Shadows of Deceit (A Series of Shadows) (9 page)

Peter Taylor showed them a digital picture frame that had been put away for some reason or another. When he flipped a small switch on the back, it began cycling through a series of digital photos of Casius with various women. They seemed to run the gambit of sporting activities. There were several pictures of Arcano with a healthy looking blond, both of them in snow gear. A series of snap shots during a mountain climbing excursion with a petite but muscular brunette. Arcano with another blond on the beach donning snorkeling equipment. There were a dozen or so more photos with two other women, a red-head and another brunette partaking in everything from hiking to lounging on a race car. Five women in total, all who were very pretty but not stunners by any means.

“How far back do these go?” Vinny asked Taylor.

“Kelly Mills is the first woman, the brunette mountain climber. Those were taken about eight years ago. Casius was rather sentimental.” Taylor manually flipped through the photos by pressing a button on the back of the frame.” Angela Boone was his most recent but that ended last summer. She was a race car driver and apparently turned out to be a sex addict. She broke Casius’ heart when he caught her cheating on him while they were vacationing in Costa Rica.”

“That had to piss him off.” Vinny muttered.

“He wasn’t angry. He was devastated.” Taylor returned the picture frame to the cupboard. “He was starting to think that she was the one, you know? He flew home alone, leaving her with the cabana boy or whoever it was and that’s when he put the frame away. He hasn’t dated since.”

“Ouch.” It was clear to Vinny that Taylor cared for Arcano. “So where do you think he is now? Any ideas?”

“I cannot even imagine.” Taylor sat down on the couch and thought for a moment as if measuring what he should or shouldn’t say. “I’ve called him at least fifty times since I heard. I even tried to check the GPS on his phone but it’s been disabled.”

“The security manager mentioned that this morning.” Dillon began disconnecting the cables from Arcano’s computer system so they could bring it back to the technical unit. “Are all the company phones integrated into the security system?”

“Yes. It’s standard given a lot of our executives and their staff travel to rather unsavory regions. Kidnapping by disenfranchised locals is not unheard of.” Taylor looked genuinely worried. “It takes effort to disable the GPS chip on our phones. Serious effort. You have to have knowledge of how our system works to even identify the chip in the guts of the phone.”

“Do you happen to have a spare phone we can have our techs take a look at? It could be extremely helpful in locating your boss.”

“Given the circumstances I don’t see why not.” Taylor fiddled with his phone again then paused a moment, evidently waiting for a response from the person on the other end. “I’ll have security include an inactive unit with the logs. It will be a little longer for them to get the phone. It’s Sunday, we are on a skeleton crew.”

“We understand, thanks again.” Dillon appreciated Taylor bypassing Vargas and his legal obstacle course. “You guys use a remote network. Your own cloud? Did your boss have a laptop?”

“He had a tablet, not a laptop. That and his home unit.” Taylor confirmed. “They all are connected to our system and sync automatically on boot up.”

“Do you know if your individual systems have GPS as well?” Dillon knew it was common for corporations to install GPS capabilities on company laptops and tablets. It served as an invaluable tool in recovering stolen equipment.

“That sounds like something we would do but you would have to ask our techs about that.” Taylor looked at his phone once more. “Our I.T. department head is bringing the logs and the phone so you can check with him directly.”

“Great, I’ll do that.” Vinny told him.

By the time Dillon had Arcano’s computer wrapped up, Vinny had gone through all the drawers and cupboards and found no tablet. It, as well as Arcano’s home computer, were missing right along with Arcano himself. But why?

“You have no idea who the dead men at Mr. Arcano’s house are yet?” Taylor asked as he slumped back in the couch.

“Not yet.” Vinny wished he did. “Anyone else not show up for work today, Mr. Taylor?”

“No, and I checked as soon as I found out about the three bodies. I cannot even imagine who they would be.”

“Can you get us a list of all Arcano employees outside of the U.S.?” Dillon knew international information about the company was outside of their purview but he thought that Taylor might be willing to help them out.

“Vargas will have a coronary.” Taylor grinned after he thought about it a moment. “Give me an email address and I’ll have it to you by the morning.”

Vinny handed Taylor his business card with all his contact information. It was very clear to both he and Dillon that Taylor was their only source of cooperation at Arcano Imports. They needed to keep it that way.

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to Mr. Vargas or Mr. Cabrillo. It’s not their fault, they have to think of the company first.” Taylor got up from the couch and walked over to the window. “But I work for Casius. Without him, I have no place here.”

“Sure Mr. Taylor. We understand the position you are in.” Dillon looked to Vinny for reinforcement.

“Absolutely.” Vinny nodded in agreement just as the doors to Arcano’s office began to beep.

“That will be our I.T. manager.” Taylor walked over to the doors and scanned his thumb.

When the door opened, a tall man who looked like he hadn’t seen sunlight in a decade handed Taylor an electronic tablet that reminded Vinny of the ones the delivery men used. Once Taylor signed the tablet, the man handed him a box the size of a book.

Dillon took the opportunity to step out of the office and question the man about the tracking of company equipment while Vinny finished up with Taylor. They had gotten more than they had hoped for with a lot less fuss than expected. Taylor escorted them personally to the elevator and passed them his business card just before the doors closed. On the back he had written two additional numbers which Vinny and Dillon both expected were his cell and home phones. There was little doubt to either of them that Peter Taylor was concerned for his boss and was willing to help them despite company protocols. It wasn’t lost on Vinny that they never saw Vargas or Cabrillo again after the conference room exchange. He expected they were up to their necks covering their company asses.

After Max had
left, Lou made a list of all the things she needed to do on the Arcano case. She only had a little time before her doctor and physical therapist showed up so she wasted no time. When the doorbell finally rang, Lou had already checked off several items one of them being calling her friend the medical examiner for an update on the forensics and identification of the victims. Caroline had covertly sent Lou the fingerprints to run through the super system and Lou expected to have results by the time she was finished being poked and prodded. Once Lou figured out who the men were, she could tip Caroline off on which civilian database to use so that the identification would be admissible. Having Sanguinostri resources at their disposal was proving to be more helpful than Lou could have ever imagined. The identification alone was going to save them days.

As expected, Lou’s doctor and physical therapist put her through the ringer. They indeed poked and prodded but they also gave her a full stress test, ultrasound and took more blood than she would have liked. Shevaun never reared her head during the entire process which spoke loud and clear that she was not happy about the prospect of her daughter returning to work so soon. It didn’t seem soon to Lou, it seemed like years. Now, as she watched the two men whisper and mutter as they looked at her EKG, she wondered if her mother would get her wish and be grounded even longer.

“Well, Lou...” Doctor Cantor was the first to speak up. “I have to admit I am very impressed with the results you have achieved with the help of Miles.”

Miles Rabin was Lou’s physical therapist. He had relocated to the valley upon Max’s request with the sole purpose of her rehabilitation. Lou was embarrassed at the fuss Max had gone to at first but now she was exceedingly grateful.

“You have done remarkably well.” Miles beamed a smile at her. “You are by no means one-hundred percent, but you are well within a normal range as far as your job goes.”

“I agree.” Cantor added. “We’ll need the lab work before I can give you an official verdict on my end, but it does look promising.”

“How long will that take?” Lou was nearly bouncing in her seat with excitement.

“I’ll drop them off myself, straight away when I leave here.” He grinned at her. “It will take a minimum of twelve hours though. I should be able to call you with a definitive answer by tomorrow night.”

Lou cringed at the thought of having to sit out for another day but if that is all she had to wait, she could live with it. The most important thing was that she was alive and whole. She needed to remember that rather than pout about another day of waiting.

“But you are good with it, Miles?” Lou had her fingers crossed behind her back.

“I want physical exertion kept to a minimum!” He waggled his finger at her. “If I had my way, we would keep you on a desk and stick to training for another few weeks but I know you are going to sneak regardless. Just like you have been!”

“Me?” Lou feigned a look of indignation. “I cannot believe you would think such a thing!”

Miles rolled his eyes then walked over to sit down at the table. He opened a folder and grabbed a pen then began to scribble.

“Now you need to wait for me to sign off.” Cantor reminded her. “Don’t go strapping on your holster just yet, OK?”

“I won’t. I promise.” Lou thought it sounded sincere but by the snort emitted by Miles, she guessed not. “I promise! I have plenty I can do from here for the next day or two anyhow.”

“Day or two. You are assuming those labs come back in your favor!” Shevaun appeared out of nowhere, scolding Lou already. “You better put those brakes on young lady. Until Doctor Cantor signs his name on that dotted line, you are still benched. You got that?”

“Well I owe myself fifty bucks.” Lou grinned. “I bet myself you were going to show up during the stress test. I’m surprised you held out so long.”

“Very funny.” Shevaun was clearly not seeing the humor.

“I got it, Momma.” Lou walked over and wrapped her arms around her mother. “Please try not to worry so much?”

“Please try not to be such a pain in my ass?” Shevaun mimicked Lou with a condescending tone as she held her daughter for a long while.

Lou grinned and held her mother tight. “I’ll try, Momma.”

It was another half hour before Lou’s mother and the doctors finished reading her the riot act and she was able to retreat back to her room. When she walked in the door she immediately spotted Niko casually leaning back in her desk chair, examining the data that was scrolling across the screen while sipping from a mug.

“When did you get here?” Lou wasn’t really surprised to see him.

“About an hour ago.” Niko flashed his wicked smile at her and gestured with his cup. “Your out of kona blend.”

“Good to know.” Lou smirked. “Write it down for me or I’ll forget.”

“Already did.” He looked back at the monitor and squinted a little.

“You can’t possibly be able to read that, can you?” Lou looked at the screen and started to get a headache from the data zipping by, right to left. She was sure each entry was visible for less then a nanosecond before the next one pushed it out of view.

“Yeah, but it’s kind of annoying.” He set down his mug and rubbed his eyes. “I’m not sure why I do that.”

“Because you can.” Lou said with a grin as she dumped her empty water bottle into the wastebasket under her desk. “Mind if we skip our workout? I just ran the gauntlet for the docs and I am pooped.”

“Yeah, no.” Niko caught himself reading the data again, it was addicting. “Gah! I mean, yeah, I know. Max told me they were going to grill you to see if you could cut the mustard. I didn’t feel like working out today anyway. Hit the showers then we can talk.”

“You? Not want to work out?” Lou mocked. The man was a physical beast and could probably crush her with one hand. “You feeling OK?”

“You’re a funny little girl. Now quit messin’ around. We got work to do.” He waved her off and resumed watching the screen.

Niko Gattilusio was Max’s first lieutenant and over the past several weeks had become like Lou’s big brother. He personally stood guard over her while she was in the hospital and when they brought her home, he set up camp on her terrace which is where Lou suspected he and Angus bonded. Niko would not leave except to walk the perimeter until the new security system and teams were put in place, both at the house and in the community. He had taken it personally when she was kidnapped by Albert and although he would never admit it, he blamed himself for Albert getting away.

When Lou finally was up and about, Niko took great time and care to help her learn everything he felt she needed to know in order to handle the position of Principate. He also walked with her every day until she was able to start her official rehabilitation. Once that began, he trained with her every day since. Niko liked Lou from the get go, not just because Max was smitten with her, that was just the bonus. He liked her because she was smart, quick witted and tough as nails in the little package she came in. Lou saw past Niko’s bad assed exterior and treated him like the silly geek he really was. They got each other’s sense of humor and she never put up with his crap. Just as Lou considered him the big brother she never had, he claimed her as the little sister he always wanted.

Lou emerged from the shower several minutes later fresh as a daisy in her Kings hockey jersey and yoga pants. Niko was still in her chair but now he was talking on his cell while petting Angus who was sound asleep in his lap. Recently Lou was wondering if Angus liked Niko more than her.

“We got I.D.’s on your guys.” He informed her after ending his call.

“How’d you know I was looking for I.D.’s?” It didn’t really surprise her that he knew but she preferred to know how.