CHAPTER 20
PAUL Rivera had seen his share of drama queens. This one had taken lessons. Melody Tamron hadn’t handled it well when Paul and a couple of uniformed officers from the LVPD showed up at her door and hauled her down to the federal building for questioning.
She’d been there the night Eddie and Rio busted the gunrunner Bellmore. A background check revealed that Melody had a long-running addiction to heroin and any other downers she could get her hands on, and, she was a seasoned veteran of the streets. With credentials like that, the FVC had her pegged as a solid source for the lowdown.
Melody had other ideas. She hadn’t come willingly, and her resolve had only hardened by the time they arrived at the federal building. She was primed to make a scene, as if rebellion had been hardwired into her DNA.
Paul wrapped his hand around her elbow and escorted her, hands cuffed at her back, through the double sliding door at the prisoner entrance.
“Get your hands off me, you jerk!” The girl, obviously wasted, kicked and snarled at Paul as he directed her toward the corridor leading to the interrogation rooms.
“Detective...” Victoria, a records clerk, passed them in the hallway and graced Paul with a sweet smile and a tempting wave. “How’s it going?”
“Got a little fish to fry.” Paul was certain that neither his demeanor nor his tone gave anything more than that away.
“Ooh, so secretive.” Victoria laughed. “When are you going to stop teasing me?”
“Over dinner...?”
“Hello—” The girl in handcuffs chimed in. “Remember me, Casanova?”
“Yes, dear,” Paul turned to the girl, his patience waning. “You’re going to have my undivided attention for a lot longer than you want,” he stated with a promise, opened a door and gestured her inside. Once she entered, he hesitated briefly and then closed the door between them, leaving the girl to consider her plight.
He leaned against the wall beside the door, opened his cell phone and hit the speed dial. After a fleeting moment, he spoke, “I need LaCall or Laraquette, right away.”
Paul’s colleague on the other end of the call responded by promising to find them ASAP.
Satisfied that the hooker could wait for Laraquette and LaCall, Paul wandered back out to the main corridor, in search of Victoria. Time to brighten his day with a little something—someone—much more pleasant.
* * *
Eddie pulled Rio through the Federal Complex’s corridors toward the first floor’s interrogation strip. Victoria, Rivera’s friend, rounded the corner and Eddie slowed his pace.
Rio chuckled but kept it inside. Eddie was a man of many talents; among them, a surprising knack for detecting people’s clandestine associations.
“Three,” Victoria said, telling the partners which room they’d find Rivera.
Eddie nodded and he and Rio headed toward the west corridor. After a couple of turns in the hallway, he found Rivera standing guard at an interrogation room.
“You’ve got someone in there professing to have info on Bellmore?” Eddie cut to the chase, but his tone suggested that he questioned the validity of the perp’s claim.
“So she says.” Rivera’s shrug said he was skeptical. “See for yourself.” Pointing to the window, he urged his colleagues to have a look.
Rio and Eddie glanced through the dark glass. The girl was familiar.
“Where do I know her from?” Eddie wondered out loud.
Rio recognized the hookered-up drug addict.
Melody
. The bitch that’d nearly gotten Eddie killed.
“Let’s go in.” Eddie glanced at Rio.
“Okay.” Rio admitted she was probably a bit too eager to grill the hooker. The woman responsible for a great deal of her current misery. But hey, it was one of the perks of being a cop.
She drew a breath, squared her shoulders and prepared to follow Eddie inside.
* * *
Melody Tamron couldn’t catch a break. Damn cops. Two of them this time. Obviously a team. But dang if the guy wasn’t fine! And familiar. She knew him from somewhere. But where? If she looked at him long enough she’d figure it out. And looking at him wasn’t a problem.
Melody stood, eyes glued to Eddie. “Hey, I know you,” her thoughts seeped out amid her hesitance. She still couldn’t place him, but she was on the verge. That meant he was probably doing the same.
“What do you know about Johnny Bellmore?” he said, ignoring her comment.
Bingo. “You’re the cop that busted Johnny!”
Eddie flashed her a disappointing frown. “You’re the hooker that almost got me killed.”
“Yeah...sorry about that,” she offered in her softest, sweetest, most sincere tone.
“Yeah.” He laughed skeptically. “What game are you trying to sell?”
Flirt, Eddie
. Rio urged silently.
You’re never going to get anywhere being this standoffish
.
“No game,” Melody said and moved closer to Eddie. “How about you and me...we can go back to my place, and you tell Maxwell Smart out there to forget he ever saw me at Tony’s place,” she bargained in a seductive voice. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
“Tempting.” He snorted a laugh. “But...no.” He paused and threw her a cold, apathetic stare. “What else you got?”
Rio could see the girl’s mind reeling behind those
stoned
blue eyes of hers. She didn’t understand why Eddie wasn’t responding to her shameless flirting.
Neither did Rio. If he’d put a little effort into it, he could end up with some valuable information from Melody.
Rio emerged from behind Eddie. Until now she’d stayed mostly in the background. If Eddie wasn’t going to charm the info out of Melody, Rio had to step up and play bad cop. “A little short on coherent thoughts?”
Rio knew in an instant when a viable thought landed in Melody’s head. The confusion in her eyes faded, pushed out by hope. Melody giggled.
“Cut the crap!” Rio said. “You claimed to have information on Bellmore. What is it?”
“I can give you a bigger fish than Johnny. All you’ve got to do is—” She shrugged, directing her attention on Eddie. “—promise to forget I was at Tony’s.”
“Tell you what I’ll do,” he said. “If your fish is trophy material, I’ll put in a good word for you with the judge.”
“Take it,” Rio urged. “It’s the best offer you’re going to get from him.”
The female cop’s brash, sardonic tone brushed past Melody. For the first time since they walked into the room, she realized it. They were together. Like his and her towels together.
Her only hope had been to charm the guy or strike a bargain with him, but he wasn’t biting on either account. Melody accepted what she had to do if she was going to come out of this unscathed. “I know this guy...he’s a pit boss at one of the casinos,” she said with a measure of secrecy. It had to be enough to reel them in, or she was doomed. “He’s running a scam like you wouldn’t believe.”
“We’re going to need details.” He nodded his head and stifled a smile. He was intrigued and he didn’t want her to know it, she could tell.
But that was okay. She’d play his game if it bought her freedom.
* * *
“So let me get this straight...” Gabe eyed Rio and Eddie sitting dutifully on the other side of his desk, letting his gaze settle around them. If there was any justice, it’d be a glare. “You want to take the word of a drug-addicted prostitute about some wild story she’s telling about a casino employee who’s scamming his employer?”
Gabe had to be the voice of reason. Somebody had to tamp down the premature enthusiasm; it smothered their good senses.
“Typically, we wouldn’t have given her story much credibility,” Rio said with an antsy shrug. “But Dickie’s audiotape has convinced us otherwise.”
The mention of Dickie’s peculiar audiotape stirred Gabe’s curiosity. “Is there a reliable link?”
“She says a pit boss is running a markers scam, and he’s raking in the dough doing it.” Eddie’s expression was too blasé for his tone, and it robbed Gabe of the pleasure he usually got when he was about to pluck holes in their theories.
Gabe’s skepticism faded, replaced by hope. “Casino?” The name of the alleged crime scene would tell him all he needed to know, if he was on the right track.
“Three guesses and the first two don’t count.” Rio’s giggling laughter rippled across Gabe’s office.
“Are you telling me that some prostitute, a street walker, has specifically stated this is going on at the Golden Sunset?” Gabe’s tone hardened again, seeking clarity. If it was true, it was just his luck. What court would take the word of a drug-addicted hooker?
“Pretty much.” Rio’s certainty remained steadfast as she verified his fears.
“Did she I-D the pit boss?” Gabe wanted answers to the questions running through his mind, even though hope of conviction was bleak.
“Sure did.” Eddie flashed a triumphant smile. “Lester Perzinsky.”
“Is the girl on the tape an accomplice?” Gabe asked hopefully, still searching for a way to convict.
“Yes,” Rio said. “And so is Melody.”
“Really?” Gabe’s enthusiasm jumped a notch.
“She’s also agreed to wear a wire the next time she does the job,” Eddie said.
They’d already started negotiations with the hooker. That could be good or bad.
“And in return?” Gabe feared the answer would destroy any optimism he’d managed to acquire.
“We’ve convinced her to agree to rehab if we guarantee her immunity,” Rio said cautiously. She was wondering if Gabe would go for it—with good reason. He stood a fifty-fifty chance that a judge would grant immunity to a drug-addicted hooker.
“But, she has to get enough evidence on Lester to prosecute,” Eddie said.
At least they’d laid down some stipulations. Good. Lester was more likely to cooperate with them if he thought he was looking at jail time.
“I’d feel a lot better if we had a more credible witness.” Gabe’s inner thoughts seeped out in his doubtful tone. There had to be something salvageable out of this mess. “What do you think the chances are that Lester might know a little something about the poker tournament?”
“I’d say the odds are pretty good,” Eddie said. “You know what they say about birds of a feather.”
For the first time, Gabe let himself contemplate that they may have gotten their hands on someone on the inside.
“And if it turns out he’s clueless...maybe he can help us find the answers,” Rio said with an easygoing shrug.
Her optimism was catching. Now Gabe was starting to believe.
* * *
Rio had insisted that Eddie go back in and finalize the deal with Melody—alone. At first, he wasn’t one hundred percent onboard, but Rio’s argument was convincing.
She’d said that since the girl liked the looks of him so much, she’d be quicker to consent if she were alone with him. Truth be told, Eddie wasn’t so sure Rio didn’t have a bit of jealousy operating in her. Every time she mentioned Melody’s alleged attraction, fire scorched her eyes, shading them more the color of peacock green than their usual polished jade hue.
It was beautiful. And lethal. Enough to persuade him to do her biding.
Eddie closed the door between himself and the hallway where Rio waited. Before him, Melody scrutinized him anxiously. Better to get this show on the road, before she started looking at him like he was prey.
“Here’s the deal, Melody.” Eddie dragged a chair up to the table and swiveled it around, straddling it as he sat across from her. “We’ll get you immunity in exchange for your cooperation in helping us accumulate evidence against Perzinsky.” He paused to let the thought of freedom take root in her mind. “Two things though. We have to get solid evidence against your friend, and you have to agree to enter rehab. If you don’t complete the entire program, you will go to jail.” His patience withered as his tone hardened. “You also need to know that if you’re busted again in the next five years, you’ll do an automatic two years as a repeat offender.”
“If I do this...you’re going to let me go, right?” She looked at him with hesitant eyes. The kind that said she needed to be sure of the deal they were making. Melody’s kind wanted compensation. And freedom was the reward Eddie was offering.
“After you’ve helped us nail Perzinsky, you’re free to do as you please,” he said with a shrug and a smile. “Just don’t get caught.”
She lowered her head, as if embarrassed. He didn’t blame her. He also didn’t believe her. He’d dealt with her kind before. Cunning and willful and great performers.
She lifted her gaze, but not her face. “So what’s next?” Insecurity poured out in her fragile voice.
“Well, for starters...” Eddie’s voice lingered between words while a new and brilliant idea came to him. “You’re going to take one of our people into the casino and introduce her to Lester as your cousin from...wherever it is you’re from.” He didn’t miss the look of utter disbelief as it crossed her face. “Tell him she’s new in town. And she’s broke.”
“Are you nuts?” A shrill clawed at Melody’s voice, shredding it. She fidgeted in her seat and coughed, clearing her throat. “You’re not too bright, are you?” she asked, confidence returning to her tone. “You just can’t walk up to a guy like Lester and say...hi, meet my cousin, Betty Lou. She’s new in town and needs some extra cash...what do you think? Want to give her a marker?”
“You’ll figure out how to introduce her to him, and how to get him to bring her in on his little scheme.” Eddie gave her a matter-of-fact wink.
“You got to give me something to work with,” she said. “I mean, I can’t take some mousy little square in there to him. He’ll see through that right away.”
Eddie stood and flipped the chair around and pushed it up to the table. “I’ll be back.” He let his gaze settle around her like a straitjacket. Once she was sufficiently restrained, he left the room.
* * *
A measure of relief saturated Rio when Eddie finally came out of the interrogation room. She knew what had to be done, but when had the thought of Eddie flirting with another woman managed to crawl up under her skin?
Eddie tossed her a mouth-watering smile. The one she couldn’t resist.
But it didn’t change things. “I’m with Melody on this one,” she said in a calm, cajoling tone. She waited until he’d gotten comfortable leaning against the wall and folded his arms over his chest. Then she cleared her throat. “Are you nuts?”