Page 100 of Seal of Honor
“Does Regina know he’s back? I’m meeting her for brunch on Friday, and I don’t want to say anything if she doesn’t know.”
“I mean, she’s his mom. I’m pretty sure she’s known exactly where he’s been hiding these last two years, so I would assume she also knows he’s decided to rejoin society.”
Another beat of hesitation.
“Danny,” she said with a sigh and gathered his hands into hers. “I know you love him. I do, too. But… let’s not tell the kids he’s back until we’re sure he’s sticking around. It broke their hearts last time he disappeared.”
“Yeah, agreed.” The image of their twins, teary-eyed and clutching the stuffed surfboards Marcus sent them on their birthday, was forever imprinted in his mind. The boys hadn’t wanted gifts. They’d wanted to see their favorite honorary uncle, and he hadn’t shown up. “I don’t want to hurt them like that again.”
“Okay.” Leah kissed his knuckles then released his hands. “So, if it’s not the Patterson case bothering you, why are you sitting here in the middle of the night, looking up”—she leaned over to get a peek at his computer screen—”whatever it is you’re looking up. Is that in Spanish?”
“Yeah.”
She blinked. “When did you learn to speak Spanish?”
“I can’t speak it,” he said. “I can read it okay, enough to get the gist, anyway.”
“Huh. Just when I think you can’t surprise me anymore. What are you reading about?”
He hesitated for a heartbeat before answering, “The EPC.”
She huffed out a surprised breath. “That’s what you’re still hung up on? I thought the Van Amee case was one of your success stories.”
Not really his. It was Gabe’s, Marcus’s, and the rest of their team’s. If it wasn’t for them, he had no doubt Bryson Van Amee would be dead, and Jacinto Rivera and Rorro Salazar would be in the wind somewhere, millions of dollars richer. Okay, technically Rorro was still in the wind, but the little shit wasn’t considered much of a threat since the supposed brains of the operation, Jacinto, was dead.
Except, Jacinto wasn’t known to have brains, was he?
Man, his head hurt.
Danny shut the laptop with a slap of his palm and rubbed his temple.
“Honey,” Leah soothed and laid her head on his shoulder. She smelled good, like her favorite raspberry body wash. “Let it go. That case was a win. I don’t understand why you’re stillobsessing over it a month later. This isn’t like you.”
“God, Lee, I know. But the whole thing stinks, and I can’t figure out where the smell is coming from.”
“Okay.” She scooted off his lap, grabbed the ottoman from in front of his easy chair across the room, and sat on it cross-legged so that she faced him. “Maybe you need a fresh nose.”
Danny smiled. “Have I shown you lately how much I love you?”
“No, but we can get to that later.” She gestured a c’mon motion with her hand. “Lay it out for me, G-man.”
“All right.” He opened the laptop and called up the Word file he’d been keeping since the end of the hostage situation. Then he laid it all out for her. Everything from the abduction of Bryson Van Amee in front of his apartment right on through to the rescue by Gabe and his men.
“Everything we know about Jacinto Rivera says he was a thug, plain and simple,” he told her. “He wasn’t smart. He couldn’t have masterminded something as sophisticated as rigging a limo with ether gas to knock Bryson unconscious. Someone had to have been pulling his strings, but according to the website I was reading, the EPC has denounced Jacinto for the ransom attempt and claims no responsibility.”
Which was not their modus operandi. And that was bugging him.
“They like people to know they are capable of snatching anybody from anywhere,” he continued. “Angel Rivera likes propagating that reputation, but yesterday, again, according to that site, he publicly disowned his remaining family.”
“Wait, wait.” Leah raised her hands to stop him. “‘His remaining family.’ Are you sure that’s what it said? You didn’t mistranslate?”
He opened the laptop, called up the website from the browser’s history, and reread the paragraph. “No, that’s exactly what it says.”
“Well, that’s an odd choice of words, don’t you think? I mean, wasn’t Jacinto his only brother?”
“Yeah, he was. Maybe it’s a cultural thing?” Danny mulled it over for a second, spinning his wedding band around on his finger. “No, wait, I think there was a sister…” He called up another file and scanned over the information. “Claudia Rivera. She’s been missing for ten years, presumed dead.”
Leah opened her mouth but froze before uttering a sound, and her eyes went huge behind her glasses. She scrambled off the ottoman and out of the room.
