Page 125 of The Bronze Garza

“We’ve been surveilling both Holly and Patrick,” he goes on. “He stalks and corners her at least twice a week; their conversations are generally rough and heated, and she’s left in tears each time. We figured she knew something and he’s been blackmailing her with evidence of her father’s affair to keep quiet.”

“What do you mean?” Henderson asks. “She helped them hurt my daughter?”

“No,” I answer. “Had a little...’chat’ with her last night. Made her tell me what she knew. On the night of the accident, her and Lyra were holding hands. The car would’ve hit them both. She said Patrick pulled her back and held her in place so the car would hit only Lyra.”

Henderson’s face twists with rage. “And she thought protecting her father’s reputation was more important than my daughter’slife?”

“Clearly, you Hendersons are terrible judges of character,” True comments, still pacing.

When I lance him a glare, he holds his hands up and mouths, “Sorry.”

Henderson drops his face into his hands and groans. “I can’t believe this. It’s all my fault. I brought these people into her life.” When he lifts his head again, he’s the epitome of devastated. “What do I...I don’t—How do I handle this? Call the cops?”

“You could do that,” True says. “And then the group will get tipped off and slip away like they’ve always done.”

“So what do I do?’” he barks desperately. “Tell me!”

“There was an incident yesterday,” I say as I idly spin my phone on the table. “An abduction. I stopped it. Turns out, though, that the girl’s the daughter of a fed. And right now he’s out for blood.

“Lyra recognized the tattoo on the kidnappers arm. We looked into it. It’s the emblem of the same Mexicali gang that took Lyra. That’s how they eat. They kidnap and sell.”

My phone lights up with a text. I stop spinning it long enough to scan the words.

Lyra:I don’t want this to be over.

I flip the phone face-down and continue. “We’ve got a solid relationship with the LX-PD, and now we’ve got an FBI agent out to take those men down because he thinks he ‘owes me one’. So if you’re asking my suggestion, it’s to stand down and let us take care of it.”

Because I promised her I would.

“So, what, I’m supposed to just go home and pretend I don’t know any of this?” Henderson asks in disbelief.

“Yup.”

“Time to put that acting hat on again, my man” True sings.

“I was a director, not an actor.”

“Same difference,” True mutters, taking a sip of water.

I sigh. “See, Guy, this is why I bringTrentin on meetings.”

“What, you think I can’t be all glare-y like Trent?” True asks indignantly. “All right. Watch me.” True crosses his arms, widens his stance, and proceeds to glare at Henderson.

“What’s happening?” Henderson asks. “Why are you doing that? I don’t like that. Please stop.”

Guy chuckles.

Henderson brings his attention back to me. “What do I tell Lyra?”

“Nothing yet,” I reply. “We need to make sure they don’t suspect anything.”

“Won’t it be better if she continues to stay with you until this is handled?”

“We need to make sure they don’t suspect anything,” I repeat.

“Right, right.” His eyes skitter nervously to True then back to me. “Please tell him to stop glaring at me.”

“In the meantime, you’re gonna need to find believable reasons to eat out or cook for yourself,” I tell him.