“Didn’t know she’d gotten hitched, eh?” Adam was reading his mind again. Great, just what he needed.
From the passenger seat, he looked sideways at him. “Smart ass. You could’ve said something!”
“Like what? Hey, Mitch, in case you get the bright idea to sex your way out of this, she married a CIA agent about twice your size last summer?” He laughed. “Anyway, I figured you knew.”
“How doyouknow? You’ve been here all of ten minutes and seem to know everything about everybody!”
“Not really. The LT gave me the heads-up on Dr. Patrick. Said you two got together some time ago and wouldn’t put it past you to try again. Guess he knows you pretty well.”
“Apparently, I was invited to the wedding! You should see the rock on her finger. Don’t ask me how I missed that.” Mitch shook his head. “Hey, if you don’t turn up here, we’ll be off the beat. Take a left, and let’s find something to eat. I didn’t get enough at lunch.”
Adam continued straight through the light. “Yeah, well, that happens when you don’t actually eat lunch. Hey, I’ll take you to that pizza place I told you about earlier. We can grab a slice.”
“Dude, seriously, we just left the beat. You gotta turn around.”
Ignoring him, Adam parked the troller on a side street a few blocks up and shut off the engine. “Trust me. You’ll love this pizza.” He got out and started walking. Mitch looked up and realized he was heading straight toward the pawnshop he’d been driving by for months.
Vinnie’s Pizza had a huge “Grand Opening” banner above the doors and stood less than half a block up and on the other side of the street from Micky’s Pawnshop. They bought a slice and grabbed a table at the window. Mitch’s view was the front of the shop he’d been watching ever since he had word that Manuel had returned to town.
Adam looked him square in the eyes. “Fill me in on what you know. Why the interest in Micky’s?”
He hesitated. He hadn’t told anyone about his private, ongoing investigation. It was common knowledge he was still actively looking, but he kept the details to himself. He gathered information, did surveillance, and conducted “interrogations” off duty. Fewer rules that way. Occasionally, his partner at the time would be around when he had an opportunity for information he couldn’t pass up. Those bits of information eventually made the rounds at the station.
No one had ever offered to help. Is that what Adam was doing? Or was he gathering ammo for the brass? His interest seemed genuine, but Mitch wasn’t sure who to trust anymore. It would be nice, and possibly beneficial, to get a different perspective. A second set of eyes to see if there was anything he was overlooking might help, but he barely knew Adam. He proceeded with caution.
“Everyone thinks he left town, but I don’t buy it.” He didn’t have to elaborate on who “he” was. Manuel was well-known to police even before shooting Jimmy.
The manhunt for Manuel Garcia Juarez was hot and furious after Jimmy was killed but had petered out as the months went by with no leads. Most figured he’d fled town and was back in Honduras, sipping Pinol and running his operation from there.
He disagreed. Being AWOL those first couple months, he’d missed a lot. Yet another thing he chided himself for before falling asleep at night. Those two selfish months spent in a drunken stupor could have made the difference. Maybe he would have picked up on the one thing someone else had missed, and Manuel would be on death row by now. Add it to the list of things he’d fucked up but couldn’t change.
“I read all the reports and interviewed everyone even remotely involved in the investigation. I never found any hard evidence that Manuel ever left the country.”
“So, you think he’s still in the city? Why wouldn’t he at least head west to lay low for a while?”
Mitch swallowed a bite of pizza and took a swig of Coke. “I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what he did. I’m not certain where he went, possibly Florida, but to answer your first question, yes, I do think he’s back in the city.”
“How come?”
“There’s been an increase in cocaine busts, and a lot of it is that Honduran shit Manuel is famous for. It’s not like it ever left, but I’m convinced while he was out of town, his dealers got lazy, greedy, or both and weren’t selling as much.They were giving it away, using it or hell, even losing it. Now that the boss is back in town and presumably cracking the whip, business has picked up. That’s why we’re making more busts.”
Mitch had amassed an extensive collection of street contacts over the years. He cultivated and nurtured relationships with business owners, hookers, thugs, and even school-aged kids. He cut loose those who fed him bullshit and treated those who gave useful information well. While there was no consensus on Manuel’s current residence, there were many willing to admit he was back in town, just keeping a very low profile.
Mitch hadn’t needed anyone to confirm that. He felt it. The son of a bitch was close, and Mitch wouldn’t stop until he was behind bars or better yet, dead.
“Makes sense. How does the pawnshop fit in?”
“When it comes to crime, Manuel doesn’t discriminate. He’s a jack of all trades. Before,” he paused to clear his throat, “before the fucker killed Jimmy, he was just getting into trafficking illegal guns. He’s always run stolen goods out of Micky’s, but this was a behind closed doors kind of thing. My theory is that he’s trying to start that up again.”
Adam thought for a minute, then added, “He must still have the guns he was trying to sell back then and has just been waiting for things to cool off before getting back to it. You’re probably right.”
Mitch stood and grabbed his tray and to-go cup. “You ready?”
“Yeah, better get back before someone misses us. We shouldn’t hang out here in uniform anyway. Don’t want to scare anyone. I don’t live too far from here and can check it out occasionally while off-duty.”
“Thanks for showing me this place. It must have opened since I last came through here. You’re right. It’s perfect.”
Adam nodded in agreement. They dropped their trays in the designated spot and headed back to work.
