Breach of Trust

61

The next day, after work, I met Joel Lightner for drinks. Note my use of the plural. It’s never just one with Joel. The stated purpose was that Joel claimed to have some information for me. I’d asked him for two things. One was to find where Federico Hurtado-Kiko-laid his head every night. And the other was to give me the home address and marital status of Delroy Bailey, the owner and operator of Starlight Catering.

But Joel had added one reason for the conversation. He wanted to know what the hell was going on. He wanted to know why I needed this information. He said he wouldn’t give me the information until I did so. I’d kept Joel at a distance out of an abundance of caution, not wanting him to get on the federal government’s radar. And I found his paternalism annoying, however well-intentioned. But I was growing weary of all the deception, and I thought I could use Joel’s perspective. That’s how I explained it to myself, at least. It was also fair to say that I needed someone on whom I could unload all of this information.

He ordered a Maker’s Mark, and I ordered a dirty martini. And I talked. He listened. I went through the whole thing. We went through two rounds of drinks before I had finished.

“So the Cannibals had nothing to do with Wozniak’s murder,” he said. “It was the Latin Lords. It was this guy Kiko who you’re so interested in.”

“Yeah.”

“And I was wrong about Ernesto Ramirez,” Joel said. “You were right. He did have some information. He and this friend of his, you called him Scarface? They’d heard from Kiko that Wozniak got whacked to ‘cover up a connection to Delroy.’ And they took that to mean Joey Espinoza.”

“Right,” I agreed.

“Joey Espinoza pulled strings at this state board, and he got his ex-brother-in-law Delroy a beverage contract over Wozniak’s company. Wozniak was making noise. And so Joey needed to cover the thing up by having Wozniak killed. Joey covered up his connection to Delroy.”

“Correct.”

“And you figure, since Joey was already under Chris Moody’s thumb when Wozniak was taken out, he must have had a partner. Someone else talked to Kiko.”

“Right. You disagree?”

“No,” he said. “You’re probably right. Especially because then Ernesto got whacked, too, and it’s hard to believe that was Joey Espinoza, with the feds watching his every move. So, okay, there was someone else. And you like this guy Charlie Cimino?”

“He seems like the best fit,” I said. “But I’m not sold.”

“You’re not sold because of what happened to you the other night. When Charlie’s crew did a little Guantanamo Bay routine on you.”

“Right. The point being, I don’t think they were Charlie’s crew. I think someone else was in charge. Someone higher than Charlie.”

“But the other night was all about rooting out snitches,” said Joel. “It wasn’t about Adalbert Wozniak or Ernesto Ramirez. Why do you put those things together?”

I shook my head. “Something tells me they’re all related, Joel. I mean, someone in that group is willing to kill. There can’t be that many people who fit that description. Plus, everything seems to revolve around that state board, the PCB. Charlie Cimino was asking me about my interest in Starlight Catering. The goons who interrogated me asked the same thing. That’s the company the PCB gave the contract to over Wozniak. And Ernesto, the information he had was about Starlight, about its owner Delroy. And Greg Connolly was the chair of that board, even back when Starlight got that contract. No,” I decided, “they’re related. All roads lead to the same place. Whoever killed Greg Connolly killed Ernesto and Wozniak.”

“And it’s someone higher than Charlie,” Joel said.

“I think so.”

“Okay,” he said, “so who’s higher than Charlie?”

That was the thing. I could only think of two people who outranked Charlie Cimino. One was the chief of staff, Madison Koehler. The other was Governor Carlton Snow.

Both of them made some sense, I guess. I didn’t know much about how the governor did business, but the chief of staff-Madison-was typically in the loop on everything. And it was hard to believe that the people who murdered one of the governor’s oldest friends, Greg Connolly, would have done so without the big guy’s consent.

Still, all of this was hard to believe. We weren’t talking about hardball politics here. We were talking about murder.

“Someone in the inner circle,” I said, keeping it vague.

“And now you’re going into that inner circle.”

“Now I am.”

“Knowing that someone in that group is a killer. Having narrowly escaped being killed once, already.”

“Well-”

“And if you aren’t taking enough risks,” Joel said, growing angry, “you also want to have a nice, friendly chat with the most hard-core assassin from the most hard-core street gang in the city.”

“Maybe he’s misunderstood, Joel. Maybe behind that assassin’s veneer there’s a sweet, cuddly kid just dying for a hug.”

“Yeah, maybe you two could go for ice cream.” The third round of drinks arrived. Joel took a healthy swallow of his scotch. I was on my third martini, and I’d been out of practice. My head and neck were beginning to feel pretty good.

We didn’t talk for a while. Joel, on some level, had to be feeling a little bad about all of this. He’d been the Almundo investigator and he’d missed some things. I couldn’t really blame him. It would have been very hard to catch this stuff with the information we had. But that would be little consolation to him. He prided himself on catching everything.

“So,” he said, “you’re doing all this-what-for Adalbert Wozniak?”

“No, I’m doing this for Ernesto Ramirez. He’s dead because I wouldn’t take no for an answer. I made someone nervous and he paid the price. A very sweet woman is now a widow, and two little kids are without their father, because I tried to force information out of him and made him a threat to someone.”

Joel shook his head.

“And maybe I’m doing this because whoever killed Greg Connolly should face the music. I mean, Greg knew about me. He knew I was a fellow informant. But he didn’t give me up. They tortured him, and he didn’t give me up. I owe him, Joel. And anyway, I’m not letting those assholes get away with it.”

Joel played around with this before reaching his conclusion. “You,” he pronounced, “are fucking nuts.”

“You aren’t the first to say that.”

“Kiko is the worst of the worst, J.”

“I worked gang crimes, Joel. I know all about the guy.”

He downed the remainder of his Maker’s Mark. “You’re just going to knock on his door and introduce yourself and tell him, ‘I know you killed two people, and I know Joey was a part of it, but could you please tell me who Joey’s partner was?’ Yeah, that’s a helluva plan you got there. You’ll be dead before you say hello.”

“Life is full of risk.”

“Life is full of risk? Life is full of risk,” Joel said to the waitress, who had noticed Joel’s empty glass and stopped by. “I think Riley and I are going to have to do an intervention on you.”

“You’re overreacting,” I said.

“Maybe I am,” he agreed. “But you know what I’m not doing? I’m not giving you Kiko’s fucking address.”

Not wanting Joel to feel awkward about outpacing me in the alcohol department, which would be rude of me, I made quick work of my martini.

“Joel, I have to make this right. This guy’s death is on me.”

“No, it’s not. You were just doing your job.”

“Give me Kiko’s address, Lightner. Don’t make me dance on your face.”

Lightner went quiet. His eyes narrowed, evidence of critical appraisal. I’d seen that look before. I didn’t like that look.

“Jason, I don’t know how else to say this.”

“How about you say it after I’ve left the bar? I just need an address, Joel. I don’t need a lecture.”

“Yes, you do, my friend. You’re not right. Okay? Take it from me. You are not right. It’s like you’re looking for trouble. Like you’re looking-” He didn’t finish the thought. He didn’t need to.

“Oh, I’m suicidal now?”

“You know what? Maybe you are. I mean, this shit you’re doing-this is for law enforcement. This is for people with badges-”

“Still got my old one.”

“-and guns-”

“Got one of those, too.”

“-and bulletproof vests.”

“Two out of three ain’t bad.”

“Hey, shit for brains? I’m not joking.” Lightner looked like he was going to get up and leave. I think he was but changed his mind. “Be serious for a second,” he went on. “You know what I’m saying is right. You’re chasing down killers and you’re talking about strong-arming the most dangerous assassin in the most dangerous street gang in the city. Like you’re going to walk away from that unharmed? You’d-” He caught himself, then decided to continue. “You’d never do this if your wife and daughter were still alive. Sorry to bring that up, but you wouldn’t.”

“So maybe I wouldn’t.”

He threw up his hands. “So your life doesn’t mean anything anymore?”

“My life is different, that’s all. Yeah, I’d be more cautious if I had Tal and Emily. That doesn’t mean what I’m doing is wrong.”

“Yeah? And what are you doing?” he asked. “Say Kiko gives you a name. He won’t, but say he does. What are you going to do? Kill that guy? I mean, even if you get Kiko to talk, it’s not like he’s going to testify in court. You’re never going to have the evidence you need to convict whoever this is. So what’s the plan, J? When you figure out who killed Ernesto? You going to kill that person?”

I removed some money from my pocket and threw it on the table. This conversation was going nowhere.

“Just-all I’m saying, J-take a breath, cool down, and get yourself some help. You need some professional help.”

“Hey, you’re a professional. I’m seeking your help.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Give me the damn address, Lightner.”

I knew he’d give it up. He was concerned for me, which was sugar-sweet of him, but the better part of him was as contrarian and stubborn as I. He pushed the piece of paper in front of me. “Let me go with you,” he said. “When you talk to this asshole.”

I made a show of considering it, but I wasn’t going to involve Joel. Better just the two of us, I thought, Kiko and me.

The more I thought about it, the surer I became: These murders were connected. Whoever had Adalbert Wozniak and Ernesto Ramirez killed was responsible for Greg Connolly’s murder, too. Solving one murder would solve them all.

I had two possible sources of information. I had Federico

Hurtado, the notorious Kiko. And I had the people surrounding the governor, if I could penetrate that inner circle.

I’d made an inroad on the first front: I now had Kiko’s address.

If things went as planned, I’d be good on the second front very soon.