“How?” the man barked.
Steel gave her a reassuring nod.
“He visited often. When he did, it would start with a meeting with my father. He’d have dinner with us that night, and he’d stay in our home. In the morning, he and my brother would leave after breakfast, followed by several large trucks. I always assumed they were going to pick up shipments of drugs.”
“What kinds of trucks did they take, Daleyza?” Steel asked.
“Flatbed semis.”
“Empty or full?”
“Most of the time they arrived empty, and when they left, they had shipping containers aboard them. Why? Does it matter?”
“It matters,” TB answered. “Waters was involved in disrupting a sex trafficker a couple of years before Tribe formed. Then later, as a group, we intercepted another shipment. When we ran that group to ground, their method was to put shipping containers onto flatbeds. At the time, we thought it was just your average slave trafficking scum. Only recently did we find out that the shipment we intercepted belonged to the Salieri.”
Inside her head, an array of disjointed moments began to coalesce into a larger picture. She didn’t condone drug trafficking, but what she was beginning to understand now was far worse.
The expression on Steel’s face communicated that his mind was putting the same puzzle pieces together and forming the same picture. He gripped her hand in support. “Midas, go back into the reports. We would have logged container numbers, license plates, as well as the identities of the men we captured before disposal. I’m willing to bet we’ll be able to trace both of those shipments back to Daleyza’s father.”
“And if you’re willing to bet on it,” Midas replied, “I’m willing to accept the odds. Give me a minute.”
“Ildefanso—”
“Don’t you dare blame yourself, Leeza. There’s no way you could have known. The only ones at fault here are your father, your brothers, and those who knew what was going on and did nothing to stop it.”
“I was there. Doesn’t that still make me complicit?”
“It’s not like you drove the trucks or ran any part of the business. So no, you’re not part of it. How could you be if you knew nothing of what was going on?”
“But I knew, even early on as a child, that he did horrible things to make a living. I am complicit, at least in some way.”
“I’ve got it!” Midas came back online. “The container Waters intercepted was labeled PHTU 073124 5 25G1. It belonged to a company named Pale Horse Transit. The manifest claimed the dry container held stock of infant carriers bound for Los Angeles. Well, there’s irony for you.” The sarcasm in his voice wasn’t just dripping; it was a waterfall. Midas continued. “It will take me a little longer to confirm whether Daleyza’s family is connected through ownership or use. I’m going to have to dig deep.”
“How long will you need?” God asked.
“Not sure, but I’m already back channeling as we speak.”
“You should be able to find it quickly,” she said. “The logo on the mud flaps of the trucks my father used. They had a green horse on them, and the rider on the horse had a scythe.”
“No. It can’t be that easy.” God’s voice was filled with both understanding and horror. Like a general giving orders, he returned to his normal, cranky, abrupt self. “Loki… Gilgamesh… Get this information to Cerberus and Medusa. I think we’ve found the missing link we’ve been looking for.”
“On it.”
“Daleyza, have you seen any other horse emblems in your family’s business dealings?”
“I… I don’t know. Although, we did have a lot of artwork around our home centered around horses.” She looked at Ildefanso. “My father didn’t talk about business with me or any of the other women, to my knowledge. We weren’t considered capable of that sort of thing. It wasn’t until I met Ildefanso that anyone thought I had worth beyond the marriage bed.”
The arm that had been stretched across the back of her chair moved, bringing his hand forward to smooth the back of his index finger down her cheek. Their gazes lingered on each other’s faces.
“But you don’t remember seeing anything?”
“I’m sorry, no. Not consciously.”
“Too bad Midas isn’t here to do his voodoo,” TB said. “He could hypnotize her, and maybe she’d remember something that way.”
“Well, he’s not here, so there’s no point wishing for it,” God snapped. “Daleyza, if you think of anything, I need you to tell Steel or one of us. That goes for everyone. If any of us sees anything to do with horses, I want to know immediately. And I want pictures.”
“What’s the big deal with horses?” Nemo asked.
