Destroy You (Destroy #3) (21 page)

“Let me make a phone call and get Rocky over here. I’m not a cop, so maybe this is nothing, but Rocky showed me something today that’s really got me thinking,” he answered.

Trent pulled out his phone and called his head bouncer. When Rocky answered, he said, “Hey, man, I’m going to text you an address. I want you to gather the stills and that security footage and bring it over here.”

They spoke for a few more seconds, and then he hung up. “He’s on his way.”

Chapter 27

Trent

“What happened today that made you think Miguel might be involved with Trinity?” Daniels asked.

I scraped my teeth over my lip ring. Maybe I was seeing things, but I needed to show them the footage to be sure. “I went in to the bar today to take care of the paperwork I didn’t get to yesterday. While I was there, Rocky came in to review some of the security tapes from the night before.”

“Is that a normal part of his daily procedures?” Reed chimed in.

I shook my head. “Only when there’s an issue. How much do you guys know about the increase in drug use in town lately?”

Daniels and Zack exchanged a knowing look. “How much do you know?” Daniels returned my question.

I narrowed my eyes and gave them a look that said, “Are you fucking kidding me?” “I own a bar. We get our share of drug-related problems. I don’t tolerate that shit in my business. Any customers caught trying to use or sell on the premises are tossed out.”

“Is it a common problem?” Reed asked.

“Until recently it wasn’t too bad. We would occasionally find people trying to smoke a joint in the bathroom, but it was pretty rare. But over the last couple of months, we’ve had some disturbances.”

“What kind of disturbances?” Zack asked.

“It was like the mood in the crowd had changed. Our customers had become more agitated. Fights started breaking out early in the evening. My bartenders were cutting people off that they’d barely served, and we began suspecting drugs were involved. Then over the last couple of weeks, Rocky has interrupted a couple of deals, and he called the police for those.”

Again Daniels and Zack looked at each other, communicating silently. Daniels sighed. “The Ellensburg and Yakima Police Departments have recently been reporting a large increase in the number of arrests for drug-related crimes. The local hospitals have also noted an increase in heroin-related overdoses. The DEA has been alerted, and they have a team set up in the area to investigate a suspected drug ring. I think I need to call their team leader and have him come and talk to you about what you’ve seen.”

I nodded. “Whatever I can do to help.”

There was a knock on the front door, and Reed went to go check it out. A few moments later, he returned, followed by Rocky.

“Hey, Mac.” He set an iPad on the coffee table. “I brought the security footage.”

“Thanks, Rocky. Can you pull up the section you showed me today?” I asked.

Rocky retrieved the tablet and pushed a few app icons until the grainy images appeared on the screen. I indicated for him to hand it over to Daniels and waited while he, Reed, and Zack watched the recording.

“Pause there,” Zack spoke up. “Can you back it up a few seconds and play it again?”

Daniels tapped the screen a couple times and started the video again. “Holy shit! That little fucker,” Zack exclaimed.

Ah, so he saw it, too. “Am I seeing things, or is that Miguel?”

“This was just taken last night?” Zack asked instead of answering me.

I nodded my reply. “So am I right or not?”

“He never looks at the camera, but it manages to catch a side profile. And he’s wearing the same sweatshirt Miguel had on when we saw him across the street from the bar yesterday.” He cued the video back to the image and paused it, then pointed to the frozen picture. “See that logo on the upper left of the sweatshirt? I saw it yesterday, but I still can’t figure out what it is.”

Toni leaned over to look. “It’s a stylized
S
with a halo over it,” she said in a flat tone.

Reed locked eyes with Kate and tipped his head toward Toni. Kate immediately moved to Toni’s other side and held her hand. I took the opposite one, and we propped her up between us. He refocused on Toni. “Are you sure?”

She nodded slowly, and I felt her body start to slacken. Kate and I moved her to sit down on the sofa behind her. “Yes, it’s an old Santos Motors shirt. They never ended up using them, and the ones that were made went to Miguel and his siblings. It’s his favorite sweatshirt.”

Daniels pulled out his phone and sent a text. “I just messaged the DEA team. I think we need to talk to them. There might be information you both have that you don’t even know about.”

Toni’s eyes widened with either shock or fear. My instincts screamed at me to protect her, even from talking to the police. “If you don’t want to do this, just say the word. I’d do anything to wipe that look off your face.”

She swallowed. “It isn’t that I don’t want to talk to them, only that I’m worried what Miguel will try to do when he finds out I have.”

“She has a point,” Reed cut in. “Before she talks to the DEA, there needs to be a plan in place to protect her.”

Daniels stood up and took his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll go make a call.” He went into the kitchen.

“I’m calling Aiden,” Reed announced and followed him.

***

An hour later, we were heading out of town with a security team provided by Aiden to meet with Agent Perez of the DEA in Seattle. Daniels and Agent Perez decided it would be easier to hide the meeting in a metropolitan area than in Ellensburg. We made it into Seattle around seven and pulled up in front of a popular seafood restaurant on the pier near Pike Place Market.

The waterfront was crawling with people out for dinner or just to watch the ships coming into the Puget Sound. As usual, the crowd was an eclectic mix of hipsters, business people, and obvious tourists. Street performers, panhandlers, and the persistent calls of seagulls mingled with the noise of the ferry docking nearby. Daniels was right, this was a great place for us to hide in plain sight, at least long enough to have this meeting.

Agent Javier Perez was seated in a booth in the back corner of the restaurant, where both entrances were clearly in view. He was young for a team leader, probably late thirties to early forties, and built like a tank. Daniels led us over to meet him, and I noticed the security team enter behind us and take up positions nearby.

Perez stood to greet us and shook our hands. Toni cocked her head sideways and studied him. “Have we ever met?” she asked out of the blue.

Agent Perez stared at her for an awkwardly long time before he answered. “I don’t think so, but I’ll admit you look familiar to me, too. It’s probably because I was looking over your file before you got here.”

“Javier made a high-profile drug bust in Tacoma last year. His face was all over the news for a few weeks,” Daniels explained.

Toni exhaled. “That must be it.”

We continued to make idle chitchat while we waited for the waiter to take our orders. We all settled on their clam chowder, and as soon as the waiter was away from the table, the mood became more serious.

“Detective Daniels said you positively identified Miguel Santos on the security footage of your bar last night, is that correct, Mr. McKenzie?” he asked.

I nodded. Agent Perez flipped through some handwritten notes in a small notebook. “What happened last night to have you checking your security footage?” he asked once he set the notebook back on the table.

Our waiter returned and delivered our meals, and I waited until he was gone to answer. “My security manager noticed several customers that appeared to become inebriated and disruptive very quickly, despite none of the bartenders serving them enough alcohol for that level of intoxication. They were kicked out of the bar, and he made a sweep through the bar but couldn’t find evidence of anyone dealing.

“After closing, he reviewed the security footage and noticed a man talking to each of the people that were kicked out,” I said. “When I arrived this morning, he showed me the same recordings, and I immediately recognized Miguel, since I’d seen him on the corner earlier that day when Toni was on her way to the hospital.”

Conversation paused for a few minutes while we tasted our food. I didn’t have much of an appetite, and judging by the way Toni stirred dispassionately at her soup, she didn’t, either.

“Ms. Padilla, what department did Mr. Santos work in at his father’s car dealership?” Agent Perez asked, also giving up the pretense of eating.

Her brow furrowed. “Um…he’s worked in all of them at one time or another, but I think he was last working in the mechanic shop. Why?”

“When he was in that department, was he ever responsible for receiving automobiles that were delivered to the dealership?” he persisted.

Toni thought hard and shrugged.

“That’s okay, we’ll be able to figure that out.”

“I don’t understand what his job at the dealership could possibly have to do with the increase in drug use,” Toni said.

Perez took a deep breath. “We’ve been investigating a rise in heroin use in Central Washington, but what we haven’t been able to get a lead on is how it’s entering the area.”

“Miguel told me he was forced to come to CWU because he’d made some errors in the shop and his father felt he needed more formal training in order to manage the business,” Toni added.

Agent Perez took some notes. “That’s good information, Ms. Padilla. Things like that can end up being very helpful to us. Can you tell me more about your relationship with Mr. Santos?”

She glanced sideways at me and fidgeted. “What do you want to know?”

“Was Mr. Santos abusive during your relationship? Did he ever exhibit signs of drug use or have violent outbursts?”

She took a deep breath. “He never hit me. He could be demeaning, but mostly he cheated on me. Honestly, I really didn’t think he’d mind our relationship ending. He was with another girl the night we broke up about a year ago. He said his parents wanted us together and he needed to prove to them that he was responsible. I have no idea why reuniting with me would do that. I mean, both of our parents have been pushing for us to eventually get married, but I don’t think it would have changed his dad forcing him to go to college.”

Toni paused for a moment and reached for her glass of water. Her hands shook, but otherwise she held herself together. “He got really pissed when I told him we would never be together again. That’s when he said he had business in Yakima and couldn’t be sent to Ellensburg for a long period of time. He pulled and held my hair and told me I was his and that I was promised to him. He threatened Trent if I didn’t stop seeing him. That was right before my roommate, Jeremy, came out and got him off me. Immediately after, Reed Martin came out and helped subdue him and found a gun tucked into his waistband.”

“You tried to obtain a restraining order the following morning, correct?” he asked.

She nodded. “I’m sure Detective Daniels told you how that worked out.”

Agent Perez’s expression softened, showing his sympathy. “He did. I’m sorry your parents have stood by Mr. Santos. Rest assured, we are taking you seriously.”

She blinked several times, and I got the feeling she was trying not to cry. “Thank you,” she said in a voice that sounded thick with impending tears.

“He told you he had business in Yakima?” Perez pushed.

“Yeah, but I assumed it had something to do with the dealership,” she replied.

I leaned forward with my forearms on the table. “What happens now?”

“Now you continue with the safety precautions Detective Daniels informed me you have in place,” Perez said. “If there are any further sightings of Mr. Santos, and we all know there will be, I want you to inform either Detective Daniels or Officer Davis immediately. We need to assume that he is extremely dangerous.”

“Is that really going to help? Maybe I should just go into hiding,” Toni suggested.

I held my breath. If he agreed with Toni, it would be nearly impossible to change her mind or convince her to let me run with her.

Perez shook his head, and I exhaled in relief. “They would only go after Trent, your friends, basically anyone close to you.”

Perhaps my feelings of relief were premature.

“Well, that’s obviously off the table,” she muttered.

I laced my fingers with hers, offering her all the support I could at that moment. I turned my attention back to Agent Perez. “Is there anything else we can help you with?”

“Ordinarily, I’d spend hours going through everything she knows about Mr. Santos, but I’m not sure with what she’s been through recently that it would be beneficial. I can’t really come around town and ask those questions later, either. Perhaps I’ve been doing this too long, and I’m paranoid, but this case is different. There are so many eyes on my team, and I’m working with a different staff here.”

“If you were trying to reassure us, you failed,” I grumbled.

“I’m trying to keep you safe and remove the threat permanently. Whether or not you feel reassured isn’t my concern, as long as you remain alive,” he said. “I want you to go home as if this was any other night out. Continue your daily routine with the added security. Mr. Santos is already aware that Toni feels threatened by him, but don’t let on that you know anything else. If we manage to turn up anything on him, you’ll be notified. If you do come across additional information, I want you to relay it to Detective Daniels first thing. He’ll get it to me.”