It always was.
Tom’s death had been a shock. He’d crashed his car into a concrete bridge abutment, at a high speed. It might have been a heart attack. Why else would he have lost control that way? That was what she’d thought, until the shocks had continued after his death.
She’d gone ahead and taken the vacation. It was the one thing Tom had actually paid for before he died. He’d left her with nothing, well, unless you counted massive debt and a few lawsuits. She’d go to Puerto Vallarta, spend a few days on the beach, away from her troubles, and figure out what she was going to do next.
What would she have done, she wondered now, if she hadn’t met Danny, hadn’t gotten sucked into Gary’s craziness, had just gone back to Los Angeles and faced the mess she’d left behind? Would she be working in an office somewhere? Still living in her sister’s spare bedroom?
She wouldn’t be running her own restaurant, most likely.
Wouldn’t be living with the man who’d helped make that happen.
Of course, she wouldn’t have nearly died, had to change her identity and be stuck in another one of Gary’s insane schemes either.
But none of that was Danny’s fault, if you looked beyond what it was he used to do for a living anyway. He hadn’t asked to get involved with her, either.
That had been Gary’s idea. Having her spy on Danny, whom Gary no longer trusted.
It had taken her a while to put the pieces together, what the relationship between Danny and Gary really was. It hadn’t helped that telling lies came as easily to Gary as breathing. He loved a good lie, just like he loved fucking with other people’s lives. And Danny had kept his own truths to himself.
She’d gotten into trouble in Mexico, and Gary had offered to get her out of it. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out he’d set her up in the first place.
What had taken her longer was determining the type of man Danny was.
She thought, suddenly, of her last night in Vallarta, when Danny had knocked on her door. She hadn’t expected it, not after everything that had happened between them.
She remembered lying in bed with him, battered and bruised, sweating in the unrelenting heat of the tropical night. “I’ll come back for you,” he’d said. “I promise.”
He’d kept his promise.
“I’ll get you out,” she said aloud.
She just had no idea how.
Chapter Five
“You walked from Harris County Jail, in this weather?” Marisol Acosta handed her a bottle of water. “You can get heatstroke if you aren’t careful.”
“It was only a mile,” Michelle said.
Marisol laughed. “This time of year, in Houston? It’s better to do miles in an air conditioned gym.”
She looked like she put in some time at a gym. A dark-skinned Hispanic woman in her early thirties, round but muscular, with a cute, disarming smile that Michelle suspected she deployed strategically. She wore long jersey shorts and a Texas Longhorns T-shirt. Michelle had noticed a trophy plaque on the wall, third place in a national archery tournament, right next to her University of Texas School of Law diploma.
“You do archery?” Michelle asked.
Marisol grinned. “I love it. Nothing better than hitting the bull’s-eye.”
“The defense on a crime like this generally centers around search and seizure issues,” Marisol explained. “We’ll challenge the legality of the search, first thing. See what evidence we can have excluded.”
“That’s the best defense?”
“The DEA busted Jeff with a plane full of pot.” She sounded exasperated. “Other than his claims that he didn’t know what the cargo was, illegal search and seizure’s what we’ve got to go on.”
Michelle rested her forehead on her fingertips for a moment. “And, and this defense… does it work?”
“It certainly can work.”
Marisol perched on the club chair across from the black leather couch where Michelle sat, sipping from a juice-box sized container of coconut water.
“The other possibility is a plea bargain. Or some other kind of arrangement.” She took a final slurp from her straw, and looked up at Michelle.
Some other kind of arrangement. Michelle shuddered a little. She remembered what happened when Gary had offered her an “arrangement,” to get her out of trouble in Mexico.
Trouble he’d created.
“What kind of arrangement?”
“The prosecution may consider a reduced sentence for providing information. Or no sentence at all, if your information is valuable enough.”
There was no mistaking her significant look, this time.
Did Marisol know what Danny had done in the past? About some of the things he knew?
If she did, and she wanted to use it to make a deal with the prosecution… or to expose the things Danny knew to the public… or blackmail somebody powerful enough to get him out…
Or, maybe Marisol was just trying to gauge what he might be willing to reveal. How dangerous he might be.
Michelle felt herself spiraling. It was the opposite of a rush, more like the ground was being slowly sucked out from under her feet.
You can’t trust Marisol, Michelle thought.
“Okay,” she said. “So what you want is for Jeff to inform on someone. Maybe agree to some kind of undercover deal?”
Marisol put down her box of coconut water.
“I think that’s premature. I’m just trying to give you a sense of what the options might be.”
Michelle managed a smile. “Thanks. It’s… it’s good to have an idea.”
She hesitated. Then thought, if she’s on our side or not, either way, it won’t hurt to bring this up.
“I’m worried about what’s going on with Jeff right now, actually.”
Marisol didn’t exactly move. It was more like she became taut. Pulled back the string on the bow. “What do you mean?”
If she’s on our side, maybe she can help. If she’s not… I’m going to let her know that I know. That I’m paying attention.
“Was there something that happened when he got arrested? I mean, did he get hurt?”
“Not that I heard about. And he looked fine when I talked to him.”
Michelle thought about how to put it. “Something happened,” she said. “He was having a hard time moving, and he didn’t want to talk about it. And he was cuffed. Hardly anyone else was cuffed. And I know him. He’s not… he’s not violent. Something happened.”
Marisol sighed. “Harris County Jail does not have such a good reputation.”
“I want to make sure that someone’s checking on him when I’m not here. I’ll pay you. Or the firm. However you do this kind of thing.”
“We’ll make sure he gets regular visits,” Marisol said, eyeing her across the coffee table. “Don’t worry about that.”
Back at the hotel, Michelle took a long, hot shower. When she was done, she put on a hotel robe and lay down on the bed. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. Eat something? Go to the gym? Go to the bar, and have a few glasses of wine? Just take an Ambien and go to bed?
It’s only 8 p.m., she thought. Too early to sleep. Wasn’t it?
Emily’s iPhone rang. The Get Smart theme. The ringtone she’d assigned to Gary.
It’s what Danny would have picked, she thought.
“So, you have some time to think about things?” Gary asked.
“I have. Maybe we should meet.”
“Good! Have you eaten?”
Of course, Gary knew where she was. Of course, he was in Houston.
“There’s a nice Mexican place that specializes in shrimp not too far from you,” he said. “Real Gulf shrimp. None of that farmed Asian shit. I’ll have a table ready when you get there.”
“Fine.”
He could have had her followed from Arcata. With his connections, he probably could’ve tracked her on her Emily phone, not even needing to physically hack it-he could just get the GPS information from the provider.