Page 14 of Havoc

“You said this had to do with Brick’s brother?”

“Yes and no.” I swallowed hard when his green eyes pierced mine.

“I don’t like being blindsided.” He rested his elbows heavily on the table, and I saw his knuckles were battered. I wondered where the body was hidden. “You have two minutes.” He raised a hand to the waitress, and she rushed right over. “Whiskey, neat.”

“Yes, sir.” She batted her eyes at him, and he turned to look at me. He only had eyes for his wife. That was the only part I admired about him.

“We have a problem.” I don’t know why I started so aggressively. “I did some digging on the name you gave me, and it turns out Luis Aguilar is dead.”

“One less, more for the rest.” He shrugged and handed the waitress too much money. She grinned when he waved off his change.

“Trouble is he died a month before Martin Castillo.” I waited, but Trigger didn’t react or miss a beat. He just sipped his drink slowly and continued to stare at me. Christ, he was intense. “So, how did he kill Castillo from the grave?”

“I’ve seen it happen,” he muttered, and I wondered what he meant.

“So, you realize he couldn’t have killed him? Do you have any thoughts on what might have happened that day?”

“No.” He still held eye contact, and my body started to overheat. This was not a man to go up against. My hand shook slightly when I pulled out a photo and slid it over to him.

“I find that interesting because you guys were there.”

Trigger plucked the photo up and squinted at the background where a man stood in a Devil’s Reach cut.

“Give me a day. I’ll see what I can find out.” He downed the rest of his drink, giving me nothing to go on. “And Brick’s brother?” I should have known he’d still ask.

“I got word he’s living in Washington, but I don’t know for sure. Here is the last known address.” I handed him a piece of paper.

“Tell me somethin’.” He took the paper and put it in the breast pocket of his cut. “Where’s the hothead lawyer? Somethin’ tells me he wouldn’t like you talkin’ to me without him.”

“I thought we should talk before he got involved.” I went with the truth. “We all know Cameron has a temper. I thought it best we met first before he did something we might regret.”

He smirked, and I found myself leaning back in my chair for distance. “I’ll be in touch.” He stood and left without so much as a look over his shoulder. For a man with so many enemies, he sure was confident with his back to an open room.

I slept in Cameron’s office that night. A part of me was worried Trigger would have me killed, and being up here with the security guys made me feel better. Plus, Cameron would kill me if he heard about my late-night talk with Trigger without him. It would look better if I was here when he arrived.

The light turned on, and I squinted and adjusted to the beam of light. Cameron looked at me with a twisted expression as he tossed his briefcase on a chair.

“Don’t you have your own place?”

“Yes, with a mattress,” I stretched and felt my back crack, “but I need to talk to you.”

“Talk fast. I have a meeting in five with Jim.”

“Cancel it. You’re going to want to hear this.”

“Fuck.” He picked up his phone and made the call to Jim. “So, talk.”

“Not here.”

We headed downstairs, and I led the way to a small breakfast place I knew about on the Strip. We didn’t have much time, and we needed to figure this out. The café overlooked a man-made lake where you could rent little rowboats and pretend that you were in Louisiana or some shit. God, people paid a lot of money to pretend.

“What’s this about?” I felt my heart jump when I thought I spotted Trigger in the distance. Was he following me?

I handed Cameron another copy of the photo since Trigger took the last one and explained what I’d discovered. That Trigger’s information on who killed Castillo couldn’t have happened. His face got more and more red as I went on.

“That fucking prick lied to my face.”

“It seems that way, yes.”

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