Shadows of Doubt (14 page)

“You probably know everything already except that Max has a dinner engagement this evening. We need to get all the paperwork pushed through on the estate property today, so that’s our main focus besides getting the building plans done and approved.” Frank paused to take another gulp of coffee and Abby continued where he left off.

“My guys are already handling the lot line adjustments. Those should be recorded before the offices officially open, and ownership is already done. I got that taken care of once you faxed me copies last night. You own it all, lock, stock and smoking barrel and have since 11:14 P.M. last night.” She smiled sweetly then sipped from her cup.

“That was excellent work, Abby. I have no idea how you managed that in under twelve hours.” Max never ceased to be amazed at how Abby could get things done in the blink of an eye. Especially when the normal course of something would usually take weeks or months to get through. It was good to have power, connections and unlimited resources. The Dominor and his Aegis Council irrefutably had all of the above.

“I have had a team of architects working around the clock for the past three days and should have four sets of plans delivered here by eight for your approval.” She got up and retrieved her laptop from one of her bags, flipped it open and booted it up. “I have virtual renderings of all the proposed plans here so you can take a look now and perhaps even have a choice made before the architects get here. That way we can spend an hour going over any changes you want so I can make my meeting with the architectural committee, get them to sign off and get the plans through with regional planning by no later than noon. But I don’t think you’ll make any changes since I have had my hands on them already.” She smiled sweetly again then turned the screen so Max could see.

With the magic of technology and Abby’s laptop, Max was being taken on a virtual tour of an old world Mediterranean style structure that reminded him of a place he often loved to visit in Sardinia. It was perfect aesthetically for the area and had just enough opulence without being tacky or overdone. Stone and stucco exterior with cobblestone drive and walkways, tiled roof, iron gates and storm shutters. There were plenty of bedrooms, a guest house, massive arches and vaulted ceilings with exposed dark-wood beams. It all spoke to him of his old country and he fell in love with it immediately, just as Abby knew he would. But it was the things you didn’t see on the surface that were the true beauty of the plan. Abby had worked her genius within the architecture to make the estate more secure then Fort Knox. The walls were reinforced with steel, windows were bullet proofed and everything that needed to be and even those that didn’t were blast proof. The technical aspect of it all had the entire estate capable of total lock-down at the touch of a button. Two massive generators, very cleverly hidden, would provide full power to the residence for over a month. A fully appointed wine cellar was simply a false front for the basement command center that would be decked out with more high-tech equipment than he expected the Pentagon had. It was all brilliant. One thing he noted as the tour brought him to his master suite, which was a masterpiece in itself and exactly his taste. But it was its placement and positioning in relation to the land that made him pause. He studied it carefully and two of the four walls were made up of folding glass so that when open, the suite simply flowed out onto the pergola covered terrace that wrapped around the southeast corner of the house. The southeast which was the exact view to his detective’s balcony.

“I don’t need to see the others. When can we get this started?” He turned and looked at Abby who was smiling wide. Obviously very pleased with herself.

“I’ll see if I can get my meeting with the architectural committee moved up, get this signed off then then get it sent to regional. Our people are standing by with the stamps and permits ready. With approval from the architectural committee we can start soil samples and surveying so grading etc. can start Monday.”

“How long will it take to get finished?” Max wanted to be in the house by the time the weather turned.

“Do I have carte blanche for palm greasing? Twenty-four hour crews, gift baskets to all residents impacted by said twenty-four hour crews and then I am thinking we should purchase the parcels up next to the road and make it a park with a pond or little lake, and even a little pergola. Dedicate it to the community, then all the residents will be so grateful to you that no one will bitch. So you giving me a green light on the green or what?” Abby batted her eyelashes.

Max considered for maybe half a second. “Make sure the maintenance of the lake and park are handled by me indefinitely. And get one of those bronze plaques set in stone like we did at that memorial park in Virginia. Make it something poetic without being cheesy. We’ll have a little gathering for all the residents for the dedication, those tents and twinkly lights, a string quartet, champagne, yada yada, you know what I mean.”

She smiled at him brightly. “I know exactly what you mean. We should have a bridge go over the lake or pond or whatever. Hmm... maybe we need more land.”

“Abby, how long for the house to be habitable?” He brought her back to the original question.

She scrunched her nose at him. “Do you want it done fast or do you want it done perfect?”

“I want it both and you know better than to ask that question.” His tone was a little sharp with her so she reigned in the sassy factor and gave it to him straight.

“I’ll be conservative and say four months. But I am sure I can bribe the association to allow restricted construction on a twenty-four-seven basis.”

“I had an idea for CCV feeds that cover the entire area.” Frank interjected. “We could donate some fabulous hand-made old style gas streetlamps to the community that just so happen to have hidden cameras in them for our perimeter feed. But we tell them its for the community’s security & just tap into it.”

Max nodded. “I like it. Do it. Do it all. Do whatever it takes to get this done perfectly and fast. You have carte blanche.”

Frank and Abby gave each other a high-five and gathered their things to get started.

“Abby, Frank...” Max had them stopping in their tracks. “I need a list of all our people in the region. I want dates of when they landed here as well. Addresses, aliases, full detail on everyone and I need it this afternoon.”

“You’ll have it. I need to get set up and cracking. You all know where to find me.” Abby headed across the hall, snatching up her laptop and coffee as she went with Frank following right behind her.

Niko sat in the chair across from Max and refilled his cup of coffee, one eye on the cup, the other on Max. “So what’s on the agenda for today?” He asked.

“I need you’re gut instincts on this changing of the guard, so to speak.” Max leaned back in the chair and ran his hands through his hair. He was really trying to get a grip on things but he wanted to delegate so he could focus on the rogue. “You good with how we’ve left D.C. for the moment?”

“Abby is as shrewd and ruthless as she is freaking adorable. She has exactly who should be in place and I agreed with all her choices from the get go. As for a new Council, I think we need to call in a couple of old schools. You’re going to have to take that up with the Senatus, though.” Niko got up to get his cigarette case from his coat. “They may not dig on us fishing outta their pond but I personally think it’s long overdue that things got mixed up a bit.”

Max held out a hand towards Niko. “Give me one of those would you?”

Niko quirked his brow. “You know they say these things will kill you?” They both chuckled as Niko passed his friend one of the fancy cigarettes and lit it for him, then sat back down in the chair before lighting his own.

“What do you mean by mixed up?” Max asked, then drew deeply of the smoke.

“You know I’m pretty tight with guys in other Councils, yeah?”

Max nodded, it was one of his ways of knowing what was going on within the other circles, the gossip that Niko would feed him. “You have unique insights there.”

“Well I have a few buddies that would jump at the chance to get out of their stations to relocate to D.C., but you will want to meet with them first and get a feel. See if they fit with your style.” Niko watched the smoke drift through the air as he pondered. “They each have great admiration for you. One still wishes you had chosen him to make the crossing originally. It’s kind of a constant joke he pulls on me that I beat him out of his spot.”

“You think he could make a trip out here or should I go there?”

“Given you’re poaching, I think you should set up the meetings there. Then you can address the Senatus in person once you’re certain you want to poach them.”

“Talk to your guys. See if its worth me making the trip or if they are just blowing smoke.” Max crushed out his cigarette. “I want you to come with me to make some rounds today. People know I am here. I want to get in some faces, especially local distributors and havens. I want to find out why no one felt any need to inform us this place was becoming a shit hole and all our laws were deemed optional.”

Max reached for a folder that was sitting on the coffee table and perused its contents for the fifteenth time since the night before.

Niko glanced over to see the crime scene photos. “That his latest victim?”

“Janine Winslow, went by the name of Jade. She was twenty-seven and lived in the Valley.” Max got up, walked over to the window and looked down across the boulevard. “She worked right over there as a dancer most nights. I may have very well been standing right here when she walked to her car for the last time.” Max shoved his hands into the pockets of his robe and sighed with disgust.

“No way you could have prevented this, Max.” Niko got up and stood next to his friend. “You think he knew you were here and pulled her because she was in the line of sight? Just to piss you off?”

“Yes and no. He didn’t snatch her from here, he waited and made sure she was a safe distance away. But he knew I would eventually be sitting here doing exactly this. Staring out the window to where she worked. He likes rubbing my nose in it.”

“Yeah, but this one wasn’t an urchin. She was bettering herself, that’s off pattern. Even the London victims were unfortunates but this one was a student who was just working in a trash-pit to make ends meet.” Niko had a point, and a point that Max was well aware of, which is why he was all the more bothered.

“That is precisely why I know he’s escalating. He waited a long long time to pick up where he left off.” Max turned back to the coffee table and picked up his cup. “The timing is key. He started in London right after I was tapped as Dominor. That went on for, I don’t want to think about how long that went on. But once I clued in and we started hunting him, he made it more of a game. He got more careful. Then when I got reassigned to the U.S., he stopped cold. Nothing, or so we thought.”

Niko sat on the arm of the chair and skimmed over the open file on the table. “Those scattered single kills all over the planet. You’ve always felt those were him. Taunts.”

“Exactly, just to remind us he’s still out there and there’s nothing we can do about it. But now, he’s in my face again. I’m not letting him float away this time, Niko. I can’t. If he does, I will step down as Dominor.”

Niko grumbled. “That’s crap Max. You can’t let this ass-hat undo all the good you have done all these years. Just because the West Coast got a little out of hand. He’s taking advantage of that and pushing your buttons, but you can’t let that work.”

Max stood up and stretched while he considered Niko’s words. “I want to shake some trees and see what falls out on this bastard. Someone has to have noticed someone acting a little too innocent or a little too guilty, not putting in for deliveries on a regular basis or something else out of the norm. There has to be something.” Max looked at the clock and was glad that it was later than he expected. People would be waking up and available. “I’m going to shower and get changed, then you and I are hitting the streets.”

Lou came out
of the bathroom squeaky clean, warm and cozy, wrapped head to toe in fluffy white terrycloth. She could hear Caroline rummaging and cursing in her closet and for some reason that made Lou smile. It served Caroline right for being so damned tall.

“What are you grinning at?” Lou’s mother walked into the room carrying a lovely tray filled with a coffee service and scones.

Lou jerked her head in the direction of the closet. “Caroline is raiding my closet. By the sound of the expletives coming out of there, not having much success.”

“Ah, I see.” Shevaun nodded as she arranged the tray on the coffee table. “It’s her own fault for having those damn long legs of hers.”

Lou snorted and bounced to her mother, kissing her on the cheek. “That is exactly what I was saying to myself just before you walked in. Thanks for this, Momma. I was just gonna hit the Keurig for a couple cups before we headed out.”

“Joe did it, I just carried it in here. He’s all excited for dinner tonight so he was looking for ways to burn time before he could head to the office. He sends you kisses and was sorry he couldn’t wait until you were out of the shower to say hi and bye.”

“Dinner tonight?” Lou asked as she poured herself some of Joe’s amazing brew. She so missed his coffee while he was gone. “You didn’t mention you were going out tonight.”

“Didn’t I?” Shevaun fixed herself a cup then sat on the edge of the ottoman. “Oh, well, we are taking our soon-to-be neighbor to dinner at the club. Joe was so thrilled when I told him about the meeting last night. He is so happy I finally met his business buddy and that we hit it off so well. You want to go with us? He’s a lovely man.”

“I really can’t, Momma.” Lou unfurled the towel from her head and combed through the damp mop with her fingers. “I have a bunch of stuff I need to do after I’m off the clock on this Winslow woman since it’s no longer our case.”