Heart's Desires (16 page)

CHAPTER 27

              Jake had been so busy going through all the surveillance that he didn’t notice that he hadn’t had a phone call all day.  He checked his pocket for his phone, and found that it was completely dead.

             
Shit!

“Hey, guys, I need to put my phone on the charge and call to check up on Charlie,” Jake told the guys as he started walking toward his office.

              “Yeah, ok,” Mike said absently.  Everyone in the office was still wrapped up in the evidence.  They now had to readjust their focus from Moretti to other players in the case.

              Once Jake got into his office, he plugged in his phone and powered it up.  He noticed right away that he had several text messages from Charlie, as well as voicemails.

              He pressed the icon to play the last message received:

Hey, Bear, it’s me.  I think I figured something really important out about Lorenzo’s books.  I need you to call me ASAP.

             
Shit.  I hope she didn’t go and do anything stupid. 
Jake quickly hit the call button on his phone to call Charlie back.  The phone rang several times before going to voicemail. 
Fuck!  Where in the hell is she? 
Jake hit redial; the phone rang three times, and on the fourth ring Charlie picked up.

              “Thank God!  I got your message, Heart.  Please tell me you didn’t go to Premier alone.”  Jake kept his voice steady, but he was seconds away from an eruption if she went off by herself.

              “Hell naw!  You know damn well I’m not stupid.  My ass is way too scary to be going somewhere by myself.”  Charlie looked at her phone in disbelief.  She knew that Jake knew her better than that.

              Jake chuckled in relief.  He was so glad she was not trying to be a hero.  “Ok, so why didn’t you answer when I called just now?”

              “I was on the phone with Lorenzo,” she stated simply.

              “What?  Why?  Did you tell him what you found?”  Jake knew she had a job to do, but he wasn’t sure if it was smart just yet to let him know the information they had collected.

              “I had to because I needed to get a vendor list from him.  Look, I can explain all this to you when you come and get me and we head over to Premier.  I don’t think Lorenzo is working with the mob.  In fact, I think someone is using his club to launder money.”

              “Well damn, Heart.  How did you figure all this out?”

              “I brought some of the files home with me. I felt bad about… never mind… just come and get me I’ll explain it all later.”

              “I’m on my way, baby.  Hold tight.”  Jake disconnected the call and grabbed his keys to Big Lou.  Angeletti may not be involved with Lorenzo, but somebody was definitely doing some shady business at
Premier Restaurant and Lounge.

***

              After Jake told the guys and Chase about the new developments in the case, he was headed to pick up Charlie.  Fifteen minutes later, Jake was pulling up to Charlie’s downtown condo.  He parked and headed quickly to the elevator, his long strides quickly eating up the distance.

              When he reached her place, she opened the door before he had a chance to knock.

              “Hey, baby.”  He smiled, trying to help her relax.  Her body was tight with tension and her normally smooth, beautiful face was wrought with lines of worry.

              “Hey, babe… I have a lot to tell you.”  She said in a rush, ushering Jake inside, and closing the door behind him.

              Charlie filled Jake in on all the things she had figured out.  She told him about the cash, the fake vendor, and who she thought was behind it all.  The only thing she couldn’t figure out was where the money was coming from in the first place.

              “I’m not around enough to know if this money is coming from drugs, or guns, or God knows where else, but from what I can tell, it’s been going on for at least a couple of years.”  Charlie looked Jake in his eyes.  “The only person that would have an idea is Lorenzo.”

              Jake nodded.  He agreed that Lorenzo would be the man with the answers to these questions, but he didn’t want Charlie anywhere near him to ask them.  “I can handle that.  There’s no way in hell you need to be involved in anymore of this mess.”

              “I understand, but in order to figure this out, I really need to have a conversation with Lorenzo, and you don’t know just how deep the rabbit hole may lead.”

              “Right, but I’m going with you,” Jake huffed.  He didn’t like Charlie being so close to this mess, but she was right; she was the one who had the pieces to the puzzle that needed to be solved.

              “Of course you are.  I told you I’m not going in there by myself.”  Charlie looked at him as if he was crazy.

              Jake smirked.  “So if Lorenzo isn’t behind this, and we know Angeletti hasn’t been in the picture long enough to be in the mix for the couple of years this has been going on, then who in the hell is benefiting from all this mysterious cash flow?”

              “I think it might be Jan,” Charlie replied, her almond shaped eyes wide with anxiety.

              “The manager?”  Jake rubbed his hand through his beard.  “That makes sense.”

              “Yea, and it’s the only thing that fits.  She’s the one that does the payroll for the club.”

              “Alright, so let’s get Moretti on the phone and have him meet us at Premier.  It’s closed right now right?”

              “Yes, and it only opens from noon to five on Sundays.”

              “Great, so call him so we can get this shit done.”  Jake was ready to put an end to having to deal with Charlie being in any kind of danger.

              Lorenzo answered his phone on the second ring.  It was an understatement to say he was shocked to see Charlie’s name on his cell for the second time that day.             

“Hey, Charlie, what’s going on now?”

              “Hi, Lorenzo. I need you to meet me at Premier.  I found what you were looking for, and it goes way deeper than what I think even you are aware of.”

              Lorenzo sat up on his leather sofa.  She had his full attention.  He knew that he could count on Charlie to find any discrepancies in his payroll, but he didn’t expect her to find them so easily.  “Deeper?  Deeper how?”

              “I’ll let you know all the details in person, but we need to meet ASAP.  I also have some questions for you.  Maybe we can figure out just where all these discrepancies truly came from.”

              “Alright, meet me in an hour at Premier.”  Lorenzo got up off his couch and rushed to get dressed.

              “Will do.  See ya in an hour.”  Charlie disconnected the call and looked to Jake.  “Looks like we are going to Premier.”

***

              Lorenzo made it to Premier in record time.  He parked his car at the back of the building, and entered through the rear.  He normally would park up front, but since they were meeting in his office, he didn’t want to make the trip through the restaurant.  Upon entering the club, he heard a noise coming from the manager’s office.

              Lorenzo made his way past his office to the front of the building.  He walked slowly, creeping through the business.  He shook his head at himself. 
The one time I didn’t carry my piece. 
Just when he thought to look for a weapon, he heard a noise directly behind him.

              “Stop right there, asshole.”  The deep voice came from behind.

Lorenzo turned to look the intruder in the face.  “What tha fuck are you doing here?”  Lorenzo’s deep, baritone voice was laced with venom and shock.

“I knew I was taking a chance coming here, but I can’t trust anybody to get the job done but me.  I can’t have you fucking this up for me,” Justin replied with a snarl. 

Just when Justin pointed the gun at Lorenzo’s head, Jan came out of the office.  In a high pitched voice she screeched, “
Oh my Gawd
!  What the hell are you doing? Oh God, Oh God!” Jan repeated over and over again.

Justin turned toward Jan, annoyed that she was again messing up his plans.  “I told you I would take care of this.”  Justin waved his hand between himself and Lorenzo.  “What the hell are you doing out here screaming?”

              “Wh… wh… why do you have a gun? I thought we were just going to get the records, and then get out of here?”  Jan stuttered nervously, wringing her hands.  She knew that Justin had been acting strangely these past couple of weeks, but she never thought he would take their scheme this far.

              “
Do not
fuckin’ question me, Jan.  This mess is entirely your fault.  I shouldn’t even have to be here.  I told you to take care of this shit, and you couldn’t even do something as simple as cover up some damn paperwork!”  Justin’s voice rose louder with every word.  His obvious lack of patience for Jan showed on his handsome face.               

              Jan blanched at his words.  Her face was a mask of terror, and her body was visibly trembling.  Her accomplice was scowling at her with disgust.

While Justin’s attention was on Jan and her weakness, Lorenzo, although still in shock, gathered his thoughts and took the opportunity to lunge at his attacker, trying to grab the gun.  Because Lorenzo was the larger man, he was able to knock the intruder off balance, but Justin saw the shift in Lorenzo’s stance, and he swung around, blocking his attempt to take away the gun.  Lorenzo was unable to knock the gun out of Justin’s hand, and was able to take another hard swing at his attacker, but his punch still didn’t land on its target.  However, it did clip Justin in his chin, making him stumble backward before he regained his balance.

Lorenzo and Justin struggled for the gun before Justin growled and swung with all his strength, hitting Lorenzo in the head with the butt of the gun.

“You stupid, motherfucker!”  Justin yelled, swinging at Lorenzo again.

              Lorenzo staggered backwards, dizzy from the blow. He was doing his best to stay upright and fighting.  It was not in his nature to lose, and he couldn’t imagine going out like this.  After all the things he’d done in his life, to be so caught off guard was not like him.  But this betrayal was unexpected.  Lorenzo finally lost the battle, and fell to the ground in a heap. 

              Once Lorenzo was laid out on the floor, his head started to bleed profusely from Justin’s blow, and he quickly slipped into unconsciousness.  Jan could still be heard screaming in the background.

              “Shut the hell up, you stupid bitch!”  Justin bellowed at a hysterical Jan.  She slapped her hand over her mouth to muffle the strangled cries of distress, but tears still managed to roll down, streaking her red face.

              “Don’t just stand there, you damn idiot!  Go get what the hell we came here for!!”  He shouted again.  Justin’s handsome face was distorted into a mask of rage, his forehead was wrinkled, and his mouth was tight with tension.  Jan stood looking at the man she thought she knew, unable to reconcile what was happening. 

              Justin started dragging Lorenzo’s body out of sight behind the large bar in the front of the restaurant.  He knew that he couldn’t just leave him lying where he could easily be found.  Blood was coming from Lorenzo’s head and pouring down the side of his face, staining the collar of his crisp button down shirt.  He knew that it was a possibility that Lorenzo could bleed out, but he had to make sure that he was dead.

              “I said go, bitch!”  Justin shouted again because Jan was standing as still as a statue with a horrified look plastered on her pale face.

              Jan nodded as she quickly scurried to the office to do his bidding.  She didn’t want to upset him anymore than she already had.  Once she entered the office, she heard a single gunshot ring out loudly behind her.  She froze for a split second as more tears flooded down, staining her face that much more.

Even though Justin was her accomplice, and he may have thought she was stupid, Jan was not.  She knew that she couldn’t back out now, or she would be the next person dead, so she quickly scrambled to get what they came for… the records. 

              After she got the files, she knew that her next step would be to try and figure out how to get away from this crazy man, and out of this crazy situation alive!  

CHAPTER 28

Premier was dark when they arrived.  Charlie didn’t see Lorenzo’s sleek black Mercedes Benz parked in the front, so they decided to wait in “Big Lou” until Lorenzo showed up.  After their designated meeting time, when Lorenzo still hadn’t shown up, Jake started to wonder where in the hell Lorenzo was.

              “Hey, Heart, why don’t you give Moretti a call?”  Jake asked Charlie as he looked around the vacant parking lot.

              “I just tried, and it’s going straight to voicemail,” Charlie replied, annoyed.

Jake nodded, rubbing his hand through his beard, deep in thought.  “Do you have a key?  Maybe we can go inside and wait in there.  I don’t like sitting out in the open like this.”