I grabbed another chip and broke it in half, the better to scoop the salsa. I didn’t have a lot of time to spare Pete, who I suspected was the guy I called Sandy. Pete had tied me to a chair and shot at me, twice. I didn’t know what Lee was talking about with regards to shoelaces but I had no problem that he was fucked.

“Who do you think has the diamonds?” I asked Lee.

“I have the diamonds.”

“What?”

Okay, I shouted it. The other diners turned to stare. But, what the fuck?

“Keep your voice down,” Lee warned.

“Did you just tell me you have the diamonds?”

Lee nodded, still turned toward me, eating his chips and salsa with his right hand, his left arm fencing me in on the back of the booth.

“You better explain before I start plotting your murder.”

His eyes crinkled. “You’d never get away with it.”

“At this point, I don’t mind doing time.”

Lee took a tug on his iced tea then said, “I found the diamonds at Duke’s the morning after Rosie left my condo. I have you to thank for that. Duke knows I have them, my contacts in Sturgis told him when they found him.”

“Your contacts?”

“I farmed out the job to other PIs and bounty hunters in places I thought Duke would go. They looked around, asked a few questions, picked up his trail and the boys in South Dakota tracked him down.”

“If you cost five hundred dollars an hour, what did that cost?”

“Let’s just say you’re not a cheap date.”

My eyes narrowed. “You’re getting paid for this, remember?”

“I’ve got three jobs involved with this mess and one of them was finding the diamonds.

I found them the first day. Making sure Duke was alive and safely home in Evergreen was something I did for you.”

Even though I was pissed off, my chest fluttered. “I’ll pay you back.”

His hand went to my hair and he wrapped a lock around his finger.

“You don’t have to pay me back.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I said, “Thank you.”

“You can thank me tonight when you’re naked.”

Jeez.

The waitress came and slid our plates on the table. I unwrapped my cutlery from the weird perma-glue tab and napkin.

“Before we talk about naked gratitude, let’s talk about how you’ve been lying to me for days about the diamonds.” I forked into my burrito.

“I haven’t lied, I’ve given creative answers.”

“Uh-hunh.”

He let go of my hair and turned to his food. “My having the diamonds was need to know information. You didn’t need to know.”

With effort, I swallowed my mouthful of burrito. “Excuse me?”

Lee downed his own bite and turned again to me catching my Polar Freeze Glare.

“All right,” he said, “there’s not much I can say but I’ll tell you what I can.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

“Some explanation first,” he began, “crime is very organized at the top. Criminals have levels of management, they have training, they have territories. Most of the time, these operations are multi-faceted, running guns, drugs, girls, extorting payment for protection, whatever. People know who does what and they deal their own shit in their own neighborhoods.

They step over the line only when they have the power to back up a takeover.”

I nodded while Lee took another bite and he continued. “Coxy doesn’t play that game. Coxy does what he wants, where he wants. He’s messy, greedy and insane. He’s also determined, tenacious and, I’ll repeat, insane. He’s been causin’ problems with Denver crime for a long time. There’s something to be said for organization, even in crime. Mess is just mess, in this case more drugs, more guns but worst of all more dead bodies. Coxy used to be a nuisance but that’s escalated. The criminals want him taken out just as much as the cops.”

“I don’t understand, why don’t the criminals just… um, take him out?”

“Family ties.” I stared at Lee and he kept talking. “His mother’s Italian, she’s from New York and her family is powerful. Coxy had backing, if something happened to Coxy, there would be New York retribution. Or at least that was the word and New York backed Coxy in a number of jobs and cleaned up a number of messes.”

“Are we talking about the mob?” I whispered.

Lee finished his second burrito and just slid his eyes to me.

Holy shit.

“Problem is, Coxy’s made so many messes, rumor has it New York is done. Who knows how much backing he ever really had. His mother married outside the family, outside New York, to a straight and narrow guy from Denver who was worth a fortune. Maybe the ties don’t stretch that far and Coxy pulled them to the breaking point. He’s not a made man, hasn’t been through the program, as far as anyone knows, he’s a pipsqueak cousin in Denver.”

I picked up my tostada and munched in an effort at acting nonchalant when really I was thinking about Tony Soprano and getting a little flipped out.

“Is all of this new?” I asked.

“No, it’s been goin’ on for years. The rumor that New York is out is new but unsubstantiated. To restore order, a deal was struck. Coxy had to be taken out but it couldn’t look like he was taken out. That way, New York wouldn’t feel the need to act and all would be well in the world of crime again.”

“What does this have to do with you?”

“I have connections on both sides. Eddie and Hank used me as go-between with Marcus and Darius.”

I sat there with my tostada held aloft and stared at him.

Eddie Chavez and Darius Tucker were Lee’s two closest friends in High School.

Eddie Chavez was good-looking, smooth-talking and morally dubious, exactly like Lee… and then some. Everyone was pretty certain Eddie was going to go over to the dark side and spend most of his time doing time. Instead, he became a cop. He was now vice, considered a definite maverick (according to Dad, with hints of admiration) and a loose cannon (according to Malcolm, with hints of disapproval).

Darius Tucker was much the same, but he was also absolutely hilarious, so funny you’d nearly wet your pants laughing. He had soulful eyes and a dry shoulder to cry on (especially for the girls). Everyone was certain he’d quickly get married and settle down and make some woman a good husband. Instead, his Dad was murdered when he was seventeen and he went off the rails and off the radar. I hadn’t seen him in years and I missed him. He was a good guy, he’d made me laugh and he’d let me cry on his shoulder plenty of times. According to Malcolm and Dad, he was now bad news.

I didn’t know anyone named Marcus.

“Darius?” I said when I could say anything at all.

Lee pushed his plate away and turned to me again. “Yeah. The deal was, we all work together to cause problems for Coxy, delayed shipments, missing deliveries, cops turnin’ up at inopportune moments. I shared information and me and the boys caused some of the complications that Hank and Eddie couldn’t cause. Coxy’s network of buyers and suppliers started to alternately freak or get pissed off and his men began to defect. Rick and Pete decided on early retirement and, to augment their pension, they stole Marcus’s diamonds.”

“Marcus?”

“A leftover from when I did security. He keeps us on retainer for certain jobs. He’s powerful and not someone who appreciates being stolen from. I was in DC and got an urgent call from him when his diamonds went missing.”

“Why’d he call you?”

Lee shrugged.“I’m good at finding all different kinds of things.”

Oh dear Lord.

I had a feeling this was one of those cases where I didn’t want to know.

I changed the subject.“How on earth does Rosie fit into all of this?”

“Rosie had a good operation going, small but popular and not quiet which was not smart. Coxy heard about it and wanted a piece, so he coerced Rosie into giving him one. Then he coerced Rosie into doing other things for him, things Rosie didn’t want to do but didn’t know how to say no. Rick and Pete decided to play innocent about the diamonds until they had their shit together enough to move to Brazil, which was only supposed to be a day or two. They stashed the rocks with Rosie, thinkin’ he was scared enough to do what he was told. Apparently, he was pissed off enough to use the diamonds to blackmail Rick and Pete to get him out from under Coxy. Unfortunately, he was playin’ out of his league. In the meantime, word went out the diamonds were gone, Coxy found out his boys had gone renegade. Even Coxy isn’t crazy enough to out and out kick sand in Marcus’s face, especially not with his systems breakin’ down. So everyone was in a rush for the diamonds. Enter you.”

“I’m a little confused.”

“I would be too if I came in at the end of this shit. It’s fucked up.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“I’m gettin’ paid.”

“That’s it?” I asked.

“No, it’s not. I should say I’m gettin’ paid a lot.”

“Is it worth it?”

His arm slid behind me on the booth and he twisted toward me again. I’d abandoned my tostada half eaten and was turned toward him.

“I like what I do but it’s like football. Your career has a shelf life. I intend to be retired by forty-five with the cabin in Grand Lake and a condo in Florida, a damn good boat in both places and enough money to make life good until I die.”

“So, what you’re saying is, it’s worth it.”

He went back to wrapping a lock of my hair around his finger. His voice changed and so did his eyes, from all business to warm and soft.

“Yeah, it’s worth it. Do you like Florida?”

My stomach did a clutch. “Would Florida come with a housekeeper that puts your towels on the rail after you throw them in the sink?”