Page 79 of Tough Justice

“Why not?” Deck prodded, clenching his jaw. “You already told us the doc ordered the hit, so why not give us everyone else’s name? If you don’t, you’ll spend most of your life locked up in a maximum-security federal penitentiary. That’s hardcore. They don’t even have the Disney Channel.”

“I can’t. I got a family. Three kids. The guys I was with know this. I know I’m going to prison, but I need to know they’re safe while I’m inside. I don’t give a rat’s ass about the doc. I don’t even know who he is.”

“How is T-Lo involved in this?” he prodded, knowing full well T-Lo was the doc’s hit man.

“I didn’t say he was. I didn’t.”

He was afraid of the doc’s distributor, and with good reason. T-Lo wouldn’t hesitate to reach out into the prison system and pay someone on the sly to knife Beauchamp in the back.

“All I’m saying is that someone told us where to find you and when you’d be there,” the man said. “The place kept changing because all of a sudden the cops were everywhere.”

Union Station. Aidan had begged Deck not to notify the police, but he’d done it anyway. If T-Lo was feeding information to Beauchamp and the others, then Aidan was taking orders from T-Lo, who changed the location to the park. Deck had checked in twice with Denver PD and the rehab center, but no one had seen or heard from Aidan since that night. “Ever hear of a kid named Aidan?”

“No.” Beauchamp shook his head.

“Where does the doc operate out of?”

“Beats me,” Beauchamp answered.

“What kind of car does he drive?”

“How should I know? But”—he paused—“I heard he’s into sports cars.”

“One more question.” Deck thought he already had the answer but needed to confirm it. “Are the doc and the Big D the same person?”

“Yeah, man. Same dude.”

Twenty minutes later, they left the prison and headed to Mick’s for lunch. Beauchamp hadn’t given them anything else Deck could use to ID the doc aka Big D, but vindicating Tori had made the trip worth it. He owed her that much.

He grabbed his cell phone to call Rivera and give him an update on Beauchamp, but it was already ringing. ASAC Rivera.

“Decker.”

“Deck, I’ve got some bad news.”

Several minutes later, Deck ended the call. His limbs felt heavy.

“Problem?” Brett asked over his shoulder from the front passenger seat.

You could say that. “State Police found Aidan’s body.”

“The same kid who set up the ambush?” Evan asked. “I know you tried to help him.”

A lot of good that had done. Like Tori said, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t help someone who didn’t want to be helped.

“Overdose?” Brett asked.

“No.” He gripped the phone tighter. “Gunshot to the face. They found him in an oil field outside Fort Collins. ME says he’s been dead around eight weeks.”

“Eight weeks?” Evan turned into Mick’s parking lot. “That can’t be a coincidence. What do you think happened?”

“Can’t say for sure.” Deck tried massaging his aching shoulder, but that only made it worse. “He probably mouthed off to someone about our confrontation at the rehab center. Word could have gotten back to T-Lo, who used Aidan to lure me and Thor into a trap. Helping to set up a federal agent would be worth bragging rights. T-Lo probably killed him before he could shoot his mouth off again. The kid was just an angry addict. He didn’t deserve this.”

Deck shoved a hand through his hair. Good intentions, my ass. All his good intentions had accomplished was to get the boy killed. He didn’t think the day could get any worse but knew better than to verbalize the thought.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Late afternoon sun peeked through the blinds, painting the bedroom wall with horizontal shadows. Tori glanced at her watch. It was almost time to leave for the p.m. shift.