Page 97 of The Moments You Were Mine
“And?”
“JJ insisted he’s been in San Diego since his arrest. I had a look at his ankle monitor anyway. No one messed with it,” Cranky said.
I looked to Sweeney. “So, you believe JJ? He isn’t behind any of this?”
“He told us the truth.” Sweeney’s mouth tightened. “He doesn’t know shit about what’s happening here.”
“But not Ace?” I demanded.
“He clearly hates Fallon. I won’t repeat the things he called her.” Fury spiked again, dark and ugly, but I just bit my cheek and let Sweeney continue. “He insisted he hadn’t left town, but he was smug about it, as if he knew we couldn’t prove it. I left Pigpen sitting on the place, and right after we left, two men showed up in a black Escalade. Ace joined them, and they headed to a construction company. Ever heard of Lopez Construction?”
I shook my head. “Are they Ace’s drug connection?”
Cranky chimed in. “Definitely. I may have tapped into some facial recognition software I wasn’t exactly supposed to use for personal reasons and found out one of the guys was Jesus Lopez. He’s muscle for the owner of the construction company, who also happens to have ties to a seriously nasty cartel in Mexico. Never got a clean capture of the second guy, but I’m working on tapping cameras around their job sites and offices.”
My conversation with Dad came back about Lorenzo’s cousin going to work for a construction company in the LA area. “This construction company do work in LA?”
“Major hub there, why?” Cranky raised an eyebrow at my questioning him.
“Fuck.”
“You know him?”
“One of Puzo’s cousins got out of jail and went to work for aconstruction company in LA.”
Did this really have nothing to do with Fallon? Was it about the Puzos and the hatred they had for her dad? Rafe’s house in Tennessee had been broken into, and like I’d told my dad, I didn’t believe in coincidences.
“You have pictures of them?” I asked.
“Do bears poo in the woods?” Cranky asked, yanking out his phone.
I grimaced. “You and your shit analogies. Let’s see if our inside man knows any of them.” I grabbed the phone and swiveled around to head back into the barn.
“You’ve identified your insider?” Sweeney’s voice was gruff.
I didn’t respond, but as we walked into Kevin’s office and they saw the puffy-eyed teen, Cranky snorted. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Chuck looked up, and fear swarmed across his face as his gaze swung from me to my equally muscled friends. Kurt stood up, stepping between my teammates and Fallon in a protective move that reassured me that at least this one man on the estate was on her side.
Fallon put her hand on Kurt’s arm. “These are some of Parker’s teammates.”
The tension in Kurt’s shoulders eased slightly.
“Sweeney, Cranky, this is Kurt and Chuck.” I waved to the two men.
“Fallon, Fallon, Fallon,” Cranky said, shifting so he could take her in again. “My girl, how dare you drag our Baywatch into all the action without asking us to tag along.”
Fallon gave out an exasperated laugh. “You Frogmen are a bunch of adrenaline junkies.”
“Damn straight,” Cranky said as Sweeney said, “Fuck no.”
It only made her laugh, and for that, I was thankful. It was the first laugh I’d heard from her since last night when she and Maisey had been tucked up in her bed. Who knew I could be jealous of a one-hundred-and-ten-pound nurse? But I had been. Because I’d had plans of staying with Fallon last night. Of keeping her not only safe but personally making sure she relaxedand got the rest she needed to heal. I’d known exactly what I’d do to make her relax, and instead, I’d been in a bed across the way with Theo jamming his knees in my spine.
Behind us, a little kid’s excited voice had us all turning.
“Parker, Teddy says I can have the masked puppy as long as you say yes!”
Theo ran straight for me, and Teddy followed behind, his lips twitching once again.
