Chapter 8
The landscape had turned a wintery white, something that Levon only knew from pictures or television. In Houston snow was a rare and fleeting apparition. A thickness comparable to what he saw from the plane now he had never seen firsthand.
Due to the extensive snowfall and the extra time that was required to clear the runway, the touchdown had been delayed. They were approaching South Lake Tahoe and he looked at his watch. It was already 2 p.m. Levon had wanted to be here yesterday, noon at the latest, every hour counted. His mind went back to the incident in the airport parking lot. He still felt awkward and embarrassed.
Levon knew by now that Joe´s fate affected him deeply, not just like that of a mere colleague. He had denied it all the time, for months he had pushed the thought aside. But now Levon knew. He knew that Joe was family to him. Joe was by now as important to him as was Mother Minnie. Perhaps it was better to acknowledge that fact. He pledged here and now, that, whenever this would come to a good ending, Levon would tell Joe how important he was to him.
Levon felt the plane decelerate as the tires touched the runway. He had finally made it to South Lake Tahoe.
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In the arrival terminal Levon was received by an officer of the local police.
"Sergeant Lundy, welcome to California. I´m Jeff Adams, Sergeant at the South Lake Tahoe Police."
"Thanks, who told you I was coming?" Levon knew there wasn´t an official investigation undergoing yet. Otherwise the Feds would have been there to receive him instead of the local police.
"Lieutenant Greg Wilberry, Las Vegas PD called me. I guess you know that we have a body to identify?"
Levon nodded in acknowledgement. "Yeah, Wilberry was informed a few minutes before I left." He picked up his bag from the conveyor belt.
"Sergeant Lundy, would you be willing to help us with the identification? Wilberry told us that your partner from the HPD has been kidnapped." Though Adams had not made the connection openly, Levon knew there was a chance that the body they had found was in fact Joe.
Again Levon nodded. "The sooner the better."
"Good." Adams made a motion toward the exit and Levon followed him. They mounted a police car and ten minutes later halted in front of an inconspicuous building. Levon didn´t see a sign but Adams just said: "It´s here."
Levon hesitated for a moment. Don´t lose it again. He held on to the words. Don´t lose it again. He got out of the car, he could feel the gaze of the other officer on him, watching. He tried to shrug it off. "Let´s get it over with."
Adams nodded and led the way. They stepped inside the building and he knocked on a door with a milk glass window. A guy in a lab coat opened. There was the usual equipment you would find in any morgue. The two men exchanged a few words. Then the guy with the lab coat leafed through a list, opened one of the cooler doors and pulled out a corpse drawer.
The body was covered with the usual white cloth and as the lab guy lifted it, the first feature that Levon saw was the dark hair, so very much like Joe´s. He almost felt the ground give way under his feet, just for a second he feared to be swallowed by the earth.
He must have swayed, because Adams gripped his arm.
"I´m ok, really." Levon shook off the hand. He ran his hand through his hair and then wiped it across his eyes, as if to clear his vision. Then he stepped up to the drawer and looked straight into the face of the dead man, a man he had never seen before.
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Renaldo Disanto inhaled the smoke of his expensive Cuban cigar deeply. His guest, Michael LaFiamma, did the same. The two wise guys of long standing eyed each other.
"I don´t understand my daughter. I mean, what is she expecting of a life on her own, far away from Chicago, somewhere where no one knows her?" He did not sound angry, just sad.
"You know the women today are different, they are not like our mothers and wives." Michael LaFiamma had two sons and had raised his brother´s son Joey as one of his own since the boy´s early teenage years. His experience with the caprice of women was limited to his own wife.
Disanto laughed, a laugh that turned into a deep cough. "Well, your Teresa used to be a mighty headstrong woman too."
LaFiamma nodded. "So you are sure that Barberi did not get rid of Julia?"
"Si, as sure as you are that Barberi is the one who wants to take over your business." He took another draw at the cigar. "I´m sure. It´s not what I had planned for my eldest daughter, to marry that brute. But when she refused every single suitor after she and Joseph split, I thought there was no other way. And I need someone to handle the business."
"Yeah, that was a hard blow to us too, when Joey decided to become a cop." By now the smoke had rendered the room almost opaque. "We could have built something really great based on that union."
"Maybe we still can, even without them," the old man said thoughtfully. "Now that Julia´s gone I am reconsidering handing over my business to Barberi. The whole plan has lost its purpose. And what you´ve told me about him has changed my mind. A man going about things the way he does will only start a war among the families, already has in fact."
Michael LaFiamma nodded. "What do you propose, Renaldo?
"Take out Barberi. Then we join our businesses. I am too old to run it myself for much longer."
Again LaFiamma nodded. "I have to make sure that Joey is safe first. But as soon as that is guaranteed, Barberi is dead meat."
"Thanks, Michael." Disanto pointed at the tray with bottles and glasses on top of the old side board. "Pour us some whiskey, will you?"
LaFiamma got up, complying. He handed one tumbler to Disanto.
"Salute, to a strong and prosperous union."
"Si, salute."
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"Thank God it´s not Joe," Joanne sounded genuinely relieved. "Still it might take some time to run his prints though the system."
"Yeah, well, it´s kind of strange that he was not carrying an ID. And the gun he had is not registered either. But it´s just the kind of weapon you expect a mobster to be totin´." Levon still felt a bit shaky. He too had been relieved that the body had turned out not to be Joe. But they still did not seem nearer to finding his partner.
"So what are you planning to do now?" Joanne asked, hoping her voice did not reflect her anxiety for one of her best detectives.
"The police guy here, Adams, said he will take me to the headquarters of those High Mountain Rangers. They are familiar with the region. They should be able to help with the search."
"How´s the weather?"
"It´s sunny and clear. But the snow is very high and it´s really freezing cold." Levon tried to push the thought aside what that meant for anyone lost out there.
"Ok, so you get on that search and we´ll wait for the prints to be identified. I just hope the guy is registered somewhere. Good luck and keep me in the loop."
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Levon put down the phone. While he was going through the options Adams came in from his Lieutenant´s office.
"Lundy, we tried to take that helicopter pilot in for an interrogation. But the guy has vanished into thin air."
Levon silently cursed. This implied they had no way of knowing where Joe and his guard had been meant to be drop off. Though the two obviously hadn´t gotten there this would have given a starting point for the search.
"But if we don´t get anywhere at that end I´d say we best get on our way," Adams said, reaching for his jacket.
"Where to?" Levon followed his example.
"To the High Mountain Rangers. If there´s any chance left, they are the right people for the job."
Fifteen minutes later they entered the headquarters. The building was nothing special, but the office provided all means of modern communication.
Levon was introduced to all members of the team present. Matthew Hawkes and the Texan shook hands, gauging each other. Matt´s face was open and friendly, yet he could not hide his concern.
"Mr. Lundy, we were surprised by the fact that your partner from the HPD might be connected with the body we found. I hear the identity hasn´t been established yet?"
"Nope, but the guy´s outfit looked pretty much like the average mobster´s suit. I hope the system will come up with an ID on his prints."
"Do you have any idea if your partner would be…" Matt seemed reluctant to put the question into words. "… as inadequately equipped as the guy we found?"
Levon was well aware what Hawkes was implying. "Yeah, ´fraid so. My partner did not come here voluntarily and at his primary destination he left all his baggage behind, including his shoes."
Hawkes and his colleague Flowers exchanged glances. Then Hawkes stepped up to a table covered with maps. He leaned down and unfolded one of them. Flowers stepped beside him. Levon and Adams joined them too.
"What will you do now?" Levon asked.
Hawkes pointed at the map and picked up a list. "These are the cabins that are in use right now. We have been in contact with the occupants. Then we have a number of cabins which are not occupied at the moment, but which were only vacated shortly before the blizzard. I guess we can rule them out as well." He looked at the men standing around the table. They all nodded.
"There are a few cabins, however, that we need to check. Unfortunately they are quite widely scattered over a large terrain and that will take more time than we might actually have."
"How will you get to those places?" Levon asked.
"We have two helicopters but one is being repaired right now. If no other emergency arises we can use the one at hand. If not, our recourses are limited." Hawkes put the facts across quite matter-of-factly.
"Can´t the search be conducted by other means?"
Hawkes shook his head. "Not with the snow we have. The whole region has been practically rendered inaccessible by the blizzard."
"When will you start?" Levon was impatient to get going.
"I just have one more call to make," Matt answered. "Do you have anything warmer than this?" His gaze took in Levon´s attire, which wasn´t really adequate for the prevailing weather conditions right now.
"No, I just have this. I too thought I´d be headin´ for the desert climate of Las Vegas at best."
"Ok, if you want to join us then go with Izzy. He will give you something else."
"Thanks," Levon tipped his fingers at the brim of his hat. "Much obliged."
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The last call Matthew Hawkes had to place was one to his father Jesse Hawkes and his brother Cody in their cabin high up in the mountains. Matt explained about the search and what they were looking for.
"That is quite a large terrain you need to cover," Jesse Hawkes thoughtfully stated over the intercom.
"Yeah, that´s why I´m getting in touch with you. If you could get to some of the places near your cabin, then we could start out at the other end and we would still make better progress than if we went about it in the helicopter on our own."
Jesse Hawkes considered the suggestion of his oldest son. Matthew always had a good view of all the possibilities, he had to admit. He was really proud of his son, even though his wife had hoped that at least one of their boys would become a civil engineer. Well, maybe Cody…
"Ok, if Cody took the snow mobile he might be able to tick off some of the cabins on your list," Jesse conceded.
"Ok, that would be great," Matt agreed. "Tell him to get back to Robin if he comes across anything."
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The phone rang only twice before Michael LaFiamma picked it up. "Si?" He did not ask who was calling.
Neither did the caller ask who was answering. "It´s him."
"Who says so?"
"CPD confirmed that the prints belong to Paolo Morone, one of the thugs Barberi had in tow when he went to Las Vegas."
"Who else knows up to now?"
"No one, except you. I put the information on hold."
"And Joey?"
"Nothing yet."
"Ok."
Michael LaFiamma put down the phone. He knew what he had to do, or rather what he would have his men do. He did not feel any compassion for the man who would be executed at his command. But his lips formed a silent prayer for the young man who, though he was not his son, had a prominent place in his heart. The cold and calculating mob boss did not dare to think that his beloved nephew might be dead too, just like Morone. Joey couldn´t be dead. Because, if he was, how was Uncle Mickey supposed to tell his wife, Joey´s Aunt Teresa?
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Cody Hawkes put on his somehow old fashioned attire. He looked a bit like a trapper. His brother Matt would have laughed. Of the two brothers Matt was the more technology oriented guy. But the question who was more adapted to the environment of the mountains was yet to be answered. Ok, Matt had for the sake of his job to make use of whatever means were provided nowadays. Cody stuck more to the traditional techniques he had acquired from his training by their father, the legendary Jesse Hawkes. The clear advantage of these means were that they never failed. They did not rely on modern facilities and thus they were independent. Just like those the Indians had used for over a thousand years.
Feeling completely at ease with his inhospitable surrounding Cody got on the snow mobile and was on his way.
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Levon felt sick. It wasn´t that he was afraid of flying. But being in a helicopter was something different than travelling on a plane. And the vast expanse of snowy mountainside, over which the aircraft hovered and swerved, did not really give his sense of balance something to anchor to. For him everything looked alike. He had always thought that he was used to finding his way around the wilderness, always had on trail rides. But this was something completely different.
For the last one and a half hours they had flown from one cabin to the next, descending and checking if the cabins were in fact empty. So far they had not been successful in their search. Levon was beginning to doubt if anyone could survive out here. Why had Joe´s guard turned up dead? Why had he left Joe alone? Perhaps Joe had died before him and guarding a dead body didn´t make any sense.
A call over his headset made him come out of his musings. He could hear Joanne´s voice, though far away and hardly audible over the noise of the aircraft.
"Levon, I had a call from the CPD. They found Barberi in the Chicago River, a bullet in his head."
Levon swallowed. Things seemed to be moving fast, as if those in the background knew more than any police official. "Did you speak to Joe´s uncle?"
"No, I don´t think it would be wise to do so now, not if I want to keep my job."
Levon knew what she meant. They might have used this unofficial source until now, but they could by no means do it any longer. He remembered that at the beginning of Joe´s assignment to Houston his uncle had refused to provide information to his nephew. From then on it had been an unvoiced understanding. It just wasn´t good for the two sides of the system to be too closely connected.
"How are you getting on?" Joanne´s voice came shouting over the intercom.
"Nothing so far. Keep your fingers crossed."
"Will do." Then she was gone.
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It was near dusk when Cody came upon the cabin that seemed strangely well-equipped. He knew the cabin had only recently been taken over by a new proprietor. So maybe the new owner wanted the place to be more convenient.
Cody had peeked inside through one of the windows but to check more closely he tried the door. It wasn´t locked. Strange. With all the expensive stuff inside one would have expected that whoever owned the place would keep it locked up. Except… except he was expecting someone who didn´t have a key. Cody looked around the room. There was a satellite telephone, a lot of provisions in cans stacked on a shelf and more blankets than usual. Even a VCR with cassettes, like someone would stay here for a longer time and wanted to keep himself entertained.
He went outside again and walked around the cabin. At the back under a canvas cover he found a snow mobile and extra fuel for the device. Normally one would expect people to come here using the snow mobile and not having it here while they were away.
He headed back to his own vehicle and got hold of the mic of his intercom. He needed to speak to Robin.
She came on air immediately. They conferred about the location and she checked something on the computer. After a few minutes she got back to him.
"Cody, you were right. There is a new cabin, just newly built over the last few months, quite close to the place you´re now. As far as I can tell it isn´t in use yet. In the file is stated that it will only be occupied from next spring on."
"Ok, Robin, that must be the place, or at least I hope so. I will give it a try. Can you contact Matt?"
"Yeah, I´ll tell him. Do you think you can make it before dark?"
"I´ll try, I just have to, there´s a life at stake."