Murder in the River City

by Allison Brennan

  “Get me the baseball.” He gestured to behind the bar. “And remember, no tricks. The limo will be out front in five minutes, and if we’re not waiting, Amelia will shoot your former fiancé. Late? No matter. I don’t need or want him. He thought he was smarter than me, trying to set me up for the FBI. I wondered how he got out of prison so early—they made him a nice deal. I knew as soon as you told me he talked to you that he must have brought you into his scheme.” He held up his cell phone and pressed a button.

  Shauna heard her voice coming through the recording.

  “No, no, I’m okay. Really. Nerves. Mack deserves justice, and I want Austin in jail if he had anything to do with it. Let’s just get this over with.”

  He clicked off the phone.

  “You bugged my house?”

  He nodded toward the dress. “Not all those beads are for decoration. I suspected something was up after you told me you talked to Butler, so I did some research and called a friend of mine who confirmed the FBI has a major sting going on tonight, but it was all hush-hush, no details, no location. It wasn’t hard to figure out after listening to you and Agent Hale that it was me who was going to be stung. Baseball. Now.”

  Shauna walked slowly behind the bar and reached for the Babe Ruth baseball sitting next to the cash register. “Why didn’t your thugs take it when they killed Mack?”

  “They were idiots. Gleason said it was fake, and Pete just left it. But after going through the bar and Mack’s apartment, it only made sense he would hide the data in that damn baseball.” He sneered. “You think I would date someone like you, a low-class trampy bitch, if I didn’t have a good reason? Mack was getting cold feet, and I needed you for leverage. Then you dumped me? Me? With my money and contacts? I knew you were flaky, your taste in men proved it. I can see the allure of Jason Butler, he’s an attractive sort and wealthy from a good family, but he got caught. Not very smart. But Sam Garcia? A low-class cop?”

  “You’re not half the man Jason and Sam are,” Shauna said.

  “Sticks and stones.” He looked at his watch. “One minute. We’d better leave or Mr. Butler will be fish bait.”

  She clutched the baseball in her hand. She wanted to throw it and knock the gun out of his hand. She thought she might make it. Or hit him hard in the head. But she absolutely believed him when he said Amelia would kill Jason.

  He held his hand out for the baseball.

  “What’s in it?” she said as she reluctantly handed it to him.

  “A code. A very important code.”

  He motioned for her to exit the way they had come.

  “You could have come tonight and got the ball yourself,” she said.

  “I could. But then I wouldn’t have had as much fun, because I wouldn’t be able to kill you. Now move.”

  #

  The limo drove around the block twice and Sam realized the driver was waiting for Davis. He called John. “Where are you?”

  “Here.”

  “The black limo, license plate CH2, is circling. I think Jason and Shepherd are both in there. And a driver. I have an idea, but we don’t have much time.”

  “Give it to me.”

  “Pull him over, quietly, but you have to do it before he gets back to Dooley’s.”

  “Are you sure about this?”

  “You want Amelia to turn state’s evidence? This is the time to do it. As soon as Austin gets Shauna back into that car, she and Jason are both as good as dead, and you know it.”

  “I see it, on First Street. We got it.”

  “I’ll meet you there.”

  He ran down the block, trying not to bump into the hordes of people walking up and down the historic sidewalks.

  John had already flashed his grill lights on the limo. He and Hooper were approaching the vehicle, guns drawn. Hooper opened the driver’s door and the driver gave up without any struggle. Hooper cuffed him as Sam arrived.

  Hooper called into the back of the car. “Amelia Shepherd, come out with your hands up.”

  Silence.

  “Shepherd! I’m giving you thirty seconds!”

  Silence.

  Was Sam wrong? He glanced at John. Maybe Jason and Shepherd weren’t in the back of the limo.

  Then Hooper’s cell phone rang. He answered and Sam leaned over and listened.

  “It’s Jason. She wants immunity.”

  “I can work on that,” Hooper said. “But I need her out of the limo now.”

  A moment later, the door opened. Amelia Shepherd came out with her hands up. John cuffed her and put her in the back of his car. He pulled over a beat cop to watch her.

  Sam looked into the limo. Jason was tied up and lying on the floor. He said, “We’re already late picking Davis and Shauna up. Hurry!”

  Sam took the cap off the driver and put it on. He got behind the wheel. Hooper began to untie Jason, but he said, “Just get in. He’ll kill her. He has a back-up plan. I just don’t know what it is.”

  #

  Shauna had no choice but to obey Austin—though she didn’t stop looking for a way out. The main problem was that he had a gun—he could shoot her, as well as innocent people who walked around the quaint historic area, oblivious to Shauna’s predicament.

  When Austin didn’t immediately see the limo in front of Dooley’s, he led Shauna down the sidewalk toward the parking garage a block away. They were turning heads, considering that in this dress Shauna looked like the girl in the movie Brave. But this wasn’t a fairy tale even though Austin Davis certainly made a villain worthy of Disney.

  “Do you know why I have been so successful for so long?” Austin said. Without waiting for an answer, he said, “Because I don’t leave anything to chance. I always have a back-up plan. I’m not happy I have to walk away from my operation here, but George couldn’t keep his son in line, and that boy has caused numerous problems. Mack wasn’t supposed to die. If he didn’t turn over the code, his daughter was supposed to die. But Pete was screwing the bitch.” He shook his head in disgust. “This is the problem with bringing in too many people. I had everything under control until George got so old and senile he told his son how we operate. I didn’t sign on for this. The last operation I worked for ten years before I had to walk.”

  Shauna wondered what the hell he was talking about, but didn’t say a word. If she wasn’t encumbered by this dress and these heels, she’d run or fight or something. Like this, she felt as trapped as if she were tied up like Jason.

  Please, please, please let Jason be okay.

  “There’s the limo,” she said as it rounded the corner.

  “It’s late. Much too late. I don’t know if Amelia is trying to play her own game or if Mr. Butler got loose and is gone or dead. For me, I have another plan.” He patted the baseball in his pocket and looked smug.

  Austin led her across the street. One short crosswalk and they’d be in the dark of the parking garage. She glanced over her shoulder; the limo was following them. She looked again.

  Sam?

  There were too many people walking around, and Austin had a gun. There was no doubt in Shauna’s mind he would kill her, and Sam, and anyone else who got in the way.

  Buy time.

  She intentionally stepped in a wide crack, pressing all her weight on her heel.

  “Ouch!”

  “Lose the shoe,” he demanded. She tried to go slow, but he whispered, “Move it, or I’ll come back and kill your grandfather.”

  She kicked off both shoes.

  Austin motioned her across the street. He kept one hand around her waist. The other had the gun, aimed at her side. She couldn’t let him put her in a car. She glanced frantically around for a way to escape, something to hide behind, a distraction, anything to give Sam time to … what?

  The limo drove past them, and Shauna wasn’t certain Sam was the one driving. Had it been wishful thinking on her part?

  A family was coming toward them from the parking garage. Shauna froze. Three young girls, all under ten,
with their mom and dad. Carefree, enjoying the beautiful night out, and they all stared at her. The dad’s eyes darkened.

  He’d seen the gun.

  Shauna planned to die at that moment. She looked at the father who stood less than fifteen feet from them. Why was he standing there? “Run!” she ordered.

  The mother immediately bolted across the street with her girls, causing two drivers to press their horns. Shauna jumped at the sudden sound, her eyes staring at the father who didn’t leave. In fact, he slowly began to approach, his eyes on Austin.

  “Please,” she pleaded, “go with your family—”

  Austin whispered in her ear, “Garage.”

  Shauna obeyed because she didn’t want anyone to get hurt. She stepped on the short walkway that led to the parking structure. She didn’t see the limo that had already passed them. She didn’t see anyone, except the father now ten feet away. The sobs of his daughters across the street as they continued to flee nearly broke Shauna’s heart. She felt eyes of the people around her as, in the rapidly falling twilight, everyone seemed to realize there was something wrong with the man in the tuxedo and the woman in the green gown.

  Austin’s eyes were on the father. He didn’t say anything, but it was evident in his posture that Austin would shoot both her and the good Samaritan.

  Then Shauna saw something. Movement to her right. Barely a hint, but someone was there.

  Austin followed her into the garage. She glanced over her shoulder, and the father was still behind them. She mouthed, “Go,” and hoped he obeyed.

  There was movement to her left. Was she going crazy? Someone on her right, someone on her left, she was trapped in the middle.

  She stopped walking.

  “Shauna, keep moving.”

  “No,” she said. “I’m done.” She tried to collapse, but he held her up.

  “Ten feet, you horrid bitch.”

  “No.”

  He put the gun to her head.

  A shot rang out and Shauna fell to the ground. Her head and shoulders were covered in blood and she was surprised death didn’t hurt.

  Thank you, God. I’m glad it doesn’t hurt. A small blessing, I suppose, for being dead. Watch over my brothers. Dooley. Sam.

  Sam. She didn’t want to leave Sam. She wasn’t ready to die.

  But I can see my mom again.

  Her head throbbed and she was lying on the hot, rough concrete of the parking garage. Someone called her name. St. Peter?

  “Shauna, Shauna!”

  Arms were wrapped around her and for a moment she thought of her mom, welcoming her to heaven. She wasn’t sure how she skipped purgatory, but maybe being murdered was a plus in her favor.

  “Call an ambulance!”

  Sam’s voice.

  “Where are you hurt? Shauna?”

  She opened her eyes and stared at Sam. She wasn’t dead. Her head hurt, but not from being shot. She’d hit her head hard on the ground when she fell.

  There was so much blood. All over her. Pooling beside her.

  It wasn’t hers.

  She looked at the ground next to her. Austin lay there, dead. The back of his head was missing. She dry heaved and clung to Sam.

  “Sam?” She swallowed and buried her face in his chest. “I’m okay. I’m okay.”

  He held her tight. “Oh, God, Shauna, I’m so, so, sorry.”

  “I’m okay,” she repeated.

  Shauna looked up and saw John Black and Dean Hooper emerge from the shadows of the garage. Agent Hooper had a rifle slung over his shoulder and a grim expression on his face.

  She said, “You shot him.”

  Sam said, “We had to wait until Hooper had a clean shot. There was no other way.”

  “We were in the limo when we drove past and turned into the garage,” John said. “We didn’t have a lot of time to set up.”

  “Thank you,” she said to Hooper, though she didn’t know if that was the right thing to say to a cop who had to kill someone.

  Sirens cut through the night. People were lining the street across the way, and the father who had probably saved her life by slowing everything down was standing guard. John went over to talk to him, and Shauna planned on sending him a big present. Maybe flowers and a season pass to the River Cats.

  Her heart was still racing, but she took a couple deep breaths.

  “Are you hurt?” Sam said, inspecting her. “This isn’t yours—” He was looking at the blood.

  “No, not mine,” she assured him. Blood had never bothered her before, but now all she wanted was to shower in scalding water for an hour. She didn’t know if she’d ever feel completely clean.

  She continued. “All he wanted was the Babe Ruth baseball. He said there’s a code in it.” She looked around, her heart racing. “Where’s Jason? That bitch didn’t hurt him, did she?”

  “Jason is unharmed,” Hooper said. “Amelia Shepherd surrendered. We’re going to put everything together and a lot of people are going to prison.”

  “Let’s get you away from this.” Sam helped Shauna stand up. “Can you walk?”

  “I’m fine,” she repeated. She took several steps to prove it. Sam had his arm wrapped around her waist.

  “I was worried,” Sam whispered as they walked over to where the limo was parked in front of the entrance, blocking all traffic into the immediate area. “If anything had happened to you—just don’t scare me again.”

  Hooper asked Shauna, “How did Davis know you and Jason were working for us?”

  “He bugged my dress.” She looked down and scowled. “One of these beads is a microphone. I really, really want to take this damn thing off.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Saturday

  Shauna woke up to voices downstairs. Sound traveled well in her old house.

  She padded downstairs in shorts and a T-shirt, the same USMC shirt she’d worn the other night when Sam came over and they first made love. When she’d fallen asleep last night, Sam was in her bed. Now, he was entertaining in her dining room.

  She enjoyed having him around.

  When Sam saw her he jumped up, concern darkening his eyes. “Did we wake you?”

  She shook her head. “It’s ten in the morning. I never sleep this late.”

  John Black and Dean Hooper sat at the table drinking coffee and eating donuts. She sat on her couch and asked, “Did you figure out what the code in the baseball was?”

  Sam handed her a cup of coffee, sweet with no cream. She smiled and sipped. Perfect.

  Hooper said, “Mack had given his daughter a coded book of all the laundering he did for Austin Davis. He’d sewn into the baseball the code breaker. The head of white-collar crimes has been debriefing Missy Polk all night. She turned the book over to Pete Coresco, not someone pretending to be a Sacramento PD detective. We found the book in Coresco’s apartment and my team is currently working on deciphering the text. It appears that not only had Mack been keeping track of his own activities, but other things the law firm was up to.”

  “Why was he doing any of this at all?” Shauna asked. She was finding it hard to believe the man she’d known for so long was laundering money for criminals. Maybe in the back of her mind she was hoping that, like Jason, Mack hadn’t really been a crook; unfortunately, all the evidence pointed to his culpability.

  “His grandson is special needs. He was paying for his medical care and education. I suspect,” Hooper said, “that he didn’t really think about his crime. Probably considered it victimless. But his daughter confessed he’d learned how the drug money was coming in and was tying it to some violent gang activity, so he started collecting more information on the group.”

  “Austin told me Mack wasn’t supposed to be killed. I don’t know if I can believe that,” Shauna said. “He would have killed me and Jason, I’m certain of it.”

  Sam took her hand and squeezed. “I don’t want to think about it.”

  “Neither do I,” she said. “But I want to know why. Why Mack was kill
ed.”

  “Pete Coresco has a vicious streak,” John said. “Gleason flipped on him immediately, said Coresco killed both Mack and Callie Wood. So far, the forensic evidence supports that.”

  “Amelia Shepherd is making a deal for federal witness protection,” Hooper said. “You won’t see her again. But we have enough to build a case on the Corescos and every other lawyer in the firm, plus several of their clients. But that’s way above my pay grade. The U.S. Attorney’s office is working the information now, to see what they can do and who they can go after. It’ll take months, if not years, to put together this case.”

  John asked, “Have you figured out exactly how they were using the charities to launder money?”

  Hooper glanced his watch. “I have some ideas, but I’m meeting Jason Butler at the law office. He’s going to help my team put it all together. We suspect the donations are being paid back in services that aren’t actually performed, like shipping supplies in third world countries. Very hard to trace most of the stuff and easy to falsify. Davis was definitely the brains behind the operation, but the rest of the law firm was privy to much of it.”

  He stood, shook hands with John and Sam, and took both of Shauna’s hands into his own. “You did a great job yesterday. I’m sorry I put you in danger.”

  “You didn’t,” she said. “I’m glad it’s over and Mack’s killer is going to prison.”

  “So am I. I hope to see you both again”—he glanced at Sam—“in much better circumstances.”

  “Come by Dooley’s anytime you want,” Shauna said.

  Hooper grinned. “I’d like that. My wife would love it.”

  He said his good-byes and left.

  John said to Sam, “For your first week, you certainly made an impression on the chief.”

  “Does that mean I get time off?”

  John laughed. “You have the weekend. Enjoy it. I’ll see you bright and early Monday morning.” He gave Shauna a hug. “Take care of yourself.”

  Sam walked John out. Shauna lay down on the couch and closed her eyes. She was so grateful she was alive, so grateful no one else was hurt. What an emotionally and physically intense week.