Jamie Hill Triple Threat (52 page)

* * * *

The department was quiet when Brady arrived at work two hours earlier than usual. By the time Costa showed up, bag of crullers in hand, Brady had pulled the files of every member of the Moretti family and had gone over them with a fine-toothed comb. He still had more questions than answers, but at least had a place to start. He briefed his partner about the weekend's events.

"So Gina is a Moretti?" Costa blew across the top of his coffee to cool it. "What a weird fucking coincidence."

"My thoughts exactly. If there
is
such thing as a coincidence. At this point, I'm not so sure."

"Aw, I can't believe she was spying on you. I thought you two had more going for you than that."

Brady shrugged. In the past two days, lots of things he'd thought had gone down the toilet. "All I know is that everyone in the Moretti family has lied to me. That puts them at the forefront of this investigation, in my opinion."

Costa nodded. "Why lie if you've got nothing to hide?"

"Exactly." He handed Joey the files he'd retrieved that morning, except for Gina's. "Let's go over these one more time. Then, I think we have a few house calls to make."

"You got it." Costa took the folders and sat down at his desk. "Sure you don't want a cruller?"

"No, thanks." Brady held up a pack of gum. Following his smoking binge over the weekend, he'd stocked up on gum to help squash the habit again.

"Gotcha." Costa nodded, and went to work.

Brady's desk phone rang a few minutes later. "
Marshall
," he answered.

"Not picking up your cell these days, or is it just me?" Gina asked.

"That'd be correct," Brady replied.

"I figured I could reach you at work, at least once, anyway, until you have someone start screening your calls. Brady, we need to talk."

"I thought we'd covered that. No, we really don't."

"So this is it? I'm supposed to pack up your toothbrush and whatever else you left here, and the relationship is over?"

He really hadn't wanted to think about the small details. It was easier to focus on the case, and the anger that simmered inside him. "I don't care about the toothbrush," he muttered. "I have to go. I have criminals to catch."

"Be careful who you call a criminal, Brady. Some people don't like that talk much."

"If the shoe fits, princess.
Some people
better watch over their shoulders. I'm right behind them."

"
Watch yourself
," she murmured ominously, and hung up.

Brady uttered a low growl and slammed the receiver back onto the phone. "You ready to go, Costa? I need to get out of here."

"Yes." He stood and shoved a sheath of papers together. "Where to first?"

"I think we should call on poor Victor. Tony led us to believe the old man didn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. Gina says he has lunch with the mayor and plays golf with the bishop, or something like that."

"Sounds like he's in better shape than Tony let on."

"Yeah, another lie from Tony. Imagine that!" Brady bristled just thinking about it. He touched base with the Lieutenant and brought him up to speed on their plans before walking out to Costa's Explorer and climbing in.

Joey entered Victor's address into his navigation system and headed out of the parking lot.

Twenty-five minutes later, they pulled into the driveway of the big house. It was older, well-kept, and looked huge for an old man to rattle around in all by himself. "Big place," Costa remarked as they parked.

"Kinda showy, don't you think?" Brady got out of the car and glanced around.

Costa shrugged.

An older man wearing a large, floppy sunhat walked around the corner of the yard carrying a watering can. At his heel was a middle-aged woman with mousy brown hair and a tan dress that identified her as a nurse or housekeeper type. The man's eyes narrowed when he spotted them, but only for an instant. He planted a smile on his face and nodded. "Good day, gentlemen."

"Mr. Moretti, I presume?" Brady stepped forward.

"I'm Victor Moretti."

"Detective Brady
Marshall
with the W.P.D. Special Investigations Unit. This is my partner, Detective Joe Costa."

"A pleasure. What can I do for you?"

"We came out here checking on your health, basically. Your CEO, Tony Moreno, told us you were in poor health and couldn't be relied on for information."

The old man's eyes showed a flicker of irritation and Brady wondered if Moretti knew that's what his son had been saying about him.

Before he had a chance to refute, Costa piped up. "Don't you mean
his son
Tony Moreno? Tony's not only fibbing about his father's health, he's lying about their relationship. As if he's trying to deny all ties."

"Oh, yeah, his
son
." Brady checked his notebook as if just remembering the connection. "Yet your daughter maintains your health is fine."

"Lunches with the pope and plays golf with the mayor." Costa nodded enthusiastically.

"I think that was the bishop," Brady corrected Costa, and then faced Moretti. "Gina Morris is your daughter, isn't she?"

Moretti told the woman accompanying him, "Fran, why don't you take those flowers we picked into the house. I'll be in shortly."

"Yes, Mr. Moretti." She took the watering can from his hands and returned to the back of the house.

Moretti made a show of checking out the left hands of both officers. He settled his gaze on Brady and said, "No ring. So you'd be the
tontolone
who's been seeing my Gina?"

"If
tontolone
means 'idiot who didn't know she was such a liar' then yeah, that'd be me."

"I'd be careful who I called names when I was standing on another man's property, Officer Marshall. She's my little girl and I'll do anything to protect her."

"Good to know, and it's
Detective
Marshall. Funny thing, Mr. Moretti, you're the third person who's told me to 'be careful' when dealing with your family in the past twenty-four hours. One of those people was your little girl."

"I never said she wasn't smart. Hopefully, smart enough to see though a
tontolone
—bonehead —like you and end things before they get too serious."

Brady smiled. "Oh, yeah. She was smart enough to do that. So we're letting you know, Mr. Moretti, that East Asian Imports is now under our microscope. The way we figure it, with so many key people lying to us, the company must have something big to hide. Starting today, we're turning the place inside out to find out exactly what that 'something' is. We've got the appropriate court documents, of course."

Moretti waved his hands. "East Asian Imports welcomes the scrutiny, my friend. You'll find our books in order and all our ducks in a row."

"Glad to hear it. Should make our investigation much easier." Brady pushed a button on his police radio and another car appeared behind theirs in the driveway.

"It really should." Costa nodded agreement. "Hope Watts and Brier appreciate what you're doing for them."

Moretti watched two men exit the car and then frowned at Costa. "What the devil are you talking about?"

Brady withdrew a search warrant from the breast pocket of his jacket. "Here's our warrant, Mr. Moretti. Detectives
Watts
and Brier are going to search your house now. I trust you'll show them the same consideration you've shown my partner and myself."

Moretti focused his scowl on Brady. "You have no idea what you're in for,
Marshall
."

Eyes narrowed, Brady faced him down. "Is that a threat, Mr. Moretti? I can't imagine the bishop approves of that kind of behavior."

The older man's eyes flashed at him.
"Vaffanculo!"

"Ooh, that was nasty!" Costa made wide eyes at Brady. "He just suggested you go fuck yourself."

Brady chuckled. "I'll have to remember that one." He tipped his finger away from his forehead in a short salute and made eye contact with Moretti. The patriarch of the clan was a lot stronger than his frail appearance let on. Brady wondered if the old coot had anything wrong with him at all.

He turned and walked back to the Explorer, Costa on his heels. They got in, and as Joey drove off, Brady phoned Mel Curtis. "You and Stone have a green light to hit the EAI offices. We've spoken with Victor Moretti. Make a big show of flashing your warrant, and leave no folder unturned. We want these people fuming by the time we're done."

"You got it," she said. "You and Costa going to meet us here?"

"After we make one more stop. We'll be there in about an hour."

"See you then." She disconnected the call.

"They set?" Costa glanced at him.

"Ready to rock and roll. You put
Moreno
's address into that thing?" He pointed to the nav system.

"Yep. We'll be there in ten minutes. Another very nice neighborhood."

"Let's see how fast word gets around. You think Mrs. Moreno will know we're coming?"

"Um, yeah, I think so. People in houses and offices all over
Wichita
are shredding documents as we speak."

Brady chuckled. "Fuckers. Nice neighborhood, huh? Probably another big-assed house."

Costa shrugged. "Might be."

Brady shook his head. "Even if I had the dough, I wouldn't want to live in a mansion. What the hell is it for? I mean, I have a bedroom, an office, a weight room, a place to fix my chow and another room with a sofa and TV to plop down and eat. What more could I ask for?"

With a big grin, Costa gazed at him sideways as he drove. "Sounds like bachelor heaven. See, you add a couple kids in the mix and you need two more bedrooms. There goes your office and your weight room. By the time the wife decides she needs more space, you're shopping for a bigger place."

"I guess." The breakup with Gina was too new. It hurt to think about a 'wife' and 'kids' because he'd only recently started doing so. He shifted his focus to Costa. "So, does your wife think she needs a bigger place?"

His partner smiled. "Nah, she and I are on the same wavelength about money. When I got promoted to detective, we needed a new car, so we splurged on this. But for the most part, the rest is going into the bank. She knows as well as I do that in this economy, neither of our jobs are sure things forever."

"Smart woman."
Gina doesn't seem like a spendthrift, either
. From what he could tell, she was pretty frugal with her money.

As if he were reading Brady's mind, Costa said, "You know, Gina could probably have had a cushy job with her old man if she'd wanted it. You've gotta admire the girl for stepping out on her own like she did."

"I suppose," he replied, thinking exactly the same thing. He shook his head to clear it and examined the big house that came into view as Costa pulled in to
Moreno
's driveway.

Costa whistled.

"No kidding." Brady hadn't expected to find a bigger house than Moretti's but this place rivaled it. "Apple doesn't fall far from the tree in this case."

Costa parked in the long circle drive and they approached the front door of the white-pillared mansion.

Expecting a maid to answer the door, Brady was surprised when a nicely dressed, petite Italian woman appeared. Her thick, shoulder-length black hair made her appear younger than she probably was. "Teresa Moreno?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes." Her eyes belied the calm, outward appearance.

Brady saw fear in them, or at least a heavy dose of apprehension. He felt bad for one moment, then pushed through it and did what they were there to do. "I'm Detective Marshall of the W.P.D. This is my partner, Detective Costa."

"Is this about the security guard who was killed in the warehouse district? My husband talked to the police—"

"Not exactly, ma'am," Brady told her. "Although, I think Damon Jones' death was a by-product of the case we're working on. Someone is shipping drugs and stolen goods through several of the import/export companies in town. Whoever is doing it seems to have inside knowledge of how the companies work, which smells fishy. We keep hearing that no one would run such a gambit through his own company, which is possibly true, but nothing quite adds up. The deeper we dig, the worse the smell becomes."

"East Asian Imports is a perfectly legitimate business, Detective. I'm sure once you've looked through the books you'll see our company has nothing to hide."

Brady waved a hand. "Oh, I know. Honest as the day is long. I'm sure the books will prove you out. I'm just not sure where the real set of books are." He pulled another warrant from his pocket. "We're going to nose around here for a bit before we join our friends at the warehouse office."

She eyed the piece of paper as if it were a snake that might bite her. "I need to phone my husband."