Page 49

“You’re deep in thought,” said Zeppelin, pulling out the chair next to mine where I was working in the formal dining area.
“Running through loose ends on this investigation,” I muttered.
“How many have you added so far? A couple of hundred?”
We both chuckled. “I’ve been concentrating on the Vella family first, for which there are many.” I ran down what I’d made a note of thus far.
“Don’t you wonder about the accident that killed Xavier’s parents? Wait, they weren’t his parents, were they? Either way, I’d recommend Delfino and Atticus see if they can find a police report.”
“Good idea. I’d say we consider every death remotely related to the Vellas as suspicious.”
“Anything else on them?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“What about Manual Varilla’s death?”
“Right,” I said, creating a new list.
Zeppelin opened his laptop. “Jaicon Heart prepared a brief following a raid on a house where Varilla was living prior to his arrest in Mexico. Two men were found dead, but a third was taken into custody. In his deposition, he said some of the containers liberated in the raid in Felixstowe belonged to his boss, Harry Crosby, who by then was deceased. He also said some belonged to Manual Varilla’s boss, which is another loose end. We have no idea who he worked for.”
I nodded. “Poseidon and Oleander were on their way to California to meet with Varilla when they received word he’d been found dead in his cell. According to prison officials, it was ruled a suicide by hanging, but no one believes that’s what really happened. He was silenced.”
Zep’s forehead furrowed. “Why kill him now? He’s been in prison for over a year.”
“Whoever arranged the hit must’ve had reason to believe he was ready to talk.”
“What was the trigger, though? Mithras’ death? Pharaoh’s?” he asked.
“Let’s go back a little further. The coalition received intel that Varilla had abducted someone connected to K19 Security Solutions. The information received also suggested that person, a woman named Luisa Reeve, was among other human trafficking victims scheduled to leave the Port of Yavaros via a container ship. While she wasn’t located in that raid, others were.
“After his arrest, Varilla agreed to divulge Ms. Reeve’s whereabouts in exchange for a deal. That’s what led to the raid in the Port of Felixstowe and Ms. Reeve’s rescue—along with over one hundred other victims liberated from a total of ten shipping containers.”
Zeppelin nodded. “No arrests were made, which suggests Varilla figured out a way to get word to his bosses, alerting them in advance of the raid.”
“The word ‘Mithras’ was scrawled in the dirt on the floor of one of the containers. Which could point to Varilla working for AMPS,” I added.
“Maybe. Or Mithras was working with another organization in addition to AMPS.”
“Given Xavier Vella killed him, it would certainly be a possibility.”
“Maybe the Calabrian Syndicate,” Zep suggested.
“Where is this guy who worked for Crosby now?” I asked. “Maybe we can lean on him to tell us who Varilla worked for.”
“He’s in witness protection.”
“We need access to him. Schön and Rogue are waiting on me to deploy to St. Moritz. Can you talk this over with Ares and see what arrangements can be made for someone from the coalition to interview him again? We also need to see what we can find out about Varilla’s death. Someone’s got to have connections inside the prison where he died.”
“Roger that,” said Zep, closing his laptop.
“Before you talk to Ares, there’s another loose end.”
“Are you referring to Seshat?” he asked.
“What is the status of the search for her? Do you know?”
“Mag, you must familiarize yourself with the brief system Schön created.”