17. Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Sixteen
“ L isten, can we just talk here? I don’t see the need to go down to your station,” Steve protested as Morales tried to walk him to an idling SUV emblazoned with PFM insignia.
“Steve, don’t say anything! I’m getting a lawyer!” Dina called out, her phone to her ear as she glared at Morales.
“You’re not under arrest,” Morales said with consternation. “He’s not under arrest!” He shouted at Dina. “He doesn’t need a lawyer.”
“Then let him go,” she argued.
“I’m doing this for his own safety.” Morales shoved him toward the vehicle. “Get in before you get shot or worse.”
“Dina!” Steve shouted, terrified she would be the next target. “Get back inside! Now!”
She opened her mouth to argue, but his tone must have conveyed how serious he was. She nodded and fled back into the building, hopefully right back upstairs to her mother and Jose.
He shook off Morales’ hand and climbed into the SUV. If there was an urgent threat, he needed to survive long enough to get back to Dina. Once he was inside, Morales hopped on the opposite side and then scowled at him. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” Steve shot back.
“My job! A job that you’re making unnecessarily harder with your bullshit!”
“My bullshit?”
“You’re interfering with our investigation. You’ve wormed your way into the family. You’re keeping information from us. You’re engaging in shootouts.”
“I didn’t worm my way into anything. The family invited me to stay with them. I’m not keeping information from you, and I only engaged in that shootout because someone tried to kill us first!”
“What are you even doing out there with the family?”
“I’m staying with friends,” Steve said truthfully.
“Friends? You’re friends of the Farias family?”
“Yes.”
“Really? For how long?”
“Long enough.”
“Do your superiors know?” Morales demanded. “I have a hard time believing they would have sent you here with double conflicts of interest.”
“You don’t need to worry about my superiors. The only thing you need to worry about is finding and apprehending Diego.”
“Which I cannot do if you’re interfering!”
“How am I interfering? I’ve stayed out of the way of your investigation. I haven’t questioned any subjects. I’m not out shaking down leads. I’m not chasing after Diego on my own.”
“You’re here talking to his mother.”
“I was here with Dina and her mother visiting her former mother-in-law,” Steve rebutted. “It was a chat between family.”
“Oh, I’m sure that’s all it was,” Morales dryly replied.
“Why do you think someone is trying to kill me?” Steve asked, desperate to get away from Morales and back to Dina.
“Chatter,” Morales said. “We’ve got CI’s up and down the coast and all through Jalisco reporting that Diego is trying to find someone to kill you. Apparently, he doesn’t take kindly to a gringo cop dating his wife.”
“Ex-wife,” Steve corrected. “And with what money? Unless you’ve got hitmen out here taking contracts on IOUs?”
Morales laughed harshly. “I’d be more worried about Diego coming after you himself, but the latest intel from your side of the border says he broke his hand and probably his leg during the escape. They finally had a chance to get through all of the footage from the drones on scene. There’s no way he can handle a weapon even to defend himself.”
I need to get to him soon. While he’s vulnerable.
“What did you learn from his mother?” Morales asked, prying for information.
“Nothing useful,” Steve said. “She swears she didn’t have a hand in breaking him out of that transport, but she does have contact with him via phone calls. Sporadic,” he clarified. “He wants money.”
“I bet he does. It’s not cheap being on the run from two governments and a whole shit load of enemies who want him dead.”
“You think they’ll get to him before we do?”
“If he’s lucky, they won’t. God knows we’ll be easier on him than those enemies he made while working for the cartel.” Morales grimaced. “If they get to him first, we’ll be lucky to find pieces.”
“Maybe we let them,” Steve suggested carefully.
“I would if I didn’t think there might be collateral damage,” Morales admitted.
“Fair,” Steve agreed. “Listen, those two guys who shot at us—.”
“The kid is alive. He’ll be fine,” Morales assured him. “He’ll be shitting in a bag for the rest of his life, but he’ll live.”
“You should look into the counselor at Camila’s school.” Steve decided to throw Morales a bone. “She’s the one who got Camila all twisted up about her father. She was feeding her lies, manipulating her. Mirta says that the counselor and Diego were some sort of pen pal boyfriend and girlfriend.”
Morales made a face. “Millions of men who aren’t in jail, and she goes after that one?”
“No accounting for taste,” Steve muttered. “I think she’s got more connections to this mess than we know. If there’s a way to get to Diego, she’s probably it.”
“What’s her name?”
“Isabela Campos.”
Morales nodded. “All right. I’ll look into it.”
“Is that it?”
Morales sighed. “I’m supposed to escort you to the airport and get you on the first plane back to Texas.”
“But?” Steve suspected Morales was more on his side than he let on.
“But I’m going to tell them we couldn’t find you,” Morales said, shooting him a pointed look. “ Yet .”
“Understood.”
“I can give you a few days, Steve, but you’ve got to stay out of the way.”
“Done.” Steve promised.
Morales obviously didn’t believe him. “Get out.”
Steve resisted the urge to smile as he got out of the SUV and walked back toward the apartment building. Dina burst out of the double doors and rushed toward him. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Her strength stunned him and made him think of things that really weren’t appropriate.
“Are you okay? They let you go?” Dina pulled back and searched his face. She brushed her fingers along his cheek. “What did they want?”
“I’ll fill you in on the drive back to the house.” Steve wanted to get off this street as quickly as possible. “We need to be more careful. No stops—and I’m driving.”
“Okay.” She agreed without argument which convinced him she was taking this seriously.
They hurried across the street to the parking garage. She tossed him the key fob, and he slid behind the wheel. She managed to keep her curiosity contained until they merged onto the street and started toward the estate. “Well?”
He quickly filled her in on all he’d learned from Morales. “I told him about Chavela.”
“What? Why?”
“To give him something useful to do,” Steve answered honestly. “We can’t chase all the leads. I don’t have any jurisdiction here, and we need someone to pick her up and keep her out of the way.”
“Why?”
Steve didn’t want to say it. He didn’t want to point fingers and cause an argument. “Diego is trying to take out a hit on me. He thinks I’m your boyfriend.”
“My boyfriend?” she echoed in shock. “Why would he think that? How could he even know that we’ve—?”
Steve glanced away from the road to Dina’s beautiful face. Her expression contorted to one of pain and betrayal. “Someone inside the house is talking to Diego?”
Steve nodded—and waited for her to come to the same conclusion he had.
“Camila,” she breathed, her voice torn up with emotion.
With a resigned sigh, he confirmed, “Camila.”