Wolf in the Shadows - Marcia Muller [71]
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This time when I called Sacramento, I reached Anne-Marie. “Are you all right?” she asked. “Hank told me they offered you a totally unsuitable promotion. In my opinion, it was also insulting, and I don’t blame you for skipping out without telling anybody.”
“I can’t talk about that now.”
“If it’s any consolation, Hank feels terrible. As well he should. Where are you?”
“I can’t talk about that, either. I’ll explain it all soon, I promise, but in the meantime I need some information.”
“Sure. But, Sharon—”
“When I get home we’ll discuss it. Right now … What do you know about an organization called Terramarine?”
“They’re eco-terrorists of the worst sort.”
“How far would they go?”
“A few years ago it was suspected that they killed somebody—the captain of a tuna seiner whose fleet was circumventing net inspections by reregistering in a foreign port—but it could never be proven.”
“I don’t understand—about the foreign registry, I mean.”
“The old-style deep-sea nets that most of the purse seiners use trap dolphins along with the tuna, and the dolphins are crushed or drowned. After the Marine Mammal Protection Act was passed, seiners were forced to begin using a new kind of net with a device that allows the dolphins to escape. Our fleet is one of the most closely observed in the world, but foreign registry exempts a boat from inspection. The nonresponsive sector of the fishing industry simply reregistered.”
“And Terramarine murdered this captain as an example?”
“We think so. At first they claimed responsibility, but when an investigation got under way and the authorities started looking closely at them, they all of a sudden had alibis.”
“So they commit acts of terrorism to make a statement. How about to make a profit? Would they kidnap someone for ransom?”
She hesitated. “They might kidnap someone, but I think it would be more for the high-visibility factor than for money.”
That didn’t fit with the Mourning kidnapping. “What do you know about a Mexican environmentalist named Emanuel Fontes?”
“Very dedicated, very highly respected.”
And that didn’t fit with Fontes’s company being the agency through which the kidnappers had intended to collect the ransom.
“Interesting you should mention Fontes,” Anne-Marie added. “That tuna-seiner captain whom Terramarine claimed credit for murdering? He worked for Emanuel Fontes’s brother, Gilbert. Gilbert owns the Corona Fleet. It used to be home-ported in San Diego, but when Fontes bought it, he moved it to Mexico.”
I recalled Gage Renshaw mentioning that there was bad blood between the brothers. “In your opinion, would Emanuel Fontes have dealings with Terramarine?”
“Definitely not.”
“Not even if Terramarine’s purpose was to discredit his brother, or perhaps get back at him for his anti-environmental policies?”
“No. Under no circumstances would Emanuel cater to their brand of terrorism. I know, because I met him at the Rio conference last year. We spoke at length on ethical considerations.”
I sighed; for a moment it had seemed I was on to a good lead. “Only a couple more questions and I’ll let you go. Have you ever heard of someone named Brockowitz in connection with Terramarine?”
“Stan?” She sounded surprised. “I’ve heard of him, but not in connection with that group.”
“Who is he?”
“Stan Brockowitz is a total asshole. A fund-raiser for anti-environmental causes. You’ve heard of Wise Use? Alliance for America?”
“Isn’t Wise Use the group that held its anti-environmental summit at the same time the Rio conference was going on?”
“Uh-huh. Got a lot of press because of that, too. Their agenda is destructive: to open federal parkland to logging and mining. They want to get rid of all federal regulation of the environment. Alliance for America is a coalition of groups representing mining, timber, ranching, and other business interests—sort of the flip side of my organization. Then there’s the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise,