me a share. That’s how it works typically.”

  Jade sighed. “What do you think, Zhou?”

  “Agreed that it is not safe to leave the papers here. We need time to determine what the numbers mean. I like the idea of the papers in a strong safe in a secure lawyer’s office.”

  “Then consider it done,” Jade said. “Jessica, take this with you today and keep it safe.”

  Then Letty said, “Okay, it’s my turn.”

  She described again her brother’s encounter with the triad members in the park, his shoulder injury, and the abduction of the Chinese girl. She went over what she had learned in Nogales about the movement of Chinese smugglers across the border at an especially-isolated part of the Tohono O’odham reservation. She did not mention her Uncle Miguel from whom she received this information. She followed up by saying that her retired former boss, Marv Iverson, had made contact with the Shadow Wolves.

  “Marv called a friend in ICE – that’s the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE is the agency that the Shadow Wolves report to. They are an elite tracking team. All the members are Native Americans. Marv reports the Shadow Wolves have already found the smugglers’ route in the desert and the crossing they are using. Next Border Patrol set up surveillance. We just have to wait for the smugglers to show up with their next shipment. I’ll try to find out when that shipment is going to happen.”

  Then Letty recounted her interviews with José Gomez, Emily Castro, Travis Lyle, Fred Lyle, and Barbara Lyle’s friend, Rita Benton. She gave an overview of her Internet searches. Results of these searches suggested that Fred Lyle might have been an enthusiastic and frequent gun purchaser until a year ago when he stopped posting on social media altogether. Letty speculated that his gun purchases had increased in number at that time, and Lyle didn’t want to draw attention to himself.

  “More subpoenas,” Jessica Cameron said, and Adelita García shook her head yes. “Maybe we’ll find Fred Lyle on the other end of those numbers on these papers. Or maybe some Chinese gangsters.”

  “I also want to make note of something that has not been previously reported,” Letty continued. “There is a side door at the Lyle residence quite near a gate. Travis said that his dad was not present when his mother was shot. It is possible that Lyle went inside the house, exited the side door, and shot his wife from that gate. It is possible that he quickly ran back inside to emerge from the back of the house onto the patio where his wife’s body had fallen. Travis was in a state of shock and was looking only at his mother’s body. He would not have noticed his father’s delay in returning to the patio.”

  “Makes sense, Letty,” said Adelita. “Means, motive, and opportunity. Opportunity? Yes, with the side door there. Means? Maybe we can link the gun to Lyle. It’s too late to find gun residue on his hands, but we may find some on his clothing if he hasn’t done his laundry. And he doesn’t seem like the kind of man who would do his own laundry. The motive could very well be that his wife was about to go to the authorities and tell them that her husband was a weapons smuggler. Your interview with the neighbor may indicate that.”

  Jessica Cameron said approvingly, “No better way to prove our client innocent than to find the real killer.”

  Letty sat back. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. Zhou, I think you and I should go talk to Carlos’s brother. I also think we should see if we can find this coyote that my brother Eduardo talked to and have a little chat with him. We can also check out the warehouse where the triad gang is operating out of now. Maybe we can find out when the next shipment goes out.”

  Zhou interjected. “I want to do this work, but I fear leaving Jade alone here.”

  “I’ll stay with her,” Adelita said. “I’m off work today. She can catch me up on what’s been going on. I’ll bring my gun in from my car.”

  “I’m off to work,” Jessica Cameron said. “I can’t wait to hear from you again, Letty, and you, too, Mr. Zhou.”

  ***

  Ten minutes later, Jessica Cameron was headed downtown, Adelita and Jade were chatting away at Jade’s house, and Zhou and Letty were in her pickup headed to the Sixth Avenue and Sixth Street intersection near downtown. Jade had already called ahead to Maria Lopez’s home and learned from his sister that Ricardo Lopez was at a coffee house on Sixth Street.

  When Letty and Zhou entered the coffee house, Ricardo looked up and became instantly alarmed. He rose, grabbed his hoodie, and headed for the rear exit.

  Zhou put a hand on Ricardo’s shoulder and pushed him back down into the chair.

  “We come here to talk to you. Do you know Ms. Letty Valdez?”

  “Yes, she’s a friend of my sister-in-law’s. She’s also a private investigator.”

  “When I showed you the book of photos at your mother’s home, you looked nervous. I think you recognized someone. Who was it?” Zhou asked.

  Letty interjected. “Ricardo, you might as well tell the truth because we’re going to find out sooner or later anyway. There are a couple of young women whose lives are at risk right now, and we’re trying to help them.”

  Zhou continued, “We believe there is a gang of Chinese criminals operating in this area. We think they may be involved in smuggling guns, drugs, and young women. Many of the women are forced into sexual slavery in America."

  Ricardo turned pale and stared at his hands. "I didn't know about the sex trade. But drug smuggling, yes," he spoke barely above a whisper.

  "Can you help us find them? We understand they have a warehouse in Tucson, and maybe there’s a hiding place on the reservation. What do you know?” Letty asked.

  "I don’t know for sure but I think maybe they were in Nogales. I never went looking for them. They always found me. What's this got to do with Carlos?" Ricardo turned toward Zhou.

  "We are investigating this now. How do you know these Chinese gangsters?”

  Ricardo sighed deeply. "Heroin. I've been addicted since I was 15." He saw Zhou glance down at his arms. "Yeah, I keep my arms covered so no one will see the needle tracks. I got my fix from them. Then they started asking me to do little jobs for them. If you want to know the truth, I became like a slave. I’m in a rehab program now trying to get off the heroin. I don’t want anything to do with those Chinese dudes. They’re scary."

  “Twice now, they have entered Jade’s home looking for something. She is in danger.” Zhou added.

  Ricardo looked terrified. "They are after Jade?"

  “Yes. They think she knows something that will disrupt their operations.”

  Ricardo frowned, “Carlos called me on his cell phone right before he disappeared. He told me that he had evidence on the Chinese dudes that would bring them down. He said he was going to meet them and tell them that if they didn’t leave him and
Jade alone, he was going to the police. Carlos told me that he had some incriminating papers in a locked box at his house. I think maybe that’s what they’re looking for."

  “What else?” Letty asked.

  Ricardo began to cry. "I think they killed my brother."

  "Why did they go after Carlos? Was it only that he threatened to go to the police? Was there more?” Letty asked.

  "They wanted that money he had for the barrio social program. They needed to buy a big shipment of heroin. It was easier threatening him than waiting for the money to come from Hong Kong, or robbing a bank, or whatever they do to get cash. Carlos told me that they threatened to kill me and to kidnap my little sister Daniela and Jade, too. Now I know from you that they probably would turned over my little sister and Jade and forced them to be sex slaves. Carlos intended to save his family and the money by threatening to expose them."

  Zhou was filling in the picture now. Carlos was an honorable man in an impossible situation. He had been drawn into the triad trouble by his drug-addicted little brother. Carlos’s access to the one hundred thousand dollars captured the triad gang’s attention. Threatening to kidnap and enslave his beloved wife and sister and kill his baby brother meant that the gangsters could demand money and his silence. Or maybe they just decided to take the money and get rid of Carlos because he was in their way.

  "How did they find out about the key with the incriminating papers?" Letty asked.

  "I didn't mean to tell them, really I didn't," Ricardo began to sob in earnest now. "I was really strung out one night on some really good shit they brought in from Asia. This was after Carlos disappeared. I told one of my compañeros who was shooting up with me that they would be brought down someday somehow. I told him that Carlos had given Jade some evidence against the triad gang, some papers that would incriminate them. I was just talking too much. What I didn't know was that later my drug compañero sold that information to the gangsters. He turned up dead not long after that. One of the photos in your book is of a man named Chong Ma. He’s the killer. He called me a waste of skin. He's right, too."