“She’s arresting Cristal?” Gabriella’s hand lifted to her throat. “Seriously? Why?”
“Yes,” Ronnie said just as Jo said “No.”
Her cousin’s dark brown eyes widened. “You aren’t arresting her?”
Jo shook her head. “No. But she’s definitely leaving and not calling David ever again if she knows what’s good for her. You know how I feel about people screwing with our family.”
“I do.” Ronnie’s faced morphed from worry to bubbling happiness.
“Good. You’re going in with me. While I deal with Cristal, you are putting on lip gloss, and then you’re taking Cristal’s place at our dinner.”
“I’m what?” Ronnie squeaked, her eyes rounding in surprise.
“She’s what?” Gabriella gasped.
When she saw there was no more line to the bathroom door, Jo made her way to the door. Stepping into the bathroom was a revelation. She refrained from using the public facilities as inevitably she would spot someone doing something that forced her to arrest them. Most deals happened in the bathrooms. Pulling her badge from her purse, she thrust the bag at Ronnie. Jo looked underneath several stalls until she found the feet she was looking for, or more precisely the gold heels. Taking the stall to the right since the one to the left of Cristal was occupied, Jo carefully stepped on the seat of the toilet and propped her arms across the top of the stall.
“Well hello, Cristal.” Jo over-enunciated the woman’s name dragging out ‘-tal.’ She watched as the woman slammed the top piece of her large gemstone necklace shut and hurriedly screwed the pieces together.
“What the hell? Are you a pervert?” Cristal’s face reddened. Jo didn’t know if it was anger or the drugs coursing through Cristal’s system, and she didn’t care. She wanted this drama over so she could enjoy the rest of her evening with Rhys.
“Nope, a cop.” She held her badge up then clipped it to the top of her dress. “You might want to clean the coke off your nose.”
Cristal’s eyes narrowed to slivers. “I’ll have your badge.”
“Meh, if it falls in the toilet then it’s all yours, because I’ll have to order a new one. Now get out of there.” She refrained from calling the classless bitch a junkie. Jo stepped from the seat of the toilet to the cream-colored tile and made her way to the sink across from Cristal’s stall. “Come on, Cristy. I don’t have all day. And just an FYI, if you make me drag your skank ass out of there, I’m arresting you on principle. We both know that big ass pendant around your neck is a hollowed-out stone where you keep your coke.”
A squawk and Cristal came barging out of the stall baring her teeth. There was the junkie Jo knew to be hiding in the scrawny wrapped package decorated in gold lamé. “So here’s how this is will go.” Jo held a hand up. “Interrupt me, and I’ll have you searched. Keep annoying me, and I’ll have you strip searched. Do we understand each other?”
Cristal’s chest heaved as she snarled. “What do you want? A bribe?”
“Nope, I want you to call a Lyft and never contact David again. Consider him off your friends and family plan.” Jo curled her lips and stepped into Cristal’s space. “Because if you bother the nice man, I will make it my mission in life to destroy you.”
“As if—”
“You own a spa and several salons, correct?” Jo had been a cop too long and knew all the tricks. The ones she didn’t know her family did and by God, if she needed them to dig into every nook and cranny of this woman’s life, then she would ask them to do it.
“Yes.”
“Most of that is a cash business and it’s easy to launder money. I’d hate for the IRS to look into your holdings. You know how they love to nitpick, and if they find one penny out of place, then they get to dig further back. It’s almost like getting a colonoscopy without the drugs.”
The bright red that flushed Cristal’s face slowly drained away, leaving behind a pale mask.
To make sure the junkie understood, Jo drove in the knife. “Oh, and I’m sure the DEA will be very interested in the drugs you have stashed at your businesses. What better way to distribute them through appointments for say, massages or waxing?” Jo had no idea if the statement was true until Cristal took a stumbling step away and clutched her chest as if shot.
“I’ll go. And I swear I’ll never contact him.”
“See you don’t. Rhys will tell me, as will other people I’ll have watching.” Jo met Cristal’s gaze. Hers icy enough to freeze the devil himself. “Those two men, their wife, and future girlfriend are part of my family, and I will protect them.”
“I got it.”
“Call the Lyft. Now.”
Not trusting the woman to follow through, Jo ushered her to the hired car when it pulled to the entrance of the restaurant and watched the taillights leave the parking lot. Turning, she found Gabriella and Ronnie behind her. Gabriella’s face held a foreboding frown that slid away as she craned her neck to follow the Lyft as it was lost in traffic. Ronnie’s expression held a wealth of nerves. From the nibbles she was taking out of her bottom lip to her scrunched up her nose as if gathering the courage to back out of joining them for dinner. Like hell would Jo allow that to happen.
“She was doing drugs,” Gabriella breathed out the second they walked inside the restaurant.
“Yep.” Jo popped her p. “Come on.”
Gabriella wrapped her arms around Jo and hugged her. “Thank you so
