Accused (20 page)

33

By the time Carly and Jeff pulled off the roadway to a dark spot under a bridge at the harbor, it was close to six o’clock. A clandestine footpath would take them to Pier K and the warehouses Jeff claimed were filled with illegal goods. Supposedly unused, and shielded somewhat by construction going on in other areas, Pier K was the perfect place to shelter illegal activity of any kind.

Carly recognized the path. A few years ago it had led to the scene of a grisly murder/suicide. She found herself hoping her memory of the path wasn’t an omen.

Carly locked her car and stood at the trailhead. Large containers bracketed the path, effectively concealing their planned trek from any prying eyes.

“You made me check the rearview mirror every two seconds,” she said after watching Jeff bounce around like a caffeinated jumping bean. He acted like a tweaker, fidgeting and biting his nails. “I can almost guarantee we weren’t followed. And on this path, no one will see us from the street.”

“I’m more worried about dockworkers on the pier. If they look, they’ll see us.” Jeff shrugged. “We just have to take that chance. You ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Jeff led the way. Carly carefully checked their surroundings as they walked.

“Notice the empty container ship at the dock?” Jeff pointed at the water. “The drugs come off the ship and the stolen goods go on. My bet is that the warehouse is full and the loading will start tonight.”

“What does that have to do with the murders?”

“It’s part of the operation to clean Correa’s money. It’s also what brought Teresa down to the dock to confront her husband. She probably came down here and caught him with a shipment, told him she’d put two and two together, and he whacked her.”

Carly shivered at Jeff’s words. Though she’d seen murder committed for the most inconsequential reasons, the thought that a man as public as Galen Burke could so easily kill his equally public wife was chilling.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Armed with a flip camera and a loaded 9mm with no extra clips, Carly debated their sanity. Would reasonable and prudent people really take the chance they were taking against men who had actually killed at least three and attempted to kill a fourth?

But it was too late to turn back now.

They came to a fence and found a small hole already cut in the chain-link. Carly squeezed through, followed by Jeff. They both jogged about fifty feet to the first warehouse. There was a cold wind blowing in from the ocean, but the anxiousness Carly felt kept the chill away.

The dock was older and dirtier than the state-of-the-art docks built by redevelopment funds on the other side of the harbor. There were two warehouses—long, low, rough-looking buildings. The windows were clouded glass, and the surrounding landscape was bleak and overgrown. Illegible graffiti decorated just about everything.
I never would have known to look here. I would have thought it deserted.

Jeff motioned for Carly to be very quiet as they approached the back of the first warehouse. The door was securely padlocked. Carly noticed several of the windows were halfway open.

Slowly they made their way around to the front of the warehouse. The two warehouses faced each other, so coming to the front of one put them in the middle of both. The buildings were locked up, and there was no sign of any activity. No cars were nearby. Carly scanned the area for any blue harbor-patrol cars and came up empty. She snapped some photos with landmarks so it would be easy to prove later which warehouses they were searching.

The buildings were dark and quiet. Desolate, in spite of the fact that they were minutes from the heart of the city. She watched as Jeff peeked inside an open window. Doubts flooded her mind.
What have I let him get me into?

Dusk settled in, and Carly realized neither of them had thought to bring a flashlight. Not only would it be difficult to find their way around the warehouse—she wondered if they’d be able to find their way back to the car. She grabbed for her gun when the exterior lights clicked on.

Jeff placed a steadying hand on her arm. “They turn on automatically when it gets dark,” he whispered as he motioned to Carly that they needed to climb up and into the window. He went first. Shoving the small camera into her back pocket, she jumped and pulled herself up into the window after him.

Inside the building, the darkness was murky. A bit of outside light spilled through the windows. Large shapes loomed, and as Carly’s eyes adjusted, she saw cars and pallets of merchandise.

“The camera is set up in that office over there.” Jeff pointed to the far corner near the door. “Take pictures of what’s in here. I’m sure those cars are stolen. I’ll be a minute.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll just remove the camera, and then we’ll go,” he said over his shoulder as he left her standing in the diffused light.

Suddenly Carly felt uneasy.
Is this a trap? There’s nothing for me to do now but play along.
She picked a spot and began taking pictures. When she reached an area that had enough light, she switched to camcorder mode and narrated in a whisper where she was and what she was doing.

The place was filled with all kinds of merchandise, mostly cars. Carly noted that they were models most often stolen. She moved around the room with the camera, amazed that it picked up images even in the low-light environment. She was halfway back to where Jeff had left her when car lights cut into the warehouse from outside. They’d pushed their luck too far.

“Jeff, someone’s coming!”

She heard him curse as she sprinted toward the window they’d climbed in. Crouching at the window, she strained to see any movement in the warehouse, any sign of her coconspirator.

More than one car crunched across the gravel to a stop in front of the warehouse. Carly returned to where she’d last seen Jeff and ducked behind a pallet of television sets. She could hear doors slam and muffled voices. The front door rattled, someone unlocking the padlock.

The pallets would hide her from the open door.
I could leave now. I’m sure I could make it out the window without being seen. But where is Jef
f
? I can’t leave Jeff.
Just as she considered moving, Jeff came up behind her so quickly she jumped.

He barked a whispered order. “Quick! It’s them. Move forward and hold up the camera; it will pick them up even at this distance.”

“What do you mean? We need to get out of here!” Carly fought to still her pounding heart.

“No time to argue. Just film all of them together. The more evidence we have, the better.”

The metal door of the warehouse clanked loudly as it rolled up. In a few seconds, lights clicked on and the darkness fled. Carly and Jeff crept slowly toward the sound of the voices. The televisions provided great cover. Carly got down on the ground, sliding to her stomach, and peered around the corner of the pallet.

The men were standing under naked fluorescent lights. Two had their backs to Carly, blocking her view of a third. A fourth man she didn’t recognize stood at the door, talking to someone outside.

One of the men moved and Carly recognized him immediately. It was Galen Burke. She held the flip camera up and hit the Record button, wondering if Jeff’s camera had come up empty.

Two more men came into the building. Karl Drake was one. She almost dropped the camera.
This is a man who, two days ago, stood on my mother’s doorstep begging for help. He had the nerve to try to convince me we were on the same side!

Anger flared as she realized it was probably Drake who torched her mother’s house. He had known she was there, and the more she thought about their conversation, the more she felt as though he’d been threatening her. Carly kept filming.
I wish I could hear what he’s saying.

Carly didn’t recognize anyone else, but she made certain she filmed as much as she could.

The rough rumble of a forklift engine vibrated across the room, and soon Carly could smell diesel exhaust. She pulled down the flip camera and shut it off. There was a lot more activity on the dock.
The warehouse is going to be emptied and the ship loaded.

Jeff tapped her on the shoulder. “It’s time to go.” He handed her a thumb drive and what looked like a pen, which she realized must be his hidden camera. “Hang on to these. I’ll give you a boost.”

They slipped back to the window, where he helped her up. She swung her legs out into the now-dark night.

“Hey!”

The angry male voice startled her, causing her to fall out of the window and land wrong, twisting her ankle.

“Ow!” she muttered, wincing in pain when she stepped with her right foot.

Two large men ran toward her from the right. And they weren’t yelling welcome. Not wanting to tip them off to Jeff, she limped awkwardly toward the path without looking back. She fumbled with the camera, the thumb drive, and the pen, not sure what she’d do with them but knowing she didn’t want the bad guys to get them. Even if what she filmed didn’t prove anything, they were her last contribution to a screwed-up investigation.

The men gained on her; she could feel their footfalls pound the earth as she reached the fence. She slid through the cut fence on her butt, slipping the evidence from her hand into a hole in the dirt by the fence post.

The men were on her as she pushed herself up on the other side of the fence. The small opening slowed the two big men down, and Carly knew her last chance was to move fast. Curses shattered the air behind her as the men tried to squeeze through the fence.

But her ankle might as well have been an anchor. She tried a stilted run, but her stiff gait didn’t get her very far. Without warning, she was hit hard from behind and knocked down.

As she lay on the ground, trying to catch the breath the fall knocked out of her, she found herself looking up at two very angry faces.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” the largest one asked. He must have been the one who pushed her.

Carly couldn’t answer. She thought about the gun in her waistband, but as she gasped for breath, she knew she’d never get to it fast enough.

She was right. The men jerked her up off the ground, still gasping and wheezing as she got her wind back. One found the gun.

“Lookee here!” he yelled gleefully. His toothy grin glowed yellow in the dark and his bald head shone. He passed the gun to his buddy, a hard-looking black man.

Number two hung on to the gun. His biceps were as big as Carly’s thighs, and his expression said he’d like to crack Carly’s head like a nutshell. “Let’s get her back to Burke,” Biceps said.

Baldy grabbed Carly by the arm and jerked her back the way she’d just run. She stumbled as her ankle protested in pain, but Baldy just dragged her along.

Carly forced down panic.
I need to think clearly. Keep your head; survival is the most important thing. Jeff is still free.

It was Nick who fortified her. In the back of her mind, she bet these people were responsible for his condition, and that stoked her anger. Panic fled.

When they reached the warehouse, Carly saw the whole gang outside waiting to see what Baldy and Biceps brought back.

“Look what the cat dragged in.” Karl Drake stood with his arms folded across his chest, a half smile playing on his lips.

“I had a feeling you were dirty, but I couldn’t figure out why,” Carly said, working hard to keep an emotionless cop expression on her face.

“Money, plain and simple. I don’t plan on retiring on a pension alone. How long have you been here?”

Carly shrugged but didn’t get a chance to answer.

“It doesn’t matter.” Galen Burke made his presence known. “We’re wasting time. Besides, even if she saw something, she’ll be too dead to tell anyone.”

Carly stared at the man responsible for the turmoil of the past week, realizing she hadn’t wanted to believe the picture of Galen and Teresa’s happy marriage was a facade. “You did kill your wife.”

He turned her way, regarding her with cold, empty eyes. “Actually, Potter killed her, but I approved. She was in the way, like you are. She thought she would ruin me and became an obstacle. She and her cop friend were going to expose me and destroy this lucrative business I’m in.” He smiled, but nothing could warm those eyes.

“For ten years I tried to do business legitimately and nearly went bankrupt. I switched sides and became successful. Teresa couldn’t make the transition and needed to be removed. It should be obvious to you by now that I’m good at removing obstacles. My wife, that mouthy hooker, the stupid carjacker.” He shrugged. “I wish Potter had been more successful with you, but then, your time has come today.” Motioning to Biceps, Burke dismissed Carly. “Put her on my boat.”

A commotion from the warehouse interrupted the completion of the order.

“Fire!” someone yelled. Smoke curled up from the back of the building.

Burke motioned to Baldy. “Go see what that is.”

Biceps tightened his grip on Carly.

The sound of glass breaking rent the air, and several loud thuds followed. Baldy yelled something unintelligible. Burke nodded to Drake, who ran toward the commotion. In a few minutes the struggle stopped, and Carly heard Drake laughing.

“Hey, Galen! You’ll never believe what else the cat dragged in!” Drake’s face split with a wide grin as he walked toward them. Behind him was Baldy, half-dragging, half-carrying Jeff, whose face was bleeding.

“Good, good. It’s about time.” Galen rubbed his hands together, then pointed to Carly and Jeff. “Take them both to my boat.”

A yacht was docked beside the container ship. Dwarfed by the larger ship, the yacht did not come into view until Carly was almost on it. Biceps pulled Carly along, while Baldy dragged Jeff. Her ankle throbbed, precluding any attempt to make a break for it.

A frigid wind pushed forbidding clouds across the night sky. Carly shivered, but not from the cold. Jeff’s condition was worrisome; she couldn’t tell how badly he was hurt. She thought about her own options.
As long as my hands are free, I have a fighting chance. Maybe there’s a way out of this.