“Thanks for everything Chandra. I know this isn’t exactly safe for you to be doing.”
“Don’t mention it. There’s nothing ever going on in this part of town anyway. Besides, it’ll give me something to do until Mack gets home next week.” She gave him a quick wink, kissed him and Alex on the cheek then got out of the car.
Alex turned to him. “I think we should pay old Captain Westfield a surprise visit.”
Jason’s lips curved in a smile. “You’re reading my mind man. Let’s do it.”
CHAPTER 19
Amour felt nervous as she and Shyla drove down Olympic Boulevard in Mar Vista. Although she was a little leery of the idea of going on this mission while in Shyla’s home, she was content with it. Now, not so much. “Are you sure we should be doing this Shyla?”
“Relax Amour. I know Jason told you to stay put but it’s not necessary in this case.”
“This could be dangerous, I’m sure that’s why he was cautious.”
“That’s because he didn’t want you go alone. I’m with you now. I have a gun and I know how to use it and I definitely can kick ass. Can you?”
Could she? She’s only being in one fight in her life and she’d lost that one. To her defense, she was fighting a man much bigger than her. She wasn’t weak by any means and her father had made sure she knew how to fire a gun for safety reasons so she was okay in that aspect. But growing up in a neighborhood that had little to no violence or any other crime, she’d never had any other occasion to fight. “Yes I can take care of myself if need be.”
Shyla gave her a quick glance and smiled. “Great!”
The parking lot of Shoreline Bank was relatively empty. Shyla had found a parking space right in front of the door and backed into it. Amour felt her stomach flutter with nervousness again. “Are you going in with me?” she asked.
“No. I think I should stay out here just in case I see someone suspicious.”
“But you don’t know who you’re looking for and neither do I. I think we should be together.”
“Trust me it’s better if I’m out here. Even if someone comes in after you, they most likely won’t try anything because of all the people inside and the constant surveillance. They would be stupid to do that at least. After everything that’s happened so far, they clearly are not so you should be fine for now.”
Amour opened the car door and placed her foot on the ground. “Alright.”
“Don’t worry girl, I’ve got your back.”
She turned back to Shyla and said, “Just for record, I’m very apprehensive of this. If I get killed, I’m gonna find some way to come back to life and take you back with me.”
Shyla smiled and put up the “OK” symbol with her hand. “Got ya!”
The air conditioned bank was in huge contrast to the ninety-five degree heat outside. It felt good, but it did nothing to ease her anxiety. She took in a deep breath before heading to the end of the line to wait to see a teller. She was only the fourth person in line so her wait wouldn’t be too long. Many different thoughts were going through her mind as she waited to be seen. What could possibly be in the box? How important could it have been to her mother and why hadn’t she told her father about it?
She cautiously looked around for someone that looked suspicious. No one so far. In fact, outside of an elderly man that looked about eighty, there were no other men in the bank besides a couple of the tellers. She had nothing to worry about. She tried to reassure herself of that but her anxiety began to rise and the pizza she’d just eaten began to upset her stomach. What the hell was she doing here? This was not wise. Just as she was about to forget the whole thing and walk out the door, she heard a high pitched female voice.
“Next in line please!” the heavyset woman behind the window yelled out.
Amour walked up to the window and the woman greeted her with a smile. “H…hello,” she said removing the small key and wallet out of her bag.
“What can I do for you today?” the woman said as she adjusted her name badge that had slipped down the front of her blouse.
“Umm…I would like to retrieve the contents out of my mother’s safe deposit box please.”
“Do you have the key as well as the correct forms stating you are joint owner?”
“Yes…well I have the key but I don’t have any paperwork.” Paperwork? Shit! She hadn’t thought about that or even known about it.
The woman looked directly at Amour. Her brown eyes were not all that sympathetic. “I’m sorry ma’am, I’m afraid I can’t give you access to it without the written consent of the owner.”
This was not good. “How do I get that?”
“Well, I would need you and your mother to fill out this consent form giving you permission to obtain the box.”
“My mother is deceased. My father should be on the account because he’s been making the payments on it but he’s in Nebraska so he won’t be able to do that.”
“Does he have access to a fax machine? They can be sent to him that way.”
Her father was in a care facility so they would definitely have one. It was only four o’clock in Nebraska so he should be awake. “Yes he does.”
After giving the teller the number to the care facility, her identification and her father’s contact information, she took one more look around her. Since walking in the bank, three more customers had come in. A young blonde woman wearing a USC t-shirt and sweats that couldn’t be any older than twenty, another woman that looked around Amour’s age with two young kids, and a man that had to be all of six feet tall wearing a black jacket, baseball cap and sunglasses. Why would he need a jacket in this weather? And Sunglasses inside? That was strange. You’re just being paranoid Amour. Stay calm. She studied the man for about five minutes until she heard the teller call her name.
“Miss Graciette!”
“Yes…” she said directing her attention back to the woman.
“I got a hold of your father and faxed over the paper work. I’m just waiting for him to fax it back to me along with a copy of his identification. You can have a seat in one of the chairs in the waiting area. It shouldn’t be too long.”
“Alright, thank you.”
A chill went down her spine as she walked to the seating area. The strange man was there sitting and waiting as if he were there to conduct business. Maybe he was. She had no reason to doubt that. He hadn’t even looked in her direction. She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in deeply trying to calm herself down. This whole thing had gotten her extremely paranoid. But she supposed her feelings were warranted, someone was trying to kill her. After halfway calming herself down, she pulled her phone out of her bag and texted Shyla to let her know what was going on.
After what seemed like an eternity, the teller finally summoned for her to come back up to the window. She couldn’t help be feel relieved. That man was still there sitting in the same spot and he hadn’t removed his hat and glasses. She approached the window as the teller was removing papers from the fax machine on the side of her.
“Alright Miss Graciette. I just need you to sign where it says “joint owner” on these three forms and you’re all set.
“Sure.”
She signed the papers and then handed them back to the woman. After typing on her keyboard for about five minutes, she stuffed the papers into a large envelope and placed them a huge file cabinet towards the back of the room she was in. She approached the window again and grabbed a small key out of her drawer. “Please wait for me to come through the door on your left and then you can follow me inside.”
Amour nodded as the woman disappeared towards the back of the room only to come out of a locked door into the lobby beckoning her to follow. The woman led her to a drafty dimmed room that looked like if could’ve been a vault. Instead of money, it had hundreds if not thousands of small gold lockers that had two key holes in front of them.
“Do you have your key?” the woman asked as they further entered the room.
&n
bsp; “Yes.” She handed the teller the key and she studied the small tag on the ring.
“5861…” the woman mumbled as she searched for the locker with that number. “Here we go.” She stopped in front of a group of lockers reaching up to slide the first key inside one of the holes of one of them before twisting it. She then slid Amour’s key inside the other hole before repeating the action. She opened the small door of the locker and then slid out a long and narrow black box and handed it to her. “Here’s your box.”
“Great!” Amour said taking the box from her.
“I’ll take you to another room so that you can have some privacy to go through it.”
The woman led her to a separate room that was very small and had a small desk and chair but nothing else. She thanked the teller and she left the room locking the door behind her. After placing the box on the small table, she sat in the chair in front of it staring at it for a few minutes before popping it open. Inside the box were about five long narrow white envelopes covered by a large yellow one that had a thick rubber band around them. Instead of opening them, she quickly dropped them into her tote bag before closing the box. Hurrying back to the locker, she slid the box back inside and locked it back. She’d look through everything when she got back to Jason’s place. Right now, she just wanted to get the hell out of there.
After leaving the locker room, she made her way to the door leading to the lobby thanking the teller on the way out. Looking around, she noticed that the creepy man was gone. Just like she’d suspected, she was just being paranoid. A warm breeze hit her as another customer entered the bank from the other door leading to the opposite side of the parking lot. She had noticed that the bank had two exits when she’d first walked inside. That made her feel more comfortable knowing she had two different escape routes just in case. Feeling confident their plan went off without a hitch, she started towards the door in which she entered. She wasn’t able to see Shyla or her car because the doorway was surrounded by a brick entryway that was impossible to see beyond from inside the bank. She was positive Shyla hadn’t gone anywhere though. She walked about ten paces and then froze when she saw him walk through the door.
Sunglasses, baseball cap, expressionless face. Why wasn’t he gone? He leaned on the large podium that held the deposit slips and chained pens and then slowly and discreetly opened the front of his jacket just enough for her to see inside of it. The pistol in the waist band of his jeans told her everything she needed to know. Judging by the way he’d positioned himself, he was obviously mindful of the cameras around and even though he had sunglasses on, she could tell her was looking right at her. Her knees suddenly became weak. Shit! What the hell was she going to do now?
CHAPTER 20
Jason and Alex pulled up to the security station in front of Captain Westfield’s luxury condominium in the ritzy West Los Angeles neighborhood of Century City. After stopping at the small booth, Jason rolled down his window to a rather small young man in a blue uniform.
“Who are you here to visit?” the guard asked.
“Robert Westfield.”
“Is he expecting you?”
“Not at the moment.”
“Well I have to give him a call to see if he’s home and to let him know you’re here for him. Hold on a sec.” The guard then picked up the receiver of the large telephone at his small podium and dialed the number. After a few seconds, he said, “Hello Mr. Westfield. There are two gentlemen here to see you.” The guard turned to Jason and asked, “I’m sorry, what is your name?”
“Tell him it’s Jason Kincaid and Alex DeMarco.”
The guard repeated the names into the receiver and fell silent for a few seconds before saying, “I’m not sure sir.” He then turned back to Jason and asked, “What is the purpose of your visit?”
Jason knew Westfield wouldn’t allow them up if he knew what they really wanted so he decided to give him a half true reason for the two of them being there. As far as he knew, he and Jason had nothing to do with what Amour had come to the police station to inquire about earlier this week. “Tell him we need his approval to enlist the help of some of his officers for an important case we’re working on.”
The guard repeated the words to Westfield, paused for several seconds and then spoke again. “Alright sir, I will.” He pressed a small button in front of him and the two large barricades lifted. “Okay, you can go right in.”
After parking in one of the guest spots, Jason and Alex entered the plush lobby of the complex, made their way to the elevator and got off on the eighteenth floor. Since both of them had been to the captain’s home many times before, they navigated through the maze of the complex rather easily.
“I still can’t believe Westfield can afford to live here. Captain or not, no cop makes this much money,” Alex said.
“Maybe he has investments or something.”
“Maybe, I don’t know. All I do know is that he ain’t living in this place just on his salary alone.”
What Alex had just said instantly made Jason think of the conversation he and Amour had about Daniel Riley the day they went to visit him. She’d said the exact same thing. He had to admit it made him wonder as well. “You never know what people are hiding Alex.”
“This is true.”
Jason rang the bell when the two of them approached the door. After a few minutes, Westfield answered breathing rather heavily wearing a t-shirt, sweat pants and tennis shoes.
He wiped the beads of sweat off of his face and then spoke. “What can I do for you gentlemen?”
“Did we catch you at a bad time?” Jason asked.
“No, not at all. I was just finishing up my workout. Come on in and have a seat.” He let the two of them inside closing and locking the door behind them. “I was just about to grab me a bottle of water out of the fridge, you gentlemen care for anything?”
“No thanks,” the two of them said simultaneously.
“Alrighty, I’ll right back. Make yourselves at home.” A few seconds later Westfield stepped back into the living room carrying a huge bottle of water. He unscrewed the top, pulled it off, took large gulp and swallowed. “So what’s this all about? What do you need my approval for?”
Jason looked up at him. “We need your permission to enlist a few cops on a case we were hired to investigate.” Jason didn’t want to come right out and confront him about lying to Amour. Instead, he decided to act as if he wasn’t aware of their meeting. He figured it would be a good way to get more information out of him. Alex must’ve thought so as well because he said nothing and went along with Jason’s story.
Westfield smirked. “Let me guess, some big shot celebrity received a threatening piece of fan mail from Nova Scotia and now they’re paranoid and think someone’s out to get them. Now they’re demanding two bodyguards and a couple of cops to stand guard at their residence.”
Westfield had a reputation for hating celebrities. He thought they were a bunch of useless, narcissistic, spoiled rotten pain in the asses that didn’t deserve all the attention or money that they received.
Jason chuckled. “No sir. No celebrities this time. It’s actually for a young woman who hired me to guard her as well as investigate a case earlier this week because she had been receiving death threats.”
Westfield sat on the smaller sofa in front of them. “Who did she piss off?”
“Apparently she questioned the wrong people for some information she wanted.”
“What information?”
Alex placed his elbows on his thighs and leaned forward. “She was looking for information on her mother’s death. She informed us that she had gone to your precinct for that information earlier this week and nobody was willing to help her out.”
When he saw Westfield’s eyes widen, Jason could tell he knew exactly what young lady they were referring to. “Do you know anything about that…captain?”
Westfield gave Jason a malevolent stare. “Actually I don’t.”
“Really?” Jason kn
ew that Westfield didn’t appreciate being questioned, but since he had no authority over the two of them, he also knew he wouldn’t act on his feelings. “Well, that’s not what the young lady said.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes. She said that she came to the station asking about her mother’s death which occurred twenty-seven years ago and after showing you the information she’d already collected, you told her that you didn’t work that particular case.”
Westfield scratched the stubble on his chin. “Oh I remember her. That case is very old and she’s right, I didn’t work that case. I was just a rookie then.”
“Yeah, that’s what she told me you said, but the only witness that day said that you and Daniel Riley were the cops that did the investigation.” Jason cocked an eyebrow. “Now that’s not something you would lie about is it captain?”
Westfield’s eyes became wider and he started to fidget so much he rose up from the couch and started to pace. “No, of course not. I told her that I didn’t do the investigation, I didn’t tell her I wasn’t there.”
“What do you mean?” Alex asked.
“I was only a rookie beat cop at the time. We were called out to the scene to tape it off and question a few people because the detectives that were assigned to the case were going to start an investigation that’s all.”
Jason frowned. “We as in you and Daniel Riley?” He decided to keep his and Amour’s meeting with Riley from Westfield as well to see if their stories matched up. So far, they didn’t.
“Yes.”
“Who did you question?”
Westfield scratched his head as if he were thinking. “Well let’s see. We questioned the old lady next door, a couple of kids across the street and a young Asian couple that lived a couple of houses down from her.”
Okay so Jason knew who the old lady was, but the kids across the street and an Asian couple? Riley seemed to have left that tidbit of information out. “The witness on the police report said that she’d seen a woman over Carly’s house that day.”
Love's Protector: A Maverick's Shield Novel Page 15