Chapter Seventeen #2
“This one means I’m a witch,” she said, touching it.
“This one is a protection symbol of the Voudon, and this is a symbol of power. What’s all over those victims is literally gibberish.
It’s not a Pagan alphabet, or anything but garbage.
Who would put an evil eye on a dead body?
The evil eye is to protect a person. This person is dead. It’s a little too late.”
She had a point.
“Where were you last night?” Gene asked. “You need an alibi.”
She didn’t hesitate.
“I was at Dark Spirits in the VIP lounge with Roddy. He’s my alibi, along with all of my staff, and all of the patrons.”
Ethan pulled up a different picture.
“Do you know this man?”
It was a picture of the dead banker found not that long ago on his lawn.
“Yes, I know him. That’s Samuel. He works at the bank, and is part business partner, or was, to Jaden—off the books. He is his personal finance guy.”
Both men’s eyebrows went up. Again, this was all tying back to the original dead man, proving they were likely on the right path.
The dead cop and agent were not involved, just being handled for working this case.
“So Jaden was running guns, and now, his money backer at the bank turned up dead?”
She nodded.
“This isn’t me. I’m not violent by nature. Yes, I know I have scary tattoos, and I know that I practice dark arts, but we don’t hurt anyone. I didn’t kill Jaden, the two officers of the law, or Samuel.”
Well, if they both had an alibi, they didn’t kill Samuel, but he was at the club last night.
“He was at Dark Spirits yesterday evening. We have already gained access to his financial records.”
She nodded, and didn’t even try to make an excuse.
“He joined us for a few minutes in the VIP lounge. We had a few drinks, and talked business,” Rodrigo said.
“About?” Gene asked.
The man kept his mouth closed.
“Listen. You want us to keep her safe and out of jail, then maybe you need to stop being an idiot.”
The man glanced over at Esmeralda, and they both saw the genuine love in her eyes for him, and vice versa.
This wasn’t just some random sex thing. They were legitimately a couple in love.
Finally, he spoke.
“I’m working on a business venture. Is it legal? No. It’s not.”
Both men sat there.
“How illegal?” Gene asked.
The man shrugged.
“It’s an acquirement of land in order to put up some luxury resorts not far from here. I’ve bought some land, and I’m in the process of bribing officials to let me use it. The land is a little…soggy.”
Oh, well, that was NOT their issue.
Bribery was a local law problem.
“And that’s it?”
He nodded.
“Samuel was freeing up some capital for me by signing off on a massive loan that will be able to close the deal and get construction started. My assets are all tied up, and so are Esmeralda’s.”
That made Gene curious.
“Are you bribing any cops?”
He shook his head.
“Council members only, and the bribe is to vote in favor of construction. They’re getting stakes in the property, and money. I swear.”
Again, not their issue.
Unless someone was killing people.
Ethan focused Gene by asking a single question to the mob man.
“Do you know what went down the night that Jaden was killed?”
Gene waited.
“Come on, Rodrigo.”
The man caved.
“He was meeting with someone he worked with. That’s what the word on the street is. Other than that, I don’t know what he does. I didn’t go back in there after he told Esmeralda to get out of there. He put his hands on her.”
Gene sighed.
“Know what I dislike? When there’s layers to shit and we can’t get through those layers.”
The man shrugged.
“I’m being honest. I literally just told you about my illegal business deals. I’m doing that for her. Not for me. Jaden was up to his eyeballs in shit, and while I’m not always on the up and up, I’ve never killed anyone.”
Gene laughed.
“You mean you’ve never been caught.”
The man shrugged.
“Same difference. Only, this time, I’m telling you that if I did it, you’d not have it pointing the fuck back at us. Why would I do that? I’m not stupid.”
That was a very valid point.
From all intents and purposes, this looked to be like whoever was working with Jaden was trying to cover his tracks.
“Okay.”
Gene stood.
“I’m going to assume that you know the two law officials that died, correct?”
She was honest.
“They both came into Dark Spirits and spoke to my staff. I wasn’t there those days. I was with Rodrigo. We were in Colorado skiing.”
Gene stared at her.
“I don’t like the sun,” she said. “It’s difficult to look this pale when you live on an island.”
Whatever she said.
Gene wasn’t questioning it, but he was warning them as to what was to come.
“We’re going to dig into this, and ask questions. If I find that you’re lying, or behind this, I’m going to get mean. There’s no doubt about that.”
Neither looked worried.
“Tonight, we’re coming by Dark Spirits, and we’re going to ask questions of your staff. If you’re there, you won’t warn them. Got it?”
She agreed.
“I promise I won’t. We’ll be there and accessible in case you need to talk to us. I give you my word that we’re not involved in this. Someone is really gunning for both of us.”
Yeah, said every person they’d suspected of a crime. What she said didn’t matter.
It was what they could find out.
Gene pointed to a notepad.
“Give me the address in case I need to follow up, or arrest you. For now, Ms. Barada, you’re in the clear. Before this little abduction scheme of Rodrigo’s, we didn’t believe you were behind it.”
She looked surprised.
“Really?”
He nodded.
“My profiler,” he said, pointing at Ethan, “said this is too in our faces blatant. It’s too directed at you. The broken bones are too over the top and pointed at a mob man, as it looks like someone’s interrogating people to see what they know. You know too much as it is,” Gene admitted.
And it was true.
The man definitely was aware of what was going on around the island.
They also believed if he was killing, no one would be any the wiser.
“We want you to stay out of it, and if you hear anyone is up in this, contact us,” he said, sliding his business card to Rodrigo. “If you want her to stay in the clear, don’t put your nose in it.”
The man got it.
“I’ll owe you one if you help her.”
He stopped that then and there.
“Hell, no. I’d like to keep my job, and being owed one by a mob man is the opposite of that. This is what we do. If she’s clean, she’s clean. That’s the bottom line.”
It was clear Rodrigo was grateful.
He stood and shook both of their hands.
“Thank you, Gentlemen.”
Yeah, well, don’t thank them quite yet. They had a lot of work to do—unless this killer really fucked up.
“Ma’am,” Ethan said, nodding at her, and with that the two men headed toward the door.
As they opened it, the three bodyguards were there, and Gene handed their guns back to them.
“Don’t point guns at trained Feds, and then you won’t get your balls knocked into next week, or your noses broken,” he warned.
Rodrigo laughed.
“Let them go,” he said.
That amused Gene.
“Yeah, like that wasn’t the plan.”
As they headed out, no one tried to stop them, and they didn’t have any issues.
Luckily.
Because Gene was not in the mood to play any games. This whole thing had him annoyed.
Someone was fucking with them.
PERIOD.
Outside, Ethan went there.
“They didn’t lie. As much as they’re guilty of shit, it’s not this shit.”
Gene was aware.
“Let’s call into Greyson, and give him the heads-up.
We need to have him dig into Jaden. Like we suspected, he’s ground zero.
He was dealing with someone, and that’s how he died.
Then, Aaron dug around, and he died. Then, Jarod.
Finally, the money man was taken out—either because he was helping Jaden, or the killer thought he knew too much. ”
On this, Ethan agreed.
Getting into their vehicle, Ethan pulled out his phone, and as Gene got them out of there, he made the call.
It didn’t take long for the man to answer.
“Hey! Where are you guys? The homicide captain just called, and he’s pissed you guys are late.”
Gene laughed.
“Oh, well, first, I don’t give a fuck, and second, we were just kidnapped by a mob man, so we had other things on our plate.”
The call was silent.
“Greyson?” Gene asked. “Did we lose you?”
Then, there was sound.
“Are you kidding me?” he asked.
That was amusing.
“I don’t think I kid about stuff like that, Grey. I kid about my weight. I kid about my accuracy with a gun, but I don’t kid about being abducted from outside a crime scene at gunpoint.”
Well, holy shit.
“Where are you? I can send in agents.”
Oh, well, there was no need.
“We actually overpowered them, turned the tables on them, and had a conversation with Rodrigo Cruz. Oh, and his bed buddy, Esmeralda Barada.”
Again, there was silence.
“I can’t leave you two alone for any amount of time. That’s become clear.”
Blackhawk snorted.
“Oh, well, we knew that.”
Greyson felt a stroke coming on, or a really bad heart attack. He wasn’t quite sure which it would be, but it was definitely one of them.
“Jesus, guys.”
Gene reassured him.
“We were right, Grey. This is all a setup. Someone is trying to make this look like something it’s not. We found out that Jaden Mendin was running guns. This is looking like his partner did him dirty, or he tried to do that to the guy. Then, he was dumped. The rest are cover.”
Well, shit.
“And the banker?”
They kept it to the point.
“He was the inside money man for both Jaden Medin, and for the person who owns a portion of Papi’s. Want to guess who that is?” Gene asked.
Oh, he was pretty sure he could.
“The mob man?”
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
Give their friend a prize.
“Yeah, but he’s supposedly alibied for last night along with Esmeralda. So, later, we’re going to go and talk to staff, but we were spot on. Are you in the office?”
Well, where else would he be?
“Yeah, I’m doing paperwork. I was also running Samuel Padilla. He’s clean, by the way.”
Oh, no shock there.