by Matt Lincoln
I walked briskly over to the car and unlocked the passenger side door before reaching inside. Holm’s tablet sat on the center console, and I picked it up before shutting the door again. I double-checked to make sure that we had both the security videos and the images that Bonnie had sent us of the Venezuelan shopping card before tucking the tablet under my arm and heading back into the police station.
As I made my way back to the interrogation room, I wondered about which angle I should approach Ruiz from. I didn’t know much about him, except that he was a jerk who didn’t have a problem with manhandling the women he was in charge of. For the moment, I would just maintain a neutral approach until I figured out the best way to crack him.
Holm and Linden were chatting when I returned, but they fell silent as I stepped back into the room.
“Ready?” Linden asked as he spotted the tablet tucked under my arm.
“Ready,” I confirmed as I looked over at Holm. He nodded in agreement, and I turned to open the door that separated the two rooms.
19
Ethan
Ruiz looked up at us as we entered, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
“Tomas Ruiz,” I greeted him as I sat down opposite him at the long metal table in the center of the room. “My name is Agent Marston. This is my partner, Agent Holm, and this is Officer Linden. We need to talk to you about what happened on the Ruby of the Seas a few days ago.
“What?” he balked, his mouth falling open with surprise. That was clearly not what he’d been expecting us to ask about.
“Just as I said,” I replied as I stared him down. “We know that you were on the Ruby when all of those people died. We have footage of you from the security cameras interacting with several of the victims before they died. I can show you if you’d like.”
I opened the tablet and pulled up the security footage from the dining hall. I placed the tablet in front of him so he could see it, but he turned his head away, refusing to watch.
“What’s the matter?” I asked. “That is you, isn’t it?”
Ruiz glanced at the video for only a second before looking up at me and swallowing nervously.
“That’s weird,” I murmured as I observed his behavior. “You’re all tongue-tied now, but it doesn’t seem like you’ve got any problems speaking here. Look.” I pointed down at the video to where Ruiz was snarling at one of the women, telling her that she wasn’t allowed to eat.
Ruiz still refused to watch the video.
“I said look!” I snapped at him.
He immediately complied, turning meekly to watch himself on the video.
Got you, I thought to myself triumphantly as I realized that I’d figured Ruiz out. His meek, docile behavior in the face of an authority figure and the fact that he’d immediately given up when I’d raised my voice showed me exactly the type of man that Ruiz was.
He was a spineless bully. He had no problem pushing around weaker and smaller targets like he had in the video, but now that he was the target, at the mercy of myself and the two other men in the room, suddenly he was as docile as a mouse. Ruiz was the worst kind of coward, the kind that relished in oppressing others but didn’t have the stones to even stand up for himself the moment someone bigger and scarier came along.
Luckily for us, this just meant that it would be that much easier for us to break him. All I had to do was continue to bully him until he caved.
“It takes a really tough guy to push around a bunch of defenseless girls like that,” I taunted him. “Guess that’s why there aren’t a lot of male victims, huh? Men might actually fight back against you.”
Ruiz clenched his jaw and glared up at me, but as I suspected, he didn’t talk back.
“Why don’t we talk about this little operation you’ve got going on?” I sighed as I leaned back in my chair, doing my best to stare down my nose at him and make him feel small. Whatever I could to make him feel as powerless as possible. “We know that you’re forcing helpless victims to become drug mules for you, and we know that you’re using the cruise lines to get the drugs from Aruba to the United States. What we don’t know is where the drugs themselves are coming from.”
I stared at him expectantly. He looked up at me nervously, and I could literally see the beads of sweat forming on his face as he wilted under my stare.
“So, where are they coming from, Ruiz?” I growled at him, leaning toward him suddenly. He flinched backward, his entire body tensing with surprise, but he still remained silent.
Maybe this won’t be as easy as I expected, I thought.
“Okay.” I shrugged in mock nonchalance. “You don’t want to talk? That’s fine. The only thing is that you’re the only suspect from the first ship that we’ve managed to track down. Right now, all of those deaths fall squarely on your shoulders.”
Of course, this was a lie. We’d already arrested Andre, after all. Ruiz didn’t know that, though, and I had a feeling that he was enough of a coward that the bluff would sway him. He opened his mouth to respond but snapped it shut a second later, his teeth clicking.
“Wow,” I chuckled as I stared at him with disgust. “You’re really willing to take the heat for everyone else? I can’t lie. That’s pretty pathetic. Do you think they’d do the same if the roles were reversed? You’re the first one we’re speaking to, you know. You’re the only one with a unique opportunity to save yourself. If we walk out of here right now and interrogate one of the other men sitting in those cells, do you really think they’ll stay quiet? You really don’t think any of them will turn on you in exchange for a better deal?”
It seemed like that finally did the trick because Ruiz’s face suddenly went pale, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed anxiously.
“Alright, guys, let’s go,” I declared as I stood up in a feint at leaving. I had barely pushed my chair back when Ruiz finally broke his silence.
“Wait!” he cried out just as Holm and Linden were about to stand up as well. “Wait, no, don’t go. I-I changed my mind! I want a deal.”
Linden glanced over it at me with a thinly veiled smile on his face.
“Alright,” I replied as I plopped back down in my chair. “Let’s talk then. If I like what you have to say, then we can discuss making a deal.”
“Venezuela,” he blurted out, his hands clenching into tight fists on top of the table. “That’s where the drugs are coming from.”
That confirmed the information that Bonnie had dug up for us about the shopping card we’d found in Andre’s cabin back on the Ruby.
“Okay,” I replied tentatively. “So how exactly are they making their way from there, to Aruba, and then into the US? Seems like kind of a roundabout journey.”
“It’s because we need the ships,” Ruiz explained. “Not a lot of cruise ships stop in Venezuela. I guess it’s not a fancy enough country for all those rich American tourists.” He sneered with distaste as he spoke, his yellowed teeth on full display. “Aruba is a different story, though. This place is a hot spot for rich, la-di-da folks. Tons of huge ships stop here every week. All we have to do is get our drugs across the water from Venezuela to here, and we’re set. It’s easy to blend in because there are always tourists out on the water, so we never stand out.”
“I see,” I replied. “So, how exactly does this work? You all go back to Venezuela, produce the drugs, and then come back?”
“Nah.” He shook his head and leaned his elbows against the top of the table. “Not us. That’s all Sandoval and his guys over in Venezuela. They send the shipments over, and we handle everything with the carriers.”
“Sandoval?” I inquired further. I hadn’t heard that name before. “Who is that?”
“The guy who makes the drugs,” Ruiz replied, as though the answer was obvious. “Him and his gang. He and Maduro, uh, that’s the name of our boss, they were the ones who got together and started this whole operation. Maduro’s the one who handles getting the girls from over in the US. He brings them to Aruba, then Sandoval gets u
s the drugs, and they split the profits between the two groups.”
“Sounds like a pretty efficient system,” I remarked, my mind slightly reeling at the introduction of yet another player in this game. At this point, we had at least three separate groups involved in this drug ring: the Californian group that procured the victims, the Venezuelan group that procured the drugs, and the Aruban group that acted as a middleman between the two other entities. The scope of this was even bigger than I’d realized, and the proposition of apprehending everyone involved was daunting.
“Hell no,” Ruiz snorted, even letting out a chuckle as he shook his head. “Tell me, you ever seen a ship with two captains? A country with two kings? When you’ve got two men who both think they’re in charge, things are bound to go south sooner or later.”
“Is that happening now?” I frowned at him. “There’s infighting between the two leaders?”
“Uh-uh.” Ruiz shook his head slowly. “Not so fast. What about my deal? You said that if you liked what I had to say, you’d cut me a deal. Well, it sure looks like you want to hear what I know.”
I clenched my jaw as I stared back at him, irritated by the gall. “Or I could just take you back to your cell and ask someone else about it,” I countered.
“Go ahead,” Ruiz challenged me in response. “They won’t know what I know. I overheard the boss talking to one of the guys when he thought no one else was around. It’s about why all those people on that other ship died.”
A cold sensation washed over me as I heard that.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “Did your boss intentionally kill those people?”
At this point, we were pretty positive that the victims had all died when their own stomach acid had eaten through the coating of the cocaine bags, causing them to rupture. Was it possible their deaths had been deliberate?
“I’m not saying anything,” Ruiz taunted. “You want to know what he said, then give me a deal.”
“You said you overheard a conversation between your boss and one of the guys?” Linden asked. “As in one of the other men? So there is at least one other person who knows the exact details of this conversation, then?”
“Yeah,” Ruiz replied calmly. “At least there was, anyway. One of you cops shot him dead earlier. Shame, too, Antonio still owed me twenty bucks.”
Dammit, I thought to myself bitterly. Ruiz had us in a bind. Assuming he was telling the truth, then we had no choice but to cut him a deal, especially since the information had something to do with the victims. I looked over at Linden, who seemed to be deep in thought. He looked back at me and nodded once, mentally communicating for me to go ahead.
“Alright,” I replied steadily. “You tell us what you know about what happened on the Ruby and anything that might help us find Maduro and Sandoval, and we’ll let the judge know that you cooperated with the investigation and ask for leniency on your behalf.”
“What?” Ruiz scoffed, his eyes wide with horror. “You’re going to say that I snitched? Are you crazy? Do you know what the other guys will do to me if they find out that I went and ratted them out?”
“That’s the deal,” I insisted. Frankly, I was already pretty generous in offering him this much since usually I would just bluff about the possibility of a deal to get suspects to talk. “If you don’t want it, you can go back to your cell and deal with whatever sentence the judge feels you deserve.”
“Fine, okay,” Ruiz replied hastily. “Lighten up, would you? I’ll take it. Not much of a deal, but I guess it’s better than nothing.”
“Talk before I change my mind,” I threatened, glaring at him.
He gulped, the cockiness from earlier vanishing in an instant. “Right. So about the people that died. Antonio, the guy that you all shot in the head, he was in charge of packaging up the drugs. Now, usually, we’d use condoms, but Maduro said they were too expensive and that he wanted Antonio to use plastic wrap instead.”
“Plastic wrap?” I repeated, my eyebrows shooting up to my forehead in shock.
“Yeah,” Ruiz replied. “Like the kind you wrap up food with? Anyway, a roll of that costs basically nothing, and it comes with a lot. So the boss’s thinking was that we would just use the plastic wrap and pocket the extra money. I thought it was dumb. It’s not like we were even saving that much, and I knew right away that using just plain plastic wasn’t as sturdy as the condoms.”
No kidding, I groaned inside my own head. Condoms were made of rubber, specifically designed to withstand breaks and leaks. It was no wonder that the poor victims had died when the only barrier between them and deadly amounts of cocaine was a thin layer of weak plastic.
“And that’s why they all died,” I surmised. “Because Maduro decided to skimp out and use cheaper materials.”
“Yeah,” Ruiz replied, shaking his head in dismay. “I knew as soon as it happened what was going on. Of course, I didn’t say anything since I wasn’t about to disagree with the boss, but I had a feeling things might go wrong. That’s why, this time, I told the guys to go back to doing it the way we were before. All that work before was for nothing. We lost thousands on that last shipment!”
“Is that really what you’re concerned about?” Linden snapped at him, his face twisted into an angry glare. It was obvious that he was furious at Ruiz, and if he was attempting to hide it, he was doing an incredibly poor job. It was a pretty rookie mistake to lose control of your emotions like that, but then I remembered that Lopez had told us that Ruiz was one of the newest members of the force. He was a rookie, and Ruiz was looking back at him like a hungry shark.
“What else would I concerned myself with?” Ruiz mocked him in return. “All those bimbos who died? Who even cares? It’s not like those girls had any family or friends who are going to miss them. They wouldn’t have been involved in any of this if they did.”
“Those were human beings!” Linden retorted, his face getting red as he shook with rage.
Ruiz stared back at him derisively. He opened his mouth to reply, but I cut in before he could.
“Where is Maduro now?” I forced Ruiz to focus his attention back onto me. He frowned as he looked my way, apparently upset that he could no longer mess with Linden.
“Venezuela, I assume,” he replied as he slouched in his seat.
“Why is he there?” I asked. “I thought you said that your side stayed here in Aruba.”
“Yeah, usually that’s how it was,” he explained, “but the boss has been acting paranoid lately. He thinks Sandoval is out to cheat him. Probably has a guilty mind since he’s the one skimping out on the packing materials. Anyway, he said he was going to head over there to talk to Sandoval and deliver the next shipment himself.”
“And when will that be arriving?” I asked.
“Any day now,” he replied vaguely as he narrowed his eyes at me. “I’ve got a buddy on the other side who helps bring the goods over. I might call him and ask about when they’ll arrive.”
“That would be helpful,” I replied, my voice tinged with barely contained sarcasm. I assumed that he was going to ask for something from us in return.
“Maybe if that deal got a little sweeter for me…” he muttered as his eyes shifted between me, Holm, and Linden, waiting for one of us to step up and offer him something.
“I’ll put you in your own cell,” Linden offered, his voice flat, “and I won’t make it obvious that you spilled everything to us.”
“What?” Ruiz snorted. “You’ll have to do better than that.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Linden replied, his expression hard. “The way I see it, you’ve been in here for,” he looked down to check the time on his watch, “over twenty minutes with us now. Time sure does fly, doesn’t it? What do you think the others will think if I walk you back there, all smiles, after you’ve been in here with us for such a long time?”
Ruiz went pale as he understood the implication of Linden’s threat.
“Make the call,” Linden continued, “And I�
�ll make it seem like you gave us a hard time and didn’t tell us anything.”
For a long moment, Ruiz just sat there, glaring back at Linden and stewing in anger.
“Fine,” he finally grumbled. “Got a phone?”
“You can use mine,” Linden replied as he reached into his pocket to retrieve the device. “Will whoever it is answer if it’s an unfamiliar number?”
“How should I know?” Ruiz replied as he held his hand out for the phone. “If he asks, I’ll just say that I’m using a burner or something. Do you want me to make this call or what?”
“What’s the number?” Linden asked, typing it into the phone as Ruiz rattled it off. He motioned for Holm and me to stay quiet as he put it on speaker and placed it on the table in front of Ruiz.
That was a smart move. It would prevent him from trying to send out a coded message to whoever it was he was calling. This way, we’d be able to hear exactly what the other guy said, and if Ruiz said anything that might hurt our investigation, we could cut the call right away. I waited with bated breath as the phone rang once, twice, and then halfway through the third time, the sound suddenly stopped as the line connected.
“Who is this?” a raspy voice on the other end answered. It was deep and slightly accented.
“It’s me, Pablo,” Ruiz replied calmly. I was actually a little impressed by how nonchalant he sounded. “Tomas.”
“Oh,” the man on the other end replied, his voice suddenly sounding much less dark and threatening. “You scared me. This isn’t your number.”
“I had to get a burner,” he replied casually. “The boss has got me on a new assignment, and I always forget to grab the other one. Anyway, I needed to ask you something.”
“What about?” the other man asked. He didn’t sound at all doubtful of Ruiz’s explanation, but I still stayed on alert, just in case something went wrong.