She stared at him with disbelief bordering on hatred. “You? You bastard.”
“So I’ve heard.” He glanced at Dean. Dean had never seen such calculation and cold strategy in anyone before.
“Well, see, after that Xavier realized he was dead meat. My man Dean, here-same guy who took down two mob families in Chicago and our own local homegrown boy Thomas Daniels-killed him, too, didn’t you, Dean? — well, Dean had Xavier hook, line, and sinker. Xavier knew it and was willing to deal.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“He sat right where you are. I know. I drove him here.”
Victoria was doing her best to keep a stiff upper lip, but Dean saw her composure waver. Cammarata said, “I helped negotiate terms for his testimony against your son, the principals of Rio Diablo, Weber Trucking, and-”
He pulled out the photograph and pointed to the picture of Devereaux in the middle. “And him.”
Victoria paled. “Noel-”
Dean didn’t physically react to the new name. Cammarata hadn’t clued him in on this part of his strategy. He was a loose cannon.
“Noel baby is going down.”
“He’ll kill you.”
“Me? No, I don’t think so. Thing is, Tori,” Cammarata said, “Jones got himself popped. So did Greg, very sad.” Cammarata sounded like he was dancing on their graves. Dean shifted in his seat. “So, babe, let me lay it out to you. My man Jones squealed. Gave us some good faith info for us to verify, but wouldn’t take our protection. We thought he might run, so we confiscated his plane, froze his accounts, the whole nine yards. Hoop here was tracking him, lost him near the river, and bang. He’s dead.”
Dean interjected before Cammarata went too far. “We have Jones’s statement, and it will hold up in court at least to the extent that I can get a warrant to verify everything he said, such as Omega’s latest shipment from Hong Kong.”
Victoria stared at him and didn’t say anything. She played with her diamond and platinum watch with shaking hands.
Cammarata leaned forward. “Xavier told us about your penchant for young boys. Fourteen, fifteen? Georgie ran all the way to America to get away from you, but you followed him. Of course, he’s too old for you to be screwing anymore, but there was that special order of yours.”
Victoria looked down, lip quivering, and Cammarata slammed his hand on the table. “Look at me, bitch!”
She jumped, stared at him, eyes wide. “You think I don’t know?” he said. “He was thirteen and your son brought him up from Chile, along with a shipment of slave labor into Mexico. Then he asked Xavier to fly down and retrieve him for you. You had him for two weeks, locked in a warehouse. When you had enough, you flew home. Only, you didn’t tell anybody to fetch him, did you?
Dean straightened. “That’s enough,” he said firmly.
Victoria said in a small voice, “I want immunity.”
“No,” Cammarata said. “You need to pay for the lives you destroyed and the people you killed.”
“I’ve never killed anyone!” She sobbed, tears leaking, making her excessive makeup run in rivulets down her face.
“Leaving a minor to die of dehydration? That’s murder in my book, babe.”
“Immunity and protection. You don’t know Noel Marchand.”
“Tell us,” Dean said.
“I want a deal on the table. I want my attorney and a deal and then I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”
Fuck, she’d asked for her attorney.
“Let’s go, Cammarata.”
“No.”
“Now.”
“There will be no deal. We have you dead to rights … unless you give us something we can verify. Something that might help. Where are the girls?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She turned her head. She was visibly shaking, but held her chin high.
Cammarata made a move to backhand her and Dean grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm behind him. He pushed him out the door and slammed it shut.
“I don’t care who she is or what she did, you will not hit a suspect in my interview.”
Cammarata was red-faced. “That kid’s not the half of it.”
“Callahan,” Dean said without taking his eyes off Cammarata. “Watch him.”
The assistant U.S. attorney was frowning. “She asked for her lawyer, Hooper.”
“I know.”
He went back in.
Victoria was crying, her body shaking violently. “He’ll kill me. He killed Xavier, he killed Gregory. He’ll kill me. You have to protect me.” She implored him. “Please. I’m not scared of dying. But you don’t know what he does to people.”
“I want to make a deal,” Dean said. “But I have two questions and I need you to answer them truthfully, okay?”
She nodded.
“Where are the young women your son brought from Hong Kong earlier this week?”
“I don’t know. I swear, I don’t know!”
“Do you have a good guess?”
She nodded, eyes wide and her nose leaking as much as her eyes.
“Please, Victoria. If we find them in time, I will personally go to the judge on your behalf.”
She sniffed, wiped her face with the back of her hand. Her spotty hands showed her age. “I don’t know exactly where, but George told Jordan Weber to take them to the mine.”
“The mine?”
“That’s it. That’s exactly what he said. I don’t know where it is. I don’t know, I swear, I don’t know. If I knew, I would tell you.”
Sam had said there were mines all over the Sierra Nevadas. Could there be one on Rio Diablo land?
“I believe you.”
“You do?” She smiled. “Thank you. I’m telling you the truth.”
“One more question.”
Dean took out the photograph of the traffickers. “You said this man was Noel Marchand.”
She nodded. “Yes. I’ve known him for years. But that fishing trip was the first time we met.”
“Where was this taken? Our analysts believe Acapulco.”
“Near Acapulco. It’s a small town, Tres Palos. Noel lives in a fortress there.”
“What was this fishing trip about?”
“I–I think,” Victoria said, her chin held up, “I’ll wait for my attorney before I answer any more questions.”
Dean left the room feeling ill. He didn’t want to tell Sonia the news, but he had to. Better to come from him than anyone else.
Cammarata said, “You did pretty good.”
“You sound surprised,” Dean said.
He shrugged. “Sonia doesn’t like idiots.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Sonia knew something was wrong the minute Dean stepped into the conference room with Sam and Charlie right behind him. “Sam, you and Cammarata find out if there’s a mine on or near Rio Diablo land. Sonia, can you
