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I WASN’T SURE I fully believed Antonio Deason until he led us into an off-site DEA office in Midtown. They took the cuffs off us, but no one offered us our handguns back. We walked in silence down a hallway. The offices didn’t look much different from our own at Manhattan North Homicide. There were a few people working at desks who showed little or no interest as we walked by.

I realized the counter-surveillance we’d come up against recently was actually DEA agents covering Deason during his undercover work. That’s why they’d brought the Porsche Taycan to his apartment. It was probably a seized vehicle. The person who had been in the back seat of the SUV turned out to be the woman we’d seen delivering the Porsche to Deason the day we got burned so badly. I also realized the SUV we’d just ridden in was the same blue Tahoe that had blocked us on our first surveillance. Now all that seemed obvious. Maybe Deason was right. I might be a moron.

They took us into a comfortable conference room where the Black man we’d seen Deason meeting with at the Italian restaurant was seated at the end of the table. He gave us a grin as we shuffled in.

We all sat around the table. Another woman joined us. She wore a blue pantsuit and sat on the opposite side of the table. Her eyes gave us a stern appraisal. She was clearly management. But she was letting Deason handle the meeting.

I didn’t intend to give them the satisfaction of asking a ton of questions. I just stayed quiet. I knew I didn’t have to warn Trilling to keep his mouth shut. He did that on his own most of the time. He didn’t seem too confused by the entire episode.

Antonio Deason sat directly across from Trilling and me. He looked a little more frazzled than in the past. He flashed his brown eyes at me, then over to Trilling. No one said anything.

Finally, Deason said, “You don’t have any questions?”

I said, “I’m waiting to hear what you have to say.”

“We know your reputation. That’s why we brought you in here. We’d like to ensure that you don’t tell anyone about our investigation.”

“You mean don’t tell my bosses.”

“I mean don’t tell anyone .” Deason paused, then glanced around the table. The woman sitting on the other side of the table nodded her head. “I’m sure you know who I am, and that this group we’re investigating worked for my father years ago. The NYPD conducted extensive investigations and made a lot of arrests back then. The NYPD unit, the Land Sharks, were the only ones who ever stopped him. But it also appears that someone in the NYPD took a lot of money as well.”

“Hang on a minute. Are you saying you didn’t notify anyone about your investigation because you don’t trust the NYPD?”

“Yes.”

The answer was like a slap in my face. “How did you end up investigating the same people your father used to work with?”

Deason said, “That’s a smart question. I kinda didn’t expect it.”

“An insult and a compliment at the same time. Very impressive.” That earned a chuckle around the table.

“I won’t go into the details. But in my last year at the University of Miami, some DEA agents wanted to ask me questions about my father. Once they realized I hadn’t spoken with him for years, we just started to chat. Next thing I knew, I applied, was hired, went through the academy, and found myself working in Manhattan. We all agreed we might be able to use my connection to my father to finally break some of the drug gangs that have plagued the city.”

I said, “So you joined the DEA as a reaction to your father.”

Deason said, “My father did a lot to destroy the Bronx even as he made a show of doing good works. He expanded quickly and had set his sights on ruining most of the city. That’s why I started thinking of ways I could help communities instead of tearing them apart.”

“We’re working a series of homicides. We have no interest in narcotics cases.”

“You’re looking into the murders of all the dopers who’ve been killed over the last couple of months?”

I nodded. “We think some of them are connected to a larger case we’re looking into. You—and your father—were our only known links between all the victims. Now we need to find a new suspect.” I waited a few seconds and added, “Unless you did kill them and now you want to confess.”

Deason ignored my comment. “Will you let the DEA handle this drug case without interference? And can we count on you to stay away from the warehouse in the Bronx and keep your mouth shut about our investigation?”

I nodded.

Deason looked at Trilling.

Trilling nodded as well.

Deason said, “You can speak, right?”

Trilling just nodded again.

I loved it.