Page 59 of All of Me

Garcia clucked his tongue. “Becauseel cabrónneeded an innocent witness that the defense couldn’t say had been promised freedom in return for a statement. I am assuming you did whatever he told you?” Garcia grunted. “I saw the agent you looked to in court. He was the second agent that met death, along with his son. His son for my son.”

I was stunned, but I wasn’t surprised. They wanted Garcia and they didn’t care how that happened. If they’d arrested Albert for the murder of an agent, the defense could argue he’d been offered freedom for his testimony, which is why the agent lied. Maybe he wanted a bad guy out of the way, or maybe he wanted the glory of an arrest.

“My wife knows nothing—”

“She knows who you are,” Garcia interrupted, “and unfortunately, she now knows who I am.” He must have nodded at Moira.

“And Ryan?” Drake asked mildly, like he believed Garcia wasn’t going to have him shot.

“Well, Mr. Connaught?” Garcia asked and I caught another whimper. “I think you need to explain.” The whimper turnedinto a shriek, and then a sob. Garcia tutted again. “You have another nine fingers. Please don’t waste my time.”

“I-I,” Ryan stammered, his breath hitching. “No, no,” his voice rose, and I assumed one of Garcia’s men had threatened him with the knife again.

“Cover it,” Garcia snapped. “I don’t want him to bleed out quite yet.”

“What were you looking for when you broke into my house?” Drake asked, still quietly, but with a thread of disgust running through every word.

“I—Okay, okay,” Ryan shrieked again. “I overheard my mom once talking to Moira. She said after all this time, surely Albert would be safe. That Garcia was locked up for the rest of his life. I was curious, and I asked her about it. She made me promise never to repeat what I’d heard, and I didn’t, but then…”

He moaned, cried a little, then gasped and rushed out his next words. “Albert hated me. Moira thought I should be at home like some sort of unpaid servant to care for Dad when they should both have been in a fucking nursing home,” he snarled. “Andyou,” he spat.“Cozying up to them. Making out like you were their son. I knew you were just after the money.” He was clearly talking to Drake. “And you weren’t any better,” he yelled. “I know you turned my mom against me.”

“No son,” Albert said sorrowfully in reply “You did that all on your own.”

“Why would you think your mom and dad were hiding anything, though?” Drake asked.

“Because I can use mybrain,” Ryan sneered again. “It wasn’t hard to find out when the farm was split. I saw the dates and narrowed it down. I had the name Garcia and knew a gun was missing from the reports. There was a chance Mom had it.”

Oh yeah, because that would have been such a great idea.

“But they arrested me,” Albert said. “How would I have gotten it here?”

“Like you said, the DEA were probably dirty,” Ryan spat out. “Guns don’t just disappear. I knew someone had to have had it, and Mom and Dad were stupid enough to hide it for you.”

“So, all this was greed with a side of revenge?” Drake said. “You couldn’t get them to sell the farm, so you thought if Albert and I were out of the picture, Moira would cave, and you’d get your millions? You poisoned the dogs, you tried to shoot me, you tried to burn the house, but then you found out who Albert was and because none of your pathetic intimidation was working on me, you thought you’d bring in help?” Drake paused. “Are you really such a fucking idiot, you thought the leader of Los Reyes del Silencio would let you live?”

“I—” but Ryan’s breath was cut off with a grunt, but then I heard two of the guards swear and the sound of a door opening. “Estaba escuchando fuera.”

Which I didn’t know what it meant, but my heart took another dive at the voice I recognized.

“Get your fucking hands of me,” my father roared.

I barely breathed.

“And you are?” Garcia asked. The sounds of a brief scuffle, then my dad cried out, “okay, Okay. The fucker owes me money. I wanted to know what he was up to and followed him to where y’all met.” My dad laughed, his voice rising. “I didn’t see anything. I didn’t hear anything.”

Garcia tutted. “And yet my man found you outside trying to listen.”

“But—” the click of a gun cut off dad’s words.

“Does this man work for you, Mr. Connaught?”

“He’s crazy,” Ryan said. “He had his ex-girlfriend killed because she asked him for child-support payments.”

I pressed a hand to my mouth to stop the gasp. But I’d known.

“His girlfriend?” Garcia pressed.

“She was training to be a nurse,” Ryan whispered. “I used Turner for…well, persuasion sometimes. Sometimes idiots didn’t want to move even though I offered them good money.”

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