Page 68 of Justice for JoElla

The Texas lawman was still chuckling. “Yep. As soon as we get done here.”

“Okay. You two, in the conference room.” JoElla and Quint made their way into the larger room, and Roy closed the door behind him before he motioned for them to sit, then sat down with them. “So,” he said, pointing at JoElla, “I saw the report you wrote up after you talked to Warmuth. And I wondered what he was talking about. What was this mysterious ‘it’ that Lance was looking for?”

JoElla shrugged. “I didn’t understand that either.”

“Well, we do now.” Roy picked up his tablet from the surface of the table and started poking around. “It seems that as soon as he found out Lance was dead, Anton started blabbering and he hasn’t stopped.”

Quint’s brow wrinkled downward. “About?”

“About what Lance wasreallyup to. He was taking care of those gang bangers.”

“He said something about how he’d thought they’d get the job done, but I didn’t understand,” JoElla said, trying to remember his exact words. “And I still don’t understand why he thought I’d make it to police chief and he wouldn’t.”

Roy shook his head. “It wasn’t you becoming chief that he was worried about. It was about you finding out the truth. You were a little too close?to him and to the situation.”

“What situation?”

“That whole thing was planned?the brick, the ambush, all of it. Killing you was supposed to be their way of paying him back.”

“Paying him back? For what?”

“All those states where Warmuth had been? The murders? The domestic violence?” Roy picked up a folder lying on the table, took out something, and slid it across to JoElla. It was a picture. “This folder full of stuff is the ‘it’ that Anton was talking about. He’d been keeping photos, notes, all kinds of things on Lance. Know who this is?”

“No. Should I?”

Roy pointed to the picture of a smaller man standing beside Lance. “That’s PacoAlvarado. He’s the boss of the Gang of 9ine. He and Lance were buddies from way back. Apparently Lance lived in Nevada for a while in his twenties, and he and Paco got to know each other. Sometime during that time period, Lance found out about his brother, looked him up, and recognized what a tool he could be if he was as easily manipulated as Lance suspected. At Margolis’s direction, Warmuth was working for the gang in each of the states where he killed, trying to recruit gang members and find drug channels for them. Lance was backing it. Everything Anton did for the gang, Lance got a kickback. He’d also promised Paco that if he became police chief in Taylorsville, Gang of 9ine could have free run of Kentucky. Said he’d see to it. His plan had been to keep going until he was police commissioner in Louisville.

“But Lance was terrified you were going to find out what he was up to, and he had to get rid of you. The gang members were supposed to kill you, but they didn’t, so he shot you. Getting you out of law enforcement was enough, or so he thought. And when his brother went off again, shot the Wiseman boy, and took the mother hostage, he knew Anton would have to move again. Problem was, you lived next door to the vic, and I’d hired you, which put him in a really precarious position. You had to go. In the meantime, Anton had already figured out that Lance was going to turn on him. That’s why he sent you looking for Lance. If you found him and figured it out, he was rid of the threat of Lance. If Lance took you out, Anton figured he’d relax and things would be okay again. Lance would manage to get him off on the murder charges somehow, and they’d go on with their scheme. But they didn’t count on Quint.”

JoElla sighed. “Or Brandon.”

Roy chuckled. “Nobodycounted on Brandon. He was the wild card. And Anton didn’t take into consideration what the gang would do to him if anything happened to Lance. Hence his singing of the big song in lockup.”

“And we all know he’s not going to last two months in prison before some gang agent kills him,” Quint pointed out.

“Exactly. So I think we can close the book on this one. Axton, take back any information or evidence reports you need so you can share it with the other states who think Anton was involved in murders there. Give them our number and we’ll cooperate with them however we can so they can close those cases.”

“I’ll do it. And thank you, sir. Thanks for letting me come here and help out, and to meet you and JoElla. You guys are the real deal, and you make me proud to be a member of law enforcement.”

Roy stood and extended his hand, and Quint stood as well and took it. “Thank you. Please tell your superiors that I appreciate them letting you come here. We didn’t get the result we really wanted, but I think it’s better in the long run, and we’ve got you to thank for it. Good work, both of you. And Mick too. But don’t tell him I said that. It’ll give him a big head,” Roy said and laughed.

“I’ll tell him you said that?allof that,” JoElla promised, laughing.

They walked to the front door together, and when they stopped, Roy patted Quint on the back. “Safe travels. Come back anytime.”

“Come see me anytime you want. Texas will have a place for you,” the tall man told Roy as he and JoElla stepped out the door.

They wandered across the parking lot, not talking, and when they reached Quint’s rental, he turned and smiled down at JoElla. “You take care of yourself and Brandon. I hope he’s going to be okay.”

She stared down at her feet as she dragged a toe back and forth on the asphalt. “I think he will be.”

“JoElla?” Her head snapped up and she looked straight into his eyes. “You’re a good detective. Don’t ever let anybody tell you differently. It was a pleasure to work with you.”

“Likewise. Travel safely and tell your sweetie I said thanks for loaning you to me!” she said with a chuckle.

“Will do. See you around.” He reached for her hand, but before she could take it, he laughed and said, “Oh, fuck it all,” then hugged her. She couldn’t thank him enough. If he hadn’t followed her, she and Brandon both would’ve died in that building.

He could never understand how thankful she was to have met him.

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