Lets us do all his fuckin’ work now.”
I’d hit a chord. Deacon Moreno was not happy being an underling. He didn’t appreciate having to answer to Matellion.
“So fuck Wizard and fuck you,” he said.
He pressed the gun harder into my forehead. I could feel the cold metal digging into my skin.
“How’s that feel, homeboy?” he asked, grinning like a madman.
“Great,” I said, thinking I’d made a huge mistake by ever talking to Peter Pluto on the beach.
“Then you’re gonna love this, motherfucker,” he said. “Good-night.”
I didn’t want to die looking at Deacon Moreno’s face.
But I didn’t think I had any choice.
Forty-two
The gunshot shattered the silence.
I flinched.
Deacon Moreno’s crazy smile melted from his face. He fell toward me.
I stepped back and let him hit the floor. A dark red spot was mushrooming in the center of his back.
Wesley’s TEC-9 was pointed where Deacon had been standing.
“People shouldn’t talk shit about Wizard,” he said, lowering the gun. “Easy to get dead that way.”
I looked at Linc. His arms were wrapped tight around his chest, his eyes wide with shock.
“Uh, thanks,” I said to Wesley, my heart thumping hard in my chest. “I think.”
“Don’t thank me,” Wesley said. “Just doing what I’m told.”
“Who told you to shoot your partner?”
Wesley turned around. Wizard Matellion stepped into the room, Big Ollie following close behind. Wizard nodded at Moreno’s body. Ollie walked over, lifted him up like he was a pen that had rolled off a table, placed him on his shoulder, and headed toward the back of the house.
“You alright?” Matellion asked.
“Fine,” I said.
“Was afraid old Deacon might try something like this,” he explained. “That’s why I had Wesley prepared. We kinda planned on this, so Wesley was instructed to call me-discreetly, of course-and let us know when and where. He made sure a door was unlocked for us.”
I looked at Wesley. He’d found a straw somewhere and was now chewing it furiously.
Linc continued to hug himself.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Matellion said, grinning. “I’m not in love with you or nothing. I just can’t deal with insubordination. Shootin’ folks has its place, but not when it’s not called for.”
The logic of criminals had saved me.
“You asked the other day about a couple of things,” Matellion continued. “I did not know about either the girl or the incident that involved you. You made me aware. But those things were done without my permission. They were personal for Deacon and that was unfortunate.”
“So he definitely was the person who shot the girl at the apartment?” I asked.
Matellion looked at Wesley.
“Deacon was pissed that his sister was dating a white dude.” Welsey explained. “Then, when he found out this dude wasn’t even square with his sister, he went cold crazy.” He paused. “He couldn’t find this dude, so he decided next best thing to do was to get the other girl.”
His use of the word “he” was interesting. I assumed Wesley had been along for the ride for what had occurred but was hanging it all on Deacon. Understandable, now that Deacon couldn’t defend himself.
“Then he seen you at the girl’s apartment when he rolled up,” Wesley said. “Had to wait for you to leave before he could get it done.”
“Did he know who I was?”
A wry smile formed on Wesley’s face. “Next morning, Deacon sent one of our boys back to the apartment.” The smile got a little bigger. “That fat white dude will tell anybody anything for a price.”
Rolovich. What a surprise.
“So, when he heard you was an investigator, he thought you might get to this dude before he did and Deacon wouldn’t have been able to take care of business. He wanted white boy here all to himself,” Wesley continued. “That’s why the thing happened with you down in Mission Beach. Was hoping to put you out of commission.”
“What do you mean, I wasn’t square with Malia?” Linc asked, coming back to life.
Wesley eyed him for a moment. “Man, you told us about the other chick. What Deacon supposed to think?”
“It was bullshit,” Linc said.
Wesley shrugged.
Linc dropped his head into his hands. “Nothing happened with Rachel after I met Malia. I wouldn’t have done that.”
I looked at Wesley. He shrugged again.
“I couldn’t care less about any of this,” Matellion said, rubbing his chin and looking at me. “I trust that as far as y’all are concerned, nothing happened here today?”
“You give me your word that you have no interest in him?” I said, nodding at Linc.
“I’m gonna forget his name as soon as we walk out of here,” Matellion said, grinning and flashing those bright white teeth.
“Then we’re gonna forget we were ever here,” I said, ready to get the hell out of there.
“One more thing,” he said, shoving his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants. “You know who killed Malia Moreno?”
“Why?”
“Deacon may have acted without my permission, but he was still a brother,” he said, his voice dropping. “And I look out for my brothers. Any motherfucker that messes with my brother’s family messes with me. Know what I’m saying?”
It would have been so easy to pass along Lonnie’s name to Wizard Matellion. He could’ve taken care of him and Mo in any number of ways that wouldn’t have involved me. Wiped them off the face of the earth and made the world a better place with no one the wiser.
“No,” I said. “I don’t know who did it.”
Matellion stared at me for a moment, his eyes hard like when he’d warned us about returning to his neighborhood. Finally, they changed and the killer’s edge was gone.
“You hear anything,” he said, “you let me know.”
He turned and left the room.
Wesley looked at me for a moment, the straw bouncing up and down in his mouth.
“You tell Carter I wouldn’t mind another shot at him one of these old days,” he said.
Wesley chuckled as he followed Matellion out of the room.
I hoped there wouldn’t be any more of these old days.
Forty-three
Linc and I drove away from the house in silence. There wasn’t much for either of us to say and he seemed to have lost the fight I’d seen in him earlier.
I called Wellton, told him I was bringing Linc Pluto in and that I’d explain when we got there. He didn’t seem pleased, but I hung up before he could suggest anything else.
When we arrived at the station, Linc got out without protesting. Wellton met us as we came through the
