The Price of Life by Christopher Valen

Author:Christopher Valen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: drug dealing, drug cartels, illegal immigration, border patrol, dea agent, sextrafficking, mexican border, john santana, mexico cartels, meth dealer
Publisher: Christopher Valen

Chapter 25

Kenny Coleman’s warning to stay away from the employees at the Elysium Bank only made Santana more curious. Whether it could lead him to the person who murdered Madison Porter was an open question. But if he wanted answers, he figured he knew where to start.

Ashley Porter lived in a corner condo on the top floor of a high rise called the Riverfront Flats near downtown St. Paul. Wearing a peach-colored sweater that nearly matched her strawberry blond hair, tight black jeans, and heeled sandals, she ushered Santana into the condo, where he sat opposite her on a U-shaped sectional sofa around a fireplace in the living room. Over Porter’s shoulder, Santana could see the Mississippi River through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

He noted a man’s jacket hanging over the back of a dining room chair.

“It’s Sunday,” she said. “Don’t you take the day off?”

“Depends on the case I’m working,” Santana said, taking out his notebook and pen.

She stared at him for a time, her eyes reflecting the pale light spilling through the windows. She wasn’t wearing makeup, so Santana could see more of the light brown freckles dusting her pale skin.

“Unless you’ve solved Maddie’s murder,” she said, “this could’ve waited till tomorrow. She’s been dead four years. Why the sudden rush?”

“A pretty cold response considering she was your sister.”

“What do you know about Maddie?” she said, her eyes suddenly as hard as ceramic.

“I know that her sister would want to help me solve her murder.”

“You think I don’t?”

“I think you haven’t told me everything you know.”

“About what?”

“Let’s start with the bank.” Santana glanced at his notebook before continuing. “You’re a compliance officer at the bank.”

“That’s right.”

“You oversee accounting, investment, and lending operations.”

“Yes. But what’s this got to do with Maddie’s murder?”

Not wanting to compromise a Treasury Department investigation, Santana phrased his next question carefully. “Is there any reason why the bank would be out of compliance?”

Her pale complexion reddened. He watched her struggle to formulate an answer. Footsteps sounded behind him. Turning, he saw Derek Shelton enter the room.

“Detective Santana,” he said. “Nice to see you again.” Shelton reached out a hand.

As Santana stood and shook hands, he noted the smell of sandalwood in Shelton’s cologne and the man’s damp graying hair, as if he’d recently shaved and showered.

“You two live together?” he asked.

“That a sin?” Shelton said with a grin.

Probably frowned upon by the bank, Santana thought. If they even knew.

“We’ve been together for four years now,” Ashley Porter said.

“We don’t need rings to recognize our relationship, right, babe?” Shelton said, glancing at her.

She acknowledged the statement with a half-hearted grin.

“So, what brings you here on a beautiful Sunday afternoon?” Shelton asked.

“What else but Maddie’s murder,” Ashley Porter said.

“Of course,” Shelton said, gesturing for Santana to take a seat.

“Detective Santana wanted to know if I had noticed any compliance issues at the bank,” Porter said.

“Compliance issues?” Shelton said, a confused look on his face as he sat down on the couch a few feet from Santana.

“If Ms. Porter here had found something, she’d report the issue to you, Mr.

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