by KJ Kalis
She pulled up, not sure if she was in the right place. Leaning forward, she almost put the truck in reverse, contemplating backing out of the driveway and continuing to look, when she saw a flash of something up ahead of her. She eased off the brake again and gave the truck a little gas, the truck bumping over a couple of ridges in the unmaintained road. Up ahead, the thick woods opened up just enough for her to see a small hunting cabin perched under a couple of trees. Mike’s car was parked off to the left. Standing on the front porch was Miner.
A rush of emotion passed over Emily. She nearly cried with relief knowing that Miner was okay. He looked fine and happy, giving a little bark and jumping off the front porch when he saw the truck. He has no idea I didn’t know where he was, she thought. She threw the truck in park and jumped out, kneeling on the ground to rub behind Miner’s ears. He gave her face a little lick and then trotted back to the cabin as if inviting her in.
Setting her jaw, Emily reached into the truck and grabbed her pistol, fastening it on the back of her pants and covering it with her jacket. It would be easy for her to grab Miner, turn around and go back down the bumpy driveway without saying anything, heading back into town, but she had to talk to Mike. She had to know why he thought it was okay to run off. Walking up the two steps to the front porch, she opened the door without knocking, anger filling her. She reached for the door with her left hand giving it a push as her right hand took its position on the butt of her gun.
As she pushed the door open, she saw Mike, his back to her, standing over a small camp stove in the corner. He looked to be cooking something, the smell of food floating inside the cabin. Her stomach rumbled, but that didn’t eliminate the fury she was feeling. He turned to look at her, “You found us.”
“I did. Want to tell me what’s going on?” Emily tried to be calm, but inside she had the urge to push Mike’s scrawny body up against the wall and teach him some of the lessons she had learned from Clarence at boxing. Holding back, she stayed in the doorway, waiting.
Before he said anything, Mike clicked off the burner for the stove, turning toward her, “I don’t know what to say.”
“Clearly, something happened that made you bolt and take Miner with you.” The feeling that she wanted to strangle Mike still hadn’t gone away, but she was trying to control herself and her anger.
“You called Anthony.”
“That’s what this is about?” Emily yelled. “You don’t like my ex-father-in-law and so you steal my dog?”
“It’s about trust!” Mike shouted back.
Emily took a step forward, locking eyes with him. She waited for a second. There was no way she would be intimidated by Mike. “Want to try that again? Last I checked, you work for me.” As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Emily knew she moved to new ground. Sure, their relationship had started as a work arrangement, but it had evolved into a friendship. Whether it was possible to go back to being friends, she wasn’t sure.
Mike glanced down. “Sorry about that. I mean the yelling.”
Emily raised her eyebrows, taking her hand away from the gun on her side, “You aren’t sorry about taking Miner?”
“I guess I was trying to get your attention.”
“You did. Now, what’s the problem?” Feeling frustrated, Emily needed Mike to get to the point.
Mike chewed his lip, “Your ex-father-in-law is in the Mafia. He’s not a good guy, Emily. That whole family, they’ve hurt you. I don’t like to see that. When you called him, I couldn’t figure out why you didn’t just let me help you. I got mad, so I left.”
Emily sighed. She knew Mike struggled with social skills, but he was in rare form. It was like dealing with a twenty-seven-year-old who was going on eight. “Mike, I can have more than one person feeding me information. That doesn’t impact what you bring to the table. Yes, Anthony is in the Mafia. I know that. You aren’t telling me anything I haven’t known for years.”
“Why do you contact him then?”
“In case you haven’t noticed, sometimes I have to use nontraditional channels to get the work done. How is what he does all that different from what you do?”
“I don’t leave bodies in my wake!”
“You don’t know that about him. You’ve just assumed.” Emily looked around the cabin. The bed in the back corner of the cabin was rumpled. Miner had taken up a spot at the foot of the bed watching Emily and Mike sort out their differences. She saw Mike’s laptop sitting on the couch. How he managed to get any signal this far out, she wasn’t sure, but Mike was brilliant about technology. He wasn’t nearly so brilliant about people. That’s what made them a good team, “So, where do we go from here?”
Emily knew the answer to the question before she said it. She was just waiting to see what Mike would say, “Let’s have breakfast. I’m sure you’re hungry.”
Two minutes later, Emily had shrugged off her jacket and was sitting at the small table in the corner, eating a pile of eggs Mike had cooked. Miner was laying at her feet, eating pieces off her fingers as she leaned down to offer them. They ate in silence for a few minutes. Emily guessed Mike was lost in his thoughts. She was lost in her own. The stress of the last couple of days started to peel off of her just a little. Her mind wandered as she chewed, thinking about her argument with Angelica, the fact that Marlowe was still twenty million in the hole, and that Vince had a gambling debt to pay. “Marlowe called just before I left last night.”
“Last night? You just got here this morning,” Mike said, taking a sip from a bottle of water.
“Couldn’t find your place. I ended up sleeping in the truck behind some old, abandoned building.”
Mike picked up his phone without saying anything. A second later, Emily’s phone chirped. He blinked, “Just sent you the GPS location so you can find me a little easier next time.”
“I won’t have to if you don’t steal my dog,” Emily said, a half-smile creeping across her face. “Anyway, just before I left, Marlowe called again. Actually, she called a bunch of times and sent three different texts.”
“Hysterical?”
Emily nodded, pushing the plate away from her, “Yeah, apparently the Lakeview has been condemned. She said something about fines and fees and threatened to kill herself. Said it would be my fault.” As words came out of Emily’s mouth, the weight of Marlowe’s threat pressed down on her. Was Marlowe’s body on the floor in her friend’s bathroom, growing cold after an overdose? Emily didn’t know.
Without saying anything, Mike got up and got his laptop, opening the lid and starting to type. A few seconds later, he looked up. “Well, I can’t tell you about Marlowe’s physical condition this morning, but I can tell you she’s right about the Lakeview. It’s been condemned. Order was put in yesterday afternoon.” Mike frowned at the screen and then moved his finger on the touchpad. “I’m checking the fee schedule…” he paused. “Here it is. To get the condemned order off the building, it’s another hundred thousand dollars plus fines. Not sure what that means…”
“Those fees are nuisance payments to help the city meet its budget, I’m sure,” Emily said. She stood up and started to pace, “This is out of control. It’s got to stop.”
“What’s our next step?”
“I don’t know.”
22
A half-hour later, Emily was back in her truck, this time with Miner riding home on the front seat. Mike had tried to give her the dog food and other dog supplies he had taken from the house, but Emily stopped him, “Listen, I don’t have a problem if you want to take a Miner somewhere. But you need to tell me.” She hoped that the gravelly tone in her voice sent the message loud and clear.
“Copy that.”
The drive home was much smoother than the drive out. Emily could see where she’d gone wrong, not that it mattered now that she had the GPS location for the cabin. At a stop sign, she plugged the information into her onboard navigation in case somehow, she managed to lose it. She also sent it to her email so it would be on her la
ptop, as well. Not that she thought Mike would do this again. From his perspective, Emily could see why he reacted. He was trying to be protective in a strange way. Not that he got it right, but at least he tried. It was more than Emily could say for a lot of people in her life.
As she merged onto the freeway, going east, the green signs above her pointing her towards Chicago, she knew it was time to get Marlowe’s case settled, one way or another. For the last two days, she had been chasing her own tail, or Miner’s. Leaving things unresolved wasn’t her style.
No matter which direction she turned, there seemed to be roadblocks. No one seemed to have the information she needed, except maybe Anthony. She checked her phone. He had never called her back after her initial call the day before. A new wave of frustration filled her. Anthony was exactly the kind of person who would have the information she needed. If he didn’t, she knew he could get it. She sighed, glancing at her phone sitting on the charger. This case needed to either get moving or go away, she thought. Picking up her phone, she scrolled down, keeping an eye on the road ahead of her as best she could, and called Anthony again. He didn’t answer.
Emily ended the call without leaving a message. She shook her head and chewed her lip. Why everything was so difficult on this case, she had no idea. She was so angry she almost picked up her phone and tossed it out the window, but then it rang. It was Anthony.
“Emily?”
“Hey, Anthony.” Though she knew some women called their father-in-law’s “dad,” she just couldn’t ever bring herself to do that. Not that he expected it. “Did you get my message?”
“Yes, honey. I’m sorry. We had some issues with the business yesterday that had to be taken care of.”
By issues, Emily knew that something had happened that required Anthony’s direct involvement. The day-to-day operations of the Tizzano family were run by his captains. If Anthony had to get involved, someone likely got hurt. She was sure her buddies in the crime scene unit were busy this morning. “I trust everything is okay now?”
“Yes.” Anthony didn’t elaborate, “Regarding the question you called me with yesterday, Vince Olivas, you said that was his name?”
“That’s right.”
There was silence on the other end of the line for a minute. Emily wasn’t sure what was going on. Someone might have interrupted their conversation on Anthony’s end, or he might just be thinking through how much information to give her. She didn’t know Anthony well, only spending time with him on the holidays. Luca had been close to his dad but given the nature of Anthony’s business and Emily’s career, they didn’t hang around with Anthony very much while they were married.
Emily heard the shuffling of papers in the background. Anthony was back. “I made a couple of calls for you. But I wanted to get a little more information on why you’re interested in Vince. Can you tell me about that?”
For a moment, Emily wasn’t sure what to say. Should she tell him the truth? Why she was waffling, she wasn’t sure. She was no longer married to Luca and ever since he died of an overdose, Emily didn’t have much of a connection to Anthony’s family, but it somehow felt funny to tell him what she was up to, like she’d need his blessing. She didn’t. Emily swallowed, putting the blinker on in the truck and merging over one lane to the right. The danger was if she didn’t tell Anthony the truth, he was likely to find out anyway. After doing business in Chicago for decades, Anthony had his fingers in more pots than Emily could count. Emily sucked in a breath, “Well, to be honest, my sister called me. Vince’s business partner claims he left her high and dry with twenty million in debt. Took the money for a construction project right out of the loan account without her knowing. I’m still trying to figure out if it’s true or not.”
“It is.”
The words landed heavily on Emily. How did Anthony know what was going on with Vince’s projects? “What?”
“What his business partner, or should I say, former business partner, is telling you is true. Her name is Marlowe Burgess, correct? Blonde hair, curly. Originally from Montana.”
Emily blinked a couple of times, surprised at the level of detail Anthony had been able to get in twenty-four hours. “Yes, that’s correct.”
“And that was on the Lakeview office complex downtown, correct?”
“Yes.” The word came out like a whisper. A thought slammed into Emily’s mind. Did Anthony know about the case she was working on because of her call or because he was watching her? “How do you know all this?”
A low chuckle came from the other end of the line. “Honey, you know that the most important thing I traffic in is business information. We do work in the construction industry. Honestly, it’s a small community. Word gets around.”
“Well, can you help me with this? I found out that Vince is about half a million down in gambling debt. That seems to be a factor in the case, not to mention where the twenty million went and what Vince wants to use it for.”
There was another momentary pause. By now, Emily was relatively sure that Anthony was trying to figure out how much information to give her and how much to let her find on her own. “I can tell you that Vince owes a lot more than half a million. That’s chump change at the games he attends. I checked around. He owes more like six point one million.”
Emily whistled as she got off the freeway, back in civilization after rescuing Miner from Mike’s house. The traffic had thickened, stop lights positioned strategically at what felt like ten-foot intervals. Home sweet home, she thought for a second before realizing what Anthony had said. “Wait, six-point one million? Did I hear you right?”
“Yes.”
“How is that possible? My tech I only found half a million?”
“Honey, there are some people that prefer to do things the old-fashioned way. The games your friend Vince is going to — they don’t keep their books anywhere someone could hack them. They are too practical for that.”
Emily thought for a second, feeling foolish. Of course, there would be off the books games that wouldn’t be tracked. “Are you sure it’s six-point one million? Do you know if Vince is up on his payments?”
“From what I’ve heard, he hasn’t made any payments and his lenders are getting a little antsy. They know he’s got the money. There is a general concern in the community about him paying up.”
Emily heard more rustling in the background. She was about to ask Anthony another question, but he interrupted, “I’m sorry. There’s a matter that needs my attention. Call me back if you have more questions. And Emily…”
“Yes?”
“Be careful with this one. The people involved have little patience.” The call ended before Emily could respond. She was reeling from the information Anthony had given her. How had it been possible for Vince to run up more than six million in gambling debt when Mike could only find half a million? And the people that held that debt, who were they? Why did Anthony warn her about them? That wasn’t even to mention the fact that Anthony was so quickly able to find out that Vince had taken the money from Marlowe and stashed it away. For a moment, her mind thought about Anthony, sitting in the small office space he occupied, chatting with some of his associates and trading information. It was incredible what he was able to find out without the use of technology. She chewed her lip, trying to decide what to do next.
At the next stoplight, Emily reached over and scratched behind Miner’s ears and picked up her phone. While she waited for the traffic to clear in front of her, waves of brake lights passing from every direction, she sent a text to Mike. “Come back. Need to get to work. Vince owes more than six million in gambling debt.” She hoped he would respond to her text or show up but given the way the last twenty-four hours had gone, she just wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure about anything.
Knowing that Marlowe was telling the truth eased Emily’s mind on moving forward with the case. Sure, Marlowe might seem a bit unhinged, but at least there was truth to her story. That must have been what Angelica was trying to c
onvey to Emily in their conversation. Her stomach clenched a little bit, realizing that things with Angelica still hadn’t been resolved. She’d have to take care of that, and soon. On her way back to the house, Emily swung the pickup truck into a local fast-food place, picking up a burger and fries for herself and an extra cheeseburger for Miner. She’d missed dinner the night before on her search for Mike and even though she’d eaten eggs with him at the cabin, she was still hungry. Miner lifted his nose, sniffing the air and then pawing at the bag she set down between the two of them. “Not yet. When we get home.” The pup, realizing he wasn’t going to get anything at the moment slumped down in the passenger seat with a grunt. Emily was sure it was a grunt of impatience, but they were right around the corner from the house.
A couple of minutes later, after passing Sammy’s Butcher Shop, Emily pulled in at home, easing the truck into the garage. Miner jumped out, ran over to his red ball giving it a shake, and then followed Emily up the steps as she carried in her overnight bag and the food she had bought for their lunch.
Inside the house, everything looked exactly as she had left it. There was a single coffee mug sitting in the base of the stainless-steel sink, water still in Miner’s bowl waiting for him, which he greedily lapped up before Emily had ever set her bag down. On the kitchen table was her laptop, a sweatshirt tossed over the back of the chair next to it. She was glad to be home. Setting the bag of burgers down on the table, Emily flipped open her laptop as she opened the bag. Miner came over, perching two front paws on the chair next to her so he could get a little closer to the action. She tossed him a french fry as she stuck a couple of them in her mouth, hearing the whirr of the cooling fan on her laptop start to spin as she opened the lid.
As soon as she took the first bite of her sandwich, her phone rang. It was Mike. “Hello?”
“What do you mean Vince owes six million in debt? I only found half a million?”