Operation London (12 page)

Miguel was dead on when he said the man had no soul
. His crimes started from adolescence and went on and on. Most involved arson. A few dealt with assault. There were also a couple counts of statutory rape, assault and battery. Angel didn't rack up crimes that involved theft or drugs; there wasn't one count of either on his record. He seemed driven by hatred and destruction. Pain, humiliation and chaos were written all over his profile.

Ava was also shocked to see that Angel had done very little hard time
. She switched out of the LAPD and found out why. Domingo Espino was beyond wealthy. His business dealings were global, his power noted the world over. He was one man who could get away with murder. And it looked like his son intended to use that escape hatch literally.

Closing out of the files, Ava noticed a light covering of goose bumps on her body
. Angel knew he could get away with anything. His being a criminal made him dangerous enough, but a criminal mind coupled with immunity made him absolutely lethal. Ava closed her eyes, trying to drown out he picture of crude horror he had painted in her mind. Instead she wanted to focus on Marie and her situation. Time was already running out for this girl.

Ava was glad she had gone against better judgment and searched Angel's file
. His history of arson might link him to the scene of the crime and tie him more soundly to the mysterious glasses. And maybe to the missing Marie Deltore.

Ava had turned off her computer when she heard another knock on her door
. The picture of Angel's leering face flashed in her mind, making her skin crawl. Of course, she had to be in her towel!  She groaned, imagining the whole thing playing out like a scene from a bad horror movie.

Walking to the door stealthily she grabbed an empty wine bottle from the recycling to use in her defense
. Not only would it be heavy, it would be sharp as well. She turned the knob carefully, keeping the bottle ready at her side. Slowly, the door inched open, and her guest became visible.

"Hello ma'am
. Please sign here," said the friendly flower delivery woman.

"Thank you so much," Ava said weakly, trying to play down the empty wine bottle that she was holding like a club as she accepted the flowers.

Closing the door on the confused woman, Ava looked into the box. It was filled with purple, yellow and white irises. There was a card.

Ava's hand shook as she opened it up and read the contents.

"Thank you for the dance, dulce. The beauty and passion of these flowers reminded me of you. I look forward to holding you in my arms again soon. Miguel."

Her face flushed with a heat that was singing through her blood
. She buried her face in the soft petals, inhaling the sweet aroma of the blossoms. This man was sending her reeling, making her feel more excited than she had ever felt in her life.

She had to hunt around for a container to hold the flowers in, but when she finally had them in a large pickle jar from her fridge, she got ready to go to Piper's
. She wanted to be sure everything was OK concerning Lucia's arrangements and she was interested in scoping any patrons who might be up to the job of helping her in her new investigative venture.

As she pulled out onto the highway, she jabbed Miguel's number out on her cell phone
. It was only right to give him a call and thank him for the very thoughtful gift, she told herself. She was surprised to find herself a little sad to get his message box, but she left a pleasant thank you and left it at that. Why was she acting like a lovesick teen now?  She had important work to get done, and clouding her mind with flowers and sentiment was hardly in the line of what she needed to accomplish.

Before going into Piper's, Ava checked her backseat
. There was her clothing bag, containing one very boring, very professional suit. She also had her briefcase with a tiny digital camera and a bug. She needed to make an emergency trip to Lincoln Academy after her stint at Piper's and before she approached Josephine Conway.

Ava smiled at her growing agenda
. She was finding that she liked being in charge more than she'd ever imagined.

Inside she and Piper discussed the dance sessions, and Ava found that Piper was desperate to become a customer.

"I hear you're Paolo Medrano's little girl!  Who in their right mind would pass up lessons from you?" she gushed, pushing her curly red hair out of her face with one small hand. "I have a good feeling about you," she smiled.

"This town has some serious dance fans
. My father hasn't competed in any major competitions for over six years," Ava said, though it was clear she was touched by all of the attention her father's success was getting.

"Well, we don't do anything half assed in Texas," Piper laughed.

"Speaking of not doing anything half assed......I'm thinking about going into business privately. Investigative work. I'm keeping my eye open for some people to help me. Discreet, cautious but heavy hitters. You know, people I can trust to take care of themselves. Anyone come to mind?"  Ava felt like she was going out on a limb, but Piper's place seemed to attract the best of the best as far as strength and skill went, and Ava noticed that even today many of the people working out were uniformed, trained people. This was obviously a place where people came when they were serious, and that kind of intent was exactly what Ava needed.

Piper squinted her shiny green eyes and bounced on the balls of her feet in thought
. "You know, he might be right under your nose," she exclaimed suddenly.

"Who?" Ava asked, shaking her head.

"Cormac. He does the kickboxing as a temporary stint, but other than that he's been hanging around, waiting for something good to come up. He'd be really interested to get in on the ground floor of something more permanent," she said.

Ava nodded as she recalled mental images of Cormac
. He was quite an impressive physical specimen with a quick eye and a good attitude. She'd have to keep him in mind.

"And I'd recommend Magdalene McGinty," Piper said shyly.

"Who's she?"

"My sister, Maggie
. She's a computer whiz, absolutely top notch. And she's holed up right now in some drab office building. She's a computer analyst, currently."

"Computer analyst, huh?" laughed Ava
. "She sounds like my kind of girl."

After getting down all of the necessary information, Ava headed to the locker room to change
. None of this would be possible if she didn't manage to get a financier for the investigation. And the Conway's would obviously need more than a hunch to go along with Ava's suggested use of her company, London Investigations.

She had no references, no sure team and no time
. This would be the riskiest bet of her life and by far the most exciting.

Ava London entered the dressing room in a too short mini with a tank and platform sandals, attracting the attention of every man in the room with a single swish of her long honey hair
. When she exited she hardly turned a head. Dressed in a beige pantsuit and sensible heels, her hair parted to the side and pulled back in a severe bun, horn rimmed glasses parked on her no-nonsense nose, she looked like a woman ready for business.

Her business this time was psychology, namely that of Marie Deltore
. She was posing as a court psychologist in order to get into the files in the school's guidance office. Ava desperately hoped that was still the place where files were kept in high schools. She had to put on the show of her life. Her future depended on it. She took a deep breath and dove in.

Marching briskly into the school, Ava made a show of glancing at her watch in annoyance as she entered the main office
. An uppity woman with snow hair and painted eyebrows looked at her with cold accusation.

"Can I help you?" she asked icily.

"Yes. I'm a little bit late for my meeting with the school psychologist. I'm Amy Truman, sent over by the local Houston Court office. I trust you got the message my secretary left you?" Ava said, cocking an eyebrow to show her frustration.

"I am at this desk at all times
. And if I go away from it for even a second, I make sure to check the voice mail and see if I missed any incoming calls."  The woman narrowed her eyes at Ava, as if she thought Ava was the type to pretend she had placed a call when she hadn't.

"Well, I'd appreciate it if you checked," Ava said simply.

The secretary was obviously a woman who did not appreciate having her methods questioned, and she made it plain as she snatched up the phone and stamped in the password with a snide look in Ava's direction. Just as Ava expected, the phone call produced quick turnaround in her attitude.

"I don't understand!  I'm sorry, maybe I was out when you placed your call?  But I'm sure I would have checked!  This is really very confusing to me," the woman said, circling her words as she tried to figure out what had gone wrong.

"No one blames you," Ava said, making sure her voice was clipped and reserved. "But I'm going to be very late. Please make sure I am shown to the guidance office as soon as possible. There are some important files and documents I must put in order."

In three minutes Ava was following the woman, who continued to apologize profusely, to the guidance door
. Ava had to smile to herself as the defeated woman left. Little did she know that her Houston Court secretary was in reality Piper McGintry of Piper's House of Pain, placing the call from a specialized speaker that was attached to Ava's laptop modem. Ava had rerouted the wiring, which enabled Piper to deliver her message directly into the voicemail box, bypassing the main line, the ringer, and the very devoted school secretary.

The pandemonium Ava's stunt caused gave her private access to the guidance room and the highly classified student files
. Focusing with her glasses, Ava accessed a tiny camera and took pictures detailing the room's layout. She determined that most of the files were kept in large metal cabinet in the corner of the room. It would be easy enough to open the simple locks. There was no hint of a security camera or any motion sensitive devices as far as Ava could tell. That didn't mean there weren't any at all, and Ava decided she would have to determine a more specialized schematic of the building alarm system before she could trust her observations.

She had taped the bug inside her sleeve with medical tape, and she was just about to remove it from her arm when she heard a voice.

"Ms. Truman. So sorry for the wait," said a smooth voice. Ava turned to see a small man with round eyeglasses and springy hair that he touched obsessively, apparently trying to comb the mass down. "I'm Headmaster Henry Reynolds."

Ava shook his extended hand
. He held on longer than a formal handshake allowed, letting his eyes travel up and down her body lustily.

"Amy Truman
. I'm here on behalf of a...Marie Deltore," she said. She wanted the entire set up to appear as clinical as possible, just to be sure the Headmaster didn't suspect anything.

"Certainly
. I hope it isn't anything serious," he murmured as he pulled Marie's file and gazed fondly at Ava's breasts.

Although she felt anger bubbling inside of her, threatening to boil over and explode, she calmed herself
. Being calm and collected was the most important aspect of this whole enterprise.

She leafed through the papers, taking note of especially important pieces of information
. As she looked she carefully pulled certain papers farther out of the pile, distinguishing them from all of the others. Once she had gone through most of the paperwork, she prepared to pull off her simplest, surest routine.

Taking out a breath mint, she put it absently into her mouth
. She coughed once and shook her head slightly. The Headmaster barely looked away from her breasts. She coughed again and put her hand to her throat delicately, coughing harder. The Headmaster looked up in panic, as if he were being scolded for staring at her boobs. She continued to hack and wave her hand in front of her face, croaking out that she needed a glass of water. The headmaster put up his finger, motioning that she should wait as he hurried out.

Ava pulled out a hand held scanner, being careful to continue little spurts of coughing in case he came back
. She deftly scanned all of her marked pages, making quick time. Just as she covered the last one a voice interrupted her train of thought.

She paused, still as a mouse, putting the scanner between her knees under the desk and squeezing it tight
. It wasn't exactly a high tech agent's move, but it would have to do. She also let loose some incredibly painful sounding gasps and coughs.

The slimy headmaster rushed to her, giving her a cup of water
. Ava quieted down immediately.

"Oh, thank you so much," she said, breathing in and out deeply
. Luckily all of the excitement in the last few minutes made the deep breathing realistic, or she might have become light headed and had to faint right in front of the sexually advancing headmaster.

She sipped lightly and nearly choked again when she felt a suspicious hand sliding towards her knee
. Instinct took over. Without a second thought her elbow flew out and cut the man under his conniving chin.