Blindman’s Bluff

FORTY

THREE WEEKS LATER, Martin Cruces agreed to turn state’s evidence against Mace Kaffey in exchange for a plea of life in prison with the possibility of parole. But even after Decker had heard the story, Mace was not an easy fish to land. The district attorney wanted more and more, and it took months of tedious investigation to uncover the few shreds of evidence against Mace. With Cruces’s testimony, a judge agreed to issue warrants that allowed the police to study Mace’s bank accounts, credit card receipts, e-mail correspondence, and phone records.

Oliver and Marge were able to document two places where conversations took place between Cruces and Mace. The sides argued vociferously about what was said between the two of them.

Lee Wang uncovered a trail of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in ten withdrawals that exited Mace’s bank accounts and traveled from one dummy corporation to another until it appeared to reach Martin Cruces’s hands. It was never specified what the money was for, and each side gave a different interpretation. Cruces claimed it was ten thousand for each of his drones in the hit and one hundred thousand for himself. Mace’s lawyers claimed it was a payment for beefed-up security after Guy received anonymous threats against his life. Why it went from Mace to Cruces was the subject of more speculation on the defense side.

Messing and Pratt were able to find about a half-dozen phone calls from Cruces to Kaffey, all of them placed on disposable cell phones that Cruces never disposed of. Particular attention was paid to two calls made on the night of the murders-one before and one after.

Willy Brubeck probably was responsible for the most damning piece of evidence: a gun registered to Mace Kaffey that was matched to the bullets pulled from Kaffey’s own body as well as in the jacket taken from Neptune Brady. Why Mace chose to set himself up using his own gun was anyone’s guess, but it probably had more to do with desperation measures than with common sense.

The total evidence was enough for the Los Angeles D.A. to take the case.

Immediately a warrant was issued for Mace Kaffey’s arrest.

The man came into the police station armed with a posse of lawyers, all of them claiming that Martin Cruces was a lying psychopath and his statements were fabrication. The charges were foisted upon Mace because the police needed a quick solve. The money transfer never happened. The conversations between them never happened. And the phone calls on a couple of throwaway phones? Who knew why Cruces was calling Mace? And suddenly Mace had remembered that Guy had asked Mace to borrow his gun. The thugs must have picked up the gun when they rampaged Coyote Ranch.

The defense claimed that the murders were a case of robbery gone wrong, and the subsequent shootings were the thugs trying to get rid of witnesses against them. Mace needed all the spin and help he could get. The charges against him included the premeditated murders of Guy Kaffey, Gilliam Kaffey, Denny Orlando, Alfonso Lanz and Evan Teasdale, Alicia Montoya, and the attempted murders of Gil Kaffey, Grant Kaffey, Neptune Brady, Antoine Resseur, Piet Kotsky, Peter Decker, and Cindy Kutiel. It had taken almost a year to bring the case to trial. With the evidence and a star witness, the prosecution convinced a jury of twelve peers that Mace Kaffey was guilty of six counts of murder one. He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Gil Kaffey. But the jury remained deadlocked on the charges of the attempted murder of Neptune Brady, Grant Kaffey, Antoine Resseur, Piet Kotsky, Peter Decker, and Cindy Kutiel.

It was unlikely that Mace would be tried again by the state as he already faced the death penalty.

“IT’S STINKY THAT you won’t have your day in court,” Rina told Decker over dinner.

“You can only die once,” Decker answered.

“You’re lucky I wasn’t on that jury.” The verdict had been announced a week ago, but it was still on everyone’s minds. “That would have taken me away for months.”

Decker eyed her over a glass of cabernet. “You would have been recused.” They were in Tierra Sur restaurant inside the Herzog Winery, Decker’s favorite place. It had a friendly waitstaff, the best kosher wine list bar none, a lovely ambience, and a killer chef who made magic with every edible thing he touched. “Do you know what you want to eat?”

“I’m looking at the lamb.”

“Is it looking back at you?”

“That would be a little too rare for my taste,” Rina said. “What an evil man.”

“You’re still back on Mace?”

“It’s pretty astounding.”

“He is evil.”

“But…”

Decker took another sip of his wine. “Why do you think there’s a but?”

“You just have that look in your eyes…that you’re about to offer excuses.”

“I would never offer excuses for a man who executed six people and tried to kill me because I was involved in the case. They make very good lamb. If you want it, I’ll be happy to share my steak with you.”

“Great,” Rina said. “Let’s order a side of French fries.”

“Don’t do that. You take two and I eat the rest.”

“So control yourself.”

“I have no control.”

“So I’ll occupy your mouth with conversation so you won’t be tempted to overeat.”

Decker said, “And how are you going to do that?”

“I want your opinion of Mace Kaffey. Why did he do it?”

“I don’t think we’ll ever know, and my opinion isn’t worth anything.”

“It’s worth something to me,” Rina said.

Decker looked in the breadbasket, then pushed it away. “Why don’t you tell me your opinion. You followed the trial as closely as I did. And you have great insights.”

“Thank you.” Rina took a sip of her pinot noir. “But you have insider’s trading info.”

“You go first,” Decker said.

Rina gave her words some thought. “You think of sibling rivalry-as old as the Bible. But it wasn’t that the two of them were arguing and Mace killed Guy in a fit of passion like Cain and Abel. The murders were well-planned executions. Still, I don’t think Mace woke up one morning and decided his only solution was to kill his family. I think it was a gradual process.”

“I agree.”

“I think it was a confluence of things that led Mace to do what he did. First off, Mace took all of the blame when Kaffey was on a downswing. When the lawsuit was settled, Guy came away with a lot more than Mace.”

Decker said, “Mace was stripped of his board position, had his shares in the company taken away, and had his income reduced by half. But he was still making a hell of a lot of money.”

“Not what he was used to making,” Rina said. “We saw what happened during the trough of the recession. How the big three automakers flew to Washington on their private jets asking for billions of dollars. It’s hard to get used to a reduced lifestyle.”

Decker nodded.

Rina said, “I think Mace moved back east to prove himself with this Greenridge Project. But when the economy tanked and the project went way over budget, Mace saw his dreams of redemption being flushed down the toilet. It was pretty clear that Guy was getting ready to pull the plug.”

“Grant was involved in Greenridge, too.”

“I know. But Guy would take care of his son. No such guarantees with his brother,” Rina said. “So there goes Mace’s income and his moment of glory. His world was about to come crashing down, and he blamed Guy for everything. I think he was out to get Guy. Gilliam and Gil and the help were probably collateral damage.”

“Hmm, I’m not so sure about that,” Decker said. “I think Mace waited for a day when Gilliam, Gil, and Guy were all under one roof. Gilliam, had she lived, would have inherited a big share of Kaffey Industries. With her gone, the remaining shares would go to the boys. With Gil gone, all the shares would go to Grant. There was no way that Grant could handle the Kaffey Industries-East Coast and West Coast-by himself. Besides, Mace got along with Grant.

“I think Mace was hoping that Grant would give him the eastern division, including the Greenridge Project, and that Grant would take over the west where most of the business was.”

Rina said, “Also, I suppose with Grant alive, there’d be less focus on Mace because Grant would inherit everything.”

“You better believe it,” Decker said. “We really didn’t know who to focus on at first. Had Mace been the only man left standing, he would have been our best suspect.”

Their waiter approached. His name was Vlad and he was over six seven with black hair, blue eyes, and mouth as wide as a canyon. After he took their order, he refilled Decker’s wineglass.

“On the house,” Vlad said. “Besides, we’re at the end of the bottle.”

Decker smiled. “I’m happy to take the dregs off you.”

“What about you?” Vlad said to Rina.

“I’m fine with my one glass.” After the waiter left, Rina said, “I do have a couple of questions about the case.”

“If it’s only a couple of questions, you’re clearer than I am on it.”

“Did Mace arrange for himself to be shot?”

“I think he arranged for himself to be shot at,” Decker said. “The intended target was probably Gil, to finish off what the gangbangers had messed up at the ranch.”

“Then why did someone shoot at Grant, you, and Cindy?”

“That remains a mystery. In my mind, Grant being alive was Mace’s best excuse.” He gave the question some thought. “I will say this from a professional point of view. With all of the Kaffeys being wounded or dead, we were stumped. There was no one person who we could point a finger at. We really did begin to think of maybe an outside crime-like a robbery.”

“Who actually shot at you?”

“I don’t know. None of the thugs owned up to that one.”

“Who do you think shot at you?”

“It wasn’t Alejandro Brand: he was already in jail. Joe Pine and Julio Davis were probably in Mexico, and Martin Cruces was probably the type to delegate. That leaves Gordo Cruz, Esteban Cruz, and Miguel Mendoza. I’d say Esteban because he seems to be the smartest.”

“Esteban Cruz never confessed to doing anything.”

“Yeah, he was the only gang member who was smart enough to lawyer up. The others said he was there, but we don’t have definitive forensics. We do have a couple of fibers, a hair that’s consistent with his hair. But that’s not a fingerprint or DNA. He’ll get time, but probably not life without parole.

That’s a shame. He seems smart…smarter…and you don’t want a smart evil guy on the streets.”

“Although according to Joe Pine, Esteban messed up on Harriman.”

“Maybe yes, maybe no.”

“And he messed up by not getting Gil Kaffey the first time.”

“No, that was Joe Pine who messed up. He ran out of bullets.”

“What a fiasco!”

“We may never figure all of it out, but we have enough to put the right guys behind bars.”

Rina sipped her wine. “Mace must have been crazy with hatred to slaughter his family like that. Surely he could have found another project. It might not have been Greenridge, but he could have found something. And he was making good money. It wasn’t as if Guy was going to boot him out of the business altogether.”

“We don’t know what Guy was planning to do.”

“No one heard Guy say that he was firing Mace.”

“No one heard Guy say that he was canceling Greenridge. But almost everyone in the company knew that it was a done deal, especially once the recession hit.”

“That’s true.”

The waiter brought over the entrées. “More wine?”

“Any more and I’ll be floating home,” Decker said.

“And that’s a bad thing because…”

“I drove.”

“So give the woman your keys.”

“I’m not allowed behind the wheel of his Porsche,” Rina said.

“That’s not true,” Decker protested. “Well, it’s sort of true.”

Rina smiled. “It’s okay. I just think of him as my handsome chauffeur.”

Vlad laughed. “How about you? Another glass?”

“Sure, give her a glass,” Decker said.

“Now I really won’t be able to drive.”

“That’s the idea,” Decker said.

Rina gave him a playful hit. “I’ll take another glass.”

After Vlad refilled her pinot noir, he said, “Anything else I can get you?”

“Nothing,” Rina said. “Everything looks fantastic.”

Vlad left and Rina took a few bites of lamb. “This is delicious. You want some?”

“I won’t turn it down. Want some steak?”

“Just a bite.”

“See, this is why you’re still thin and I’m growing widthwise. I take half your lamb and you take a bite of my steak.”

“You outweigh me by over one hundred pounds. I shouldn’t be eating as much as you.” She took a French fry. “Want one?”

“Jezebel.” But Decker succumbed and ate a couple. “You want to know what I think was the final blow for Mace?”

Rina leaned forward. “Tell me.”

Decker laughed. “You’re my best audience.”

“I’m interested.”

“Okay, this is what I think,” Decker told her. “Mace could have dealt with the closure of Greenridge. Like you said, it was unlikely that Mace would get canned. Demoted yes, but probably not canned.

And like you said, he still would be making very good money and could have probably latched on to some other project. In my mind what really got to Mace was the ranch.”

“Guy’s had that ranch for ages.”

“Yes, that’s true. But it was a money pit. Had Guy sold the ranch, even in bad times, he could have cleared a lot of bucks and some of the money could have been put back into the Greenridge Project.”

“Not nearly enough to override the costs.”

“But maybe it would have been just enough money to keep Greenridge afloat until times turned around. I think Mace could have dealt with Greenridge closing. I think Mace could have dealt with Guy owning the ranch. But when Guy and Gil started making plans to turn the ranch into a winery, that’s when Mace went berserk. Not only was Guy not going to give Mace money for Greenridge, Guy was going to spend millions of dollars for a vanity project.”

“Interesting,” Rina told him.

“I think Mace just couldn’t bear Greenridge being canceled for lack of funds while millions of dollars were going into a money-losing proposition like a winery.”

“Not all wineries lose money.” Rina spread her arm about. “To wit.”

“I will amend my statement. Small wineries rarely make money. You’ve got to know what you’re doing.”

“That’s true.” Rina finished her pinot. “Actually, I like that theory.”

Decker brightened. “Thank you.”

Rina raised her goblet. “Well, here’s to you and a job well done. You deserve a good meal, and I promise I won’t drive your Porsche.”

“You can drive my Porsche. Just not after you’ve had a couple glasses of wine.”

Rina giggled. “That’s probably a good idea. Cheers.”

Decker smiled and clinked glasses. “Cheers.”

THE TRANSFORMATION WAS magical. The once hard-packed grounds had been covered by a green blanket as far as the eye could see. There were thousands of rows of netted, seedling grape vines.

Replacing the guardhouses and paddocks was a spanking new industrial building that held hundreds of oak and steel barrels, several labs for the enologists and wine mixers, and a tasting room. When the place was up and operable, it would be quite a draw for the area.

The sun was trying to break through the marine layer common in L.A. springs. The sky was cloudy, but the air was clean. Decker took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Hardscrabble turned into vibrant, verdant farmland.

Guy’s dream.

“This is unbelievable.” Decker zipped up his jacket. “Thanks for the invitation.”

“Long overdue,” Gil Kaffey said, “but I wanted it to be just right.”

They walked on the tilled earth between the rows of grapevines: Gil Kaffey, Grant Kaffey, Antoine Resseur, Decker, and the well-dressed man on his right who held his arm. He could afford nice clothing with a reward of twenty thousand dollars sitting in his bank account. Harriman couldn’t see any of it, but he sure could smell it.

“Cabernet grapes on the left and chardonnay on the right,” he told Gil.

Gil smiled. “What a nose. Are your taste buds as sensitive?”

“Give me a taste test and then we can both know for sure.”

“It’ll be a long, long time before I can use any of my own grapes. I have been talking to some appellations up north. I think it might be wise to start small with premium grapes and then gradually use that experience on my own crops.”

“How long do you think that will take?” Harriman asked.

“At least another couple of years,” Gil said. “In the meantime, I’ve got plenty to keep me busy. People ask if I miss the business…if I’m sorry I sold out my share to Grant. And I say, what is there to miss?”

Grant said, “Well, we miss you.”

Gil said, “You’d never know it by your profits, bro.”

Grant said, “That’s because we’ve laid off over five hundred people and shut down East Coast operations. You streamline anything, your revenues will go up.”

“Dad should have streamlined the business a long time ago,” Gil said.

“Dad should have done this a long time ago.” Grant swiped an extended arm over the fields-like Moses splitting the Red Sea.

Gil blew out air. “The man could be impossible. He had his fingers in every aspect of the business and was a control freak. He could emasculate you with a few choice words or even one word. Uncle Mace deserves to rot in jail, he deserves to rot in hell. But there’s this little, teeny part of me that understands him.”

“I hear you, bro,” Grant said.

“Dad was a force of nature.” Gil surveyed the ranchland. “But he was also a visionary.”

Resseur patted his boyfriend’s hand. “Should I check in on lunch, Gil? I’m starving.”

“We’ll all head back,” Gil said.

“No, no,” Antoine said. “You stay here and I’ll call you when everything’s ready. I just want to get a head start.” He kissed Gil on the cheek. “Enjoy.”

The men walked along for another minute before Decker spoke. “How many people do you employ?”

“For the fields, it’s mostly Paco Albanez and his family,” Gil said. “When the vines start to mature, I’ll bring in the experts.”

“Seems reasonable.”

“You know I kept on Rondo Martin, Ana Mendez, and Riley Karns even though we sold the horses.”

Grant smiled. “Better to keep them under our employ than to deal with lawsuits.”

Gil laughed. “Paco knows what he’s doing.” No one spoke. “Thank you both for coming down.”

“Yes, really,” Grant said. “Thank you both for everything.”

“No thanks necessary,” Decker said. “I just did my job. If you want to thank Brett, that’s another thing.”

“Not really,” Harriman said. “I wouldn’t have a job if people didn’t testify. Still…” He laughed. “If I had known, maybe I wouldn’t have been such a good citizen.”

“We appreciate what you did,” Decker said.

“We both appreciate what both of you did,” Grant said. “My brother and I.”

For a moment, the air was devoid of man’s intrusion-just the sounds of crows expressing displeasure. Gil broke the silence. “When the place is operable, please come down again. I’ll make it worth your while by giving you each a couple dozen cases.”

“That’s my brother,” Grant said. “Giving away the profits.”

“If I can break even, I’ll be happy.” Gil took in another whiff of air and let it out. “Although I can’t be any happier than I am right now. I just wish Dad and Mom were here to share the dream.”

Grant linked his arm with Gil, and the group started back toward the main house. Decker with Harriman; Grant with Gil.

In the Bible, there was Cain and Abel. But there was also Moses and Aaron-two siblings who respected and loved each other until the day Aaron died. Decker figured Gil and Grant were probably somewhere in between the extremes. Just a year ago, Gil had tearfully admitted to Grant that he had escaped with Antoine Resseur the day Grant was shot at because he really didn’t trust anyone in his family, including his own brother. Grant had been shocked and angry, but eventually the two men reconciled and became closer than ever.

Brother plus brother didn’t always total to brotherhood. But when it did, Decker thought, it was really nice.