The Shifter's Conspiracy (Paranormal BBW Werewolf Romance Novella) (9 page)

We worked silently. I wanted to speak to Elias, but I held my tongue. I could tell he didn’t want to be distracted, that any effort expended on anything other than the abductions case would be a waste of energy at this time. So I buckled down and focused on my work, hoping desperately that these dark clouds would pass, that the spark of life that I saw within Elias’s eyes would soon return.

Elias stared at his laptop screen, opening up another file in the vast collection of data the police had accumulated on Mafia activity in the city. Occasionally he looked up and saw Tess sitting across from him; Dr. Geiss and Agent Henderson were at another table across the room. Every now and then, they’d make eye contact and a small smile would creep across Tess’s face, but Elias would always look away.

He couldn’t begin to describe the emotions that went through him every time he looked into her eyes; he hadn’t felt like this in a long time, maybe even ever. There was a bond that held between them, primitive and strong. Elias couldn’t help feeling it had existed before they had ever even laid eyes on each other; it was the only way to explain the strength of the feelings he felt right now.

He had to wonder whether Tess could feel it, too. Did she feel the indescribable, nearly incomprehensible attraction, that nascent sense of desire and attachment? Compounding these confused emotions was the practically palpable threat that hung over them. Elias was under siege; Tess, too. Even though she didn’t know it, she had made herself a prime target the moment she’d walked into Arturo’s earlier in the day.

Elias looked back at his laptop, but he could hardly concentrate on the files that hovered on the screen in front of him. He wanted to tell everyone what he knew, to reveal the key to the case and the source of his surety about the Mafia’s involvement in these heinous abductions. He wanted to scream that it was shifters who were behind this; shifter Mafioso kidnapping these women and selling them at the highest prices into the shifter world.

Sure, this was just a hypothesis, but he knew it in his heart to be true; his senses never betrayed him. But he kept silent. He couldn’t say a word to the others without revealing his own dark identity. And he had a pretty good idea how that would end: him marching with two officers at his side, hands cuffed behind his back, headed toward a jail cell to await trial. He knew what was at stake; he’d been warned by damn near everyone in his old pack when he’d brought up his ambition to enter the human world. They’d said he was foolish, insane even. Maybe he was. But now that he’d gotten himself into it there was nothing to do but press on with his task.

It’d been a few hours since anyone had spoken above the level of a hushed whisper. Elias hadn’t said a thing and neither had I. A few chance words had passed between Agent Henderson and Dr. Geiss. It was under these circumstances that I’d stumbled upon something interesting.

It was a leasing agreement for an address in the West Village—a leasing agreement for Arturo’s that was dated from four months ago signed by one Mr. Paul Cipriano. Finally, I had a reason to break the silence.

“Elias, you might want to have a look at this,” I said softly, turning my laptop screen to face him. Elias looked up at me then leaned down to focus his eyes on the screen.

“What is this?” he asked.

“It’s a lease. For Arturo’s.”

“How did you find this?”

“I was looking through city records for transactions in the last few months. It seemed like it could be relevant, since the abductions only recently started.”

Elias looked over at Dr. Geiss.

“Evelyn, I need you to look up someone by the name of ‘Paul Cipriano.’ Do you need me to spell that last name?”

“No, I got it. Let’s see what we have here,” replied Dr. Geiss, her delicate fingers typing rapid-fire as she queried the database.

We all waited breathlessly on her response.

“OK,” she said. “Looks like he was booked in the late ‘90s for racketeering, but beat the charge in court. Assault charges, those were settled out of court. He’s a known member of the Giordano crime family. That’s all I can find right now.”

“Giordano. Alright, this is our new focus. Let’s find out everything we can about the Giordano family. Evelyn, is there a birthdate on there?” asked Elias.

“June 6, 1958.”

“OK, so that wasn’t Paul Cipriano who confronted us in the deli earlier,” said Elias as he looked at me. “That guy was much younger.”

“So who was he?” I asked.

“No clue. I don’t know if we’ll be able to find anything on him. He might have been Mr. Cipriano’s enforcer. That’s the impression I got anyway. He was pretty built, looked like he could handle himself. Certainly had no problem confronting us.”

“Right,” I said, my hand involuntarily reaching up to my chin as I thought about this. Was Mr. Cipriano in the building when we were in Arturo’s? Or was this other guy acting at his own discretion? Where exactly did they both fit in on the Giordano crime family hierarchy?

“I want to put together a hierarchy of the family. I want to know who’s who in the Giordano family so we can determine who’s giving orders and who’s taking them.”

I reeled backward slightly. Elias looked over at me quickly, noticing my flinch.
It was as if he’d read my mind
. No, no… it was probably just coincidence. I mean, it was natural to think that pinning down the command structure of the family was the next step. The fact that we’d both thought it at the same time just showed we were both good cops. I sat back down at my computer and got back to work.

“We’ve got a hierarchy in the database, but I’m not sure how current it is,” said Dr. Geiss. “It looks like it’s from around 2006.”

“OK,” said Elias. “We’ll work with that for now. Let’s find out what other properties they own; I want to pinpoint where they’re conducting these operations.”

“Agent Chamberlain, I have to say I don’t entirely support this path of inquiry. We have no data that suggests that the Giordanos are behind these abductions. There is organized crime in practically every city and the Giordanos have been operating here for several decades; why would abductions start now of all times?”

“Evelyn, do you have any better ideas? Because as far as I can tell, you and Agent Henderson didn’t come up with any valuable leads while Tess and I were out earlier.”

“No, well…” Dr. Geiss trailed off.

“Alright, then. This is our best chance right now. If you find anything that points us in another direction, we’ll redirect our efforts. For now, we’re focusing on the Giordanos.”

“OK.”

“Now, it’s getting late. I’ll have someone downstairs go out for coffee. And what do people want for dinner? I don’t think I have to tell you that we’re all going to be here late tonight.”

Empty Thai food cartons were scattered across the tables. A map of New York City had been put up on the wall at the back of the task force work room. All across the five boroughs little thumb tacks had risen, each representing a property owned by someone in the Giordano crime family. There was an auto repair shop in Bushwick, an Italian restaurant in Park Slope. There was purportedly a tax preparation office in Brighton Beach, but it was probably just a front for a money laundering operation. The list went on and on… and that was just in Brooklyn.

All in all, over thirty properties had been identified and marked on the map in the past couple of hours. The question now was what exactly we were to do with all this information. We couldn’t exactly go visit all of these places; after all, we were likely to get the same ‘warm welcome’ we’d received when we went to Arturo’s. There was little to be gained by questioning the workers found at these businesses; there was no guarantee that they’d even be in on the operation. Perhaps this was Paul Cipriano’s racket and no one else’s.

We didn’t have probable cause, so getting a warrant was out of the question. Truthfully, I didn’t know what exactly Elias was looking for. I assumed it was some type of pattern, that maybe he was just waiting for something to jump out at him, for inspiration to strike and lead him in a promising direction. But there didn’t appear to
be
a pattern. We cross-referenced the locations where the girls had disappeared with those of the Mafia-owned properties. No consistency there whatsoever.

I looked over at Elias as he sat slumped at his desk. His face looked dejected and tired, that spark of life completely absent from his eyes. It was then that it struck me that he wasn’t used to struggling like this, to grasping at straws and finding nothing.

“I’m tired,” said Dr. Geiss. “I’m going to head home for the night.”

“Come on, Evelyn, just an hour more. We’re close, I can feel it,” said Elias. There was a slight hint of frustrated desperation in his voice.

“No, we’re not. Even if we had a lead, there’s nothing we could do about it tonight. You should get some rest yourself, Elias,” said Dr. Geiss, squeezing his shoulder gently as she walked by.

“Goodnight, Dr. Geiss,” I said, giving her a tired smile.

“Goodnight, Tess. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“If she’s heading home, I’m gonna get out of here as well,” said Agent Henderson.

“Alright, take it easy, Darren. I want you here early tomorrow, though.”

Agent Henderson turned around in the doorway and looked back at us.

“Of course. You’d do well to recharge the batteries, too, Elias.”

“I know, I know. I won’t be here much longer,” he said, giving Agent Henderson a nod as he disappeared out the doorway. Elias sighed.

“Maybe we should get out of here,” I said.

“Let’s put in another hour. I really think we’re close, Tess. If you can keep going, I think it will be worth it.”

“OK, I’m game.”

“Good. I knew I could count on you,” said Elias, offering me the first smile I’d seen out of him since the early afternoon.

I smiled to myself. There was that spark. Just seeing it gave me a little burst of energy, just enough to continue on for another hour.

It was getting late. Elias knew that. There was only so much more time he could keep Tess here. But the truth was he couldn’t let her go home alone; that would be risking far too much. How could he explain that to her without giving away the whole story?