“You were a big help. Thank you,” Julia said.
“If you think of anything else, give me a call,” Navarro said, and handed Hastings his card.
Julia and Navarro made their way back to his Tahoe, and Navarro began to clip through city traffic en route to his apartment.
“That’s what you think your dad stole from Max Mueller? A van Gogh notebook?” Navarro asked.
“Maybe. My dad said there was a notebook in the box that had the van Gogh painting he picked up from Lemming in St. Louis. Duke thought the notebook was some worthless collectible, but I’m betting you it was van Gogh’s personal journal or maybe another master artist’s. Five million dollars is a lot of money, if that’s what the painting is worth. But this huge push to find Duke at all costs, it makes better sense to me that there’s a bigger prize at stake.”
“Van Gogh’s the guy who went crazy and cut off his ear, right?”
“That’s him. He killed himself when he was just thirty-seven. Van Gogh was a misunderstood genius and was considered a failure when he was alive. He didn’t find success as an artist until after he died. The journal, if it’s real and his, would be worth killing for in the wrong company.”
“Last stop,” Navarro said as he pulled into a spot on the street across from his high-rise.
“Thank you. I mean it, Navarro. I’d go to my house if it weren’t forty minutes away. I know I’ve been asking a lot of favors lately, and I appreciate everything you’ve been doing for me.”
“Thanks aren’t necessary, but you need to talk to Kenny, that’s all I ask. Let’s go up,” Navarro said.
Julia looked over her shoulder as she and Navarro walked toward his building, as she expected to see Agent Kenny lurking in the bushes, ready to arrest her. But the two made it safely into the high-rise complex and then took the elevator up to his floor.
Once inside his apartment, Navarro moved quickly to his kitchen and began discarding leftover Chinese food containers that lined a counter.
“Sorry for the mess. I usually keep a clean house.”
“We used to live together. You can’t lie to me,” Julia said. “Mind if I change?”
“Not at all.”
Julia’s private time with Navarro, when they weren’t working or she wasn’t at home with her children, was a tight, limited window, but it had become frequent enough for her to stash a few changes of clothes in a drawer she claimed in Navarro’s bedroom dresser.
Navarro’s apartment was a typical one-bedroom, simple bachelor pad that had about as much workout equipment in his living room as furniture, but it did have a killer view of the Detroit River from the ceiling-to-floor windows in his living room. Julia took a quick pan of the cityscape and then made her way to Navarro’s bedroom, where she noticed a recently placed framed photograph of the two of them on his nightstand.
Julia smiled over the gesture as Navarro followed her path to the bedroom. He stood in the doorway as his phone started to ring, and he looked down at the incoming call.
“Russell, what do you got?” Navarro said as he answered. He then sat down next to Julia on the bed and rested his hand on her thigh. “Okay. We need to bring back Liam Mueller again and squeeze him to find out where Ahote is. I don’t give a shit what his lawyer says. Bring him in and keep him there.”
Navarro filled Russell in on the possible stolen notebook angle and then ended the call.
“Ahote’s last known address is on Frederick Street, near Trinity Cemetery. The landlord said she kicked him out five years ago for not paying rent. We’ll drill Liam Mueller again to see if he’ll give up Ahote. Your dad didn’t tell you where he stashed the painting and notebook?”
“No. I’d tell you if I knew.”
“You know I’m going to have to arrest Duke if I see him.”
“I understand. He’s a fugitive.”
“And Kenny’s going to arrest you if you don’t tell him everything you know about your dad.”
“I realize that.”
Navarro began to rub his shoulder in the place where he was shot a few months prior at the Packard Plant. “I think you should get a lawyer.”
“If I get arrested, I might be holed up for a while. No conjugal visits,” Julia said. She turned around to face Navarro, who was still sitting on the bed, and straddled him with her hips. “Do we have a few minutes before we have to leave?”
Julia pulled her tank top over her head and threw it on the floor.
“I can make the sacrifice,” Navarro answered.
Julia closed her eyes as she felt Navarro’s tongue trace along her birthmark, a small mole just below her left breast. “Before we do this, I need to tell you something.”
“You can tell me anything, baby.”
“I love you, Ray. God, I do.”
* * *
Julia stood in Navarro’s bathroom and pulled her hair out of the makeshift bun she had put it in to keep her hair from getting wet. Julia looked on at Navarro, still in the shower, and wondered if it was okay for her to feel happy for a second while the world was spinning out of control all around her.
“You want to come back in and join me?” Navarro asked.
“Thanks, but I know how that’s going to end up. That shower cost us an extra fifteen minutes.”
“Shower sex is always challenging, but I think we’ve perfected it.”
Julia shook her head at Ray and smiled. She changed into her backup clothes, a pair of jeans, a short-sleeved, black T-shirt, and flat sandals.
“You’re way overdressed, beautiful,” Navarro said.
“I’m going to give Helen a call again. She said the boys felt like they are under house arrest, so I told her they could watch a movie on Netflix and order in some delivery pizza.”
“Sounds like bribery to me.”
“You’ve obviously never had kids. Bribery is sometimes a mother’s best friend.”
Julia left Navarro and went into his kitchen, where she had left her purse and cell phone. She was about to call Helen, but then her phone rang and an unknown caller’s name flashed across the screen.
“Here we go again,” Julia said as she answered.
“It’s Duke. I got the location for where the call was placed by the guy claiming to be Ben. It’s a residence over in Palmer Park. I scoped it out already. This Phoenix Pontiac character, does he have long, dark hair down to his shoulders, late thirties or so, and kind of a ropy build?”
“That’s him,” Julia answered.
“He’s been in and out of the place for the past hour. He’s there now. I guarantee this little weasel is working for Lemming or Liam Mueller. Are you in, or what?”
“I’m supposed to go down to the station with Navarro to talk to the FBI about you.”
“If you hadn’t told your cop friend at the park that I was your dad, you wouldn’t be in this position. I told you not to say anything. Come on. This Pontiac guy, I guarantee he is the weak link. I find out who’s running the show from him, then I take them out. And you get to find out whether the guy calling you pretending to be Ben is legit, or a fake, like I know he is. Sarah and I are outside your boyfriend’s place. I’m leaving in two minutes. What do you say?”
Julia heard the shower still running and felt a pull in her gut as she could picture Ben as a little boy, trying to reassure her that everything was going to be all right. She thought about her life now with Navarro and her boys as it played another tug-of-war with the debt and never-ending love she had for her brother, who had never come home.
“Last chance. I need an answer,” Duke said.
“I’m in. Let me just leave Ray a note. If I tell him about this, he’ll never let me do it. Don’t leave without me.”
Julia pulled her reporter’s old-school notebook and a pencil from her purse on the table. She tore out a sheet and hurriedly scribbled down a note before Navarro could come out of the shower and convince her not to go.
She put the note on the table and read it quickly.
Ray,
Duke just called. He has an address for Phoenix Pontiac. I’m going with my dad because I need to find out the truth. I know if I told you about this before I left, you wouldn’t let me go. I don’t trust Duke, and I know I may be setting myself up. But please understand, I don’t feel like I have any other choice. I’m sorry, but I have to do this. I owe my brother. I’ll be careful. And I swear I’ll talk to Kenny when I’m done. I’ll take full responsibility for this decision, as I don’t want anything to come back on you.
I love you. With all my heart.
Julia
Julia grabbed her bag and headed toward the door, knowing she was caught up in a stranglehold. But she also knew she didn’t have any other choice but to team up with the most unlikely allies she could ever pick in her entire life.
CHAPTER 23
The place where Duke had spotted Phoenix was a nice two-story, single-family brick home in the Palmer Park/ University District in northwest Detroit. Julia rode in the backseat of Duke’s vehicle, with Sarah sitting in the front. Duke took a slow cruise by the address and Julia noticed Phoenix’s Subaru was parked in a carport next to the house.
“Nice place for a former con if it’s his,” Julia said. “Phoenix told me he lived in Chicago.”
“This guy told you a lot of things,” Duke said. “He’s home. There’s a light on in the front window and his car is outside. You got the stomach for this, Julia?”
“How come you didn’t ask me?” Sarah said.
“I’m guessing you’ve ridden this bull at the rodeo more than once,” Duke answered.
“I’m fine. I’ve been in worse situations,” Julia said. “One thing I want to make clear, Pontiac has been giving me the runaround and I want answers. I don’t know what your plan is, but I’m not going to get tangled up or be an accessory to a crime.”
“You already are for not turning me in. Now here’s the plan. Be quiet. Be smart, and if you get shot and you’re not dead, haul your ass back to the car. I got a floor plan for the house,” Duke said. “There’s a basement we can access from a door in the back. We get inside, don’t make a sound.”
“Hold on. Phoenix may have company,” Julia said as she looked through Duke’s tinted windows and noticed a Ford Taurus pull across the street from Phoenix’s house and come to a stop at the curb.
Duke continued driving, careful not to speed up or slow down, as a man in a suit got out of the vehicle.
“That’s Agent Kenny,” Julia said.
“The FBI guy who’s after me?” Duke asked.
“That’s him,” Julia said.
Duke took a right at the cross street and started to speed up.
“What are you doing?” Julia asked.
“I’m not afraid of bad guys. But the FBI, that’s a whole different story. Your guy’s caught up with law enforcement, I’m out.”
“Hold on. You can’t just leave,” Julia said.
“Watch me, darlin’.”
Julia grabbed the door handle as Duke leaned even harder on the gas.
“Stop the damn car!” Julia cried.
Duke eyed Julia in the rearview mirror and reached for the automatic door locks, but Julia was too fast for him. She opened the door and was about to jump out, but Duke hit the brakes and steered his car over to the side of the residential street before she could.
“You’re nuts,” Duke said.
“Maybe so, but I’m not a coward,” Julia said.
Julia didn’t bother to look back at her father as she got out of the SUV and started to run toward an apartment complex that she figured she could use as cover until she figured out the rest of her plan to try and approach Phoenix’s place without being seen.
“Hold on, Julia.”
Julia turned to see Sarah get out of the car. “I’ll go with you.”
“Jesus Christ,” Duke said. He reached behind him to the passenger seat and grabbed a duffel bag. “If you’re both going to be this stupid, you better take this.”
Sarah reached for the bag and looked inside. “Excellent.”
* * *
Julia skirted behind the apartment complex, with Sarah trailing behind her. When she reached Phoenix’s street, Julia crouched down by a row of parked cars until she came to the road that paralleled his. Julia found the house she was fairly certain backed up to Phoenix’s, a brick duplex, and gestured with her head for Sarah to follow.
A man jogged by on the sidewalk and Julia smiled at him, like she was just another friendly neighbor taking an early-evening stroll.
As soon as the jogger turned the corner, Julia opened the latch of a metal gate on the side of the duplex, hoping the backyard would offer some access to Phoenix’s place.
The old gate let out a sharp squeak as it swung open, and Julia froze when she saw a light flick on inside the right unit of the duplex next to her. Julia ducked down and away from a window along the side of the house and motioned for Sarah to do the same.
“Shit, the owner must have heard the gate,” Sarah whispered.
Julia cast her gaze toward the backyard and to another short metal fence, which buffered Phoenix’s place. Julia heard the sound of a front door open, and she bolted toward the rear yard, where she easily cleared the low fence and found shelter behind a tall pine tree in the corner of Phoenix’s property. Julia looked back at Sarah, who was several steps behind her. Sarah dove to the pine tree just as the resident of the duplex—a plump woman wearing shorts, curlers, and a worn Michigan State T-shirt—turned the corner. The woman walked through the gate and made her way to the backyard. She stood for a minute, with her hands on her hips, and took a slow pan of the property.
“Stupid college kids,” the woman said, and then turned around and headed back inside her home.
“Jesus. I got to quit the cigarettes. I barely made the fence,” Sarah whispered.
“What’s in the bag?” Julia asked.
“A few essentials.”
Julia surveyed the back of the house and easily spotted the door Duke had mentioned.
“If the door’s locked, any chance Duke left you something in that duffel bag?”
“He’s got lock picks. I know how to use them. But since there are people inside, let’s hope the door isn’t locked.”
“Why’d you come with me?” Julia asked.
“I figured you and me, we got left behind once already,” Sarah said.
“I appreciate that, Sarah. I do.”
“Are you kidding? No need to thank me. I miss this shit.”
Julia lost her cover of the tree and kept expecting Agent Kenny to appear as she made her way to the rear of the house. She went down six cement stairs leading to a lower-level door and motioned to Sarah to follow.
As her fingers latched around the knob, Julia felt a prickle of electricity move down her arms as the door easily opened. She put her finger to her lips to remind Sarah to keep quiet and tried to walk silently into what appeared to be a fairly barren unfinished basement. There was just a washer and dryer, and a lack of the usual clutter of boxes and other unwanted junk that usually got stored in the catchall space of most houses.
The basement was dark and smelled like mildew and detergent. Julia took in her surroundings and spotted a sliver of light at the top of a short staircase, which she figured led to the main floor. Julia motioned with a flat palm for Sarah to stay where she was, and then slowly made her way up the stairs to the door. Julia was afraid that the sound of her racing heart would give her away as she reached the top step and looked down a hallway, where she spotted Phoenix Pontiac and Agent Kenny in what appeared to be a living room. Phoenix was sitting on a brown leather couch with his feet casually sprawled in front of him, while Agent Kenny paced back and forth across the length of an orange rug.
“This situation should have been resolved yesterday. Did he just leave?” Kenny asked.
“Twenty minutes ago. He had to get back.”
“Call Julia Gooden again. The Detroit cop who’s screwing her
just showed up at the station alone, and said when he got to the meet-up spot where he was supposed to pick her up, she wasn’t there. She’s playing him, too, or he’s lying to protect her.”
A pang of guilt went off inside Julia for having put Navarro in a situation where he’d have to lie to cover for her.
“She’s still with the dad,” Phoenix said. “Let me try and call her.”
Julia looked down at her pocket, where she placed her cell phone, and felt the phone buzz on silencer against her hip.
“No answer. I’ll try her again later,” Phoenix said.
“If anything changes, call me,” Kenny said. He pulled a thick envelope out of his inner suit coat pocket and handed it to Phoenix. “No more money, though, until you deliver.”
Phoenix walked Kenny to the door, and after the agent left, Phoenix returned to the living room and put on the Tigers game on a massive flat-screen TV.
Julia crept back down the basement stairs to Sarah. “Kenny just left.”
Sarah reached into the duffel bag and pulled out a gun and a roll of duct tape. “You ready to get to work?” she asked.
“Just don’t kill anyone. Pontiac has been playing me this whole time, but I don’t want him dead,” Julia said. “I’m serious, Sarah. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I won’t hurt him, but I’ll scare him real good.”
“Swear to me,” Julia said.
“I’ve got an ex-boyfriend doing time for aggravated assault. The minor shit I did, I only served a couple of months each. I don’t plan on going back to jail. Stop worrying so much. I got this covered.”
A tug of worry went off inside Julia over her last-minute decision to pair up with her sister; but at this point, it was too late to turn back.
Julia led the way as the two went up the steps to the main floor. The ball game playing on the TV was turned up loud and the sound intermingled with The Killers’ “Somebody Told Me” blasting on full decibel from Phoenix’s phone.
Worth Killing For Page 25