Zach jutted his chin and said in an almost giddy yet serious tone of voice, “If played right, the RICO charges—such as conspiracy to commit art theft or steal and dispose of pieces of cultural heritage, forgery, money laundering, bank, mail and wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and interstate or international transportation of stolen property—will blow this illegal operation wide open.”
“It could at that,” Landon acknowledged.
“We get it.” Katie laughed. “Calm down, Fajardo. It’s still a work in progress.”
“I’m just saying,” he voiced with a chuckle.
Shannon pursed her lips while peering at Landon. “Do you have enough to make arrests that can stick—with or without Jernigan’s cooperation?” the special agent in charge asked pointedly.
“Yes and no.” He hoped to buy more time. “We can certainly make a strong case against Pimentel and his associates as is. But I’d still like to dig in a little deeper to truly tighten the screws on his criminal network. Moreover, if Pimentel was involved in Eddie’s disappearance and bombing of his boat, along with burglarizing his apartment—which I believe is a strong possibility—then we’d have even more serious offenses we can hang on him.”
“Makes sense.” Shannon ran a hand through her hair. “But not enough to drag this thing out for who knows how long. Especially if your CHS isn’t available to provide useful intel.”
“About that…” Landon pressed a hand flat on the conference table. “Actually, I was thinking of going undercover myself as an art collector to try and get more incriminating evidence of stolen or phony works of art from Pimentel.”It sounds like a good idea anyway, while also getting a read on the circumstances surrounding Eddie’s disappearance, he told himself, watching everyone’s surprised reaction. Especially Shannon’s look of shock.
The special agent in charge furrowed her brow. “Not sure that works for me,” she said boldly. “It was one thing to convince Eddie Jernigan to be an inside source of info, but given your personal connection to him, throwing caution to the wind by going in and assuming he hasn’t already spilled his guts to the other side doesn’t make sense. And it could jeopardize the investigation.”
Though he fully understood her point of view and didn’t necessarily disagree, Landon pushed back nevertheless. “I wouldn’t exactly be throwing caution to the wind,” he insisted. “I would take precautions and focus on identifying some specific Native American art that was stolen or faked—to label as evidence of criminality.”
Shannon wasn’t buying it as she responded steadfastly, “I’d rather keep you on the outside in this instance.” She eyed Katie and Zach. “On the other hand, if you’d still like to dig a bit more surreptitiously, I say we have Special Agents Kitagawa and Fajardo go undercover, posing as a couple who’s interested in Native American art as part of their broader art collection.”
Just as Zach started to protest, Katie said swiftly, “I’m game. As an Indigenous Hawaiian, and just as keen on preserving our culture through art, artifacts, and other means as Native Americans are, I can definitely pull this off on my end.”
With all eyes now on Zach, he relented, acquiescing, “If Katie is willing to jump into the ring on this, count me in.”
Shannon smiled softly. “Then it’s settled.”
This should be interesting, Landon thought with amusement, knowing that both Katie and Zach were in serious relationships in their real lives.I only wish I could say the same, he told himself, but he said out loud, “We’ll make it work.”
“If you say so,” Katie quipped, adding, “Whatever it takes to reach the ultimate goal of taking down Ivan Pimentel and his associates.”
Zach said, “Agreed.”
“To that point,” Shannon voiced as she stood up in herdark-colored windowpane pantsuit and peered at Landon, “Agent Briscoe, you need to find out, one way or another, if Eddie Jernigan is still a CHS. If not—because he’s deceased, held in captivity, or freely chosen to go underground—we have to know if he left behind valuable intel that can move this investigation along.”
Landon nodded respectfully. “I understand.” The show had to go on, whether Raquelle’s brother was still among the living or not.I owe it to her to see to it that Eddie did not die in vain, if that’s the outcome, he thought. And if his previous brother-in-law was in possession of more damaging evidence that could be used against Pimentel and was still accessible to the Art Crime Team, he needed that information.
As the briefing ended, Landon turned his thoughts to Raquelle, wondering where they might go from here. Along with if Eddie could, against the odds, still be around to reach out to her—and himself.
* * *
RAQUELLE STOOD INthe Hubley Auditorium, where she was the project director for a Department of Theatre student production. She watched as the students—all vying for their bachelor of fine arts in acting for the stage and screen—went through rehearsals for the contemporary drama.
Though she was largely ensconced in providing the guidance needed for a successful production, Raquelle was admittedly unable to keep from breaking away mentally from the student performances as her mind wandered back and forth between her brother and ex-husband. She had yet to hear from Eddie but refused to give up hopethat he could still come out of this somehow, without the worst-case scenario.
But how would things emerge with Landon? Would they be able to get past their differences and find common ground in reestablishing a relationship of some kind? Or had his reemergence in her life been more about dealing with his CI than repairing what was once a strong partnership in marriage?
I need to chill out, Raquelle admonished herself as she trained her eyes on the actors on stage, working in harmony. Forcing her mind to churn overtime was not helpful to herself. Eddie. Or even Landon.
At least she had a means of escape in her role as a professor in the theater department through various productions that provided students valuable learning experience.
When her cell phone vibrated, Raquelle pulled it from the side pocket of her white linen crop pants and saw that it was a text message from Landon, asking her,Are you free for lunch?
She texted him back,Yes, where?
He suggested a café called Joslyn’s Place not far from the college, and she agreed, then the text exchange ended abruptly.
Raquelle tried not to read anything into that but was eager for any news on Eddie as she refocused on the stage production.
