Follow the Evidence (A Mac Everett Mystery Book 2) (21 page)

He’d dropped his head and was
breathing hard. It wouldn’t take much more.

“You were coerced, weren’t you?
Maybe it was the drugs you were using…or one of your affairs.”

His head shot up. He was looked me
in the eye and smiled. He wasn’t ready to roll over. There was still a spark of
defiance in those eyes. It was time for a new line of questions.

“They blackmailed you over one of
your affairs?”

“Please stop. I can’t…”

“You can’t what Ian, tell the
truth? You can’t do anything,
but
unburden yourself. Tell me about it. How
it started and then how got out of hand. They forced you, didn’t they?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking
about,” he said. He looked up and the tears were gone. He’d found some inner
strength, some way to hold out. I had to destroy that.

“So, Ian, I hear you were sleeping
around.”

“What has that got to do with…?”

“You’ve got a beautiful ex-wife.
Whoa, what a body! Why would you leave that? Catting around is exciting, but
being married to a beautiful woman-getting it whenever you want, now that’s
exciting.”

“You have no right…”

“Yeah, she’s something all right.
You beat her I bet. You look like the kind that would beat a woman.”

“Stop.”

He shook his head.

“You used your fists when you
couldn’t satisfy her in the sack. That’s what a piece of shit like you would
do.”

“Stop it.”

“She’s beautiful and desirable…”

“No more…”

“and…passionate.”

“No, I won’t listen.”

He covered his ears and I raised my
voice some more.

“You couldn’t satisfy her. You
couldn’t control her in bed so you beat the shit out of her,” I said. I raised
my voice again. “Yeah, being married to a beautiful woman is tough. You beat
that beautiful woman. You banged her for, what, eight years, and you couldn’t
satisfy her, could you? Could you! Yeah, you beat her. Know how I know?”

I leaned close to him again. I was
taking a big chance, but I had to dig in his head. I dropped my voice to a
whisper and said, “I know because
she
told me. You know what we were
doing when she told me. Come on, you know.”

“Noooooo,” he screamed. “That
bitch! That worthless bitch.”

He grabbed his head as I sat back
and waited. He pounded his head with both fists and groaned.

I turned to the observation mirror
and gave a nod, a moment later Madison stormed into the room. I stood and went
to Ian’s side. Madison positioned herself across from her ex-husband. She put
both hands on the table and leaned forward exactly as I’d told her.

“Believe everything he tells you
Ian. He knows
everything
about you. I told him.”

“The only thing you can do to help
yourself is to tell us about these women,” I said speaking softly into his ear
as I pointed to the pictures of the missing women.

“Where are they?” Madison shouted.
She pounded the table with her fist, her face twisted with rage. I was glad the
table was between them.

“How are they transported?” I asked
softly.

“Talk Ian,” she shouted.

He sat unable to move or speak. His
shame permeated the room.

Madison slammed the thick manila
folder closed. She picked it up and swatted Ian across the face with it.

“Who’s behind this? I want names, places,
dates. I want them now.” Madison shouted. “So help me I’ll kill you myself.
Talk!”

She played her part perfectly.

“I want to help you, but you have
to help these women,” I said quietly.

“Ian-all your bluster about
professionalism and you do this,” she shouted. “You divorced me because you
were embarrassed about my affair. I never complained about your dalliances or
told anyone what you did to me, the beatings, and the disgusting things you
made me do.”

“Stop, please stop.”

“You...you…you’re the lowest.”

“Madison, you have to believe me,”
he begged. “I didn’t know what was going on.” The big man pleaded but Madison
shook her head.

“Talk!”

He looked at me for help, his eyes
empty and sad. “I’ll tell you everything just get her out of here.”

“Start talking.”

“I’m sorry…,” he said.

“Of course you are. They got
pictures of you, didn’t they? It’s always pictures. They look so bad. You were
afraid, weren’t you?”

He gave a weak nod.

I put my arm around the big man.

“After that, when they had you by
the short hairs they started to pay you, didn’t they?”

He nodded again.

“You needed the money for bills…and
drugs, and maybe girls?”

“I built a life style…I didn’t know
what they were doing, I swear. I thought it was drug running. I didn’t know…”

I nodded to Madison. She left
without a word, closing door quietly behind her.

We’d bluffed the guy without
connecting the dots, without even having all the dots. The most difficult part,
recovering the abducted women was yet to come.

Thoroughly debriefing Ian Todd
would take time and patience. I didn’t have either. As I’d suspected, Laszlo
Munoz had used Ian’s appetite for girls and drugs to squeeze him hard.

“I met Tameka at a party," Ian
began. “She was a fabulous looking twenty-two year old. We hit it off
immediately. She was just starting out as a model. I told her I could introduce
her to some people who’d help her. We got together for drink a few days later
and a week after that I was sleeping with her.”

“How long did it last?”

“I saw her once or twice a week for
sex. We’d go out for dinner occasionally too. It lasted about six months, then
one day she didn’t answer her phone,” he lowered his voice. “I spent a week
looking for her but…the apartment I got for her was empty.”

“A few days later I got an envelope
full of pictures. There were shots of the two of us doing it in bed, on the
beach, and of me doing lines of coke. The pictures said it all. If they ever
came out...I was desperate. My position…”

And your ego.

“There was a phone number with the
pictures. I knew what it meant. I tried to put it out of my mind. Then I got
another envelope.”

“More pictures?”

He nodded.

“When I finally called, Laszlo
Munoz answered. He said he’d set me up. Tameka wasn’t her real name, of course,
and she wasn’t twenty-two. She was fourteen. I asked what he wanted.”

“Information-he wanted information,
right?”

He lowered his head and nodded
again, defeated.

“I’ve been giving him whatever he
asked for ever since,” he said. “It’s been nearly two years.

“Intelligence on investigations, I
suppose?”

He nodded again. “I gave him
confidential files on our people too. I’m sure he used it to blackmail them.”

“How many times did you meet Munoz
face to face?” I asked.

“Only a few times,” he replied.
“Most of our contact was by phone. I used a prepaid cell phone.”

“And Sergio Sebastian, did you meet
him?

“Yeah, Munoz works for him. I met
Sergio onboard the
Wind Chaser
twice. He ‘entertains’ on the yacht.”

“We’ll get to that in a minute. Why
did Munoz come after me last night?”

“One of his people told him you
were asking questions. He called me yesterday wanting to know who you were.”

“Did he say how he caught on to
me?” I asked.

“The manager from Palm Harbor
Marina and his plant in Florida both called him. He told me to have you
followed,” he said.

Andrew Bain had some explaining to
do, but the contact in Florida was even more troubling. I needed to know who
was working for him in Florida.

“Who is this person in Florida?” I
asked.

“I don’t know, her name but I know
it’s a woman,” he said.

“What did you mean he entertains on
the yacht?” I asked.

“He picks up women, and shows them
a good time. He’s rich and the ones he picks are easily impressed with that.”

“He has sex with them?” I asked.

He looked up at me. There was a
deep sadness in his eyes. He understood all to well the depth of his betrayal.
He gave a little snort, sort of a half laugh. “What do you think?”

“I think a good looking rich young
guy could have his pick of…”

“He drugs them and then rapes them
while they’re unconscious,” he said. “That’s how he gets off.”

“Why,” I asked.

“That’s the way he likes it. He’s
on a power trip. He dominates them,” he replied.

Hannah London had said he liked it
kinky. I didn’t want to think about what was happening to Lia.
Hannah London
could be…
My little voice was telling me I’d missed an opportunity when I’d
talked to the blond sorority girl.
Or could it be someone else?

“How did that turn into an
abduction ring?” I asked.

“It was Munoz’s idea, at least
that’s what he said.”

“What? Explain that,” I said.

“Sergio was in Savannah some time
back looking for some companionship. He me met two girls in a bar and lured
them back to his yacht. He promised them a private party. By the time they were
at sea, he’d knocked them both out. He had sex with them as usual, but this
time he took pictures. Munoz said he’d bragged to some friend about how easy it
was. He sent pictures to them and one of them offered to buy both of them.”

“He sold the girls, not the
pictures. That’s how it started?”

“That’s what Munoz said.”

“Who was the guy?”

“Munoz never told me his name. Now
packages, that’s what he calls them, come to his place on Eleuthera a couple
times a month.”

“The place is Sergio’s, not his
father’s?” I asked.

“The old man owns it. He owns
everything, the ships, planes, boats…”

“I get the idea. Who runs this
operation? Does Diego Sebastian…”

“Does the old man know what Sergio
is doing?” he interrupted. “I don’t know.”

“Are there girls at the estate on
Eleuthera now?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he replied, “I don’t know
how many.”

“How does it work? How do they get
there?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “They fly
in a few at a time. The buyers arrange transportation by ship or plane. I set
up payoffs for the police and customs staff on Eleuthera. That’s all I know for
certain.”

“Where does he get these girls?”

“It’s a big operation. He gets
girls from a couple countries. Someone Munoz knows is even spotting women for
him in Florida now.”

“No, how does he get them?”

“He gets young ones through
brokers. They buy girls in Mexico, Columbia, and Venezuela, but others they
pick up off the street. In Florida, he has a crew that cruises concerts and
places like that. Women who are single, living alone… that sort of thing are
the favorite targets.”

“How about these two women?” I
asked, pointing to the pictures of Jennifer Summers, and Lia.

“I never saw them, I swear. I never
saw any of them,” he said.

“It’s been more than a month since
this one disappeared,” I pointed to Jennifer’s picture. “The other one was
abducted last night.”

“I don’t know how long…they might
still be there,” he said. “He keeps them drugged until he makes a deal.”

Commissioner Adair had broken a
dozen laws to get me in the room with Ian and it had paid off. Ian was giving
details and naming names. He even told me which desk drawer I’d find his ledger
documenting his payoffs. I had been at it for hours when there was a knock at
the door. It was Madison and she was smiling.

“Step out here a minute,” she said.

I closed the door behind me and she
engulfed me in an embrace. “Thank you,” she said a she hugged me.

“Whoa, what was that?”

“You broke him without…without
breaking me. You didn’t…”

“I didn’t tell him I slept with
you,” I said, “I didn’t need too.”

“No, you didn’t. Thanks. You’re a
good man, MacDonald Everett.”

“You won’t get odds on that with
people who know me.”

“I’d take that wager,” she said.
“The commissioner wants you to turn him over to Internal Bureau. Major Core
will take it from here.”

I slumped against the wall. Relief
and exhaustion washed over me, I realized I’d done something good, but it
wasn’t over. I had to find Lia and Jennifer.

“Are you sure? I think I can get
more out of him if…”

“I’ve seen Major Core grill a
suspect. He can handle Ian from here.”

She put her hand on my chest, then
her finger to my lips, and said, “You’ve done your part.”

“I’ll just get my notes then,” I
said. “I need to make a call to the states.”

“There's no signal down here.
You'll need to go upstairs,” she said.

She kissed me, winked, and then
headed up stairs. I watched her until the door closed behind her wondering what
the hell I was going to do.
Maybe they need PIs in the Bahamas.

I returned to the stinking cubical.
Ian had his head on the table.

“Ian, you’ve been cooperative. I’m
turning you over to your department’s internal affairs.”

“I assumed that was coming. I’ll be
arraigned soon?”

“I guess so. I’ll be there to
testify to your cooperation. I’ll get the best deal for you I can.”

He laughed and smiled. It was the
first time he’d had anything on his face but pain.

“I don’t know who you are but
you’ve treated me decently,” he said. “I’m ready to take what I’ve got coming,
but I won’t last a day at Fox Hill.”

“Why’s that?”

“Sebastian has the place under
control. He got to Cox. I’m not afraid though.”

I thought a moment then said, “That
sucks for you.”

I stood and collected my files and
I went to the door. I hesitated with my hand on the knob. Without turning
around, I mumbled, “Good luck, Ian.”

I’d be a dope if I felt sorry for
the guy, but in a way, I did. He had everything and screwed it up. He had a
beautiful woman who had loved him, a fantastic job and he lived in paradise.
Now his life was toast.
He started down that road long before me.
I
opened the heavy door at the end of the hall and started up the stairs. With
each tread I climbed, I pushed Ian Todd further out of my mind.

I waved to the desk officer, and
said, “I have to make a call.”

He didn’t know who I was but I had
an official RBPF ID hanging around my neck so he waved back.

I was surprised to find it was dark
out. It was almost eleven-thirty at night.
What day is it? Is it still
Monday?
I’d lost the whole day
.
I hadn’t eaten, hell I hadn’t been
anywhere but that damn interview room. I walked into the balmy night as a
gentle breeze rustled through the palms. I walked slowly to clear my head.

When I hauled out my phone, there
were three calls from Randi and a couple voice mails.
I’ll have to call her
eventually
. I dialed Stan’s number, anxious to hear a familiar voice.

“It’s about damn time you called,”
Stan said.

“It’s been a day here, Stan. I’ve a
lot to tell you.”

I related most of Ian Todd’s story.
Then I explained how it fit into the other particulars I’d uncovered. I left
out the part about getting drunk and laid twice and getting the crap beat out
of me. There would be time for that later.

“Todd may know more, but I have to
turn him over to their IA,” I said.

“Whoa, I thought you were just
kicking back in the Caribbean, but you’ve come through buddy. Did you learn anything
new about Lia?”

“Nothing definite, but I’m sure
Sebastian’s crew picked her up. They work concerts, campuses and other places
they can find women. It’s not clear how that part works though.”

“The sheriff is all over this. He
wants to set up a task force, but he’s agreed to keep it out of the press-for
now.”

“I’ll get a transcript of the
interview with this scumbag to you as soon as I can. Can you look into
something for me?”

“I’ll try,” he replied.

“These people must have some place
to keep these women before they’re sent to the Bahamas. Check out my clients,
the Summers couple. Something Ian Todd said bothers me. Someone is running the
Florida. operation. Parker Summers told me he worked with Diego Sebastian for
years. Why wouldn’t he know about this?”

“Good question. Maybe Summers is
the one behind this. I’ll see what I can find out.”

“See if he owns property. You
should do the same with Diego Sebastian. They have to hold the women locally
before…you get the idea.”

“I’ll see what I can find.”

"The police commissioner here
may call the sheriff. You should give him a heads up,” I said.

“I’ll do that right away. It’s late
but he said to call him any time. Is there anything new on your missing girl?”
Stan asked.

I hated to lie to him, but I didn’t
have time to explain.

“Nothing solid...” I said. “Is
there anything new on Lia?”

“We’ve got leads and we’re working
on them,” he replied.

“Don’t give me that cop double
talk. Do you have anything or not?” I demanded.

“We haven’t got a thing, Mac. I’ve
been going through the reports. I’ve found eight more incidents with similar
MOs in the last month. It looks like…”

Stan was still talking but his
voice drifted away as my attention turned to a tall black man walking by. He
stayed to the shadows. He turned his face away from me as he passed. I only
caught a glimpse of him. He was vaguely familiar. I ran my hand over my neck as
a shudder ran down my spine.

“Are you listening to me, Mac?” he
said.

Stan suddenly came back into focus.

“Yeah, sorry-I just remembered something.
What were you saying?” I said.

“I said, there are as many as ten
missing women who fit the MO so far,” he said.

“That’s not good. Let me know when
you get something more, well ‘ya,” I said.

“Sure,” he said. I could hear the
annoyance in his voice. “Have you heard from Randi?”

“I talked to her last night. She’s
call a couple times today, but I haven’t had time to call back.”

“She spent some time yesterday
talking to Roscoe. He says she was asking a lot of questions-questions about
you.”

The hair stood up on my neck again.

“When are you coming home, buddy?”
Stan asked.

“Soon,” I said. “I should be able
to fly out tomorrow or the day after. I want to get the transcript squared away
and find out if…”

It came to me like a sharp slap to
the back of the head.

“I’ve gotta go.”

I didn’t think twice about hanging
up on Stan. I broke into a full sprint back to police headquarters. I pressed
the call button and held my ID up to the camera. I pulled on the locked door
once, twice, and on the third try the door buzzed and I pulled it open. I
rushed to the desk sergeant, showed my ID, and said, “The man who just came
in-where did he go?”