disgust. “There are so many people trying to start a new life in this country. They are more than willing to type a few little words in exchange for cash.”
“You knew Maria Gutierrez when she lived in Norfolk.” The pieces began to form a picture. “Double A Autos! You’re the other A!”
Alek uttered a haughty snort. “We train many of our special employees there. Maria, Nina, Hector, Miguel . . . call them what you will. Except for Nina, they all worked under false names. We’ve already operated in Roanoke, but I wanted to live near my brother, so I interviewed for jobs with five dealerships in this city.” She cast Ashley a look of pity. “As soon as I met Lincoln Love, I knew I’d found the perfect boss and the perfect dealership. Maria got hired first and then I came aboard a few months later. It was so nice of the former title clerk to decide to move to California. Like I said, this was the perfect place.”
“To be a lowlife swindler, sure!” Cooper snarled and then tried to stall for time as her eyes traveled around the room in search of a weapon. “What happened to the stolen cars?”
“They are exported to my country. To Russia.” Alek’s icy eyes ignited at the mention of her homeland. “With no lien on the titles, those vehicles were halfway across the world before they were even declared missing. And when these institutions went after Mr. Hancock or Mrs. Mitchell or any of the rest, they either wouldn’t find them or they’d learn that these people lived in different states altogether and had had their identity stolen.”
Realization slapped Cooper in the face. She pointed a shaky finger at Alek’s face. “That’s why you seem familiar! You have the same eyes as Albion!”
Alek smirked. “I should. He’s my brother.” She smoothed her blunt-cut auburn hair. “But I am the attractive one of the two, no?”
“You’re both killers! You took advantage of illegal immigrants in need of money and then disposed of them the second they disobeyed your slightest order! That’s a nice gene pool you’ve got going on! Attractive? You’re an ugly, ugly person!”
Ashley whimpered as Alek’s lips thinned in anger. Pretending to be unable to meet the finance manager’s menacing glare, Cooper raked her eyes around the room. The only potential weapon she could see was a stapler. Other than the file cabinets, the desk, and the single chair, there was nothing else in the room. The desktop was neat and uncluttered, having only a small clock, a tissue dispenser, the stapler, a three-ring binder, a pink memo pad, and a Far Side daily calendar on the surface.
“Either way, our Russian genes are more impressive than your weak, American ones,” Alek remarked, following Cooper’s covert assessment of their situation with amusement. “A trophy wife and a woman who fixes Xerox machines.” She huffed. “I haven’t killed an American yet, but this is the land of opportunity, is it not?”
Confused, Cooper couldn’t help but ask, “Then who killed Miguel and Hector if not you?”
“Those puppets were not real Americans, now were they?” Alek spoke of the two young men as though they’d barely been human. “Miguel was my responsibility, and it was nothing to tie him up and suffocate him. He was such a little man and he underestimated me in many ways. However,” she glared at Ashley, “you were not supposed to have been given that Cadillac to drive. That was a mistake by one of the idiots in the service department. You were supposed to get the white one, but they brought you the one I had used to . . . store Miguel’s body in.”
“And Hector?” Cooper prodded, still trying to think of a way out of their dire predicament.
Alek sighed, indicating the conversation was becoming tiresome. “Albion took care of Hector. We would have completed the circle with Maria and Nina, had you not interfered.”
“Nina,” Cooper murmured. “She was the person inside the DMV. That’s why Maria was still so afraid. Both she and her sister worked for you. They knew you’d come for them.”
Suddenly, a cell phone began to vibrate from the bottom of her coat pocket. Alek pulled it out and flicked it open. “Where have you been?” she hissed impatiently. “Come to the file room in the back of the service garage this instant! Use the key my brother gave you.” Rolling her eyes, Alek began to describe the shape and color of the key.
While