Armed and Fabulous (Lexi Graves Mysteries) (58 page)

"When the Finklesteins came by that night
?
Y
eah, I think so."

"Sucky," said Lily.

To Dean's credit, once he
realized
he was going to be killed, he didn't give up my name
or Tanya’s
to the Finklesteins. I don't know whether he thought that would keep
us
safe or just make
things difficult for Ramos, but
since
he also didn't give up Vincent
,
it was hard to tell
. Perhaps that was his revenge. He knew even if he w
ere
dead, Vincent would go after the other three to get the money.
In a weird sort of way, V
incent was his insurance policy just as much as Maddox was and he’d seen the whole thing.

However, what Dean
hadn't banked on
was
Vincent knowing about Tanya, or that he would be desperate enough to kill her, too. I t
hink Tanya was the one person Dean
trusted, and
probably
the one person he
really
tried to protect.
He probably hoped she would take the Paris tickets and flee.

"And the Finklesteins and Ramos
thought you and Vincent were the same person?" prompted Lily.

I nodded. This much I knew from Vincent's testimony. "Once Dean was dead, Vincent knew he didn't have long to shake down the rest of the gang for the money. The gang knew already from Dean that someone was on their tail
,
and had discovered a connection
. T
hey also knew D
ean was being blackmailed. The
only problem they had was that they didn't know who the blackmailer was and who had th
e evidence connecting them. Vincent said Ramos told him they
figured it was the same person."

"People should never jump to conclusions."

"But they did. Harris, Mathis and Ramos weren't career criminals. They were opportunists."
Once Ramos
saw my name watermarked on the research
,
he knew I could connect them
.

Unfortunately for Ramos, Vincent was one step faster and had come up with
another plan
. He planned to stall an
y investigation into the fraud
as he bump
ed
one gang member off at a time
,
until he was the only one
left
with the knowledge of the crimes and access to the money.
Earlier on the day Dean died, h
e overheard Dean telling Ramos about
the
file
on his desk. He couldn’t get to it before the Finklesteins
,
so he counted on deleting my files as a
guarantee
to ensure that neither I, nor anyone else, would be able to put the pieces together. He just didn't count on my amazing ability to accidentally delete everything, thus ensuring I always,
always
,
backed up my documents. And he
also
didn't count on the authorities putting together the task force that put
Maddox
in the building to spy.

"I knew there were too many hit
-
and
-
run accidents," said Lily. "It was too much of a coincidence."

"I agree. Vincent got the first key from Ron Harris and, so he claimed, killed him by accident when he was desperate to get away. After that, everything came easy. Chris Mathis gave up the box number and the bank where the money was stashed in a deposit box,
along with the key code,
and paid for the information with his life. Vincent couldn't risk leaving
anyone
alive. After all, he would never be safe while they were after him
,
determined to get
‘
their
’
money back. And that left Ramos, the most dangerous one. He was the signatory and Vincent needed his thumbprint. He chopped it off before he killed Ramos."

"Why didn't Ramos cut a deal with Vincent?"

"Too greedy. Ramos wasn't too bothered about the deaths of his co-conspirators. He just wanted the money
,
and like hell
would
he give it
up to a pipsqueak like Vincent, not
after
they’d put all the effort and money in to pull it off.
"

This
came
out during
the investigation
too
. Ramos had been playing fast and loose with the bank's money and was in debt up to his neck. It was only a matter of time before he was investigated for banking fraud. Even with Vincent threatening him, Ramos couldn't afford to get out, not while his bank was on the verge of collapsing. He would have lost everything, not to mention fac
ing
a hefty jail sentence.

With Dean, Harris and Mathis dead
, Ramos
could get enough money to wipe his slate clean and start over with millions.
Vincent got to Tanya
before Ramos could. Vincent forced
her
into retrieving the key from the safest hiding place she knew, Flames, and he shot her to cover his tracks.
Except I picked
up the key and
it was
safely
stored
in the evidence locker at Montgomery PD ever since.

"
Ramos
figured I must have
taken
it and sicced the Finklesteins on me. Ramos assumed getting rid of me was the last step before claiming their cash.
”
I don't know what they were supposed to do to me to
keep my mouth shut about the file
,
but
given their rap sheets
,
I was sure it wouldn't have been pretty.
“
This is where Vincent actually saved the day. He recognized the Finklesteins outside my apartment and shot them bo
th, effectively saving my life.”

"Hurrah for Vincent?"
Lily looked hopeful.

"Not really. When the Finklesteins showed up dead, Ramos thought I killed them. He was the one who tried to ram us off the road the night we visited Serena. Ramos didn't know Vincent was
also following us. When Ramos'
car wiped out, Vincent picked him up, jumping him while he was injured. Faking a signature wasn't a problem
,
but he had to cut off Ramos' thumb to get the print."

"Gross. Also, did Ramos think you were Ramboette or what?"

"I know, right? Ridiculous."

"
Far out,
B
russel
s
sprout.
”

“
What?” I shook my head. “Anyway,
Vincent
figured I had the key and followed Maddox to the safe house.”
T
he money
was nearly
his.
That one little key ha
s
cause
d
a lot of problems for everyone.

T
he Green Hand Gang, as the Montgomery Gazette
dubbed
them, were dead, most of the witnesses were gone and the money was recovered,
rendering
the fraud aspect of the case
cut and dried.

V
incent's trial, however, generated a lot more interest. The whol
e thing lasted three solid days.
In the end,
the only way he was getting out of prison was in a body bag. I figured between Ramos' wife and Finklestein's
, it
might be sooner rather than later.

"I'm glad this is all over,
"
said Lily
,
thoughtfully
chewing her last bite of croissant.

"Me too.
How’s your arm?
"

“Better.”

As for me, well, no serious damage done. Green Hand Insurance's future is currently uncertain
,
given the scale of the fraud. I didn't even
know
if I still had a job. I just decided not to go back. So
, I was out of a job
,
plus
,
I had
a small scar on my upper right arm from the bullet. It was a small price to pay for getting to live. As a bonus, I swiped Vincent
's concert tickets when I went i
n to clean out my desk
,
and Lily and I had a
n
excellent
time.

Solomon disappeared right after Vincent was arrested and I saw him once, briefly, at the trial
,
but we didn't talk
.
Al
though he
did
stay around long enough to hear my statement.
I
was
told he did his best
not to laugh when I burst into tears after telling the court how I had to dye my hair brown. Lily told me she saw him at the hospital
,
but she was a t
ad
hysterical at the time,
after
discovering
I had been shot. I figured he was checking up on Maddox.

Maddox
, on the other hand, I've seen plenty of. We're dating, and I'm looking forward to
finding out
where that goes. After
undergoing
surgery to remove the bullet from his shoulder
and some recuperation time,
he went back to
Montgomery PD
to face the wrath of my family
. I think he’s
hoping
he won't have to go undercover again for a while. Unless it's my covers. That sounded fine to both of us.

"I have to go," said Lily, "But I'm glad you got to tell me what really happened."