Epilogue - Elena
New Mexico Penitentiary
Santa Fe, New Mexico
The clank of the steel door behind me is enough to make my stomach flip. I keep my shoulders back, chin up, but the air in this place? It’s stale. Coated in sweat, bleach, and regret.
Its one claim to fame is that the most violent prison riot in history took place here. Some people say it’s haunted, or that the condemned area that used to be the main cell block is at least.
With the way gooseflesh fans over my skin, I believe it. There’s definitely an evil presence in this place.
Like the soulless demon I’m here to visit.
The prosecutor assigned to Diego’s case filled us in on all of Diego’s crimes and he was capable of even worse crimes than I’d ever imagined.
I take a seat in the cramped visitation room. Plexiglass separates me from Diego. I hardly breathe as he walks in looking thinner, paler, but no less smug. Orange jumpsuit, cuffs at his wrists, and yet he still smirks like he chose to be here.
“There you are, little mouse,” he drawls, sliding into the seat across from me. “What a surprise. Didn’t expect a conjugal visit so soon.”
I don't flinch. If he smells fear, he’ll just toy with me and this will never work.
“This isn’t a social call, Diego.”
“I see you lost the baby weight. Fuck, you look good. My dick is already hard, Elena.”
Bile rises in my throat, but I smile like he’s paid me a compliment. “Well, I’d hate for your new beau to get jealous so let’s just get right down to it, shall we?”
“My girl, always getting right to the point.” He leans forward, voice low and oozing contempt. “Still looking for ways to keep your little cowboy safe?”
“My husband,” I correct, even though we haven’t had our real wedding or finalized the paperwork yet.
Issac is very much my husband as far as I’m concerned.
“But I’m not actually here about him. I think you saw first-hand that he’s perfectly capable of keeping himself safe.
If you need help remembering, you can look in a mirror.
” His nose and jaw are still noticeably disfigured since Isaac broke them.
I think the word the lawyer said the doctor used was shattered.
His jaw flexes, the misplaced muscles jumping. I see it—that flicker of resentment he tries to hide. Doesn’t matter. I didn’t come here to spar. I came for answers.
“I know you were digging around the Logan family,” I say evenly. “I might’ve been half unconscious, but I remember most of what you said.”
“Do you remember the night we fucked, Elena?” A guard glances over at me, but I wave him off.
“Barely. I think I dozed off during that too.”
He jumps up out of his chair and spits on the plexiglass. A slimy wad of saliva rolls slowly downward. I nearly gag. “You fucking cunt. Oh, if you only knew the plans I have for you.”
“I’m sure that’s what your cellmate is currently thinking about you as well.”
I check my manicure. Feign a yawn.
The one thing I’ve learned about Diego is that he hates to be ignored. Or not taken seriously.
My heart is pumping double time because he startled the shit out of me when he jumped up, but I make no outward show of emotion. Thank goodness for acting classes.
The guard gives him a warning.
One more outburst and visitation time is over.
“Play nice, pumpkin. Isn’t that what your mommy always called you? Her little pumpkin? How is she taking the news of your incarceration and cartel involvement?”
“She liked the benefits. The new car. I was about to buy her a nice new house. She didn’t ask questions and didn’t complain.
” He looks away briefly. Then leans back in his seat and like a mask he slips on and off, his face eases into a bored expression.
“You just come here to tease me then? With those fake tits out like that? Husband not quite getting it done at home?”
His words crawl over my skin like cockroaches. I do have more cleavage on display than usual, in case I needed leverage to get him to tell me what I need to know.
“I came here to ask you what you were saying about Jack Logan’s murder. When I was regaining consciousness, I heard you.”
He doesn’t know it, but I have it recorded on my phone. I hit record before he abducted me. My phone caught everything he said. We gave the recording to the DA and that’s how they made Diego’s case so easily. “You said, ‘too bad those boys that took the dad out didn’t get the sons, too.’”
“Okay. And?”
I take a deeper breath than I would like to in here. “And I want to know what boys. Who were they and why did they kill an innocent rancher and father who never hurt anyone in his life?”
Diego snorts. “You think that entire family’s mierda doesn’t stink. Well, guess what? They got secrets, too.”
“Like what?”
He makes a face. “Like you don’t obtain and hold onto that much land without taking out some of the competition. Or calling in some favors.”
“So, they what? Called in a favor and it got Jack murdered?”
He chuckles. “You think I’m just gonna hand that over to you? Out of the goodness of my heart?”
“I don’t think you have a heart. Or a soul. But I think you’re scared,” I say. “As you should be. You’re in a dangerous cell block with the most violent offenders. And I think you'd like to live long enough to see the outside again.”
His cocky grin fades just enough to let the truth slip through. I press my advantage while I have it.
“My brother-in-law is a Navy SEAL. Still active in the Teams. Still has people on the inside. Connections, like you. He can make your life in here much more comfortable or much more difficult.”
Diego sits back, propping his elbows on the small counter in front of him. “That a threat, Mrs. Logan?”
“It’s just the facts, Mr. Torres. Plain and simple.
” I show him the palms of my hands. “You want to move to the cushy population with the finance guys who scammed people out of their retirement plans instead of stabbing them to death in their sleep? Or are you getting attached to that big ol’ roommate of yours? ”
He only stares at me with narrowed eyes as if he’s calculating the odds of me using my acting chops to fake him out or having the kind of power to make a difference for him.
“This is a one-time only offer. I’m not ever stepping foot in this hellhole again. I thought maybe we could help each other out.” I stand to leave as if I couldn’t care less. “But if you’re not interested—”
“Wait.”
His voice stops me cold. I sit back down
He scrubs a hand over his face, looks behind him like the guard might be eavesdropping. “Can you really get me into a safer cell block?”
“I can absolutely try,” I say carefully. “Depends on what you give me.”
Diego leans in, voice low. “There were these two guys, posing as drifters looking for work. Some old guy hired them as ranch hands after your worm food father-in-law told them to get lost. They were pros. Paid hitters.”
My chest goes tight. “And?”
He frowns. “And someone paid them to take Jack Logan out. I tracked them down, tried to follow the money but they didn’t know where it came from.
Fucking morons. It’s a wonder they got the job done.
It was wired through a shell corporation.
Offshore. Doesn’t exist anymore. If I hadn’t gotten arrested and thrown in this godforsaken place, I might have found the answer for you. ”
“Gee, Diego, I’m sorry my husband didn’t let you rape and maim me.”
He rolls his eyes. “I wasn’t going to fucking maim you. You would’ve enjoyed what we did. You know how you are. Acting all prim and proper in those shitty movies but you’re really just another whore.”
“So, you really don’t know who hired them?
Or are you trying to save something for later, like a bargaining chip?
” I stare into his flat black eyes, refusing to let him know how vile his words make me feel inside.
“I meant what I said. This is your last shot to give me something worth getting a Logan brother to help you.”
He shrugs. Shows me his cuffed hands. “All I know is whoever it was, they wanted Jack Logan gone bad enough to hire professionals and covered their tracks. They paid those boys half a mil. Said there would be more if they could ensure the ranch went under and the land went to auction.”
Isaac said he and his brothers suspected it was about the land. Said a wealthy developer had been making aggressive offers.
“What are their names?”
“Whose names?”
I scoot my chair back. “You’re out of time to play dumb.” I point at the large led screen countdown clock behind him. Visiting hours are ending in mere minutes.
“Names were fuckin’ weird. Cane…no, Cage and Roan.
They were brothers or cousins or something.
Last name was a fake, but they blew the money in a casino and a strip club in Vegas and got arrested there.
Both of them had a bunch of aliases. Someone bailed them out and killed them before I could get any further. ”
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
Vegas. As in Las Vegas where Isaac’s brother, Caleb, has likely been researching his dad’s killer on his own and was recently put into a coma.
It could be a coincidence. Or something much more sinister.
Either way, I have to get to Isaac. Tell him all of this while it’s fresh in my mind.
“Hey,” Diego calls after me as I turn to leave, “You’re going to tell them I cooperated, right?
Right?” He smacks the plexiglass several times causing the guard to step over and stand him up.
He keeps yelling. “Tell that brother-in-law of yours I’m worth keeping alive.
When I get out, I can help track down whoever put a hit out on their dad. ”
I turn to stare into the eyes of the man I thought was my childhood friend as a prison guard restrains him.
I see nothing, no soul, no concern for anyone but himself in his eyes.
He must see the truth in mine.
“You better make good on your promise, you fucking bitch. Or I promise when I get out of here, you’re—” the guard tases him and he goes down on his knees.