Chapter 23
Grayson and Kendra got into his car, and he wondered what they would do about Jason if he had sold the car and no longer had it to give up to pay the forfeited bond.
“We’ve only had one case where the fugitive’s parents sold their home that had been used as collateral for a bail bond, and their son fled to South America.
We used the money his parents had received from the sale of their home to pay the bail bond.
Boy, were they mad. They were under the mistaken opinion that if they got rid of the collateral, they wouldn’t owe the money. ”
Kendra laughed. “Yeah, well, they knew the rules from the beginning when they signed the documentation. Selling collateral pledged for a bail bond without the bondsman’s permission is a breach of contract and constitutes a default on the agreement.”
“Exactly. So how would you handle this if Jason really has disposed of his car?”
“George can legally seize other assets that Jason owns—so if he got another car, or has other property—he will have to forfeit it to cover the cost of the bond. If he doesn’t have any other property, or as Baldwyn’s girlfriend says, he hides it, George will take him to court.
He has done so with other cases before.”
“And Baldwyn?”
“He’ll go to jail. He has broken every rule he agreed to—alcohol and drug consumption, staying at the wrong residence on purpose, not working, lying about working, not reporting in. I had the distinct impression that his girlfriend was so over him.”
Grayson smiled. “I agree one hundred percent.”
Kendra called George and put it on speakerphone. “Ivan is taking Baldwyn to the police station. Grayson and I are headed home.” It was already late, and time to enjoy the rest of the evening with each other.
“Did everything go all right with him?” George asked.
“Yeah. I did all the questioning, so hopefully Ivan will know more about what to do next time. But if we need to go with him, just let us know.”
“All right, Kendra. We sure will.”
“Bottom line, could he have managed Baldwyn on his own?” George asked.
“Yeah, but then someone would have had to question Baldwyn, his girlfriend, and Jason, Baldwyn’s friend, who put up the bail.”
“What’s the deal on him?”
“He owes you $20,000 and said he no longer has the car that he used for collateral, so you’ll have to get the money out of him whatever way you can.”
“Great.”
George never liked losing a bond payment, but she didn’t blame him. They all lost out.
“Okay, I’ll let you go then. We’ll let you know if we have any recoveries needed tonight.”
“All right.” She hoped not! It hadn’t mattered before when she didn’t have Grayson in her life. She needed the downtime to be with him.
They ended the call.
“I’m glad you don’t have any more jobs tonight.”
“We don’t.”
“Uh, yeah.”
“I know, it will take you a while to feel that you’re part of a new operation.” When they arrived at her house, she said, “We need to move your things here.”
Grayson grabbed the two bags he managed to pack. “Yeah. When we don’t have a mission to accomplish, we can work on it. I need to clean the house out and put it up for sale. I’ll have someone pick up my furniture and take it to a resale shop, and have my home detailed and freshly painted.”
“I’ll help you with everything you need me to,” Kendra said.
“The same with Marcus and Dad. Ivy will be there to help also. We’ll get it done. It might take a while to finish, especially if we have cases to handle, but we’ll do it when we can. In the meantime, I’ll get my clothes and personal items moved over to your house.”
“Okay, sounds good.”
He wheeled his bags into her bedroom when he got a call from Rowland. “Oh, no.” He put it on speakerphone.
Kendra was about to strip off her clothes to take a shower, but she waited to hear the news.
“Hey, you might be headed for bed, or I woke you, but Billy said he would talk. I wanted to give you the opportunity to listen in and see if you might get something from the interview that we’re missing.”
“We’ll be right down at the station. See you in a few.” Grayson took hold of Kendra’s hand and pulled her into his arms for a hug. “Are you ready to listen in on the talk, or do you want to wait this one out?”
“Oh, I’m going. I wouldn’t be able to sleep, wondering what you learned. Besides, I want to take a shower with you. Your wounds should be okay to shower now.”
He smiled. “Let’s go so we can go back to this then.” He kissed her, and they returned to the SUV.
“Do you think Billy is going to really talk?”
“I sure hope so.”
When they arrived at the police station, they were directed to the second interview room. They took seats and watched the proceedings from the private viewing room.
The police had found Billy’s mother, maybe because he was incarcerated again, and she wanted to protect him. Which meant she might be getting a lawyer for him who would ensure he didn’t say anything that could incriminate him.
Rowland read Billy his Miranda Rights again, and then he said, “All right. You agreed to a plea deal, which means you tell us the truth and nothing but the truth. If you deviate from the truth, the plea deal goes out the window.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Okay, so where is your stepdad?”
“I don’t know.”
Rowland raised a brow.
“I don’t! He told me to find some place where the cops wouldn’t find me. I can’t believe my friend ratted me out.” Billy folded his arms, indicating he was being closed off from the investigators.
“But you have no idea where Younger is.”
“No.”
“What about the person who hired him to kidnap the girls? Who is he? Where is he? How did he contact Younger?” Rowland asked.
Billy squirmed in his seat. “You’re talking about someone who would kill us if he knew we ratted him out.”
“Remember the plea deal?” Rowland let that sink in for a moment.
“You haven’t given us anything. We can go to trial, and you can take your chances with the witnesses whom you helped kidnap.
They all identified your mugshot and your stepdad’s.
They know just who you are, and they’re ready to testify.
The only reason they’re agreeing to allow you to have a plea deal is to get your stepdad and the man in charge behind bars.
You’ll have a sentence too, but it will be a hell of a lot longer if you don’t get your plea deal. ”
Billy hunched into his chair and stared at the floor.
“Fine. We’re done here,” Rowland said.
“No, wait.”
Kendra hoped Rowland would get a different result when he questioned him this time.
“Okay, so let’s try this again. Where is your stepdad?”
“I don’t know. I’m sure he didn’t trust me not to tell a cop if I got arrested.”
“What about the man in charge of this operation?”
Billy scrubbed his face and looked down at the floor. “I…I don’t know his name. He goes by JE. But I don’t know if it stands for anything or if it’s just made up.”
“Okay. Do you have any idea where he lives?”
“I wasn’t supposed to know where he lived. But I stowed away in the backseat of my dad’s pickup truck the other day. I don’t know why I did it. Maybe to feel more in power. Dad is always telling me what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. And I’m sick of it.”
“You thought you could work for this JE yourself?” Rowland asked. “Cut out your dad? Do you think JE’s going to believe a kid like you could do this on your own?”
“I was the one getting the girls,” Billy countered.
“If the girls had seen what my stepdad looked like, they wouldn’t have gone near him.
But I kept thinking that my stepdad would get arrested and be taken to jail.
So I would need to know who my stepdad was dealing with so I could…
” He quit talking as if he was afraid that he’d said too much.
“So you could do what, Billy?” Rowland asked.
“Well, you know. Have a job still.”
Kendra was so disgusted with the teen. He was just as rotten as the stepdad, and he didn’t show any remorse for what he had done. Instead, he was ready to cut out the middleman!
Grayson took her hand and squeezed to comfort her. She was so tense, she loved how he made her relax a bit.
“What is your dad’s pickup truck’s color, model, and age?”
“It’s a 2024 red Chevy pickup truck.”
“It’s his? Not stolen?”
“It’s his.”
“So your stepdad left the pickup, and then what happened?” Rowland asked.
The boy gave the address to the huge mansion, as he called it. “I don’t know why he was making so much money off us when we were doing all the work and taking all the risks.”
“That’s always the way, isn’t it? The guy in charge gets away with the criminal enterprise, and you’re left holding the bag.”
“Yeah, but this time I kind of know who he is.”
“Did your stepdad ever know you were in the truck?” Rowland asked.
“No. I was just lucky that Dad had never called me, while I was hiding in the backseat, and that no one else had either, or I would have been outed. I didn’t think of that until he returned to the truck and drove off.
My dad would have been furious with me. I don’t know what would have happened if JE had seen me. ”
“So what did JE look like?”
“Black hair, trimmed neat, like he had a barber who probably cost a fortune. No beard, I couldn’t tell what color his eyes were. He was wearing a button-down shirt, black dress pants, and fancy black shoes.”
“Can you describe him to a sketch artist?”
“Yes, he can,” Billy’s mother said. “Tell them everything you know about this man. You didn’t tell me about him.”
“I was afraid you would tell Dad.”
Rowland said, “We’ll be right back. I’m going to make arrangements to get a sketch artist here.” Rowland and the other investigator left the room and joined Kendra and Grayson.
Rowland got on his phone and called the sketch artist. “Okay, meet us at the station. Thanks.”
The other investigator left the room.
Then Rowland turned to Kendra and Grayson. “Did you think of anything else we needed to ask him?”
“Did Younger discover that you freed the hostages?” Kendra would have thought that if he had, the police would have picked him up at the house.