Necessary Decisions, A Gino Cataldi Mystery (9 page)

“Sure, maybe one of our relatives lives there.”

The guy who answered the door looked old, with remnants of dark brown hair hiding within the gray. He was thin and walked with a cane. “May I help you?”

I had my badge ready. “I’m Detective Cataldi. This is Detective Delgado. We’re investigating a break-in across the street.”

“Break-in? I didn’t know there was one.” He turned toward the kitchen. “Margaret, did you know there was a break-in across the street?”

Margaret looked about the same age as her husband, but with a lot more zest. She set a quick pace into the foyer. “Break-in? Where?”

I leaned in a little, hoping to get invited. “The Marshalls’ house, ma’am.”

Her hands flew to her mouth. “Oh my,” she said, then, “Robert, invite the gentlemen in, for heaven’s sake.”

We followed Robert and Margaret to the kitchen then took seats at the table.

“How about some tea, Detectives?”

Before we could refuse, she started brewing it. There apparently wasn’t an option for coffee, or anything else, for that matter.

“When did this happen?” Margaret asked as she pulled teacups and saucers from the cabinet.

“A couple of nights ago,” Delgado said. “Right after dinner. Maybe seven o’clock.”

Robert said he was watching TV at that time. Margaret was on the phone with a friend. “I’m afraid we won’t be much help, Detectives.”

“Do you know the Marshalls well?” I asked.

“Only to say hello,” she said. “I don’t even know what church they belong to.” She turned to her husband. “Do you, dear?”

“The church of football.”

“Be nice, Robert.” Margaret served the tea and took a seat opposite me.

Delgado smiled and took a sip of his tea. Delgado hated tea. “Have you noticed anything unusual on the street in the past few weeks?”

“In what way?” she asked.

“Strangers walking or jogging.”

“Maybe couples,” I said, recalling that Marshall’s butler had insisted that one of them was a woman. A couple wouldn’t attract attention.

Robert shook his head, lip curled up. “Nothing I’ve seen.”

Margaret, though, seemed busy with thought.

“You remember something, ma’am?”

“It’s probably nothing, but there was a man walking a dog several nights last week.”

“Did you recognize him?”

“I don’t think I’ve seen him before. What made me remember him is the dog. I know most of the dogs in the neighborhood, but I’d never seen it before. I wanted to make sure this one didn’t mess on my lawn.”

“Can you describe the man?” I asked.

“I don’t recall, but the dog was a beagle. A big, fat beagle.”

“You’re sure it was a beagle?” Delgado asked.

She huffed up. “I know my dogs, Detective. It was a beagle.”

We asked more questions, but got nothing of value. At the next house, we got a vague memory of a van that might or might not have been seen in the neighborhood. We did get coffee, though. The rest of the block gave us even less information. When it was all said and done, we had an invisible stranger walking a big, fat beagle, and a vehicle, which possibly was a van and either blue, tan, or white.

“Got some observant people around here,” Ribs said. “If I take up burglary in my next life, I know where I’m going.”

“Yeah, just don’t shit on Margaret’s lawn. She’d ID you for sure.”

We drove to a small restaurant in a strip mall down the street and rehashed what we had. I’d written it out on a pad.

‘Came in while Marshall was in shower. Coincidence?

Knew they had a safe. Coincidence or educated guess?

Door wasn’t locked. How did they know?
Did
they know?

Wore latex gloves. Same as Memorial and the poker game.

Marshall and son were naked. Why? To embarrass them or keep them under control?

Took jewelry and bonds. At Memorial they took artwork too.

Butler swears one of them was a woman. Was it a sister? Girlfriend?

There were five at Marshall’s house. One was Latino or black.’

“They have to sell this stuff,” I said.

“Which means they’ll need a fence,” Delgado said. He made a note to get Fat Charlie checking on that.

I looked at Delgado. “Where’s the connection?”

“That’s what I’ve been wondering. How do they find their marks? They’ve hit poker games all over town, a house on Memorial, and now a place way up here in Champions.”

“We need to tear their lives apart until we find out what connects them. See who they work with, bank with, socialize with.”

“Who held the insurance policies,” Delgado said.

“Exactly. Somebody is feeding these guys information. And we’ve got to find out who it is before they kill someone.”

Chapter 15

The Grab

J
ada spent the night at Alexa’s house. They were up half the night talking but still got up early. “Prom’s almost here,” Jada said. “I can’t wait.”

“Spoken like a girl who has a date.”

“Finally!”

“Get ready, Jada, I’ve got to wake
Romeo
again.”

Alexa rushed down the hall, listened at the door then knocked, hard. “Time to get up, Dad.”

She walked back down the hall into her bedroom done in pink and white. Jada sat in the dressing area of the bathroom in front of a mirror, which stretched eight feet across. The left and right sides had optional magnifiers for applying make-up.

“This is bigger than my whole bedroom,” Jada said as she applied eye liner.

“It’s too big for just me.”

“So, did you
disturb
him?”

“Not today. I think he was alone, believe it or not. But the other day, he wasn’t.”

Jada laughed. “Remind me to remind us to be more quiet when we’re parents.”

“Or to not have kids.”

“No way. I
want
kids. I’m going to have five.”

“Five! You’re out of your mind.”

Jada pursed her lips and applied the lipstick. “Don’t forget. I’m going
shopping
with Jason.
Do not
call me.”

“As long as you fill me in on all the details. Especially the juicy ones.”

“Won’t be any
juicy
ones.”

Alexa huffed. “All day and half the night with Jason Rules. Come on. There are
gonna
be juicy details.”

Jada giggled. A little at first, then full-blown laughter.

Alexa slid onto a stool beside Jada, brushing her hair. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about,” she said, and they both laughed some more.

Fifteen more minutes of preparation and they were ready to go. As they walked down the hall toward the steps, Alexa banged on her father’s door again. “Get going, lazy. We’re off.”

***

Boss reviewed things with Number Three before he left. Driver waited in the van. Number Two was already in position.

“You know where you’ll grab her?” Boss asked.

“Two said there is a spot just before the girl gets to the bus. Driver can pull up behind her.”

“Number Two does good work. And remember to—”

“I know,” Number Three said. “Keep watch for witnesses.”

“Then you’re set.”

“All clear, Boss.”

“Good, get it done.”

***

Number Two drove to her position. The windows were heavily tinted so no one would recognize her face, not even Driver. She pulled to the side of the road. She only had a few minutes to wait before the girl came. Number Two got on the phone. “There are two of them. Repeat. There are
two
girls. If they don’t split, we have to abort.”

“I see them,” Three said. “Which one is the target?”

“The one with long hair.”

Less than two minutes passed. A car stopped, picking up the short-haired girl.

“Go,” Number Two said. “We’ve got less than a minute.”

Driver pulled the van down the street, slowly. As they approached the girl, Driver slowed even more, coming up from behind. Number Three got the pillowcase ready. He checked to be sure his knife was where it should be. At ten feet, a smile came to his face. At five, Number Three slid the side door open. He reached out and covered her head with the pillowcase, dragging her inside. She screamed. He held the knife to her throat.

“Don’t make me cut you.”

She shut up. Driver shut the door remotely, then put the car in gear and moved out slowly. Number Three gagged her and tied her hands behind her back. Three blocks away, the call came from Number Two. “Clear.”

Number Two drove to the designated spot and got in the van, keeping to their mask ritual so no one’s face was recognized.

A short while later, Driver pulled into the garage, waited for the door to close, and then got out and tapped on the side of the van. “Clear.”

Number Two held the girl while Number Three opened the side door. “Don’t try anything. You can’t escape, and we don’t want to hurt you. Nod if you understand.”

She nodded.

“Good. Let’s go.”

Number Two took her inside, untied her hands then removed the blindfold and gag. “You can scream all you like now. No one will hear you.”

The girl stared at her and nodded, scared, like a small animal caught in a trap.

Number Two smiled through her mask. “There are no windows, and the doors are bolted. No way to escape, so don’t try. The others aren’t as nice as me.”

“I feel sick.”

“You’ll get over it. Try not to think about it.” Number Two looked at her watch. “It’s early yet. You’ll get fed around lunchtime. By then the sick feeling should fade, and you’ll be hungry.”

“I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

Number Two got close to her and gritted her teeth. “Don’t think because I’m being nice that I won’t hurt you. If you try to take advantage…”

“Okay, I’m sorry.”

“Sit down. This will be over soon.”

“How soon?”

“As soon as we get your daddy’s money. As long as he does what Boss tells him, nothing will happen.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Glad to hear it. I would hate to hurt a child.”

Number Two checked the room one last time then closed the door and bolted it. As she walked away, she dialed the phone and waited for Boss to answer. “She’s all yours.”

Chapter 16

Early-Morning Call

B
oss hung up, kept busy for half an hour then turned to Number Four. “In fifteen minutes, make the call.” He reached over and patted Number Four on the back. “Stick to the script, and we’ll be okay.”

“Clear, Boss.” He set the script in front of him, hands shaking, as he prepared to make the call.

***

Scott Winthrop sat at the kitchen table, eating breakfast. He had planned on Jennifer spending the night, especially after the text she’d sent, but he couldn’t find her at the club last night, and she wasn’t answering her phone. He figured he’d pissed her off. He seemed to do that a lot with women.

The doorbell rang, and then the door cracked open. “Scott, are you here?”

He got up, confused over who it could be. He walked to the foyer then smiled. “Jennifer! What are you doing here?”

“Didn’t you get my text?”

Now he was really confused. “I got a text last night, but all you said was ‘Had a great time. See you.’ I expected you at the club.”

“Oh God, I must have cut it off or something. I’m not very good at texting. I meant to say, see you in the morning.” She laughed. “And look, here I am with breakfast.” She held out a bag filled with kolachis and coffee.

Scott reached in and grabbed one. “You’re just in time. The breakfast I had planned is nowhere near as good.”

“I’d have been here sooner, but traffic was atrocious.”

He kissed her on the cheek. “I’m glad to see you. Sit down and eat.”

She set the coffee on the table, got two plates, and put the kolachis on them.

“I ate one on the way over.” She kissed his lips, lingering a while. “I think after breakfast I’ll take a shower. I hope you have time.”

He got up and wrapped his arms around her. “I should get to work, but…”

Jennifer pulled her top off, draped it over his head. “I’ll make it worth your while.”