Chapter 9
Around mid-morning the next day, Ilsa looked up from the papers she was reading and spotted Duane walk up to the table with a box in his hands.
“Here you go,” Duane said as he set the box on the edge of the table.
He didn’t wait for her to question him as he continued, “This is a copy of the file I told you about. The one with the men we arrested from the prostitute sting.” He lifted the lid and had Ilsa look in as he laid his hand in each section.
“The prostitute sting, the recordings of when I was undercover in the drug gang, it wasn’t really a cartel, it was a bunch of locals and the number ten guy was the head of the operation.
Then this last section is the information from the nanny camera from my apartment. ”
“Is there voice on that tape?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you, you know you probably won’t get this information back until after the case we take to court is done, right?”
“I know, and these are copies anyway. Except for the camera still in the teapot.” He lifted the item and pointed to the spout with the camera lens.
“The battery is probably dead by now, but it was motion activated, that’s the only time it would record.
At the bottom of the pot is where all the recordings are held onto a sim card.
I always turned it off when I returned from an undercover operation. I didn’t need to record myself.”
“Okay, I heard someone say something about a wedding yesterday, you’re not married?”
“Divorced, and it’s complicated.” He sat on a chair at the next table and told her about how he had been on an undercover case and what his wife had done by bringing the guy home with her. About how she went to jail, served her time, got out, and was killed.
“Is her killer behind bars?”
“Yes, he’s doing life.” Duane scowled, cocked his head to the side and sighed heavily.
“What is it?” Jason asked. He had come back into the room when Duane started to talk about his marriage.
“I just remembered something, I never put two and two together before.”
“What?”
“Remember I said there were ten levels, I was a seven or eight?”
“Yes?”
“Well, the guy Cara brought home with her, and he was arrested was sent away for twenty-five years. His twin took over the operation, they were at the number ten spot. I don’t know who took over for him when he was arrested and sentenced. I do know that they are in the same jail in California.”
The three were quiet for some time before Jason scrubbed his face. “I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but would you be willing to go to the prison and talk with them if we need their testimony?”
“Yes, but you’re going to have to take something into consideration first.”
“Which is?”
“These guys are ruthless, they won’t do anything for free.
I don’t know what type of pull you have, but I do know they’re going to want a deal first. I do know that they did not get life, just twenty to twenty-five years.
Cara’s murder wasn’t pinned on the twin, but the drugs used to kill her were. ”
“Ah, so it’s a twisted case?”
“Yes.”
“Write down what you remember from that time, names, prison sentenced to, lawyer, prosecutor.”
“It’s not much, I just know the prison and their names.
One is because I had been looking for the guy for six weeks before I was called off the streets.
I had only been home for an hour when Scott showed up.
We were there together eating pizza and drinking beer before Cara arrived home with the guy I had been undercover looking for. ”
“If you don’t mind my asking,” Ilsa said. “Why did she hook up with a drug dealer? Did she use drugs?”
“No, after the investigation was all over, it turned out that she was the one to approach him and told him she knew how to launder his money. For a cut, that is.”
“Of course.”
“Anyway, I have the case file number written down in my stuff over at my home. I can look for it later.”
“Thanks, no hurry, we’ll have to go through all this information first, but it might be an avenue we can pursue if there’s information that Grayson was shaking these guys down for a cut of the product and the profits.”
“Okay, while you’re going through this, try to remember the name of Timothy Fever.
That’s the guy I was looking for and she was laundering his money.
His twin, who picked her up from the jail when she was released is Leon Fever.
He went by Lee. Timothy went by Tim.” He shook his head and chuckled.
“Yeah, they didn’t have any street names, they said they were too sophisticated to have dumb names. ”
The three of then shared a laugh, and Duane left shortly after to go back to his office.
While Ilsa continued reading what she had been working on before Duane arrived, Jason took the box to another table and laid the contents out in the different sections.
He realized he’d need a laptop for the video, something made him prevent using his, so he turned to Ilsa with a raised brow.
“Stupid question.”
“The only stupid question is the unasked one, but what would you like to know?”
“Do you think we should get a different laptop for this investigation?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, should we view this sim card from this camera on our laptops?”
“Ah, you don’t want any of this investigation on any of our computers.”
“Correct, don’t ask me why, but I have a feeling they might be confiscated by the FBI. Not that I have anything incriminating on mine.”
“Neither do I. As a matter of fact, when Kevin came to tell me the trouble we were facing, and brought me to Seattle, I had him stop in Oregon to purchase a new one.”
“Ah, I never thought of that. Maybe I should send him somewhere to get a couple more.”
“Who?” Kevin asked as he walked in the door.
“I was asking Ilsa if we should get a new laptop for this information of Duane’s.”
“Ah, want me run into town?”
“Yes, but somehow I don’t think Fool’s Gold would have an electronics store.”
“I could see if I couldn’t borrow a truck, then get directions to Colorado Springs. Give me a few hours, or do you need it now?”
“I can wait, there are plenty of pages to read.” He held up a stack of papers at least six inches thick, and wrinkled his nose when Kevin laughed. “I’ll be back.”
“Here,” Jason said to stop him and pulled his wallet. As much as Kevin tried to protest, Jason insisted on paying for the things they would need. “Pick up some flash drives while you’re at it.”
“I will.” Kevin turned on his heel and disappeared out the side door.
Four hours later, Kevin returned with several bags from a well-known electronics store. As he began emptying them, Jason and Ilsa looked at him in confusion.
“Why four laptops? The dozens of flash drives I could understand, but why the laptops?”
“I know you only wanted one, but the store was going out of business, and I got a sweet deal on these. Like seventy-five percent off. I bought one with my own credit card because my personal computer is running slow, and I’ve needed a new one for over a year.
The other three you can do with as you wish.
Use one for the investigation, and the other two you can have as personal ones.
Or just leave them in the box. Sorry, but I couldn’t pass this up. ”
“No, I understand,” Jason said as he grabbed the box and read the features of the machine.
“Why so severely discounted?” Ilsa asked as she grabbed a box and did the same. “I can understand them going out of business, and having a discount, but why didn’t these sell?”
Kevin grinned as he opened his and pulled it out of the box.
“What in the world?” Both Jason and Ilsa looked taken aback by the laptop, and ripped open the boxes of the other three, as soon as they laid them on the table, they burst out laughing.
Each computer had graphics of cartoon characters on them and not in any one color like a regular laptop, no, these were loud vibrant colors.
Ilsa grabbed the one with Disney Princesses covering it.
Kevin’s had graphics of The Avengers. The two left had other graphics.
One was a sickly green and had The Incredible Hulk on it, while the other was wild rainbows, with each rainbow being different shades.
Some were pastels, some bold, some dull, some neon.
“Well,” Ilsa giggled and had to wave her hand in front of her face to try to stop, but was unsuccessful. “I don’t care what the outside looks like, as long as it runs, and can do what we want it to, then the outside doesn’t matter.”
“I agree,” Jason said. “I’m going to set up this green one for the investigation.
You know, because we’re invincible and if they take us on, they’re taking on The Hulk.
” The other two burst out laughing, and they broke to heat up the leftovers from the night before and as they ate, they discussed what Duane’s information had revealed, and Kevin said he would read everything after they ate.
They spent the rest of the afternoon setting up their computers and by the time they left for the night, they were ready to start inputting information in them the next day.
Later that night, back at the cabin, Kevin taught Jason how to use the grill and what to look for when he cooked the meat, while Ilsa had made salads that they could eat that night and have some the next day for lunch.
As they settled in to eat, it was a relaxed atmosphere until Jason asked a question.
“Is there anyone the two of you trust?”
“What do you mean by that?” Ilsa asked with her fork full of potato salad stopped halfway to her mouth. “Trust how?”
“With the information of this investigation.” He paused, shook his head, and sighed heavily. “Not in the sense that we would read them in, like share our documents, but someone that if we need outside help, then we can contact them.”
“Ah, I understand,” Ilsa nodded and continued eating. “I guess you could say my person is Lyle Anderson. He’s my boss at work, he represented Katherine in her trial, and provided the prosecution the evidence they needed when they went after Michael. I’ve known him for twenty years.”
“Good, and he wouldn’t have any qualms of doing something to help us?”
“As long as it’s not illegal, I don’t think he would. Oh, and he lives in the country, on a good day, with no traffic, it would take roughly forty minutes to get to his place. Don’t quote me, but I believe he has ten acres. I know he has Katherine’s car hidden in a barn on his property.”
“Good, good, and since she’s not considered a fugitive, he’s not aiding and abetting.”
“Correct.”
Jason turned to Kevin. “And you? Who’s your person?”
“I’d have to say my boss, Captain Glenn Rivers.
I’ve worked for him for ten years. Ever since I got my detective shield and started in the homicide division.
You were in the office when we told him about this case and he gave me the time off.
He even said if we needed anything, to let him know.
” Kevin paused and frowned at the other man. “What are you thinking?”
“Before I get into that, I don’t have anyone outside the two of you that I can discuss this with.
After Hank Patterson paid me a visit, I did some private investigating, and instead of going to my bosses at DOD, I went directly to the President.
I laid out what I had, and what I wanted to do.
” He nodded to them, and sighed. “That I wanted to take on the FBI, but I needed to be released from my post at DOD in order to do this. The President told me to do what I had to, and when it came time to make arrests, keep him abreast of things. He didn’t say it, but it was implied that I was on my own for the time being.
I have no idea who he thinks can help me.
Usually, in cases like this, we would go to the FBI, but since we’re going after them, it’s like we’re flapping in the breeze.
” He finished his supper, and looked at them both.
“I asked if you had a person outside with the hopes of maybe getting the two of them together, not physically in the same location, but maybe have them exchange numbers and report to one another, while if need be, we could contact them to check things out.” He looked at Kevin.
“Just like your captain said, reach out if we need him.”
“Do we need them?”
“Not at this time, but I like to have my ducks in a row. You never know when we might come across some crucial information that might need to be checked out right away.”
“I can call Lyle,” Ilsa said, and turned toward Kevin. “Do you have your Captain’s contact information?”
“I do.” He wrote the information on a pad of paper, and Ilsa did the same thing.
They went into different areas of the cabin to make their phone calls, while Jason cleaned up from their dinner.
Twenty minutes later, Ilsa and Kevin walked back in and told Jason everything was good to go, and that their people would be waiting for any calls or instructions.
They finished cleaning, and because it was yet another late night, they retired to their rooms.