Page 17 of Faded Gray Lines

“Or maybe my business lunch got pushed back, and I decided to kill two birds with one stone.”

I winced. “Bad choice of wording, Brody.”

“Sorry,” he muttered, regret in his eyes. “Speaking of which, we need to talk about your problem.”

No way were we discussing this. Not here. “There’s no problem anymore, right?”

“As far as I know. However, a problem just doesn’t go away when there are no answers, Leighton,” he chastised with a pitying look. “I think you owe me a few, don’t you? This isn’t a normal situation and you know it. Why didn’t you question me yesterday? You never do what I say without an argument, and this isn’t a normal favor.”

“There’s a first time for everything,” I shot back, digging in my apron for my order pad. I didn’t like how the tables had turned, and I needed to divert his attention.

He sighed my name long and hard. “Leighton…”

Bending down low, I whispered in his ear, “I don’t care to know what happened to him or why. Now leave it alone.”

I could hear his teeth grinding, deciding whether to fire back or pick his battles. Luckily for me, he wasn’t declaring war. “Fine. Can I get a beer then?”

“In the middle of the day?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He tapped his wristwatch. “I’m clocking out. Would you like to card me, too, or are we going to argue about that as well?”

“I thought you had someone from the DA’s office meeting you?”

“Not that it concerns you, but no, I’m meeting an associate from RVC Enterprises. I’ve decided to expand my investment portfolio, and it’s a solid real estate company. I’d be stupid not to get my hands in it.”

Get your hands dirty is more like it.

RVC Enterprises was a money laundering front for Valentin Carrera and everyone knew it. My brother was an idiot if he thought people would see him any differently. It pissed me off he thought I was clueless enough to buy his line of bullshit.

“RVC, huh? And will you be meeting with the lady who runs it?” Since Carrera left Houston, rumor had it that his secretary had taken over the day-to-day operations.

“No, smartass. For your information, I’m meeting with the second largest shareholder, Mateo Cortes.”

Son of a bitch.

It couldn’t be this easy. Emilio and Mateo in one building? Everything was falling into place. This time my smile was real. Vindication did that to a person, and luckily, it filled all the available places in my brain, so thoughts of Luis couldn’t sneak in. Shoving my order pad back in my apron, I gave Brody’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “One beer, coming right up.”

“And one for Mateo when he gets here.” He grinned. “But hold the sarcasm.”

Rolling my eyes, I returned to the bar where the useless bartender sat in the middle of the sticky floor mat flipping through the pages ofBartending for Dummies.

I wish I were kidding.

“Hey, Sarah?” I lifted onto my tiptoes and yelled down to her, hoping I got her name right. “Do you mind if I pour a beer for a customer?”

She shrugged, her blonde curls bouncing on her shoulders as she motioned to the page she’d dog-eared. “Knock yourself out. I’m only up to the D’s. Who the hell would drink something called a Dirty Martini?”

Ugh. Where did Emilio find these morons?

Choosing to keep my comments to myself, I stared at the back of Brody’s head as I tipped the mug and poured the beer from the tap.

As much as this felt like I was trapped in a nightmare, I wasn’t. This was real, and I was on my own. There was no hero at the end to save me.

So, I was saving myself.

Six

Mateo