****
Rafa took the elevator down to the third floor and marched into Montenegro’s room. He slammed the door. Montenegro jumped and let out a groggy moan. “Wake up!” Rafa jammed his hands down on the bed frame and shook it.
“Stop,” Montenegro moaned.
“Come on, Nicolas. Man up. All you have are a couple of stitches.”
“You put me through a window!”
“Whose fault is that? What were you doing at Detective Green’s house?”
Montenegro swallowed and inched lower beneath the blankets. He trembled and Rafa read the fear in his eyes. This was not the Montenegro he remembered when he first came out to California. “We were supposed to kill her, like we did Diego’s girlfriend.”
“Why?”
“We wanted you. Thought you might need convincing if you were setting a trap. It was all to get to you.” He sniffed. A shaky hand covered his eyes. Montenegro exhaled sharply. After glancing at the ceiling, their gazes met. Montenegro’s eyes watered. “What’s going to happen now?”
Rafa couldn’t believe it. The man was afraid, but of what he wasn’t sure. Would the Snakes want him dead for his failure? Most likely. Did he fear prison? Whatever scared him could be used as leverage.
“Well, that depends on you.”
Nicolas’ brows came together. “On me?”
“Yes.” Rafa’s gaze caught and held Nicolas’. “What you’re willing to say.”
Montenegro breathed out again. He glanced around at the furnishings of a typical hospital room: dated chairs, single-colored curtains providing the only color in the room, the white pitcher on his bedside table. When he met Rafa’s eyes again, he sighed.
“What do you want to know?” he asked quietly.
“Everything. Start from the beginning. Tell me what you know about La Cocina Dulce, and I’m not talking about the culinary side of the house.”
Montenegro held up a bandaged hand. “First, I want to say that I was just following orders.”
“Got it.”
“Yeah, but Huera was the man in charge. I didn’t kill nobody!”
The bright white of his eyes and the light sheen of sweat above his upper lip told Rafa he was either telling the truth, or he was afraid of the worst-case scenario: the electric chair for committing all three murders. Virginia, a death penalty state, put to death the most criminals second only to Texas. Rafa was the first to question Montenegro since the attack at Genie’s house. He assumed Montenegro, while lying here in the hospital, had a lot of time to think about how his life would play out over the next several decades.
“Alright, if you write a statement telling me everything, I’m sure the district attorney will take into consideration your secondary role, but I can’t make promises. It’ll all depend on what you tell us.”
“I can tell you that you have twenty-four hours to catch Santoro and Dominguez, before they disappear.”
“Wait, who is Dominguez?”
“The assistant manager.”
So, both the manager, Santoro, and his assistant were involved in ordering the killings. Rafa leaned forward. “What do you mean twenty-four hours?”
Montenegro licked his dry lips. “The plan was if me and Huera failed, the owner and manager would leave the country within twenty-four hours and go into hiding. The restaurant will be under new management by tomorrow. I don’t know where they be going and that’s the truth.”
“Guard!” Rafa sprinted to the door and opened it. The posted guard was already there with his hand on the knob. “Get on a phone and have Franco get down here to take this guy’s statement.” He pointed at Montenegro. “Remember, write it all down.”
Montenegro nodded profusely.
Rafa whipped out his cell and began jogging to the nearest stairwell at the end of the hall. He dialed the lieutenant’s personal cell number.
“Santiago?”
“Sir, we have less than twenty-four hours to pick up Santoro and Dominguez before they leave the country.”
“You mean those guys in charge of the restaurant?”
“Exactly.” Rafa huffed as he darted up the stairs, taking them two at a time. “The plan was for them to bail if I survived this last attack.”
The lieutenant let out a string of curses. “I’m with Compton right now.”
“We need to mobilize. Is the task force ready to make an arrest?” He heard Winters say something to Compton before he returned to the line.
“They executed a search warrant on the restaurant the other day and they have enough evidence for an arrest.”
Rafa opened the door to Genie’s floor and pressed forward to her room. “Then we have to move now.”
“I agree. You want in? Compton will agree, won’t you, Compton?” Winters asked gruffly. Rafa didn’t hear Drake’s response but got the go-ahead for Winters to meet him downstairs in the hospital lobby. They would then proceed to a staging area and prepare for the bust.
Rafa stopped outside Genie’s room. Genie’s parents had arrived about an hour ago but were momentarily absent. He stepped quietly inside. He walked to her bed and smiled down at her sleeping form. Lips slightly parted, she breathed in and out, a relaxed rhythm. He brushed a hand on the soft, brown waves of hair fanning out over the white pillows. He followed the stream to her head and leaned over, placing a velvet kiss on her forehead.
“Sleep well, beautiful. I’ve got to go take down some bad guys.”
Chapter Seventeen
Rafael (The Santiago Brothers Book One) Page 39