Old Growth & Ivy (The Spook Hills Trilogy Book 1) (26 page)

"That's right," Steve
said.  "We'll set a trap.  We have a rat infestation."

With that, they trooped back up to
their trailers.  Fred and Mathew headed for Fred's trailer to get his
blankets so he could be somewhat comfortable on the floor in Mathew’s
trailer.  Before they parted, Steve gave them one of his stern
looks.  "From now on, nobody and I mean nobody, goes anywhere
alone.  Not to the house, not to town, not to the fields, not even to take
a crap."

This was a grim new twist.  For
Astuto to pick on a young man like Fred showed a lack of scruples that bad
perps had.  That not speaking Mexican-style Spanish was interesting. 
While it still left of big world of Spanish speakers, it confirmed their new
theory that Astuto was Cuban.  Mathew wondered what Steve had in mind for
the trap -- likely nothing yet, although he would have a plan by morning. 

Fred took some time settling down in
his bedroll but after twenty minutes he was sound asleep on the floor. 
Mathew checked for his own knife under his pillow and then glanced over at his
gun on the ledge by his bed.   He decided to reposition the trailers
the next day to get them closer together with fewer sides exposed.  They
would also need to start searching delivery vans.  He fell asleep making a
mental list of changes for their protection and for the security of their
vineyard as well.

***

On Friday afternoon, Ivy found herself
unable to concentrate on the research.  The weather was surprisingly warm
that day and she was a bit sleepy as the October sun streamed in through the
barn doors, bathing her in its golden light.  She was finding that their
lives had a schizophrenic quality as they lived in the shadows of the contrast
between their bucolic vineyard retreat and their work to catch this possible
triumvirate of drug lords.  Steve and Mathew found incidents in the Miami
area that met some of their criteria, but none involved twin brothers and
another sibling.  They had exhausted the online systems in major cities
and were researching an additional five-year span on either side of their
target age for Astuto.  Ivy was beginning to think this theory was pure
conjecture spun out on wine and good food and no more than that, but Steve was
determined to explore all aspects.  She admired him for his commitment
even though the work was certainly tedious. 

The two men were planning some kind of
trap for the 'bad hombres' who went after Fred, but they were not sharing it
with her.  She decided to see if she could provoke a reaction from Steve.

Secure
Email from Ivy Littleton, October 11, 2013

Steve,
I have tried to have this conversation with you about what you are planning to
thwart an attack by the perps, but you always play innocent or laugh it
off.  Consequently as you suggested while I was traveling, if we cannot
talk about a topic then we will email each other.  I sense that you and Mathew
are planning some maneuver that you are hiding from me. 

If
you do not trust me enough to make me part of your plans, I can accept
that.  I will be hurt, but I can understand.  If you think you will
protect me by keeping me in the dark, then you are very wrong.  I worry
the most about what I don't know.  If you are contemplating something so
dangerous that it will not get my buy-in, then maybe you had better give that
some thought.  You are not back to 100%.  Mathew still has a slight
limp that limits his agility.  You need to leave the dangerous missions to
active agents.  Do you really want to leave me a widow before you even
marry me? If you cannot tell me what you are planning, let me know how
dangerous it will be.  You owe me that.

By
the way, we have to catch these creeps so we can set a wedding date.  Our
house should be ready to occupy by the first of December.  I so want to
have the celebratory party when we have our new home decorated for
Christmas.  If we are lucky, that evening will be a little cool and you
can take me on a magic carpet ride by the fire in our bedroom on the new
sheepskin rug, as well as spend time christening our new bed.

With impatient
love, Ivy

Secure Email
from Steve Nielsen, October 11, 2013

Ms.
Vine, around four this afternoon, you and I will leave Fred and Mathew behind,
take a walk up to our little grove of walnut trees to have some ‘us time’
sitting on the grass up there.  I will tell you then what we are
planning.  Could I talk you into bringing along a thermos of hot chocolate
and some cookies?

Mathew
and I do trust you, but we want to get this scheme worked out in our own minds
before we let you poke holes in it.  I have setup a secure casebook, which
includes scenarios for trapping rodents.  If our plan holds up to the
"Ivy Test", I'll give you access to the casebook.

Wow,
Ivy -- I may need to order some Viagra to keep up (so to speak) with your plans
for our wedding night.  I can't wait to get out of that trailer and
feeling fully fit again.  I think we should start doubling up on our
exercises -- uh, at least the ones from physical therapy.

Lovingly,
Steve

Text from Ivy
to Steve, Same Day

C U
LTR
.  NO V
DRG
.  TK U
AS U R.  LV IVY

***

Mathew too was reaching the end of his
patience with living in his trailer.  Having Fred sleeping on the floor
and sharing meals with him did not help.  Even though Fred was a great
kid, living together was too cozy for comfort.  If Mathew even belched,
Fred would laugh.  Just that day Mathew had seen a pretty woman on a bicycle
down on the road.  He and Fred were out for a periodic survey of the
property, sampling the soil by the end of the driveway where they would do a
late planting of a different variety of white burgundy grapes once they arrived
from France in the next couple of days.  The woman on the bike looked over
at Mathew, smiled and gave a wave as she went by.  She even glanced back
over her shoulder at him.

Mathew could not imagine why.  He
had a two-day stubble, his shirt was grimy from wresting with the bucket on the
tractor and his baggy shorts were anything but flattering.  She was maybe
thirty with long, dark, straight hair blowing out behind her.  Riding as
she was in cutoff jeans, a tee shirt and old-fashioned sneakers, she made a
pleasing image.  She had a nice figure, tall and slim.  Mathew
wondered who she was, where she lived and if she happened to be single. 
This was not a good time for him to get involved.  He wondered if there
would ever be one.

Fred teased him about the woman. 
He did an imitation of Mathew with his jaw dropped open for Steve and
Ivy.  Mathew liked Fred, but he noticed every little thing and lacked an
internal censor on making fun.  Even so, something about that pretty woman
captured his attention and he decided to find out who she was. 

The next morning, as each of them was
again wondering if their theory on the three brothers was a dead-end, Steve let
out a yell of victory.

"Hey, quick!  Check this
out.  Mathew, get the lights."

He jumped up to connect his laptop to
the projector that they had rigged up to shine on an improvised screen made
from an ironed white sheet hung on the barn wall.  Mathew slid the barn
doors shut.  They had enough light from the windows to operate and still
see any projected computer images.

The police records of an abduction of
a ten-year-old boy came up on the screen.  Steve juggled the windows on
his laptop to display two other pieces of information -- a news story and a
county birth certificate.  The short news coverage read:

Miami Herald,
The
(FL)

October
8, 1985

Section:
Front

Edition:
Final

Page:
22A

Missing Boy Found
Near Death

Miami Herald Staff Report

The
missing boy, Eduardo Fuentes of Hialeah, abducted 10 days ago has been found
alive and is under treatment for broken bones, burns and lacerations in
Palmetto General Hospital in Hialeah.  When he was walking home from
school, a roving drug gang out of Miami kidnapped the boy.  He was held
captive in a house used for drug packaging in the
Opa
Locka
area.  The reason for the boy's detention
is unknown.  Police sources indicated that he had been subjected to
extensive physical abuse inflicted over the time he was missing.  He was
also suffering from water and food deprivation.  The house was deserted
when the police arrived after receiving an anonymous tip.  They found the
boy locked in a closet, bound, gagged and near death.  They also
discovered the remains of a drug operation.  They continue to search for
those responsible. 

His
mother and brothers appreciate the community's support in the search for the
boy.  They ask for prayers for his recovery.

Copyright (c) 1985
The
Miami Herald

"If this is Astuto, it means that
he is only 39," Steve said excitedly.  "This incident of extreme
duress happened when he was 10.  Assuming he started working on the drug
operation when he was 20, in less than the same number of years he was able to
put together a powerful drug cartel, set up effective money laundering schemes
and become very wealthy, although to what extent can only be guessed."

"You find anything on his
parents?"  Ivy asked.

"Dad died at 50 from lung cancer,
if I found the right obit." He fiddled with the windows and up popped the
obituary.  It sure sounded right based on the survivors:

".
. . Alejándro is survived by his wife, Marista (née Machado), and his three
sons, Cristo, Cruze and Eduardo.

"And the mother?"

"Died in 2008 of complications
from an aneurism.  Here's that obit."

Marista Fuentes had been living in
Coral Gables.  The three sons were listed as survivors.  A private
memorial service had been held and the mother buried next to the father in
Hialeah.  

Mathew was staring at the screen.
"Wait a minute.  Those names -- Cristo, Cruze and Eduardo. 
CCE
.  That was the name of the charitable foundation
where the money went after it was siphoned off in Zurich."

"Bingo!" Steve shouted with
a grin of triumph.  "Now to factually link them to known crimes, and
then run each one of them to ground."  

He leaned back in his chair, gazed up
at the rafters and allowed himself a moment of victory before rocking back down
and saying.  "Finally, we may have something concrete on who these
perps are.  Thank you Ivy.  Your creative thinking that led us down
this path.  Your work and contributions have shown sides of you that
otherwise might have remained hidden from me, such as your tenacity, your
dedication to what has been tedious work, and your determination to see it
through."

Then he turned to Mathew. 
"Mathew, I so appreciate that you stayed with this when you would rather
be into your new life, out in your vineyards, and starting the plans for our
wine production facility.  You stuck with this even when you thought it
was a dead end.  Heck I even was beginning to think we were off
track."

Steve brought up a blank word
document, inserted a table and they began brainstorming next steps and
assigning tasks.  While they were putting up the task list, he called
Brian and Moll to see if they would leave on short notice for Florida to handle
research on the ground.  They also had to search for links between the
Fuentes and the drug and money laundering companies they had identified. 
Mathew found it interesting that the mother's obit failed to mention any
daughter-in-laws or grandchildren. 

"We have to catch them or we will
spend our lives waiting for the next blow." Mathew clenched his jaw so
tightly with determination it started to hurt.  "Let's hope this
leads somewhere."

"It will," Steve said. 
"All the right signs are there.  How about dinner out tonight? 
Brian and Moll are on their way down, so it can be us three, the two of them
and Fred."

"Steve, I'll stay here.  I
don't think we should all be away at one time."

Steve frowned and said. 
"Damn.  You're right.  How about we order in and two of us go
pick it up?  It's not ideal, but we'll make it fun."

While they were a long way from
nailing the perps, they had a possible direction.  Once they could find
the current location for one of the Fuentes, they would confirm that they had
found the right three brothers.  For now, they had to get their names run
through the available government databases to see if they could find more
information.  They each wanted this hunt done and over to get on with
their new lives.   Now the hard part of the case began -- finding the
brothers and proving that together they constituted El Zorro Astuto.

***

Out in the barn, Mathew and Fred
pushed the worktables together.  Ivy went through boxes and dugout a long
tablecloth and napkins, and then she and Fred went out to gather late
wildflowers, which they strung into a sort of vine of white, yellow, blue and
fuchsia woven along the center of the table.  Steve pulled chairs up to
the table, put champagne on ice and placed glasses in a picnic basket, while
Mathew chilled bottles of pinot gris and chardonnay and set out bottles of
pinot noir. 

Once Brian and Moll arrived, they took
some crostini that Ivy cobbled together along with the champagne up to the
little walnut grove.  They toasted their success and then called in an
order to a local restaurant, which Mathew and Brian drove down to Dundee to
pick up, including entrees, salads and desserts.  Once they returned, they
laid the food out on the table in the barn, eating picnic style out of the cartons
and sharing bits with each other.  Moll added music, drawing from the
eclectic collection on his iPod that he hooked up to small speakers, which
often included perky Celtic dance tunes and more gentle tones of a solitary
harp.

Fred was much taken with Moll, egging
him on during dinner to tell his outlandish versions of work at the
Bureau.  In particular, Moll's fatuous imitations of Steve gave everyone
much needed entertainment.  For the first time since the shooting at the
Portland house, Ivy laughed whole-heartedly and that made the dinner special
for Steve.  The evening cooled down as they ate, talked, drank and
laughed.  By ten o'clock, they were ready for bed, with Moll and Brian
opting to bunk down in Fred's trailer and drive out early to catch their flight
to Miami.  Once they completed the investigative work in Florida, Steve
planned to spring their trap for the hired guns of the perps.  The scheme
they devised would be simple to carry out, nicely devilish, and they hoped
foolproof.

***

On Sunday afternoon, Ivy took herself
on a walk through the house, reviewing the computerized layout of the
furnishings that Steve created and verifying that it would all work
together.   The floors and tiling were almost completed.  The
exterior and landscaping were all finished.  Mathew and Steve had been
great at convincing the contractor to do work simultaneously where the housing
inspection process would allow it.  She was looking forward to being out
of the trailers and into her new home with Steve, but they still had Astuto to
contend with.  So much was riding on what Brian and Moll might find out in
Florida. 

Perhaps her favorite space in her new
home would be the inviting glass conservatory with its grey-blue split granite
pavers, situated between the garage and the kitchen.  While Steve's idea
was for her to grow herbs for year-round use, she also planned to put a couple
of oversized chairs and ottomans between the pots of herbs, along with a
serving table for afternoon tea or glasses of wine.

Steve planned a workout area
downstairs by the lap pool, with enough space for a few pieces of equipment,
some free weights and a couple of mats.  While he had been hesitant to
spend the money on himself for the lap pool, once Ivy indicated she would use
it to stay fit in the winter months, his reluctance vanished.  She still
thought of it as Steve's pool, but she liked the prospect of skinny-dipping
with Steve in the moonlight.  She breathed in deeply, enjoying the new
smell of the house, using the moment to renew her resolve to help find and
apprehend the three brothers. 

***

Two days later while they were working
in the barn, Steve laid his cell phone down on his desk and motioned Ivy and
Mathew over.  Brian had called from Florida and he and Moll were on
speaker. 

"Okay London.  Mathew and
Ivy are here.  Repeat what you told me."

"We found a mailing address on
file with the Mother's will and other papers," Brian said, sounding
breathless in his excitement.  "It is the same for each of the three
brothers -- one Post Office box in Santa Fe, New Mexico."

"That's unexpected!"
interjected Mathew.

"One of you book a flight to
Santa Fe to go undercover," said Steve.

"Already bagged a flight
Chief," came Moll's blasé voice. 

"I'll arrange with the Postmaster
to add you to the postal staff.  Work there until the Fuentes mail is
picked up, then follow whoever comes in.  I will overnight tracking
devices to you along with some software via the Postmaster.  Get the
tracker on the vehicle of whoever picks up the mail.  This will be a no
contact situation -- only surveillance.  Understand?"

"Yeah."

"Don't get spotted.  We do
not want to tip off the perps.  Make yourself blend in -- take a short
term apartment; buy clothes like the locals, etc."

"He's already reverting to the
surfer look here in the Miami sun," Brian said with a laugh.

"Good.  In the post office,
we will set you up as coming from a smaller location that is rapidly expanding
due to new housing developments.  You will be there to learn the ropes of
how a larger postal unit operates.   Only the Postmaster will be
informed that you are FBI.  Don't let anyone suspect which mailbox you are
watching.  Be prepared for this to take some time.  The mail could be
picked up in a day or a week or a month or longer."

"Got it, Chief.  Worse
places to cool my heels than Santa Fe."

"Brian, did you drive by where
the Mother lived?"

"Not yet.  Will do that
next.   Do you want me to talk to neighbors?"

"No.  Let's not draw any
attention.  What else is left?"

"That’s about it here Chief, unless
you have other ideas."

"Fly out today, but go to a city
outside the Northwest and stay overnight.  Then catch a flight for
here."

Ivy smiled at the way Brian and Moll
called Steve "Chief" when they were on a case, in the same way that
Steve always referred to the Director of the FBI as "The
Chief".  She decided she would do the same to see how Steve would
react.

***

On Thursday they sat in the darkened
barn.  Brian had rejoined them and they were going over what they
accumulated about the Fuentes so far.  Their research turned up some very
old crimes on the twins dating to when they were in high school.  Most
were minor issues like carjacking, although one drug dealing charge was on file
against Cruze when he was a minor, for which he served a year in a juvenile
detention center.  After that, nothing new turned up.  None of them
had passports under their birth names.  DMV records in New Mexico and
Florida failed to show any driver's licenses, making it likely that they used
false IDs inside the United States as well as when traveling internationally.

Brian had copies of the photos of the
Fuentes twins from their high school yearbooks, but could not find one for
Eduardo.  They would have the Bureau age the faces in those photos
electronically and then compare them to the phony passports.  While the
United States now requires fingerprints on visas for non-U.S. citizens to enter
the United States, obtaining a regular U.S. passport lacked this
requirement.  Forged documents would be required to get the passport or
the passport could be forged as well.  Bogus passports were trickier these
days with online verifications to the federal database, but still possible to
obtain.