Chapter 11
“Mercedes and I are less than ten minutes away.”
“Dernice and I will be in my office waiting for you.”
“We won’t be long.” Carlita tucked her phone in her pocket. “As soon as Dernice told me there was an ongoing feud between some of the bikers, I should’ve asked Sonny Skidz to leave.”
“But the guy, Creed, claimed Sonny’s brother, who wasn’t even at the party, caused the accident,” Mercedes pointed out. “I don’t recall anyone arguing.”
“Me neither, and I was paying attention.” After hearing about what had gone down, Carlita had made her rounds, keeping a watchful eye out in case trouble bubbled up. She couldn’t remember a single incident that caused her concern.
As promised, Elvira and her sister were waiting for them in the office.
“When will you have the lab results?” Elvira asked.
“By the end of the day tomorrow. The cops stopped by Ravello’s first thing this morning. They took samples, questioned Arnie, and left.”
“They’ll get the results PDQ,” Elvira predicted. “Like I mentioned on the phone, Dernice and I got to talking about Creed’s accident and the Skidz brothers.”
“I was there when it happened. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to take a few photos of the scene, you know, just in case.” Dernice motioned to her desk. “I uploaded them from my phone to my computer.”
“Scooch over.” Elvira nudged her sister to the side. “I’ll explain it.”
“Whatever.” Dernice reluctantly moved away. “Although, for the record, I was the one who noticed it.”
“Noticed what?” Carlita slipped her reading glasses on and leaned in, studying the photo of a cluster of motorcycles parked on the side of the road.
Bikers, wearing leather jackets, jeans, and black boots, stood staring at a motorcycle lying on its side.
A man dressed in similar clothes sat on the sidewalk, holding his head.
“Does your club have some sort of dress code?” Mercedes joked. “Everyone is wearing leather jackets, jeans and black boots.”
“It’s AGATT.”
“What is AGATT?” Carlita asked.
“All the gear, all the time. Protection in the event of a crash,” Dernice explained.
“It didn’t help Creed,” Mercedes said. “He looks like he’s in rough shape.”
“Here’s where I was going with my theory.
” Dernice ran a plastic pointer across the computer screen.
“Creed and his bike are here. Rocky Skidz is here. Sonny Skidz is over here.” She ran the pointer diagonally from corner to corner.
“Creed claims Rocky cut him off, causing him to jerk the handlebar. He lost control, ran through the shrubbery and hit the curb.”
Elvira picked up. “Based on the location of where Rocky’s bike is parked, there was no way he caused the crash.”
Carlita squinted her eyes and studied the scene. “How can you tell anyone apart? The motorcycles and gear all look the same.”
“Precisely.” Dernice snapped her fingers. “Rocky never had a beef with Creed, and neither did Sonny, but Sonny did have a beef with Paul Maul. Do you see how Sonny and Creed were riding side by side? I think Sonny was the intended target, not Creed…targeted by Paul.”
“Was Paul at the party?”
“He was.” Dernice described a man who sounded vaguely familiar.
“I remember the name but can’t quite place the face,” Carlita said.
Mercedes scratched her forehead. “I’m a little confused.”
“Let’s start from the beginning…the accident,” Dernice said. “Creed is riding alongside Sonny. Creed thinks Rocky, who is Sonny’s brother, cut him off and caused the crash.”
“So far, so good,” Carlita said.
“I believe it was Paul Maul, who was on the other side. He tried cutting Sonny off, but instead, Creed took the fall, literally,” Dernice said. “As a side note, Creed is a hothead. As soon as he hit the pavement, he started looking for someone to blame.”
“So Sonny was the target. Creed took the fall. Why is Paul Maul a suspect?” Mercedes asked.
“Because of Cyclone Courtney.” Using her pointer, Dernice tapped the shoulder of a woman, curvy in all the right places, with long dark hair and painted-on jeans, standing on the sidewalk puffing away on a cigarette. “This is Paul Maul’s girlfriend.”
“I don’t remember her from the party,” Mercedes said.
“She wasn’t there,” Dernice said.
“How does she fit into your theory?”
“Rumor has it that she and Sonny were having a fling. She’s a real looker and flirty with the guys.”
“Paul Maul, her boyfriend, got jealous,” Elvira said. “He tried to cause Sonny to wreck but ended up wrecking Creed’s motorcycle instead.”
“I’m starting to get it,” Carlita said. “Sonny was here at the party. So was Paul. Your theory is Paul was behind Sonny’s poisoning.”
“Who was recovering until he was in the hospital.” Elvira hurried on. “We need to find out if Paul visited Sonny. He could’ve gone to the hospital, realized Sonny was on the mend and did something to him to take him out.”
“Three times is the charm,” Dernice said. “Cause a wreck, poison him. If those two don’t take Sonny out, try again.”
“What about Yvonne?” Mercedes asked.
“Collateral damage,” Elvira said. “She was never the intended target.”
Carlita started to pace. “Paul had a beef with Sonny and figured he would try to poison him at the party when the bike crash backfired.”
“Yeah, but how?” Dernice asked. “I know you mentioned his heart, but we need to confirm the cause of Sonny’s death.”
All eyes turned to Elvira.
“What?”
“You have insider resources,” Carlita said.
“Which I only use in the event of an extreme emergency.”
“Extreme emergency?” Mercedes frowned. “It’s never stopped you before.”
“Until I got busted. I could lose my business license if I’m caught hacking into any government or NPO institution.”
“What is an NPO?”
“Government affiliated non-profit organization. Not specifically defined as a government agency but with some of the same protections,” Elvira explained. “Similar enough so that they’re off the table as far as hacking into their systems.”
“I don’t believe hospitals keep a list of visitors,” Dernice said.
“But they have cameras everywhere.” Carlita stopped pacing. “I noticed them when I was wandering around the hallway the other day looking for the bathroom.”
“Do you know how to hack into the hospital’s surveillance system?” Mercedes asked.
“Maybe,” Elvira answered evasively.
“Which means yes.”
“Like I said, I would love to help you. Truly I would, but I can’t.”
“I’ll pay you.” Carlita threw out a figure she was certain Elvira wouldn’t refuse.
“As much as I’m tempted, it’s too risky.” Elvira escorted them to the door. “Besides, you could find out your food was clean and Yvonne’s incident plus Sonny’s was an unusual coincidence.”
“I guess I’ll have to wait.” Carlita reached for the doorknob. “Speaking of Yvonne, have you heard anything new?”
“I think I mentioned she took the day off, whining and complaining about not feeling well.”
“Do you think she’ll contact an attorney?”
“If she finds out the food was tainted, my guess is yes.”
“Great.” Carlita stepped onto the sidewalk. “One more thing to keep me up at night.”
“Don’t worry, Ma.” Mercedes patted her mother’s arm. “We’ll sort this out.”
The roar of an engine echoed along the narrow street. Bubba’s jacked-up four-wheel-drive truck cruised past. He tapped the horn and gave her a friendly wave.
Directly behind was a moving van and two more souped-up four-wheel-drive trucks.
“Who is that?” Elvira shaded her eyes, watching the parade of vehicles.
“The same guy who has been cruising around the neighborhood the past few days,” Dernice said.
“With his loud muffler.” Elvira’s eyes slid to the side, casting Mercedes a sly look. “I’ve noticed him going in and out of your building. Got a new beau already?”
Mercedes’ jaw dropped. “I’m not dating,” she indignantly replied.
“I can clear up the confusion.” A slow smile spread across Carlita’s face. “The truck belongs to your new neighbor, Bubba Benton.”