Bankrupt.
The weight of all this sits in my stomach like a brick. She doesn’t keep herself trapped in the house to avoid getting deported—it’s probably because there’s a bounty on her head from any number of rival cartels. And Hugo must be some sort of capo.
And Leona? Could she be the consigliere? Underboss? Bagman?
Paige sinks into the couch behind me, and David sits down near me. “She’s dangerous, Darcy,” he says. “A ruthless, manipulative, evil, and incredibly smart woman who won’t let anything stand in her way. She’s known as the Vibora Negra—the Black Viper. The LAPD is in a joint task force with the FBI and the DEA. No one in law enforcement has even set eyes on her—she stays in that compound twenty-four seven. We know who she is, we know what she’s been doing, and we are putting together enough evidence to put her away for a long time. Just walk away before someone gets hurt—before someone else gets hurt.”
I look up and meet his eyes. He seems sincerely worried about me. “How long have you been working on her case?” I ask.
“I’m not. Not anymore. When I was with GND, we busted up a small ring. Tried to connect her husband to it but failed. You know why? Carmen. She covered his tracks like you wouldn’t believe.”
And now he’s with Homicide. I repeat this in my mind before I respond. “You’re with Homicide now. How’d you know I was on the Viramontes case?”
“Word got back to me. Girl with the yellow eyes hanging out in Pasadena. Shows up again last night in Harvard Park. Not too many girls like that.” He tries to play it off as casual. I admit, it gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside knowing someone is looking out for me.
“I don’t need anyone looking out for me,” I grumble. I don’t know why I say it.
“Tough shit, Darcy. That’s what I’m doing.”
Swoon. “What about Elizabeth? She’s still missing. Someone has to find her.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
This pisses me off. “How you can say that? A girl is missing out there.”
David retreats. “I’m not saying her life doesn’t matter, but you’ve probably figured out by now she was taken by a rival cartel. She’s being used. The most dangerous thing you could do is find her. Then you’ll be in real trouble.”
I think about Yury Yury and his threat. David has a point. If I find Elizabeth, and people learn that I have her, then I’m in real trouble. Rival cartels are going to be hunting for me. “Do you know who has her?”
He shakes his head.
“Do you know how she’s being used?” I can read the reaction in his face. He’s hiding something. “What do you know?”
“It’s out of your league, Darcy.”
Out of my league? He doesn’t even know about the death cult and the witches.
“That was a dumb move, going to that house alone,” he adds after a moment of silence. I can tell he’s getting frustrated because his New York accent reemerges and gets thicker. “I don’t know what the hell happened there or how you got out of it, but this ends now. Drop the case. Back away.”
He doesn’t ask me to agree. We’ve known each other long enough for him to know how stubborn I am. Most men would attack me for my resolve. David respects me for it.
Before he reaches the door, I ask, “Am I under investigation by the LAPD for last night?”
David pauses then turns to me. “Five drug dealers from two different gangs were killed last night. That means two rival gangs have bounties out for the murderer. If the LAPD implicates you in their deaths, the last thing you need to worry about is getting arrested.”
This is both an assurance and a warning. The LAPD is going to leave me alone for my own safety. Any gang looking for revenge is going to come after me if they find out the police believe I’m a suspect.
“There’s only so much I can do,” he adds. “There’s already a lot of heat on you. The murder at the library. Last night’s fire. The missing girl.” He shakes his head. “I’m worried you may already be in more trouble than you even realize.”
This, coming from a guy who doesn’t know I have a literal demon hibernating inside me. I’m in a no-win situation.
David opens the door and joins his partner in the hallway. Snyder shoots him a look so intense that I can only imagine the admonishment he’ll receive later. I know David is protecting me against his senior partner and possibly the rest of the force. Snyder turns to leave, and David trails behind him.
When I close the door, I can feel Paige’s penetrating gaze behind me. I turn around to face my own chiding.
“What… happened?” she demands.
I spend half an hour explaining what transpired and the hour after that listening to Paige lecture me about my reckless and dangerous decisions—about how stupid I was to go out there alone… about putting myself in a situation where I lost control of Dudley… about not telling her what happened when I got home. She builds up so much momentum that she even yells at me about forgetting to pick her up from the airport last year.
As Paige’s voice starts to get hoarse, she finally slows down and looks at me. Over the past sixty minutes I’ve slowly curled myself into a ball on the couch. I stare straight ahead, absorbing the slings and arrows with nary a snarky response.
“What?” she says.
I look up. With shame and fear, I utter the one thought I haven’t been able to shake since last night. “I murdered someone, Paige.”
The words taste like bile as I speak them—the final ugly admission of what I did. I committed an act that can never be
