Mismatch - By Nana Malone Page 0,82
he's here. One sec.” Covering the mouth piece he asked his brother, “The name Mike Ellison mean anything to you?”
Sam's eye widened. “Yeah. I was his daughter's friend back in high school. She and I took a bunch of the advanced art classes together. Good artist, but never quite great. I often got scholarships over her. We also used to hang out and smoke pot behind the bleachers. She eventually introduced me to the big guns behind the art thefts, but she was innocent. She just thought they had connections to get me a show or something. Apparently, they’d approached her about a gallery opening. He even came by to see me in jail when I first got arrested. He was really nice. Said a nice kid like me didn’t deserve to be in there. Why?”
Eli held up a finger and turned his attention back to Vince. “You catch any of that?”
“Yep. There was no reason you should have recognized him when you met him the first time.”
“No, of course not. But he looked like he'd seen a ghost when he saw me.” Eli frowned, then added, “Actually, he didn't look surprised to see me, more like he was surprised I was in his house or something.”
“You think he knew you weren’t Samson?”
“Hard to tell. You got anything usable on him?”
“Prints came back. Fenton’s a match. Thought you’d want to know. Your girlfriend wasn’t kidding about him. He'd be behind bars if any of them would press charges.”
“What about Jessica nearly being run over?” When Jessica had told him about the attempt the night of the benefit, he’d wanted to go after Ellis then, but she’d begged him not to until they had more on him.
“Trust me, I'm doing everything I can, but the license plate was obscured. Unless she physically saw him behind the wheel, there's not too much we can do.”
“Shit.”
“My sentiments exactly.”
“You have any fucking good news?”
“Well, this is something. It's too much of a coincidence that he's in the mix. You said he prompted the mom to recommend that Jessica run down and check Samson out right? I have a feeling he's been watching your brother since he got back on the art scene.”
“Why do you say that?”
“We have hits on other small time jobs in Vegas, and in DC, and Miami, then San Francisco. Now L.A.”
“You think he's after Sam?”
“Not sure. But I’ve also been trying to tie his movements with any high profile forgeries.”
“Please tell me you have something. In three of the cities, SF, DC, and Miami, several high profile art works were forged and replaced. He has to be our guy.”
“Like you said, we can’t pin it on him with just our guesses, and you would have told me if he had the art chops to pull it off.”
“No, he's not the forger, but I get the impression he's pulling the strings.”
“We need to find the forger he’s directing. We know it's not Samson.”
“Funny you should mention the forger. I'm on my way to talk to Michael’s daughter.”
“You’re saying she’s also in L.A.?
“Yep and has been in Miami, and DC, and San Francisco.”
The hairs on the back of Eli’s neck stood up. “And Sam already said she has the skills.”
“Would somebody tell me what the fuck is going on?” Samson muttered.
“Sam, give me a sec.” Eli turned his attention back to Vince. “You got a lead on where to find her?”
“This is where your Christmas gift comes in. She’s going by the alias Jocelyn Mills. She’s got her own dog walking business.”
Eli's head swam. “You’re sure?”
“Yeah, I'm sure. She was busted for bad checks using the same alias. And the dog walking business we're pretty sure is a front for a drug dispensary.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yeah, you’re telling me. You want to talk to her when we bring her in?”
“Yeah, let me know when you scoop her up. And Vince?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks, man.”
Eli hung up. How the hell was he going to tell Samson that his sponsor, the one who'd helped keep him clean, was also the reason he got arrested all those years ago?
“Come on, man, you have to tell me what’s up.” Sam put a hand on his brother's shoulder. “E, what's the matter? You look like you got nothing but bad news coming my way.”
“Sam, dude, I don't know what the fuck is going on.”
“Then tell me what the fuck you do know.”
Eli exhaled. “Okay, so you know Fenton. You know how I told you Jessica’s convinced he's just after her mother's money.