Deadly Defiance, page 12
Jodie had arranged to meet with Salazar in a typing room at the Dallas Public Library as she didn’t want their meeting to be observed by anyone working at Alliance and reported back to Melendez. She got to the room a few minutes early and began typing a letter. A few minutes later the door opened and Salazar peered in.
Jodie looked up and smiled. “Mr. Salazar?”
“Yes.”
“Come in. Have a seat.”
Jodie got up and locked the door so they wouldn’t be interrupted.
“Does anyone know you are here?” Jodie asked.
“No. I told my family I was going to get a car wash and run some errands.”
“Good. Well, as we discussed over the telephone, I need to talk to you about a few things.”
“Sure. I’d like to help the Alvarez family, if I can.”
“Well, the best way you can help them and everyone else at Alliance is to help prove that Melendez had Romildo killed. Once he and his goons are locked up then we can concentrate on getting you the money they owe you.”
“So, what do you want me to do? I told the police everything I knew about Romildo’s death.”
“Yes, I read your witness interview. As I understand it Mr. Alvarez was called away from the assembly line.”
“Yes, they told him his wife was ill and needed him to come home. He was very upset when he heard it because phone messages are only relayed in an emergency.”
“I see. So, Romildo left and then what happened?”
“What do you mean?” Juan asked. “That’s all I know.”
“Isn’t it true that when a worker is in trouble they are called away in a similar manner?”
Juan nodded. “That is true.”
“So, weren’t you suspicious about the summons home? I mean, weren’t you a little worried that maybe your friend was in trouble—particularly after he complained to the Labor Department?”
The expression on Juan’s face answered the question. He nodded. “Sure, I was afraid he was going to get beat up like we all do from time to time, but not killed.”
“But this was more serious, wasn’t it? If they just beat him up, it would just add more credence to his complaint with the Department of Labor. Weren’t you worried they’d kill him?”
Juan’s face dropped and tears began to well in his eyes. “Yes, I was afraid I would never see him again.”
“So, what did you do? You must have done something in reaction to what had happened.”
“Yes, I went outside and watched Romildo leave. About five minutes later Guido and Ben left in the Jeep. Ben had a gym bag with him.”
“A gym bag? Could you describe it?”
“It was blue and grey—a dark blue.”
“Had you ever seen the bag before?”
“No.”
“Before Ben and Guido left what were they doing?”
“They were in Mr. Melendez’s office. All three of them came outside and talked for a while, then Ben and Guido broke off and went to the Jeep. They returned about thirty minutes later.”
“How do you know that? Didn’t you have to go back on the line?”
“Yes, but the line went down for about fifteen minutes, so I went back outside to see if anything was going on. That’s when Guido and Ben returned.”
“How did they act?” Jodie asked.
“They were laughing and joking and Ben was wearing Romildo’s coat.”
“Are you serious? Are you sure it was his coat?”
“Yes, they wanted all of us to know what had happened. It was a message not to talk to the police or the auditors.”
“So, you were afraid to tell the police what you had seen?”
“Yes, I’d have ended up like Romildo had I said anything.”
“Now, with the FBI involved we might be able to get you into the witness protection program if you testify. If that could be arranged would you tell the FBI what you told me?”
“What about my family?”
“I’m sure they’d put you all in the program.”
“Then, si.”
Jodie wasn’t sure if witness protection could be arranged but she’d tell Special Agent Lot about Juan and see what he said. After Jodie left the library she went back to the office. As she was getting out of her car she heard screeching tires. She turned and saw a Jeep skid to a stop behind her car. Two men jumped out and grabbed her before she could react. She struggled but was no match for the two thugs. Everything turned white as a pillowcase was pulled over her head. Then her arms were tied behind her back and she was thrown onto the floor of the backseat. Pain shot through her arm as it hit the hump between the seats. Doors slammed and she heard the tires squeal again as they drove away.
Jodie’s mind raced as she tried to fathom what was happening. Was she about to suffer the same fate as Romildo? She couldn’t believe they’d kidnap and kill an attorney. This was America. This couldn’t be happening. They must realize they’d never get away with it.
“Where are you taking me?” she demanded.
One of the men responded by kicking her hard in the back. Jodie screamed in pain. “You bastard!”
There was laughter and Jodie decided her best option was to lie still and try to figure out where they were going. In her mind she tried to follow each turn and gauge where they were going. They went over the two speed bumps in the parking lot and then went east onto Banner Drive. They stopped twice, presumably at stop signs, and then turned right onto the access road to LBJ Freeway. A sharp U-turn told Jodie they were going to get onto LBJ going west. Soon they were traveling fast and it was hard for Jodie to judge exactly where they were, but she did the best she could based on her many trips along this same road.
Thirty minutes later the Jeep made a sharp left and a short time later went right. She thought this must be DFW Airport as LBJ was pretty straight until you got to the airport. Then instead of bending south onto Highway 121 they went straight which meant to Jodie that they were heading toward Colleyville. She’d never gone this way before so the trip from that point was a blur. There were a myriad of stops and turns, so she had idea where they had ended up when the vehicle finally stopped.
They dragged her out of the car rudely, got her on her feet, and escorted her into a building of some sort. They were talking in Spanish, so Jodie didn’t know what they were saying, but there seemed to be some sort of disagreement as to what to do with her. Finally, someone grabbed her arm and yanked off the pillowcase.
Jodie blinked and then scanned her surroundings. There were three men dressed in casual attire with grim faces. They were in a cluttered office in a warehouse, it appeared. A quick scan of the room revealed half a dozen desks, typewriters, telephones, a fax machine, file cabinets, and a long table along the wall.
“Who are you? Why did you kidnap me?” Jodie demanded.
One of the men slapped her. “Shut up, bitch, if you want to live.”
Jodie winced in pain but held back a scream, not wanting to give her assailant the satisfaction of such a reaction.
“Put her in one of the vans. Tie her up and gag her until we need her.”
Jodie started to protest when she felt the gag being slipped in place and tightened. She struggled but was powerless to stop it. They dragged her along a corridor and then out into the warehouse. There were a dozen large delivery vans parked in neat rows. They took her to one of them, opened the back, and then lifted her up onto its bed. One of the men hopped up and dragged her against the side panel where they tied her in a sitting position. Jodie mumbled a scream and struggled to free herself, but finally succumbed to her fate and just sat there defeated. The door was pulled shut and there was nothing but darkness.
Chapter 13
The Note
Stan could have just called Rebekah to see how she was, but he knew she would just tell him she was fine. He wouldn’t be satisfied with that, so he raced down Central Expressway toward home. It was midday so the traffic wasn’t bad and he made good time. As he drove he wondered what Melendez was doing. He was worried about the Alvarez family and the danger they faced if they continued to work there. He couldn’t imagine Alliance would do anything in retaliation for the lawsuit with the police and the FBI watching them so closely. That would be stupid, he rationalized, and they certainly weren’t stupid. They couldn’t have gotten away with all that they had if they weren’t smart and cunning. They knew what battles they could win and those they couldn’t.
As Stan neared Plano he saw large cumulus nimbus clouds building to the west and the sky above him began to darken. He drove into his garage and hit the button so the garage door would close behind him. He got out and rushed inside, calling for Rebekah. He found her in the laundry room which he thought was a good sign. If she was doing housework she must be feeling okay.
“Rebekah,” Stan said.
“Stan. What are you doing home?” Rebekah asked.
“I told you I would come home for lunch. I’m a man of my word.”
“Well, all I have is peanut butter and jelly. I didn’t go shopping.”
“That’s okay. Let’s run over to Campisi’s and have a meatball sandwich.”
“That sounds good. Let me just get this last load of clothes in.”
While Rebekah finished up Stan went out and got the mail. He started to glance through it and heard a voice.
“Hey, Stan. What are you doing home at this hour?”
Stan looked over and saw his next door neighbor, John Martin, leaning on a shovel.
“Oh hi, John. Just came home to take Rebekah to lunch. She hasn’t been feeling well the past few days so I wanted to check up on her.”
“Yes, I saw the ambulance the other day. What’s wrong with her?”
“Ah. They don’t know for sure. It seems to come and go. It could just be stress, they say.”
“Well, you can’t be too careful. If we can do anything to help, don’t hesitate to call, okay?”
“Thanks,” Stan replied. “We appreciate that, but hopefully I won’t have to take you up on that offer.”
“Well, if you need to, don’t hesitate.”
Stan thanked John and went back inside. He put the mail on the counter when he saw Rebekah was ready to go.
Rebekah looked at the pile of mail. “Anything interesting?”
“I don’t know. Let’s go eat. I’m famished. I’ll go through it when we get back.”
When they got to Campisi’s they placed their order and then went inside and found a booth. They had liked this restaurant because it was close by and the meatball sandwiches and pizza were to die for. They had gotten hooked on the place when Stan was at SMU many years earlier. The original store was near the campus and they often stopped for lunch. When they built a second location in Plano, they were ecstatic and often brought the family there.
“So, how did your confrontation go?” Rebekah asked.
“It couldn’t have been better. We walked in and served Melendez, Besch warned him not to even think about retaliation or intimidation, then the FBI came in and searched the place. You should have seen the look on Melendez’s face.”
“I bet he was pissed.”
“Outraged is probably more accurate.”
“I’m worried about you and Jodie. What if they decide to take their anger out on you?”
Stan shrugged. “That’s not likely. That would only help the Department of Labor make their case, and give the Dallas police more incentive to dig into the Alvarez murder.”
“Yeah, but you’re assuming they’ll act rationally and obey the law.”
Stan sighed. Rebekah was a worrier and he was used to this lecture. “Well, we’ll take precautions. I was planning to call Jake Weston at Excel Security this afternoon and have him provide extra security for the office and each of our homes while this case is going on.”
“Good, there are so many crazies in the world and you seem to have a knack for knocking heads with them.”
Stan laughed. The waitress came over and put the meatball sandwiches down in front of them. Stan thanked her and then went and got them drinks. When he returned Rebekah was chewing a big bite of her sandwich. Stan felt good. It seemed Rebekah was okay. He couldn’t imagine what he would do if something ever happened to her.
On the way home Stan had to put on the headlights as the storm that he’d seen approaching earlier was nearly upon them. Somehow they managed to get home without seeing a drop of rain although they could see lightning in the distance. When they walked in the door Stan went to the bar where he’d dropped the mail. He had just started to pick through it when the telephone rang. It was Maria advising him that one of the veterans who had served with Herb Wolf in the Second Naval Transport Squadron had returned his call. Stan had asked Maria to get a hold of him immediately if any of them called. He wrote down the information on Tom Hooper and called him back immediately.
“Mr. Hooper?” Stan asked.
“Yes, this is Tom Hooper.”
“Hi, this is Stan Turner. My secretary told me you had just returned my call?”
“Yes, I did. What can I do for you?”
“I understand you served with Herb Wolf in the Second Naval Transport Squadron during the Vietnam War?”
“Yes, I did. How is Herb these days? Is he coming to the reunion?”
“No. I’m afraid not. He died recently. I’m an attorney and I’ve been working on his probate.”
He sighed. “Damn! Herb was a great guy. We’ll miss him.”
“I didn’t know him, but I’ve heard he was a good man. Listen, what I called about was his child.”
“His child?”
“Yes, on his deathbed he admitted that he had a child named Mitch that he had never told anyone about. Since nobody in his family knows anything about Mitch, I assume he must have been born while he was in the service. Perhaps he had a relationship overseas.”
There was silence.
“Mr. Hooper?”
“Yes, I was just thinking. That was a long time ago.”
“Did he ever talk about having a child?”
“Well, he joked about it from time to time. He went kind of crazy when he found out his wife had been unfaithful. I think he tried to nail every hooker in Honolulu after he found out.”
“So, you took most of your shore leave in Hawaii?” Stan asked.
“Yes, we had leave in Saigon sometimes but it was a pretty dangerous place to hang out. We usually stayed away from the women there. Too many of them were looking for a ticket to America.”
“Yes, I bet. So, was there anyone special for Herb in Hawaii?”
“He had a couple of girls he was fond of but I don’t know anything about a child. You’d have to talk to one of them.”
“Do you know who they were?”
“Mina was one of them. She was a schoolteacher in Honolulu. He met her at a bar.”
“Do you remember her last name?”
“Nishi—something.”
“Nishi?”
“Ah. Nishihara, I think.”
“Okay, what about the other one?”
“Yuzie Gucci or something. I don’t know how you spell it.”
“He liked Japanese women?”
“Yes, he liked that they were totally devoted to him. They made him feel like a king, he said.”
Stan thought of how he could find these two women after so many years. He usually used International Tracing Service but they required a previous address, social security number, date of birth, or previous employer. Without something to start with he could spend ten thousand dollars on a PI and end up with nothing. Then he had an idea.
“Hmm. You don’t happen to know anyone in Hawaii, do you? I’m sure the estate would be willing to pay a thousand dollar reward if we can find either of these two women. Five thousand if one of them actually has a child named Mitch.”
There was silence for a moment. “Heck yeah. There’s two guys who live on the Big Island. I bet between the three of us we could find your gals.”
“Good. Why don’t you contact them and get started?”
“What about expense money? I’ll need to buy a ticket to Hawaii.”
Stan chuckled. “You’re going to fly over there and help your buddies?”
“Yeah. If there’s three of us the search should go faster.”
Stan sighed. “Okay, I’ll give you five hundred up front for expenses. If you want to spend it on a plane ticket, that will be up to you, but there will be no more payments until you locate one of the women.”
“You have yourself a deal, my friend. Can you Western Union me the money? We might as well get started right away.”
Stan agreed and they exchanged contact information. Stan shook his head, feeling like he might have just been taken for five hundred bucks, but he had a gut feeling Tom Hooper would be worth the money he was about to fork over. He hung up the telephone and picked up the mail. As was his normal routine he put the junk mail in one pile, the bills in another, and was left with a plain white envelope addressed to Stan but with no postage. A personal delivery. That’s weird.
He ripped it open and a photo fell out. As he picked it up he was horrified to see a picture of Jodie sitting in a truck with her hands and legs bound and her mouth gagged.
“Oh, shit!” he exclaimed.
Rebekah, who was at the sink, turned and looked at Stan curiously. “What is it?”
“It’s Jodie. Someone has Jodie.”
Stan unfolded the note that came with the letter and began to read:
If you care about your associate you’ll convince your clients to drop the lawsuit and get the FBI and police to back off their investigations. You have 48 hours. No extensions. No excuses. No police or FBI.
“Oh, my God!” Rebekah exclaimed. “What are you going to do?”
Suddenly there was a flash of light and the house was rocked by a deafening clap of thunder. Rebekah jumped and let out a shriek. Stan looked out the window as rain began to pour from the sky, but nothing could distract him from the panic he was feeling after seeing Jodie bound and gagged. He grabbed the phone and quickly dialed the office number. Maria picked up.
