The Avenger

Howard looked flustered and turned to the monitor, gaping as though he'd just noticed the light from the screen. 'I'm sure the computer was on when I came in, Olivia.' His voice took on a priggish tone. 'You don't think I did that, do you? I assure you I didn't. And I'm sorry I was searching for the note pads. I'll be sure not to disturb you again.'

His self-righteousness irked her, but she refused to be put on the defensive. Howard was the trespasser. 'You need to respect my boundaries, Howard.'

'Of course, you're absolutely right.' Stiff-lipped, he strolled over to his desk and dipped his head into the open book that lay on his desk, effectively ending the discussion. Olivia sat behind her desk and covertly watched him.

No more than a few moments of awkward silence had deepened between them, when Ted Burrows entered the office, bearing a batch of papers. He glanced at Olivia once before he pulled up the extra chair close to Howard's desk.

Olivia turned to her computer, her back to them, and began a search of last-visited sites. She didn't believe Howard's story for a second, but what could he be looking for on her computer? Uneasiness crept up her neck. How could she be comfortable around the man any more?

'Got these papers, Dr. Randolph,' she heard Burrows say with sly familiarity, the words followed by the soft plop of papers landing on a hard surface. Ted wasn't as innocent as his charm suggested, but she reminded herself, what exact harm had either done?

What provable harm.

Olivia didn't want to eavesdrop on the two men, but shreds of their conversation wafted to her through the space of the small office. They appeared to be arguing quietly, Ted's voice wheedling and coaxing until Howard's rose in agitation.

She heard something like, 'Back off' and 'You don't want to go there, Ted.'

Finally, she heard the shuffling of papers, the scrap of chair wheels on linoleum, and Ted's final words. 'Don't fuck with me, Randolph. I know too many secrets.'

Olivia glanced over her shoulder to meet the stormy eyes of her office mate. Something dangerous she'd never seen before raged on the icy surface of the blue irises. However, before anything was said, Howard grabbed his briefcase and hurried out the door, shooting a final grim look her way. What was going on between the two of them? Their relationship seemed far more intense than professor and teaching assistant, especially ones who'd just begun working together? And what was Howard really looking for when he rifled through her desk?

*

The team met in Slater's office later that morning. Deputy Harris was there, and no one mentioned the absent Jack. Isabella Torres was trying to make her case for another interview with Diego Vargas. 'The whole Vargas family has ties to the Nortenos.' Torres rested a hip on Slater's desk.

'You're messing with a dangerous bunch,' Slater argued.

'That’s why I have to take him down.'

'The Mexican Mafia – the Surenos – keep to the southern part of the state,' Slater explained for Olivia's benefit, 'but the Nortenos run the north.'

'Diego Vargas is a vicious man,' Torres said. 'In my interview with him he was almost completely devoid of affect. He enjoys playing little mind games with people.'

'See – a full-blown sociopath,' Slater said.

'Could he be involved in something deeper than campaign fraud?' Olivia ventured.

'Like what?' Slater asked.

Torres threw up her hands in exasperation.'His wife’s claims of abuse? Vargas likes to hurt people – women – he’s ruthless, and he has absolutely no boundaries.'

'You'd better get your hard evidence shored up, counselor,' Slater warned.

'I'm setting up another appointment with Vargas.' Isabella glanced at Olivia. 'I thought Dr. Gant could accompany me.'

'Me? Why?'

'Vargas is a dyed-in-the-wool Catholic.' Torres shrugged. 'You might see something I don't.'

Olivia smiled although she didn't feel like it. 'Why not?' What else did she have to lose?

When the conversation turned back to the DLK case, Olivia could tell Slater was pleased with the translation of the latest note, although no one had any idea what it meant in relation to the case. Minutes later they finished up and Isabella and Harris left.

'Be careful around Vargas,' Slater warned Olivia.

She remembered the yellowing bruises and frightened eyes of Magdalena Vargas' photos and thought of her ex-husband's violent tendencies.

'Diego Vargas is a dangerous enemy, and like a cornered animal, he'll attack desperately and viciously if pinned against a wall,' Slater warned. 'Torres is young and sometimes she gets a little cocky. Be careful around Vargas.'

*

Olivia and Isabella Torres sat across from the Councilman Vargas as guests in his office. Olivia suspected he’d arranged the meeting here as a psychological advantage.

An imposing and taciturn giant named Santos leaned against the wall in a pose that reminded her of a crouching tiger toying with a small animal. Vargas was a bull, charging straight on and goring his enemy with a single powerful thrust, but Santos was the one who meted out indifferent violence as warnings, the cost of running the smoothly oiled machinery of Vargas’ activities.

Olivia had done her homework on the councilman.

She glanced around the spacious office at the trappings of power and position. A flag of Mexico hung behind Vargas' desk, its green, white, and red vertical stripes oddly unsettling beside the red, white, and blue of Old Glory and the California Bear Flag. In a picture of Cesar Chavez at a rally with his arm draped around a dark-skinned boy who surely must be the young Vargas, both grinned into the camera. The usual municipal code books aligned against the wall behind her. All photos were political in nature, one of Vargas with the current governor, another of him shaking hands with the head of the United Farm Workers of America. Noticeably absent were pictures of Vargas’ wife and family.

The councilman allowed them several moments of gazing around the room. She understood this, too, was a power ploy. Vargas controlled the meeting. He determined when it began and when it ended. When she met his eyes, he was smiling with the bearing and stance of a proud and confident leader.

'So, the beautiful and persistent ADA requests yet another interview with me.' Vargas inclined his head in an old-world gesture, inviting them to sit in one of a pair of dark leather chairs. 'How can I extend the service of my office?'

'Just a few more loose ends if you don’t mind.' Isabella reached into her briefcase and retrieved a pen and notepad along with a small recorder. 'I’ll record this conversation.' She paused and raised her eyebrows in question. 'If you don’t mind, that is.'

The flush began in his bull’s neck and crept steadily up to the snowy collar of his shirt where a blue tie with red flecks threatened to choke off his air. 'Of course, I do not mind. Only someone with secrets to hide would object.' Vargas spread his beefy hands in a parody of apology. 'But alas, my attorney would absolutely forbid it.' He let his gaze slide to Santos, who'd straightened up from the wall.

Olivia was surprised by the implication that Santos was both bodyguard and lawyer. Surely the brute of a man to whom they’d turned their backs hadn’t the patience or intelligence to study for the bar. But the crafty gleam in his eyes told her Santos was cleverer than she’d believed. She felt ice deep in her bones.

Isabella cleared her throat. 'What can you tell me about the Mexican Mafia?'

'The Surenos? What have I to do with those thugs?' He seemed genuinely surprised, and if so, that meant the