Bullets and Beads

by Jana DeLeon

  “You tried to kill my baby!” Phyllis wailed. “Now you’ve broken into my house. Get out or I’m calling the police.”

  “You mean you’re going to call Fortune’s boyfriend?” Gertie asked.

  Phyllis stared at us in dismay as she remembered the connection.

  “We’re only here to retrieve our property,” I said. “Just calm down. We’re leaving as soon as we get everything we came with.”

  I packed the laser and we headed for the front door. I looked back at Phyllis, who was lurking in the kitchen doorway, and said, “Remember the agreement you signed. You say nothing about what happened here tonight. Are we clear?”

  I didn’t especially like scaring her, even though she was an idiot and probably deserved just a little payback for all the aggravation she must heap on her neighbors every day. Her eyes widened and she swayed a bit. I figured it was best to get out of there before she passed out so I closed the door and we hurried to Ida Belle’s SUV. I wondered if Larry was watching us leave or if he was back on the phone with whomever he’d called, trying to figure out what to do about Natalia.

  “Well?” Gertie asked as we drove away. “Did you get anything or did I risk poor Mr. Pickles and that shred of sanity that Phyllis is holding on to for nothing?”

  I looked back at her. “Mr. Pickles?”

  “Shred?” Ida Belle asked.

  She waved a hand in dismissal. “Come on. Stop holding out. Anything?”

  “Plenty,” Ida Belle said. “And if we only knew what it meant we might be in good shape.”

  “I’ll play everything for you as soon as we get back to my place,” I said to Gertie. “I need to hear it all again to try to get a handle on it and I want your input.”

  When we arrived at my house, Gertie practically jumped out of the SUV and sprinted for the porch.

  “What’s taking you guys so long?” she complained.

  I hurried up the porch with the laser, unlocked the door, then turned off the alarm. As soon as everyone was back inside, I locked the door, pulled the dead bolt, and turned the alarm back on. We headed to the kitchen and I grabbed my laptop.

  “Let me do a quick sweep of the cameras before we get started,” I said, and queued up the security camera footage for the time frame we were gone.

  “It’s going to take forever to watch all that video,” Gertie said.

  “I don’t have to watch it all,” I said. “Just when they detect movement.”

  I scanned the couple of places where the recording was flagged for movement but two were stray cats and one was a bass boat cruising past. I recognized the guy as a regular at the café, so nothing concerning.

  “Maybe they decided to step back,” Ida Belle said when I closed the laptop.

  “Wouldn’t you when you heard about the exploding car?” Gertie asked. “Maybe they had misgivings about just how far Fortune would go. I seriously doubt they have them now.”

  I nodded. “It’s possible the rocket sent a message to hold position. And since I came home instead of boarding a plane, they have no reason to assume that my father ever made contact.”

  “And I guess they’re not worried about email or phone because they can intercept it on one end or the other,” Gertie said. “So maybe you’re in the clear?”

  “We won’t know that until the big day passes,” I said. “Until then, we have to stay alert. Now, who wants to hear the argument between Larry and Natalia?”

  Gertie’s eyes widened. “An argument? Woo-hoo! Fire it up!”

  Ida Belle had already grabbed us some sodas and put a container of cookies and a bag of chips on the table. Gertie and I looked at her and she shrugged.

  “I felt like something salty,” she said. “You need peanuts or something.”

  “I’ll add them to the grocery list,” I said as I pulled out the recording device and set it to play.

  Larry and Natalia’s voices sounded out, clear as day, and we all sat stock-still, listening to the entire exchange, then their individual phone calls. Ida Belle hadn’t captured anything after I left, so that was it. When it was done, I looked at them.

  “What are your thoughts?” I asked.

  “Sounds like Mannie was right about Katia and Annika being into shady business,” Ida Belle said.

  “No wonder Larry was mad,” Gertie said. “First his wife goes against his wishes to meet her sister and almost dies, then this childhood friend shows up and there’s another murder.”

  I nodded. “I don’t think I’d want anyone from Natalia’s past showing up either, given those odds, especially since she worked for that same company for a while.”

  “Do you think she quit because she caught on to the shadiness?” Gertie asked. “Maybe that’s the real reason Annika and Katia didn’t visit her. She married Larry to get away. And if they moved around a lot, which is kinda what it sounds like, maybe she didn’t tell anyone where she was. Remember her driver’s license when she was attacked had her old address but they were getting ready to move again. No telling how old it was.”

  “Entirely possible,” I said. “And given that Larry’s line of work is intel, he might know things about the company and even about Katia that Natalia doesn’t. For all we know, he could have been aware of problems with the company back when Annika was killed, which would explain his anger over Natalia meeting her sister in New Orleans against his wishes.”

  “So given potential inside knowledge of the corporation’s sketchy dealings and Annika’s death, if he thought Katia’s presence posed a threat, how far would he go?” Gertie asked.

  “I think if a man knew that a person posed a threat to his family then he might do a lot of things he wouldn’t otherwise,” Ida Belle said. “The real question for me is not would he do it but could he? Meaning could Larry make that shot? Was he confident enough to risk that kind of shot with his daughter right there?”

  “Without knowing the full nature of Larry’s job, it’s hard to say what his training might have entailed,” I said. “A lot of tech intel still have to go into the field because they’re the only ones who can reprogram equipment on the fly. If Larry was trained for fieldwork, then he would have spent some time on the firing range. And despite his geeky appearance, Gertie saw what kind of shape he’s in. What if the computer geek story is a complete fabrication to cover his real job? It wouldn’t be the first time.”

  Ida Belle nodded. “He also claims he’s retired and clearly that’s not true either. Not completely.”

  “Maybe when he leaves and goes to DC he’s not necessarily going to DC,” Gertie said. “He could be roving all over, doing the kind of work Fortune used to do. For all we know, he could be the geeky James Bond and whoever he works for gave him the order to kill Katia.”

  I shrugged. “Anything is possible.”

  “Well, he had motive and opportunity,” Ida Belle said. “We do know that. Natalia was looking for Lina’s jacket but why wasn’t Larry there with his family? I don’t think anyone has ever said.”

  “I bet Carter knows but he’s not going to tell us the answer,” Gertie said.

  “It wouldn’t matter anyway,” I said. “If Larry is the one who shot Katia, he’s hardly going to say that’s what he was off doing. He’ll claim he was in the porta-john.”

  “True,” Ida Belle said.

  Gertie frowned. “Why not just tell Katia to leave? I mean, unless it was a job-related hit. He didn’t have to let her in the front door if he didn’t want to.”

  “That’s a good point,” I said. “But it’s clear from their conversation that their marriage is on the rocks. Maybe Larry was afraid to turn her away because he thought it would send Natalia packing.”

  “It sounds like Natalia is out the door anyway,” Ida Belle said.

  “And leaving her child behind,” Gertie said. “That’s desperation. But if she already had someone arranging things, why didn’t they plan for Lina as well?”

  “Natalia said to whoever she called in the bedroom that Lina
would be safe with Larry because he loved her,” I said. “Which indirectly implies Natalia isn’t safe with Larry because the feelings aren’t the same. Do you think a domestic abuse situation is possible?”

  “I hate to think it, but I guess so,” Gertie said. “Maybe that’s the real reason they move a lot and don’t socialize with locals or send Lina to public schools. It’s easier to keep things hidden if people can’t see them.”

  “But if Larry is abusing Natalia, then what was his phone call about?” Ida Belle asked. “Based on his comment, it had to be someone familiar with Natalia and her medical issues after her sister’s death.”

  I nodded. “And there’s something strange about that conversation. Here, listen.”

  I played back the piece of recording where Larry made the phone call. “Did you catch that? Larry said ‘we’ve’ got a problem with Natalia. Not ‘I’ve.’”

  “You’re right,” Ida Belle said. “That is strange.”

  “It can’t be anyone from Natalia’s family,” Gertie said. “They cut her off when she came to the US, and even Natalia said how she’d lost everyone after Katia was shot. So who the heck was Larry talking to?”

  “That’s a darned good question,” Ida Belle said.

  “An even better one is who was Natalia talking to,” I said. “If she supposedly had no one left, then who did she trust with an escape plan?”

  “A secret friend?” Ida Belle suggested. “Women’s organization?”

  “Both possible but difficult to keep a secret from someone with Larry’s skill set,” I said. “And here’s another thing to consider—how stable is Natalia’s mind? Larry said on that call that she’d never been the same since her sister’s death, and if that’s the case, this shooting could have sent her right back over the ledge. Remember, Detective Bishop said she was practically hysterical in the hospital, so her desire to run could be a factor of an unstable mind and not necessarily a long-term plan.”

  “PTSD?” Gertie suggested.

  “Given the situation, I imagine that would be high on the possibility list,” I said.

  “Considering what Mannie told us about Katia and Annika possibly being spies, maybe Larry was talking to his superiors,” Ida Belle said. “They could be coming down on him because of Natalia’s prior connection with the company, especially with Katia killed on his watch.”

  “I hate to think it was Larry who killed Katia,” Gertie said. “But it does make more sense than someone tracking Katia to Sinful and taking a shot at her during a local parade.”

  “Except someone did track Katia to Sinful,” I said. “Vitali Fedorov was here when she was shot.”

  “That’s right!” Gertie said. “Good Lord, how does he fit into this?”

  “I wish I knew, because it presents a whole different set of options,” I said. “Natalia said she thought Katia was in trouble, and if that was trouble on the professional side of things, then maybe the company sent him to do cleanup. But there’s another option.”

  “Which is?” Gertie asked.

  “What if Katia and Fedorov were involved?” I asked.

  “But you said Fedorov denied having a relationship with Katia,” Ida Belle said. “Wouldn’t you have been able to tell if he was lying?”

  “I thought Fedorov was lying about everything,” I said. “I got the impression he was playing a role and it’s something he’s used to doing. Assuming he’s been trained on how to evade questioning, I might not be able to pinpoint which statements are lies. In his case, the entire exchange came across as ungenuine.”

  “So if Fedorov and Katia were involved, maybe she was looking for a place to hide because she was afraid of him,” Gertie said. “Given what the company is suspected of, Katia would have known what Fedorov was capable of, right? Maybe it’s that simple—that she was running from him.”

  “Entirely possible,” I said.

  Ida Belle sighed. “We have a whole lot of suspicion but no actual proof.”

  “That seems to be our status quo,” I said.

  “I thought this detective thing would get easier when we had more experience,” Gertie said.

  “I think the problem is that people are the ultimate variable,” Ida Belle said.

  “Maybe you can coerce something out of Carter tonight,” Gertie said. “Use your weapons…and I don’t mean the metal ones.”

  “I don’t think I have anything on my person that’s going to make Carter give me information on an open investigation,” I said.

  “Then you’re not using them right,” Gertie said.

  “You’re underestimating Carter’s stubbornness and honor,” Ida Belle said.

  “You’re underestimating his being a man,” Gertie said.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Carter didn’t get to the house until close to midnight and I could tell he was exhausted. Ida Belle and Gertie had retired to their rooms thirty minutes before, and I’d showered but couldn’t wind down enough to attempt sleep. He was hungry when he got there, as he usually was when he’d been slammed all day and had barely managed to fit in a bag of chips or a protein bar. I fixed him up a plate of leftovers and set it and a beer in front of him at the kitchen table. Then I grabbed a bottled water for myself and sat across from him.

  He stared at the table for a couple seconds, then turned around and looked at the window. “What is going on with that window?”

  I showed him the fan and explained about the caulk removal.

  “Smart.” He picked up his fork and sighed before taking a bite.

  “I don’t want to be that person and ask if it was a rough day,” I said. “So I’ll just skip the pleasantries and get right to asking what happened with the car explosion.”

  He shook his head. “Aside from the frame of the car and a couple of larger metal pieces, there is nothing left that you couldn’t fit into a shoebox, including the occupants. You’ve succeeded in making three state troopers and one forensics guy sick. They were still looking for pieces of people when I left.”

  “And do the state police have any thoughts on what happened?”

  “None. The VIN on the car is gone, as is the license plate, so no way to track things down by the owner. No one thinks this was a manufacturer’s error, though.”

  “How could they? No manufacturer gets it that wrong.”

  “So I’m sure they’re thinking explosive and targeted, but they can’t figure out what kind of explosive.”

  “How hard do you think they’re going to look?”

  “Hard to say. The problem is not being able to identify the driver or any passengers. They don’t know how to prioritize something when they don’t know who the victim is.”

  “Is that supposed to matter?”

  “It does in Louisiana, especially if the victim has any political connections.”

  “So other than waiting to see if someone comes up on a missing persons report, what else can they do?”

  “Nothing much. My guess is a team will work the wreckage and if no one raises the alarm over someone important disappearing into the fine Louisiana sunset, they’ll eventually shove it all in boxes and label it unsolved.”

  I nodded. “Best possible outcome for us.”

  “You know, normally I would be all angry and ranting about Ida Belle having a rocket launcher in her SUV, but I have to say, in this case, I’m kinda happy with her and Gertie’s absolute disdain for the rules.”

  “Me too. What about the Katia situation? Anyone on the potential arrest list yet?”

  “You know I can’t discuss the case, but I will tell you that it’s not going anywhere fast.”

  “The general gossip is that Katia was running with a dangerous crowd and she showed up here to evade them.”

  “Well, if that’s the case, she didn’t do a very good job.”

  He motioned to the magazines on the table. “Did you work your magic there yet?”

  “Yes. And I’m going to need another favor tomorrow.”

  “Wha
t kind of favor?”

  “You’re always so suspicious. This is an easy one. I just need you to mail these magazines. No postage needed. Just send them the way they are. But you have to make sure no one is watching you because it’s imperative that they’re not intercepted.”

  He picked up the magazines, then flipped them over and looked at the stickers with Morrow’s home address and postage on the back.

  “Is the information taped in the magazines?” he asked.

  “No. Before I resigned my position, Morrow and I established a covert method of communication in the event that either or both of us was under surveillance and couldn’t use normal channels, even those that were previously assumed to be safe.”

  “So you have some sort of code?”

  I nodded. “We went old school. Invisible ink indicates the lines he needs to take the letters from. The code we established will give him the order.”

  “How will he know the magazines are from you?”

  “I’ll use another established tip in a phone conversation I’ll have with him tomorrow. He’ll know to be on the lookout for something out of the ordinary.”

  “In this case, the magazines.”

  I nodded. “But to the enemy, it just looks like a regular subscription delivery.”

  Some of the tension went out of his shoulders and he shook his head. “That’s genius. It was so smart of you and Morrow to establish a method of communication before you resigned.”

  “Well, we couldn’t be certain that the Ahmad issue wouldn’t resurface in another form. I don’t think either of us imagined we’d be using the plans for this reason, though.”

  “How could you? Last time I checked only one man came back from the dead.”

  “Yeah, well, leave it to my father to try to one-up Jesus.”

  Carter gave me a sympathetic look. “I’m so sorry about all of this. I hoped after last year that things could settle into some sort of normal.”

  “Me? Sinful? Normal? Isn’t that asking a lot?”

  “Probably. So let’s change the subject to something more pleasant. What did you guys do tonight?”