The Deep End

by Traci Hunter Abramson

  Lacey just grinned. “I told you she was good.”

  “Here is the paperwork on the one event she already qualified in.” Tara handed him a file folder.

  Pete flipped it open, seeing that her time was decent, maybe good enough to make the Olympic team. He turned back to watch CJ and shook his head. “Her stroke is more suited to swimming the 100 breaststroke. We might want to put her in the IMs too, see where she comes in.”

  “Does that mean you’re interested?”

  Pete didn’t answer, instead jotting down a few notes of instruction on the notepad he held. He tore off the top page and handed it to Lacey. “Here’s what I’ll need. We start tomorrow. Four a.m.”

  Chapter 10

  Doug’s phone was ringing when he reached his office on Thursday morning. He set a bottle of orange juice on his desk and lifted the receiver. “Valdez.”

  “Hey, it’s Keith. I think we may have something,” Toblin stated. “Rush had a visitor at the prison right before the incident at the swim meet.”

  “Who?” Doug grabbed a pen and a fresh pad of paper from the corner of his desk as the fax machine on his desk began receiving.

  “We aren’t sure, but we think it may have been Malloy,” Toblin declared. “I’m sending you a fax right now with the report. The guard did say he thought he heard Rush say something about trying to find the diamonds.”

  “Diamonds?” Doug stood and reached for the fax as it printed out, perusing the guard’s statement. “There was something in CJ’s file about diamonds.”

  “Yeah. It’s in the police report about her friend’s murder in Phoenix,” Toblin answered.

  Doug stood and unlocked his filing cabinet, pulling out CJ’s original file to refresh his memory. “Here it is. She told the police that she heard diamonds mentioned before Malloy’s men killed her boyfriend.”

  “Has she ever mentioned anything else about it to you?”

  “No, she hasn’t.” Doug scanned the entire police report. “There isn’t much in the file. I’ll call her and see if she can remember anything else. In the meantime, check with the airlines and see if you can figure out what alias Malloy is using. We know when he was at the prison, and we know when he was in Minneapolis. That should help us narrow it down so we can figure out where he flew in from.”

  “I’m on it,” Toblin agreed before hanging up.

  Doug flipped through CJ’s file again. The police report listed the few words she had heard the day her boyfriend had locked her in the bedroom to protect her from the men who had barged into his apartment. The organization, payment, diamonds. Could Chase have seized a payment in diamonds before he was killed? And if so, what did he do with them?

  The personnel file on Chase was brief; he had only been working as a detective a short time before going undercover to help the DEA penetrate the smuggling organization that was later identified as being one of the largest ever discovered. Everything in the file checked out. Chase had served a mission to Colombia for the Church, and his ability to speak Spanish—as well as his knowledge of Colombia—had helped him go undercover to determine the size of the smuggling organization and to identify the people running it.

  Assuming Chase was the honest man his file indicated, he wouldn’t have stolen from the men he was investigating. More likely, he would have seized evidence and tried to hide it until he could be sure that he could get it into the right hands. Since everything in Chase’s apartment had been searched thoroughly, the diamonds must have been hidden outside the apartment. Surely he would have left some clue as to where.

  Over the past three years, information had been uncovered revealing that Chase had not only known about Rush, the judge who headed the organization, but also about other government officials on the organization’s payroll. Yet no one had heard further mention of the diamonds until now.

  Doug could only hope that, despite the trauma of losing her best friend, CJ might remember something after all this time that would help them find what Rush was looking for. He glanced down at his watch, realizing for the first time why his stomach was beginning to grumble. Ignoring his hunger, he picked up the cell phone he used to contact CJ. Always cautious, the Bureau had implemented a secure link between his phone and the cell phone they had issued to CJ. Too often, signals had been picked up, compromising important contacts and witnesses.

  Doug dialed her number, tapping his fingers on his desk as the phone rang two times, then three. On the fourth ring, CJ answered with a breathless hello.

  “Hi, CJ. I need some information from you,” Doug said, fingering the open file in front of him. “You said that you heard Malloy’s men say something about diamonds the night Chase was killed.”

  CJ sighed, waiting a moment to answer. “I just heard pieces of the conversation. I don’t know anything about the diamonds or where they might have been hidden.”

  “What makes you think they were hidden?” Doug keyed in on her words, surprised at how closely they matched his suspicions.

  “They ransacked Chase’s apartment before they left. One of them said that they found ‘the list,’ and then they talked about being unable to find the diamonds. The list must have been the list of names I saw. All I know is that the men sounded pretty angry,” CJ explained.

  “The file said that they did a thorough search, so it sounds like the diamonds must have been hidden somewhere else.” Doug flipped to a clean page on his pad of paper and began making notes. “Is there anyplace they might not have looked?”

  “Not as far as I know, except for the attic where I was hiding.”

  “What was up there?”

  “What?” Confusion colored CJ’s voice.

  “You said they didn’t find the diamonds. Could they have been hidden in the attic?”

  “Maybe, but I’m sure the police searched it after they found me,” CJ replied. “What is all of this about? Why the sudden interest in the diamonds?”

  “I think Rush has someone looking for the diamonds. I would prefer to find them first.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you. Could the police have missed them when they searched Chase’s apartment?”

  “I doubt it, but anything is possible,” Doug admitted, repeatedly spinning pencil on the desk in front of him. “Did you take anything from his apartment that night?”

  Silence hung on the line for several seconds. “I was holding a stuffed animal, a dolphin, when Malloy’s men showed up.”

  “Do you still have it?” Doug asked. A stuffed animal was an unlikely hiding place, but it was the only item that he knew of that had not been searched.

  “I haven’t seen it since I left Texas,” CJ answered, regret lacing her voice. “I asked Jill about it one time, but she said it wasn’t in my room when she packed up my stuff.”

  “Then it might have been taken the night your apartment was broken into,” Doug said, sure CJ had thought of that too. “If you think of anything else, let me know.”

  “I’m still trying to forget about that night.”

  “It will all be behind you soon,” Doug assured her before hanging up.

  Doug’s conversation with the Phoenix Police Department did not reveal much either. As he had suspected, the police had thoroughly searched Chase’s apartment, including the attic. Because CJ mentioned diamonds in the police interview, they had meticulously searched everything in the apartment, from the sofa cushions to the lining of Chase’s clothes.

  Someone had to know where those diamonds were. Though Doug hated to admit it, he knew it was entirely possible that someone had come across them and never come forward. Flipping through the file, he created a partial list of all the people who’d had access to Chase’s apartment right before and after his murder: the two men who killed him, the police, the paramedics, several DEA agents, and CJ. Even Chase’s parents might have come across the diamonds if they had been missed in the original search. Or CJ may have been transporting the diamonds around the country inside the stuffed dolphin until it was stolen
in Texas.

  * * *

  “Where exactly are we going?” CJ asked from the backseat of the sedan Lacey was driving. The air conditioning blew full blast to counteract the heat and thick humidity outside. Though it was only early May, Florida was already well into summertime.

  Tara looked up from the map she held and pointed at the stoplight they were approaching. “Turn here.”

  “You’re ignoring me, aren’t you?” CJ leaned forward, looking from Tara to Lacey. “Not that I’m sad to leave that last place behind, but I really would like to know where I’m going to be spending the next month or two.”

  Tara continued studying the map and ignoring CJ.

  CJ wasn’t sure what had prompted the quick move, but when she had finished her afternoon practice, she had gotten in the car to find that all of her belongings had been packed up and loaded into the backseat next to her.

  Her morning practice had run longer than planned, and she had been disappointed when Pete had left before she finished. Lacey had mentioned that he might have found her a coach. Since Pete didn’t even last halfway through her practice, CJ assumed that he wasn’t willing to take on the challenge after all.

  “Can you at least tell me if I’ll get a chance to practice tonight?” CJ pressed as they drove through Miami.

  “What time is it?” Lacey asked.

  “Six thirty,” CJ answered.

  Lacey glanced over at Tara. “There’s a pool around the corner. We can stop and let her practice and then go get settled in.”

  “Just drop me and CJ off, and you can go unload.” For the first time in nearly an hour, Tara glanced back at CJ. “How long do you need tonight?”

  “I’d like at least two hours.”

  Tara nodded and spoke once again to Lacey as he pulled into a parking lot. “We’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

  CJ followed Tara into a public pool that looked like it had seen better days. She gauged the six-lane pool to be twenty-five yards long, with one roped-off lap lane. An elderly couple occupied the lap lane, and about forty other patrons were enjoying an evening swim in the general part of the pool.

  Glancing back at Tara, CJ wondered how she could possibly get a workout.

  “I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

  “Thanks,” CJ said sarcastically.

  Tara shrugged and settled into a deck chair.

  CJ entered the tiny, two-stall locker room and changed into her swimming suit. She came back outside a few minutes later, pleased to see that the pool had emptied.

  “Why did everyone get out?” CJ asked Tara, dropping her bag next to the U.S. Marshal.

  “Adult swim,” Tara replied. “The lifeguard said they have it for the last ten minutes of every hour.”

  “Then I’d better get started.”

  CJ noticed the elderly couple still strolling in the lap lane, so she jumped in and began swimming next to their lane. She hadn’t even finished her warm-up, though, when the lifeguards blew their whistles and the kids came charging back into the pool. CJ tried to continue swimming, alternating between swimming around kids, swimming over kids, and occasionally having to stop altogether.

  Finally, after nearly twenty minutes, the elderly couple stepped out of the pool. CJ moved into the lap lane and swam for nearly thirty minutes before a middle-aged woman joined her in the lane. After two near misses, CJ finally realized that the woman was swimming with her eyes closed.

  CJ tried to overcome the moving obstacle in her lane, but when the woman nearly ran into her a third time, she debated whether she should just cut her workout short. Thankfully, the lifeguard signaled for adult swim again, and CJ moved over into the next lane, enjoying ten minutes of uninterrupted swimming. Involved in her workout, she didn’t notice the end of adult swim until a boy of about ten years of age did a cannonball a few feet away from her.

  Moving back to the lap lane, CJ continued with her workout, pleased that the other woman had moved into the main part of the pool to play with her children. When the lifeguard signaled that the pool was closing, CJ got out, frustrated that she had not completed her cool down.

  CJ toweled off and dropped her goggles and cap into her bag. “Please tell me I’ll have somewhere else to practice tomorrow.”

  “Okay,” Tara grinned, motioning outside. “Lacey is in the parking lot. Did you want to change here or just wait until later?”

  CJ took one look at the line outside the locker room and sighed. “It looks like it may take a few minutes, but I’d rather change here if you don’t mind.”

  “No problem.” Tara nodded.

  CJ finally got her turn in a changing stall and emerged several minutes later fully dressed. Shifting her bag over her shoulder, she followed Tara out to the car and climbed into the backseat.

  Leaning back, CJ closed her eyes and gave in to her exhaustion. She thought of her husband, wishing she could at least talk to him. The threat that Malloy posed weighed heavily on her mind. Though the FBI agents had not told her, she already knew that she would have to remain in protective custody indefinitely unless Malloy could be apprehended.

  Matt would be playing right now, or at least she hoped he was playing rather than riding the bench. He loved baseball so much, and she couldn’t stand the thought of him giving it up for her. Instead, the best she could hope for would be to live with him in the off-season when he could choose where he lived.

  Darkness had already fallen when Lacey pulled the car onto a circular driveway paved with bricks. Feeling the vehicle slowing, CJ sat up and her eyes widened.

  The Mediterranean-style house sprawled in both directions from the well-lit entryway. White stucco contrasted against the red-tiled roof, but CJ didn’t get a chance to see much more before Lacey pulled into the three-car garage.

  “Home sweet home,” Lacey said brightly, climbing out of the car.

  Too stunned to ask questions, CJ followed Tara and Lacey into the house. The massive kitchen sported marble tile on the floors, glass-front cabinets, granite countertops, and a double oven. A breakfast bar separated the kitchen from the kitchenette. Next to it, an expansive family room was lined with windows, and a glass door led to a patio and the swimming pool just beyond.

  “Come on. I set you up in the master bedroom upstairs, right next to where Tara will be staying.” Lacey led the way down the hall toward the two-story entryway. On one side, a wide doorway revealed a game room, complete with a pool table. Just beyond the game room was a long hallway. “I’ll be staying in one of the guest rooms down that hall.”

  CJ trotted behind him, finally finding her voice. “What are we doing here? This house is huge!”

  “Let’s just say it has everything we were looking for.” Lacey walked into the entryway and climbed the circular stairway. To the left, another living area was furnished with two loveseats and a coffee table.

  “Lacey, I’ve been in the game long enough to know that the government doesn’t normally provide mansions for their witnesses.”

  “You’ve always been a special case.” He smiled. “The government actually got this house when the previous owner got nailed for tax evasion.”

  “Lucky for us,” Tara commented.

  Lacey pointed to the left when he reached the top of the stairs. “There are two bedrooms and an office over there.” He then turned and walked down the hall to the right. “Your rooms are this way. CJ, you have the one on the left. Tara, yours is the one on the right.”

  CJ moved forward, pausing just inside the open double doors. The far wall was mostly windows, and a balcony looked out over the yard and whatever lay beyond in the darkness. The main part of the room contained a king-sized bed, two large dressers, and a matching armoire.

  To her right, a niche in the room contained a chair, a small loveseat, and a square, glass-topped table creating a cozy living area. She passed through it and found the master bathroom.

  Her jaw dropped as she turned in a circle. The sunken bathtub was the size of a small
Jacuzzi, and a variety of plants surrounded the bath area. The toilet and an oversized shower stall lay beyond it, and on the other side were two generous vanity areas on opposing walls. The door to the walk-in closet was open, and CJ glanced inside to find her luggage sitting in the middle of what could have been a standard-sized bedroom.

  Still awed by the opulence of the house, CJ passed through the bedroom and crossed the hall to Tara’s room. CJ entered to see Tara already unpacking her suitcase into the room’s single dresser. Tara’s room was as large as CJ’s except that it didn’t have the seating area. Instead, two chairs and a reading lamp sat in the corner near a window.

  “Is your room as incredible as mine?”

  “I’m definitely liking this private bathroom thing.” Tara grinned over her shoulder.

  CJ laughed. “Whose idea was it to surprise me?”

  “Oh, I think we all came up with the idea together,” Tara admitted. “Doug wanted us to be on-site with you until after you testify—he doesn’t want to bring in a second team at this point.”

  “In other words, you guys are stuck with me because you’re about the only ones he trusts.”

  “I’m not complaining.” Tara set her suitcase aside and let herself fall onto her bed. “Besides, I figure with that kitchen downstairs, we should be able to talk you into a few home-cooked meals.”

  “You do have it rough,” CJ said, laughing.

  Lacey walked up behind CJ and caught sight of Tara. “I see you’re working hard.” He put a hand on CJ’s shoulder and motioned to her room. “You had better get some sleep. Your practice is at four in the morning.”

  “I sure hope this place comes with an alarm clock.”

  Chapter 11

  “What’s he doing here?” CJ asked when she saw Pete standing on deck of the pool at the University of Miami.

  “He’s your new coach,” Lacey stated simply, watching her eyes light up.

  “Really?” CJ hesitated a moment when Pete moved toward them. “I thought he wasn’t interested.”

  “You wanted a coach, we got you a coach,” Lacey answered. “Now make us proud.”