Shadows of Deceit (A Series of Shadows) (25 page)

“Hey!” She protested. “I bet you it takes one month until he get’s into hot water!”

“That is such a sucker bet.” Vinny waved her off. “The Pope would get into hot water after a month of being partnered up with you!”

Vinny’s comment drew laughs, chuckles and snorts from around the room to. Dillon even couldn’t help laughing. He didn’t care though, he made it. On his own merits he got the position as Lou’s partner and all was right with the universe. At least for the next hour or so.

With the shenanigans out of the way, they went over everything in chronological order to try and make sense of it. They started with Carlos Vargas’ first contact with his father and brother after his mother had died. The only thing they had to go on there was his travel records to Colombia which put him there several times over the four year period before his father was killed. After that it appeared that Carlos only flew to Colombia for Arcano Imports annual meeting which were always held a few days before Christmas. This fact put Carlos in Colombia at the same time Luis Arcano had died. Yet another coincidence to add to the pot.

Carlos Vargas stayed in Colombia until just after the new year as de facto president of Arcano Imports while Casius buried his father and handled family affairs. On paper, Casius appeared to have taken control of the empire immediately but Carlos Vargas still had his hooks in things. Dillon had confirmed earlier that morning that unless Estella or Maria Arcano wanted to step in and take Casius’ place, Carlos would be permanently installed as president ninety days after Casius was officially declared dead. The protocol, though not specifying names, was outlined in depth within the articles of incorporation for Arcano Imports along with an entire section that outlined heirs and rightful successors of the Arcano family. Lou had to admit it was a very crafty, albeit a legal form of nepotism. It was also a huge motive for Carlos Vargas to want Casius out of the picture, permanently.

Dillon shook his head. “I think Maria will squash that dream.”

“What makes you say that?” Vinny asked him.

“Because she will never let the family business be run by non-family if she can help it.” Dillon dug through his notes again. “She’s scheduled for the May fifth graduation ceremony at Oxford.”

“Her alibis are solid.” Vinny interjected. “Maria has been at school full time save for her holiday breaks. Her professors locked her up tight and had nothing but wonderful things to say about her.”

“Oh I am not looking at her as a suspect, I am looking at her to see if Carlos may have skipped over her as an obstacle. Maybe he’s been thinking she’s just a college student and wouldn’t be horning in on the business.” Dillon clarified.

“Doesn’t Oxford require you to register for graduation like months in advance?” Lou asked and Dillon started typing on his laptop again. “She would have to have all of her studies completed in order to register too, right?”

“From what I am seeing on the matriculation and graduation pages of the website, yes.” Dillon considered the facts a moment. “So Maria was probably finished last fall. According to the Oxford website, it says that ceremony dates are booked several months in advance.”

Lou worked it out loud. “If we take that literally and factor in when exams are held, Maria was technically done with school by the end of last summer.” She spun around in her chair again, it was making Vinny dizzy. “Do we know if she was planning on going to work with the family?”

Dillon looked a little embarrassed. “To be honest, it never occurred to me to ask.”

“Me either so don’t worry about it, sport.” Vinny reassured him. “But we need to ask now.”

“I’ll call her right now.” Dillon picked up the phone and flipped through his notebook.

“If the goal here is to seize control of Arcano Imports, we need to get a protection detail on her immediately.” Lou said as she pulled out her cell phone and started typing a text to Frank.

“She’s in Colombia now with her mother.” Vinny reminded Lou.

“Then we better get a hold of the local authorities.” She stated as she typed.

Lou sent a text message to Frank apprising him of what was going on. She knew she needed to call Max so that he could use his influence with the South American Dominor to give Maria Arcano some added protection. First Lou needed to hear what Dillon had to say after talking to her. Unfortunately, Dillon was speaking in Spanish and Lou’s Spanish vocabulary was limited to her favorite Mexican foods and, of course, all the choice profanities. She killed time by running and grabbing a cup of coffee and was back just as Dillon hung up the phone.

Dillon looked at them curiously. “This is really interesting and may put a new complexion on things.”

“What did she say?” Vinny demanded

“It appears that Maria forgot to tell us that she and her brother had a big fight last summer, right before he went to Costa Rica with Boone. I mean, Vargas. Whoever the hell she was.” Dillon paused to get his notes and thoughts in order.

“What kind of fight?” Lou asked him as she sat back down at her desk.

“Maria and Casius had a phone conversation about three weeks before he went to Costa Rica. Maria told Casius that she wanted to surprise her father at Christmas and tell him that after her graduation she wanted to go to work for the family business full time. Casius was thrilled with the news but Maria begged him to keep it a secret until she was able to surprise their father.”

Lou looked at him curiously. “So what was the fight about if Casius was so thrilled?”

Dillon grinned. “The fight ensued when Casius told his sister that her coming to work after graduation would be perfect timing because he planned on proposing to Boone on his trip and he wanted a spring wedding.”

“Which would coincide perfectly with Maria coming on board at Arcano and lightening Casius’ load considerably in time for the wedding, so on and so fourth.” Vinny connected the dots.

“Precisely.” Dillon agreed. “However, Maria was none too pleased with hearing big brother wanted to marry the trailer trash and she told him so, thus the fight.”

“No wonder he cut all ties with Angela after Costa Rica.” Lou cringed. “He was humiliated as well as heart broken.”

“Right, but Maria never rubbed it in. She said she avoided talking about Boone ever since and that Casius was still keeping the secret for his sister. However, the father died before she ever got to tell him.” Dillon continued. “Maria said that she can’t be sure if Casius ever told anyone but they discussed it again after he came back to the states. She said that was when he started getting more social and throwing parties at the Calabassas house. The plan was for Maria to take over the Colombia office and Casius was going to stay here permanently. At least that was the plan between the two of them. That conversation took place in February.”

“So we don’t know if Casius told anyone about the plans?” Lou asked him. “Or did Maria tell anyone? There had to be some legal preparation for that? Wouldn’t the lawyers have to draw up papers or some kind of board of directors vote or something?”

“Maria said that she never told anyone. She told her mother when she arrived home a few days ago but her mother has had little to no contact with any of the business people. Just the family lawyers.”

“Casius had to have told someone.” Vinny decided. “There’s another coincidence to add to the pot. They have this pow-wow and then all this crap happens? No way.”

Lou got up and started pacing. “This is such a cluster-fart! We have three international criminals, a drug cartel, a lawyer with family ties to that cartel and now a sister with eyes on the company. Where the hell is the real motive in all this? It’s one huge steaming pile of crap!” Lou realized a few detectives in the room were now staring at her. “What?!” She shouted at them, causing them to get back to work.

“If you look at the Salazar brothers alone, it looks like drug running and the cartel angle makes sense.” Vinny was thinking out loud. “But when you add this South African jackhole, Esterhuizen and his biological weapon, toxin, whatever the hell it is for sale, then the high-end black ops abduction, things go nuts!”

“Exactly!” Lou pointed at him. “What the hell is all that about? Who is involved in all that crap?”

“I still gotta run down that list that your pal gave us last night.” Vinny said as he shuffled through his papers until he found the document in question. “At first blush there are no names that stand out on this list Niko got from the Air Base.”

“I’ll take half the list.” Dillon offered. “Let me make a copy.”

“Help yourself, sport.” Vinny handed him the paper. “Make Lou a copy too so she can take a look.”

“Right away.” Dillon jogged to the copy machine.

“I need to get some air. This is pissing me off.” Lou announced then headed for the door.

Lou knew they were going to need help in sorting out the Esterhuizen connection so now was as good a time as any to call Max. After she told him about Maria Arcano, Lou was going to need advice on how to proceed within the normal boundaries while taking advantage of her Sanguinostri connections as much as possible. Lou just hoped that Max was still in a helpful mood.

Max knew the
second the phone rang that it was going to be Lou. He finished tying his tie and let Frank answer it. It had already been a complicated morning and things were not about to get any better. He was scheduled to meet Shevaun’s brother at the McAllister home in little more than two hours. They decided on Monday night that Joe and Shevaun would start explaining everything to Seamus prior to Max’s arrival so that by the time he got there the worst of it would have already been dealt with. With any luck, all Max would have to do is go over the formalities then the decision on how to deal with Seamus’ wife and son would be made. If all went well, they would be arranging another family dinner and indoctrination ceremony by lunchtime. Max said another little silent prayer that would be the case.

“Lou for you.” Frank announced.

“Thanks.” Max took the phone from Frank and started walking out toward the terrace. “Good morning, detective.”

Lou smiled at the sound of his voice. “Good morning my Dominor.” She answered him formally, as his subject.

“What can I do for you?” Max grinned at the fact that she wasn’t yelling at him right off the bat.

“I have a couple of problems that only you can help me with.” Lou walked further out into the parking lot and leaned against Vinny’s sedan. “My investigation is leading us outside of your territory, into South American districts. I strongly believe Maria Arcano might be a target and we’ve notified the local Colombian authorities, but I need you to broach this with the Dominor there. We need Sanguinostri eyes on her too. This is way outside of my scope and I need your help.”

“Frank has her contact information?” Max asked.

“Abby does too.” Lou confirmed.

“I will take care of it.” Max was pleased that Lou was following protocol. “Expect a call from one of his Principates to coordinate with you on this.”

“That would be awesome.” Lou sounded a little apprehensive.

“There a problem?” He asked as he took a seat outside on the terrace.

“Well, I know you know everything in this case already so maybe you can help me with a couple of other things.” Lou paused as a couple detectives walked by and waved at her. “I need background on Adrianna’s uncle in Costa Rica and I suspect the local Principate there would be my best source, but I am not sure what the procedure is for that. Then, there is the matter of Ernesto Vargas. I have a feeling he may be where the Sanguinostri involvement lies and that is touchy ground. Can you ask around about that? Then let me know how I’m supposed to proceed there?”

“Absolutely.” Max didn’t hesitate.

“Thank you so much.” Lou was clearly relieved. “Just one more tiny thing, if I can?”

“What else can I do?” There really was nothing Max wouldn’t do for her, all she had to do was ask.

“I need to get Interpol or someone involved in this regarding Esterhuizen.” She knew that she was supposed to know how to go about this but it was such a big deal that she wanted his advice. “Can you tell me who I should contact? One of ours that I can use legitimately? I have a gut feeling that the whole special ops thing is linked with Esterhuizen.”

“Yes, the biological aspect that he was working on would definitely have involved individuals that would have access to those sort of resources.” Max said as he considered for a moment. “Let me look into that. Either Frank or one of our agents will get in touch with you within the hour. It will all work within civilian parameters so don’t worry.”

“Thank you, Max.” Lou literally sighed with relief. “I am so sorry to bother you with all this but I’m so stuck right now.”

“This is precisely what you should bother me with.” He too was relieved. She was figuring it out as she went, just like good old Lou. “It’s not a bother, it’s your job, and mine. Now, I have a meeting to get to so stick by your phone and someone will be getting back to you shortly.”

“Yes sir!” She saluted even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “Thank you again.”

“My pleasure, detective.” He smiled and let the silence linger a moment before he hung up.

Stuffing his phone into his coat pocket, Max got up and headed in to find Frank. He checked the clock and saw that he had a half an hour to deal with everything. When he found Frank in his suite, he told him what he needed and Frank got to it immediately. Max headed back into his own room to make the call to Victor Marcos, his long time friend and the South American Dominor. He had twenty minutes to explain the situation, elicit Victor’s cooperation then get on the road to the McAllister compound.

Fortunately for Max, Victor was not only available to take his call but also more than understanding of the situation. He, like Max, wanted to get to the bottom of things and by the end of their brief conversation, Victor had given him the names that he needed and pledged complete cooperation from his Council. Victor Marcos knew Abby from her early days in California when he had grown very fond of her. Victor’s fondness had apparently not faded over time and he offered to contact Abby directly to obtain copies of all the data they needed. With everything Lou had requested done, or in the works, Max left for the McAllister home.