Chapter 7 #2
Her impulsive swim had been for nothing. And worse, Jarek’s deep frown indicated he was not at all happy.
A wave of regret hit hard as she realized Jarek might be angry enough to walk away from their joint investigation.
What in the world was Di thinking? Obviously, she wasn’t thinking at all because they had absolutely no probable cause to search a private boat. Even if she had found drugs, which he deduced she hadn’t, the evidence couldn’t be used in a court of law.
He wanted to yell in frustration but managed to hold on to his temper as Di climbed out of the river and tried to sluice water from her black jeans and T-shirt as she padded back toward him. He glared at her as she slipped her feet into her shoes and then held out her hand for her phone and weapon.
“That was a stupid move, Di.” He was proud of his restraint. “You trespassed on someone else’s property and could have been arrested.”
“I just thought that guy looked a little like Pablo,” she began, but he cut her off.
“Doesn’t matter. You had no business going through his boat.
If you’d have found anything, we’d be in even worse shape.
I’m sick of you acting like there are no rules.
There are!” His voice had started to rise in anger, so he dialed it back with an effort.
“I’m heading back to the safe house.” He turned and strode away, needing to put some distance between them.
He heard the swishing sound of her wet jeans as she caught up to him. To her credit, she kept her mouth shut. A good thing because there was absolutely no justification for her actions.
Teaming up with her had been a mistake. He’d allowed his personal feelings for her to cloud his judgment.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” Her soft apology did not improve his mood.
“Yeah, you’re always sorry after you do something stupid.” He knew he was being overly harsh. “You’re going to get me fired or worse.”
“I was the one on the boat, not you.” Her tart response belied her earlier apology. “And you have to admit that the boat looked suspicious.”
He stopped and rounded on her. “A boat is a thing. An object. It can’t look suspicious, Di.
Just because it’s older and has faded decals doesn’t make it a drug boat.
And like I said, even if there were drugs on board, we couldn’t use them to nail the guy because we didn’t have probable cause for a search! ”
“I know, I get that.” She tipped her chin, not shying away from his intense gaze. “I was thinking more along the lines of watching that boat from afar. Seeing if we can track the drug movement from the boat to the ultimate destination.”
He sighed and cast his gaze skyward, seeking patience. “Same rule applies. We can’t track the drugs from one location the next based on an illegal search.”
“But if we saw Pablo or someone else with drugs in their possession and exchanging them for cash, you could arrest them.”
Maybe. Not that he was willing to concede even that much. The last thing she needed was encouragement to pursue any more wild ideas. “You should call your buddy Ray Bond. Maybe he doesn’t care if you work outside the confines of the law the way I do.”
When she didn’t say anything in response, he resumed his trek back to the rental car. He was hungry, but they needed to stop at the safe house first. They couldn’t sit in a café with river water puddling around her feet.
“Jarek? Wait.” Di snagged his arm. He stopped to look at her. She nodded toward a warehouse. “See that guy going inside the warehouse? He’s wearing the same army green shirt and torn cargo shorts as the guy who was on the boat.”
He squinted against the bright sun. “Maybe, but we’re too far away to know for sure.”
“I’m telling you, I think it’s the same guy. It could be that the drugs are in the warehouse, waiting to be put onto his boat.”
He hated to admit that was a possibility. “We can check back on the warehouse later if you like. Right now, you’re too noticeable.”
“Yeah, okay.” Di watched the warehouse for another long moment before turning to follow him back to the rental car. When they were within sight of the vehicle, she said, “I know you’re angry with me. I deserve it.” She glanced at him, then back at the car. “I won’t try something like that again.”
“Yeah. Sure.” He didn’t bother to hide his doubt.
He blew out a breath and turned to her. She still looked incredibly beautiful, even with the wet clothes and hair plastered to her skin.
It was downright annoying. “Remember when I said you’d make a good cop?
I was wrong. You’re too impulsive in your quest to find answers with blatant disregard for anything remotely close to police protocol. ”
“I never considered joining the police force.” She looked a little puzzled by his comment. “And you’re right, that was pure impulse on my part. I should have waited to run the idea past you.”
“You think?” There was no missing the heavy sarcasm in his tone.
“I’m not used to working with a partner. And I already apologized, okay?” She looked cross, even though he was the one who had the right to be angry. “Besides, after we find the person trying to kill me, our paths will never cross again.”
That thought bothered him more than it should. Despite his anger, he could secretly admit he’d have liked nothing more than to see her again, outside of his job and the danger nipping at her heels.
Apparently, he’d learned nothing about protecting his foolish heart. With a sigh, he pulled out the key fob and unlocked the car. “Let’s go.”
She rounded the back of the SUV to slide into the passenger seat. Di seemed to ignore the discomfort of her sopping-wet clothes. They rode in silence to the rental house Rex had secured for them.
“Would you please go inside and grab a towel for me?” she asked. “It’s bad enough I got the car wet, I’d rather not do the same to the hardwood floors inside.”
“Yeah. Hang on.” He strode into the house and found the linen closet in the bathroom upstairs. Securing two towels, he returned to find Di standing right where he’d left her. He handed her one towel, then carried the other to the rental car to mop up the water from the floorboards and seat.
“I can do that,” she protested.
“I’ve got it. Go inside and change.” He watched as she wrapped the towel around her waist and headed inside. Then he continued wiping down the interior of the SUV.
He’d thought her stealing Levine’s cell phone was bad, but this latest stunt was a close second.
What if that guy had seen her and started shooting?
It was almost as if she didn’t care as much as he did about her safety.
And she’d taken the risk for nothing since she hadn’t found anything worthwhile.
The only positive note was that they’d gotten a glimpse of the same guy going into the warehouse.
That alone didn’t mean he was a member of the K2 Bloods and running drugs, but it was worth checking out. And wryly acknowledged only Di could turn a foolish impulse into a possible lead.
When he finished with the rental car, he headed inside to pull up the rap sheet for Pablo Hernandez. Di joined him a few minutes later, freshly showered and wearing a clean set of clothes. She dropped into the chair beside him. “Did you want to grab lunch?”
He nodded and gestured to the screen. “Pablo only has a record for possession, and that was last year. He didn’t even have enough weight on him to qualify for intent to sell. Seems odd that he’d go from using drugs to being in charge of the K2 Bloods gang.”
“I don’t have enough experience with the drug business to know if that’s unusual,” she admitted. “It could simply mean he’s smart enough not to get caught.”
“Possible,” he admitted. He took a moment to pull up Terance Warren’s record.
Prior to his most recent arrest, he only had a minor possession charge too.
He wondered if the narcotics officers knew more about Pablo than they let on.
Although he would have expected Ray Bond would have kept Di in the loop.
“Let’s grab a bite and decide our next steps.” He rose and closed the laptop. “I think your idea of watching the warehouse is a good one.”
“Okay.” She stood and followed him outside. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to stop at a café in gang territory.”
He arched a brow. “Really? You want to show your face there for Pablo or his foot soldiers to see?”
“It was just a thought.” She settled into the seat and latched her belt. “I’m concerned that we’ll spin our wheels the rest of the day until darkness falls. Drawing out the gunman seems a logical move.”
More like a death wish, but he kept that thought to himself.
He drove through the park to the café on the other side.
They were busy, but he found street parking a few blocks down from the café.
They were able to grab a sandwich and soft drink to go.
He’d intended to take their food to the car, but on the patio, a couple stood to leave.
Changing his mind, he snared the empty table, gesturing for Di to sit across from him.
She didn’t move to unwrap her sandwich; instead, she bowed her head, waiting for him to say grace. He was touched by her action and leaned forward to pray so she could hear. “Dear Lord Jesus, we thank You for keeping us safe in Your care. Please continue to guide us to the truth. Amen.”
“Amen.” Her response sounded genuine, although he sensed she was still resisting the idea of God sending His only Son to suffer for their sins.
It must be hard for her, he realized, to believe in something she couldn’t see or hear without having any experiences with church or people with faith. Maybe when this was over, he could convince her to attend services with him.
“We should do some research on the owner of the warehouse,” Di said, breaking into his thoughts.
“That’s a good idea.” He took a bite of his sandwich, wishing he’d brought the laptop along. “We can work from the safe house for a while.”
“I doubt Pablo owns the warehouse, and that makes me wonder if there’s someone else even higher on the food chain who is orchestrating the drug trafficking in the area.”
He frowned. “You’re not back on the possibility of someone inside the police department being involved.”
“No, but it does make sense that it’s someone with resources beyond your typical gang member.” She shrugged and took a sip of her soft drink. “Gang leaders come and go, but the drugs keep flowing, right?”
“That’s true.” He eyed her curiously, wondering why she once again sounded like a cop.
Maybe part of the problem was that she was used to working alone.
But really, she needed to consider the legal implications of what they were doing.
Finding the guy who’d targeted her wouldn’t eliminate the threat against her if they couldn’t use the evidence they needed to lock him up behind bars.
“Maybe I was wrong about the boat,” she went on. “We need to get closer to the warehouse to see if we can get a positive ID on Pablo.”
“That guy could have been one of Pablo’s men,” he pointed out. “I agree that getting closer so we can get a few pictures would be good. I still have access to the police database, and we can try to get an ID off facial recognition.”
“That would be great.” She looked enthused about that idea. “We know the driver of the Chevy is involved in the attempts against me.”
“Too bad we didn’t get a good look at him.” He thought back to the drive-by shooting incident, but it had happened too fast for him to get more than a passing glimpse of a face under a mop of hair. He couldn’t even say for sure what race he was.
“It’s okay. Once we find him, I’m sure we’ll discover more evidence that can link him to the shootings.” Di cocked her head. “I don’t suppose Andrews will fill you in on what trace evidence, if any, the techs found?”
“Doubtful.” He pulled out his phone and sent Andrews a text, just in case the guy was feeling better about being dragged out of bed. There was no quick response, so he shoved the phone back into his pocket. “I suspect they probably got some DNA samples, but they’ll take time to get back.”
“Even with an officer-involved shooting?” She scowled. “That’s not right. An attack against you should be enough to send those results to the top of the list.”
Personally, he agreed. Cops generally took attacks against their fellow officers very seriously. If any detective other than Andrews was in charge of the investigation, Jarek was convinced the results would get top priority.
Di finished her sandwich and sat back with her soft drink. “That hit the spot. I was hungry too.”
He finished his last bite and balled up his wrapper.
When he stood and reached for hers, too, intending to toss both into the garbage, movement caught the corner of his eye.
A man with a baseball hat pulled low on his head stopped abruptly.
Then he pulled a gun from the front of his baggy jeans and pointed it toward Di.
“Get down!” He threw himself on top of Di, sending her flying backward in her chair, hitting the concrete patio hard as the sharp report of gunfire reverberated around them.
People screamed and scattered from the scene. Jarek pushed himself off Di, turning in time to see the shooter take off running. He jumped to his feet and began to run toward the car just as the gunman slid into the front passenger seat of the black sedan.
Seconds later, it peeled away from the curb.