Eyewitness (Thriller/Legal Thriller - #5 The Witness Series) (The Witness Series #5) (31 page)

“Put it down,” she said.

“What difference will it make if I take one more life?” he growled.

“In our courts, it will make a difference.”

From the corner of her eye Josie saw Hannah put her arm around Billy’s waist. The rain fell and the ocean swelled. Beneath their feet, the old pier undulated. There was no good way for this to end, but Josie had to mitigate the outcome.

“Listen to me. Listen to me. Our courts will take your culture in to consideration. But if you hurt Billy, if you try to take his life purposefully, our judges won’t have any mercy. Do you understand that?”

“Consideration?” Gjergy scoffed. “That is weakness. A crime is committed and someone must pay. That is law.”

“But not someone who had nothing to do with the crime,” Josie insisted. “Your brother died fifty years ago.”

“And his killer’s blood flows in that boy.
Besnik owes his life for the life of my brother. I saw my brother die on a mountain and all he wanted was for us to be free as Besnik has been free.”

Gjergy stood his ground, raising the knife, and pointing it at Billy. Josie steeled herself to attack, but Gjergy made no move for the boy.

“Oi was my friend when we were young. He knew of my brother. He knew of the blood feud, but he married Rosafa. He took the boy so that Besnik could escape justice. That was foolish. Distance and money could not save him. No man can save Besnik.” His arm shook, his voice rose above the surf with a roar. “The Kunan says I am justice.” Gjergy advanced on Josie. “You will not keep me from what I must do. No woman can do that.”

Gauging the distance, Josie held her breath, aware that the teenagers’ eyes were on her but hers were on Gjergy. His rage was beyond reason, his devotion to the ancient Albanian law unshakable. Josie could no more understand his justice than he could submit to hers, so she defaulted to a law they both understood: survival of the fittest.

Josie Bates swung the bat at the knife and screamed at Hannah and Billy.

“Get out of here. Run. Go! Go!”

Hannah and Billy ran: past the man who was on the defensive. They ran past Josie who prayed she had enough strength to keep the old man at bay long enough for them to escape. They were on the beach when Hannah turned back.

“Josie!”

“Go. Get as far away as you can.”

Hannah and Billy did as they were told and Josie had to trust that they would find their way. In front of her Gjergy Isai was rising, the knife still in his hand, the rain streaming down his face, the waves drumming their furious score to this drama.

“I will find him. He cannot run far enough,” Gjergy called.

“Our law won’t let you,” Josie promised. “I won’t let you.”

“My country does not judge me. Yours cannot either.” He pulled himself to his great height. “I am Albanian. I have walked on stone.”

“Yeah?” Josie spit the rainwater out of her mouth and narrowed her eyes. “Well, you’re not on stone now, you bastard.”

Josie Bates fell to the pier and swung the bat at his knees. It hit its mark with a sickening crunch. The old man’s hard soled shoes slipped, his weight threw him backward, and Gjergy Isai fell into the angry sea.

Mike Montoya reluctantly turned away from the view of Hermosa Beach when Archer opened the door to Josie’s house.

“It’s Saturday, Montoya. Don’t you ever take a day off?”

“Now and again,” Mike answered, as he took Archer’s hand. “Is Ms. Bates here?”

Archer drew the detective inside and called: “Jo? We’ve got company.”

She came from the back of the house and, even though she smiled, Mike Montoya thought she looked tired. It could have been that she was still recuperating from the injuries she sustained in Malibu, but he thought it was simpler than that. He thought Josie Bates was sad. She didn’t bother to say hello, and that didn’t surprise Mike. Instead, she asked:

“Did you find Hannah?”

“No, I’m sorry. That truck stop where they abandoned the car is pretty busy. They could be anywhere by now. We’ve been in contact with state agencies but . . .” Mike shrugged and Josie interpreted as she led the way to the living room.

“But Hannah isn’t going to make a peep until she believes Billy is safe.”

“That’s what I came to talk to you about. I think we can discount a continued threat from Gjergy Isai. His body washed up in Manhattan Beach.”

“Really?” Josie said this as she took the couch. She seemed only politely interested in his news, but Mike knew she couldn’t wait to hear what he had to say.

“He drowned.” Mike opted for the leather chair and stated the obvious.

“No surprise there.” Archer sat next to Josie. “I doubt he had a lot of experience with the ocean given where he came from. Josie said she lost sight of him pretty quickly.”

“Yes, it’s a pity you couldn’t have just held out a hand. Maybe dragged him to a place where he could latch onto the pier.”

“I was still out of it, Montoya. Remember, he attacked me. I was lucky I made it to the pier at all,” Josie answered.

“Of course, you’re right. No one could accuse you of depraved indifference.” Mike looked square at Josie and raised a brow. She didn’t flinch so he pushed on. “And the surf was bad. You could have jeopardized yourself if you tried to help. And he couldn’t help himself at all given that he was probably in shock. It seems that his knee-caps were broken.”

“That old pier wood can be slippery, detective. Especially when it rains,” Josie noted.

“I suppose he could have broken them when he slipped. It’s just odd that the bones on both legs were broken in exactly the same place – shattered actually. It was almost as if he’d been deliberately struck with something very heavy.”

“I can’t imagine what.” Josie leaned into Archer as she held Montoya’s gaze.

“Perhaps it was the same thing that he used to hit you,” Mike suggested.

“Gjergy hit me. He was a strong man.”

“Did he break that window with his fist?” Mike probed.

“I don’t know,” Josie answered. “I don’t remember much.”

Mike nodded and drummed his fingers on his knee just once. He knew Josie was lying and so did Archer, but there would never be any proof that anyone had assaulted Gjergy Isai. Montoya had no doubt that whatever weapon was used against him was now on the ocean floor, deep in the water off a private beach in Malibu. He tried once more. All he wanted was the truth; all he wanted was for everything to be tidy.

“You didn’t see Hannah or Billy attack him with anything, did you? If they did, I doubt even Carl Newton would file against them. Clearly, there’s an argument to be made for self
-defense on their part.”

Josie shook her head, “No. They were long gone. I sent them away like I told you. Look, Montoya, they didn’t do anything that would interest you or the courts.”

“You mean other than Hannah interfering with an open investigation?” Mike chuckled.

“She’s a kid helping another kid. Teenagers run away all the time. At most that’s a misdemeanor under these circumstances. There’s no money in the budget to prosecute them,” she answered.

“Hannah and Billy wouldn’t know that. And you’re forgetting Billy’s immigration status,” Mike countered. “He’s in this country illegally.”

“That’s a federal concern.” Josie waved him off.

“It boils down to what those two believe, doesn’t it?” Mike challenged her. “Right now they probably think we’re hunting them and not in a good way. In fact, unless they were around to see Mr. Isai slip on that pier, they may think they have to hide from him, too. I’d like them to know Isai is dead and I’d like to know what they saw in that house or on that pier.”

Josie’s heart beat a little faster, but her expression remained composed. All she had thought about since that afternoon was finding Hannah and Billy, but now she was thinking it might not be bad if they laid low until something bigger came along to distract Mike Montoya and Carl Newton. Eventually, Gjergy Isai would be a footnote on a crime log and the teenagers’ return to Hermosa would not be worth mentioning. Now, though, the condition of Isai’s body made the circumstances of his death suspicious.

“Jo?” Archer gave her shoulders a squeeze. “You zoning out on us?”

“No, I’m good,” she answered. “You were saying, Montoya?”

“I was just saying that the DEA checked out the story the American volunteer told Archer. The blood feud was confirmed. It’s hard to imagine this kind of thing still goes on.”

“Italy has vendetta,” Archer pointed out. “Gangs keep scorecards. The cartels just take out two for every one of theirs. This one was pretty radical, though, given that Isai was avenging a killing that took place almost fifty years ago. What I don’t get is why he didn’t go after Billy when he lived overseas?”

“The feud rules are pretty specific. The male relative has to be at least nine years old. Billy’s mother made the deal with Oi when Billy was eight. Arranged marriage was normal, Rosa was a beautiful young girl and there wasn’t much time to get Billy out of the country. It seemed a win/win.”

“So what happened? Why didn’t everyone live happily ever after?” Josie curled her legs under her and leaned against Archer.

“Albania culture is steeped in a tradition where men are warriors. Oi’s cross-dressing was too much for Rosa. She used her P.O. box like a safe deposit box. We found years of letters between her and her mother. It was pretty clear that the girl would rather die than live with Oi. It was also Rosa’s job to protect her brother from everything. She couldn’t allow him to live in Oi’s house under those circumstances.

“Oi probably never expected her to raise a fuss, but when Rosa ran away he felt guilty. He had failed family and in his culture that was not acceptable. His wife has receipts from a firm he hired to find Rosa and Billy. They found them, but they couldn’t force her to go back to Oi. He let her live in one of the houses he owned, but she insisted on paying rent. He found her a couple of jobs, but finally she found her own job at Undies. There wasn’t much more she could do without an education.”

“But how come Oi was in that house dressed up if Rosa didn’t want anything to do with him?” Archer asked.

“We can only speculate, but I assume Rosa was smart enough to know she needed a lifeline. When Oi told her Gjergy was here, he probably didn’t know what to do. Kat Oi told us the dressing up was a comfort thing for him. Maybe Rosa was willing to let him act out because he was the only one who stood between Billy and Gjergy. If Oi hadn’t been dressed the way he was, maybe things would have been different. Maybe he would have reached his gun and been able to fend off Lumina.”

“And Jac Duka?” Josie asked.

“Ah, Duka.” Mike was happy to tie up loose ends for his audience. “He told a friend that he thought Oi was going to make the shop non-union. He wanted to insure himself a place in the new organization. He and Oi had a meeting scheduled to talk about the contract vote, but plan’s changed when Isai and Lumina came in. All we know is that Oi told Duka to meet him at Rosa’s. He had no skin in the feud but he was Albanian. He probably wouldn’t have tried to stop Isai, but Lumina says that Duka got nervous when he heard what was going on upstairs. Lumina couldn’t believe he’d killed Oi, and when he thought Duka was coming after him he just reacted. That left the two men downstairs dead and a woman being slaughtered upstairs. Lumina couldn’t take it, so he ran to his car. He saw Billy and Trey go in and was trying to decide what to do when they came running out with Gjergy Isai on their heels.” Mike shook his head. “Crazier and crazier.”

“Rosa must have thought the inmates were running the asylum in this country when she saw Oi for what he really was,” Josie mused. “Add to that having to be on your guard every second of every day. It’s incredible she could put one foot in front of the other.”

Mike nodded. “Can you imagine people in this country taking on a life and death commitment for a relative?”

“I’m not sure I could do it,” Josie admitted, and then she asked the question no one had thought of. “Montoya, does Isai have family? I mean, we’re thinking this is the end because Isai is dead, but what if one of that old man’s relatives believes Billy killed him? Will someone else come to finish the job? Does this thing go on forever?”

“I don’t know. If it happened once, maybe it could happen again.”

“Then Billy’s living under a death sentence,” she said.

“What about family court? Do they still want him?” Archer asked.

“It’s not for me to say, but there’s a good chance they will if he turns up tomorrow. After he’s eighteen the court won’t pursue placement.” Mike answered. “It’s funny when you think about it. Our system is relentless when it comes making rules for minors. Then some artificial deadline is met and we wash our hands of them. It’s as if they never existed.”

“And halfway around the world there might be people who won’t ever let Billy off the hook. He has no choice but to live under the radar. What kind of life is that?” Josie muttered.

A silence fell over the room as the three adults considered the unthinkable: Billy Zuni’s young life balanced between an ancient, emotional death code and a cold, controlling, modern justice system. At least he had Hannah with him. Archer put his arm around Josie and said the words that needed to be said; the ones everyone wanted to believe.

“Hannah and Billy will be fine. Right, Montoya?”

“I have no doubt. Those two have proven to be impressively capable.” Mike buttoned his jacket. “I guess that’s about it.”

“What did you do with Sam Lumina?” Archer asked as they all got up.

“He’s charged with two counts of second-degree murder. Carl Newton would have preferred to prosecute someone for Rosa, but he can’t stretch it to her.”

Archer and Josie walked him to the door, but before they got there Montoya’s eyes were drawn to the painting over the fireplace.

“That’s beautiful.”

“It was a gift from Hannah. She painted it,” Josie said.

“She’s very talented.”

Josie couldn’t argue that. The picture had taken her breath away. She knew who the woman in the painting was the minute she lifted the sheet covering the canvas; she was a composite of Josie and Hannah. The note found on the easel was as beautiful as the painting.
Never worry. I love you. I know you love me.

“She’s an amazing person, and so is Billy,” Josie murmured.

Mike cleared his throat. “I’ll assume that you’ll be available if my office has any more questions.”

“Always,” Josie assured him as she opened the door.

Mike stooped, picked up a box that had been left on the porch, and handed it to her. Josie’s wedding invitations had arrived, and she held them close while the detective walked toward the gate. Josie called to him:

“Montoya? Thanks for keeping an ear out for news about Hannah.”

“My pleasure. And I assume you’ll let me know if you hear anything.” Mike smiled. He saluted her and then added: “Oh, and congratulations on the wedding. Getting married was the best thing I ever did.”

With that he was gone. The day was ending and the house was too quiet. Archer took the box and put it on the hall table. He was about to close the door when he changed his mind, grabbed Max’s leash, and said to Josie:

“Come on. Let’s take a walk.”

She didn’t need to be asked twice. Josie put her arm around Archer’s waist. He wrapped his around her shoulders, careful of the bruising at her neck. Max ambled along beside them as they walked to the beach.

The rain was gone, and the sea was calm. The sun hung low on the horizon in a sling of purple, pink, and gold. Archer helped Josie over the low wall and then climbed over himself. They sat on the edge as Max rested his paws on the wall between them. Archer petted his head; Josie buried her hand in his fur. The minutes moved on. Josie cut her eyes toward Archer. He was staring straight on, thinking hard. She could feel those thoughts, and they were troubled. She had no idea how uneasy he was until he spoke.

“I don’t want to get married, Jo.”

Josie went cold. She was as blindsided by that statement as she had been by Gjergy Isai’s attack. The only difference was that this hurt more. She didn’t look at Archer; she couldn’t look at him. He was not obligated to her and never had been. That didn’t mean Josie wanted this to be happening.

“Okay,” was the only word she could manage.

“Don’t you want to know why?” he asked.