Chapter 16
I found James on the sidewalk in front of the building, his phone pressed to his ear. He glanced up at me with a frown and said into the phone, “Keep me updated.” He lowered the phone and ended the call.
“Was that Carter?” I asked.
“Yeah. He says he’ll have two guys here within the hour, with twenty-four-hour surveillance. They’ll be unobtrusive, so they shouldn’t hinder her movement, but she’ll have a panic button to press should she need them in her office or home.”
“That can’t be cheap.”
He made a face as he shrugged. “I’m not gonna toss her to the wolves.”
“Do you really think she’s being watched?”
“Honestly, probably not, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Especially if she starts asking questions and makes someone suspicious.” He glanced toward the door. “Let’s get out of here and reduce the risk of anyone realizing I paid her a visit.”
I couldn’t ignore the difference between the two visits.
He hadn’t been above physically hurting Miguel to get what he wanted, but he was going to great lengths to protect the accountant.
I suspected he was doing it because she’d been dragged into the situation unwillingly.
That only verified what I already knew about him—while he didn’t suffer assholes, he did his best to protect the innocent or mostly innocent.
We headed over to the car, and he didn’t waste any time pulling out of the parking lot.
“What took you so long to come out?” he asked with a slight chill in his voice.
“Natalie stopped me. She asked why I was with you.”
He cast a sidelong glance in my direction before turning back toward the road. “What did you tell her?”
“The truth. We’re working together to bring down Gerald Knox and save a lot of girls.” I waited for a beat. “She knew who I was.”
“And?” he prodded.
“She said I must have pissed someone off or gotten in someone’s way for them to set me up like that.”
His head jutted back in surprise. “She believed you?”
“Yeah, when she heard about the shooting, her first thought was that I’d pissed someone off. She thinks they used the situation to their advantage. She said I was lucky. She claims other cops who have gotten in the way or didn’t cooperate have been killed.”
“How do you think they got away with killin’ cops?” He glanced at me again. “Did you notice a pattern?”
I shook my head. “No. I never suspected a thing. She said the cops were killed off duty, and it sounds like a lot of their deaths were made to look like accidents or natural causes.”
“What do you make of it?”
I drew in a deep breath as I considered it. “Honestly, I don’t know. She said she wrote checks to guys on the force who worked for J.R. Simmons. Yet she claims she doesn’t remember any of their names.”
“You don’t believe her?”
I shook my head. “No. If I were an accountant writing checks to pay off cops, you can bet I’d remember all of them. But she said she might be able to dig up the records. She’s going to let Carter know if she finds anything.” I tilted my head as I turned to him. “What do you make of that?”
He pursed his lips. “She’s holdin’ out for something.”
“Yeah, my thought too. But what?”
“To see if I follow through with protecting her?” he mused. “To see if she can find someone willing to pay to find out Harper Adams is looking into dirty cops?”
“You really think she’s up to the latter?” I asked in surprise.
“If I were a bettin’ man, I’d say no. But we’d be fools to not at least entertain the possibility.”
A new thought occurred to me, and I gasped. “Oh… your guards will provide double duty, protecting her and watching to see who she contacts. That’s part of the reason you’re giving her a detail. To spy on her.”
He made a face. “Like I said, I’d be a fool not to consider that she’ll go to someone after my visit.”
“Will your team surveil her phone calls? How will they get access?”
“Unfortunately, we’re probably out of luck with the phone calls, but someone from the team will likely go into her office to introduce themselves and give her a panic button.
If they’re worth their salt, they’ll find a way to install a camera in her office and possibly even the public spaces in her home.
They might suggest it, and if she refuses, it’s an additional reason to suspect she’s gonna sell me out. ”
“Is that a real concern?” I asked in surprise. “I thought she was an innocent.”
“She was an innocent when she got dragged into Simmons’s world.
But by the time he was killed, she was deep in it.
I believe she wanted out, but I’m also sure the job came with lots of perks.
Perks she likely doesn’t have access to now.
” He glanced at me. “Like I said to her, I suspect the Feds didn’t get all the money. ”
“Yeah… do you figure she hid it for his family?”
“I thought so too at first, but I know Betsy Simmons is living much more frugally than she used to as J.R.’s wife.
Once the Feds seized their property and bank accounts, she went to live with her parents.
She’s since remarried a lawyer in Little Rock, but their home is more modest than the mansion they had in El Dorado. ”
“And his son?” I asked hesitantly.
“Joe Simmons never got a dime. He was living with his mother when the Feds showed up and was pretty much kicked out of the house. He went back to Fenton County. He’s currently married and living in a farmhouse that needs updates while employed as the sheriff of one of the poorest counties in Arkansas. He didn’t get any money.”
“Are you sure he’s not hiding it? Maybe it’s his retirement plan.”
He shook his head. “Neely Kate says he doesn’t have it.”
So he’d asked. “Maybe she doesn’t know.”
“Trust me. She knows.”
I wanted to ask more questions but let it go. “So you think Natalie kept the money for herself?”
“That’s my suspicion, but I just asked Carter to look into her spending habits over the past decade.”
“Decade? Simmons was killed four years ago.”
He shot me a grin. “He’s lookin’ for any changes in her spending habits. I’m surprised you didn’t think of that, Detective.”
I made a face. “I would have looked for changes. I just wouldn’t have gone back that far.”
“You were also constrained by things like search warrants.”
He had a point. “Do I want to know how you’re going to get access to her bank records over the last ten years?”
“Probably not.”
I sat back in my seat, once again evaluating my integrity.
Maybe it was better if I didn’t know how he accomplished some things, but willful ignorance wasn’t necessarily a good defense in court.
Not that this would ever find its way into a courtroom.
None of this would be obtained legally, and James’s HSI contact would be a fool to try to use any of it in court.
“So where do you want to go now?” I asked.
“I was thinking we head up to some of the truck stops at the I-30/I-40 interchange.”
“Really? During the day?” I wasn’t surprised he suggested the truck stops, just the time of day. They were known as a hot spot for prostitution.
“Might as well get the lay of the land for when we go back later.”
“Are you hoping to get a name from Razor?”
“I don’t know yet,” he said. “If we press him for it, he could set us up or alert Knox’s guys that we’re comin’.”
“Or both.”
“Exactly,” James said.
“You don’t want to go see Razor?”
“Not yet. It’s still too early for him to crawl out of his hole.”
“Do you know where to find him?”
“I suspect he’ll be at his usual haunt.” He shot a quick glance at me. “I saw him there back in December.”
I narrowed my gaze. “Why were you lookin’ for him in December?”
“Funnily enough, I wasn’t lookin’ for him. I was talkin’ to another source. Razor just happened to be there.”
“When you were lookin’ for leads into the human trafficking?” I asked.
His mouth pursed. “Yeah.”
“So, you laid low the first year you got out, then made tentative attempts to figure out who was involved over the last two years?”
“That’s sums it up.”
“And you never figured anything out?” I asked, my skepticism creeping in.
He turned and studied me for several seconds. “You don’t believe that?”
“Why did you have trouble finding out anything, let alone linking Knox to it last fall, when Miguel happens to know Knox is trafficking?”
He shook his head, frustration washing over his face. “The hell if I know. Maybe I talked to the wrong people. Maybe Knox is getting sloppy.”
“I need you to tell me the truth, James,” I said in exasperation.
Some of the tension left his body. “I am. Knox had his own people who—as far as I know—didn’t interact with my sources. Or maybe I didn’t try hard enough.”
“On purpose?” I asked, my tone softer. I could only imagine how hard his federal leash had to chafe.
“There’s some truth to that,” he conceded. “But Knox was never on my radar. I guess he should have been. I’d heard he was laundering. I just didn’t make the connection.” He gave me a grim smile. “Maybe I’m getting sloppy.”
I didn’t believe that, but I did believe he’d only put out tentative feelers.
“You made the first connection to Knox when you saw the paperwork for the warehouse,” I said. “But he sold it, so where’s he taking the victims now?”
“I plan to find out from Razor. He obviously does work for Knox.”
“You think he’s gonna tell you?”
“Honestly? No. But once I tell him I know he’s part of it, I’m sure he’ll run off to talk to someone. I plan to follow him.”
“But what if it’s a phone call?”
“He’s usually too paranoid to talk about important things over the phone. He’ll run to them and confront them in person.”
“What if we cover both potential possibilities?”
He squinted at me. “How do you propose to do that?”
“I say we enter the bar separately. I’ll find Razor and sit close. You come in and confront him, then leave, and I’ll be there to see what he does.”
Indecision wavered on his face.
“You want to tell me no,” I said with a little laugh. “But you’re struggling to find a reason that will convince me.”
He shot me a sardonic grin.
“I was a cop, Malcolm. I can handle myself. Besides, I’m not stupid. I’ll be careful.”
“I know you’re not stupid. But Natalie Crowe recognized you. What if he recognizes you too? He won’t be up for a chat.”
“Then I’ll get a disguise.” I shrugged. “Maybe it’s time for that wig.”
“You’re gonna wear a wig?” he asked in disbelief. “I thought you were against using one.”
“I don’t want to wear one all the time, but I’m up for wearing a disguise for an undercover mission.”
He didn’t say anything.
“What bar does he frequent?”
“I don’t know that he still goes there.”
“You were certain enough that you expected him to be there later today.”
He scowled.
“What bar, James? What type of clientele?”
“It’s a biker bar.”
He didn’t give me a name, but I’d let that go for now.
“I’ll need to dress the part. I’m thinking … skin-tight leather pants—”
His scowl deepened. “I don’t like it.”
“You know it’s a good idea.”
“I still don’t like it.”
I laughed. “Sorry. It’s happening. We’ll drive through the truck stops, then go shopping. What time do you expect he’ll show up?”
“Late afternoon, but I don’t want to get there when he does. I want to give him time to get sauced.”
“But not too sauced.”
“Exactly.”
I nodded, but then it occurred to me that we’d be at a bar, with plenty of alcohol. And I’d be playing a part—one that would likely require drinking alcohol.
“You don’t have to do this,” he said with a forceful tone. “We’ll just follow him.”
“We don’t know that he’ll go anywhere.”
“We don’t know that he’ll make a call either.”
“True, but what harm is there in trying both options?”
He glared at me.
“I’ll be fine. I’m not worried about you confronting him.” I lifted a brow. “Or should I be?”
“No,” he grunted.
“Then you shouldn’t be worried about me, because I don’t plan on talking to him at all. I’ll just blend in.”
He didn’t respond, and I knew I’d won. He just wasn’t going to admit it.
I was okay with that.