The Fugitive Grandma Lives

Chapter 12 - The Golden Goose

During his decades working in government intelligence and corporate espionage, Tim Schlesinger had cultivated a vast network of assets around the world, people who were highly motivated to help him and share information, either through carrots, sticks or a combination of both.

One of these assets was the secretive Southern California crime lord known as El Hefe, the most feared man from Palm Springs to the Arizona border. His true identity was a closely guarded secret. There were rumors he was the leader or a Mexican cartel or transplanted New York mafia. The uncertainty only served to heighten the paranoia about messing with him and his crew.

Over the years, Tim had protected El Hefe from police and FBI investigations related to a number of felonies ranging from money laundering to human trafficking. In exchange, El Hefe had been a vital source of intelligence on connections between the criminal underworld, government agencies and big corporations.

El Hefe was tapped into everything that happened in the desert. He knew the networks the coyotes used to smuggle their cargo to the farms in Indio. He knew how to deal with the local cops from Desert Hot Springs to Bermuda Dunes. And he had the compromising details of every illicit scandal involving retired politicians and aging movie stars who made their weekend homes in the posh communities of Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells.

Now Tim was calling in a favor from El Hefe. He needed information for his client.

The two men met alone in the woods near the mountain resort of Idyllwild, a cool, heavily-forested retreat 5,000 feet above the desert floor of the Coachella Valley. They walked a dirt pathway through firs and pines, listening to the gurgle of an unseen stream. Neither of the two men knew exactly whether the other had come alone to the rendezvous. Either of them could have a security detail with high-powered rifle scopes lurking in the foliage as a standard precaution. It didn't matter. They had worked together a long time and trust was as deep as one could reasonably expect within their lines of work.

El Hefe walked a pace ahead of him, wearing a wide-rim hat, wrap-around sun glasses and a layer of protective zinc that covered the skin on his face.

"So what do your people know about the case?" Tim asked.

"Everything."

"So what happened with the gardener anyway? Was he seriously hurt? Is he going to file charges?"

"The gardener disappeared. Walked right out of the hospital and no one's seen him since."

"Did you see the police report?"

"No police report."

"What?"

"No charges, no report. Let bygones be bygones."

"Holiday took care of it."

"That's right."

"In other words, you didn't want ICE to know about this gardener. How many other illegals working at the country club?"

El Hefe sighed. "What does that matter. Can't kill the golden goose, Tim. We got a lot of mouths to feed. Let the ICE go out to LA if to make their deportation quotas."

"And Holiday can handle the ICE. You're confident."

"He knows how to play the game better than anyone."

"What's his name anyway, the illegal. The they used for target practice on the fairway?"

"Employment records said he was Gus Mendoza, on his Social Security card at least. Could've bought it on the black market."

"I wonder who sold it to him," Tim said.

El Hefe broke into a wide grin.

Tim sighed. "What about the old lady who saved him?"

"Her name is Lucy Chase. Some local retiree. There's a million of them.

"Did the police interview her?"

"Nah, they figure some ol' bat just went off her meds."

"She drives a golf cart onto Highway 111 and they don't talk to her?"

"Like I said, the locals really don't want to investigate this thing. It's just going to make trouble for the country club. Holiday knows how to keep these things quiet. What's all this about anyway?"

"You know I can't tell you that," Tim said.

"What do you need from me?"

"I want this quiet off the radar, just like you locals. The illegal. The lady. The whole thing. You tell me if anyone gets a different idea."