through butter. What happened wasn’t your fault.” Merrick put her hands up when Cain opened her mouth. “Juan is an idiot who deserves whatever death you’ve planned for him, but that’s not who I’m interested in.”
“Anthony, you mean?”
“Without that motherfucker, Juan would’ve spent his life jacking off while he thought about Emma. No offense, but you know that’s as close as he would’ve gotten.”
“My problem, though, is that Anthony is now linked to the idiot and his mother because he has no other option. I don’t exactly have an informant in the FBI, but there’s no way Annabel takes him back.”
Merrick stared at her for a long moment. “They were going to cut Barney Kyle loose. Have you forgotten that?”
Barney Kyle had turned Emma against her or, more accurately, had driven her away. Not only had he been the special agent in charge of the FBI office in New Orleans, but he’d been on a rival family head’s payroll. Merrick had derailed his release from jail by putting a bullet in his head at Cain’s order.
“Annabel can try cutting a deal with him, but to do that, she’s got to find him. It’s my goal in life to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“It’s what I really want for my birthday this year,” Merrick said, in a way that made Cain laugh.
“So what answers do you have so far?”
“Hector is gaining strength from Florida to Texas, and only two speed bumps are in his way keeping him from total dominance.”
“Carlos Luis has to be my first guess,” she said of the late Rodolfo Luis’s son, a son he’d claimed only hours before he died. Before that, Carlos had served him faithfully as the head of his security detail. Rodolfo had made it clear to everyone who worked for him that his business and money were to go to his son, not his traitorous sister and nephew.
“Carlos has been keeping what rightfully belongs to him in Mexico and is slowly branching north. Because the buyers find him fairer than Hector, he’s got a steady stream of people willing to work with him.”
“That gives me another guess.” Merrick nodded when she held her index finger up. “Gracelia Luis is trying to make her way without her big brother.”
“She’s trying, but those truly loyal to Rodolfo are on Carlos’s side, and because Rodolfo’s house is like a fortified compound, Gracelia’s homeless.”
The pieces were starting to fall, but the major ones were still missing. “No word on Juan and Anthony?”
“So far, no.” Merrick’s face lost all expression. “Any mention of the Luis name mostly leads back to Carlos. Gracelia now goes by the name Ortega, and everyone fell in line when it came to compliance. I think that has more to do with insult than respect. No one, no matter what power they hold, agreed with the bitch’s actions. In a way it amounted to Jarvis taking your father out to gain control. It just isn’t done.”
“Gracelia doesn’t understand honor or code, but she’ll catch on eventually. The Bracatos did, after all, and look what happened there. That name died out, and the world is a better place for it.”
“Go home, and I’ll keep digging.”
“Thanks.” She stood and placed a kiss on Merrick’s forehead. “It’s time to send the lost sheep on its way.”
*
Shelby glanced at her vibrating phone but didn’t answer. Fiona O’Brannigan was calling again in an effort to tell her to drop this quest to see Cain, she guessed. They had the same conversation every day, so she wasn’t expecting a change in topic now from the California detective who had led the investigation into her parents’ murders. Her dad had been Fiona’s mentor on the force, but even that close friendship couldn’t make Fiona understand the enormity of what she’d lost.
The cops weren’t ever going to find answers about the gunman, no matter how many man-hours they dedicated to this case. Shelby knew only that her parents were butchered as a diversion, nothing
“Anthony, you mean?”
“Without that motherfucker, Juan would’ve spent his life jacking off while he thought about Emma. No offense, but you know that’s as close as he would’ve gotten.”
“My problem, though, is that Anthony is now linked to the idiot and his mother because he has no other option. I don’t exactly have an informant in the FBI, but there’s no way Annabel takes him back.”
Merrick stared at her for a long moment. “They were going to cut Barney Kyle loose. Have you forgotten that?”
Barney Kyle had turned Emma against her or, more accurately, had driven her away. Not only had he been the special agent in charge of the FBI office in New Orleans, but he’d been on a rival family head’s payroll. Merrick had derailed his release from jail by putting a bullet in his head at Cain’s order.
“Annabel can try cutting a deal with him, but to do that, she’s got to find him. It’s my goal in life to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“It’s what I really want for my birthday this year,” Merrick said, in a way that made Cain laugh.
“So what answers do you have so far?”
“Hector is gaining strength from Florida to Texas, and only two speed bumps are in his way keeping him from total dominance.”
“Carlos Luis has to be my first guess,” she said of the late Rodolfo Luis’s son, a son he’d claimed only hours before he died. Before that, Carlos had served him faithfully as the head of his security detail. Rodolfo had made it clear to everyone who worked for him that his business and money were to go to his son, not his traitorous sister and nephew.
“Carlos has been keeping what rightfully belongs to him in Mexico and is slowly branching north. Because the buyers find him fairer than Hector, he’s got a steady stream of people willing to work with him.”
“That gives me another guess.” Merrick nodded when she held her index finger up. “Gracelia Luis is trying to make her way without her big brother.”
“She’s trying, but those truly loyal to Rodolfo are on Carlos’s side, and because Rodolfo’s house is like a fortified compound, Gracelia’s homeless.”
The pieces were starting to fall, but the major ones were still missing. “No word on Juan and Anthony?”
“So far, no.” Merrick’s face lost all expression. “Any mention of the Luis name mostly leads back to Carlos. Gracelia now goes by the name Ortega, and everyone fell in line when it came to compliance. I think that has more to do with insult than respect. No one, no matter what power they hold, agreed with the bitch’s actions. In a way it amounted to Jarvis taking your father out to gain control. It just isn’t done.”
“Gracelia doesn’t understand honor or code, but she’ll catch on eventually. The Bracatos did, after all, and look what happened there. That name died out, and the world is a better place for it.”
“Go home, and I’ll keep digging.”
“Thanks.” She stood and placed a kiss on Merrick’s forehead. “It’s time to send the lost sheep on its way.”
*
Shelby glanced at her vibrating phone but didn’t answer. Fiona O’Brannigan was calling again in an effort to tell her to drop this quest to see Cain, she guessed. They had the same conversation every day, so she wasn’t expecting a change in topic now from the California detective who had led the investigation into her parents’ murders. Her dad had been Fiona’s mentor on the force, but even that close friendship couldn’t make Fiona understand the enormity of what she’d lost.
The cops weren’t ever going to find answers about the gunman, no matter how many man-hours they dedicated to this case. Shelby knew only that her parents were butchered as a diversion, nothing
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