I think,” Santos said. “I’m worried about him getting to Deese. Deese knows—”
“Way too much.”
Later that afternoon, Santos drove over to Slidell and called Deese to tell him about the marshal. Deese asked, “What’s it to you? Don’t tell me that Rog is worried about my personal safety.”
“No, he’s worried about his personal safety. If these marshals grab you, you’ll be looking at the death penalty and you might be tempted to make a deal. Rog wants you gone and he’s willing to pay. He thinks you probably need the money.”
“How much?”
“Quarter million.”
Deese laughed. “Man, I had a quarter million six months ago and I spent it. That ain’t gonna do it. Tell him to call me when he gets real.”
CHAPTER
FOUR
When Lucas got back to the Tahoe after talking with Smith and Santos, Bob asked, “Well?”
“We’re looking for a guy named Martin Keller, or Martin Lawrence, who may live in Marina del Rey, or maybe Los Angeles or Las Vegas, and who has done time.”
“Who’s he?” Rae asked.
Lucas replayed the conversation he’d had with Roger Smith, and Rae said, “If Keller or Lawrence has been in the system, Tremanty can find him for us. We’ve got to tell him about this.”
Lucas called Tremanty, put the phone on speaker so the others could hear, repeated the conversation with Smith a second time, with some editing, and included the phone number Smith had given him. Tremanty asked, “You’re going to Los Angeles?”
“Depending on what you find out,” Lucas said.
“I’ll put a priority on this and bounce everything we’ve got to your federal email. If either of those names are real or known aliases and he’s in the system, you’ll have it before you get back to your hotel.”
“All right. There was another guy there, with Smith. He said his name was Dick.”
“What’d he look like?”
Lucas described him, and Tremanty said, “His name is Richard, or Ricardo, Santos. He’s a second-generation Cuban American; his grandparents left the country when Castro came in. He seems to be Smith’s assistant, but there are rumors that he’s Smith’s connection to the other bad boys in New Orleans. He has a degree in chemistry from the University of Miami.”
“Chemistry? Really?”
“Apparently legit. Of course, a chemistry degree can be used for a lot of things that aren’t legit.”
“I can tell you he makes a nicely foamed cappuccino,” Lucas said.
“There you go,” Tremanty said. “I’ve started a file on him; not much in it—yet. I’ll send it to you, with the files on Martin Keller or Martin Lawrence.”
Bob: “Back to the suites?”
* * *
—
THEY GATHERED in Lucas’s room and looked over his shoulder as he paged through the incoming FBI files.
Martin Keller/Lawrence’s real name was Marion Beauchamps. He was first arrested for armed robbery in New Orleans in the early 2000s. He spent two years in the C. Paul Phelps Correctional Center, released a year early for good behavior. He never showed with his parole officer, and a brief investigation indicated that he’d gone to Los Angeles. Louisiana put a hold on him with the Los Angeles police, but he was never picked up.
He was arrested in Los Angeles in 2010 on a robbery charge under the name Raymond Carter, but was released on bail before his true identity was determined, and he never showed for trial.
He was arrested again in 2014 under the name of Martin Keller after he was badly beaten in a fight at a nightclub, which he’d apparently started, a serious miscalculation on his part. When he was transported in an ambulance, he was found to be holding an ounce of cocaine. Through a processing error at Los Angeles County–USC Medical Center, he was not confined to a secure ward and walked out of the hospital on his own, again before his real identity had been established.
A note in his file said “Contact LuAnne Rocha, Los Angeles Police Department, Robbery Special Section.”
“Nobody’s heard from him in years,” Rae said. “He could be anywhere. He could be dead.”
“Maybe LuAnne Rocha knows,” Bob said.
* * *
—
THE PHONE NUMBER that Smith had provided went to a bar in Venice, California, called Flower Child’s. Lucas had been both in Marina del Rey and Venice. “They’re on the coast, right next to each other, and right there in LA,” he told Bob and Rae. “Smith might even have been telling the truth about some of this.”
* * *
—
LUCAS CALLED LuAnne Rocha, identified himself.
“We’re looking for a guy named Marion Beauchamps, who you guys have arrested under the names Raymond Carter