by Derek Fee
‘That guy gave me the creeps.’ Moira said as soon as Gattuso had left. She was looking out at the parking lot, reluctant to leave the comfort of the air-conditioning.
‘Cops come in all shapes and sizes,’ Shea said. ‘You should know that as well as anyone.’
‘Yeah, but why do I get the impression that we’ve just been fed a line of bullshit.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Are you serious? The guys in there want us to believe that it’s a coincidence that the CCTV system of a major US international airport went down just at the instant that Gardiner disappeared. Do you have any idea of the odds of that happening?’
‘OK, but where does that leave us?’
‘In free fall without a parachute. If Gattuso and Halliday have really bought the bullshit they fed us, we’ve got a problem.’ She looked outside for what might have been the fifth time. ‘How can people operate in a climate like this?’ She really did not want to go outside.
Just as she was about to launch herself through the door Shea’s phone gave a couple of beeps indicating the receipt of a text message. Shea looked at the message and turned the screen towards Moira. When she read the message she smiled.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
S hea found a space outside the Miyako Japanese restaurant at 7902 NW 36th Street. Moira, Carmichael and Shea took a booth and sat on a series of dark-brown cushions set round a low wooden dining table.
‘Interesting choice.’ Shea picked up a menu and examined it.
Moira had positioned herself with a view of the door. She was happy that the vibe she had felt in the interview room in Doral was correct. They had been seated for less than five minutes when the tall figure of Lucius ‘Doc’ Halliday walked through the door. He glanced around before making directly for their booth. Without saying a word, he slid into the vacant place beside Moira.
‘Looks good.’ Shea didn’t bother to look up from his menu. This was Halliday’s show. ‘You eat here often?’
Halliday looked at Carmichael. ‘Only when I want to eat alone. I see that you’ve co-opted Miss Carmichael.’
‘She recognised that there’s safety in numbers,’ Moira said.
‘She tell you all about herself?’ Halliday asked.
Carmichael pouted. ‘You know?’
Halliday smiled. ‘Gattuso almost wet himself when we found that the Jamie Carmichael he was drooling over on the screen was born a man.’
‘Does Gattuso know you’re here?’ Moira asked.
‘We’re here because this is the last place we’d be likely to run into Gattuso.’ A Japanese waiter had appeared beside Halliday and was waiting patiently. ‘Are you folks hungry? You like sushi?’
‘I could eat a bear,’ Carmichael said.
Halliday ordered without the aid of the menu.
‘You called this board meeting,’ Shea said. ‘So what’s on your mind?’
Halliday looked directly at him. ‘Francis Xavier Shea, convicted felon lately of Devens Correctional Facility. There is no Shea Investigations. I suppose it’s just a figment of your overactive imagination.’ He turned to Moira. ‘What the hell are you doing running with these losers? I got a fast e-mail back from the police in Northern Ireland. You’re the real deal. You don’t fit in with these two fakes.’
Shea started laughing, he was wondering what Halliday would make of Ricky. ‘We are a bit of a motley crew.’ Food started to arrive and was laid out on the table.
Halliday took a set of chopsticks, picked up a piece of sesame seared tuna, slipped it into his mouth and chewed. He turned to Moira. ‘You’re right about the coincidence. I don’t believe in it either. I’ve been Gattuso’s partner for the past three years and I can’t fault him on any investigation except this one. And that’s one coincidence too many for me. I know he’s got some financial problems at home, but the man is a goddamned professional cop. The Anthony Gattuso I’ve been working with for the past three years is not the same guy who worked on the Gardiner case. And there’s got to be a reason for that.’ He picked a piece of beef tataki and ate it, washing it down with a cup of saké.
Moira nodded. ‘You think that someone has got to him?’ Sushi wasn’t really her thing, but the seared tuna had hit the spot.
Halliday put down his chopsticks. He put his elbows on the table so that his hands covered his mouth. ‘That’s the way it looks. Although, I have a problem believing it.’
Moira could understand Halliday’s discomfort. Police officers who are partners have a particularly close relationship. ‘But someone who can arrange to have the CCTV cameras switched off for a minute while the man they want is abducted, can also arrange for the lead detective on the disappearance case to, shall we say, take his foot off the pedal.’
Shea swallowed the piece of beef he was eating. He stared at Halliday. ‘So what are you saying?’
Moira looked at Shea. For such a smart man he could be exceptionally dumb. Halliday was not going to go the distance by putting the finger on Gattuso. She was sure that he had gone as far as he was going in that direction.
Halliday poured himself another cup of saké and drank it in one swallow. He looked at Shea. ‘You are a total fucking amateur and you are completely out of your depth. The people who made Gardiner disappear obviously don’t play around.’ He looked at Moira and Carmichael. ‘So, you better wise up or you’re going to get these two ladies killed.’ He slid out of the booth and stood up. He fished around in his pocket and pulled out a business card. He tossed it on the table in front of Moira. ‘I have a strange feeling that your asshole leader isn’t going to take my advice. This guy is another one who doesn’t believe in coincidences so maybe you should talk to him. I’m done here. Thanks for the lunch. Don’t contact me again.’
Moira looked up at him. There was a sadness in his eyes. ‘Thanks. I know how difficult this must have been for you.’
‘You take care.’ Halliday turned and walked out of the restaurant.
Moira picked up the business card and looked at it. She passed it to Shea.
‘That guy surely put the shit up me,’ Carmichael said. ‘I was hungry until he started talkin’ ’bout Shea gettin’ us killed.’
Shea took the business card from Moira. ‘Nobody is going to get killed.’
‘Yeah, sure,’ Carmichael said under her breath.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
W hen Moira checked her phone, she found six voice messages from Brendan, each one more frantic than the last. She moved back into the reception area of the restaurant where the air-conditioning was working full blast. Although she didn’t feel like responding, she hit the speed-dial for Brendan’s number. He answered immediately.
‘Where the hell are you?’ Brendan’s voice was an octave higher than usual.
‘Miami,’ Moira said.
‘Miami! I thought that you were going to Myrtle Beach.’
‘We were in Myrtle Beach, now we’re in Miami.’
‘What’s going on?’
‘We found Gardiner’s secretary and she’s travelling with us. We’ve met with the detectives in charge of the disappearance in Miami. There’s something that doesn’t smell right.’
‘Like what?’
‘Not over the phone.’
‘I don’t like it. This thing is getting much too complicated. I thought it would be a kind of desk exercise. Now you’re running all over the country.’
‘This ‘thing’ is an investigation into the disappearance of a husband and father. You don’t find me telling you how to lecture on criminal psychology so don’t tell me how to conduct an investigation.’
There was silence on the line. ‘I’m sorry.’ Brendan’s voice was calm. ‘I’m just worried about you.’
‘I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself.’
‘When will you be back?’
‘I don’t know. We’re about to go to Miami International to talk to the police there. It depends on what we find out. There’s something more to this case t
han a simple disappearance or abduction. Gardiner was mister solid citizen up to a few months ago and then it looks like he fell in with some kind of scheme that might have got him abducted and probably killed. It isn’t much but that’s all we’ve got. We owe it to his family to find out what happened to him.’
‘I knew that putting you and Frank together might lead to something like this.’
‘Look, we’re about to head out to the airport. I’ll call later and let you know what’s happening.’ She ended the call and only then noticed that Shea was standing next to her.
‘Trouble in paradise?’ He was smiling.
‘There are times when I could punch you in your smug face.’
‘Don’t worry, I can understand Brendan getting antsy about you wandering around the country without a chaperone.’
Moira turned and opened the external door. She was immediately sorry that she hadn’t prepared herself for the blast of hot humid air that hit her in the face. She rushed towards the car. ‘For Christ’s sake, let’s get out of here before we’re baked alive.’
There was little conversation on the drive to the airport as all three were lost in their own thoughts and concerns about the investigation. The Miami-Dade police district dealing with Miami International Airport is located in a building at NW 42nd Avenue. The address was at the bottom of the card that Halliday had dropped on the table. Shea had already phoned Captain Joseph Sabulski and asked for an immediate interview to discuss the disappearance of Gregory Gardiner. Sabulski had stonewalled and pointed Shea in the direction of Gattuso and Halliday. Shea countered in his role as director of Shea Investigations working for Gardiner’s wife who had already spoken to the detectives in Miami. Reluctantly, Sabulski relented and agreed to give Shea ‘no more than fifteen minutes’. Shea had thanked him and said he’d drop by asap.
A svelte young policewoman led Shea and Moira from the reception area to Sabulski’s office on the second floor of the police district building, which was located directly across from the entrance to the airport. The large window in his office afforded him a view of the comings and goings of passengers. Sabulski rose from behind his desk to greet them. He was an impressive figure, standing around six feet four and weighing in at over two hundred and fifty pounds. He had a round open face and couldn’t have looked more Polish if he had a krakuska cap on his head. He had a dusting of white hair. After the obligatory handshakes, Shea produced his new business card.
‘You’re from Boston.’ Sabulski read the card and slumped back into his seat. ‘You a Patriots fan?’
Shea smiled. ‘I have a season seat at the Gillette.’ He didn’t think it was appropriate to mention that he rented a corporate box.
‘What can I do for ya?’
Shea looked at Moira before beginning. Her look said ‘this is your ball, carry it’. Shea turned his gaze on Sabulski. ‘Thanks for meeting with us. Like I said on the phone, we’re working for Mrs Gardiner. We don’t want to get in the way, but I’m sure you can understand there’s a great deal of worry concerning Mr Gardiner’s whereabouts.’
Sabulski nodded but didn’t speak.
Moira studied their surroundings. It was one of the neatest offices she had ever been in, Sabulski and Gardiner had that in common. She thought about her former boss’s office in Belfast. He was a great detective, but he could create a mess. Sabulski was the complete opposite. She leaned forward. ‘We’ve looked at the footage of Gardiner arriving from Caracas and making his way through the concourse. It’s really unfortunate that the CCTV cut out just at the moment he appears to have gone missing.’
A smile flickered across Sabulski’s lips.
‘How often does the CCTV system break down?’ she asked.
There was silence in the office. Eventually, Sabulski saw that neither of his visitors was going to speak. ‘Maybe once every two years.’
‘And has anybody ever disappeared when it went down in the past?’ Moira pressed.
‘Not to my knowledge,’ Sabulski replied.
‘So the question is, are the CCTV breakdown and the disappearance of Gregory Gardiner connected or purely coincidental?’
‘That’s the question,’ Sabulski said.
Moira had had difficult interviews before. ‘What do you think?’
Sabulski thought for a few moments. ‘I’ve spoken with the engineers and they’re perplexed by the breakdown. They’ve got all kinds of monitoring equipment and no fault shows up.’
‘So the system went down of its own accord?’ Moira asked.
‘That’s the conclusion of the technicians.’
‘But you don’t believe them?’
Sabulski leaned back in his chair. ‘What I believe doesn’t count. The people who operate and maintain the CCTV system don’t know what happened. I’m just a simple cop.’
‘What would it take to cause a breakdown?’ Moira asked. ‘Even a very short breakdown.’
‘I’m not an engineer,’ Sabulski replied.
‘But I bet that you already asked that question of one of the engineers,’ Moira said.
‘You a former cop?’ Sabulski asked. He had noticed how seamlessly the redhead had taken over the interview. This wasn’t her first dance.
‘Detective sergeant in the Police Service of Northern Ireland.’
‘I thought so. You’re right, I did ask one of the engineers. A battery of computers runs the CCTV system. In order to engineer a breakdown, someone would have to get access to those computers. Apparently, that would be a very difficult operation requiring some heavy duty hacking.’
Moira was thinking about Ricky Sin. ‘And that’s the only possibility?’
‘That’s what the guy running the system thinks. Someone hacked in, dropped the system for about a minute and then lit it up again.’
‘So what did you conclude?’
Sabulski didn’t reply immediately. He let himself fall back into a sitting position and stared directly at Moira. ‘Someone wanted to take your Mr Gardiner off the map and it was the kind of someone who knew what he was doing. I’ll deny I ever said that if you quote me.’
‘You think we’ll see Gardiner again?’ Shea asked.
Sabulski stood. ‘Your fifteen minutes are up.’
Shea stood and extended his hand. ‘Thanks for your time. The next time the Dolphins are in Boston give me a call and I’ll arrange a ticket.’
Sabulski took his hand. ‘I wouldn’t want to take your seat.’ He handed Shea back his card.
Shea smiled. ‘Keep it, I have a few.’
Sabulski nodded and took Moira’s hand. ‘You be careful, little lady. There are a lot of very bad dudes out there. This is not Northern Ireland.’
Moira’s hand disappeared into Sabulski’s huge mitt. ‘Thanks for the warning, I’m getting pretty used to hearing it.’
Sabulski fell back into his chair as soon as they left. He wasn’t sure whether Gardiner had engineered his own disappearance or if he had been abducted by someone. All he knew was that he was living in a country where any fucking thing could happen. And there was nothing anyone could do about it. He reached into his desk drawer and removed a schedule of the Dolphins’ upcoming games. They were in Boston in October. He stapled Shea’s card to the schedule, Boston in October, why the hell not?
Meanwhile Moira and Shea left the building and made their way to the car. ‘I’m tired,’ Moira said. The sun had set and the temperature was more bearable now.
‘Back to Boston or a night in the best hotel in Miami?’ Shea held the passenger side door for her.
The bed in the best hotel in Miami looked the best option but that might not go down so well with Brendan. ‘What’s the flight time?’
‘Seven hours.’
Moira climbed into the car. ‘Call the damn hotel and make sure they have a facility to buy some clothes.’ She wasn’t looking forward to the call with Brendan.
‘How did it go, guys?’ Carmichael asked from the back seat.
‘Not so good,’ Moira s
aid. ‘We seem to have hit that brick wall again.’
‘Maybe not,’ Carmichael took the mini USB from round her neck. ‘I’m afraid I’ve been holdin’ out on you two.’
CHAPTER THIRTY
‘W hat the hell were you thinking?’ Moira was lying on the bed in her room on the tenth floor of the Mandarin Oriental in Bricknel Key just outside central Miami. Shea had certainly come through in terms of the hotel. The view from the room was astonishing, with the lights of Miami shimmering over the waters of the Atlantic. Shea was apoplectic when he heard about the USB. His rant lasted all the way from Miami International to the reception area of the hotel. As soon as they were settled in their rooms, he disappeared with the USB to the business centre.
Carmichael was lying on the bed beside Moira. ‘I just met you guys and I was a little bit wary of handing over my ace in the hole.’
‘We’ve established, more or less, that Gardiner was abducted by someone who knew what he was doing. Do you think for one second that the people behind the abduction would let you live if they knew you had any idea who they are?’
‘I have no idea what’s on that damn USB. Could be a movie for all I know. I was holding on to it as a bargaining chip in case someone caught up with me. Anyways, you’ve got the damn thing now, so what’s the problem?’
Moira lay back. It was almost nine o’clock in the evening. Since she had risen in Boston sixteen hours ago, they had travelled the length of the eastern seaboard of the US, found Carmichael and interviewed the lead detectives from Miami-Dade PD and the head of the crime division at Miami International. In anyone’s language that was a big day. They were much further ahead than they had been sixteen hours ago, and that was before they unlocked whatever treasure might be contained on Carmichael’s USB.
‘You think Shea’s goin’ to forgive me?’
Moira turned and looked at Carmichael. ‘I don’t know him well enough to comment on his forgiving nature.’
‘Since it’s just us two girls here, there is something goin’ on between you two, right?’