Page 68 of Beneath The Truth
“Already read it, and from the descriptions he gave, it sounds like the cartel wasinvolved.”
Rix’s eyes narrowed.“Do I want to know how you got your hands on thatreport?”
“Does itmatter?”
“Guess not.But back up.Why the hell would the cartel have any interest in jumping a retired cop?Doesn’t make any sense.It had to be wrong place,wrongtime.”
“Do you really believe in coincidenceslikethat?”
Rix shot me a sidelong glance.“Fine.I agree it doesn’t seem random.But still, it could’ve been some low-level guys bored off theirasses.”
“Which is why I need to find them.Need tointerviewthem.”
“You’re not a cop anymore, Hennessy.This ain’tyourcase.”
My hands clenched into fists.“You think I don’t know I’m not carrying a badge?It’s not something I fuckingforget.Ever.”
“Thenwhy—”
“If Judge Noble were found jumped in a parking lot, would you let someone else handle it?Even if you didn’t have abadge?”
“I take yourpoint.”
“So are you going to listen to me?Because I need your help tracking these assholes down, and I’m not about to let Ari get involved.If her dad somehow got mixed up with all this cartel shit, I needtoknow.”
Rix slowed for another stop sign and looked over at me.“So that’s how you got the report.Heath mentioned his little sister has mad computerskills.”
“We’re not talkingaboutthat.”
He laughed.“Got it.She doesn’t hack into police departments and pull up reports.Check.”
“You really want to go there?Your girl was cool with dating the head ofagang.”
The laughter faded and his expression sharpened.“Shut thefuckup.”
“Glad to see you take my point there too.So, you gonna help meorwhat?”
“Tell me whatyouknow.”
It took me all of three minutes to give him everything I had, because there wasn’t much.Other than the fact they’d beat the hell out of Mr.Sampson and stolen his medallion, he’d only been able to give some crappy generic descriptions, except for the tattoos that were associated with one particularcartel.
“I got an idea,” Rix said when Iwasdone.
Ten minutes later, we turned down a familiar street.If I’d been thinking straight, I would have come backheretoo.
Chains, the pawnshop Lord Robichaux owned.It was a better place to start than Voodoo Ink because Con had banned all gang ink from his shoplongago.
If these were low-level guys out for kicks, there was a chance they’d try to sell the medallion for a little quick cash.Lord saw plenty of commerce on a daily basis, and all sorts of stuff came across hiscounter.
Rix and I climbed out of the SUV and headedinside.
Elle, Lord’s woman, looked up from the display case where she was reorganizing jewelry as Rix leaned on theglass.
“You leave fingerprints on that, they might beyourlast.”
“Didn’t you hear you aren’t supposed to threaten a cop?”Rixsaid.
She laughed.“You know I’ll always think of you as the scary mofo who convinced mewaytoo well with your bad-guy facade.”She paused and tapped a finger on her lips.“I can’t decide if I liked youbetterthen.”
