Page 39 of All of Me

“What did you mean about Garcia being all about revenge?” Shae asked without waiting for Danny to answer Kane’s question.

Danny inclined his head as if he was expecting someone to ask that. “The DEA agent wasn’t the only one that died in the raid. Two of Garcia’s men were also shot and killed. I’m…” Danny fell silent as he scanned something on his screen, then clicked some more buttons and leaned back. He glanced up at the screen on the wall and they all looked at a picture of a teenager.

“That’s Enrique Garcia, sixteen years old, and Carlos’s only son. He died of a gunshot wound in the raid. Now, what you have to remember is that forensic advancements like 3-D scanning of bullet and casing markings has only become possible in the last twenty years. The bullet that killed Enrique passed right through his left ventricle and embedded itself into the stonewall, meaning it was too damaged and impossible to identify.” He looked up. “But it might be possible now.”

“But you said the DEA agents were dead, so what would be the point?” Gray asked.

“Because all the agents in the raid were carrying Glock 17s. The bullets were standard. The one in the wall wasn’t.”

I processed that. “Are you saying that someone other than the DEA agents shot and killed Garcia’s son?”

“I’m saying it’s quite possible,” Danny said. “I’m also saying that the gun might have nothing to do with Garcia supposedly killing the DEA agent, and it might have everything to do with him finding out who killed his son.”

“Fuck,” I breathed out and gazed at Shae, then back to Danny. “Just to be clear.” I swallowed. I didn’t like the assumptions I was making, but at the moment, if Danny was right, we were running out of other explanations. “You’re thinking that somehow it was Albert that pulled the trigger, and that’s why he’s hidden the gun? And there’s even a possibility that he not only killed Enrique, but maybe even the DEA agent as well?”

“We’ve heard a lot about developers wanting both yours and Albert’s property,” Danny said, “but where’s the evidence? I can’t find so much as one single email or one approach to anyone regarding the protected farmland which would require zoning changes. There may be physical mail which obviously I can’t access online.”

“And why now?” Shae said. “I know Garcia got released this year, but there has to be some reason he’s found him, and it doesn’t make sense that you’re the target with the fire and the shooting. If he knew who Albert really was, surely he’d just go after him? Threaten Moira to get him to tell him the truth. Like where the gun is?”

“And since when did drug cartels poison dogs?” Kane asked. I nodded. It was a good point and a bit too far-fetched for me.

“If Garcia is responsible, we need to know how he found out where Albert is.”

“I don’t think Garcia has any idea where Albert is,” Danny said. “If he did, he’d do exactly as Shae says, but then if he didn’t none of what we’re speculating makes sense. He wouldn’t even bother with you two. Albert would be strung up by his toenails, or worse, Moira would be taken.” I shot up because what if Danny was wrong, but Rawlings beat me to it, pulling out his phone. “I got this,” he said, and I knew he was calling Jay to add a shit-ton of extra protection.

Gray leaned forward. “Do you think Albert would talk to you?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “But this has gone from a stupid man who wants the farm for cash to the head of a drug cartel wanting revenge on his son’s killer.”

“And we still have no idea where my dad fits in or if he even does,” Shae said.

“As escalations go, that’s quite impressive,” Gray said.

Shae looked at me and we both heard the echo of what we’d said before.

A small indicator started flashing at the bottom of Danny’s screen, which we could all still see on the wall, and he clicked, muttered, and the screen changed.

“Shit,” I breathed out, looking at the picture. It was a car, a black Mercedes. Ryan was driving and sitting next to him was John Turner, Shae’s dad.

“When was this taken?” Rawlings asked.

Danny pointed to the screen, showing the time stamp. “Forty minutes ago.”

Chapter Fifteen

Shae

I stared at the picture of the man I hated most in the world. I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but the fact that John Turner—he’d never been a dad—was mixed up in it all didn’t surprise me.

Danny looked down, surprised, as his phone flashed and he picked it up. “Hi Gael,” he said quietly. “I’m with Diesel, Kane, Gray, Shae and Ringo. Do you want me to—” he paused then put the phone on speaker.

“Hey,” Gael greeted us all.

I mouthed a greeting. I didn’t know Gael. I’d met a couple of the others, but not Gael. I thought he rivaled Danny on a computer, but Danny said he was on a different level to him, something about talking to them.

“Before I forget and before he gives me grief, Finn says you all have to come down for Thanksgiving. Talon and the guys are holding it at their house as it’s the only yard big enough. There’s plenty of beds for everyone for the weekend betweentheir place and Connie’s, and he says he’s going to send the kids up unsupervised to drag you here if you don’t.”

I was pretty sure that was an empty threat, as I knew Finn. I’d met him and Talon the one time at Diesel’s place and Finn was an amazing dad, and between the whole team I knew they had a lot of kids now.

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