“No, you’re right but money can do a lot to keep you out of trouble.”
There was a long pause. “You’re worried he’s going to show up here, aren’t you?” Skylar said looking around and eying the dogs that she could now see inside a small garage. They looked as if they were just waiting for the command to attack. “He knows she’s said things she shouldn’t have. That’s why all the fences and guard dogs, isn’t it?”
“Man has a right to protect himself, detective.”
“But that could land you in a whole heap of trouble. I’d hate to see you get hurt.”
“I can handle myself.”
“Maybe. But what about Callum Jackson?” Harvey asked.
“Who?” Tyron replied. Skylar glanced at Harvey. Was Tyron acting like he didn’t know Jackson, or did he genuinely not know what role he played in Elite Matchmaking? What was his role? And why was he swift to make sure that LaSalle was out? “Look, I have to go now. Is that it?”
“That’s it for now, Mr. O’Brien. Be sure to call us if trouble shows up. Don’t try to handle it by yourself,” Harvey said. He gave a nod back and retreated into his warehouse.
“What do you make of that?”
“A bit of an oddball. But as long as his dogs stay where they are, I’ll gladly leave him alone,” Harvey said. As they were walking back to the gate, Harvey’s phone rang and then Skylar heard what sounded like a man’s scream.
“Did you hear that?”
“No but I hear the sound of my wife riding my ass about this evening.”
Skylar turned back and began heading towards the warehouse when out the corner of her eye she saw the two dogs beginning to trot her way. They were moving slowly but as soon as she locked eyes on them they took off.
“Harv, get in the truck,” she bellowed.
Skylar pressed on toward the warehouse as she was almost halfway across the yard. She pulled her piece and kicked the door open and dashed in, slamming it behind her just as the dogs came around the corner. They jumped up and were barking like mad. She backed up from the door, her mind focused on them, and almost forgetting the reason she returned. Another cry and she turned and ventured deeper into the warehouse. It was dark and smelled like machine oil and grime.
“Mr. O’Brien,” she called out his name but got no answer. As she came around the corner seated in the middle of a space between two large boats was a man tied to a chair. His face was battered and bruised and all he had on was a pair of underwear. She kept her gun low and hurried over, scanning her surroundings. As she got close she heard the sound of a door slamming and she raced past the gagged man and got on the radio to Harvey.
“Harv, we got an injured man inside. I’m going after O’Brien.”
She bolted out the back door and found herself in the parking lot. In the distance, scrambling up a mountain of tires stacked against a chainlink fence, was Tyron. He glanced back with an expression of fear and tripped as he went up.
“Stop!”
He ignored her, and she took off after him. At the top of the tires, he hopped over the fence and started sprinting down a back alley. Skylar climbed up the tires and launched herself over the fence, keeping a firm grip on her Glock. She hit the ground running. He had a good sixty yards head start on her but she lived for this. It had been a while since she’d had to chase anyone. In the Marshals it had been almost an everyday occurrence as fugitives took off thinking they could outrun them.
Tyron grabbed a shopping cart that was up against the side of the wall and threw it down, and dragged a dumpster into the center of the alley to try and buy some time. Skylar jumped the cart and slipped around the dumpster with all the ease of an Olympic sprinter.
She chased him up 1st Street until he veered right onto Russell Road and then darted across Avenue A. He slipped down the side of a residential home and hopped over a fence and dashed through the back of someone’s house and out the front door.
They continued running for what felt like twenty minutes until she saw him starting to slow. He was out of gas, and she was just getting her second wind. Most fugitives eventually ran out of steam. It was the reason why her trainers at the college pushed them so hard and made them run frequently just so they would get used to running for long periods of time and outrun any criminal.
Tyron made it onto Garrett Lane when she caught up with him. She lunged at his waist and brought him to the earth with a thud. They rolled down a small embankment, and she slammed her knee into his chest causing him to heave. Seconds later she had the cuffs on him and was hauling him up.
“What the hell were you playing at? Who is that guy back there?” she demanded to know.
“One of LaSalle’s goons. He showed up. I had to defend myself,” he shot back.
“By tying him to a chair and beating the crap out of him?”
She strong-armed him back to the warehouse.
“You don’t give up, do you?” he said as they strolled down a residential street getting unusual looks from curious homeowners. Both of them were covered in grass and dirt stains and sweating up a storm. Her heart was hammering in her chest but it felt good, like her old days.
“So why did you run?”
“Why wouldn’t I? You’re going to take me in on a battery charge, are you not?”
She didn’t answer but instead continued her line of questions.
“Were you at his apartment on the night LaSalle showed up?”
“I arrived an hour after he’d left.”
“And what state of mind was she in?”
“What do you expect? She was distraught, scared and…”
“So why did you leave her there?”
“I didn’t. I took her back to my apartment. She must have headed back there in the morning to collect her things. She never told me she was going to leave him. I instructed her to stay at the warehouse and I would collect her stuff the following afternoon. I had a few errands to run in the morning and she was gone when I got back. I figure someone must have got to her.”
“And were you involved with her?”
“Oh God no, Teresa was a good friend of mine. She just fell in with the wrong crowd.”
“If you didn’t kill her, why do you think he did it?”
“Because she’d seen too much. She was going to blow the story wide open on what Elite Matchmaking was up to.”
“And that is?”
She could tell he was reluctant to speak about it, then he continued.
“He’ll tell you that he runs a legitimate enterprise but it’s all just smoke and mirrors to hide where the real money is being made.”
“And that is?”
“Catering to those with a taste for pain.”
“What?”
“Let’s just say he has a certain clientele that are willing to pay big money for something extra. That’s handled by LaSalle’s partner Ricardo Martinez. The same guy who probably sent one of his goons to rough me up. They need to work harder than that if they expect me to roll over.”
Once they made it back, Skylar locked him in the back of the truck while she went to check on Harvey. Inside the warehouse, Harvey had untied the guy and was on the phone calling for a medic. He glanced over at her and chuckled. “Give you a run for his money, did he?”
“Who we got?”
“Not sure. No ID on him, and he speaks Spanish.”
Skylar stood in front of him. “You work for LaSalle or Jackson?”
He spat near her feet then cursed at her before saying something in Spanish. She replied back in Spanish and his eyes widened.
“So what did he say?”
“Something about go screw your mother,” she said.
“Nice,” Harvey replied.
They hauled him to his feet and brought him out to the truck. An EMT van arrived with lights flashing. Harvey loaded the guy into the back and Skylar told him they would be along shortly to take his statement. They guy swore at her as she slammed the door closed.
Chapter 6
Reznik handed the sheet to Harvey. “We ran his prints through the system. Seems our perp’s name is Alvaro Dias, he has a rap sheet a mile long. Breaking and entry, attempted murder and car theft. He’s already done four years inside and was released last year. His probation officer was trying to track him down.”
“And we found him,” Skylar said. “What else?”
“Nothing. Hanson is with him down at the hospital at the moment. Tyron did one hell of a number on his face.”
“So let’s speak with Tyron, find out what he has to say.”
She headed off with Harvey into the interview room. It was a basic setup. The cream-colored room had a one-way mirror, a table and three chairs. Skylar entered and Tyron met her gaze. Harvey took a seat and opened a folder with details on his business.
“How long you guys keeping me here?” Tyron asked.
“You put a man in the hospital, Mr. O’Brien.”
“I told you, he broke into my place and tried to kill me.”
“With a gun?”
“No, he tried to strangle me. It’s probably the same guy that killed Teresa.”
“So you think he works for LaSalle?”
“I don’t think, I know.” He leaned back and sighed hard. “You know one year ago I had a thriving business. A website that brought in thousands of people from all over the states, and a great matchmaking service that brought hundreds of couples together, and as soon as LaSalle moved into my territory, he has been nothing but a thorn in my side.”
“How so?”
“My site was hacked, all the profiles, login details stolen. The site was defaced, and I was unable to get it back up online for some time. By the time I did, he’d managed to get in contact with many of our clients.”
“And you know this because?”
“Some are loyal. They told me.”
“You want to give us some names so we can verify that?”
“No. That would be breaking my privacy agreement.”
Skylar leaned against the wall and observed him while Harvey continued his line of questioning. “Explain how it works?”
He looked hesitant at first but once Harvey went and got him a coffee he softened up. He sipped at it and stared at the one-way mirror. “Is someone watching behind there?”
“Maybe,” Harvey said. “Come on, tell us how it works.”
“I can only tell you how my business operated. The real money is made in the one-on-one matchmaking service. These are folks who aren’t comfortable meeting someone through a website. However, having said that, eighty percent of those who used our premium matchmaking service originally opened an account on our website. From there we were able to offer them something more than what could be found on the general website.”
“So your website acts as a net to bring them in, then you upsell them?”
“Something like that. Most hear about us through the website, for others it’s word of mouth.”
“So you offer something more. Which is?”
“Privacy, and a thorough approval process. We are able to weed out the time wasters; the ones who don’t look anything like their profile picture. I had about 40,000 women on file. Finding a woman who wants a decent man is easy. Finding decent men, well that’s another thing entirely. We then screened each one and only allowed around ten new members into our club once a month. We were dealing with high-level individuals who don’t have a lot of time to use a matchmaking service. These are professionals with well-paid jobs who didn’t want to end up with some loser. We have a consultation with each person and find out what they are looking for, what type of woman they are attracted to and then we would provide them with a list of women on file that were a good match.” He paused to take a sip of his drink. “We had a high success rate of at least four out of five men entering into a long-term relationship.”
“I’m confused. If Elite was already successful why would they want your database?” Skylar asked.
“Because it’s gold in the world of matchmaking. When you are entering a new state in this business, it’s a bit of a chicken and egg conundrum. To attract people, you need people but to get people you have to attract people.”
“But you managed to do it?”
“Of course.”
“How?”
“I can’t give away all my secrets, detective, and it has no bearing on why you are holding me now. All I can tell you is that my website appealed to two sets of people. Those looking to find the average joe, where they did all the investigative work in determining if they were a good guy or not, and then our high-end customers who preferred that we did all the work and were willing to pay for it.”
“So how did you make money?”
“Monthly subscriptions to the website and optional premium services through the club.”
“Break it down?” Skylar said.
“Why, you looking for love?” he asked.
Harvey leaned across. “Mr. O’Brien. You’re in a whole heap of trouble right now. Not only were you the last one to see Teresa alive but with these new accusations you’re making against Elite — well, it’s not exactly looking good.”
“Why would I kill my own friend? I was trying to help her out by getting her out. You ever tried to help someone in a bad relationship, detective? It’s not easy. They come up with all these excuses as to why they should stay. Teresa was no different.”
“Okay, so subscriptions and optional services?” Skylar interjected, reminding him of where they’d left off. She was curious to understand how it worked and what kind of money they were talking about.
Tyron kept glaring at Harvey. There was a clear disdain for him.
“We offered five tiered packages, each one gave them one year of unlimited dating along with steps that would help them succeed. In addition to this they got counseling sessions, coaching sessions, image consulting sessions, hypnotherapy sessions, and so on. We also offered a meet and greet event where we would bring twenty-five ladies to a location near our member’s home and arrange a lunch, dinner or cocktail party where they could meet them and experience a mini date. On top of this there were other extras where I could personally be their personal matchmaker instead of an assistant. I also offered consultations and meetings with clients.”
“So for the premium service. What kind of money are we talking about on the low end?”
“Twenty-five thousand.”
“What?” Harvey spat. “Twenty-five G’s for one year? Do they get a car with that membership?” He scoffed while looking at Skylar.
She shrugged. “So what’s the high-end package?”
“Over a hundred thousand,” he said without even blinking.
“People actually pay that much money?” Skylar asked. “Do these folks not know about free websites?”
“Of course they do. Our clientele were very smart people. Professionals in high-paid jobs who just didn’t have the time for games. We were able to accommodate their needs and find them the right person.”
Skylar stepped forward away from the wall. “I’m a little confused here. You say that Elite ran you out of business. How?”
“Disrupting our business. They didn’t just hack into the website one time, and…” he trailed off.
“And…?” She probed deeper. He sank back in his seat and she could see he was holding back. “Every website has a database that is backed up. Even if they hacked your website, you could have had it back online with twenty-four hours and continued on with business. What are you not telling us?”
“Detectives, how does any business run another business out of town? They undercut their prices, drag their name through the mud or use intimidation.”
Harvey leaned back in his seat and regarded him with a frown on his face.
“But how do you really know it was Elite that was behind the hack? Perhaps they learned about some of your clients through word of mouth, or through other connections.”
“I don’t know for sure but it’s not exactly r
ocket science, is it? We were doing fine until they moved into town. After that we got a visit from a man offering to buy us out. We refused. He didn’t say what company he was from but I think it’s pretty obvious.”
“I don’t buy it,” Skylar said walking back over to the wall and leaning against it.
Tyron cast a glance at her. “What don’t you buy?”
“Elite Matchmaking is in California, New York and Miami. They are a huge company. Why would they need your business?”
“Because we’ve been established in Florida for far longer than they have and had already established trust. This entire business, detective, is built on trust. There are countless websites online that are operating as dating sites but are just using fake profiles in order to draw people in. We had real people. Quality clients who were interested in meeting women. Women who wanted to meet men that had a steady job, a well-paid job, and were good-looking.”
“A sugar daddy?” Harvey blurted out.
“Call it that if you wish,” he said. “Everyone is different in what they are looking for in a relationship and we catered to that.”
“But aren’t those business relationships still in place?”
“They would have been but like I said, money talks and the type of women we appeal to will go where there are additional incentives. I’m not sure how they did it but they managed to lure them in once they had our contacts.”
Harvey got up and paced the room. “So you think Elite is behind the downfall of your company, and that LaSalle killed his girlfriend?”
“That about sums it up,” Tyron said finishing up his coffee and glancing up at the clock.
“You have somewhere to be?” Skylar asked.
“I’m just wondering how long you are going to hold me?”
“Once we’ve established why the guy was at your warehouse, we’ll keep you in the loop.”
“I’ve already told you,” he spat.
“There are two sides to every story,” Skylar replied.
“And until then?”
“You’ll be held in a holding cell until it can be determined that you’re not a threat to anyone else.”
Death Match Page 5