Page 96 of An Eye For Illusion

I turn into Donovan’s apartment building parking lot before parking beside his car. I don’t waste any time getting out and meeting him on the sidewalk. We walk to his door, and he quickly unlocks it to let us in.

“Did you get any pictures? he asks as I follow him into his living room.

“Yeah, I was able to snap a few when they were busy jacking off,” I say as I take a look around his place. I can’t help but notice the beer cans and bourbon bottles littering the counter as we pass the kitchen. “Rough night, D?” The beer cans continue in the living room.

Donovan gathers several of the cans and disappears into the kitchen. “Something like that,” he calls from the other room. I hear the cans going into the trash can.

When he comes back in the room, he asks, “First I need to know if Elliott took the bait?”

We both take a seat. “Oh, yeah. He was happy as could be. He is none the wiser.”

“What about Vinny?” he asks as he leans forward with his elbows on his knees. I can see the stress and worry lining his face.

“She told him if Vinny wants a chance to have his company backed by Foster Global, he better be at their wedding.”

Donovan smiles. “She’s a pistol, that one. You better be careful with her,” he adds with a pointed look. There’s no sense in hiding my feelings for Jade anymore from Donovan, not that he ever believed me anyway. He continues. “I have a friend who works at the local police department. He’s trying to make detective, and this case could be the break that gets him promoted. The cops know all about Vinny. He and his guys just never slipped up enough to get caught.”

I pull a zip drive from my inside jacket pocket and hold it up so Donovan can see, then I pull out the discreet recorder I always carry. The one that has the whole conversation with Frankie. “These have everything he’ll need, I got it all, D but we have to make sure we move fast enough.” What kind of PI would I be if I weren’t recording, taking photos and documenting everything I’ve seen along the way?

“We can email everything on the drive to my contact anonymously and tip him off about their whereabouts for Saturday. I can’t imagine PD will waste the chance to follow up on the lead. Vinny is a menace. The sooner him and his crew are taken into custody, the better.”

Venom laces his voice in regard to Vinny. I haven’t heard it before, but it soon hits me like a ton of bricks. Dani.

“How’s your friend, Dani? Did she make out alright after the party?” His eyes dart to mine as soon as I say her name.

He pushes up from his seat. “I wouldn’t know. Let’s get the contents of that drive emailed over. That’ll give PD more time to get their warrants and arrange the bust.”

He doesn’t give me a chance to respond before disappearing for a few moments before reappearing with a laptop in his hand.

“No talking about Dani. Noted,” I mutter.

He extends his hand, his voice flat when he speaks. “Zip drive.”

If we weren’t already crunched for time, I’d push him on the Dani issue, but I’ll save it for later. Hopefully, by Sunday we’ll be free of Elliott Moore, Vincent Maggio, and the rest of the crew.

I hand it over without a word. He reclaims his seat across the room from me, resting the laptop on his thighs. He pushes the drive into a USB port on the side and strums his fingers on the arm of the chair he’s on.

I can tell by the look on his face that the contents of the drive have popped up. “Damn, Colin, how’d you get all this?” He’s genuinely surprised. In his defense, I compiled a lot of evidence in a short period of time. I’ve spent every waking moment on this case, more so than any other because of what’s at stake.

“I told you I had it under control.” I feign offense at how surprised he is by my work.

“You had the investigation under control, obviously, but you were in over your head with the crime ring, cocky bastard.” He smirks.

He clicks through the voice recordings saved on the drive. I spent countless nights at that damn bar and with Vinny’s goons in order to get them. I talked to anyone that was willing and surprisingly a lot of them did talk. Vinny is not well liked within his organization, and he doesn’t have their respect like he thinks he does.

Sprinkle in some doubt about his abilities and provide a listening ear for all of their grievances and suddenly you have some threads that lead to the evidence. Donovan finally gets to the recording I just took with Frankie and his eyebrows practically shoot up to his hairline.

“Dude. This is big.”

The smile that overtakes my face is huge and genuine. “I know.”

“This is what we need.” Donovan says as he continues to listen to the rest of the recording.

“I know, and they don’t suspect a thing,” I say again.

“With Elliott and Vinny at the wedding it will be a perfect time to raid the warehouse,” Donovan says.

“Yep, and then swoop in and arrest them both,” I say with a hint of pride and accomplishment. This case is most likely the biggest one of my career and I fucking nailed it. I’m not saying it was fucking easy because it wasn’t. It was dangerous as shit and risky, but it was a risk I would take over and over in order to save Jade. Let’s just hope it all pays off.

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