Shadows May Fall (27 page)

“Who’s the delivery person?” Niko darted for his laptop.

“This is everything I could find on him.” Abby handed Niko several papers from her stack. “I figured you guys would want to transmit the data to Dominor Sorenson and his Aegis yourselves.”

“Joe, can you put the video call up on one of the big screens?” Max asked.

“Patching you through now.” Joe hit several keys and the main screen on the wall turned blue as the speakers indicated the call was ringing through.

“Max!” Henrik Sorenson’s face appeared on the screen. “Niko, Abby, Joseph! Good to see you again! What have you got for me?” Joe waved politely but said nothing.

“Henrik, Abby has a name for a lead.” Max informed him. “I’ll let her and Niko relay the specifics.” Max looked at Abby and nodded.

After only four minutes of communication, Henrik Sorenson had dispatched his closest Council members to hunt down their civilian lead. Jakob Koch was as average as a Dane could be and made a meager living running deliveries from the port to local businesses. He had no arrest record or anything to indicate he was even remotely involved in anything nefarious. Niko was pulling the man’s financials while Abby gathered any information she could on his family and known associates. Joe continued working on his angle while Max and Henrik listened in on the comms with the agents on the ground in Esbjerg.

“Koch just left one of the fisheries and is en route to port.” One of the agents relayed as their video feed showed them flying down a rural highway. “We need to get to him before he reaches town if we are to keep the element of surprise.”

“Based on what I am reading about this guy, no way he’s any mastermind.” Abby told them.

“No.” Niko agreed. “I’m seeing regular deposits to his mother’s account. About a thousand kronor a month, cash deposits. I’m requesting the security footage so we can see who made them.”

“That’s only like a hundred-twenty bucks?” Abby snorted. “Again I say, no way he’s any kind of mastermind.”

“Koch probably made them himself. We need to get him under wraps and find out what he knows. Where are we people?” Henrik demanded from his agents on the ground.

“We are setting up now.” A female voice announced. “Accident is staged. Koch is ninety seconds out.”

“Good.” Henrik was satisfied. “I want him brought here immediately. Someone take over his route. We should have a solid few hours before anyone misses him. By then we will have him wiped and sleeping like a baby in his own bed.”

“Unless he is involved far deeper than we suspect right now.” Max corrected him.

“Of course, but based upon what we are seeing about this young man, I don’t see any indicators he is aware he is doing anything more than transporting bottles for extra money.”

“He was approached by someone.” Max was unconvinced Koch was as innocent as Henrik wanted to believe.

The video feed from the chase car came to a screeching halt behind the truck, and they watched as the two agents rushed the cab. A confused young man was quickly ushered to another car that pulled up then sped away in under thirty seconds. The passenger of the chase car hopped into the truck and drove it away while the other agents cleared the staged accident. It all took less than five minutes to set up and barely two to pull off.

“I will reconnect when he is in a chair in front of me.” Henrik leaned into the camera. “I would recommend a more private viewing location for your end. This may get messy.”

“Understood.” Max acknowledged and trusted Henrik would take whatever measures necessary to extract every ounce of information possible out of Jakob Koch. The fewer witnesses the better.

Max cleaned up Joe’s desk and headed for the guest house while the rest of them continued working in the office. It was getting late in the day, and Niko wanted tangibles to take with them to Las Vegas. Before they gathered with the other Principates and formulated a plan to eradicate any Black Blood production on their turf. Niko knew that Ana was in St. Petersburg tracking down leads on both the Black Blood and Albert von Massenbach. She was going to be livid something was going on under her own nose and she missed it. There was no way in hell bottles were just being delivered to Esbjerg, and there was no Black Blood being produced anywhere in Denmark. It just was not feasible unless a lot of money was being wasted on misdirection.

“The likelihood of there being no American blood being siphoned isn’t possible, right?” Abby asked. “Is that a double negative?”

“Highly unlikely.” Joe agreed with her.

“We need to get our hands on a bottle somehow.” Abby hated where her train of thought was going.

“Abby...” Niko looked up from the computer. “If we had a way to get a bottle, we could throttle the source until they gave up their source and so on.” Niko shook his head and resumed messaging Ana.

“True, but I am not saying a new bottle. Even an old used bottle so we could do what we just did here. Trace it back to the source then follow the supply chain.”

“That might have been possible if we knew where Timms was peddling his wares around here.” Joe didn’t like second guessing things that had already transpired, but he couldn’t help fixating on who was taking delivery of those shipments. “Those crates were going somewhere around here.”

“Some of them at least.” Niko agreed. “Based on where that warehouse was located, they could have been loaded up on one of those trains and been going anywhere in the country.”

“We should look at the refrigeration of the crates.” Abby suggested. “How long could they keep things cold? That could provide some idea of distance, right?”

“That’s a thought.” Niko sent a message to their techs that were tearing apart the refrigerated crates they recovered from the warehouse. “You gotta expect that if there were additional shipping operations around there, they went dark as soon as they learned of this one getting discovered.”

“Yeah, but that too would leave a fingerprint.” Abby said as she sat down at one of the empty computers and began typing furiously. “Just like marijuana grows, they need power, a lot of it. Then if they shut down the operation shortly after Lou and Dillon torched the warehouse, that power would have cut off abruptly. That’s going to show up somewhere.”

“You could use that same logic with any harvesting operation!” Joe got excited at the possibilities. “Can you cross reference any properties owned by any of our people that seems out of sorts and is using more power than the norm?”

“That is a lot of ground to cover but with Connor’s help...” Abby grabbed her phone and sent Conner a message. “... we might be able to find the haystack our needle is hiding in, at least.”

“Better than having to dig through the whole barn!” Joe was trying to keep it positive.

“Exactly!” Niko agreed. “We keep detailed records of all our people’s business interests so something not accounted for there might lead to something.”

“Damn.” Abby cursed.

“What?” Niko asked her.

“If we had Max’s place up and running, this would go so much faster.” She explained.

“We’ve made due with much less.” Niko reminded.

“I know, but I want to find these people and make them pay! Now!” Abby growled.

“We all do.” Niko agreed. “We just need to keep at it and not stop.”

They had a lot more to go on than they did when the day started, but it was going to take a lot of work digging through mountains of data. Even then they expected whoever was involved would be taking enormous precautions to cover their tracks. They just needed one small breadcrumb to get them on the right path.

Lou was all for the clean up of Downtown Los Angeles, especially the
old Hall of Justice which had been stalled for ages. She just wasn’t sure how she felt about luxury highrises a couple blocks away from Skid Row. As Dillon’s SUV fought against the flow of traffic into the city, Lou made calls to get any leads they could about their two unnamed men from the Medina party. Based on their femme fatal’s timeline, neither of them thought she was going to wait a whole week to claim her next victim. If they were right and Vanessa Sturn was their killer, they had to find her fast.

“Look for anyone who’s a major player in the film or music industry in their contacts.” Lou asked Vinny. The call was picking up interference as Dillon wove his way through the buildings.

“The problem is, kiddo, I wouldn’t know a studio exec if he smacked me in the face!” Vinny’s voice squeaked through the speakers. “I got three guys running every name in Rawlings contact list and three more workin’ on Griffen’s. We’re goin’ as fast as we can here.”

“If you find anyone that fits the bill, send a protective detail right away!” Lou insisted. “She finds out we are on to her, she is going to escalate to finish the job.”

“I hear ya!” Vinny understood the gravity of the situation. “I’ll let ya know as soon as we come up with something. In the meantime, be careful with this broad. If she turned her back on her own mother, she wouldn’t hesitate to pop you in the noggin!” Lou grinned. “I get it. We’re parking at the building now. Wish us luck.”

“Luck!” Vinny shouted then cut the line.

“You think she’d even be here?” Dillon wasn’t so sure.

“Who knows.” Lou smirked. “We’ve gotten lucky before, right?”

Lou and Dillon had no probable cause to get a warrant to search Vanessa Sturn’s apartment. All they had was the passing mention from a few less than reputable girls, four if you counted Jinx, the Transvestite bartender. It was just a hunch on both Lou and Dillon’s part, but they both had it. Lou was positive her gut would know for sure after they talked to the woman. At least that was the hope, but even then, they needed evidence, and that was going to be tough. The fact that the woman had left zero trace at any of the scenes and no one saw a thing; they were pretty much spitting in the wind.

The thirty story highrise was extremely posh, to say the least, and came with an extremely protective concierge that met them less than thirty seconds after they entered the lobby.

“Ms. Sturn is not in residence this week.” The hipster gatekeeper informed them.

“We are a little concerned about Ms. Sturn’s well-being.” Lou stretched the truth a bit. “Are you sure she isn’t at home tonight?”

“Is something wrong?” The man suddenly became concerned rather than curt. “Has something happened?”

“It’s an ongoing investigation.” Dillon bolstered Lou’s fib with a little mystery. “I’m afraid we can’t give you any more information than that. But is there any way you can help us do a welfare check?”

“A welfare check?” The man blinked several times.

“You are familiar with Ms. Sturn’s profession, yes?” Dillon spoke softly.

The man blinked a few more times. “That isn’t a crime though...”

“Absolutely not!” Lou whispered as well. “But as you can imagine, there are certain hazards of the job, and we have reason to believe one of her clients might not be entirely happy with services rendered.” She said it with a wink and a nudge sort of thing.

“Oh my!” The hipster’s eyes went wide. “You think they want to hurt Vanessa?”

“We can’t rule that out.” Dillon sighed. “Which is why we are here and would appreciate your assistance.”

“And discretion.” Lou added.

“Of course!” The man flapped his hands as if directing them to follow him. “Please, let me just log in your identification and then I can take you up right away!”

The man took them to the reception counter and typed in their names and badge numbers into the system then hurried them to the elevators. They got off on the thirtieth floor and he opened the door to one of four penthouse apartments.

“Lady Vanessa?” He shouted as he stepped into the apartment. “Are you alright?”

When there was no response, Lou and Dillon played things up by drawing their weapons and instructing the man to wait outside, for his own safety. After walking through each room and finding no one there, Lou and Dillon worked as quickly as they could. They were looking for any lead to where they could find her as well as anything that would incriminate her as their killer. The place was oddly clean and void of personal effects. It was a warm and bright space with a spectacular view of the city through the floor to ceiling widows. The golden rose sunset washing down over the city made it almost worth the price of the joint. Still, at over eight-grand a month, Lou just didn’t see the appeal to not having a nice chunk of land to call you’re own. That was something she could never understand about people who paid so much to live in New York City. Apartment living was just not for her.

“The guest closet is where she keeps all her dominatrix attire.” Dillon called out quietly, trying not to let the concierge hear they were snooping. “And it looks like this is where she entertains her paying guests.”

Lou looked in the master bedroom closet and found an impressive business-like wardrobe, with a few very expensive cocktail dresses and six or so pairs of pricey heels. It seemed rather sparse for a woman of Vanessa’s means, especially considering what Deidre Love had said, that she used her femininity as a weapon. Lou’s best friend, Caroline, embraced her femininity and had well over a hundred pairs of shoes and enough clothes to dress a small third world country. It just didn’t feel right. “I don’t think this is her primary residence.” Lou said as she closed the closet doors and went to see what Dillon had found.

The second or guest bedroom was wallpapered in a dark gray that almost looked like brushed metal with baseboards and crown moldings in a glossy black. Heavy velvet drapes pooled down from the ceiling, blotting out most of the daylight, but there was enough to see the basics. The ceiling was coffered and inset with mirrors, very much like Josh Rawlings’ playroom had been. There were no hooks, eyes, winches or a swing here they could see, just an oversized round ottoman in the center of the room, the same dark gray as the walls. There were no other furnishings, pictures, anything other than the ottoman but when Lou turned on the light, the single crystal chandelier that hung from the center of the room let them see the riding crop that was left on the cushion. One toy, or tool, left out. It was left out on purpose. Based on the condition of the rest of the apartment, Vanessa Sturn didn’t leave things laying around, or out of place. As far as evidence went, it meant nothing, and they couldn’t touch it since they had no legal reason to even be there. But it was a taunt, Lou knew it. She just wasn’t sure it was for them, or someone else.

“Is everything alright?” They heard the concierge yell from the other end of the apartment.

“We are not sure.” Dillon responded and waited for the man to find them. “Would Ms. Sturn leave this out like that? Or do you know?”

“Absolutely not!” He insisted. “She is extremely neat and tidy! She would never leave that out, even if she were in a rush! Oh my, you’re right, something is wrong!” The little man started to panic.

“Now calm down.” Lou insisted, ushering the man back to the main entrance to the apartment. “You obviously know Ms. Sturn very well. Help us figure out where she might have gone so that we can help her.”

“Oh yes, right. Let me think a moment.” He requested. “Can we please go back down? I just feel like I am violating her space by even being in here.”

“Sure but can you tell us if she has a computer here? Maybe that could help us locate her?” Lou suggested.

“No, no.” The man shook his head. “I mean she does, but it’s one of those little tablet, laptop combo things and she takes it everywhere. She never leaves it home, ever.”

“You’re sure about that?” Dillon asked as they exited the apartment.

“Oh I am sure. She missed a flight once coming back for it when she accidentally left it on the reception desk.” He explained as they waited for the elevator. “I told her I could have had one of the staff bring it to the airport for her, but she made me swear not to let it out of my sight until she got here and picked it up herself.”

“Does she have any emergency contact information?” Lou asked. “Or any alternate addresses?”

“She has a place in the Hamptons, a pied-à-terre in Madrid. Let me look, just a minute.” The man pulled a tablet from the reception desk drawer and started swiping back and fourth on its screen. I have an emergency address she gave me personally, but no phone number.”

“Can we have that, please?” Dillon flipped open his notepad and jotted the information down when the man showed him the screen of his tablet. “May we also have your number? In case we need to contact you in a hurry?” Dillon handed him his pen and pad.

“Of course!” The man scribbled and handed the pad back. “Is there anything I should do? Anyone I should call?”

“Absolutely not....” Dillon looked at his pad to find out what the man’s name was. “Byron?”

“Yes, Byron.” The man blushed a little. “My mother was a Lord Byron nut.”

“Nice to meet you, Byron.” Lou smiled.

“Likewise!” He tried to smile but was too distressed. “So I shouldn’t call anyone?”

“No.” Dillon continued with his previous thought. “It’s so important that you act normal, like nothing is going on.”

“Even if Vanessa comes home, she may not know anything is going on and we don’t want to stress her out, right?” Lou asked him but was actually telling him.

“Of course not!” He agreed.

“Especially if this is all just a silly misunderstanding, we really don’t want you getting in any trouble for letting us in.” Lou reminded him. “With as fastidious as she is, and all, right?”

“That makes perfect sense.” Byron agreed.

“You just call us immediately if Ms. Sturn comes home or if anyone calls or comes looking for her. Okay?” Dillon handed him his business card.

“I absolutely will!” Byron clutched the card to his chest as if it were the most precious thing in the world.

“We’ll be in touch, I promise.” Lou spoke to the man as if he was a small child.

“Alright. Thank you, Detectives.” Byron waved as Dillon and Lou left the building.

“Where are we headed?” Lou asked as they got into the SUV. “Hidden Valley?” Dillon wasn’t familiar with the location. “Crap.” Lou knew exactly where they were headed and that they couldn’t go in alone.

Hidden Valley was an extremely affluent area comprised of sprawling multimillion dollar estates tucked into the Santa Monica Mountains. She was very familiar with the location because it had been one of the areas she and Joe scouted to build their home. Joe had opted for the northern hills due to its accessibility. Hidden Valley was far more out of the way and isolated, something Joe felt wouldn’t be as convenient or healthy for them since Lou’s mother would be home alone a good bit. Otherwise, Hidden Valley was a dream location for anyone who valued their privacy and wanted an authentic country lifestyle. The primary problem for Dillon and Lou was that it was in Ventura County Sheriff’s jurisdiction. The isolation as well as high security was also going to make the element of surprise tough.

After stopping to grab a coffee, Lou started making calls to her contacts at the East Valley Ventura Sheriff’s department. She had an excellent relationship with the commanding officers over there and knew getting cooperation and support was not going to be that much of a problem. She also called a couple of the guys at Lost Hills Station to see if she could get eyes in the sky to do some reconnaissance of the property. That way they would have an idea what they were heading into. Unfortunately, air support was tied up and wouldn’t be available for a while. They had at least an hour drive to get their ducks in a row even though they had nothing to justify raiding the location yet. Lou and Dillon were both praying that Vinny could get their people to find something before they crossed into Ventura County.

“I’m being told she has some sort of cloud account thingie where she stores all her stuff.” Vinny told them. While they basically sat parked in traffic. “The problem is our guys can’t seem to get into it. They’re gonna keep trying but there’s something about layered encryption and without that pesky ‘probable cause, we’re on thin ice here.”

“What about the company that the property is held under?” Dillon asked. “Venganza, LLC?”

“Yeah, that’s a privately held offshore deal. We are digging into that too, but there is the obvious here.” Vinny grumbled.

“The fact that the word is Spanish for vengeance?” Lou knew what it meant and the irony wasn’t lost on her.

“Right.” Vinny confirmed. “There are a lot of permits for all kinds of modifications to the property, but they’re pretty nondescript. Some inspections on subterranean space, extra electrical.”

“Subterranean means basement.” Dillon said as he looked in Lou’s direction. They were clearly thinking the same thing.

“Can you take a snapshot of the blueprints so we’ll know where ’re going once we get in?” Lou asked.