Page 13 of Unhallowed Murder
Thanks.
Ramirez walked in with his girl, helped her onto a barstool, and told the bartender whatever she wanted went on his tab. He finally made his way to the table in the back, but only after he’d done a thorough scope of the entire room. This man wasmuchmore dangerous than Flores.
He also had spider webs tattooed over much of the skin they could see, which explained the street name. The gang task force needed to update his picture in their database.
Ramirez walked to the table, turned to look the room over again, and a splintering bomb went off in Ronnie’s head. She slapped her hand over her ear at the same time Carter did, as well as two guys on the other side of the room. No wonder Graham hadn’t argued about the local PD being the ones inside — he’d placed his people, too.
But now they had four people who’d just announced they were LEO, because Ramirez was smart enough to check to see if any were in the room.
And they were all operating without comms, because they’d ripped them from their ears.
Carter and the two FBI agents had their weapons drawn, but Ronnie walked to the table with her hands out to the side and facing forward, so they could see she wasn’t going for hers.
“It’s my job to find out who killed Wendy, Spyder, but it’s also my job to keep you from killing whoever you suspect did it. Flores admitted to raping her and threatening her it’d be worse next time if she kept talking, but says she was alive when he left her. Who else might’ve wanted her dead?”
Flores drew his weapon and was in the process of directing it at Ronnie, and she took the final four steps fast, slammed his head on the table, disarmed him, rode him to the ground, and zip-tied his arms behind his back. She couldn’t carry regular cuffs undercover in askimpy outfit, and the rapid-fire clicks of the zip-tie sounded sweet going around his wrists.
Meanwhile, the other men moved in and secured everyone else at the table, while a dozen uniformed and plainclothes deputies streamed in to keep an eye on the rest of the room.
“Tigre,” Carter said as he marched the older man out of the room. “So many rumors about you. Which are true?”
Ronnie handed Flores off to a deputy and found Graham. “I don’t care if we take them to your place or mine, so long as I get first crack at Flores.”
“Pretty sure you broke his nose, so you’ve already…”
He must’ve seen she wasn’t in the mood for jokes, and he stopped talking and shrugged. “My case is mostly made at this point — he raped her to silence her, and they needed to silence her because they tried to bribe her. I have Flores on both. An official confession would simplify things, and that seems to be one of your many specialties. Let’s step to the side and consider strategy. How can I help with your murder case?”
Ronnie looked at him, trying to figure him out, and Josef spoke in her head.He’s an honest to goodness good guy. Doesn’t want anyone to get away with murder. The offer doesn’t come with strings. Well, it may, but at this time, he isn’t planning for it to. Shoot straight with him and he’ll repay the courtesy.
Thank you. Again.
“While everyone’s here,” Ronnie told Graham, “we’ll argue about who gets them. Loud enough they can hear, butnot enough to be obvious. I’ll win. That way, while I’m interrogating them, I can pretend I’m saving them from federal charges, but they have to cooperate or that stops.”
He nodded. “Tricky, but I trust you know how to pull it off and stay legal?”
“I do.”
“Well then, let’s play ball.”
He raised his voice. “Absolutely not! Our case came first — you get them when we’re done with them!”
“Hate to break it to you, but my people cuffed them. They’re ours! Take a number and I’ll get back to you.”
She spun away from him and walked to her people. “Get them processed and ready for me. I put a uniform with Ramirez’ girlfriend at the bar. I’ll talk to her here, with the threat of taking her in if she doesn’t share whatever she knows.”
They aren’t that close. She let him stay with her and use her car because he’s keeping her supplied with crack. He’ll show positive for a variety of drugs — he’s self-medicating to keep from dealing with his grief. She only knows he has access to drugs, he shoots off way too fast in bed, and he can be scary when he doesn’t get his way. Seems to be the extent of her knowledge.
Thanks. I have to go through the motions anyway, but it’s good to know.
Chapter Nine
“You took the girlfriend at her word without switching directions. I’ve heard good things about your interview techniques, but you seemed to go easy on her.”
Ronnie could see how Graham could get that impression. She needed to go over everything they knew and form a better game plan, but his question needed answering first.
“My guys call me the human lie detector. I have to be sitting right in front of someone — I can’t replicate it over video, so don’t bring me one and ask me to tell you if someone’s lying or not, because I can’t. But, when I’m face to face with someone, I know if they’re lying or telling the truth. There are exceptions — when someone’s convinced themselves they’re telling the truth, it doesn’t come off as a lie — but I’m rarely wrong when I know in my gut whether they’re being honest or not.”
“I used to work with someone like that. It’s a handy skill.”
