Page 14 of Last Chance Christmas
He nodded.
“We caught one, but there are three still out there. One of them is Alonzo Sosa.”
Izan didn’t like the sound of this. “You should probably talk to Penny and Bryce, then. They’re the ones who brought him in a few months ago, after he nearly killed them. They’re the reason he’s in jail, right?”
“His girlfriend was killed, and Alonzo was sent to prison.” She held his gaze. “Have you ever visited him while he was in prison, or had other contact?”
“Why would I do that?”
Olivia said, “I’m just curious if you’ve ever had personal contact of any kind with Alonzo Sosa.”
The straight answer was no. But that didn’t satisfy the questions that collided in his mind. “You don’t actually think we’re friends, right?”
“It’s not my job to draw conclusions. Just to ask questions.” She paused. “Your family and his are intimately connected. He’s Diego’s nephew.”
“My mother was Diego’s girlfriend. Until she had an affair with my father.” His father had ended up in prison, arrested shortly after Diego caught up to them and murdered Izan’s mother. Later, he’d died there. A sad end to a dangerous life. “I have nothing to do with the Sosas. I was adopted by the Collins family after my father made Elizabeth Crawford promise to take care of me. The Crawfords are more my family than the Sosas will ever be.”
Izan got up to pace the entryway, trying to bleed off the antsy feeling of being pent up and exhausted. They’d gone hard this shift, and he was ready for some sleep.
“No one is accusing you of being in cahoots with a criminal. I just need to check a box so the police department can say we’re ‘exploring all avenues’ and I’m not wondering if I made an assumption that might turn out to be wrong later.”
She couldn’t let her personal feelings affect her judgment when it came to her job. The same way Izan couldn’t presume what a fire might do. Situations turned a corner in seconds and were always a hair from becoming volatile.
But that didn’t mean he had to like the accusation.
“They’ve both been dead for a long time, and the Sosas are the people who killed them. I’m not going to help Alonzo if he shows up.” He turned to face her, sliding his hands into his pockets so he could try and contain some of the frustration. “Who do you think told the ATF that the Sosas were working in Last Chance County in the first place?”
“The person who has nothing to do with them?” She lifted her chin, as if she’d caught him in an inconsistency.
“That was years ago. Jude is here now, and the Sosas came after the Crawfords.”
“Because of you?”
Izan shrugged off any guilt he should’ve felt. “They were stopped. But people got hurt. That’s what happens when you tangle with a cartel.”
“And the money your parents stole from the Sosas?”
Izan wanted to shrug again, but that would be redundant. “If I had all that money they siphoned from the cartel, you think I’d be living here?” He could be a firefighter…in Miami. Or San Diego. Drive a flashy car. Take expensive vacations.
But if it was just him, it would seem kind of empty.
“Has anyone from the cartel ever threatened you, or tried to contact you?”
Izan shook his head. “I have no idea if Alonzo even knows who I am.” Still, he should probably confess at least some of the truth. “I went looking for the Sosas a few years back. It’s how I knew they were here in Last Chance County. I guess maybe I did have designs on finding the money or finding out who I was, but I got my hand slapped pretty quickly. It’s a dangerous world.”
Maybe at one time he’d had a wild idea to bring down drug dealers. To go on a one-man crusade to dismantle the criminal element destroying lives in Last Chance County. But he wasn’t a cop—she was. Izan could make a difference in his job here at the firehouse. Olivia’s job was to uphold the law and protect innocent people in the way that cops did.
He’d matured a lot in the last few years and left that wild bent behind.
Her phone buzzed, so he went over and sat down, resting his head back against the wall. “Everything okay?”
“Junior needs a ride home from the hospital.”
Izan said, “I’ll go get him. I’m just about to get off shift.”
“What are you going to do the rest of the day?”
“Take a nap.” He glanced over. “Are you going to be working?”
