Shadows of Deceit (A Series of Shadows) (23 page)

After a round of sincere thanks, Dillon drove Lou and Vinny home, running through everything they knew thus far during the ride. It was just after 3 a.m. when they pulled up in front of Lou’s house and she was astonished the experiment had taken so little time. Right as they left the airbase, Vinny had called Lopez, then Gearhard and neither had even the slightest clue that the helicopter had landed or taken off. Gearhard, who was positioned at Jane’s house, said that she heard something but decided that it was the pool equipment humming in the back yard. She saw the steam coming off the surface of the water when she checked out the window and decided that was it.

Lopez stated that he saw the wind pick up when the palm trees outside the master suite balcony started swaying at a good clip but wind was very common in that area. According to Lopez, everything remained normal and quiet inside for the duration of stake out. All in all the experiment was a complete success. Now they had to find the helicopter and whoever it belonged to.

By the time Lou climbed into bed her head was aching with all the unknowns. She was so grateful Dillon had suggested she and Vinny sleep in and that he would get all the balls rolling in the morning. She didn’t even try to fake arguing with him. Still, there was the whole other situation of the way Niko had looked at him, the way Max had paused when he shook his hand. Just before she lost consciousness, Lou decided that she needed to find some alone time with candidate number eight and ask him flat out what his deal was.

Max arrived back
at his suite to find a file on his bed. He took a quick shower to get rid of the smell of jet fuel that was clinging to him like mud then got ready for bed, pausing to pour himself a cognac along the way. It wasn’t exactly the norm for bedtime reading but answers were waiting for him in that file. When he opened it he saw all the data he had requested on Salvatore Rojas and his offspring.

Max knew Rojas had been executed in 1962 but he didn’t recall that the man was married or that he had two sons and a daughter. Having been found innocent of any wrong doing, Rojas’ family was relocated to Costa Rica and set up with a small business. The two sons found their way to Cuba several years later and vanished off the map. One of them returned to Costa Rica in 1986 to attend the funeral of his mother. He remained there and took over the family business. It was a quaint beach-side hotel that catered to a small but high end clientele. The sister, Magdalena Rojas, was only three years old when the family was relocated to Costa Rica but when her brother returned, Magdalena left and moved back to Colombia at age seventeen and was married Two years later. She gave birth to a daughter not long after the honeymoon was over. She had married Ernesto Vargas, a well known affiliate of the Jacinto drug cartel. Max only needed to think for a few seconds before he put it together. Ernesto Vargas was Carlos Vargas’ brother who just happened to be the Arcano corporate attorney.

It seemed far too coincidental that Salvatore Rojas’ daughter had married Ernesto Vargas and as he considered, their offspring could feasibly be Angela Boone. Max flipped through the pages to locate the child’s date of birth. August 5th, 1989. That made her 23 years old, exactly the same age as Angela, the charred corpse that was sitting in the morgue. There was little else on the girl, which wasn’t too surprising as it was normal for cartel members to keep their families off the grid as much as possible. It appeared that Ernesto had sent his wife and daughter to live in Santa Marta Colombia, Magdalena to be specific which made Max laugh. Send your wife Magdalena to live in Magdalena, that way he probably couldn’t forget where he put her. Whatever the reason, their daughter, Adrianna, apparently lived her entire childhood there until her mother died in 2005. Adrianna had only just turned sixteen. With Ernesto forced to finally care for his daughter himself, Max could only imagine the sort of life she lived for those two years.

Max needed absolute confirmation that the remains were in fact Adrianna Vargas which would prove she had been posing as Angela Boone. He needed some way of getting that information to Lou in a way that she could use it. He started sifting through all the pages and saw a sticky note tacked to the back of the file. He took a gulp of his cognac and read what he recognized as Abby’s writing.

“
I am already on it so go to sleep. The information is being sent from the hospital in Magdalena. Ernesto had his wife and daughter’s DNA kept on file for identification purposes. I presume because being married to him and having him as a father was inherently hazardous to your health.

-Abby XO”

Max grinned when he finished reading. It was just like her to already be on top of things. With any luck they would have what Lou needed by lunch. One last sip of cognac and Max set the glass on the night table. All things considered, it had been a good day with being able to help Lou with her case. There was still a tenuous feeling of dread with the small thread that lead to the Sanguinostri connection. He didn’t believe in coincidences so it was very likely that something bad was afoot here. As he turned off the bedside lamp and laid back in bed, Max said a silent prayer that whatever that something was, it was something that was manageable.

In her infinite wisdom, Abby had seen fit to contact the Sanguinostri
agent at the National Police regional office in Barranquilla, Colombia as soon as she caught the connection to Salvatore Rojas’ granddaughter. The agent was less than three hours away from Santa Marta and assured her that he would dig into Adrianna Vargas immediately. It was a little touchy not going through the North American Aegis Council, but it seemed like an innocuous enough request that she could take the heat if anyone got huffy with her.

By the time she got her morning coffee, Abby had data waiting in the fax machine and the last known photograph of Adrianna Vargas was in her email inbox. She wasted no time in sending Caroline the contact information for the agent and recommended that she run the print through the National Civil Registry, or the RNEC as it was known to the locals in Colombia. Between the two, Caroline was certain to pull a legitimate identification that she could use. Hopefully, she would do it quick.

“You want to hear something really warped?” Frank padded in to the living room of the suite that he and Abby shared and she could not help but stare at him.

“More warped than a two-hundred year old man wearing Cookie Monster pajamas?” She peered at him over the rim of her mug.

“What?” He looked down at himself. “Oh sure! Asks the three-hundred year old woman who collects Barbie dolls on like a creepy huge scale.” He shuffled into the kitchenette, muttering under his breath.

“They are collector’s items!” Abby shouted at him.

“You don’t hold fully catered tea parties for dolls you collect, Abby.” Frank snickered.

“It was her fiftieth birthday!” She protested and decided she did not like Frank today.

“What are you two...” Connor walked in and stopped dead in his tracks when he caught site of Frank in his pajamas. “Really?”

Abby snorted, ending coffee shooting out her nose. Connor just rolled his eyes while Frank brought Abby a dish towel so she could clean herself up.

“Thanks.” She said as she mopped herself dry. “Now, what were you saying about something warped?”

Frank suddenly remembered what he was going to say when he first walked in the room. “Oh yeah! Well, from what Niko said about Arcano and Boone chick, Rojas, Vargas or whoever she is, they broke up in Costa Rica right? But they had visited there like four times or something?”

“Right.” Abby was listening intently.

Frank continued. “They broke up because he caught her cheating with some unknown guy, right?”

“Right.” She repeated. “I did a little checking and the resort they stayed at all four times, is the Rojas place. You’re not saying she was screwing around with her own uncle?” Abby started to feel her skin crawling.

“He’s saying that she was bringing Arcano back to her mother’s side of the family business.” Connor was frowning. “We need to find out if Manuel Rojas knew she was his niece or if she was working some angle on her own. For all we know he had never met her. Or, hadn’t seen her in years and with the plastic surgery, he may have not recognized her.”

“Max will want to talk to Victor directly about that and have his Council look into it.” Abby had pushed the envelope enough already. “I’ll go ask him to handle it.” She got up and walked across the hall.

The doors to Max’s balcony were wide open and she could see him and Niko sitting out on the terrace. It was a magnificent spring morning to say the least and the two men were laughing and enjoying coffee when Abby approached.

“Good morning Miss LaRue.” Niko greeted her with a mischievous smile.

Abby grinned and sat down in an empty chair. “Good morning to you as well.”

“Want some coffee?” Max asked her.

“No thanks, I already had enough this morning.” She would be smelling coffee for the rest of the day. “We have a little issue.”

Max nodded in understanding. “You mean Boone taking Arcano to her family resort for their anniversary every year?”

“You caught that too?” Abby shouldn’t have been surprised.

“Yes, and so did Lou. She called Niko about an hour ago asking him about it.” Max was not happy about the connection. “I didn’t tell you to forward a copy of the file to her.”

Abby was a little confused. “No, not specifically but I assumed this was information you would want her to have.”

“Why Abby?” Max furrowed his brow as he looked at her. “I found the familial match through records that you are not even allowed access to. Why do you think I would want the entire Rojas background given to Lou?” Abby’s mouth moved but no words came out. “Lou needs an identification, that is all she asked for. That was restricted information not readily available not to mention totally irrelevant to her case. I want her to get used to her position, dealing with other Principates and agents but there is a very distinct line between her as a detective and her role as Principate. She needs to learn that destination first, before you give her things like this.”

“I understand that but this is a little daunting for her first case, don’t you think?” Abby looked at him with concern.

“That’s what I said.” Niko groaned. “She hasn’t even been formally introduced to the other Councils yet. Making her navigate this minefield her first time out is a little cruel. Especially since we don’t know if the South American Council has screwed up or even might be involved in this mess.”

“Precisely why giving her that data was unacceptable.” Max was clearly annoyed.

Max and Niko had discussed all of this before Abby had arrived and were still at odds over it. Niko had trained Lou on the protocols and she was going to have to jump in at some point. They had agreed they would wait until they had confirmation that Angela Boone was absolutely Adrianna Vargas before they decided on the next step to take and Max was going to honor that.

“Whether the South American Council or Victor himself is complicit in something here is our job to investigate right now. As far as we know none of this is relevant to Lou’s case. It just muddies the waters. Once we have confirmation the woman pretending to be Boone really is Vargas, then we have cause to proceed.” Max clarified. “All we have right now is a familial match and circumstantial evidence. So we wait.”

Abby understood his point but she was certain they were right about Boone. “Caroline will call as soon as she has confirmation.”

The photo emailed to Abby during the night would be helpful, especially with the facial reconstruction that was being done. If the model Caroline’s team came up with resembled the picture, that would be enough for them to proceed with proper cause.

“We need to remember this is Lou’s case. The Sheriff’s Department’s.” Max looked at both Niko and Abby sternly. “If this arrangement is going to work, we need to let Lou be Lou. She has access to the same resources you do, for the most part. She needs to figure them out and get comfortable doing so without feeling the need to call you two or Frank five times a day.”

“She just doesn’t want to screw up!” Abby protested.

“I understand that but we are dealing with psychological issues here!” Max got up and paced a moment before he continued. “With her indoctrination and then what happened with Albert, there is a psychological factor here. It is critical to keeping Lou who she was before we barged into her world.” Max raked his fingers through his hair as he thought carefully about how to explain himself. “Lou, before us, was not afraid of screwing up! She was the first to bust in the door, make the tough calls, consequences be damned! Everything she has been through in the past several weeks could ruin all of that if we are constantly there holding her hand through each step. If we allow her to second guess herself or to be shy about doing what she has always done, she will never get back to normal!”

“I get it.” Niko finally understood. “He’s one-thousand percent right Abby. If we are a constant security blanket for her, Lou will never get her balls back.”

Abby hadn’t considered the situation from this angle and it was the most important angle of all. Max was definitely right. “So, I shouldn’t have contacted our guy at the National Police huh?”

“She would have gone there eventually.” Max tried to be gentle. “Passing her the data that you got on Salvatore Rojas and his family tree may prove helpful to her, but it also clouds the situation. This was working back to front, not front to back the way Lou needs to work in order to make her case. She has to do things the way she always has. If she needs our help, she will undoubtedly ask for it. Rojas being a criminal the Sanguinostri is a complicating factor and will draw her focus. She’s going to assume that is what this whole case is about and quite possibly miss the actual target.”

“Wait a minute.” Niko stopped Max there. “When a cop is looking at a suspect they look at their prior history to see if they pulled something similar in the past.”

“Exactly my point!” Max tossed up his hands. “Three decapitated bodies that have no Sanguinostri ties other than we knew that they were thugs. Arcano burned to a crisp in his ex-girlfriend’s beach house with her next to him. That’s what she should be working from. How do Salvatore’s crime’s actually help Lou with her suspect profile in this instance?”

“It just stirs more into the pot.” Abby acknowledged. “Confuses things. If they identified the woman on her own, they would have followed her identity to find the connection, then a reason for the crime. Not take a connection and fit the crime to work with it. This is about as hard as finding a dress to match a pair of shoes, instead of the other way around.”

“Only you would come up with a shopping analogy to make sense of this.” Niko chuckled at her.

“But she’s right.” Max gently tugged on one of Abby’s pigtails. “Now you understand why I am bothered?”

Abby sighed and nodded. “I do.”

“We agree we need to let Lou have room to work all of this out on her own terms?” He asked her.

“We agree.” Abby got up from her seat and started to head inside.

“Are you mad at me now?” Max didn’t like that he had driven the spunk out of her.

She stopped and turned to look at him. “No, I am mad at myself. I’m going to go take it out on Frank and explain this to him.” With that, Abby turned around and left.

“I know you are right, as usual.” Niko admitted as he lit one of his signature cigarettes. “It’s just with everything that’s going on. Lou’s rehab, going back to work, her getting a new partner, Vinny and all, it just seems like it could be pretty overwhelming for her.”

Max grinned at Niko. “You getting soft in you’re old age?”

“No. I just like her. A lot.” Niko admitted.

“Do I have competition here?” Max raised an eyebrow.

Niko laughed at him. “Not like that! She’s kind of a cross between you and Abby. Not girlie like Abby but not a straight up dude like you. You know what I mean? She’s become a good friend. I want to keep her is all.”

“As do I.” Max agreed as he sat back down. “Which is why I don’t want to give her any reason to look at us in a bad light. I realize everyone has their ups and downs but we are held to a higher standard, especially where Lou is concerned. Understand?”

“Yeah, I do. I got it.” Niko looked out over the city and finished his cigarette without another word to Max.

It was indeed a complicated situation for them and it was easy to forget that Lou had only been a part of their family for a short time. Taking things for granted and assuming that Lou would just go with everything without a hitch was neither realistic nor fair. It had to be on her terms, not theirs.

It is no
accident that the first definition that pops up in the World English Dictionary for the word
sanguine
is cheerful and confident; optimistic. For the most part the definition summed up every Sanguinostri Lou had met so far. Who wouldn’t be cheery and optimistic if they were virtually indestructible and a genius to boot? However, for Lou, there was far more to it than that. Elegant, thoughtful and fierce were words she was adding to her own definition.

She could have slept in until 10 a.m. if she wanted but Lou had gotten up at 7:00 a.m., showered, dressed and then got to work. Abby had emailed her a file and it had her mind reeling. Trying to sort out all of the information about Salvatore Rojas, his sons Juan and Manuel, then his daughter Magdalena was just confusing the situation. Lou set the file aside and grabbed hold of the one thread she could grasp. The female body they had thought was Angela Boone had a familial DNA match to the owner of the resort that she and Casius had stayed at. That was all Lou needed for now and that was where she was going to tug. She would leave the identification to Caroline and the lab while she looked deeper into Costa Rica, the resort and her headless Salazar brothers. That was where she smelled a serious break coming. If she could place Esterhuizen in Costa Rica too, she would be golden.

It was 10:20 a.m. when Lou’s phone rang and she saw by the caller I.D. that it was Caroline.

“What have you got for me girlie?” Lou answered.

“We have a positive identification. Our girl is Adrianna Vargas, without question.” Caroline informed her.