“Well, if you’re my primary witness, Sheriff, are you telling me you didn’t sleep with Lauren?”
He reached around her and opened the door.
“Other side of the wall, Deputy. Now go get Dalton.”
In interrogation room two, the silence cleared his mind and he was able to refocus so that when Roan brought Dalton in the room and exited, Santiago felt grounded in his purpose again.
“You look like shit,” he reflected.
Dalton was clammy-skinned and jaundiced, almost too weak to sit upright.
“You sure you want to do this interview now? We can move it back. That detox bed is still available for you if you want to be moved over there.”
“Nah Sheriff, I’m over the worst of it. You keep your word, and I’ll give you everything I got. You just gotta protect me andmy family; they’ll come after all of us to protect themselves and their business, even if it includes coming after you.”
“Well then, now’s a good a time to provide the information that will allow me to shut their shit down with no casualties on our side.”
After two hours of combing through every thread of information Dalton could provide, Santiago wrote up a detailed statement and had Dalton initial and sign each element. By the time the interview was concluded and the paperwork completed, a more mentally at ease Dalton went through another round of sweats and shakes, as if purging not only the drugs but the trauma he carried.
“Take him over to Salbeck’s,” Santiago directed Roan. “Tell him Dalton’s on a blackout protocol. I know I don’t have to say it, but a lot of shit is about to go down, Hammerhead. Cover your tracks.”
She handed him the interview recording and led Dalton toward the back of the building. Santiago headed in the opposite direction where he found Peters waiting on the other side of the door, watching through the small unbreakable window. Santiago put in the code and the door buzzed, unlocking it. Santiago opened it and waited, looking down at Loyd Peters as he waited for the older deputy to state his purpose.
“Got a call about a disturbance over at Dave Flemming’s real estate office.”
“Take Derry and check it out,” Santiago said impatiently, wondering why the fuck he needed to tell the veteran deputy that as he walked past him.
“The mayor requested that you?—”
Ah.
“I don’t give a damn what Anderson Archer requested, Peters. Take Derry, find out what’s going on and play the mayor’s lackey on your own time.”
Peters itched to say something, but some sense of self-preservation must’ve wrestled him into silence. Once Peters and Derry dispatched to the call, Santiago pulled up as much information as he could about Tommy Lewellen, his associates, his past residences, aliases, criminal history, and businesses. Not surprising, Tommy had a couple assault charges that didn’t stick. Santiago expanded his search to the other people Dalton identified at the garage, namely the owner of the place, Vince Lewellen. Dalton said there was someone even higher than Vince, but he couldn’t identify who that was. He believed that person was from out of town, but he didn’t have a clue as to where.
When Roan returned, he’d take her and Cutter and a few other deputies over to Vince’s garage. Cutter had a better relationship with some of them simply because they shared a similar Anglo-Saxon heritage.
Gathering his things, he headed to his cruiser to make an unscheduled visit to Judge Jackson’s office to get the warrants needed for the garage raid tonight.
Fishing his phone from his pocket he called Lauren, hoping beyond hope that she wouldn’t pick up.
“It’s too early for you to be off, so what do you want Santiago?”
He wanted to say something to get under her skin, but although her words were abrupt, clipped, hertonewas damn near seductive.
He pressed the phone close to his face as if he was facing off against her and growled out, “Why are you telling everybody we slept together?” He knew she had an audience.
“Because we did. I was grateful for you allowing me in your home and your bed. But just for the record, I only told your aunt that we slept together.”
“And did you tell her about waking up with a hand full of my?—”
“Was there a point to this phone call, Sheriff?” She rushed out.
He was deeply satisfied with her discomfort.
“I won’t get off until late, so have Lina or Saige drive you up the mountain when you’re done with your business in town.”
“I’ll wait for you to drive me home, thank you. I’ll be at Lina’s. You have a safe evening.”
