Camy Tang - Treacherous Intent

Esther had caught her at several angles, with several different people who looked like customers. She was smiling in a few of the photos, with a shy tilt to her head and lift of one shoulder.

One photo was a candid of Joslyn speaking to a tall, handsome Filipino man dressed in an expensive gray suit. He was slightly turned away from the camera, but from his partial profile, it seemed he was smiling. Joslyn was clearly smiling up at him.

In the second photo, the two were posing for Esther’s camera and the man had his arm around Joslyn a little tighter than a casual acquaintance would hold her.

Elisabeth sucked in a sharp breath. It was the same man in the gray suit from this morning.

Joslyn looked happy. The date was a few months ago, so the photo might have been taken early in their relationship, before Joslyn had discovered what a monster he was.

The two comments below the photo seemed to be from Esther’s friends. User BillMP46U seemed to be a photographer because he said, “Cute couple, Esther! Nice way to work around those terrible lights in the store, too!”

The next comment was posted by user Fairydust9437. “Nice photo, Joslyn! Is that Tomas? Wow, he’s a cutie.”

Elisabeth hovered her pointer over his face to see if he’d been tagged in the photo. He had, but only his first name popped up: Tomas.

“Liam, I think I found him.” She swiveled her laptop around so he could see. She couldn’t have him standing so close to her again, looking over her shoulder. It did strange things to her breathing.

“Tomas.” The name came out from Liam’s throat like gravel.

“His clothes are pretty stylish here, too. I think he’s higher up in the hierarchy of the gang, a captain or something.”

Liam frowned. “Well, I think I found the murder she was talking about.” He slid his laptop across the table to her so she could read the website he’d pulled up. “It was buried at the bottom of the fourth or fifth page of search results.”

It was a newspaper article from a few weeks ago about a man found brutally beaten and then stabbed to death in his apartment off Silas Avenue. The victim’s name was given as Felix Dimalanta, a longtime widower. Police were looking for his missing daughter, Joslyn, who was wanted for questioning.

Her stomach twisted sharply. The murder victim was Joslyn’s own father?

The article was brief, barely two paragraphs, and there were no pictures. The report mentioned that the police welcomed any information on the case and that they had talked to Joslyn’s coworkers at Perkins Electronics and also to her classmates at Twin Springs College, where she was working to get her computer software engineering degree.

“I didn’t know,” she whispered. “It never even occurred to me that she might be wanted by the police. All I saw were her bruises.”

“When did she arrive at the shelter? How was she, emotionally, when you first saw her?”

“She arrived only a few days after this homicide. There was this...deep grief and horror in her eyes. You could tell she’d recently suffered a terrible blow. I had assumed it was from her last beating, but now I think maybe it was still shock from her father’s death.” Elisabeth blew out a frustrated breath. “I should have known there was something deeper going on than Joslyn just needing to escape her ex.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. She was injured. Naturally you’d be focused on her safety, not worrying about any type of criminal activity she might have been involved in.”

“We really don’t yet know how she was involved in her father’s murder,” Elisabeth said. “He was beaten and then stabbed, so based on her height and frame, it’s unlikely Joslyn could have caused that much damage. But did Joslyn witness her father being murdered, as she claimed, or was she involved somehow?”

“To answer that question, we’d have to find out why Tomas killed him. From what I’ve found about Felix Dimalanta on social media, he didn’t have any ties to the Bagsics or any other gang. He didn’t have a social media profile, but he had friends who do and they tagged his name on photos.”

“Can I see the photos?”

Liam took his laptop back, and after a few clicks of his track pad, gave it to her to look.

Felix Dimalanta had a strong face, a protective set to his shoulders. Elisabeth could see him doing everything as a single parent to care for his daughter and raise her right.

There were photos of him at an inexpensively decorated birthday party, at a couple fast-food restaurants eating with friends, and a cute picture of him riding his bike somewhere and waving to the camera. No photos at upscale restaurants, dressed up for a party or going out to a show.

“He seems to have lived a very modest lifestyle,” Elisabeth said.

“The only thing odd about that is his watch.”

“His watch?” Elisabeth peered at the photos. He wore the same watch in all the pictures, so it might have been the only watch he owned, the one he used every day.

“I like vintage watches, which is why I noticed it,” Liam said. “That’s a vintage Rolex—and a pretty valuable one. It might be old enough to have been passed down to Felix by his father. It’s the only expensive item he wears, and it’s not really the type of watch you’d expect of someone making money from drug deals. So I’m guessing he’s not involved in the Bagsics’ meth trade.”

“Well, Tomas killed him for a reason, and now he’s after Joslyn.”

“The only way to stop the threat against you and Joslyn is to stop Tomas.” Liam had a determined glint in his blue eyes as he held her gaze. “We need to investigate this murder, find evidence and put Tomas in jail.”

It was true. Tomas had resources, and he had already shown he absolutely needed Joslyn—and he’d go through Elisabeth to get her. Elisabeth should have been fearful, but instead she was angry and determined. Years ago, she had made a decision that she wouldn’t let any man bully her ever again. She would not let Tomas get away with this. “There’s only so much we can do with internet research. We have to go to L.A.” The heart of Bagsic territory.

Liam’s expression was sober. He understood the risks they were taking. “We don’t know yet if Tomas told his superiors about you and me in his search for Joslyn. It could be that the gang won’t realize Tomas is after us.”

At that moment, a distinctive beeping pattern sounded. Within seconds, Nathan appeared, his face tight. “Are you expecting anyone?” he asked abruptly.

“No,” Liam answered. “No one even knows we’re here.”

“Well, I’m not expecting anyone, and that was the sensor for my driveway. Someone’s here.”

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