The name’s Angola LaGrange, private investigator. A pandemic grips the nation, isolating everyone from each other. But sometimes they still need a little help. I was hired by Gregori Malcovich to find Anya Koslov. But
The name’s Angola LaGrange, private investigator. A pandemic grips the nation, isolating everyone from each other. But sometimes they still need a little help. I was hired by Gregori Malcovich to find Anya Koslov. But when I found the girl, she had no clue who he was and two gunmen kidnapped her before I could get any answers. With the help of my friend Li, I discovered that Malcovich was actually a man named Greg Parks, but he was dead by the time we got to him. Our only lead was Victor Gruganov, who was only willing to give me the information if I promised to take down everyone involved.
Read the full details Here and the unfolding case below.
I pulled out my notepad. “All right, Gruganov, tell me what you know.”
“Fine, fine.” He glanced around to make sure no one else was nearby. “The guy who did the Parks job was Liam O’Connell.”
I sent a quick text to Lucky: Liam O’Connell, I need everything. “And the girl?”
“Can’t say for sure, but I wouldn’t put it past him.”
So he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty. “Where’s O’Connell live?”
“We met at the apartment building. First time I’d seen the man.”
“Did he walk or drive?” I glanced over at Li.
“Drove, um an old sedan.”
“Gray?”
“Maybe, I don’t remember.”
I nodded. “What’s he look like?”
Gruganov shrugged. “He’s about my size. He was wearing a cap, but I think he has red hair. Oh, he’s got a scar under his left eye. I forget why, but he was really proud of it. Showed it to me first thing when I got there.”
I compared his description to Frank’s. Close enough.
“Is that all?”
“You said ‘them’ earlier, who else is involved?”
He sighed. “I don’t know any other full names, but Parks and O’Connell talked about a boss, someone they called Tevas.”
“Any idea where I could find this boss?”
“Look, I make it my business to know as little as possible about my clients.”
“You asked me to ‘take them all down.’ You’ve got to give me something.”
“I think O’Connell would know, if you can get him to flip.”
“Hmm. One more question, who was the message for?”
“Message?” He leaned back from the table.
“Don’t insult me. They hired a cleaner and left the body hanging in his own blood. Who were they warning?”
“O’Connell didn’t tell me. He just said that he wanted the body left.”
“I didn’t ask what you were told. Parks was tortured to death, surely somewhere in there you overheard something useful.”
He threw up his hands. “All right already. From what I heard, Parks hired some two-bit detective to help him with a job, then failed to kill him in the double-cross. If that dick was stupid enough to keep digging, Tevas wanted to make sure he got scared off.”
It wasn’t the most flattering description of me, but I’d heard worse. And for once I was relieved to hear that they still thought I was a man. Nothing like the element of surprise.
“I’m sure the message won’t be lost on Parks’ replacement either.”
“So Parks was part of O’Connell’s crew?”
“Yeah, isn’t that why you were interested in him in the first place?”
I kept my face neutral. “We had our suspicions, but it’s good to have them confirmed.” If Parks was working for O’Connell, then what does he want with Anya?
“Are we done? I need to get the hell out of town.”
I jotted down my number and passed it to him. “All right, but if I call you answer. No exceptions. Unless you want the FBI after you.”
“Fine.” He took my number and left the way he came.
With Gruganov gone, I waved Li over.
He rolled his shoulders as he walked up. “Get anything useful?”
“Let’s find out.” I called Lucky. “What’ve you got for me?”
“Not much. Liam O’Connell was born in Dublin, Ireland. The O’Connell’s have had ties to the IRA in one form or another since 1920. His grandfather died trying to plant a car-bomb back in the eighties.”
I drummed my fingers on the picnic table. “Is this really relevant?”
“How should I know? Anyway, Liam took the family business international. According to Interpol, he’s wanted for violent crimes all over Europe. I’ve got to be honest; I don’t see how this is connected to our missing girl.”
“Gruganov says he’s the one who killed Parks.”
“Wait, Parks is dead? Isn’t he the one who hired us?”
I winced. I wasn’t used to Lucky being this far out of the loop. “Yeah, that’s him.”
“Then why are we still on this?”
“Anya Koslov, missing girl. Ringing any bells?”
“Isn’t this the kind of thing the police are for? If we’re not getting paid, just call in a tip to the cops and move on.”
I sighed. “Time is too big a factor in missing persons cases. Even with my info they’d have to start fresh and play catch up. It’d be too late. We started this, we’ve got to finish it.”
“Ugh, I get it. But I’m going to see if there’s a reward for information on O’Connell.”
“Whatever. Do you have an address?”
“Are you kidding? The best I’ve found suggests he’s still somewhere in Europe.”
“I thought I asked for everything.”
“Yeah, well I’d like to see you do better in five minutes. I’ve only got as much as I do because of just how badly Interpol wants this guy.”
I flipped back through my case notes. “What if I gave you a license plate number?”
“That’d help, but I still don’t know if I could get you the info from here. Certainly it wouldn’t be fast.”
“Where would it be?”
There was a brief pause while he thought. “A few minutes on a computer at the police station would do it.”
“Do you still have a password?”
“As long as Detective Van Wert hasn’t changed it, yeah. But that won’t help me from here. I’m still in isolation, remember?”
Again. “Great, I’ll call you once I’m in.” I hung up.
Li’s face was somber. “Something tells me I’m not going to like what comes next.”
I shrugged. “That depends. How do you feel about breaking into the police station?”
To Be Continued…