Saul away for a few years. It was a miracle the guy had gotten off so light. And now he was still pissed. What a psycho!
About an hour later, Bill called me back with some news. “Ok, this guy Saul has been staying off the police radar and keeping a low profile for a few years, ever since his release. As of now we don’t have anything to hold him on.”
“He is stalking my friend,” I said.
“Do you have actual proof he is stalking her?”
I had to think for a moment. He had a point here, but it was not easy to get out of that sort of compliance to the law. The law protected criminals sometimes with just being so damn vague about everything. It drove me nuts.
“No,” I said. “She’s his ex-wife, the one who sent him to prison. I know he is after her. She abruptly packed up everything. She is running scared for a reason.”
“I’d agree with that, but that alone isn’t enough to actually do anything to him.”
I sighed. This was not getting me anywhere. “Where is he? Do you have any activity on him? Is he still in Detroit?”
“I was able to pull up a few things,” Thompson said. “I traced some credit cards registered to him and they have activity in Los Angeles.”
“So, he must be there.”
“That is still too much of a coincidence. I know you want to throw the book at the guy and judging by his history that would be the way to go. But we don’t have anything as of yet. If that changes, I will let you know.”
“Thanks, Bill,” I said.
I ended the call feeling very helpless about things. I wanted to track this guy down and I wanted to rip his lungs out. He deserved it for hurting Julie. The prick.
I poured myself a drink and tried to calm down a bit. I had to gather my thoughts and think of what to do. Saul was a smooth guy. He ran a criminal enterprise, and he did it quite well. Julie’s parents said that everyone in Detroit feared that guy. He was careful. He always covered his tracks. There was no way he’d been getting away with doing these horrible things for so long without knowing how to avoid detection. And he had help. He had an elite team of people helping him pull off all of the various things he was into. He wasn’t operating alone.
Julie was all by herself. I had to find her. I sat down to think long and hard about this. I wondered if she’d called any of her friends… what were their names? I’d never actually met any of them.
I pulled up Julie’s social media and I discovered her friends Lizzy and Nellie on there, the ones she was always talking about and hanging out with. I decided to reach out and contact them. After a fast search online, I had Lizzy’s phone number. It was far too easy to find out people’s contact information nowadays.
“Hello?” Lizzy answered very bubbly. I was surprised she answered my number.
“Lizzy?”
“Yes…”
“This is Tony Caplan. How are you?”
“What?”
“This is Tony Caplan. I’m Julie’s boss. How are you.”
“Is this a joke.”
I groaned. I didn’t have time for these games. I switched the call over to Facetime so that she could see it was actually me. It took a minute, but she eventually caught the drift of what I was doing and answered the Facetime. She was shocked to see me.
“See? It’s really me,” I said.
“Oh, wow…” she replied. She suddenly seemed very nervous about her hair and her hands.
“Have you talked to Julie recently?” I asked.
She shook her head, and I could tell immediately that she was lying.
“It’s very imperative that you tell me the truth. I have to help Julie. You know if anyone can help her, it’s me. I know about Saul. I know he is after her. Please, did she call you today?”
“Yes,” Lizzy said. Her eyes lit up with understanding when I mentioned Saul’s name.
“Ok, did she tell you where she is?”
“No. I asked her not to.”
“Ok, that’s all I needed to know. Thanks,” I said.
I called up Bill Thompson again.
“Yeah?” Bill answered.
“Hey, can you run a trace on a phone number? I need a record of all the calls dialed to that phone number and who they belonged to.”
I prayed that Julie wasn’t using a burner phone or something.
“Will do. Just give me a bit.” Bill said.
I waited for about twenty minutes