Wade winked. “I’ll be here if you need me, angel.”
She nodded and left.
Jonas took a deep breath. “I thought she was going to start crying there for a minute.”
“Me too.” Wade pushed a hand through his hair. “It breaks my heart when she cries.”
Jonas mock shuddered. “Women in tears are my kryp-tonite.”
Wade laughed. “I hear that. Now, back to Valdez.” He cocked his head to the side and asked, “What’s your plan?”
“You heard Ray?”
“Yeah. Poor guy’s an emotional wreck.”
Jonas swiped a hand over his face. “He doesn’t deserve this shit. Valdez’s days are numbered. He just doesn’t know it yet.”
Wade sighed. “Are you going to do anything illegal?”
He bobbed his eyebrows. “Nothing that’ll get me the chair.”
“Well, I managed to find out a few tidbits that might come in handy.”
“Yeah?”
“My source tells me that Valdez has a few quirks. Seems our friendly neighborhood lowlife doesn’t allow anyone in his house if he’s not there. Which means that even though he’s loaded, Valdez has used the same woman to clean up after him for the last eleven years. And she’s never there past six at night.”
“No bodyguards or personal assistants?”
He shook his head. “Nada. He doesn’t trust anyone to get that close.”
That was damn good intel, considering what Jonas had planned. “Who’s the source?”
“A kid I helped out once. It was before you and I set up shop. Long story short, he needed a fix so he tried to rob me. Now he’s a counselor at the youth center.”
“No shit? How come you never told me about this?”
Wade quirked a brow at him. “What, are we married?”
Jonas gave him the finger. “You’re not my type,” he said as he went back to his computer and got to work.
Jonas searched every database he knew in an attempt to gather information on one Terrance Valdez of Rolling Hills Avenue. Nothing incriminating came back. “The only thing I can find on the prick is a few newspaper articles talking about his fan-fucking-tastic business deals and his driver’s license picture.” Jonas clicked the PRINT button. “He has no criminal record and no other pictures that I can find.”
“Is the driver’s license photo clear enough?”
Jonas nodded as he stared at the computer screen. “I saw him once. I was in court testifying for Williamson.” Jonas glanced up at Wade. “Remember him?”
“Williamson,” Wade repeated, as if attempting to recall the case. “Wasn’t he the guy getting ripped off? His friend was stealing money from his business or something like that, right?”
“He was taking computer parts and selling them on the side. Hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment,” Jonas said as he stood and went to the printer to retrieve the driver’s license image. “I had to be up at the courthouse when the case went to trial. Valdez was coming out of the bathroom when I was going in. He looked familiar to me at the time, but I didn’t really know anything about the guy then. There were a couple of cops in the bathroom, though, and they were going on and on about what a loser Valdez was.” Jonas folded the paper and stuck it in his pocket.
“The driver’s license will be enough to convince Deanna to find another client, but how can we get any decent proof for Ray? Shit just rolls off Valdez.”
“I’ll find a way.”
“You need me to do anything?”
“Not yet. I’ll let you know.”