Ethan set a photo on the table.
“Never seen him before in my life.”
None of them were going to buy that.
Ethan said, “You were talking to him on the phone, leaving him a message. Now both of you will be charged with the aggravated assault of Dr. Torres and the murder of Ralph Rousseau.” Ethan didn’t even wait for him to respond to that. “Unless you can tell me what business your cartel has with two men in Renegade.”
A tendon in Hector’s jaw flexed. He didn’t like that at all. “You can’t pin this on me. I don’t even know that Rousseau guy.”
“Tell us what we want to know before your friend does. Otherwise, we’ll persuade him to talk first, and when he’s done, you’ll be the one who goes down for all of it.”
“Did I kill someone?” The man shrugged. “Or was I in a cell at the time? Pretty good alibi, right?”
He wasn’t wrong, considering the murder had happened after the man was detained by Luca at the gala. The cops had taken him to the station before Rousseau died.
Martinelli came over to the table and pulled out the other chair to sit. “Who did the job at the hospital? Unless you want to go down for Rousseau’s death.”
“Guy like you,” Ethan said, “I figure you do as you’re told and you either get paid well or you get unpleasant consequences because you failed. Maybe it’s time you’re the boss of your own life for once. Give us what we want.”
Luca didn’t like the idea of any lowlife making a deal, but it was how the cops often chose to flip someone lower in the ranks in order to work their way up the chain and eventually get the boss in custody. Cutting off the head of the snake. That would get all the other parts of their operation to scatter with no leader.
Was that going to be the case with the Shadow Syndicate?
He would love to find the person at the top of the food chain, take them down, and see the whole thing dismantled. But if the syndicate was making deals with the cartel to kill the competition, then they were strengthening their operation. Luca was going to find it a whole lot less vulnerable to being broken apart.
“What do you say?” Butler shrugged. “I don’t really care if you go to federal prison for the rest of your life, but you might want to think about making a deal. Otherwise, you take the fall when someone else does exactly that.”
“I don’t talk.”
Ethan opened the file folder in front of him and pulled out a photo of Francisco. He set the image in front of the man.
Hector leaned forward and spat on the picture. He said the word traitor in Spanish. One of the few words Luca understood. But even if he hadn’t known what the word meant, he would understand the gist of how Hector felt about his former boss.
“Talk to me about this guy.” Ethan wasn’t about to admit they had Francisco under their protection, was he?
Before Luca could wonder what else was about to happen, Ethan motioned to the picture. “You don’t like him, so help me find him. Nobody just disappears. Tell me what you know so that I can pick him up.”
Hector muttered something in Spanish.
Martinelli ignored it. “Tell us what you wanted with Dr. Torres.”
“Prescription.” Hector smirked. “I have a bad back.”
Ethan shook his head. “It’s time to start talking, Hector. You aren’t doing yourself any favors pretending to be stupid when we all know you’re up to your neck in this.” The marshal sat back in his chair. “Or I continue to have the techs go through your phone, and we dig out everything it can tell us about who you work for. Maybe your buddy Pablo will make a deal, and I’ll get what I need from him.”
Hector stared at the two cops across the table. “Lawyer.”
Ethan said, “What was that?”
“I want a lawyer now.” Hector folded his arms across his chest. “I’m not saying anything else.”
In the viewing room, Luca rolled his eyes and tossed the paper cup into the trash. He left the room, went into the hallway, and checked his phone.
Mike stepped out of the interrogation room. “Anything?”
Luca conveyed the contents of the message. “Hammer said Jenkins is being transferred back to jail so he can recuperate in their medical wing and the hospital can have their bed back.”
Mike nodded. “The attacker, Stuart Parker, is in solitary. He’ll go before Mullinax again tomorrow, and the judge won’t go easy on him.”