Chapter Eight

  Sweat beaded on Paulo’s brow. He reached up and swiped it away. He would say that the presence of the officers was making him nervous, but it was more than that. Over the last five days, New York had experienced record temperatures. Average temperatures for June ran around the low 80s. During his visit this week the temperatures were well in the upper 90s. It would be just his luck.

  Maria kept a light hand on his back.

  He should have ditched her when the boat landed. He could have ditched her. She’d been a horrific person as captain of the Black Dahlia. Crew members had threatened to throw her overboard on more than one occasion while in his presence.

  But he’d saved her the once because there was something about her. Something that reminded him of his mama. God rest her soul. And that something was still there. He couldn’t abandon her now.

  She would have wanted him to stand up for an old lady who was about to be put in prison. For sure that was where Maria Petrov was headed. She’d had people kidnapped for money. She’d sold people for money. Money seemed to be her main motivator.

  He’d seen her cabin. Pictures of islands with large palm trees and people sipping froo-froo drinks had covered her walls. The woman wanted to retire to an island. That meant she needed a lot of money.

  He had other plans.

  Freedom.

  He’d done terrible things. More terrible things than he could count. He liked to do terrible things. It was as if something invisible outside of him controlled him. Sometimes he would try to stop doing those terrible things, but he always went back to it.

  Like smoking. He’d quit and gone back to that several times as well.

  She shifted her weight and the pressure on his back. The gun. It was in his hand. He was pointing it at the men in black suits. He lowered it. His hand trembled.

  She’d seen him take the life of the dock manager. He’d not meant to. In fact, he wasn’t sure that he had done it. That’s what had happened. It wasn’t him.

  Right?

  Maria squeezed his shoulder.

  Snippets of memories came to him. He’d taken them to the employee closet to try and put on employee outfits, but there weren’t any. He’d thought of taking clothes from someone on the floor but finding a dead body or a half dead body might alert the officers even more.

  They’d left the fish factory and went to the dock office to look for a fishing boat to rent. The man upfront had taken them to the back room. Maria had started talking about the manifest—a paper he already had. The officer behind the desk had acted suspicious. That might have been when he tapped him or strangled him.

  He couldn’t remember.

  There had to be security cameras around the place. But truthfully, he didn’t think the security cameras had found them yet. Anyone looking would need computer equipment for a disk that might have been made, if something existed. And no one had run out of the place acting crazy so they couldn’t know their boss was dead.

  No, they didn’t need to be worried. As long as no one saw them lurking they would be fine.

  The sound of a radio from someone close by drifted toward Paulo. If he had to kill this person, it would not help them.

  “Today in crime news, Rochelle Rawlings’ murder is still unsolved. We’ve heard from the local law enforcement agencies that the Police Assistance Unit has been assigned the case. Hopefully, justice will be done for this wonderful lady.”

  Paulo allowed the feeling of relief as well as others to wash over him.

  Rochelle…

  Ah…

  How could he express how he’d felt about Rochelle and her demise? He shouldn’t express it in public.

  She’d been how he’d gotten into the country. Such a sweet lady. She’d felt for him and his plight. If he stayed in China, he would have been executed for his crimes. Not that it wasn’t deserved, but he didn’t tell her that.

  Rochelle helped him change his name. She gave him tips for his hair and how to look less Chinese. He could have told her he wasn’t Chinese, well not completely. He was only half Chinese. His father was Chinese, his mother was from Portugal. If he’d committed his crimes there, he would have been fine.

  But Rochelle…

  She’d helped him to get out of China permanently. Through others, he’d secured his new passport. She’d gotten him a future job at the hospital. That was after he repaid his debt to Maria for the passage.

  He’d only come to thank Rochelle for her help.

  They’d been talking quietly. He’d sensed romantic tension. He felt that often around beautiful women. He knew he was a prize to look at, but it angered him. Because of his looks no one listened to him.

  Her smile.

  The way she placed a strand of hair behind her ear that had dropped from her perfect bun.

  He’d drawn his weapon and pulled the trigger.

  It had been automatic. He’d done it so many times before. He’d left a string of beautiful women wherever he went. That was why he’d left China.

  The radio continued to talk about other crimes in the area. Unsolved crimes. Apparently, this was a place where one could get away with murder.

  Literally.

  “Paulo, we should move.”

  Maria’s voice seemed to come to him from far away. When he could hear once more, he realized she was correct. All the officers were inside a building. It was their opportunity to stroll past and make it to the docks.

  He rose to his full height, placed his arm in Maria’s and casually walked toward the bobbing boats. She smiled pretty. She knew exactly what to do.

  It was good for Maria that she reminded him of his mother.

  He had loved his mother.

  ****

  Sasha pointed at Maria and the strange man as they left their squatted position and headed toward the boats. “We can’t let them get away.”

  “I don’t see how we’re going to stop them.”

  Robert’s lazy, quitter attitude wasn’t something that Sasha was used to.

  Sasha turned and walked back toward the car. Robert followed. By the time she got behind the wheel she had formulated a plan.

  She waited until Robert was buckled then she pulled out of the parking spot and toward the gated entrance. The door rolled up. The guard in the booth didn’t even look as they drove through. She should have thought of that before. The area should be secured, but for some reason it wasn’t. If it had been how would Maria and the gentleman with her have gotten in?

  “I didn’t expect that.”

  “Neither did I.”

  Sasha kept driving. She stopped her car behind a row of shipping containers. Other cars were parked there so she assumed she would blend. Once out of the car, she began to walk closer to the boat slips. The dock was usual. It had both cargo containers and then a little farther away were slips for sailboats. Even a cruise liner was docked close by.

  Robert was breathing heavy by the time they reached the row of vessels that carried people. She only fared a little better.

  Yachts of various sizes and amenities bobbed in the water. There were also speed boats and cabin cruisers. Sasha hadn’t seen Maria, and her male friend come that way, but if she was trying to escape this would be where she would go.

  “Do you see them?”

  Sasha rotated around in a circle. Light brown hair lifted in the wind and blew behind someone who appeared to be running.

  “Is that her?”

  Robert twisted to see. But it was too late. The lady in question had vanished.

  ****

  Quinn studied the televisions in the secret room. Under his breath he made noises which no one else seemed to notice. They were his this is interesting noise, or what is this noise. No one seemed to care.

  Greg was too busy being angry that Ericka had been late.

  Ericka was too busy wondering why Greg was angry that she’d been late.

  And Maggie, well she couldn’t stop looking at her phone long enough to have an opinion either way.

  If they didn’t keep their jobs, it wouldn’t be because Ericka was late to work one day. It would be because they were too distracted by life to do their jobs.

  It was kind of sad. Rochelle Rawlings from everything that he’d heard was a fantastic person. Not only had she helped many people out of bad situations in their home country, but she’d also done it in her neighborhood as well. She’d really started to bring people around. Her store, as well as others on the street, had stopped being robbed. There was an understanding of mutual respect that she’d fostered.

  No matter how hard Quinn tried he just couldn’t understand why someone would want to hurt her.

  A black and white image flashed on the screen. Excitement built inside him.

  “I’ve got a picture!”

  That got their attention. Ericka, Greg, and Maggie gathered around him as he rewound the video until he saw Rochelle behind the counter.

  Heat pooled around him as they leaned in closer. Quinn would have told them to back off, but he thought he could put up with it for a moment or two more.

  There was no audio, but it was easy to see when the atmosphere changed. A man entered. Rochelle smiled. He handed over an envelope. She handed over a book which appeared to have passport written on it. She batted her long fake lashes. She smoothed a strand of hair behind her ear. The man pulled a gun. And it was over. Rochelle slid to the floor with her hand to her abdomen.

  “Why did he do that?” Maggie was asking a good question that had no answer.

  “We’ll find out the why when we discover the who.” Greg pointed at the screen. “Is there another angle? We can’t see the guy’s face.”

  Quinn already knew that they couldn’t see his face. “I’m not sure. I’ll need to keep searching to see if there are more cameras and then—”

  “Do it. Keep Ericka. Maggie and I will go back to the office and see if we can find out who was making the fake passports. That might tell us who she got one for recently.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Quinn didn’t argue. He could tell Ericka wanted to, but she stopped herself. When the bell closed on their departure, Quinn expected Ericka to begin ranting and raving about Greg’s attitude. Whatever was happening with him was affecting their work. But instead, Ericka surprised him.

  “Tell me what I can do to help you.”

  “Oh, well, I guess you could watch this monitor. I think I have it set up on a play through for a few days before or after. I’m not sure.”

  “Yup, roll that beautiful bean footage.”

  “A Bush’s bean reference, really?”

  “What? The moment called for it.”

  Quinn chuckled under his breath. Secretly, he was glad they weren’t going to discuss Greg. It wasn’t a healthy subject.

  His phone pinged and he dug it out of his pocket. Fanny had sent him a cat video. Since she’d moved to New York they sent videos to each other multiple times a day. They knew that if the other was busy, they would watch it eventually. Sometimes he still worried she would get upset if he waited, but she never had.

  He might slip and watch the video in the restroom. He kind of felt the need to go.

  Chapter Nine

  “All right, Kane, I’m over the attitude. The others might not say anything to you, but I’ve known you way too long.”

  Greg ran his free hand through his hair. He’d known he was being a jerk. At first, he convinced himself that he was upset with Ericka. She was late. She almost caused them to lose their jobs. But then she was there, and it seemed fine.

  Then he remembered the other thing on his mind.

  Heidi…

  Officer Heidi Goodall.

  She kept coming to his home unannounced. Most of the time she wanted to eat. Eat pizza. Every time she walked through the door, she wanted pizza. He liked pizza as much as the next guy, but every time!

  He’d offered to take her to a nice restaurant. She’d said no.

  He’d offered to order literally anything else. She’d said no.

  The night before he’d broken down and just told her he didn’t want pizza. She’d looked heartbroken. She’d said it was their thing. Then she’d said that maybe they shouldn’t date anymore.

  Honestly, he didn’t even know they were dating. Since when did randomly showing up on someone’s doorstep and demanding pizza count as dating?

  Maggie cleared her throat. She’d turned slightly to her left to look at him. He’d not moved. He needed to look at the road. Driving was the priority. She should understand that.

  “Look, Kane, I know you can drive and talk, so spill it. If you’re upset with Ericka, I get it. She almost, almost, left us in a lurch. But she did show up. Something is going on with her as well, and I’ll ask about that later. Before the case is over for certain. But for right now, I have your undivided attention.”

  Not really undivided, but he wasn’t telling her that.

  “Kane?”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Heidi is threatening to break up with me.”

  Her brows drew down. “Were you two dating?”

  “Heck, if I know. I thought we were going to go on a date, but then we never did.”

  “You are kind of busy.”

  “Of course I’m busy! I’m a Sargeant in a special police unit! I run a team. I have responsibilities. And her randomly showing up and demanding pizza every five minutes isn’t helpful.” He talked so loud and fast that his heart raced.

  “Hold on, boss. Every five minutes?”

  “So, a bit of an exaggeration. But not by much.”

  “You don’t like pizza now?”

  He groaned.

  She laughed. “I’m kidding. I get it. Did you talk to her?”

  “Oh, I tried. I invited her out to dinner at a nice restaurant. She said no. I asked her if I could cook. She said no. I think she just likes pizza because she is extremely picky, but she doesn’t want me to know.”

  “Wow. Pizza all the time. I feel the heartburn now.”

  “Right! I’ve had to restock my antacids!”

  Maggie laughed but tried to cover it behind her hand. It wasn’t very effective. She straightened. “What are you going to do?”

  “I have no idea.” He sighed. “Honestly, I wanted to date Ericka, but then I realized that if I did then I would be ruined for anyone else. So, I decided to give Heidi a chance. I mean, I like talking to her. It’s just the food thing. And I just admitted that all out loud, didn’t I?”

  “You did.” Maggie’s voice didn’t hold the least bit of surprise.

  “You won’t share that, will you?”

  She lifted her hands. “Your personal feelings are not for me to share. But I think you should tell Ericka how you feel sooner rather than later.”

  “Why because in every two-bit town we go to she has an ex-boyfriend?”

  “That is one reason. But because I think she likes you too. Waiting doesn’t do anyone any good.”

  He wasn’t sure about that. Waiting kept him from getting his heart broken.

  He pulled into the underground garage of the building and found a row with a lot of empty spots. They both climbed from the car and walked toward the elevator together.

  “You could talk to Dr. Ellen if you feel you need more of a professional opinion.”

  “I’ve talked to her often about this and she said the same as you.”

  “Oh, I am smart.” She smiled as she pushed the elevator button.

  “Ha, ha. I’m glad you enjoy being right.” He paused. “How is the relationship with Tristan?”

  She sighed. “He isn’t happy with his job. He doesn’t make enough money, and his songs aren’t selling as well as he’d hoped.”

  “Did you ever ask Ericka if she would go with him to the jazz club?”

  “I have not. But I should. I think she could really help him. Do you think she would?”

  Greg knew she would. Ericka loved to help people. She didn’t care that much about helping herself, but others, that she really cared about.

  “I do. I really do.”

  His life was in a rut also. Maybe she’d be able to help him as well. If he told her the truth then maybe they could help each other.

  ****

  Quinn had looked for more cameras, but there weren’t any. He returned to the room and Ericka moved aside. Now he sifted through each video file. One by one he watched as people entered the shop. Since there was only one screen, Ericka was forced to sit and wait. She was in a chair that spun, and she took advantage of it, rotating from one side to the other. It was driving him a bit nuts.

  “Have you ever felt like you were in a rut?”

  “Huh?”

  “I mean, like stuck. Just stuck in a situation that you couldn’t get out of.”

  “Of course.” He leaned in and narrowed his eyes, but dismissed the video as he recognized that it was just a man handing over a credit card.

  “All this time I thought I knew what I wanted. I wanted to be an officer of the law and put families back together. My path was kind of decided for me by my parents. Dad leaving. Mom giving me up on dad’s doorstep and him leaving again. All that kind of sealed my fate. The military was my only option. At eighteen I was pretty much homeless. My grades were good, and I should have been able to get a scholarship to college, but I wasn’t ready.”

  Quinn continued to scroll through the footage. He swallowed a couple of times to keep his emotions from showing through.

  “I just feel like I’m losing me. That I’m vanishing. Every time I get close to what I wanted for my future it slips through my fingers.”

  “What did you want to be when you grew up?”

  She chuckled under her breath. “Honestly, a singer.”

  “That I believe.”

  She put a strand of hair behind her ear. She was a very beautiful woman. He’d not heard anyone say that to her, but it was true. Inappropriate for him to say it, but true.

  “Can you believe I had stage fright?”

  “Really?”

  “Yup. In the high school play my knees started knocking so loudly the director at the back of the room made me leave the stage!”

  Quinn smiled but didn’t laugh.

  “That dream as well as the one of singing died pretty quickly under the onslaught of negative comments from Cecilia Drust. She was good at shooting a person down.”