“The task federal task force was put together after the DA was killed, and the Feds kept your dad and Vince on the team since they’d done so much of the legwork. The de Salva organization went far and wide, and the task force started applying pressure to de Salva by targeting the higher-ups in his organization, most of whom were family members.
“They arrested two of his sons-in-law, his nephew, his son, his brother-in-law, and his uncle and charged them with every little thing they could throw at them. Of course, that pissed de Salva off and he started doubling down. The FBI special agent in charge died in a freak car accident. A DEA agent had his throat slit in a gas station parking lot in broad daylight. No one saw a thing. It’s no wonder your place had extra protection at night. De Salva was gunning for everyone involved.”
“Wow,” I said. “I don’t know how my mother did it, but she deserves a medal, because Phoebe and I had no clue we were in any kind of danger.”
“I didn’t know most of it until I was in the academy,” she said. “The only problem with the whole thing was de Salva maintained his innocence through it all. He swore over and over again that he never had anything to do with drugs. According to de Salva, someone else was using the situation to move the drugs in, and whoever it was killed the agents involved with the case. He even agreed to plead guilty to the racketeering charges in exchange for dropping the drug and murder charges.”
“I’m guessing they didn’t fall for that,” I said.
“No, they went for the whole shebang, and they sent de Salva to prison, along with everyone else they could scoop up with him.”
“Did de Salva say who was responsible for bringing the drugs in?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, shrugging. “But I did read that de Salva had died in prison a couple of months back.”
“Huh,” I said, raising my brows. “That’s an interesting development.” I looked over at Scarlet, and she and her new cowboy friend were both fast asleep, and Scarlet’s head was resting on his shoulder.
“Do you think if we just left her there they’d take her back to Savannah?” Kate asked in a whisper.
“No, but maybe we can borrow one of the wheelchairs and push her to a cab.”
“She’s going to love that,” Kate said, sarcastically. Everyone knew Scarlet was anti-wheelchair or anything else that made her seem old.
“Look on the bright side,” I said. “Her gun and her brass knuckles are back in the van.”
Chapter Ten
“Oh, thank you, Lord,” I said as we got out of the cab at the entry of the Four Seasons.
I rested my hands on my knees and bent over, taking deep breaths. The cab had smelled like old tacos and Axe, and I’d stuck my head out like a dog most of the way to keep my stomach under control.
“There’s sunshine and it’s eighty degrees,” Kate said, “I might have to move here until Savannah has decided it’s done with winter.”
“It’s always summer in Miami,” Scarlet said. “And when it’s not, there’s a hurricane. I brought my special thong so I could catch some rays. Miami isn’t prudish like the cruise ship. I love Miami. They don’t care how old your moneymaker is so long as you shake it.”
“I saw y’all’s pictures from the nudist colony,” Kate whispered. “I had nightmares for weeks. I’m not sure I can do a topless beach with Scarlet.”
“The key is to always look just above her head,” I said. “She’s got a lot of things below the neck you don’t want to make eye contact with. Let’s go drop the bags in the room and let me change into something more Miami, and then I want to get a look at Luis and Angelica Vega’s house before it gets dark. Once we get the lay of the land, we can figure out how to approach her tomorrow.”
Lucy had reserved us a connecting suite, so Kate and I took the side with two queen beds and we let Scarlet have the other side to herself so everyone could get a good night’s sleep. I washed my face, and decided on a bright yellow jumpsuit that exposed my shoulders and showed off my new cleavage to its best advantage. It was fortunate I’d spent the last few weeks in Tahiti and gotten a tan, otherwise my pasty winter color would’ve clashed. I added a thin black belt and black wedge half boots, and then I dabbed on extra concealer because I was looking a little gaunt.
Twenty minutes later, Scarlet was asleep in her connecting suite and I was waiting for Kate to come out of the bathroom. She never took this long to change clothes and I was starting to worry something might be wrong when the lock clicked and Kate came out.
My mouth dropped open. Kate was a creature of habit. She liked plain colors and plain clothes and didn’t like to draw attention to herself. Everyone always underestimated Kate. Which apparently made her good at her job. People told her all kinds of ridiculous things because she looked harmless.
“Wha—wha—who?” I stuttered.
“I’ve never actually seen you speechless before.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but she was right. I was speechless.
“Now you can’t hound me for never wearing lipstick,” she said, puckering her bright red lips.
“Where did you get leather pants?” I asked.
“The kids’ section at Nordstrom,” she said. “It’s weird what people let their children wear. And don’t even ask how I got them on. You might have to rub my legs to get the blood circulating again once I take them off.”
“Good call on the backless shirt,” I said, admiring the bright red. It draped all the
