“Christopher Wilkins,” Nancy said.
Maria and Nancy were standing outside their cars in the parking lot of a Smith’s Supermarket.
“Should I know that name?” Maria said.
“No, but he’s the missing link,” Nancy said.
Christopher Wilkins was the primary suspect in the kidnapping and murder of Wanda Miller’s sister. The killing had happened fifteen years earlier, and damning physical evidence had been thrown out because of errors made by the crime lab and the investigating detective.
“Those must have been some pretty serious errors. Getting evidence tossed isn’t easy,” Maria said.
“The detective lied on a warrant application, and the lab technician allowed the evidence to get contaminated somehow. The newspaper article wasn’t specific about it,” Nancy said.
But regardless, Christopher Wilkins walked with everyone knowing he was really guilty. Wisely, he disappeared, reportedly to Thailand.
“So why is he important?” Maria asked.
“Because he moved to Las Vegas four months ago, and within a few weeks, he completely disappeared. No one has seen or heard from him. He was working at a restaurant that he no call no showed. His mother filed a missing person’s report. I spoke with the detective who investigated it. He told me the apartment was clean. No evidence of foul play anywhere. Christopher Wilkins just vanished,” Nancy said.
Maria thought about a three hundred-thousand-dollar payment to Vance Nixon.
“A favor was done,” Nancy said.
“And now we think we know the favor,” Maria said.
“Exactly,” Nancy said.
“Are you going to write an article about this?” Maria said.
“Trying to get me sued? What would I write?” Nancy said.
“You have a money trail. You have insinuations of favors,” Maria said.
“I don’t work for cable television. I can’t just sit around a table mouthing off a bunch of nonsense and say it was just my opinion. If something goes in the paper in written form, it needs to be a hell of a lot more solid than what I have now,” Nancy said.
“Probably best that you hold off until you have more information,” Maria said.
“So, what were you calling me for?” Nancy asked.
“I wanted to know if you knew anything about Patrick’s security staff,” Maria said.
“Nick Mullins and Kenneth Wayne? They were both with Patrick in the military. Kenneth had a domestic violence arrest that ended up getting quashed when the girlfriend wouldn’t press charges. Nick is clean as far as I can tell,” Nancy said.
“The driver? What happened exactly?” Maria said.
“From what I could find out, he had an argument with his girlfriend. It went bad, and he choked her until she was unconscious. Happened in California,” Nancy said.
“That’s interesting. I didn’t get the wife beater vibe from him, but you just never know, do you?” Maria said.
“No, you don’t. So, what are you going to do?” Nancy said.
“I don’t know. But I’ll be in touch,” Maria said.
As she drove off, Maria messaged Nazmul. Asked him when they could talk. A few minutes later, he called her via the app.
“How is the angry lady doing today?”
“Still angry. Did you find out anything about those names I gave you?” Maria asked.
“Nothing out of the ordinary. Mr. Pedro does have a decent amount of savings, but it isn’t something that can’t be explained through thriftiness and hard work,” Nazmul said.
Maria told Nazmul about Christopher Wilkins and what Nancy had said.
“Who pays someone three hundred thousand dollars for that? A man goes and does this thing and does not pay for it,” Nazmul said.
“That would seem likely, but I also doubt Patrick was involved personally. He hasn’t disappeared long enough to do something like this,” Maria said.
“How long do you think it takes to kill a man? Pulling a trigger takes less than a second,” Nazmul said.
“Kidnapping someone takes considerably longer,” Maria said.
“This is true. My record is thirty seconds, though,” Nazmul said.
“I don’t even want to know,” Maria said.
“So, you suspect the accomplices more than the ringleader,” Nazmul said.
“His driver has a domestic violence arrest, Kenneth Wayne. He also served with Patrick. I’ll need to find his service records,” Maria said.
“I will procure them,” Nazmul said.
“You can do that?” Maria said.
“Am I not speaking English? Should I speak louder?” Nazmul said.
“Try to get the records for Nick Mullins as well. He’s the director of security. Also, a former SEAL,” Maria said.
Her phone buzzed. Nick was calling her.
“I have to let you go,” Maria said and switched over.
“Any luck with your informants?” Nick asked.
“I’m still working on it. I do need to talk to Patrick again,” Maria said.
“He’ll be back tonight. I’ll let you know when he’ll be back at the office,” Nick said.
“I thought he was out of town,” Maria said.
“He is. But it was a quick trip, and he needed to be back tonight so him and the wife can pack properly for the big trip to Florida,” Nick said and hung up.
Maria didn’t have enough to really get Patrick to crack, but he didn’t know that. So, either Nazmul was going to come up with something useful for her to use, or she’d just have to bluff and hope for the best. Either way, the answers were inside Patrick’s campaign, and it was time for her to find out exactly what they were hiding.