Chapter 5
Joseph
Commander Genevieve Stone slowly flipped through pages of proposals, her reading glasses keeping her from hunching over like she used to during Joseph’s childhood. Such posture did not suit a rigid woman like Commander Stone.
“Agent Kline is ready to go for her role?” That careful gaze leveled in Joseph’s direction was one he had hated since he was six. “Because I am not signing this until I have a guarantee that she’s on board.”
“It’s all been settled.” Joseph did his best to not twitch in front of his mother. He wouldn’t twitch in front of his commander, so he sure as hell would not twitch in front of his mother. “Agent Kline has experience in her role. She’s done stings all up and down the eastern seaboard.”
“Luring johns into hotel rooms for the sole purpose of arresting them for paying for sex is not the same as pretending to be a madam in front of Alexander Sheen.” Genevieve closed the folder, leaned back in her chair, and removed her reading glasses. Glossy green eyes looked her son up and down. I used to wish I had her eyes. I used to wish I looked anything like her. Genevieve was quintessential White Woman with a capital W. Soft facial features, feathery blond hair she often dyed brown (including recently,) a lean physique, and eyes such a pure green that her ex-lover Horatio Montoya still lamented over their beauty thirty years after last bedding her. I never stood a chance in the genetic lottery. Horatio was a self-proclaimed “swarthy sailor of the seas of capitalism” and had passed on his hair, eyes, and skin tone to his illegitimate son. Was it any wonder Joseph had changed his name from Stone to Montoya when he went to live with his father’s family so long ago? He would never be a Stone, not even if he followed in his mother’s professional footsteps.
“I can assure you that Agent Kline is prepared for her role. Sheen has already spoken with our contact here in Portland requesting a reference to a reputable escort agency. The fake company name has already been dropped in his ear, and everything, from the phone number to the website, is set up for his perusing.” Going undercover wasn’t as simple as putting on a fake mustache anymore. “We’re ready.”
“For everything except the key player to your operation!” Genevieve laughed. It was not in reassurance to her son. No, she would never do that. Everyone loved to give Joseph shit about being a mama’s boy, but things couldn’t have been further from the truth. This was the little boy who had jumped at the chance to live with his father instead of his mother when he was little. Genevieve had reared him through his nursing years, but as soon as she entered the police force she pawned her only child off on his father, who was already married and raising two other children of his own. But the Montoyas had always been a gracious family, even for their wealth and status in society. “You still don’t have an agent picked out for your pivotal role. This operation is supposed to start next weekend. What are you doing, Joseph?”
He inhaled deeply, wishing his mother hadn’t spoken to him in such an admonishing tone. It didn’t matter if she was also his commander in this instance. It felt terrible knowing that she could still get to him on such a mental level. Why oh why did I insist on following in her footsteps as an investigator? Fifteen years ago, when he was graduating high school and being told by the Montoyas that he didn’t stand a chance in hell at inheriting his father’s company, he thought it would be a great way to get back at them by pursuing his mother. The rubberbanding between two such completely different identities had never done him any favors, and he was paying the price now. Sometimes he wished his mother would transfer to another department and let him have a commander he wasn’t related to. He was shocked he was even allowed to work beneath her. Maybe they knew we aren’t close at all. They had Thanksgiving together, but that was about it. And I send her things on her birthday and Mother’s Day. It felt weird to ignore that.
There were no pictures of him in her office. No presents on his birthday, no inquiries about his personal life. Genevieve Stone had always done the bare minimum, emotionally, when it came to her son’s well-being. He didn’t hold it against her. She had never been a warm woman to anyone. Barely dated after separating from Horatio. It was to the point where Joseph wondered if his mother was even capable of that sort of thing. I don’t think she cares about any kind of relationship. His mother had always been married to her job, whatever that job was. Her son was a byproduct of a one-time affair with the heir of a vast Mexican fortune. Horatio described it as her “rebellious” phase that lasted about two months when she was around twenty.
“I have someone in mind, but I’m waiting to hear back if she accepts.”
“Please don’t tell me you’re still thinking about that prostitute.”
“I believe the PC term is now sex worker.” Joseph cleared his throat. “I know Sylvia. She was with me when the Crow investigation was going on. She’s already been briefed about the investigation but needed some time to think about it…”
“She’s a civilian, for fuck’s sake.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time we used a civilian in an undercover operation.” They had employed a number of them when they took out a drug ring two years ago. “She has what it takes. She knows how to work men of Alexander’s status.”
“Oh, I’m sure she does.”
They reached a quiet impasse. Then, as his mother often did, Genevieve leaned forward, elbows resting on her desk as she stared her son down. The loose sleeves of her old Narcotics rain jacket rustled against her skin.
“You’ve slept with her.”
Joseph, at the very adult age of thirty-two, blushed.
“Christ.” Genevieve picked up a pen and scribbled something on a notepad. “Here’s a bit of advice, Joseph. Don’t hire your girlfriends for undercover operations. That worked out so well for you last time.”
Another kick in the gut! Big mistake introducing her to Stella. Joseph couldn’t risk seeing his mother much when he was undercover, but he dared to bring Stella to her place for Christmas. That woman had been in so much professional love with Genevieve that she spent the whole night stuttering and making a huge ass out of herself. Even Joseph had been embarrassed for her. Suffice to say, my mother was not impressed. To be fair, Genevieve was rarely impressed by anyone, let alone the women her son dated, so it was a low bar for Stella to hit.
“For the record, Stella and I weren’t an item until we started working together.” Joseph leaned his arms against his legs. “And Sylvia is not my girlfriend. Though I do think she would be our best bet for this operation. She’s a professional in every sense of the word.” Don’t blush again you loser. “She knows how to handle men like Alexander and keep her cool around them.”
“Yes, I’m sure. I’m not convinced, though. I don’t like the idea of sending a civilian in for something like this. We don’t have much time to train her.”
“The odds of her having to deal with any danger are slim to none.” Joseph had made sure of that. Sylvia’s job – assuming she took him up on it – was simply to gather intelligence. Being around Alexander Sheen all day would give her plenty of opportunities. Every profile on the man that crossed Joseph’s desk suggested that Alexander loved to pick up his arm candy and show her off to the men of the city. It was a status thing, the profilers told him. He picked beautiful women that most of his business contacts had slept with and showed them how much better he was because he could make them genuinely happy, or whatever. So, having a woman on the inside who knew how those men intimately functioned was paramount.
Except it was hard to trust civilians. Shit, it was hard to trust most agents those days! Sylvia was perfect. Not only did she fit the profile for who Joseph wanted to send in, but he knew her. Sure, she could turn on him, but he had a better feeling about her than any other civilian they could pick.
“Give me one more day to hear back from her.” Joseph stood up and took back his copy of the files. “If I haven’t heard about it this time tomorrow, I’ll pick an agent to fill the role by the end of the day. You have my word.”
Genevieve sighed. “At least I know that’s good for something.”
Yeah, there was that, one supposed.
Joseph was halfway across his mother’s office when she spoke again. “If you’re not busy this weekend, Stanley says he wants to have dinner with you and his daughters. It’s not mandatory, though.”
Wow. She’s inviting me to something. Joseph had to refrain from laughing. And Stanley? He had forgotten that man existed. Probably because he and Genevieve were so low-key in their two-year “love” affair that it was easy to forget they practically lived together in Genevieve’s petite mansion up in Washington Park. “I’m supposed to see the family this Saturday.”
Although she hadn’t been smiling before, Genevieve certainly frowned now. She didn’t say anything, however. All she did was nod as her son showed himself out.
The family. Code for the Montoyas. The only real family Joseph had ever possessed, even if they refused to give him an inheritance due to his illegitimate status. In true Mexican fashion, there was a family gathering of some kind every weekend, whether it was in Portland, Seattle, or even Mexico City. The extended Montoya family was spread out all over the Pacific Northwest, but Joseph’s pocket tended to stick to their stomping grounds of Lake Oswego, a cozy, upper middle class town south of Portland.
“Hey, Montoya.” That smarmy voice sounded very… FBI. Sure enough, when Joseph looked up, he saw the tall and muscular ebony form of Agent Margaret Jameson sauntering toward him. Her partner followed behind her. His smile wasn’t much nicer.
These were the agents who had out-undercovered Joseph earlier that year and took Crow down using nothing but the FBI. Much to his humiliated chagrin, they still hung around, working out of the northwest regional office not too far from there. They were always stopping by to talk shop with the investigators in Joseph’s department… and they loved to fuck with his head.
“Found those whips and chains yet?”
“Ha, ha.” Joseph tossed his folders onto his cluttered desk and debated going to get some coffee. “Found them at home. Turned out they were there all along.”
The two agents smiled at him, but did not leave his side.
“Can I help you?”
“So happens we might be able to help you,” Maggie said. “Heard you were talking about Alexander Sheen’s big visit happening next week. You didn’t hear this from me, but…” Maggie looked around the office, not that anyone was eavesdropping, “got it on good authority that he’s been talking to the manager at some skeezy strip club down on Barbur. Decades, I think. One of our own informants delivered that nugget to us last week.”
“But I didn’t hear it from you?”
Maggie slowly shook her head, lips pursed.
“Thanks.”
She slapped him on the back, knocking the air right out of him. “Have fun taking down one of the biggest human traffickers on the I5 corridor,” she chided. “We’ll try to stay out of your way this time. Should let you have the glory at least for once.” She and her partner laughed their way to the other end of the room. God, I hate the FBI. The rivalry between FBI and police was strong in Portland, but Joseph felt it on an extra visceral level. Still, a lead was a lead… and while Joseph tried not to think about Sylvia flaking out on him, he started digging into the history of Decades, one of many, many strip clubs in the Portland metro area.