Rafael (The Santiago Brothers Book One) (4 page)

“
You
don’t seem to get it.
I’ll
be
the one closing the case.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She showed him her back and returned to the
whiteboard. He’d let her take the reins, for now. A time would come
when she’d recognize his usefulness. By then, he’d expect her to
accept his help. Rafa rubbed his chin to hide a smirk. He would
also expect her to ask nicely.

She stood at the board for a few seconds
before facing him again. Her features had softened, a look of
remorse in her eyes. “For the record, I’m on the side of the
victims.”

Rafa’s brows came together. Did she need to
convince him? If she worried her ambition was misinterpreted, she
had cause. Her drive had buried any signs of concern for the
victims and their families — if she had any. But he read genuine
emotion in her eyes. “I believe you.”

“Good.” She blew out a breath, and he
released one of his own. The tension in the room lightened.

“Okay, so this is a graph of the
investigation so far.” She took a moment to look at the board and
then removed her jacket. Rafa cocked a head to the side. She wore a
purple silk blouse, thankfully not buttoned all the way to her
chin. The deep color set off her honey-toned skin and hugged her
body in a way that caused his blood to pump a little more rapidly.
She bent over the table and flipped through a scattered mound of
folders and loose paper. She plucked out a six-part folder commonly
used to track paperwork for investigations. Genie slid the folder
down the long conference table. It fell over the edge and landed
near his feet. He cut his eyes up to her but she was already facing
the whiteboard.

“There’s an updated copy of the
investigation, including activities performed and those next on the
list to complete.”

“Thanks,” he said dryly. He stooped to pick
up the file.

“Let me bring you up to speed on our
investigation.”

“Please, do.” Rafa reached inside his coat
pocket for the sleeve holding his glasses. He pulled out a pair of
dark colored, rectangle-rimmed frames and slipped them on. He
grabbed the nearest chair and sat down.

“Okay, now the first murder happened on…” Her
voice trailed when she rotated around, her eyes resting on him.

Rafa shrugged his shoulders. “I’m
listening.”

“I, um—” A blush crept up her neck and into
her cheeks.

Rafa’s brows bushed. What was she thinking?
What would cause her to blush? He dismissed the idea that perhaps
he was the cause but not before lingering on the thought a second
or two longer than necessary. He longed to know her thoughts.
“What?”

Genie cleared her throat. She ran a hand over
the top of her head, even though every hair was in place. Rafa
figured the gesture was done out of nerves. “Nothing. I just didn’t
know you could read.” She cast her eyes down at the paper in her
hand.

Was she now trying to joke? “Yeah, Green, I
read.” He kept his gaze on the file, annoyed. So he wore glasses,
so what? Sure, they clashed with his normal style, but the women
back in his church in San Diego thought they made him look
intelligent. After nearly flunking out of high school, he needed to
at least look intelligent. The compliments made him less
self-conscious about his eyesight. If his brothers knew he wore
glasses now, they’d punch his face in memory of all those geeks
they terrorized in school.

Genie straightened her back, crossed her arms
and leaned forward. “Don’t you have to read a lot in order to be
nearsighted?”

Rafa let out a strained sigh and met her
eyes. “And? So?”

“If I recall, you barely passed high school.”
She leaned back, hands on her hips.

So, she noticed him all those years ago. He
was arrogant enough to believe it back then, but now, just knowing
he was on her radar at all gave him the chills. In a good way. A
side of his lips edged slowly up towards his eyes. “I read the
directions for the assignments. Didn’t actually do them.” He winked
at her.

Genie let out a breath, rolling her eyes.

“How ‘bout we focus on the case?” His simple
chastisement muted her. He nearly laughed out loud as the warm
color in her cheeks deepened. She rotated back to the board.

“The first murder occurred just under two
weeks ago. The victim was a Hispanic male, age fifty-five. He was
walking home after finishing his shift at La Cocina Dulce…”

The hairs
on his neck rose.
“La
Cocina Dulce? You’re sure?”

Genie turned around. “Yes, I’m sure. We
recovered his time stamp card and interviews of family, friends,
and coworkers confirmed he worked at the restaurant. He’s been
employed there ever since the restaurant opened a few years
ago.”

Rafa lifted his glasses and flipped through
the file until he came to the write-up on interviews regarding the
victim. Even the quick glance of the file’s table of contents told
him the word “meticulous” didn’t even begin to describe how Genie
operated. The folder was packed with page after page of write-ups.
In two weeks, she had managed to interview more than what he
guessed were three dozen people, each of their statements long and
detailed. Did she ever sleep? Was this her only case? Respect
couldn’t be the only thing driving her to work so hard. There had
to be a story, one root cause for her dogged commitment to the job.
He would ask her about it… later. “Okay, I’m sorry. Continue.” When
he didn’t hear her voice, he glanced up. Genie watched him with
narrowed lashes. “Yes?” he drawled.

“Winters mentioned a La Cocina Dulce in San
Diego. What do you know of it?”

Rafa took a deep breath and locked his hands
behind his head. “Well, it’s the only other La Cocina Dulce in the
country, so it’s not exactly a chain. It’s family owned with your
location being managed by the baby brother of the owner out in San
Diego. And probably, and this might be the most important fact,
those brothers are ranking members of the Snakes.”

“The organization out in San Diego?”

“Right. Not only do they specialize in
freshly made tortillas and Spanish rice, but also in the washing of
what amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug money
earned in the sales of kilos of cocaine. I had heard one of the
brothers skipped town a few years back, but I hadn’t heard anything
more than that.”

“And now he’s here in Virginia.”

“So he is.”

Genie crossed her arms over her chest. Her
top teeth slowly massaged her lower lip. For a moment, he
concentrated on that lip. Was she dating anyone? He couldn’t
imagine her dating in high school. Not with those conservative
blouses she used to wear.

He forced his eyes up. The wheels in her head
were turning. No guessing what or who would be her target. She
inhaled deeply, taking an extra moment before speaking. “Winters
said you are in law enforcement.”

Rafa’s
muscles tensed. He was her target.
Let the inquisition
begin
. “That’s
right.”

“What’s your rank?”

“I’m a detective.”

Her eyes rounded. “A detective?”

“Difficult to believe, eh? With my
background?” Rafa smiled, hoping to dispel the growing level of
edginess he detected in her voice.

“Difficult? Hardly. More like
impossible.”

Rafa
swallowed thickly. She watched him now through slits. She wanted
answers. Answers about him. About the years he spent in California.
If they were going to be partners, she'd only do so if she trusted
him. He hoped she’d settle for his credentials and let the past
remain buried, but who was he kidding? They went to high school
together. Genie remembered the boy from fourteen years ago. She
didn’t know the man who sat before her.
Well, Green, what do you want to
know? I can’t guarantee you’ll like it…

“You have a case open on the owners of the La
Cocina Dulce?”

Rafa nodded. “It’s a multi-agency
investigation with the Bureau and the Drug Enforcement Agency.”

“How long has the case been open? Why haven’t
we heard of anything? If the owner of the restaurant here—”

Rafa sighed and threaded the thick coils of
his hair with his fingers. “The money-laundering charge has just
recently been attached to the investigation. It originally started
as a drug case with the DEA and the Border Patrol. The restaurant
wasn’t even a target at first. The Snakes are heavy in the drug
trade, participating in a lot of runs across the border with
contacts in Tijuana and farther south into Sonora.”

“And you’ve been working the case since…”

Rafa met her gaze and held it. “Since the
beginning. Ten years.”

“Ten years?” Her voice peaked barely above a
whisper. She averted her gaze, forehead lined, brows together. Her
mouth moved with words only audible to her.

She wasn’t thinking about the case at all.
“If you’re doing the math in your head, don’t bother. I wasn’t a
detective at twenty-two. I was a source.”

Her head snapped back. “A source?”

Rafa
didn’t respond.
Just let it go
.

“A drug source?” Her eyes showed both shock
and leeriness.

Of course she wouldn’t let it go. Any trust
he had built in the last few minutes was in danger of eroding away.
Sources were often considered dirty, their loyalty always in
question. A detective couldn’t exactly rely on a source’s
allegiance alone; everything had to be checked and verified. If he
confirmed his position as a source in a drug investigation, then
she'd have more reason to distrust him. If he lied or said nothing
at all, she’d never believe another word he said.

Rafa lowered his eyes. “I wasn’t exactly into
drugs.”

“Not into drugs? But you just said—”

Rafa
leveled his stare on Genie’s. Time to come clean, even though it
would likely mean the end of their fragile partnership.
A necessary
risk
. Rafa steeled his
nerves for the onslaught of her wrath. “I was a member.”

Genie waited for half a minute and then
blinked. “A member of?”

Rafa let out a loud, strained breath. “The
Snakes.”

Genie gasped.

His gaze focused on the investigative file in
his lap. When he first arrived in California, his cousin Enrique
introduced him to his friends, all members of the Snakes. It wasn’t
long before Rafa became a regular among the group. He had second
thoughts about joining, but his cousin stressed what an honor it
was for Rafa to be invited to join; not just anyone off the street
could petition the group. “After I joined, I was thrust into a life
of activities I’m not proud of nor wish to revisit at this time,”
he added gravely.

“But you said you were a source.” Genie’s
voice was low and thoughtful, seemingly without judgment.

Rafa returned his gaze to her face. Her eyes
held only curiosity now and the contempt he thought she'd have for
his past didn't show. Her attitude seemed to do a complete
one-eighty. His mind fogged in astonishment. He sensed ease
settling between them and relaxed. “After a while, I went to the
police with information about the group. The information proved so
valuable, I was able to join a junior cop-like program and that
eventually catapulted me into the force and my subsequent
assignment as a detective.”

“Junior cop?” Genie gave him a skeptical
grin.

Rafa felt his cheeks heat. “It’s kind of a
joke, I know. But I was able to shadow officers prior to entering
the academy.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, the police began to build a case
after I went to the academy. Neither the police nor the district
attorney knew how sophisticated the organization was. There have
been numerous threats on lives in both the police department and
the DA’s office, and the case changed hands several times. Now,
with this new information, our bosses want to combine these cases
and hopefully put this investigation to bed.”

“But, ten years to finish a case?”

“There have been numerous arrests along the
way, but investigations into money laundering and identifying drug
traffickers over the border take some time. And, the organization
has adapted by hiding its tracks.”

Genie nodded, looking down at the stack of
papers. A heavy silence descended in the room. She didn’t ask any
additional questions and Rafa didn’t give her a reason to. Instead,
he sat quietly, watching her as she flipped through the pages in
the investigative file she picked up off the table. He suspected
she had questions about the activities he mentioned earlier. Her
thirst for the truth, or at least her desire to be in control,
would not let an area like his past be left unexplored. His
credibility lay in his intimate knowledge of the Snakes and the
operations of La Cocina Dulce. He'd eventually have to own to some
of the things he did. What she would do after knowing the truth
distressed him. His life had changed, thanks in part to the prayers
of both his handler and a faithful mother who never gave up on him,
even if she had to send him away. He hoped Genie would weigh his
heart against his past and not merely judge him on the acts of a
wayward adolescent.

Rafa watched Genie thread a few fingers down
the length of her ponytail. She bit her bottom lip again and
started tapping her foot. Her nervousness caused the muscles in
Rafa’s neck to tighten. Despite the practice of recounting his
torrid life, looking at the lovely detective before him caused a
sudden stage fright he had never experienced.

In high school, she was president of the
Bible Club, and he… well, he attended church until he became too
old for his mother to make him. However, knowing they shared the
same faith planted a seed of doubt in his mind about her ability to
forgive and move forward. Most would view Rafa’s transformation as
saving grace, but the chip on Detective Green’s shoulder meant
she’d have a difficult time seeing the grace through the sin. Rafa
let out a long breath. He needed to keep their focus on the case if
he didn’t want to be wrapped up in revisiting old wounds.