Page 141 of Lost Lyrebird

“And did you find anything?”

“I think so, yeah.The Thirteen Devils are already on a watch list.The guy you gave a description of sounds like the boss man, Antonio Chavez’s little brother, Julio Chavez.He goes by the name Veno, short for Veneno.The fucker’s nickname literally means poison.”He huffs, draws back while shaking his head.“Dude’s bad news.”

“I could have told you that.”

His smile is grim.“Yeah, well.Seeing is believing, right?His rap sheet is ridiculous.Domestic violence, a few drug charges, and there’s been some allegations of rape, but his brother’s lawyer got him off scot-free from those.”

My already tense muscles lock up further.

“I’ll tell you the rest, but first I need you to promise me something.”

“And that is?”

“That you won’t do anything stupid.”

I nod in agreement.Delivering some payback to those motherfuckers is forefront in my mind, but I’ll be smart about it.I’m not going to run off half-cocked.

He nods, scanning my face before he reaches into his breast pocket and pulls out some papers.He lays them face up on the table.I see a better image of the man driving the vehicle that night.It’s a mug shot.

“Yep, that’s the driver.”

“Veno.”Then he moves the paper to the side and shows me the next one.It’s a picture of another Hispanic man, one who’s older with sharper facial features, but the resemblance is there.“This is Antonio.This is why you gotta be smart.He’s not someone you want to fuck with.He’s not a thug.He’s street smart and a savvy businessman—keeps his hands clean for the most part.We don’t have anything solid on him.We’ve pinned him for a few crimes, but nothing ever sticks.”

He shakes his head.“My gut tells me they’ve gotten away with the shit they have so far because Antonio’s putting money into the pockets of someone or more than one someone at the precinct.”

I open my mouth to warn him to be careful again because the last fucking thing I want is something happening to him or his family because of this mess, but he holds up his hand.

“I know, and I’ll be more careful.I’ve been around long enough to know who to trust and when to hold my cards close to my chest.”

Reaching behind me, I pull out the pictures I’ve acquired over the last few nights.

While leaning over, he whispers, “What’s…” He snatches them up and quickly goes through them, the evidence I’ve amassed while watching the hotel.

“That one there, girl can’t be older than sixteen, seventeen.”

“And these are what John’s coming in and out of the hotel?”

“Looks like, yeah.”

“Jesus, Finn…” he mutters, shaking his head.“I guess I should’ve known you’d do something like this.”

“They trashed my fucking home.Nearly made me miss my opportunity to say goodbye to my dad.The last thing I was going to do was sit on my ass and let them get away with it.”

He’s shaking his head.Then he sighs heavily and slides the papers back to me.“Send me a digital copy.”

I nod once, and we stare at each other.

“My guess is either narcotics is looking to take down the bigger fish, as in Antonio, or the Feds are involved and are working the case on their side, in which case, they’d limit how much local detectives can get involved.”

“Makes sense.But still bureaucratic bullshit.”

“Yeah, at its finest.I’ll see what I can find out, though.”

“Only if it’s safe to do so.”

“I’ll take precautions.”He exhales heavily and slumps back in the booth.

The weight of our discussion sits heavy on both of our shoulders as Joey pays and we exit the bar.