In a Fix (Torus Intercession 2)

He glanced at Brig and then back to me.

“So she’s okay on embezzlement and drug trafficking, but she’s going to get the needle for killing Travers.”

He exhaled sharply. “That part I don’t know. That’s the DEA wheeling and dealing.”

“Come on,” I pressed him. “This doesn’t sound shady to you? Do you actually think she’s the one who killed Travers?”

“She hated him enough to kill him,” he told me before closing his eyes for a moment. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, and I heard the long sigh before his beautiful eyes were back on me. “All the times she went round and round with him, all the times he came out on top and made her feel less than—she says in the confession that she enjoyed finally sending him where he belonged.”

“And where is that?”

“To hell.”

I scoffed. “A bit dramatic, don’t you think?”

“It is, and I would have figured it for bullshit, but if you heard the way she talks about the environment, we all figured she meant it.”

“Okay,” Brig said, interrupting. “So then she’s going to jail for murder.”

“Again,” Dallas barked, fisting his hands, making the muscles in his shoulders bunch, “I have no idea.”

“If she killed Travers, then she should,” I said to Brig. “Don’t you agree?”

He nodded.

“Your sister’s a monster,” Dallas reiterated matter-of-factly. “And in case you forgot, your buddy Digby is a disgusting piece of shit,” he remarked with a sneer as he stalked back to the table and flopped down into the chair. “And now that we don’t need him, his ass is going to jail if he refuses to play ball with the DEA to help bust lots of your friends.”

Brig nodded quickly.

“It’s interesting that he thinks enough of you to try and lie,” Dallas stated, tipping his head, studying Brig. “He figures drug smuggling you’ll forgive, but not him wanting to fuck underage girls.”

I crossed the room and retook my seat beside Brig.

“I guess that says something about you, huh?”

“What?”

Dallas’s bored shrug, coupled with the smirk he gave Brig and the silence, implied exactly what he thought.

“Meaning that I’m fine with one and not the other? Is that what you’re alluding to, Agent Bauer? That drugs are fine by me, but I draw the line at having sex with minors?”

“Maybe,” he muttered, stretching, telling me that he was trying to bait Brig, but he didn’t genuinely believe the man culpable. Had he thought badly of Brig, he would have been laser focused and combative. It was hard to hide revulsion. “I have to wonder how much you truly know about his business.”

“Nothing,” Brig rasped, his face crumpling. “I don’t know anything beyond what I told you, that he’s the go-to guy for small amounts for recreational use.”

“I don’t know,” Dallas murmured, straightening up, taking a breath. “But if you’ve got secrets, now’s the time to get everything off your chest.”

“You don’t know me,” Brig sputtered, taking gulping breaths. “I’m not like him or my sister. I’ve never—I’m not… I could never hurt anyone.”

“You’re hurting your fiancée, aren’t you? And how about Mr. Foster?”

Brig’s eyes went round as he gasped.

“Hey,” I said sharply, and Brig turned instantly to me, my tone leaving no room for any other choice. “Agent Bauer overheard us when we were talking,” I assured him, taking hold of his shoulder. “That mirror over there is the same as in every police procedural you’ve ever seen. It’s two-way, and the room is wired for sound. That’s all. Don’t let him get under your skin; you can fix whatever you need to.”

“Listen,” Dallas began, “we don’t need to be enemies here. I just––”

“Back. Off,” I ordered Dallas, glaring. “You blindsided him with all this, and now you’re trying to use a conversation that has no bearing whatsoever on this case to humiliate him, and hoping, what, that you’ll shake information out of him that he doesn’t have? Don’t come at him now and allude to the fact that there could be more. There’s no more.”

“Oh? You know this for certain?”

“Yes, I do,” I growled at him. “So seriously, stop pushing before we go directly to him calling his fleet of lawyers, and you get no help at all.”

“What makes you think we need––”

“I know you do,” I told him. “Suárez isn’t leaving Mexico to come here, but he will send his number two guy, and whoever that is, he’s certainly not going to meet with Mr. Ingram or you, Special Agent Bauer. He’s going to want to speak to Brigham Stanton’s representative in these matters, someone they’ve seen with him, his own number two.”

Dallas scoffed. “And that would be who?”

I smiled wide and arched an eyebrow for good measure.

It was more than gratifying to watch his face fall.

Five

The suite was insane when we returned to the Bellagio. People were coming and going, the music was loud, and Kent was pouring drinks, with Todd close by, entertaining everyone in the vicinity, if the laughter was any indication. Quentin and Trey were holding court in a corner of the living room, and there were six women clustered around them. On the opposite side, Aiden was sitting in a large group of people, none of whom I knew.