Deadly Escape

  I inhaled sharply, and my gaze jerked to his. How could he ask me to do that? Sure, it might get me out from under him, but Uncle Joey was…like family. I couldn’t willingly let someone kill him. “Uh…I don’t know if I can do that. I can’t stand by and know someone’s going to die, no matter who they are. It’s not right.”

  Dimples sucked in a breath and slowly let it out, sorry he had even suggested it. I was a sensitive soul, and he had no business asking me to do something like that. No, that was his job, not mine. Maybe someday it was something he could take care of for me.

  “I hope you caught all that.” At my nod, he continued. “Good. Then let’s see what we know about Leo Tedesco.”

  He clicked on his computer and brought up Leo’s file. He was close to Uncle Joey’s age, which made sense. He had a round face, and his hair was silver, but there wasn’t a whole lot of it left on top. He wore silver-rimmed glasses and looked more like an accountant than a murderer…except for his eyes. They were a grey color, and so cold and unfeeling that a shiver ran down my spine.

  We scanned the pages one by one until we’d made it through all of them. It was discouraging to see that he didn’t seem to have a lot of family or friends left for me to talk to.

  “It looks like his wife divorced him after his conviction,” Dimples pointed out.

  “Yeah. Did he have any kids?”

  Dimples clicked on the wife’s information. “It says he had a daughter, but she was only three years old when he was incarcerated. She probably wouldn’t even remember him.”

  “True,” I said. “And, with their divorce, the daughter might not even know about him. Did the wife remarry?”

  “It doesn’t say, but I’m sure the deputy will be checking into it.” Dimples turned to me. “I think the best place to start is by talking to his cell mate. I imagine the deputy is planning to send someone to do that too, but he doesn’t have you. Want to try it?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  The drive to the prison seemed to take forever, mostly because I was still a little shell-shocked about Dimples’s thoughts of taking care of Uncle Joey for me. It made me realize how deeply I had fallen into the mobster’s life. Not just with his organization, but with his whole family.

  I had plans to take my kids to New York to see Miguel in Aladdin and meet their new, but fake, Grandmother, as well as introduce them to the New York Manettos. How crazy was that? Besides that, I was helping Ramos connect with his long-lost brother. Then there was the dinner next week where I was helping Ricky celebrate his upcoming wedding.

  But it wasn’t just me, now it included my whole family. It wasn’t a situation that was good for my kids, but thoughts of Uncle Joey dying or going to prison horrified me. I knew deep down that if I had any inkling that Dimples had plans to take down Uncle Joey, I’d have to warn him. I finally had to face it: I was one of the bad guys.

  “You’re awfully quiet,” Dimples said. “You all right?”

  “Yeah, sure,” I said, putting some cheer into my voice. “I just don’t like to visit the prison much because of all the thoughts and bad vibes going on there, but I’ll be fine.”

  “Oh, I never thought of that. We’ll try and make it fast.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll use my blocking skills. I admit, they’re not the best, but that’s mostly because, on some level, I’d rather know what people are thinking. I guess because it gives me an edge to protect myself and those around me. But I’ll be fine. How’s the wedding? Just three weeks from now, right?”

  “Yeah. It’s coming up. I’m taking two weeks off. Can you believe it? I’ve never taken more than a day or two off for the last three years. But I’m really looking forward to it.”

  “Where are you guys going for your honeymoon?”

  “Hawaii.”

  “Oh fun! That’s where Chris and I went. We loved it! It is kind of expensive, but it’s your honeymoon, so it’s all good.” Dimples smiled, and those big, dimple tornados appeared in his cheeks, making me grin.

  “Are you wearing your uniform for the ceremony?” I asked. Dimples had asked me to talk to Billie and find out what was bothering her about the wedding. It turned out to be as simple as Dimples wearing his uniform with the hat.

  “No. Billie and I settled on a black tuxedo. She’s certain it will go better with her wedding dress which is just fine with me. I think I look better in that anyway.”

  “Not necessarily,” I said. “But it doesn’t have a hat, right? Hey, I’m excited for you both.”

  “Thanks.”

  We pulled into the parking lot, both of us lifted by the happy thoughts of his upcoming wedding. It had helped me to focus on something else, but now it was time to get back to business.

  Dimples’s authority as a police detective got us inside without a hitch, and we didn’t have long to wait in the small interrogation room for Leo’s cellmate, Shane, to join us.

  After Dimples introduced us, and told Shane why we were there, he began his questions. “So Shane, how long were you and Leo cellmates?”

  “About three months.” Shane was thinking that no one stayed with Leo long.

  “Were you surprised that Leo escaped?”

  “Yeah. The old guy was quiet and didn’t talk much. But he knew the system, and people respected him. He had it pretty good here.”

  “Did he ever mention anyone on the outside that he missed or wanted to see?”

  “No. Like I said, he didn’t talk much.”

  “Were there any regular visitors, or letters?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  Dimples grew frustrated, so he glanced at me, silently asking if I’d picked up anything that could be useful. I glanced at the man and asked, “I take it that Leo wasn’t just quiet, but that he had connections and the inmates left him alone. How come?”

  The first thing that popped into Shane’s mind was Leo’s relationship with the warden. They seemed pretty cozy and met at least twice a week. He was sure the warden had some kind of deal with Leo, but what that was, he didn’t know.

  Shane caught my gaze, deciding to share in case it helped him in the future. “Let’s say he had connections. Maybe he used them to help some of the inmates here and there. You might say he gained a loyal following.” He was thinking that the inmates had taken to calling him “Pops,” and most were willing to do anything he wanted, for a price. If Shane remembered correctly, it was rumored that one of them even got out of prison because of Leo’s advice.

  “That’s all I got,” he said. “Unless you can do something that will help me get out of here?”

  Dimples glanced at me. I shook my head, knowing that Shane had nothing of real value to offer us.

  “I guess that’s all,” Dimples said, not willing to offer him anything. Scowling, Shane stood, motioning for the guard to let him out.

  As the door softly closed behind him, it hit me that Leo was just like Uncle Joey – only in prison. If that was the case, he probably had something on the warden and half the people here. I turned to Dimples. “We might want to talk to the warden. It sounds like he and Leo were tight.”

  “Hmm…okay. Let’s talk to him, but be careful. If you pick up anything helpful, just keep it to yourself until you can tell me. I don’t want him to get suspicious and kick us out.”

  I nodded, but frowned with annoyance that he thought I’d give myself away like that. He knew that I sometimes spoke when it was better to stay silent, but that didn’t mean I was an idiot. If the warden had something going on the side with Leo, we needed to keep him placated so we could find out what it was. That’s when it hit me that sometimes the good guys were just as bad – if not worse – than the bad guys. So maybe I wasn’t so bad after all.

  The warden had a visitor in his office, so we waited for a moment until the door opened and his visitor stepped out. Glancing up at him, my breath caught. He was one of the U.S. Marshall’s deputies who’d been at the police station. Spotting Dimples, he jerked with surprise. Then hi
s brows drew together.

  “What are you doing here?” He was thinking that this was his investigation and Dimples was out of order.

  “We’re here because of something else,” I said quickly. “It doesn’t have anything to do with your investigation.”

  He glanced at me, thinking he’d seen me before. Then he looked at my lanyard with my ID badge, and it clicked. I was the one the police chief had introduced to Gerard as an asset because I had premonitions. What a crock! And here I was sticking my nose into places it shouldn’t be.

  “Whatever,” he said, shaking his head. “Just stay out of my way. If I see you again, I’ll tell the Marshall that you’re interfering. It won’t go well for either of you.”

  He brushed past me and knocked Dimples’s shoulder, making Dimples jerk backward from the force. Once the guy was gone, I exchanged a frown with Dimples before turning to face the warden, who’d watched the whole thing.

  I offered him a bright smile. “Hi, I’m Shelby Nichols and this is Detective Harris. We just have a quick question for you, and then we’ll be on our way.”

  The warden frowned, then shook his head and ushered us in, thinking that he might as well get it over with. He knew we’d be coming as soon as word got out that Leo had escaped. “What can I do for you?”

  “We’re here about Leo Tedesco,” Dimples said. “We know you met with him often. Is there anything you can tell us about your meetings?”

  His brows rose with surprise. How had we known about that? He pursed his lips and inhaled through his nose. He needed to answer as truthfully as possible without telling us everything, especially with the U.S. Marshalls involved.

  “Yes, I met with him. But there was nothing wrong with it. Leo had a good head for investments, so I shared the stock market exchange with him, and he gave me pointers. I made more money than I lost, so it worked out well for me, plus I enjoyed talking with someone of his intellectual standing.”

  I picked up that he’d known Leo for the whole thirty years that he’d been there. The warden thought of them as friends. He never expected Leo to make a run for it, killing his guard and a police officer in the process. It looked bad for the warden, especially in light of their “friendship,” and he needed to do some damage control.

  “Did he have any regular visitors?” I asked.

  “Uh…I know his legal counsel visited once or twice a year.”

  “What about family?”

  “No. His wife divorced him, and she never came to see him. Not even once. He might have had a few family members that came at first, but not recently.”

  “Not even in the last few months?” I prodded.

  The warden let out a breath. “I don’t think so, but you’re welcome to check the visitor log. Now if that’s all, I’ve got work to do.”

  “Sure, thanks so much for your time.” I shook his hand and preceded Dimples from the room. Once the door shut, I turned to Dimples. “He didn’t tell us everything. In return for Leo’s expertise with the warden’s investments, he had special privileges. It sounds like he had free use of the computer and phones, along with ordering merchandise he could sell to the other inmates. I think the warden also turned a blind eye to any of Leo’s…uh…bullying activities.”

  “That makes sense,” Dimples said. “We’d better find the visitor log. It puzzles me that Leo had a lawyer on retainer. That suggests that he has money stashed away somewhere. Did Manetto know if Leo had a lot of money?”

  “Hmm…he didn’t think about that.”

  “I’m just wondering why Leo would need a lawyer unless the lawyer was managing his estate.”

  “Then it might help to find out who the lawyer is so we can follow that lead.”

  “I agree,” Dimples said, intrigued. “Maybe we’ll find the name in the log books.”

  We walked in that direction, turning the corner to find the deputy’s assistant standing at the end of the hall, glancing through the book. Since I was in the lead, I stopped short and backed up, smacking Dimples in the stomach with my elbow.

  He let out an “oof,” but backed up until we were both out of sight. I was pretty sure we’d managed to get back around the corner before the deputy saw us. Still, I held my breath and listened closely for footsteps coming our way.

  “What’s going on?” Dimples asked with a whisper.

  “The deputy. He’s looking at the visitor log.”

  Dimples swore in his mind again, then apologized, since I could hear him, and waited for the other shoe to fall. After nothing happened, I peeked around the corner and caught the back of the deputy as he continued down the hall and out of the building.

  “He’s gone.” I stepped into the hall with Dimples following, stopping at the window holding the visitor log.

  Dimples requested the log, and the clerk shook her head, thinking here we go again, but handed over the book after Dimples showed her his badge. “If you’re looking for visitors that came to see Leo, there have been exactly two in the last year. I already made a print-out for the deputy, with the names and dates, so why don’t you just share with him?”

  She didn’t mention the other copy she’d made, but that was for tall, dark, and yummy. It might have been wrong but, like the devil himself, it was hard to resist someone who smiled at her the way he had. Her heart raced, and she got a little light-headed just thinking about him.

  Hmm, sounded like Ramos had been here to me. “Sorry,” I said. “But we’d like our own copy, if you don’t mind?”

  She let out a sigh. “Fine, but don’t lose it.” A minute later, she slid the paper over the counter to us.

  “Thanks so much.”

  I took the paper, and we hurried out of the prison. In the car ride back to the precinct, I read the names to Dimples. “Okay, I guess the lawyer’s name is Chad Decker, from Decker & Arnold, Attorneys at Law. The other visitor is Erika Reva. Hmm…it looks like her first visit was only six months ago, but she’s been visiting pretty regularly since then.”

  “How often?”

  “About once a month. Does that name ring any bells for you?”

  “No, but I’m sure I can look her up in our database. She must have some connection to Leo. I wonder what it is.”

  “Yeah. Me too. If the deputy got the same list, he’ll probably figure it out pretty fast. Maybe you could just ask him?”

  “No. I’d rather find it on my own.” He was thinking that the less Gerard knew about our investigation the better.

  “Okay,” I agreed.

  We made it back to the precinct and I followed Dimples inside. I sat beside his desk while he searched for Erika Reva’s name. He pulled up her driver’s license information, and I wrote down her address and phone number.

  “She’s thirty-three,” Dimples said. “I wonder…” He pulled up Leo’s file and checked his ex-wife’s name, then put that into the database. “Gina Tedesco remarried a few years after her divorce. Her husband’s name is Nathan Reva. It looks like he adopted Gina’s daughter, Erika.”

  “She’s Leo’s daughter?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Wow. I wonder when Erika found out about that?”

  “Want to ask her?” Dimples asked.

  “You bet.”

  Chapter 4

  We drove to the address on Erika’s driver’s license. A sense of excitement ran over me that we just might crack the case. Then I picked up a niggling worry from Dimples that Leo might be there, and maybe he should have asked for backup.

  “I didn’t think of that. Do you want to wait?”

  “No. Let’s drive over and watch from the car first. Then we can decide what to do.”

  “Okay.”

  Erika lived in a stylish townhouse that bordered a park, with lush vegetation surrounding a small lake. A sidewalk went all the way around the lake, and several people were out in the beautiful spring weather exercising or walking their dogs. Dimples pulled to a stop across the street and down a couple of houses. From there, we had an excellent
view of the front door and surrounding property.

  We watched in silence for a few minutes, but not much was happening, and I was getting tired of being cooped up in the car on such a nice day. “Do you want to get out and sit on that bench?” I asked Dimples.

  “Sure.” He glanced at me and smiled, thinking that sitting around for hours was the hardest part of his job.

  “I hope it won’t take that long,” I said.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll just observe for now. If we see anything we’ll have to call it in before we make a move anyway.”

  “Oh, okay.” I didn’t like the sound of that. What if she was at work? It was barely two o’clock now. How long did he plan on observing? I needed to get home to my family.

  Our bench faced the lake, with the sidewalk in front of us, and I had to sit sideways to see the house. I knew if I sat there too much longer I’d get a crick in my neck. A jogger ran past us, followed by a lady and her dog.

  The next jogger slowed, and I heard a hiss of anger from his mind. I glanced up to find one of Gerard’s deputies scowling at us. He wore jogging clothes and stopped right next to us. As he leaned over to tie his shoe he said, “You need to leave before you ruin our op.”

  Just as quietly, I responded. “Is Erika in there?”

  “I’m not asking again. You guys are like a bright neon sign, now get out of here.”

  Dimples’s face flamed red with embarrassment, but he just nodded without saying a word. The man continued on, so I slowly stood and followed Dimples back to the car. Oops.

  Dimples started the car, glancing around the area, slowly picking out where the other officers were watching. Besides the jogger, there was a man doing yard work in the house next door. Dimples did a mental head-slap and cursed that he hadn’t thought Gerard’s men would be there already.

  With a sigh, Dimples put the car into drive and pulled away from the curb. “Did you get anything? Do you know if she’s home?”

  “Uh…I only picked up bits and pieces, but I think they called her office and were told that she was out of town. They’re staking out the house before they make their move. I think they got a warrant and they were just getting ready to move in.”