Triple Diamonds (Mystic Nights #2)(61)

“Me too,” Eve stated as she accepted the quick embrace from her brother. “Good night, Joseph. I need to get back to work. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow, Sis. Night.”





Chapter 23




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First thing in the morning, the two investigators who had flown in from Tampa asked to meet with Tawny and Tom. It seemed that overnight Gio and Nikko Marino had some new information, and they also had a plan.

Joseph was in his mother’s office just before the two brothers arrived. He’d had a good morning with Lesley and Wesley at the youth center and he hoped that the Marinos had some good news concerning the investigation.

Joseph greeted the massive men at the door, and shook hands with both as he led them deeper into his mother’s office.

Greetings were done quickly and then Nikko, the younger of the two, got right down to business. “So, we have been doing some digging on Justin. And we’ve found out a lot more. We definitely feel he is involved. In fact we know it.” Joseph exchanged a look with his brother. Finally, they were getting a break.

“Fabulous. Let’s have him picked up.”

Gio winced. “It’s not that simple, Joseph. He’ll walk. Yes, the police will watch him, and he’ll probably stay clean for a while, but we have nothing concrete or admissible. Yet. The Intel we’ve gathered . . .” He paused looking for the right words, “well, it’s gathered in a way the courts are not fond of, shall we say.”

Tom spoke up seeing the concern on Tawny’s face. “You can trust these men, Mrs. Sassacus. We wanted answers, and we’ve got them. I’m sure Gio and Nikko have a plan.”

“We do,” Nikko looked at his brother before speaking. When he nodded for Nikko to explain, the younger man continued. “First let me tell you what we know. You already know about the money. All cash deposits, so we couldn’t trace that. We had to follow him, and use some special equipment to listen in to his phone conversations, and we have some high tech equipment that can get us audio and video through satellite detection software. Anyhow, that’s how we found out he was hanging out with a fellow named Eddie Bauer. Bauer is 22 and has quite the rap sheet already.” Nikko then rattled off some of the crimes committed by Eddie that included breaking and entering, drug dealing, and drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Gio then chimed in with more information. “We began to follow that lead last night. Eddie has kept his nose clean for about eight months, but his associations with another man peeked our interest. He used to deal for a gang leader who goes by the name of Willie Ramirez, but his real name is Willard Dominguez. He has other aliases as well, but suffice it to say, this guy is really bad news. He runs a gang out of Hartford, and Meriden, where he grew up. The MO used by Willie’s gang, they call themselves Iron Rush, is to use young street kids to commit crimes for them because they don’t go to jail long, and they entice the kids with parties, girls, booze, drugs, fake IDs. We followed Eddie last night after he left here to one of Willie’s haunts. Four other kids were there as well.”

Gio paused and Nikko picked up from there. “So we listened in, and it seems Eddie, because of his age doesn’t actually commit the crimes; he is now a lookout and a recruiter. Since Eddie is on the reserve, a local kid, he recruited Justin. He’s Justin’s cousin by the way. And we think Justin was trying to recruit the Diamante boys. But their clean. Good kids.”

Joseph was relieved to hear the PIs says that. But the fact this gang had their reach onto the reserve was something he didn’t like. Lots of youth were attracted to easy earnings and a gang lifestyle, especially for those who grew up in poverty and came from broken homes. Even though he had his mother and grandparents influencing him, he knew how easy it was to be enticed by your peers.

“So, you think these robberies are the work of this gang, Iron Rush? And the kids doing it are working for Dominguez.” That was Tom who spoke up.

Nikko and Gio both nodded.

Tawny cleared her voice and got everyone’s attention. “So how do we stop them if we can’t use the recording you have?”

The two brothers exchanged a look and smiled. Nikko looked Tawny in the eye before responding. “A good old fashion sting, Mrs. Sassacus.”

She looked perplexed so Gio piped in. “We let them know we have some big fish here at Mystic Nights, a big score, and we wait for them to come.”

Tawny was shaking her head. The thought of luring a gang to the hotel was out of the question. She had to consider her patrons and staff. “That would be too dangerous. No. Absolutely not.”

“Mrs. Sassacus, hear us out. We would clear one wing of the hotel. They won’t know it’s empty. We will bring in help. I’m thinking local PD needs to be in on this now, and of course, we’ll send for my brothers as back up. We have done this lots of times. It’s what we do.”

“I’m not sure,” she wavered looking to her sons for their guidance.

Gio was speaking again. “This problem could go on and on unless you get the top guys. They have their tentacles into a few reservation kids already and are recruiting more. We really need to get the top out or the rest will fall. And we won’t be able to do that by busting a bunch of kids. We need Justin and Eddie to roll on Willie or else he appoints new recruiters and they just bring in new faces in a couple of months when things die down,” Gio explained.