I moved quickly to her side, undoing the blindfold first. “Marissa, it’s all right. We’re the police. We’re here to help you.” When I showed her my badge, she seemed to relax a little.
I reached for the tape covering her mouth. “This is going to hurt when I take it off. Is that okay?”
She nodded, and I quickly peeled the tape back. She barely flinched.
After Tip untied her, I picked Marissa up. She wrapped her arms around my neck, and her legs around my waist. Her pants were soaking wet. She was crying.
“That mean lady tied me up,” she said.
I hugged her to my chest and almost cried, myself. “I know, baby. Don’t worry. Nobody’s going to hurt you now. We’ve got you.”
“Where’s my mom? Where’s Daddy? That lady said Daddy was hurt.” Marissa cried more, and said, “Is he all right?”
I wanted to lie to her, to tell her that things would be okay…but I couldn’t. Right then, I couldn’t even talk without fear of crying. Instead of answering, I patted her back.
Fortunately, Delgado was there. He leaned in and kissed the top of her head. “I’m sure wherever your daddy is, he’s all right. Don’t worry about him right now. I’m calling some people who can help you.”
Delgado stepped away and got on the phone with Julie. “We need child services over here. As soon as they can, yeah.”
I had piss all over my clothes, and my heart was breaking for this little girl. I made a vow right then and there. El Terrible, whoever the hell she was, would pay for what she’d done.
Chapter 50
Aftermath
Child services showed up to take Marissa. She wanted to stay with us, and my heart broke again when we had to let her go. I promised her I’d visit, but I worried about how she’d cope when she found out about her parents.
“She’ll be okay,” Delgado said, as the car pulled away. “Kids are resilient.”
I knew as well as anyone how resilient a kid can be, but vivid images of finding my mother lying at the bottom of the stairs still haunted me on too many nights, and it happened twenty years ago. I was twelve at the time. Marissa was only five. I couldn’t imagine facing what lay ahead of her. Seeing her face, hearing her cry and ask for her mother had changed me. Perhaps forever.
Since we’d found Marissa, Tip hadn’t been himself either. He wasn’t the type to let it show that things bothered him, but inside he hurt. I could tell. We headed back to the station to pick up where we’d left off.
“We still need to find the leak,” I said. “It may be the only way to get El Terrible.”
Tip turned off I-10 toward downtown. “I’ll be the one to say it—I was wrong about Julie. She came through for us back there.”
“You really thought it was her?” I asked.
“I didn’t want to, but I tried to look at the facts, and they pointed to her.”
“Too many others could have known,” Delgado said. “She wasn’t the only one with access to the information.”
“Let’s talk about that,” I said. “Who else knew about all of the things that have been leaked—not just one or two, but all of them?”
“Herb and Charlie,” Tip said. “And Coop.”
“Rodriguez was there once or twice,” Delgado added. “And Vasquez.”
“I don’t know how this is going to work,” I said. “We also had people from County. From different departments at the station. And we have no way of knowing if the chief or Coop told anyone.”
“But only one leaked piece matters,” Ribs said. “The safe house. How many people knew about both the safe house and the password?”
Tip said, “You’re right about that. Not many of us were around then. You, me, Cruz.”
“No way did anybody follow us,” Ribs said. “We took the most evasive route I could think of, with plenty of backup for spotting tails.”
“It doesn’t matter how many people knew about the safe house beforehand,” I said. “Too many people were exposed to it while we were setting it up—Julie, Charlie, Herb, Coop, Renkin, whoever was in on it from Harris County. Could be twenty or more.”
We were almost at the station when Coop called. “Where are you?” she asked.
“About to pull in,” Tip said. “Why?”
“Is Delgado with you?”
“Him and Gianelli,” Tip said. “Why? What’s up?”
“Come to my office when you get here.”
Tip hung up and looked at me. “You have any idea what this is about?”
I shook my head. So did Delgado.
Ten minutes later, we walked into Coop’s office, surprised to see Renkin standing behind her desk. But Bobby Stenson’s presence explained it.
Tip gestured toward Stenson. “What’s he doing here?”
Bobby stepped forward. He looked a lot better than he had that day in the bar. “I’m here to tell you and your partner to stay the hell away from my case. And my men.”
Before Tip could react, Chief Renkin stepped out from behind Coop’s desk and positioned himself between them. “Bobby has men in deep undercover. They’ve been working on this meth deal for months. All of it with my approval.”
Tip’s brows wrinkled up. He relaxed and looked at Bobby. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”
Bobby got close to Tip. “Because I’ve got men whose lives depend on me. I didn’t know who I could trust.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“There’s a leak,” Coop said. “You and Connie were right about that. But the leak started long before your case. Or Delgado’s.” She pointed to a file on her desk. “Somebody’s been getting information to these dealers. Every time Stenson thought he had them trapped, they changed course.”
“But your men never got caught?” Tip said.
“Lucky for us, no,” Stenson said. “But that’s because only two people knew who they were—besides me—Chief Renkin and Captain Cooper.” Bobby shook his head. “That’s why I couldn’t tell you, Tip. It wasn’t that I didn’t think I could trust you; it was because I had to know that the leak wasn’t us, and the only way to do that was to contain it.”
I looked to Coop and then back to Renkin. Now I knew why she had told me to keep Tip in line, but judging by their looks, they were holding back something. “Why are we hearing about it now?”
Renkin stepped forward. “On my orders, Captain Cooper let certain people in on the investigation. We’ve narrowed the leak down to three or four people.”
“Who?” Tip asked.
Coop removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes. “Vasquez, Julie, Herb, and Charlie.” She shook her head several times. “I hate to say it, but as far as we can tell, it has to be one of them.”
“We’ve got our list down to almost the same people,” I said. “I was going to see Julie when you called.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Renkin said. “We don’t want to tip our hand.”
I looked Renkin in the eyes. “Chief, I know I haven’t been here long, but you’ve got to trust me on this.”
He stared at me, then turned to Coop, who looked to Stenson. “Bobby?”
“One of you needs to tell me what the hell is going on,” Tip said.
The Chief nodded to Stenson, who spoke up. “We have information on two of Carlos’ men, the two you are after—Tico and Chappo.”
“Why are we just getting this now?” Delgado asked.
“Because if we can get them on the drug charges, it will put them away for a lot longer than a sexual assault charge that might or might not stick.”
“I’m guessing you’re telling us this for a reason,” I said.
Bobby nodded. “As far as we can tell, they’ve got the meth in a warehouse on Navigation. Problem is, we can’t get a warrant. We need a way to make them move the drugs.”
Tip smiled. “So if the leak sends a message that we’re on to them…”
“Exactly,” Stenson said. “We can both get what we want.”
; Chief Renkin turned to me. “Gianelli, if you’re positive that Julie is clean, and that she can help, do it. But keep us posted. Everything will be coordinated through Captain Cooper.”
I walked over and shook Bobby’s hand. “Sorry about the other day.”
He smiled. “I thought you were going to shoot me.”
“I was,” I said. “Can’t let my partner get hurt.”
Tip smacked Bobby on the back and laughed. “She’s a crazy son of a bitch, isn’t she? That’s why I love her.”
“Your partner’s all right,” Bobby said. “But you’re still the same asshole you’ve always been.”
Tip said, “Thanks, Bobby. I try.”
When we left Coop’s office, I went to see Julie. This wouldn’t be a pleasant conversation, but Uncle Dominic had taught me to be direct with people. Sometimes it pissed people off, but most of the time, they appreciated it.
She was at her desk when I walked in. “Hey, Jules. How’s it going?” I asked.
“These past few days have been crazy,” she said. “I don’t know how you’re holding up.”
“Have you got a minute?”
She looked up at me and said, “Sure. What do you need?”
I checked to make sure we were alone then pulled a chair over and sat beside her. “Julie, I don’t know how to say this, so I’m asking straight out. We’ve been going over this case, over all the trouble with information leaking, and there’s one thing we can’t figure out—how did El Terrible get the password?”
Julie looked up at me. “You think I did it?” Hurt showed in her expression—her brow furrowed, the skin around her eyes bunched up, tears welling. Sometimes I hated my job.
“No, Jules. I don’t think you did it, but I have to ask.”
“What about Tip? Does he think so too?”
I sat next to her and grabbed her hand. “Look at me. None of us wants to believe you did it. Hell, we don’t want to believe any of us did it, but the fact remains that somebody did. Somebody from this department.” I took a deep breath and said, “I know you’re upset. I’m sure you’re pissed off that I asked, but I don’t have time to worry about that. So, did you tell anyone about the password? Did you mention it in front of anybody?”
She was shaking her head before I finished. “Nothing, Connie. I swear.” The look on her face convinced me.
I sat up straight and made sure I had her attention. “You know the situation. Cruz is dead. Two deputies are dead. The Sniders are dead, and we’ve got other dead bodies. We’ve got to find a way to catch this person, and we need your help.”
Julie took a deep breath and sighed. “Tell me what to do.”
“Can you access employee phone records?”
“Depending on who it is, yes.”
“Herb and Charlie. Let’s start with them. I want a list of every call they made over the last two weeks.” I gave Jules a hug. “And don’t say anything about this.”
“I won’t, but you don’t really think Herb or Charlie are involved, do you?” She stared at me for a few seconds then said, “You do? For real?”
“I don’t know what to think yet. That’s why we need to keep it quiet. So when I say don’t say anything, I mean it.”
“You can count on that,” she said. “But how about County? The relief team came from there.”
“No one at County knew the password. The officers were supposed to call here to get it.”
Julie shook her head. “I can’t believe this. I just can’t.”
“Believe it, Jules. One of them is dirty.” I stood and patted her on the arm. “Find us something,” I said, and started down the hall.
Half an hour later, Julie called, and I went to her office. We went through the calls one by one but found nothing suspicious.
“I’m not surprised,” I said. “I’d have been shocked if we did find something.”
“I’ll keep looking,” Julie said. “Maybe finances will show something fishy.”
“Check everything you can,” I said.
As I walked back to my desk, I replayed scenes in my mind. After we got the information from Ben about the autopsy, Herb and Charlie went outside to smoke. After we found out Tiffany’s real name, they went out to smoke.
After getting the information about Griffin and the law firm—I remembered Charlie smoking, but had Herb been with him?
When Roberts was going to put the picture on the news, same thing. And most incriminating of all, when we arranged for the Sniders to be moved to the safe house, again Herb went out with Charlie to smoke.
I sat at my desk, running the images over and over in my mind. I didn’t want to believe what I knew was true.
“Must be important,” Tip said.
I looked up to see Tip and Delgado standing by the desk. “Sorry. I was thinking.”
“You looked like you were trying to solve the problems of the universe.”
“Maybe I was.” I stood and peeked around the corner, then moved close to Tip and Delgado. “I know who the leak is. But we need a plan.”
Chapter 51
A Plea for Help
While we discussed how to spring the trap, the assistant DA called Coop to let us know that they were cutting Carlos loose. She’d hold him as long as possible, but if we didn’t have anything else to charge him with, he’d be gone by the end of the day. She had no choice.
The bottom line was that Cortes was going to be free again, and we could do nothing about it. The Sniders were gone. We had no other witnesses. And without El Terrible, we had no proof of Carlos’ involvement in the other murders.
I slammed my fist on the desk. “Goddamnit.”
“Easy, Gianelli,” Tip said.
“Easy, my ass. The son of a bitch is getting away with it again. After all he did.” I was so pissed off, I was shaking.
“We’ll get him,” Delgado said. “I don’t know how, but we will.”
Ribs was trying to be nice, but I glared at him. “I hear you, but Tip and I said the same thing last year, and Carlos almost killed me.” I got up from the desk and started down the hall.
“Where are you going?” Tip asked.
“To the ladies room, for God’s sake. You coming?”
“I just might. Don’t be surprised if I do.”
***
Tip waited for her to get out of sight then turned to Delgado. “Think you could get me a coffee? I have to call Renkin.”
“Sure. Be right back,” Ribs said. “I need one anyway.”
As soon as Delgado left, Tip grabbed Connie’s phone and opened her contacts. It took a minute, but he found what he wanted. He copied the number and made sure to put her phone back exactly as she’d left it. A few seconds later, Delgado returned with coffee.
“Thanks. I needed this.”
“I did too,” Delgado said. “And I think we’ll both need a lot more before the night’s over.”
“That’s no shit.”
Ribs peered down the hall and then said, “I’m worried about Gianelli. She seems to be taking this pretty hard.”
“I am too,” Tip said. “Renkin wants to see me for a minute. Be right back.”
All the way down the hall, Tip thought about what he planned to do, and it made him feel dirty—like the thought of planting evidence. If he knew for certain that Carlos was responsible for killing the Sniders and Cruz, he’d do it in a heartbeat, but there was that damn reasonable doubt. Every time a logical solution came to mind, other thoughts did too.
At the forefront of those were three important things: Carlos had killed Tony. Carlos had tried to kill Connie. And Carlos had killed Kassie and Kelly.
The image of his dogs lying on the ground, blood pooled under them, and their eyes glassy and empty flashed in Tip’s head. And then he thought about Connie. There was no doubt in Tip’s mind that Carlos would try to kill her again. And this time, he’d likely succeed. Tip took the back steps to the parking lot and dialed.
“Pronto.”
“This i
s Tip Denton. I—”
“Is Concetta all right?” Pain came through the man’s voice. Worry. Love.
Suddenly, Tip knew why Connie felt the way she did about her family. “She’s all right. Kind of.”
“Why did you call, Detective?”
Tip hesitated. Did he really want to cross this ground?
“Detective, if you’re worried about strings being attached to this call—don’t. And if Concetta has ever spoken to you about me, I’m sure she’s told you that despite my past, I’m a man of my word. I give you that word now.”
Something about the way he spoke convinced Tip. “Carlos Cortes, the guy who tried to kill her, is getting out of jail. And if he does, I know he’ll come after her again.”
“How much time do I have?”
“A couple of hours, if we’re lucky.”
“Can you delay it?” Dominic asked.
“I can try,” Tip said.
“I am in your debt, Detective.”
“Listen, I don’t want anything from you. I don’t even know why I called. I shouldn’t have.” He was about to hang up, but then he had one more thought. “Connie doesn’t know I called you.”
“You are a true friend,” Dominic said. “I’m happy she has you.” A slight pause followed, and then, “You did the right thing. And you have no need to worry about a scene. Things will be handled discreetly.”
Oh shit! Tip tried to convince himself that he hadn’t just ordered a hit. That he hadn’t condemned a man to death, even if the man was a monster like Carlos Cortes.
He tried, but it didn’t work.
Chapter 52
Calling in a Favor
Dominic hung up and gathered his thoughts. Decisions had to be made, and quickly. He had no juice in Houston, and the head of the Dallas Family had sidled up with Dominic’s enemy in New York. He’d get no favors from them. As he pondered the situation, something came to mind. A rumor was all it was, but Dominic had learned long ago that these kinds of rumors were born from truths. He knew who to contact.
Bullet From Dominic Page 27