Chapter 18—Dante

“Franco Deville, age thirty-nine, notable contracts with Pablo Ramirez and Ignacio Sanchez, part of the Sinaloa Cartel,” Gio said, reading off the details we’d just gotten from number two from the secret squad. “Arrested for the suspected murder of Donald Baker account and financial advisor fifteen years ago. Donald was the owner of Ford accountancy and investments. After evidence was found to be inconclusive Franco was released and Jason Parker was arrested for the murder. Jason had no M.O. for the murder, but an anonymous record placed him at the apartment at the time of murder. Franco Garcia was sentenced to consecutive life imprisonment for the murder of business partners, Rory Ackmean and Brian Macnara. Served two years of the sentence. Released from prison last week after evidence was found to be inconclusive. Fucking hell Dante, your girl is … she sure knows how to pick um, but shit not even Luc was this bad.”

I gave Gio a long hard stare. It wasn’t like I hadn’t come to that conclusion. If Maria was on the hunt for the worst guy she could be with she had definitely hit the fucking jackpot.

I glanced around at the pictures of desolation on the reception walls of Help the Homeless. Pictures of people living on the streets, pictures of people going through a genuinely rough time.

I remembered when I used to have nightmares of that happening to Maria when we were kids. Vira used to treat her so bad and back then I couldn’t do shit. Christina was worried about it too and I sensed Ma would have stepped in if that did happen.

It didn’t surprise me that Christina had chosen to work here while she was figuring out her next steps. I was just glad she didn’t waitress at the kind of bars and restaurants Maria worked at. It was dangerous, but then I knew danger was her.

She did really hit the fucking jackpot with Franco.

Gio and I were here to meet with the current manager of Help the Homeless. He was in a meeting, so we’d sat in the little waiting area.

We must have been here for about fifteen minutes when Number Two sent over the intel which I read and passed over to Gio, so he could have a look too. Just to see what we were up against.

“Ever just think about running off to an island somewhere and living out the rest of your life in a hut?” I smirked. I was just talking out of my ass. Saying something, because my mind was a mixture of all this emotional shit.

“No, Dante I don’t fucking think of shit like that, but I get it. I know why a person would do it. This is above us.” He frowned.

Just like everything else was above us, above me.

It was out of my league, out of my reach.

“I don’t know where to begin, but I think the best idea I have is to make sure whoever she saw following her doesn’t get to dear old Franco.”

“And how the fuck will you do that Dante?”

Great question.

“Eyes in the sky and guys on foot.” The secret squad and the next line of defense while we worked on investigating Christina’s stuff. The thing was I didn’t know if it should be the other way around.

I had Donny, Saul and Lois at home with Maria and Flynn. They were watching the place. Number Two, Eight and Ten from the secret squad were doing background checks.

I knew the guys at home were the best we had aside from us as The Four. The secret squad was even better because all this shit we’d read about Franco, wasn’t stuff you could just get your hands on. Those guys were old school from Raphael’s days who were set up in secret and we only referred to them as numbers for safety and protection reasons.

Everybody was great, but the best person to be there for Maria and Flynn was me.

And, the best person to be here at this charity was also me. I’d been here before, knew the questions to ask. Even if I gave the questions to someone else it would probably work, but there was room for something not being asked right off the bat. Or fuck, even seeing something.

On the walls too were pictures of notable people who’d helped the charity out. People who’d made donations and various other gifts like buildings that were turned into shelters and also provided jobs.

I found myself looking at everything for clues.

“Hey,” Gio said tapping my hand. “We’ll do our best, with everything. I guess we just have to see how it all plays out. Then we’ll know how to proceed.”

“I wish Maria had told me this shit before. Way before she was followed. It would have been better if she’d said she came back here for protection.”

“But she didn’t come back here for that. She was fleeing and it seems like this was just a stop. Somewhere she could hideout.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“What? There’s more on your mind you aren’t saying.”

It was trivial and petty, but it just felt like she wanted to be with everyone—never me though.

“I just wonder why we couldn’t have been what we are now. I look at her and think how I always felt this way about her and it never changed. I look at Flynn and I think he should be my son. Not anybody else’s. I wasn’t a coward in the past. I wasn’t a fucking coward; I just didn’t believe in chasing someone who wasn’t into me. I don’t fucking chase anyway. But maybe that was where I went wrong. Maybe I should have.” I explained.

Gio chuckled. “Man, we can all say maybe this and that at the end of the day if things don’t go the way we want. In this instance I’m inclined to agree that you never chase anyone who’s not into you. I felt on many occasions that she was, but you know what she was like back then. She had to be with the Alpha, not the betas and back then there really were two Alpha’s. She would have gone for Luc or Claudius. End of story. Sorry to put it this way, but it’s like wanting a Porsche, but really you love the Volkswagen. The Volkswagen is perfect for you, but you want the Porsche. So, you go after the fucking Porsche at the first chance you get.”

I laughed. “Man, you calling me a Volkswagen?” I knew what he meant, but I needed some light humor. It wasn’t like me to be serious for so long.

“You know what I’m saying. I’m right too. Add in the fact that she had a really bad upbringing and of course she’d aim for the top if she thinks she has a shot. The husband though, I gotta say I don’t think she was aiming for the big bad wolf. Seemed like she was genuinely trying to escape the bad life and our underground world here.”

She’d said that. Just last night she’d said that. She’d thought Franco was a normal guy who’d just worked his way up and became successful.

She wanted normal and ended up with the worst case scenario instead.

“He’ll kill her Gio. Guys like that only have one motive when it comes to having their secrets exposed.” It reminded me of what Vinny had said about Christina. She must have had dirt on the guy.

“I know man, if he comes here …”

I tensed. I tensed in the same way I did last night when Maria told me all that she’d been through.

“If he comes here, he’s dead Gio. I will kill him, and that is all.”

Gio straightened up and nodded. “I’m with you bro. I’ll back you up.”

I turned when someone called my name.

A tall middle aged man approached us with a smile. He had to be Jerry Chase, the new manager.

“Hi, I’m so sorry to keep you gentlemen waiting,” he began and looked from me to Gio.

We both stood and shook his hand.

“That’s okay. We weren’t here long.” I answered. I could see he looked nervous around us so I wanted to lessen the tension. Besides we’d gotten here early so it wasn’t his fault that we’d had to wait.

“Let’s go to my office, it’s this way.” He gave us a warm smile that made his crow’s feet look more pronounced.

We went to his office, up one level from where we sat.

As we moved up the set of stairs leading to it I got the distinct impression of eyes watching me. When I turned though to see who it was, there was no one.

No one had come into the reception area. There didn’t seem to be anyone around who hadn’t already seen us and was looking on as we followed Jerry.

Odd though, I wasn’t usually wrong when I got that impression.

We were seated in front of a large mahogany desk when Jerry closed the door. He then took his place before us in a leather office chair.

“So, what can I do for you both today?”

This was the part where I had to be clever and inconspicuous. Stealthy in words and in my actions.

“My family has an affinity for this charity. We’ve been thinking of doing something and we wanted ideas for fundraisers.” I glanced at Gio as I spoke.

That was my angle, I was going to pretend we wanted to do some kind of fundraising campaign. I’d cough up the money anyway, because it would be mean spirited to let him think money was coming for a good cause and all we really wanted was information.

The way his face brightened made me glad I was verging on that path.

“That’s extremely kind of you.” Jerry nodded. “I appreciate that. I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but I know your sister worked for us and she did a lot during that time.”

I did mind, but I wasn’t going to show it. “Well, I’d like to do my part too. My friend and I both. I wondered if we could have a list of all the different sorts of fundraisers you’ve had over the last ten to fifteen years. I want to do something different, but in keeping with what’s been done before.”

I put it that way so that it covered everyone, didn’t specifically show that I was really just interested in the political figures, and would allow me to narrow down our list if it came to it.

“Oh, sure. That shouldn’t be a problem. I can actually print that all off for you now.”

Good, this was what we needed. No waiting or anything.

He tapped away at his keyboard and minutes later the printer started going in the corner with pages printing from it.

Jerry got up to collect them and handed them to me. There were ten pages in total with a table of names of different people with the types of campaigns they’d run.

“Thank you,” I said to him.

“Do you need anything else? We have a pack that lists some potential ideas and we have some event organizers if you ever need to brainstorm.”

“That sounds great. I don’t have much ideas in mind. What sorts of things in your experience work best?” I was still going for vague.

“Oh well goodness. There’s big events and small events. People always go crazy for celebrities and the government officials. They spend foolish money though in my opinion on stuff that they could save on. I guess you can when you have money to burn.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“The government types in particular are the worst. They know it makes them look good to go above board and they all compete with each other.” Jerry chuckled.

“I can see that happening. I want to do something big. I guess too to honor my sister. Did Christina ever get to work on any government events? It sounds exciting, as extravagant as it is.”

“Oh absolutely. She worked with all of them.” Jerry looked proud. “She was very professional and knew how to present herself in a way we liked.”

Well hell. Vague as I tried to be, I think I just got a clue that might help.

From what he’d said I thought it was reasonable to assume that Christina met the guy we were looking for here.

Here at work while organizing an event, and not at Crowthorne’s.

It was more plausible to assume that. Such a shame though that I couldn’t narrow it down further because she worked with all of them.

“Thank you Mr. Chase. We’ll definitely be in touch.” Better not to ask anything else.

Hopefully I’d get somewhere with the list Jerry had printed off. When I got home I’d go over it and separate out the political figures from everyone else. Then see if the names matched up with initials on the documents Vinny sent. It would almost seem too easy if it actually worked, but it was worth a shot.

“Thanks again for coming, everything we do helps.” Jerry nodded.

“I agree.”

Gio and I left him.

“I’ll contact you later when I go through this.” I said to Gio as we took our descent down the stairs.

“Good, then we can match up stuff. Alex and I did a lot of work with Gibbs yesterday. Would be good if you could get a name or two, or a lead.”

I nodded in agreement.

We walked down the stairs and I got that weird sensation again. This time I stopped and turned.

“What?” Gio asked.

I didn’t answer I continued looking around and finally saw him.

It was a guy on the second floor, on the opposite side to where we’d been in Jerry’s office. He’d been watching and the minute I looked up he’d looked away and started walking across to the atrium.

I continued watching him as he walked and I realized I’d seen this fucker before.

Short black hair, long pointed nose I wasn’t likely to forget, a limp like he’d had a bad leg for a long time and had gotten used to walking that way. He had a thin stature with no muscle at all, and those eyes—big and bulbous.

He was the kind of person you remembered, because of the peculiarity in the way he looked and how he carried himself.

Yes, I’d seen him before. It was him.

Years ago, I’d seen him before with Christina at the Crowthorne Society. That had been the first time I’d seen him.

The thought made me move back up the steps we’d just come from. Gio followed me. Gio followed not needing to ask any more questions, he just came with me, backing me up.

I kept my gaze trained on the guy, but fuck as we got around to that section he turned off somewhere. I didn’t know which fucking way he went.

I stopped and balled my fists growling.

I’d seen that fucker with Christina. He was the driver I saw in the Bentley that had carried Christina and Donny Manello. He drove them to the Crowthorne. Then I saw him here again on the same day I argued with Christina.

That was four days before she was murdered.