Colt Crawford - Chapter 15 (Monday)

The headquarters for Destiny Investment Services was located in a five story office building in the downtown area only a few blocks from the beach. The first two floors were leased out to smaller businesses, while Destiny’s offices occupied the top three floors. Krissy parked her unmarked police cruiser at a metered spot on the street right in front of the building and dropped a couple of quarters in the machine on her way inside.

The lobby was nicely appointed with marble floors and a semi-extravagant chandelier. It was surrounded by cherry wood walls that had niches carved out for marble sculptures. The sculptures depicted powerful horses in various poses. Each horse had a muscles that rippled across their chests and legs and gave the feeling of power to anyone who looked upon them. Clearly the idea was to build upon the egos of those who entered the building and make them feel even more powerful than they already were. The opulence was not an unexpected situation for the two detectives since Colt had pulled up the company’s website on his iPhone on the way over. Destiny Investments specialized in attracting a high dollar clientele and had perfected the art of treating its clients like royalty.

Pressing the button on the wall, Colt stepped back to wait for the elevator door to open. He and Krissy didn’t know what to expect when they met the father of the prime suspect in their investigation, but they had several questions that they wanted to answer. The first thing they would need to know is the real name of Jailene Arroyo. The elevator let out a polite ding and the doors opened.

The fifth floor office of Luis Godinez was as impressive as the lobby. After his assistant had notified him of their arrival, Mr. Godinez had invited them to come in. “We won’t be long,” Krissy promised before starting her questioning.

She pulled a photo of Jailene Arroyo from a file and placed it on the large desk. “Is this your daughter?” Krissy began.

Godinez glanced at the picture and nodded his head. “What has she done?” he asked.

“That’s what we are trying to find out,” Colt replied. “Can you tell us her real name?”

Godinez hesitated. He obviously knew his daughter well enough to have expected her to get into trouble, yet it still bothered him. He took a deep breath and replied, “Destiny. Destiny Godinez. I named this company after her.”

Over the course of their questioning, Godinez revealed that his primary motivation in life was to rise above the stereotyped image that haunted most Mexicans in California. He was determined to give his kids a better life than he had had growing up in the various farming communities that kept the Mexicans employed. In his passion for success, he had failed to realize that he was spoiling his youngest daughter to the point of failing her. “I created her,” he said. “She never had to wait fro anything in her life, and now look what she’s done. She needs to be caught just so she can learn. I’ll help you in any way I can.”

“Do you have any idea where she might have gone?” Krissy added.

“She has a boat in the harbor. She always goes there when she’s upset. I’d start with that.”

Colt and Krissy thanked Luis Godinez for his time and headed back to the elevator. Their pace was quickened as they walked through the lobby and toward the car. Godinez had mentioned that Destiny loved to be out on the sea, but had no clue how to handle the 50 foot yacht. She didn’t employ a full-time captain, but had a few guys she could call whenever she wanted to take the boat out. “If she hasn’t hired a crew, she can’t move the boat,’ Krissy said.

“Let’s just hope we get there before she does,” Colt added.