Your Nighttime Skin Routine-It′s Good for the Skin, Good for the Brain!
Washing your skin at bedtime is important on many
levels. It removes impurities from your skin, and it also
serves as a signal to your brain that it′s time to relax.
This helps you wind down and release the stress from
your day.
– From The Little Book of Beauty Secrets by Mimi Morgan
The address on the upper-left portion of the check was that of Medina′s office in Durham. There was no mistake. It was my Medina.
″This check,″ I said. ″It′s signed by someone I know. Dr. Xavier Medina.″
″Who′s he?
″A local plastic surgeon. A very well-known guy. He does charity work with children in Africa and South America,″ I said.
″Oh, yeah?″ Fish snorted into his drink. ″I′ll just bet he does. Does he steal their livers, too?″
I noted the check number and date. Three months earlier, Medina had written a check to Sateesh Kumar for $999. If what Fish was saying about Sateesh Kumar was correct-that the man was a ″modern-day vampire″ who plied his trade in illegal human organs-then Medina might be involved with a criminal.
Leaning back from the table, I said, ″It′s hard for me to believe that your information about Sateesh Kumar is true, Fish. In fact, I don′t believe it. Xavier has a wonderful reputation. He can′t be involved with anyone like that.″
″Oh, it′s Xavier, is it?″
Grabbing the check from me, Fish made an elaborate show of examining it, then said, ″Tell me the truth, Kate. Are you sweet on this guy? Because you sound like someone who′s fucking someone.″
″Certainly I′m not,″ I said, as the tips of my ears began to burn. ″I′m just saying-what if your information about Sateesh is wrong?″
″And what if it′s right? Your honey-doc could be doing business with a world-class criminal.″
″I′m going to find out,″ I said. ″Right now.″
I reached under the table for my laptop. I was pleased to discover that Hail Mary′s had free Wi-Fi. I did a quick search for several Sateesh Kumars, cross-referencing the names with information from Fish′s file.
I looked at him. ″According to what I′ve just found,″ I said, ″the Sateesh Kumar who has an Interpol record has been sitting in prison in Chad for the last five years. And this check that was written by Xavier Medina was drafted two months ago. To a local Sateesh. On a local bank. So it can′t possibly be the same Sateesh Kumar, right?″
Fish stared at the check for a long moment, then shrugged. ″Maybe.″
″Maybe, my ass. And for your information, Mr. Potato Head, Sateesh and Kumar are both common names in India. There are probably a half million guys walking around with that same name.″
″Hey, I didn′t beat up anyone, did I?″ Smiling, Fish lifted his drink in a peace toast. ″We′re just doing a little partner research here.″
″Hmmph.″
″And speaking of research,″ he said, ignoring the fact that I was continuing to fume, ″Remem ber you asked me a while back to look into a rich stoner kid? The Putnam kid?″
″Chaz? Yeah-what about him?″
″Well I just got a callback from a pal at a credit agency. After I called to ask him about Chaz, he discovered that the kid is running a one-man server farm for fraudulent credit cards. My friend has already called the authorities to get him shut down. It′ll take some time, though.″
″What′s a server farm? And does it have anything to do with Jana?″
″Sure it does. Server farms are groups of computers that relay stolen credit information to other users. Chaz got a hold of Jana′s credit card numbers-and evidently tried to run them.″
″That makes sense,″ I said. ″Chaz told me he had computers in his room that he didn′t want the police to see, although I didn′t connect it with Jana′s death at the time. He must′ve gotten the cards from Jana′s purse. She left it behind at Trish Putnam′s house the night of the Newbodies meeting.″
″The thing is, according to my pal, Jana had already closed the credit cards by the time the Chaz kid got a hold of the card numbers. My guess is Jana had shut them down to cut off the money tree to that low-life husband she was about to divorce, Gavin Spellmore.″
″That′s right. She told me about that.″
″And here′s where it gets real interesting. I guess when Chaz couldn′t wring any dough out of Jana′s cards, he got royally pissed. According to another buddy of mine at the phone company, he placed a cell phone call to one Akito Carver. That last bit′s on the QT, by the way-it′s totally illegal for my phone buddy to have given me that information.″
″Akito Carver?″ I said. ″I heard about him from Antoine Hurley′s defense attorney. Akito goes by the street name Mad Dog.″
″Right, and word all over the street is that Mad Dog is Chaz′s drug dealer,″ Fish said. ″I can′t believe those broke-dicks over at homicide missed that fact.″
I leaned forward in excitement. ″I reported that Mad Dog may have been the guy who actually shot Jana,″ I said. ″And he′s also Chaz′s drug dealer? And Chaz phoned him on the night of Jana′s murder?″
When Fish nodded, I added, ″Maybe Chaz told Mad Dog to steal Jana′s car that night and it got ugly,″ I said. ″It became a carjacking and murder.″
″So that would mean that little ol′ Chaz Putnam lit the fuse on Mad Dog, who went out and murdered Jana,″ Fish said. ″While Chaz never even got his hands dirty.″
I sat bolt upright. Another surge ran through my body-this one of alarm.
″Uh-oh,″ I said. ″Evelyn′s evil karma.″
″What karma?″ Fish stared at me. ″Are you going California frosted flaky on me?″
″I′m remembering how Anaïs Loring was killed in a home-invasion robbery,″ I said. ″And the attempted break-in at my house. What if Chaz was behind those incidents? What if he′s targeting the women in his mom′s Newbodies group for their credit cards, and using Mad Dog as the muscle? If that′s true, everyone in the group is in danger.″