“His text messages indicate he was the primary contact with Trish,” Leo said.
“And I found a couple of pictures of the two. Not at events here in the valley, but in Florida,” Kendall said. “One was from a party in LA, though. It was taken seven years ago. That’s when we think they met.”
Helia stifled a moan. Collin restarted his soothing rubs as he spoke. “Roger and Trish decide to start trafficking drugs into the Napa Valley. Pena and Trish broker the deal with him, but hedoesn’t have any way to get them into the valley without raising flags since Bacco doesn’t import much.”
“Which is when he brings in Akin. Or Greg,” Helia said. “What better partner than a business that imports food frequently enough not to raise any red flags when shipments come through, but not so regularly as to raise red flags with customs agents.”
Scipio nodded. “Once they arrive, Akin—or Greg—gets them to Kelly and Justin, who then distribute them.” He paused, then he added, “With some coming to Roger both for his personal use and to use during the parties he hosted.”
“Marketing the drug,” Collin said, repeating Callie’s suggestion from the night before. “He had access to drugs well before that, though,” he added.
“He did.” Scipio nodded.
“But not the high-end designer stuff you found in his room,” Leo said. “When we tested it, our lab folks had never seen anything like it. The base drugs are the standard ones we talked about, but they’ve been customized and engineered in such a way that could only happen with the most modern equipment and knowledge.”
“Why would Kelly and Justin kill him, then?” Philly asked.
Several people in the room nodded.
“They either found another broker or he became a liability,” Callie opined. “And since the drug is hyper-engineered, I’m guessing it’s the latter.”
“It was,” Scipio answered. “Leo ran Roger’s text messages through some sort of program that I’m not going to explain because only about five people in the room will understand it, and I’m not one of them. The gist of it is, though, Roger was getting both reckless and careless.”
“And forgetful,” Kendall added.
“And forgetful,” Scipio agreed. “Not anything major, nothing to expose them completely, but he slipped up enough publicly—saying things he shouldn’t—that Kelly even mentioned it in a text to him. We think all three were getting nervous.”
“Nervous enough to kill him before he said anything to implicate them,” Charley said, her tone both curious and reflective.
Scipio nodded. “But once they killed him—and we may never know how—it created a leadership vacuum.”
“A space all three—Kelly, Justin, and either Akin or Greg—wanted to step into,” Collin said, leaning back against the couch. Sliding his hand forward, he wrapped his fingers around hers.
“And that’s when things started getting ugly,” Leo jumped in. “Flannery made an early move when he tried getting close to Helia. If he succeeded, he’d be spending more time at Sundaram, making Akin obsolete. Fulfilling two roles in the chain, receiveranddistributor, potentially makes him more valuable to leadership.”
“Also making him the first target,” Dulcie said.
“Based on the shoe print in the carpet at Flannery’s house, Akin was the likely killer. Knocking out his competition.”
“I don’t see it,” Helia said. Everyone looked at her. “I mean, I see the scenario and don’t disagree. But I can’t see Akin being involved.”
“He spends the most time in the kitchen,” Scipio pointed out.
Helia inclined her head. “I’ll grant you that, but he’s not the one who places the orders. Greg does that.”
“At Akin’s direction, though?” Mantis asked.
She didn’t want to concede that point, but she couldn’t turn a blind eye. “Yes, at his direction,” she said. “But Greg has final say on the vendors.”
“You think Greg is the one we should be looking at?” Leo asked.
She sighed. “I don’t know.” Her gut said Akin wasn’t involved, but what did her gut know about drug dealing and murder? It wasn’t as if she had any experience to draw on. “I don’t want to think it’s Greg, either. But if itisone of them, I guess I could see it being Greg more than Akin. Akin loves his job. I mean, really loves it. Greg likes his, he likes the lifestyle it gives him in terms of it being a lot less stress than his prior job, but he doesn’t love it like Akin.” She paused. “Is there anything showing up in their finances? If they’re selling drugs, I assume they’re making money from it.”
“Neither have shown any unusual financial transactions,” Leo said.
“Where’s the money?” Callie asked.
“Likely in an offshore account we haven’t found yet,” Leo answered.
