Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Dewi
They left the hotel at daybreak, taking everything with them and checking out through the app.
They didn’t pull into the parking garage at first when they arrived.
Dewi had Alvarez make several laps around that block and the surrounding ones, so she had a solid mental map, just in case anything unexpected cropped up.
On their fourth lap, she pointed at a parking lot by a fast-food restaurant two blocks from the office building. “If something happens and I boogie, or you need to leave, I’ll wait for you there, got it?”
“Yes, boss.”
She pulled on a plain black hoodie, a plain black baseball cap, and held large, dark sunglasses.
“What’s with the getup?” he asked.
She showed him a switch in the hoodie. “Called a ‘camera-shy’ hoodie. IR lights around the edges.” She showed him. “If I’m in the dark or dim light, it’ll obscure my face from cameras. Doesn’t work in daylight or regular light.”
“Uh, can I ask a stupid question—”
“In case something goofs up with the video being erased. If I’m in the parking garage or in the stairwells, it’ll help screw with the cameras.
Hopefully.” She tucked her phone earpiece in.
“Next lap, drop me at the front lobby doors. Circle around different blocks for about fifteen minutes. Then park somewhere on the street and come into the lobby. Pretend to get involved with a phone call and take up a position somewhere you can see the elevators and front doors, if possible.”
“Roger roger.”
She left the hood down for now and tucked the sunglasses into the pocket of her hoodie. With her phone in her back pocket, she stepped out of the car and walked into the lobby.
There was a small coffee shop on the far end—yay!—and only one uniformed security guard at the main desk.
Perfect.
Ten minutes later, Dewi was heading to the bathroom to take care of other pressing business.
The guard had already switched off the recording function on the system.
The cameras still showed a live feed, so no attention would be drawn by having blank monitors, but it wasn’t being captured.
He’d back it up to 6:00 am and set it to reactivate at 12:00 noon.
Hopefully, if anyone did look, it would appear to be a systems glitch.
But the missing video ensured it wouldn’t capture her or Alvarez.
She found the parking garage door and did a quick walk-through to get a feel for the layout. After checking the time, she made another bathroom stop and then headed to the coffee shop.
There were only five small, round tables, but no one was sitting, although there were three people in line.
Dewi called Alvarez when she spotted him walking into the lobby. “How are we on time?” she whispered in her earpiece.
“I’d say be out there no later than twenty minutes from now, to be safe. It’s a four-door, black Mercedes. He always pulls up next to the elevator, puts it in park, and opens her door for her.”
“Can you position yourself to see him drive in?”
She glanced over and saw him take a seat along the front window. “I can see from here.”
“Good. I’m going to get a coffee—all hail caffeine—and then go out to the garage. When you see him turn in, let me know, and I’ll start walking like I’m heading to the elevator.”
“Roger roger.”
She was feeling a little antsy when she put her order in, and had been tempted to Prime one of the baristas to speed things up, but then she had her coffee in hand and returned to the garage.
She was there about twenty-five minutes when Alvarez spoke in her ear. “Heads up. Turning in now.”
She faced the elevator, head down over her phone, but glanced at the ramp.
Sure enough, there they were. “Don’t speak unless I directly address you.
Can’t tell how well she can hear. If I lose you in the elevator, do not call me back.
I’ll call you. Once you see the car pull out, leave the lobby and go get our car.
Give me at least twenty minutes, then prepare to pick me up right here. ”
“Roger.”
Dewi timed her arrival at the elevator perfectly, just as Jacinta stepped out of the car. Dewi offered both the driver and the woman a smile, and when they processed that she was pregnant, too, their nearly matching scowls immediately transformed into polite smiles.
Then Dewi pretended to stumble. When the driver reached out to steady her, she immediately Primed him with the simple command that he never saw her. “Oh, thank you! I’m so clumsy right now.”
Easy-peasy.
At first Dewi wasn’t sure if the driver would leave Jacinta alone with her. But once the elevator doors slid open, she followed Dewi inside. Dewi hit the button for the floor below Jacinta’s destination, and as the doors slid shut she saw the driver had already moved to get back in the car.
She waited until Jacinta reached over and pushed the button for her floor to grab her wrist and Prime her. “?Hablas inglés?” If she didn’t, Dewi would need Alvarez on the phone ASAP.
“Yes,” the woman said, her eyes going blank as Dewi used her Prime to take full control of her.
“Good.” Dewi hated doing this, especially because this woman gave her a…weird feeling. Not a pleasant weird, either. “I’m your old friend from school,” Dewi continued. “Did you go to college?”
“Yes.”
“You and I were good friends there. I’m visiting the dental office on the floor below yours. Do you have a receptionist or AA?”
“Yes.”
“When you arrive, tell them that you’re expecting me, and to wave me right through and hold all of your calls while we visit. And leave your office door open for me. Got it?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Won’t take long, because of my dentist appointment. And I’m leaving for home today, so we can’t get together any other time. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Are you armed?”
“Yes. A gun. In my purse.”
“Good.” They reached Dewi’s floor, and she turned before releasing the woman’s arm. “I’ll be up in just a few minutes, okay? Can’t wait to catch up with you.”
She dropped Jacinta’s wrist, and the woman smiled. “I cannot wait to catch up with you! I wish you could stay longer.”
“Let me check in with the receptionist,” Dewi said, “because I’m really early anyway, and then I’ll come up for a quick chat.”
“Great!”
Dewi stepped out of the elevator and made a beeline for the bathroom in that floor’s lobby.
The call with Alvarez had dropped on the way up, but she didn’t anticipate any problems. It would’ve been easy to have the chat in the elevator, riding up and down a few times, but she wanted full privacy and focus.
In the bathroom, Dewi finished her coffee and dumped the cup after wiping it with a paper towel. Then, with another piece of paper towel to prevent fingerprints, she used the bathroom, washed her hands, and headed to the stairwell.
Just as Alvarez said, the stairwell doors were unlocked.
She used the sleeve of her hoodie to open it, and once it closed behind her, she carefully tucked her hair under her cap, pulled the hood into place over that, and made sure the IR lights were powered on.
She waited to put the sunglasses on until she was on the next floor up and about to open that door.
Two minutes later, Dewi stood behind a closed office door with the woman. She took off her sunglasses, tucking them in the pocket of the hoodie.
Wasting no time and not wanting to sit, Dewi grabbed Jacinta’s wrist and led her over to the windows, the farthest she could get from the office door. Fortunately, no one could see into her office.
“Keep your voice down,” Dewi said. “We’re going to have a quick ‘come to Jesus’ chat, honey. You religious?”
“Catholic.”
“Hmm. Practicing?”
“Yes.”
“First of all, what’s the deal with your marriage to the old man…”
Ten minutes later, Dewi struggled not to hurl.
Jacinta wasn’t the sweet, loving wife she was portraying, the “innocent” woman—she was a gold-digging bitch eagerly looking for loopholes in the contract and researching undetectable ways to kill off the baby before or just after it was born, hopefully after killing the old man with something like screwing with his medication to make it look accidental or like natural causes.
Jacinta despised Abundio. She didn’t know what happened to the old man’s daughter, Miranda, but she suspected Miranda was dead.
Somehow, she’d hacked into the old man’s personal computer and found a bunch of information there from Manuel and Miranda—including inquiries about Carl and Mateo—plus she was developing more leads on her own, which explained her explorations and online activity.
There was so much…darkness in the woman. Dewi didn’t like to blithely toss the word “evil” around, but this woman made Faegan Lewis look like less of a douchebag.
And she was definitely evil.
If this child of hers were born, a boy, it probably wouldn’t live long if Jacinta had anything to say about it. And if it did, it was destined for a miserable life.
Dewi felt a tension headache threatening, which wasn’t something she usually suffered. “What, exactly, do you think is going on?” Dewi asked her.
“Werewolves. I want to capture and monetize them.”
“Even though they’re people?” Dewi asked.
She scoffed. “Whatever they are is an abomination against God!” she said. “Nothing more than animals!”
“Riiiiight,” Dewi drawled. “Anyone else know anything?”
“I have told no one. I doubt Abundio knows much. When he’s not ‘instructing’ me how to run this business, he’s busy secretly running the drug cartel that he thinks I know nothing about.”
Dewi breathed a sigh of relief. One less problem.
“Okay, here’s how this works. You have a choice.
You stop looking into this immediately, destroy all the evidence, and never discuss or share the information.
Ever. If anyone asks you about it, you know nothing, except you are satisfied that it was complete bullshit Manuel made up because of a series of really bad drug-fueled decisions that got his people killed. ”