The man shrugged.
“It’s an acquirement of land in order to put up some luxury resorts not far from here. I’ve bought some land, and I’m in the process of bribing officials to let me use it. The land is a little…soggy.”
Oh, well, that wasNOTtheir issue.
Bribery was a local law problem.
“And that’s it?”
He nodded.
“Samuel was freeing up some capital for me by signing off on a massive loan that will be able to close the deal and get construction started. My assets are all tied up, and so are Esmeralda’s.”
That made Gene curious.
“Are you bribing any cops?”
He shook his head.
“Council members only, and the bribe is to vote in favor of construction. They’re getting stakes in the property, and money. I swear.”
Again, not their issue.
Unless someone was killing people.
Ethan focused Gene by asking a single question to the mob man.
“Do you know what went down the night that Jaden was killed?”
Gene waited.
“Come on, Rodrigo.”
The man caved.
“He was meeting with someone he worked with. That’s what the word on the street is. Other than that, I don’t know what he does. I didn’t go back in there after he told Esmeralda to get out of there. He put his hands on her.”
Gene sighed.
“Know what I dislike? When there’s layers to shit and we can’t get through those layers.”
The man shrugged.
“I’m being honest. I literally just told you about my illegal business deals. I’m doing that for her. Not for me. Jaden was up to his eyeballs in shit, and while I’m not always on the up and up, I’ve never killed anyone.”
Gene laughed.
“You mean you’ve never been caught.”
The man shrugged.
“Same difference. Only, this time, I’m telling you that if I did it, you’d not have it pointing the fuck back at us. Why would I do that? I’m not stupid.”
That was a very valid point.
From all intents and purposes, this looked to be like whoever was working with Jaden was trying to cover his tracks.
“Okay.”
