Vince nodded and Lucia thought she would lose what little dinner she’d eaten. This was a man who obviously thought nothing of killing people to get what he wanted, and to keep what he already had.
She walked behind Vince, her hand wrapped inside of his, and hoped she didn’t give in to the urge to slap Jaymes across the face when she saw him.
* * *
“So, the lady was lucky at cards already. That’s wonderful. Won’t you sit down?”
Dustin Jaymes buttoned up his suit jacket and indicated two chairs directly across from his own. Vince pulled out her chair, then sat down next to her.
He sat down and smiled. Vince knew from reading his file that Jaymes was only in his mid-thirties, just like he was. Still, the man looked younger. He was dark haired and attractive, but his cold eyes and calculating gaze kept him from being handsome.
“May I get you something to drink?”
“No, thank you,” Vince replied.
“How about you, Lucia.”
“It’s Ms. Caro, and no.”
“She’s a handful,” Jaymes said, his eyes focused on Lucia. “But I can tell your relationship is more than business.”
“We’re here to talk about Joseph Black Hawk,” Vince said. “Where is he?”
Jaymes’ eyes darkened and Vince knew he didn’t know. The man might run a gambling establishment but he didn’t have a poker face.
“Is he missing?”
“Cut the crap,” Lucia said. “He stole money from you and you’re looking for him. That’s why your goons threatened his mother and broke into my store two nights in a row.”
Vince thanked the stars above she hadn’t mentioned the books. He’d told her specifically to hold her temper, and to let him do the talking.
He squeezed her hand and she pressed her lips together in an angry grimace.
“A little hard to handle, huh?”
“We were talking about Joseph,” Vince said softly.
“I don’t know where he is. He quit about a week ago, which is sad. He was a good employee, as you well know, Ms. Caro. I hated to lose him. And I know nothing about stolen money.”
“Then why did you invite us in here so fast?” Lucia’s voice was full of venom.
“Well, when a cop visits my establishment, I’m always anxious to find out why. I thought maybe I had an unpaid parking ticket.”
His snort of laughter made Lucia’s skin crawl.
Vince stood and helped Lucia to her feet.
“If you hear from Joseph, you’ll give me a call, right?” He passed Jaymes a card.
“Of course, Detective. Anything I can do to help. I hope he’s not in a great deal of trouble.”
“Quite a bit, yes.”
“Well, if you hear from him, will you let me know? I worry about the young man. He’s so polite. So… industrious.”
“I’ll be in touch,” Vince said with a smile. He and Lucia walked out to the main room where she cashed in her winnings.
“Look. Almost two hundred dollars more than we had when we came in.”
“Keep the winnings,” Vince said as they headed out the door.
They had just rounded the passenger side of the pickup, with Vince leaning over to unlock the door when a head poked out of the bed.
“Psst… Lucia.”
“Son of a bitch!” Vince reached for his gun, then stilled his hand as Joseph’s head popped into view.
“Joseph!” Her words were loud and Vince looked over his shoulder to see if they were being followed, and if they attracted any attention.
“Hush,” Vince said, opening the door. “Lucia, get in the truck. You, lie down in the bed until I get to an area I can stop. Shit. First a body on a door, now this. I’ll probably have a fucking heart attack before this is over.”
Chapter 12
Vince drove four miles down the road. When no lights had appeared behind him, he pulled off the road into an outcropping of trees and turned off the lights. Lucia had already crawled into the back seat of the cab and slid the glass open so she could stick her hand out and grasp Joseph’s hand.
He could hear her whispering to him that his mother and siblings were fine, and everything was going to be all right.
“Get up in the back,” Vince yelled at him. “We’re sitting ducks out here. How’d you get out here?”
“I had a friend bring me out. I was supposed to call him when I was ready to come back and he was going to pick me up.”
Joseph climbed into the back seat with Lucia and Vince headed back toward the main road.
“Call him and tell him you’re fine,” Lucia said.
“And just what the hell were you doing out there? Looking for more files to steal?”
“I didn’t stea…”
“Cut the crap,” Vince said. “We’re way past that now. Where are they?”
Joseph pulled up his shirt up and pulled out two small notebooks that were tucked into the front of his pants.
“Why’d you take them in the first place?” Lucia asked.
“Because, I just thought. Man, you know?”
“You thought you could blackmail some of the people on the list,” Vince said as he turned onto the access road for I-25.
“Yeah. They got money.”
“Obviously they don’t,” Lucia said. “If they did, they wouldn’t be at an illegal gambling hall taking loans from a crook.”
“Yeah,” Joseph replied. “But I was gonna put them back. That plus all the money. I was gonna sneak in and put it all back. There’s doors there that nobody watches.”
“You mean nobody watched? I can guarantee you they’re watching them now.”
“Yeah, I tried one and Tank was there. Then, I saw you two go in. I looked for your car, Lucia, but finally saw the truck with the cop parking sticker in the window. So I got in the bed and waited.”
“Call your friend,” Vince said. “Tell him you don’t need a ride so he doesn’t go back out there.”
The beeping of the phone being dialed filled the silence.
“What are we going to do?” Lucia asked, leaning toward him.
“Take him to Ward,” Vince replied.
Joseph’s phone clacked shut. “You arresting me for stealing that stuff? I knew it. Man.” He scooted toward the door and Vince screamed out his name.
“Where do you think you’re going? I’m going seventy miles an hour on the highway. Sit your ass back down. And no, you’re not being arrested. Jaymes didn’t even admit to me you’d stolen anything from him, so you’re off the hook. With us, anyway. Now, Jaymes is probably gonna want to cut your nuts off. After that, he’ll kill you. What were you thinking, Joseph? That he’d never find you?”
“Yeah. I just looked at all that money, and those names and thought, ‘why should he have everything’? I told Bobby I’d gotten sick and would bring them in later. I guess they didn’t buy it.”
“You’re lucky they didn’t slam your ass when you were at Dulce Tienda on Monday.”
“They almost did,” Joseph said. “I had to run like hell and then hide in the church.”
“How much money did you get, and where is it?”
The car was quiet; then Joseph sighed. “More than a hundred grand. And it’s hidden in the apartment above Dulce Tienda.”
“What?” Lucia whipped her head around and stared at him.
“I’m sorry, Lucia. It was me who broke in the first night. I hid the money upstairs. I threw around some flour and stuff so you would think kids did it. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t talk to me.” She flounced around in the seat, focusing her angry eyes on the dark highway.
They rode in silence until they hit the outskirts of town about ten minutes later and Joseph sighed.
“I’m hungry.”
Vince pulled off the highway and into the nearest fast food restaurant. Without asking what Joseph wanted, he ordered five hamburgers, several orders of fries, and three large sodas. When the food was delivered, he handed the bags
and drinks to Lucia, who passed some back to Joseph, her anger still plain on her face. Then, he pulled into a parking spot and put the truck in gear.
He turned to Joseph, who was stuffing his mouth with French fries.
“I’m calling a friend of mine named Ward McGovern. He’s a state cop. And don’t even think about running from me because I’ll catch you and kick your ass. You’ve got one shot at surviving this and that’s with us. Understand?”
Vince swiveled in his seat to look Joseph square in the face. Great sympathy for the teen welled inside him. He looked scared, even as he stuffed food into his mouth. He nodded, his eyes wide.
“Good.” Vince pulled out his phone and dialed Ward’s number. After a few rings, the officer’s voice came on.
“Don’t you ever sleep?” Ward’s voice was heavy and lethargic. “It’s after midnight. You were up at four this morning. Do the world a favor. Find a bed and use it for something besides fucking.”
“You big old wimp,” Vince replied with a laugh. “I have something you’re looking for.”
“Where is he?” The tiredness was gone from his voice.
“Thought that might get your attention. He’s right here, eating French fries and dripping ketchup on my truck seats.”
Vince glanced at Joseph, and then turned his gaze to Lucia. She still sat facing the front. Her anger had lessened somewhat, but there were still tiny lines around her mouth letting him know she was frowning.
She hadn’t touched her food, or her drink.
“Vince!”
“What, sorry. What did you say, Ward?”
“I said, bring the kid to my house. I live near the university.” He gave an address and Vince repeated it.
“We’re on our way.”
When Vince was back on the road, he reached over and squeezed Lucia’s leg. She glanced at him and he smiled.
“He’s a kid.”
“Oh, so you can go hard on him trying to get him to confess, but I can’t be mad when it turns out he’s the one who broke into my store.” She turned to Joseph as she said the last words, spitting them out as if they were fire.
“I said I was sorry,” Joseph yelled out. “I didn’t know where else to put it.”
“Where did you put it, exactly?” Vince glanced at Joseph’s reflection in the rearview mirror.
“I know where it is,” Lucia said. “There’s a crawl space just under the floor in the second bedroom. That’s the only hiding place up there.”
“We don’t want to go there now,” Vince said. “They might be watching. As soon as it’s opened, we’ll go and get it. It’s all there, right?”
“Most of it,” Joseph said. “I gave some of it to my mom.”
Vince turned off of University Boulevard onto Lomas. When he came to Girard, he turned right and headed to Monte Vista. As he snaked through the streets on his way to Ward’s house, and silence reigned in the car, he realized he hadn’t thought about Rodney Baker all day.
Not once had the criminal appeared to him, berating him for the shooting, or telling him he was a loser. Maybe he’d just needed to throw himself into a case to exorcise his demon. Or maybe, just maybe, it was the sweet little woman sitting next to him.
That thought made him smile, and, as tired as he was, he felt his cock twitch in appreciation for his sweet Lucia, his little dose of apuro.
* * *
“Some pretty big names on this list,” Ward said as he pushed the book away from him.
Vince closed the book he was looking at and glanced over at Lucia and Joseph. She was stretched out on Ward’s couch, he in the chair opposite it. Both of them were fast asleep.
In her sleep, she looked exactly like an angel, her black hair spread out behind her head. She still wouldn’t talk to Joseph. He needed to have a word with her about that. He understood she was angry, but the two of them needed to talk. Lucia didn’t seem like the type of person to carry a grudge.
“So, what do we do now?” Vince asked.
“Jaymes’ name is not on these anywhere,” Ward said. “We have to find a way to link him with these books. Maybe if we talk to some of the more prominent people listed here we can get them to agree to testify against him.”
“Fat chance,” Vince said. “The politicians on that list would never be elected again. There’s no way they’d put themselves at risk.”
“You’re right,” Ward said. “What we need to do is make him commit an even bigger crime.”
“Like attempted capital murder,” Vince said.
Ward lifted his eyebrows at him in question.
“Let your man on the inside tell Jaymes I have the files… that I’m studying them to see what we can come up with. He’s already confronted me once tonight. If he thinks I have information against him, he’ll send his goons after me. We set a trap, capture them, and you know there is no honor among thieves. They’ll talk if they think they’re going to prison for life.”
Ward shook his head. “He always manages to bribe his guys to take the fall. This time wouldn’t be any different.”
“It would if I could get them to talk before they tried to kill me, get them to use Jaymes’ name a few times. He’d be toast, and we’d be sitting pretty.”
“You know, that just might work.”
“Might?” Vince laughed. “It will. All we need is to make sure he knows I’m someplace quiet and secluded, like my house. It’s outside the city limits. Sits back off the road. Easy to find.”
“I think you’re a nut who has a death wish.”
“I think I’m a man who will do anything to see this resolved. There’s no way in hell I’m going to let this linger with the chance he’d come after Lucia. Tonight I was with her, but that won’t always be the case. She’s been through enough right now.”
“I’m jealous. I wish I could find a woman.”
“You know, I introduced you to a few cute little subbies. What was the problem?”
“We didn’t ring each others’ bells. We had fun, yeah, but it was nothing permanent. Do you think this is, for you?”
“Yeah,” Vince said softly. “I do.”
Chapter 13
At eight that morning, Ward left to go downtown and take care of business. He promised to return in a few hours, after arranging for someone to take Joseph to be with his family in Farmington, and Lucia promised to have lunch waiting for him.
“Enchiladas? With red sauce?”
“Sure,” she said with a laugh. Her smile had faded, though, when Joseph had walked into the room. “Beans and rice, and some corn with jalapeños and salsa? I’ll even make fresh tortillas.”
“That does it, Beaumont; I’m keeping her with me.”
“Doubt it. She’s my Lucia.” He kissed her forehead and left to take a shower.
When she was alone in the kitchen, she went through Ward’s cupboards, looking for ingredients she would need to make the lunch. She was just stretching for some flour on the top shelf when Joseph’s hand appeared above hers.
“I’ll get it for you.” He set the unopened sack on the counter, then backed away. “Please don’t be mad at me, Lucia.”
“Joseph, why would you break into the store instead of coming to me? And why would you lie to me? I thought so much more of you than that.”
“If I came to you, you would have made me take it back, or go to the cops. My mother needs that money!”
“Does your mother need a son in prison, or lying in his coffin? Did you ever think of that?”
“No.”
“And then, after they broke into the store looking for the money, you still didn’t say anything!”
“I don’t think they were looking for money, or the books,” Vince said from the doorway. He was wiping a towel over his wet blond hair. Lucia’s heart warmed at the sight of him. “I think it was a warning to Joseph. They wanted him to know they could get to him anywhere. That they knew where to find him. I think they expected him to bring back everything after that.”
&nbs
p; “And then none of this would have happened,” Joseph said. “I should have just taken it back.”
“Joseph,” Vince said. “If you had, you’d be dead. Like I said last night, let us handle this.”
The teen turned and walked out of the kitchen, his shoulders slumped.
“Don’t be too hard on him,” Vince said to Lucia. “What was it you told me? He’s had a hard life?”
“Yes, he has. But that doesn’t give him the right to break into my store. Or to leave stolen money in the apartment upstairs.”
“I know that. But he feels pretty bad about it already. And he values your opinion, and your approval.”
“You know, for a man who doubts himself so much, you’re pretty smart.”
“I can be. When I have a beautiful woman for inspiration.”
Vince leaned down and nuzzled her neck. “How are your nipples, and that tasty little clit?”
“Hungry.” She shivered as he trailed his tongue over her neck to the other side.
“Good. ’Cause after Ward picks up Joseph, I’m taking you to my place. I have plans for you this afternoon.”
“But I have to work today. I’m meeting this afternoon with Yolanda Cassas and her daughter Vanessa about the Quinceañera.”
“What time?” His hand captured a breast and squeezed gently, his fingers seeking her nipple through the material.
“About four-thirty, after Vanessa gets out of school.”
“You’ll be there. And you’ll be tingling.”
* * *
Lucia wasn’t surprised Vince lived outside town. The smallish adobe house he pulled up to suited him perfectly. It sat off by itself, with the Sandia Mountains providing a beautiful view from the wide deck. He had a hot tub on the deck, and a pool sunken into the ground.
“In the winter, we’ll have to come out here and make love in the tub while it’s snowing,” Vince said to her, his fingers working the buttons on her blouse. “The different sensations between hot and cold will be very interesting.”
Dark Redemption Page 30
