CHAPTER 18

After a terrific meal at La Panga del Impostor, Miles returned to the hotel at eight o’clock. He hadn’t noticed them before, but three cars were parked at the front of the hotel in spaces marked Hotel Riu Plaza Vehículo de Renta Gratuita. Miles figured, based on his limited Spanish skills, they were likely courtesy cars, so he asked the desk clerk about them.

“Sí, senõr. You can use them for two hours at a time.”

“Just what the doctor ordered,” Miles decided.

Believing Fabricación de Eléctricas operated a second shift, he would use one of the cars to check out the factory at night. It would be far easier to avoid detection under the cover of darkness. The GPS on his phone took him directly to the factory. He drove by once to see if any of the executives he’d met earlier were still at the office. Thankfully their reserved spaces in front of the building were unoccupied, greatly reducing the possibility he would be identified should someone see him. To be safe, he parked down the block and walked between two buildings so he could approach the property from the back without anyone seeing him.

The loading dock was clearly visible through the chain-link fence in front of him. A rather beat-up, unmarked delivery vehicle was loading up at the dock. The skids going onto the truck were carrying unmarked boxes, the same type he had seen on his tour of the firm’s fulfillment center. During the meeting that afternoon, Carlos had made a point to tell Miles about the favorable contract they had negotiated with DHL to handle all their shipments. This truck was definitely not from DHL and this shipment was obviously not headed to PG Parts. His suspicion that the unmarked boxes might be connected to the disappearing assets he had been hired to find, grew into a likelihood.

The truck was soon fully loaded, so Miles hurried back to his car hoping to follow the truck. As Miles started the car, he saw the truck in his rearview mirror, pulling out of the parking lot and rushing away in the opposite direction. He did a U-turn and followed the truck at a safe distance. At one point he was close enough to see that the truck had no license plate. He wondered, could this unmarked truck be a ‘runner’ like the motorcyclist the cabbie had pointed out on the way in from the airport?

Miles continued following the truck for twenty minutes through the city to a neighborhood of run-down buildings and potholed streets. When the truck turned down a particularly dark alley, he decided it was time to abandon his surveillance and head back to the hotel. Just then a police car pulled him over.

“Qué haces aquí?” the officer asked.

Miles decided it was in his best interest to play ignorant tourist, so he responded, “Do you speak English?”

“Yes. Now what are you doing here?”

Miles tried his best to appear frazzled. “I’m here on a business trip and the hotel loaned me this car, so I decided to see a little of the city and now I’m lost.”

“This is not a neighborhood you want to be lost in. Follow me!” The officer returned to his car and drove with his arm out the window, waving for Miles to follow.

In ten minutes he was back at the hotel, appreciative of the officer’s help and now armed with some valuable clues. He decided to keep the information he had uncovered to himself until he had a more well-developed set of facts, so his email to Peter simply said, Nothing new to report. More tomorrow.

As promised, Adriana was waiting for Miles as he walked out of the hotel at nine o’clock.

“Sleep well?” she asked.

“Quite well, thank you. By the way, the clam birria at La Panga del Impostor was outstanding.”

“So glad you enjoyed it. Any questions before we arrive at the factory?”

“Just one. Where should I eat tonight?” Miles decided not to tip his hand regarding the shipment of unmarked boxes.

“Sorry we couldn’t be with you last night, as we all had prior commitments. Considering you’re leaving tomorrow, Pancho, Carlos, and I would like you to join us this evening for a night out.”

“I’d like that.” Miles accepted even knowing it would be hard to actually enjoy himself, given his hosts were likely guilty of stealing from his client.

Once they arrived at the factory they went directly into the conference room. The large table had been covered with an array of electrical parts and various packaging configurations. Thanks to his crash course in electronic components, Miles recognized a good number of the items and he would be sure to confine his comments and questions to those.

“Do you offer your parts in bulk or individually packaged?” Carlos asked.

“Some of both. The ones sold in our retail stores are, for the most part, displayed in bulk bins. Items ordered online are most often individually blister packed.” Miles was relieved Carlos asked a question he had been schooled to answer.

The question-and-answer session went on for the next three hours. Miles thought they were buying his portrayal of a customer.

“Thank you for all the time you’ve given me. Your operation is top-notch, as are your products.” Miles was actually sincere in his admiration for the organization. He did not relish needing to expose their wrongdoing.

Pancho smiled enthusiastically. “Thank you, Miles. Adriana will return you to the hotel. We’ve made a reservation for seven o’clock at Saloon del Bosque. It’s a local favorite serving traditional regional dishes and drinks. I think you’ll really enjoy it.”

Miles wasn’t sure if his enthusiasm was for the restaurant or for having completed the two-day interrogation.

“Sounds great,” he said. “I’ll meet you there at seven.”

“I have to go past your hotel on my way, so I’ll pick you up. Six forty-five okay?” Carlos asked.

“Of course. Thank you,” Miles responded affirmatively, realizing any other answer would be an insult.

After returning to his hotel room to relax before dinner, Miles realized he had been so caught up in his assignment that he hadn’t spoken to Ryan since his arrival in Guadalajara. He immediately picked up the phone and called.

“Been so undercover you couldn’t risk a call.” Ryan always loved giving Miles the business.

“Actually, I’ve been so immersed in this project I simply forgot. I’m sorry. Have you found any evidence of Reese’s whereabouts or activities?”

“No one I’ve encountered has seen or even heard of him. Not the local police, the press, nobody. One potentially interesting thing I’ve uncovered is a real estate development company that has started acquiring property here. The company is called Hollins Properties, Ltd.”

Miles was puzzled. “Why is that interesting?”

“Thought you’d never ask. Before heading down here, I researched everything I could find on Jonathan Reese. One of the items I uncovered listed his family tree. Turns out Hollins is the maiden name of Reese’s mother.”

Miles could sense the pride in his voice. “You’re good! What else have you found?”

“Nothing yet. I plan to spend tomorrow seeing if I can locate an office or other contact information on the company. What time will you be here?”

“My flight is scheduled to arrive at 1:50. Since it’s a domestic flight, I should be out of the airport quickly.” Miles was hoping to find a much less busy airport scene than the one he had encountered when he arrived in Guadalajara.

“Text me when you’re in the cab, and I’ll be waiting for you in front of our condo building.”

“Will do. See you tomorrow.”

Before Miles could shift his attention to Jonathan Reese, he had unfinished business to take up with his dinner companions. There were a couple of different ways he could play the finale. He decided to wait and see how the discussion at dinner would go before deciding whether or not to confront the issue head on. How that played out would likely provide the substance of the email he would send to Peter.

As promised, Carlos picked up Miles at the appointed time.

“I think you’ll find the evening interesting,” Carlos promised. Miles thought it strange that Carlos said the evening, not the restaurant, would be interesting. He wrote it off as nothing more than a Spanish-to-English vocabulary thing.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Miles was surprised to see it was a traditional-looking cantina. Somehow he had expected a fancier place, the type meant to impress a prospective client. When he saw that the restaurant featured live entertainment with traditional Mexican music and dance, he understood why Carlos used the term “evening” instead of “dinner.”

While they ate, the business-only conversations they’d had during Miles’s factory visit turned to a more personal nature. Spouses, children, favorite activities. Just the sort of thing you’d expect once the business side of things had concluded. Miles really liked these people. Hardworking, down-to-earth, dedicated to their families and, on the surface, honest.

Miles knew he had to get to the bottom of the asset theft or he would have accomplished nothing but adding circumstantial fuel to Peter’s ongoing suspicions about his partners. He downed the remainder of his margarita and dove in, wanting to ask his pointed questions before the entertainment began.

“There was one thing I noticed at the factory that I forgot to ask about. What do you use the unmarked boxes for?” Now Miles’s voice turned serious.

“There are various uses, like shipping machinery parts back to the equipment company for refurbishing,” Pancho replied without a hint of hesitation.

Miles decided to lay it all out there. “Or like late-night shipments of off-the-books parts?”

Carlos started to rise from his chair, anger taking over his facial expression. Pancho grabbed him by the arm and motioned for him to sit back down.

“What are you suggesting?” Pancho asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

Miles had seen a separate dining room when they arrived at the restaurant. It was unoccupied, so he said to Pancho, “Let’s adjourn to that room over there so you and I can talk privately.”

Pancho nodded and motioned for Carlos and Adriana to remain at the dinner table. Once the two of them were seated alone in the private room, Pancho asked, “Who are you really, and why are you here?”

Miles knew now was the time for full disclosure. “I’m a private investigator hired by Peter Gonzales to find out why there appears to be a siphoning of assets happening on your end of the partnership. I think I’ve done just that.”

“What evidence of that do you have?” Pancho asked.

Miles told him about the truck without license plates, loaded with unmarked boxes, that he’d followed into town. Pancho thought for a moment before responding. He got up from his chair and circled the room before answering.

“So, what do you think is going on?”

“I don’t think you are stealing from the firm in the traditional sense. It’s my guess that you are using inventory to pay the cartel to keep out of your business,” Miles said.

“What do you suppose the cartel would want with our electrical parts?” Pancho was testing to see exactly what Miles had figured out.

“Seems pretty straightforward. They get the goods at no cost, sell them to the typical outlets at a nice discount, and still make a huge profit.”

Pancho’s facial expression turned to one of despair. Miles’s hypothesis was apparently spot on.

“Listen, we have no choice,” Pancho confessed. “Either we pay them off or they shut us down. Paying with merchandise is much easier to hide than cash would be.”

“Except you were only able to hide it for a while. I’m curious, what do you get in exchange?” Miles asked.

“There are some benefits. First, we get to stay in business with a level of security. Our employees are protected as well as the company. I guess you could say it becomes a fringe benefit.” Pancho half laughed at his analogy.

“You could also say it’s a cost of doing business,” Miles suggested.

“I don’t understand,” Pancho said.

“I recommend you be upfront and call Peter, or better yet, go to see him. Explain this is what you have to do to keep the business functioning. Playing ball with the cartel allows you to operate the business free of concerns about the safety of the operation and the well-being of your employees. Peter understands Mexico and will certainly understand that what you’re doing is for everyone’s benefit and not to line your own pockets.” Miles had made a strong case for the benefits of coming clean.

Suddenly, the usually buttoned-up Pancho started to weep. “Thank you, Miles. You could have simply exposed what we were doing, and then Peter would certainly have ended our arrangement and moved the business elsewhere, probably destroying our company in the process. I will take your advice and see Peter immediately.”

A great weight had been lifted from Pancho’s shoulders. He motioned to Carlos and Adriana to join them. Once they had been brought up to speed, they too became emotional. Miles was right. These were good people stuck in a no-win situation.

Neither Miles nor his hosts wanted to stay for the entertainment after the emotional scene they had just been through, so they parted with handshakes and hugs. Once back at the hotel, Miles had one more dilemma to deal with. What to report to Peter? He vowed to let Pancho explain the situation directly, so his obligatory email only said: Still working out the situation here. More to follow tomorrow. It was truthful but certainly not the whole truth.