Chapter 18

EIGHTEEN

Aidan swung the Outback into the same spot in the Talley's LB port yard that he'd occupied on Friday, except today Matt and Berat were in the car behind his and Jamie's, and waiting for them in front of the office was KJ Harman, Talley Enterprises' new chief of security. They'd been on the phone with KJ off and on this past weekend, bringing her up to speed. Now, Aidan needed her to return the favor. "Catch us up," he said as they joined her.

"Electronic goods didn't make it where they were supposed to go."

She handed him a manifest, and Aidan flipped through the multipage document. This wasn't a small cargo truck with two pallets and a briefcase of diamonds. This was a jam-packed eighteen-wheeler worth of phones, televisions, computers, and other electronic goods. Less overall value than Parsons's shipment, but the sort of haul Talley Enterprises handled every day. The fact it had gone missing could end up being more damaging to the company's reputation than the Parsons theft .

"Anything off with the pickup?" Berat asked.

She handed him a separate stack of papers. "Driver had the correct paperwork and everything."

Jamie peered over his shoulder. "Forgeries?"

"Not exactly. Standard operating procedure is to check paper orders against the ones submitted online. Everything matched."

Which meant someone had hacked their system and uploaded fake papers. Another problem that opened TE up to future thefts. Thankfully, Aidan and TE had a top-notch hacker in the family. "Jamie?—"

"I'm on it," he said, already halfway up the steps to the office door.

Avoiding the frosted garland that had been added to the exterior over the weekend, KJ rested against the raised cement foundation that formed flower beds around the modular office unit. "Two thefts in five days." She gathered her thick fall of blond waves into a bun and shed her suit jacket, December in LA a good deal warmer than in the Bay Area. "More than we've had in five years."

"Related?" Aidan asked Matt and Berat. They had more experience than him in cargo theft matters—and in Los Angeles.

"Fifty-fifty shot," Berat answered. "The prior theft was a specific high-value item. Yes, someone off-loaded the rest of the goods eventually, but they were after the diamonds first and foremost."

"But they didn't go about it like a professional crew," Matt said. "Not like the thieves I've been investigating. For years. And I've gotten nowhere. One weekend and we've already got a suspect in custody."

"The incident today," Berat said, "falls somewhere in the middle. More like Matt's case in that it's organized. Fake papers, planning, etcetera. Less like it in that we're talking run-of-the-mill cargo theft of consumer goods."

"The run-of-the-mill sort is rampant," KJ said. "At ports, at truck stops, at delivery depots. Ever since the pandemic." Her phone rang, and she excused herself around the corner to take the call.

"Do you think anything about the guy with the truckload of oranges on the corner?" Berat said to Aidan.

"Or the computer parts you can buy on you-name-it online platform?" Matt added. "Other than the fact they're cheaper than at the name-brand store? Cargo theft is also a favorite of organized crime these days. Easy money, relatively."

"With multiple ports here," Berat said, "it's a significant part of LAPD's and LBPD's caseloads."

Aidan considered the various players and facts, trying to tie them together. "Do we think the diamond theft could have also been organized crime? When Tom and I put Arty away, he'd been working for the mob. And we know White was dealing meth and in hock to this Pudge guy. We need to pull together a list of crews that run cargo thefts and drugs. Mafia, Bratva, Triad, the cartels, check them all."

Matt lifted his phone. "I'll give Charlie a call." Charlotte Henby was a friend of the family—one of her husbands was tight with Marsh—and an agent with the Bureau's organized crime unit.

Matt had barely stepped away when Jamie stepped out of the office.

"Any luck?" Aidan asked.

"Someone knew what they were doing."

"Can you track them? "

"Of course."

Aidan grinned at the familiar response until Jamie glanced at the phone in his hand and his smile waned.

"Danny?" Aidan guessed.

Jamie shook his head. "Double whammy," he answered. "Ward texted that the kids just ditched class. And according to Rooster, social services will be at the office in an hour."