Shadows of Deceit (A Series of Shadows) (6 page)

“I’m not sure. I can call and ask him?” Now that Shevaun thought about it, she should have asked. “Shouldn’t his replacement be vetted by Max’s people? I mean, how would an outsider work exactly? That will be tricky, won’t it?”

“I kinda expected them to filter someone in, ya know?” Lou yelled from her closet, looking for something decent to wear.

“None of the guys have said anything have they?”

“No. I would have heard something by now. I think.” Lou found a decent pair of yoga pants and a light sweater that would do. She stuffed herself into them and emerged from the closet, open arms, looking for her mother’s approval.

“That’s cute.” Shevaun was pleasantly surprised. “Might want to put on a headband though. Your hair is a little mussed. Some make-up would be nice too.”

Lou made a bee-line for the bathroom and saw exactly what her mother was talking about. Lou had fallen asleep in the chair outside before she blew her hair dry so the left side was completely plastered flat to her head and the other half was so frizzed that it stood horizontally away from her scalp. It was beyond salvaging. She stuck her head underneath the sink faucet and started over.

Dillon had followed
Vinny’s instructions to the letter arriving at Lost Hills Sheriff’s station and finding an empty desk to work in under twelve minutes. He was typing away on his laptop by the time Vinny arrived and was already pulling up data on Casius Arcano’s business so that they could get a better picture of who they were dealing with. While it was another check in Dillon’s favor, Vinny was still not convinced. It was going to take more than good manners and initiative to qualify him as a suitable partner for Lou.

“You got anything yet?” Vinny asked as he dumped his stuff on the desk opposite Dillon.

“Arcano’s business is quite something.” Dillon leaned back in his chair and studied the data scrolling across his computer screen. “I didn’t realize what a pain in the ass coffee import and export was. I’m printing out local contact information now but there’s a lot of government involvement in the coffee business. Colombian coffee in particular.”

“Figures.” Vinny checked his cellphone for any messages. “Government has it’s nose in everything, why would my coffee be any different.”

“It’s not just our government, it’s the Colombian government.” Dillon knew it was a rhetorical question but he felt he needed to expand on Vinny’s thought a bit. “There is a whole business association dedicated to Colombian coffee production, standards, regulations, protection. They lobbied for the protected designation of origin from the European Union and got it back in 2007. In 2009 though, the Colombian Government took over their coffee imports. That had to really mess with Arcano’s family business.”

“Great, we got the Colombian government to add to our list of suspects.” Vinny thought he needed to start appreciating his coffee a little more. “OK, start making calls and setting up meets with these people. I’ll start calling this list of guests that Jane gave us. See how many people we can interview in one day.”

“We gonna start a pool on that?” Dillon looked over the top of his laptop at Vinny, hoping that he got the joke.

“Maybe, smart ass.” Vinny liked that Dillon had a sense of humor. Another plus in his favor. “One pot at a time.”

It only took ten minute for Dillon to line up meetings with Casius Arcano’s top men at the Los Angeles Arcano Imports corporate office. Arcano’s right hand man, Peer Taylor was well prepared and had expected the call. He and all relevant parties were more than happy to meet that afternoon at their offices, along with their corporate council, of course. This was good for Dillon because now he had names and the time to get some background on them so he and Vinny were better prepared. He knew it was going to be tricky with the diplomacy angle given they were a Colombian based outfit. With their government having their fingers in the pie, treading carefully was critical so that Dillon and Vinny didn’t get doors slammed in their faces. Once a diplomatic flag was waved, they would be screwed.

When Vinny’s cell phone rang, Dillon could not help looking at the clock. It was 9:58 a.m. and he still had a shot at it being Lou, thus securing his sweep on the pool. What a coup that would be to win his first day out. Dillon was well aware he would never live it down but he was willing to deal with that.

“Hey kiddo.” Vinny answered his phone and grimaced. Before Dillon could even snicker, Vinny pulled the hundred dollar bill he had gotten from the ATM from his pocket and threw it across the desk. Dillon didn’t mean to laugh out loud, but he did.

“Who’s that laughing?” Lou could hear the hearty guffaws through the phone but it didn’t sound familiar.

“What? Oh that’s just candidate number eight getting a little too comfortable. One sec.” Vinny stuffed his cell under his armpit and scowled at Dillon. “Make yourself useful and get us some coffee before I stuff that bill up your nose, smart ass.”

“Sir, absolutely.” Dillon caught himself and regained his composure. “I am so sorry, I...”

“Yeah yeah, coffee.” Vinny cut him off and waved him on before he resumed his conversation with Lou. “OK, I’m back.”

“Well?” Lou got straight to the point.

“Well what? Candidate number eight or the case?”

“Both, actually.” She was more interested in the candidate if truth be told.

“You know I can’t discuss the case with you.” Vinny looked around the room to see who was within earshot. “I’ll fill you in when I bring lunch.” He whispered into the phone. “Cole, Dillon Cole is his name. I only got a sec before he comes back but I think I want to bring him with me. He’s got a shot.”

“Really?” Lou was definitely surprised to hear Vinny was optimistic about this one. He had nothing but crap to say about the previous contenders.

“Yeah. I’d like to see what you think. Shevaun too. This is a complicated gig since your family comes with the package.”

“Alright, if you think it’s worth it. Bring him. Bring me a copy of his file too would you?” She wanted to find out who this guy was on paper at least.

“I just emailed it to you like five minutes ago. He’s sharp. Not what you’d expect when you’re going strictly by what’s in his file. I’d swear he’s got military in his background somewhere.”

“I’ll give it a read before you get here.” Lou was already heading for her computer. “What are you bringing for lunch?”

“Gotta make it quick so am thinkin chili dogs.” Vinny checked his watch. They were meeting the Arcano executives at 2 p.m. downtown so he was calculating the travel time in his head. “We’ll be there by 11:30 a.m. but we need to head out by no later than 12:45 p.m. to make it to our interviews. It’s Sunday but traffic is still gonna suck and I gotta check in with Caroline before we head out and see if we got I.D.’s on our vics yet.”

“Vics? Plural?” Lou was trying to drag some information out of him.

“Three. That’s all you’re getting so quit it.” Vinny could see Dillon coming back from the breakroom with two Styrofoam cups. “Here comes eight so I gotta go. See ya in a bit.”

“Four chili and cheese only.” She put in her order. “Two for me, two for mom.”

“Got it.” Vinny already knew what they wanted so he didn’t even bother writing it down. He ended the call and stuffed his cell back into his jacket pocket.

“One of the guys brought caramel macchiato creamer from home.” Dillon sat Vinny’s cup in front of him then took his seat. “It’s one of my favorites, hope that was good for you too?”

“Seriously?” Vinny eyeballed Dillon for several seconds. Only his wife and Lou knew he was a caramel macchiato addict. This seemed a little too coincidental for Vinny’s detective radar.

“I’ll get you plain black.” Dillon started to get up.

“No.” Vinny grabbed his cup and sniffed the aroma. “I like the caramel. Thanks.”

“You ever try hazelnut with the caramel?”

“No. I burned out on hazelnut a couple years ago. My wife was grinding hazelnut bean and using hazelnut creamer too. Way too much.” Candidate number eight was looking too good to be true. If this kept up, Vinny was going to have to have
the
talk with him soon. It was a solid twenty minutes drive to Lou’s, excluding the stop for hot dogs. Vinny figured he would have enough time to go over all the rules on Lou with Dillon on the way. The rules were absolute, in Vinny’s book, and there was no room for error or compromise. Those rules were the deal breaker. “Hey, where you living?” Vinny asked as he mentally went over his checklist.

“Right now, just an extended stay place in Woodland Hills. I’m looking for a place though. I’d really like to get a house. I’m not an apartment or condo guy. You got any suggestions?” Dillon was hell bent on having a yard so he could get dogs. What he had seen of the city and the west side hadn’t seemed a right fit for him. He really liked the area around Lost Hills but he hadn’t been seriously looking. He didn’t want to count his chickens before they hatched..

“You should look in the north west valley.” Provided Vinny decided to keep him, having Dillon within close proximity to Lou would be a huge plus. “It’s a buyer’s market right now. We got three houses for sale on our street alone.”

“You must really like me Boss.” Dillon snickered. “Now ya want me as a neighbor? I’m flattered.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. Was just sayin’ is all.” Vinny shook his head and proceeded to start his phone calls. “You’re a funny guy there, sport.”

Dillon just smiled and got back to work. Getting too familiar too soon could ruin everything but Vinny seemed to appreciate his sense of humor. This was a fine line and a critical position for Dillon and he really didn’t want to blow it.

The lab had little to nothing to tell Vinny. No prints or trace were found inside the house save for industrial cleaning products that were used by nearly every janitorial service in the country. That was the nothing. The little part was that the tests Dillon had asked them to run came back affirmative for jet fuel, just as he predicted. The photographs that he requested also came up aces and those were being messengered over later that afternoon. The tech that Vinny spoke to said that the photos had indeed revealed residual heat signatures consistent with Dillon’s theory. As ridiculous as it seemed, a helicopter had landed in that spot sometime within thirty-six hours prior to taking the photos. A more precise time frame was impossible given the ambient temperature fluctuations over the weekend and the material of the patio itself. The stone was known for retaining heat so the helicopter could have been set down for only five minutes ten hours prior or it could have been sitting there for a solid hour two days before. The only thing that helped the tech narrow things down was the jet fuel residue on the plants. The concentration amounts found was consistent with the automatic sprinklers having gone off once only. The timers were set for the sprinklers to go off at 6 a.m. and the deputies that locked down the scene shut them down before they could go off Sunday morning. That meant that the sprinklers had only gone through their 6 a.m. Saturday morning cycle since the helicopter had landed which further tightened up their window of opportunity. Caroline closed the window a little tighter with confirming time of death as being between 11 p.m. Friday night and 6 a.m. Saturday morning. Although there was no air conditioning or heat active in the house, the marble floor offset the ambient temperature and rigor on all the bodies had already disappeared. Combine all of that with the insect activity and Caroline’s official record would state they were looking at a midnight chop job.

Vinny made his last call to update the captain, something he really was not looking forward to. As expected, the stealth helicopter theory was hard for him to swallow but the supporting evidence from forensics helped their cause. Captain Davidson ultimately gave them the go-ahead to contact local military bases and municipal air fields to see what they could turn up. Vinny was debating on putting Rochelle and Barnes on that assignment because he strongly doubted they would give the matter the diplomacy it required. The image of bulls in a china shop popped into his head when he thought about it, but he figured he had plenty of time to decide given they were knee deep in surveillance footage still. He would decide after they met with the Arcano executives whether he and Dillon would handle that end.

By the time they pulled into the parking lot of the hot dog place Vinny had explained Lou’s Sleep Inertia problem in great detail. To his credit, Dillon had not even cracked a smile as Vinny explained that Lou often took upwards of an hour to get her bearings in the morning and it was not at all uncommon for Lou to physically wound herself during her disorientation. Vinny laid it all out and made it perfectly clear. Although the job description for an L.A. County Sheriff’s homicide detective did not include being Lou’s watchdog and voice of reason, it was mandatory for filling Vinny’s shoes. They were standing in line, waiting to place their order when Vinny finally finished going over his checklist. He stood waiting for Dillon to say something, or even walk away right then and there.

“Alright, so let me get this straight...” Dillon finally spoke and Vinny braced for the worst. “There’s no beans in the chili here?” He looked at Vinny long and hard, waiting for what appeared to be a serious response.

“No. No beans in the chili here.” When Dillon shrugged and stepped forward to take his turn ordering, Vinny realized that nothing he told Dillon had phased him one bit. He scanned his face for a hint of sweat or apprehension and there was none to be found. Dillon was all about ordering lunch.

“Hey Boss, I know the ladies want chili and cheese only, two a piece, but what do you want?”

“The works, but I’ll get ‘em.” Vinny was wondering if it could be this easy. If he could really have found someone he could trust to have Lou’s back.

“No way. I cleaned up in the pool today! Beginner’s luck, remember?” Dillon winked at him. “The least I can do is buy lunch.”

Vinny said a silent prayer that Lou liked the guy because so far, Vinny sure did.

It was 11:32 a.m.
when Lou heard the doorbell ring. She had only just finished going over Dillon Cole’s personnel file and as Vinny said, on paper he was squeaky clean. A little too clean for Lou’s liking. According to the file, Dillon was born and raised in coastal Washington State and graduated top of his class in everything since kindergarten. Dillon had a sterling record with the Aberdeen Sheriff’s Department where he made detective in record time and earned numerous commendations. He had never been married and had no living relatives so picking up and taking off from the only home he had have ever known didn’t seem so odd at Dillon’s age. He was young and ambitious enough that he could make his mark in any town in the nation but it just felt a little too convenient to Lou. She needed to eyeball the man herself to get a solid feel for him.