“You’ve been undercover, huh?”
“More than once. You’ve got me curious. What happened in the time between last night and today?”
“What happened?” The glass of whiskey was plopped down in front of me with a hard slam. “A beautiful woman. A foray into a nightmare. And an ugly realization the concept of law is fucked. That’s what happened.”
“Wow. You had a busier day than I did. Let’s start with the woman.”
“The witness from the case showed up on my doorstep, saying she’d been stalked and threatened. She had a kid in tow. A child. She’s maybe three or four. The sweetest little thing with bright eyes and her entire future ahead of her.”
Fuck. I was superimposing an old case with my crude attempt at keeping Valentina and Bella safe. I could tell by the way Chase had a single eyebrow lifted he knew exactly what I was doing. He and my other buddies had heard about the tragic case more than once. It had started our grousing about what we considered problems within the justice system. Since then, we’d regularlybrought the worst cases into the conversation to lament and suffer through the injustices together.
Thankfully, he resisted challenging me, instead snorting before lifting his glass. “Well, ain’t that a kick in the pants.” He studied me carefully. “Why do I have a feeling you have more of a history with this woman than simply overseeing the case?”
I took a deep breath, closing my eyes briefly. “Because I do.” When he said nothing, I lifted my gaze.
“Wow. Okay, then. Now I better understand your strong interest in this case.”
“You and I both know what Jones is capable of. Even worse, the case won’t be retried. That’s the true kick in the pants.”
“You found out for certain.” He narrowed his eyes.
Nodding, I shifted my gaze toward the door. It was only a matter of time before Jones carried out his threat.
“Why is that?” Chase pushed.
I finally took a sip of my drink, almost choking to death as soon as I did. Of course, my buddy grinned. “Jesus, Chase. What is this shit? Lacquer cleaner?”
“Very funny. Strong enough to keep you warm on a winter’s night.”
“This is Miami.”
He chuckled. “So what the hell is really going on? Why would a career criminal like Jacob Jones risk so blatantly returning to prison? He’s a smart guy.”
“The desire for retaliation is a powerful aphrodisiac. And get this. The names and contact information of everyone involved with the case were leaked.”
“Fuck me. You need to tighten security.” He whistled, shaking his head.
How many times had I laughed with no joy in the sound? “Something else I find interesting. My information was kept secure. Not that Jacob couldn’t find me. Valentina easily did. Still, for some reason my name was removed.”
“Not accidentally. Maybe so you won’t consider the issue a significant problem.”
I shook my head, lowering my voice even more than before. “Then people misunderstand my reputation. Did you know the Florida attorney general is dirty?” The last thing I needed was for anyone to overhear our conversation.
Chase prided himself on having a deadpan face when necessary, but I also had a way of reading eyes. “Yeah, I know. He’s suddenly become a wealthy man in the last eighteen months. He tries to pretend his increase in wealth is from his investments, but the DEA has been actively looking into his state of affairs for a few months.”
“And you didn’t warn me.”
“I didn’t think it would come into play. I will say it could be useful if you’re suggesting he’s the reason Jones was released.”
That meant the DEA could be actively investigating the AG and he couldn’t provide the details. There were aspects of our jobs we couldn’t discuss no matter how tight our friendship.
“You bet James Worthington in the reason, but I assure you that he’s covered his tracks. Him being a suspect is why you mentioned this whacked-out idea about becoming vigilantes last night. Don’t try and deny it.”
“Whacked-out vigilantes? I would hardly call my ideas whacked out. In truth, I’ve thought about the idea for a long time.”
I slowly glanced around the bar even though I doubted any of the patrons gave a shit what we were talking about. “What are we talking about with Worthington? Drugs or weapons?”
The way he swigged back a good half of his drink told me that he shouldn’t be sharing any pertinent information about Worthington. But knowing him, I figured he would. “Maybe. That’s the reason the inquiries about him have gone nowhere.”
