“Good. I need to make all of this happen.”
“Boss, why not just kill him?”
“I told you, I need to know who he is working for. I’m assuming you have a man on him?”
“Of course,” Gallo said.
“Let me know where he’s going as soon as you find out.”
Gallo nodded.
Sloan dismissed Gallo and took a seat at his desk. His father’s old contacts were paying off, it seemed. If he could get Victoria Marshall to make her movie with him, he might be able to get out of the drug business after all. Surefire box office hits don’t come along all that often, but this was one of them. It would take his production company to the next level, and he could leave a legitimate powerhouse business to his son. And not put his son in a situation like he was in now—deciding who to kill, what new territories to take, and too many other choices that could put him behind bars for life.
Sloan knew he could handle Victoria. What he was most worried about was who hired the man in the bar who was protecting her. That could throw a wrench in all of Sloan’s plans if he didn’t handle it now. That’s why he was willing to go to lengths he hadn’t before. He had to make it in the movie business. No matter what he had to do to make it happen.
Sloan’s phone rang. It was Clint Hues.
“Clint, give me the good news.” Sloan was already way ahead of Clint, but he would hear him out all the same.
“I found him. The man at the bar. Lawson Raines.”
“Nice work. But you’re too slow. I already found him, and I’m taking care of it.”
“What? I told you I had it under control.” Clint was upset.
“But you didn’t. So I controlled it.”
“Okay, well, I can take care of him right now,” Clint said.
“I already told you, you were too slow. And too sloppy at the meeting. I’m not used to such amateurism. You’re fired, Mr. Hues.”
When Sloan was pressing END on the call, he heard Clint begin to shout. It didn’t matter to Sloan; everything was going according to plan, and that was all that mattered. What didn’t matter at all to him was some Hollywood fixer’s job status, and definitely not some stranger in a bar. He knew Gallo would find out who this Lawson Raines was working for; then everything would be handled, and Victoria’s movie would be his.
11
Clint slammed the palm of his hand against the steering wheel. When Marty Sloan originally had come to him for help in the Hollywood circles, he almost turned him down. And this was the reason why. A man like Sloan was used to pulling the strings, and he’s used to doing it with the men he already trusts. Clint’s instincts told him that Sloan would use the men who already worked for him if things got serious, and he was right. Not only did Clint get embarrassed in the bar, now he was fired. Absolute worst-case scenario for a fixer. Now he was going to have to regroup. In a major way.
“That’s not good,” Jenny said from the passenger seat.
Clint shot her a look that could kill. His insides were sizzling.
Jenny pointed out the front window. “There goes Raines.”
Clint watched as the man who’d started this downward spiral pulled into the parking lot at Victoria Marshall’s office. Who the hell was this guy, and what was his business with Victoria? At the moment Clint was so enraged he almost didn’t care about either answer. He just wanted Lawson to pay for getting involved at all.
“What are you going to do now?” Jenny said.
Clint took a deep breath. “I’m going to hit him where it hurts.”
“Okay, but what good would that do?”
“It doesn’t have to do any good. Sometimes it’s just about revenge.”
“Can I be honest?”
“When have you not been honest, Jenny?”
“Good point.” She smiled. “Let’s take a look at where we are. You get hired by a guy who’s in the movie production business, but who is really a drug lord by inheritance. Shit goes wrong at the meeting he hired you for, which looks bad. Then he fires you after he figures out the information he asked you to find before you find it, which looks much worse.”
“So far I love this story, Jenny. Please continue.”
“Your sarcasm aside, that is where we are.”
“Get to the point.”
“The point is, what this does is next time someone considers using you for a job, this is going to come up. Everyone in our circle is going to know about this.”
“It just gets better.” Clint wasn’t enjoying this.
“Truth hurts. And unless you give him something he doesn’t already have and he rehires you, jobs will be tough to come by.”
“Maybe I could find something out he wants, maybe I can’t. That’s a long shot.”
Jenny kept going on her train of thought. “Long shot or not, it’s the truth. So if he doesn’t hire you back, just understand that everyone will know about this, making it hard for us to get jobs. You are sitting here worried about some random guy that has no effect on your future business anymore. Maybe you’re focused on the wrong thing.”
“Really? Do tell, oh great and knowledgeable one.”
“So, if you kill Lawson Raines, or hurt his family, or kick his ass, you will feel better about yourself. But future employers won’t give a damn. Right?”
“Okay.” Clint thought he knew where Jenny was going. And he could already tell, as usual, she was going to be right.
“What they will care about is that you failed Marty Sloan and he fired you. So the only way forward is to do something about him. That’s the only way you really get the respect back you’ll need to continue doing what you do.”
Clint turned toward her. “So you want to take out the leader of a long running drug operation? That your idea? You’re right, that will get our reputation back. Which will be really helpful when they retaliate and we’re both dead.”
“You and I have both heard the grumblings. The guys who ran it for Sloan’s father are the same ones running it today. Marty’s just the default head because they had so much respect for Martin Senior.”
“So what? That doesn’t mean they want him dead.”
“You sure about that?”
“Yes. I am.”
“Okay, maybe not dead. But what about just out of the picture?”
Clint was quiet for a moment. He watched Raines on the phone in his car, but his mind was on Jenny’s words. If he killed Marty Sloan, there was no question his thugs would retaliate. They would have to, to keep the respect of the business intact. But if somehow Clint could get him arrested, his men could have his operation, and Clint could circulate that he can fix anything if he could fix what happened with Marty Sloan. This would be a massive undertaking; he and Jenny would need a lot of help.
Jenny said, “You like what I’m saying, right?”
“We won’t be able to do this on our own.”
“We have a few people in the police department. You don’t think they could help us?”
“Not with this. Sloan has more people in the police on payroll than we do. I can assure you of that. Besides, even if we could convince dirty cops to help us, if something goes wrong, the retaliation on their families would be too much for them to risk. We need someone who would want Marty Sloan to go down as bad as we do. Someone smart, but if need be, they can be as ruthless as we are too.”
They watched as Lawson got out of the car and walked toward the entrance of the small office complex. Clint and Jenny looked at each other, then at Lawson, then back at each other.
Clint said, “I know what you’re thinking, and it’s out of the question.”
“Is it?” Jenny smirked.
“Yes. It is.”
“You know, Clint, your pride is going to be the death of you.”
Clint didn’t answer. His mind was working. Even if he could somehow get past what happened with Lawson, working with him was still a long shot. Clint had no idea who the man was. Moreover, he had no idea who he was working
for. But he did know that Marty Sloan had it out for him, and if Clint and Jenny could find something strong enough to make sure Lawson had it out for Sloan too, it could work.
Jenny filled the silence. “You remember what I told you he did in Vegas last year? You want smart and ruthless, I think he might have both in spades.”
“Find out who he works for, and find something we can use to make sure he has a compelling reason to take down Marty Sloan.”
Jenny opened her laptop and began plugging away. “On it.”
12
“Lawson Raines. Here to see Victoria Marshall.”
Lawson didn’t know what he expected, but as he stood at the receptionist’s desk, he supposed it was something nicer than this from a supposed “A”-list Hollywood writer, or producer, or whatever Victoria was. This looked more like your average CPA office. Complete with the plastic plant in the corner.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Marshall isn’t in today, sir. Can I leave a message for her?”
“Just have her call me as soon as possible.” He turned to leave, then thought maybe he should try to track her down. “You have any idea when she might be back?”
“She’s out of the country. Last-minute location scout. That’s all I can really say.”
Lawson nodded, then walked back outside into the never-ending sunshine. He hadn’t dealt with anyone in Hollywood before, so he had no idea how common something like this was. However, alarm bells in his lizard brain began to sound. He hadn’t heard from her in two and a half days. And while she didn’t owe him anything, he felt it odd that she wouldn’t want to follow up with him after what happened. To try at least to understand what kind of danger she might be in.
Lawson’s phone began to ring. Cassie.
“Hello?”
“I take it your meeting was a short one.”
“You really are a great detective, Cass. I answer my phone shortly after I am supposed to be in my meeting, and you deduce that it was a short meeting. The PI firm is certain to be a success.”
“What?” Cassie seemed surprised. “No, I meant because of the news.”
“What news?”
“Victoria Marshall. She’s been reported missing.”
Lawson let that sink in for a minute as he got in his car and started it up.
“Lawson?”
“I heard you. What else did they say?”
“Nothing yet, but I’m digging on it. Seems her daughter reported her missing last night. Hadn’t seen her since you dropped her off after the meeting at the bar with Mister Fixer.”
This was exactly what Lawson had been worried about. He should have gone looking for her after the second time she didn’t answer his call. But technically, there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He wasn’t her personal security, she had only hired him for the one meeting. Not to continue working for her. If that had been the case, he would have handled the last couple days entirely differently. He was only checking up on her now as a courtesy.
“So, just as a reminder,” Cassie said, “the way a conversation works is I say something, then you say something.”
“Have you found anything on Clint Hues?”
“Okay, we’re switching gears . . . yes. Not sure who he is working for, but I have a phone number. I called it, it’s just an answering service. Probably just a covert way of fielding calls. Most likely someone who needs his services says some sort of password or something.”
“You leave a message?” Lawson said.
“Yeah, I just said Lawson Raines thinks you’re a pansy and left your phone number.”
“You’re a real riot. Find out more about Victoria going missing and get back to me.”
“Sir, yes sir!”
Lawson ended the call, and just as soon as he was about to pull out, he noticed a car across the street. The man behind the wheel was staring intently, but when Lawson looked his way, he quickly turned his head. Lawson didn’t let on that he noticed. Instead, he pulled out of the parking lot onto Wilshire and watched in his rearview as the man pulled out behind him, just inconspicuously enough that Lawson knew for sure he was being watched. But it wasn’t the work of a professional. He was making things far too obvious.
Lawson punched the gas and took a quick right turn, then immediately whipped into a parking lot and beside a large pickup truck. His car was hidden from the road. The man in the Mercedes sedan sped forward, obviously trying to see where Lawson had gone, and Lawson pulled back out onto the road after a few cars had passed and kept the Mercedes in sight. He knew that once the man realized he had lost Lawson, he would drive back to base, wherever base was, and Lawson could maybe get a look at who the man was working for.
After a couple aimless miles, the man in the Mercedes had circled back to a building not far from Victoria Marshall’s office. Lawson just kept driving by. He called Cassie.
“Miss me?” she answered.
“2425 Wilshire Boulevard.”
“Hello to you too.”
“See who it is. I was being followed.”
“Followed? Let me plug it in.”
“I have a feeling this will tell us who Clint Hues is working for,” Lawson said.
“Why, you don’t think it was Hues following you?”
“It was a Hispanic man. If Hues were following me, I think he’d do it himself.”
“The office belongs to a Martin Sloan Jr.”
“That was fast,” Lawson said.
“Google is pretty nifty, Lawson. You should try it. Says it’s the office for Sloan Productions LLC. Ring a bell?”
“Never heard of it.”
“Me either, but Los Angeles isn’t our beat. I’ll look into it. Maybe give Frank Shaw a call. He might be able to—”
“No,” Lawson said. “Don’t even think about it.”
“Okay,” Cassie said, “let me just jot this down . . . Help Lawson with everything he asks”—she was drawing out her words like she was taking handwritten notes—“but don’t use the only real local source of info we have. Got it. This will be easy.”
Lawson didn’t react to her sarcasm. “Let me know what you find.”
“Copy. And listen, I was doing some digging on Taylor. Something’s not adding up. You said she’s in trouble because they threatened her sister if she didn’t pay, right?”
“That’s what Taylor said.”
“Well, her sister seems fine to me.”
Lawson was confused. “How could you know that? Google gives updates on how people are doing now?”
“Lawson, it’s 2019. Everyone knows how everyone is doing. All the time. It’s called Instagram.”
“That doesn’t help me.”
“It’s an app on your phone. People post pictures all the time. Taylor’s sister just posted one this morning. She’s in London, heading to the park to enjoy the sunshine, hashtag blessed.”
“Hashtag?”
“Never mind. Point is, unless this cartel has people in London, Taylor isn’t being honest with you about her sister being in danger.”
Lawson still didn’t understand. “Why would anyone post pictures of themselves where anyone can know where they are?”
“I don’t get it either, but you may want to have a talk with Lexi about it.”
“Lexi? She doesn’t have Instacam.”
“Instagram. It’s—yes she does. I follow her. Your house has made the photo roll several times. You really should pay more attention.”
Lawson didn’t hear the last line. All he could think about was the fact that if Cassie could look and see where Taylor’s sister was, what would stop one of these assholes in LA from finding out where Lexi lived by her pictures on the app?
“I’ve got to get back to the house. Find out why Martin Sloan Jr. would be having someone follow me. Or at least why Clint Hues might be working for him.”
“That’s easy, but it’s a big problem,” Cassie said.
“Great.”
“Sloan Jr.’s daddy was a made man.”
“Yeah, that means Junior probably took over when he died,” Cassie said. “And now that you ruined his meeting with Victoria Marshall, he and all his thugs are going to be after you. Nice work. You seem to be a magnet for pieces of shit.”
“And you seem to have completely lost your filter. I’ll meet you at your office after I go have a talk with the girls. I need some answers, and I need them fast.”
13
Lawson swerved into his driveway, not even bothering with the garage. This was the first time he had been upset with Lexi since they’d reunited. He was glad it took him twenty minutes to get home. He needed that time to cool off. Even though it sounded like Lexi was just being a normal teenager, putting herself out there on the internet was a mistake. Especially with the seedy people in Lawson’s past. Whether he liked it or not, what happened in Las Vegas was going to follow them forever.
When he walked through the front door, Lexi and Taylor were reading lines in front of the fireplace hearth.
“Dad! Taylor is SO good at this.”
“Give me your phone.”
Lawson got right to it. Lexi’s face went from elation to shock.
“What? My phone?”
“Give it to me right now.”
“Dad, what’s wrong?”
She took her phone from her pocket and handed it to him.
“Show me this Insta-thing.”
“Instagram? Why?”
“Just show me.”
She took her phone back, tapped on the screen a couple times, then handed it back.
“What’s wrong with you, Dad? What’s the big deal?”
Lawson looked at her phone like it was in Chinese. “Show me the pictures you put on here.”
Lexi moved over beside him, tapped again, then swiped her finger up and photos scrolled. Most of them were harmless, but then he saw the one of the front of the house. The house number showing plain as day.
“Lexi, you can’t put pictures on here that show where your house is. Do you know how dangerous that is?”
“It doesn’t say the street name.”
Shooting Star Page 5