Page 90 of Hart of Redemption
Fallyn hadn’t taken her eyes off me. Maybe this was the perfect moment to ask her some questions.
“Did you follow me to the cemetery?” I asked her. “That bald guy in the club, was he a ploy to get my attention?”
“Mr. Hart,” Howard warned.
Fallyn straightened. “I got lucky running into you at the cemetery. As for the bald guy, he was there to give me a message from another agent.”
“Mr. Hart, I’ll ask again. Were you at the container yard to pick up guns?” Agent Howard’s abrasive tone was like nails on a chalkboard.
“I was,” I said, glaring at Fallyn.
“So you admit that you’re a front man for Rosario Mendoza,” Howard said.
“I admit I was there to pick up the guns,” I said. Kelton had counseled me to stick to the recent incident and nothing more.
“Do you know who ambushed the truck?” Fallyn asked.
“Mateo Alvarez.”
“Why?” Howard took the lead.
“First, revenge. He thought by stealing the guns, it would create tension between Rosario and me to the extent that she would kill me if I didn’t pay her.”
“But instead she killed Tito,” Howard added.
I shrugged. “Don’t know.” She had never explicitly spelled that out. I also wouldn’t add more shit to her plate. “But Mateo thought so. He kidnapped her daughter. Then he took my sister.”
“Why Grace?” Fallyn studied me like I was a science project.
I was beginning to think she was in the room to rattle my cage. In a way, she was doing exactly that. I was yearning like a motherfucker to jump over the table and shake her until Joy came out. I was beginning to like Joy more than Fallyn.
“He thought I might bring the Feds in, set him up like my brother Denim had done with Tito. So he took Grace as assurance that I didn’t.” My tone was even. “But I guess the joke is on me. Right, Fallyn?”
Her upper lip twitched like she was about to bare her teeth.
I wondered what I had done to piss her off all of a sudden.
“Where are the guns that were in that truck?” Howard asked.
“You’ll have to ask Mateo that.” I infused sarcasm into that line.
Kelton straightened his posture. “My client has answered your questions. He has nothing else to give you. Besides, you have Rosario Mendoza in custody. I hear she’s cooperating, so what more do you need?”
Howard stabbed a finger at me as if it were a dagger. “I want this thug in jail. He’s been selling illegal firearms for years.”
“Can you prove that?” Kelton asked. “Because all you have is what you saw that night at the container yard. My client didn’t pick up any guns. And if Agent Williams overheard anything while undercover or had any listening devices, I doubt any of it would hold up in court.”
“Who killed Emilio Vazquez?” Fallyn’s fingers were interwoven so tightly that her knuckles were white.
Kelton regarded me, silently asking who Emilio was. I’d forgotten about the low-ranking soldier of Rosario’s who had become a snitch for Mateo. “After Gustavo and I talked to Emilio, we let him go.”
“You did with orders to get a message to Mateo,” Fallyn said, not asked. “I was at the factory that day, listening.”
I should be surprised, but I wasn’t. “Okay, then you know it wasn’t me who killed him. I was at the club all night with you.”
Howard whipped his head around to look at Fallyn, his expression kind of priceless, as if he was jealous.
Fallyn’s cheeks reddened as she pursed her lips. “Mr. Hart, do you know anything about the death of Jason Williams?”
