Pimentel shot him a wicked glare before whispering into his attorney’s ear. Then he said coldly, “Your so-called strong case is built on a mountain of lies. I’m a successful art dealer who has done absolutely nothing wrong.”
Katie pitched in, saying derisively, “You can claim innocence till you’re blue in the face, Pimentel, but it won’t change the facts any. We’re not messing around here—even if you are.”
He scowled at her and was about to offer a retort, but Ashley Vasquez checked him and said with a sigh, “This is really getting us nowhere, Special Agents Kitagawa… Briscoe. My client and I maintain that this entire thing is a fishing expedition at best and a case chock full of unproven holes and innuendoes at worst.”
Landon eyed the attorney and Pimentel sharply and responded without humor, “Not much for fishing, I’m afraid. But I can assure you that most of the holes in this case have been filled—by your client and his underlings. That includes Yusef Abercrombie—who took a fatal bullet to the head for his boss, Pimentel. But not before Abercrombie confessed to doing his dirty work in hiring Fred Davenport to plant a bomb on a boat belonging to art dealer, Eddie Jernigan—and then shooting Davenport to death for falling short in the attempt at murder—”
Ashley pursed her thin lips and locked eyes with Landon as she retorted, “With all due respect, Agent Briscoe, as both Mr. Abercrombie and Mr. Davenport are no longer here to defend themselves, your accusations can hardly go unchallenged—and we will challenge them,vigorously. What I can say is that anything Abercrombie did outside the law, he did on his own and it had nothing to do with my client or Abercrombie being on his payroll.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Katie voiced glibly. “Maybe even you will start to believe it.”
Pimentel’s brows knitted when he stated with an edge to his tone, “Regarding Eddie Jernigan, whatever he went through, he brought upon himself by being a snitch. Not very smart. Apart from that, anything Jernigan passed along to you was nothing more than misinformation—and even planted fake evidence—all so the FBI can try to make a case with no foundation whatsoever!”
Landon figured Pimentel was trying to push their buttons but was in fact sweating bullets inside as he had to know that this would not go his way at the end of the day. That included Eddie’s testimony, intel, and evidence obtained—more than enough to seal the deal. So long as he stayed alive and well till Pimentel’s trial.
“Looks like we’ve reached an impasse,” Landon told them. “More or less.”
“Appears that way.” Ashley grinned triumphantly. “As such, I think we’re through here, Special Agents. We’ll see you in court.”
Landon nodded. “That you will,” he promised.
“That’s assuming this entire load of garbage isn’t thrown out before then,” Pimentel uttered warningly. “Anything can happen…” he added, much to his attorney’s chagrin based on her facial expression.
To Landon, this was a clear threat that the crooked art dealer would do whatever was necessary to try and stack the deck in his favor—and stay out of prison. With Eddie still very much in Pimentel’s crosshairs.
Chapter Nineteen
On Monday morning, Raquelle accompanied Eddie to the FBI field office for a meeting with Landon, Katie, and the US marshal for the District of South Carolina, Tony Razo.
Having braced herself for the real, but necessary, possibility that Eddie would need to relocate for a while, Raquelle could only hope that the end justified the means—and that Eddie was able to put away his nemesis.
As everyone sat around the table in a conference room, Landon took a breath and said in earnest, “The good news is that Ivan Pimentel is safely behind bars, where he belongs.” He eyed Raquelle. “Bad news is that Pimentel is still out to get Eddie…thereby preventing his incriminating testimony against the art dealer and leader of a criminal organization. That means we need to protect you, Eddie, till Pimentel goes to trial…and possibly even beyond that.”
Eddie leaned forward in his chair. “So, what’s next?” he asked with expectancy.
Landon paused. “We’ll need to put you in the federal Witness Security Program to keep you out of harm’s way.”
He wrinkled his nose with skepticism. “Why can’t I just go back to the reservation and lie low?”
Tony Razo, whom Raquelle had been told was datingKatie, said, “I can answer that. From my experience, people like Pimentel—facing decades in federal prison—will do just about anything to avoid their fate. He’s already proven that by trying to kill you more than once. Pimentel—through another hired killer—won’t stop trying so long as he believes your testimony is crucial in getting a conviction. At the reservation, you’d be like a sitting duck, even if relatively safe there.”
Katie offered her thoughts, stating, “Besides that, being on tribal lands would only place others living or visiting there in danger. I know you wouldn’t want that.”
“’Course not,” Eddie concurred, sitting back.
“Didn’t think so,” she said equably.
“Neither of us wants anyone else to be put in jeopardy,” Raquelle uttered in support.
“Then we’re all in agreement,” Landon said evenly.
Her brother asked, “So, how exactly does this work—and for how long?”
“You’ll be relocated to somewhere in the United States that won’t be easy for the bad guys to figure out,” Tony answered matter-of-factly. “You’ll have a new identity, new occupation, financial assistance, and a handler from the US Marshals Service to protect you—in the unlikely event that all else fails.”
Landon said, “The ‘how long’ depends on the time it takes to go to trial and the length of the trial itself and any unforeseen circumstances…” He waited a beat. “If all goes well, this shouldn’t be forever—”
But that’s still possible, Raquelle told herself, as Landon had mentioned on other occasions some witnesses to organized crime activities who were never able to return to their real lives. The thought that Eddie could fallinto that trap was unsettling, to say the least, including the prospect of never seeing her brother again. Then there was also what this might do to any chance of Eddie and Penelope ever getting back together to consider.
