Moonlight Avenue

by Gerri Hill

  “From what O’Leary told me, they were trying to send a message to the others. Then they found out he’d hired you…well, I think they thought he might have…you know, told you about what was going on.”

  “So Hernandez thought it best to cut and run before it blew up in his face.”

  Mabanks shoved the empty glass a little closer toward her. “Another shot, Finn. Please.”

  “Yeah, I suppose this is stressful for you. Five murders on your conscience. Six, I guess. There’s Carlos Hernandez too. I guess he knew too much too…what with the Lori Peterson affair and all.”

  “I couldn’t do anything, I swear. I was in too deep. I’d lose everything, including my family. Hell, they’d kill me like that,” he said, snapping his fingers together. “I couldn’t—”

  “And what the hell do you think is going to happen now, John?”

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  “You stay here. Both of you,” Dee said, pointing at Finn. “This is a police matter now.”

  “I could help.”

  “You’re not a cop anymore, Finn.” She pulled her jacket on, glancing toward Mabanks as he stood quietly by the door. “We’ve dispatched units to all of these guys’ houses. Those that are left, anyway. We’re about to raid the house on South Bay. It should all be over with tonight.” She lowered her voice. “I’m worried about him. I’ve never seen him like this. So…so despondent.”

  “I guess he figures life as he knew it is over with. He’s going to lose his job, that’s a given. He’ll be damn lucky if they let him retire with his pension intact.”

  Dee nodded. “Yeah, but at this point, I think he’s probably more worried about his wife and family.”

  “Family can be forgiving.”

  Dee met her eyes. “Can they?”

  Finn looked away. “Sometimes.”

  Dee touched her shoulder affectionately, then looked at Rylee. “Make sure she stays put.”

  “I will.”

  “Oh, and I’m leaving a unit out front,” she said to Finn. “In case you’re still a target.”

  “Thanks.”

  She stepped away, then looked at Mabanks. “Come on, Captain. We don’t want them starting the raid without us.”

  * * *

  South Bay Park was alive with police cars and lights. Apparently they did miss the raid after all. The house had already been secured.

  “Captain Mabanks? I’m Sparks, the SWAT team commander.”

  Mabanks did little more than blink at him and Dee stepped forward. “I’m Detective Woodard. This is my case.” She shook his hand firmly. “No problems?”

  “No problems, no. But the house wasn’t empty. Three women, chained to beds. Scared. Looks like they’ve been confined there without food or water for a couple of days. They’re not saying much.”

  Dee glanced at Mabanks, seeing his ashen face even in the darkness. “They’re probably terrified. Do they speak English?”

  “Spanish, but they’re not responding to us. I need a female officer to talk to them, calm them down a bit. You speak Spanish?”

  “Not enough for an interrogation, no.”

  “That’s okay, ma’am. I’ve got someone on the way. She’ll be here soon enough.” He motioned with his head. “Come on. You want to take a look?”

  “Captain?” Dee asked with raised eyebrows.

  “You can handle it,” he said abruptly, turning away from her.

  She looked at Sparks. “Give me a second.” She hurried after the captain, stopping him with a light touch on his arm. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

  The look in his eyes could only be described as haunted, but he nodded at her. “Yes. I believe it will.”

  She hesitated a moment, then turned. But he called her back.

  “Dee…you’re a good cop. That’s why I took you off the case. But you figured it out anyway, didn’t you?”

  “Finn did. Not me.”

  He nodded slowly. “Yeah…figures. I never really did like her.”

  Dee smiled at that. “She kinda grows on you.”

  He waved her away. “I’ll wait in the car.”

  * * *

  “My God,” she murmured.

  The girls—women—were huddled together in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

  The outside of the house belied the inside. It was sparsely furnished. The great room had been transformed into a game room. Two large tables—presumably for poker—were in the middle. Against the walls were gaming machines—slots. Six total. There was a bar. A quick glance told her every imaginable liquor was available. Two dart boards. Yeah…a clubhouse, complete with three young women for their sexual pleasure.

  By the looks of them, they were here against their will. They were scared, malnourished…dirty. Of course, she’d seen the pictures. The state they were in now must be recent. Maybe things started spiraling downhill when Daniel Frazier was killed.

  “Undocumented?”

  “Most likely. We see stuff like this a lot. Girls brought over, told they’ll be given a new life here and this is what they get. Some know coming in. Some do it to pay off their debt from being smuggled into the country. Some are forced to do it to pay off a family debt.”

  She nodded. “I’m going to take a look around. Let me know when your officer gets here. I’ve got plenty of questions for them myself.”

  “Of course.”

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  “Did you hear that?”

  Finn jumped up. Two shots in quick succession. Instinctively, she knew the shots hadn’t come from the two police officers sitting out front by her gate. Most likely, they’d been eliminated. She turned, seeing movement outside the bay windows.

  “Rylee! Get down!”

  The bay window was shattered by gunfire and she dove behind the sofa. She reached to her side, grabbing the gun from her holster. She heard Rylee scream and she rolled to her back, finding a man—Michael Drake—standing over her, pointing an automatic rifle at her face.

  “Well, well, Ms. Knight…we finally meet in person. Get up! Toss the gun!”

  Finn stood, hesitating only a second before dropping her gun to the floor. Her gaze darted across the room, seeing Rylee being held by another man—the one Mabanks had called Lobo. Rylee struggled to break free of the hand clamped across her mouth. A quick elbow to his midsection loosened the grip, but Finn watched in horror as he slammed his gun into Rylee’s head. Rylee crumpled onto the floor in a motionless heap. Finn moved to go to her, but the cold metal of the rifle touching her cheek caused her to stop.

  “We must hurry. Where is it?”

  She didn’t pretend not to know what he was talking about. “It’s too late. The police already have it.”

  Drake gave her only the slightest of smiles. “I’m not scared of the police. Besides, the money’s been moved from the accounts. Those numbers are useless now.” His gaze moved to the laptops. “Gather them,” he said to her. “You’re coming with me.”

  “Where to?”

  This time his smile was much broader. “Your final destination, I would assume.”

  “What about her?” Lobo asked.

  “Leave her. She is of no use.”

  Lobo pointed his rifle at Rylee, and Finn sprang forward.

  “No!”

  “Shut up!”

  “Leave her,” Drake said again. “She’s nothing. Come on.”

  “No loose ends, remember?”

  “No…no,” Finn said quickly, holding out her hands. “She’s…she’s nobody. Just my receptionist. She knows nothing of this. Absolutely nothing.”

  Lobo still hesitated, his gun pointing at Rylee’s head. Finn heard police sirens in the distance and they all looked up at the same time.

  “The laptops are more important. Now come on. Let’s go!”

  Finn found herself being gripped by the arm, the rifle shoved against her side. Lobo ran to the table, scooping up their laptops. She glanced over at Rylee, watching as her eyelids fluttered. In that quick
glance, she could see the nervous pounding of the pulse in Rylee’s neck. Good. Stay down. Don’t move. Then Drake jerked her with him, pulling her along as they walked across the shattered glass. It crunched under their feet as she was led out to the back. They hurried along the pier, their footsteps muted on the damp wood, the foggy mist circling around them. She could hear the water crashing against the pylons. High tide.

  As they reached the end of the pier, a boat materialized out of the darkness.

  Finn heard Spanish voices call to them and Drake answered in kind. The grip on her arm tightened and she was afraid Drake’s words were true; she was going to her final destination.

  She turned back once, looking to the house. Was Rylee okay? Was she sitting up now? Could she see them?

  “Let’s go!”

  She tensed. The police sirens were loud…the flashing lights bouncing between houses now. They were close, almost there. Dare she make a run for it? Dare she dive into the cold, black water of the bay?

  “Now! Move!”

  Chapter Sixty

  Dee wouldn’t have been surprised to find her car empty. She had suspected that Mabanks would flee the first chance he got. But no. She could see his silhouette in the front. The flashing lights of police and emergency vehicles lit up the night and as she walked in front of the car, he looked up, their eyes meeting. Then he looked away quickly and she moved on around the car, opening the door.

  “Three girls,” she said. “Is that how many?”

  As soon as she closed the door, plunging the interior into darkness again, she felt the pressure of a gun being held to her side. She jerked her head around and he pressed it harder against her.

  “Drive.”

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “They’ve got my wife.”

  “Captain, no. This isn’t—”

  “I swear to God, Dee…drive or I’ll shoot you right here. They’re going to kill her if this doesn’t stop.”

  “It can’t stop, Captain. It’s too far along. You know that. I’ve already reported what I know to the FBI.”

  “But they don’t know that, Dee. I don’t care what happens to me. I just want to get Barbara out safe.” He pressed the gun harder against her ribs. “Now drive. Nice and slow.”

  She was about to do his bidding when Sparks came hurrying over toward the car. Mabanks tensed, but his gun never left her side. If anything, it seemed to be digging in harder.

  “Not one word, Dee.”

  She rolled the window down about halfway. “Something else?” she asked as casually as she could.

  “Yeah, just got a call. Didn’t know if you’d heard or not. Finley Knight’s house was hit. You assigned a protection detail there earlier, I hear.”

  Her eyes widened. “Yes, I did. Hit? What happened?”

  “Both officers are down, Detective. Looks like they were ambushed.”

  He’d no sooner said the words when her phone started dinging with alerts. She felt her heart jump into her throat and she swallowed down her fear. “And Finn? Rylee? The two women in the house?”

  He nodded. “No sign of Finley Knight. Assumed abducted. Rylee Moore was the only one inside. She’s okay. Blow to the head. They’re interviewing her now.”

  She stared at him. “No sign of Finn?”

  “No. But from what I remember, I think she can take care of herself.”

  “You know her?”

  “Yeah. We came up at the same time. Worked together a couple of years too. I think she can handle herself.”

  Dee wasn’t so sure. “She’s gotten old and grumpy.”

  He smiled at that. “I haven’t seen her in years, I’ll admit. Kinda lost touch when she left the force.”

  Dee nodded slowly. “Yeah, we tend to do that, don’t we? And the officers?”

  He shook his head. “No. They didn’t make it.”

  “Damn,” she whispered.

  She closed her eyes, trying to remember the two men who were positioned by the gate at Finn’s house. She had been in such a hurry, she’d barely glanced their way when she and the captain had left. She looked back at him, nodding quickly.

  “Thank you, Sparks. We’ll head that way.”

  “Yeah, I think pretty much the entire police force is at that house right now.”

  As soon as he left, she turned to Captain Mabanks. “Two officers killed. They’ve got Finn. There’s no goddamn way we’re—”

  “They’ve got Barbara. I don’t care about Finn. I don’t care about anything else right now. So drive!”

  She gripped the steering wheel hard. “Captain…you’ve got to tell me where they are,” she said calmly. “We can send in SWAT. We can—”

  “No!” He shoved the gun harder into her side, making her flinch. “They want me. Because like the others, I know too much. If I come in, they let Barbara go.”

  “You surely don’t believe that. No one is leaving there alive. Not Barbara. Not you. Not me. Not Finn. No one.”

  “He promised me Barbara. If I bring you in, if I come in…he’ll let Barbara go.” He leaned closer to her. “We’re both already dead, Dee. Finn too. You should have left well enough alone.”

  “Well enough? We’re cops! We don’t turn a blind eye to this, Captain!”

  “We do. I do. Like the saying goes, I’m a dead man walking. So I’m not afraid to shoot you right now. I have nothing to lose. My life is already over. Now drive.”

  * * *

  Rylee clutched Smokey to her, shaking her head once again. “No. I don’t need a doctor.”

  “Ma’am…”

  “I’m fine.”

  And really, she felt okay, despite the throbbing in her face and the ringing in her left ear. The house had been a whirlwind of activity. She had been sitting up against the wall, trying to get her wits about her when officers had burst inside. She’d heard the boat, knew they’d taken Finn. She’d pointed the officers in that direction.

  Actually, she’d heard everything. She’d braced herself, expecting a spray of bullets. She’d heard Finn plead with them to spare her. She was ashamed that she’d pretended to still be knocked out. It was cowardly of her to let Finn face them alone, but she had been paralyzed with fear. Had they known she was faking, she might have indeed gotten a bullet. She doubted they would have bothered taking her. As Finn had said, she was a nobody.

  As ruthless as they’d been in everything else, she wondered why she was spared. It would have only taken a few seconds of their time to end her life.

  “No loose ends.”

  Apparently she wasn’t a loose end. But Finn definitely was.

  “Have you been able to contact Detective Woodard?” she asked again.

  The officer shook his head. “I’m sorry, no. She still must not be available. We can’t get her.”

  “What does that mean? She’s unavailable…like busy? Or…?” Her question was met with a curious stare. Should she explain? Dare she tell this officer how much she knew? “Dee is a personal friend,” she said instead. “I know that she…she had a call earlier. I mean…a raid or something.”

  He nodded. “Yes, but they’ve left the scene. Said they were coming here.” He shrugged. “Maybe the captain’s got her doing something else. I’m sorry. I’ll keep trying.”

  “Thank you.”

  As soon as he turned away, she glanced out toward the bay, looking through the opening where the large window had been. The fog seemed to be drifting inside now; it was so thick.

  Where had they taken Finn? Did they have Dee too? Captain Mabanks?

  She held Smokey tighter, feeling so very alone, so very helpless.

  And so damn afraid she’d never see Finn again.

  She hung her head, nestling against Smokey’s fur. She should have done something. Not simply lain there like a helpless woman, afraid to move…afraid to breathe lest they shoot her. She should have done something to help Finn.

  Yes, she should have. But a part of her knew—believed—that had she mov
ed, had she opened her eyes, he would have shot her. She had no doubt. That wouldn’t have exactly been helping Finn. Finn would have reacted then…and they would have probably shot Finn too.

  Maybe playing dead as she did had been the best thing to do.

  But now they had Finn.

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Finn held her breath, diving down deeper, swearing she felt a bullet whiz by her head. She could hear the roar of the boat’s engine as it circled back around. A spray of bullets from an automatic rifle pierced the water around her. She felt a sting and knew she’d been hit.

  With her lungs threatening to explode, she swam farther away, finally shooting to the surface for air, then diving back down again into the cold water of the bay. In the brief seconds she was above water, she saw the beam of a strong flashlight scanning the water. Drake was looking for her. But the fog was thick, causing the water to appear as black as the night itself. There was another spray of bullets, then they took off, the sound of the engine fading as they sped away.

  She floated on top of the water, breathing deeply. The waves from the boat washed over her and she spit saltwater out of her mouth, coughing several times as she turned her head. She felt disoriented as the foggy mist engulfed her. How far out had they gone before she’d jumped? A hundred yards? Two? More?

  As panic was about to set in, she made herself relax. Sure, she hadn’t been swimming in more years than she could recall. And yeah, she was out of breath and out of shape. And judging by the sting in her leg, she’d been hit by a bullet. And the cold water looked black and threatening…

  But it was just the bay, nothing else. She saw it every single day. She loved the bay. The bay had kept her company on many a lonely night, many an early morning. The bay was like an old friend…one of her only friends.

  So she floated again on her back, being still…listening. Through the fog, she heard a sound. Water lapping against wood. A pier. Might not be her pier, but a pier. She turned, swimming toward it. She stopped several times, pausing to float and catch her breath. As she got closer, she could see the hazy glow of lights through the low clouds. At the end of the pier was a bright red chair.