Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Sara finishes reading and looks up at me. I stare back at her, dumbfounded.
One part of the transcript rings in my head like a gong. Police, police, police.
“I’m not sure what I just heard,” I say slowly, heart pulsing in my ears as I try to digest it all.
She waves her phone in the air. “Angelo! Think about it!”
I slowly get up off the couch, cradling my side, and walk to the window. “All right, so a lot of guys showed up. There was a firefight, which I kind of figured… but the police didn’t respond to that. It sounds like they were working as a unit, with legitimate tactics and gear… and they were yelling…” I turn to face her, eyebrows raised, head pounding. “You think it was the cops themselves the whole time?”
“Yes!” She laughs and there’s a manic edge to her voice. “Think about it. Who has the most to lose in this situation? The police! They’re trying to protect their own.”
“What’s your theory then? The cops just rolled up and murdered those cartel guys out of nowhere? I don’t get it.”
She shakes her head. “I think they went in for a drug bust. I bet they didn’t realize there were so many men inside and there weren’t any actual drugs. I think they kicked down that door expecting to find some heroin or cocaine or whatever, and instead, the cartel guys started shooting, and the cops shot back, and a lot of men died inside. It was a bloodbath, like the cops ran in there and executed everyone, because they kind of did. And because the whole damn country hates the police right now, they decided to cover it up, especially when a very convenient fall guy appeared out of nowhere. They bought off all the other employees but didn’t get to Wally before Detective Vance did her little interview.”
“But they got to him eventually, that’s why he was so scared.” A cold rage rolls down my spine. “The cops murdered those cartel members and instead of calling it self-defense and making it public, they decide to toss Nicolas under the bus and blamed him for it. All for fucking public relations.”
“Exactly. They paid off everyone working and threatened the rest. They made the interview Misty did with Wally disappear. Misty knows what happened, but she’s a cop too, so who’s she going to side with?”
“Fuck.” I shake my head. “That’s it then. The blue fucking wall. They’re closing ranks to protect themselves. They’re going to let Nicolas rot in prison to avoid some bad fucking headlines.”
“Really bad headlines, but yeah, pretty much.”
I pace back and forth, feeling about the way Sara looks. My whole life, cops have been fucking with me, bending the law to fit their narrative, and none of this is surprising but it’s all so ugly and bleak. “I shouldn’t be so fucking mad, but god damn, it’s disgusting. They screwed up, they rolled into a bad situation and made it worse, and they refuse to face any scrutiny over it. And some expendable, worthless criminal gets to go away for life.”
“Angelo,” Sara says softly.
The anger is white-hot now, nearly overwhelming. “No, you heard that piece of shit detective. Nicolas didn’t kill those cartel guys, but he’s not innocent, so why not throw him away? That’s how they see all of us, including me. Yeah, I know, don’t give me that fucking look. We break the law and that makes us monsters. We know the risks, right? But you’re right, we do know the risks, and we assume that if we’re going down, it’s for something we actually did, not some trumped-up bullshit, all because we’re worthless trash. All because the world we were born into demands blood and sacrifice if we’re going to get a piece of anything.”
“Angelo,” Sara says, harder this time, and comes toward me. “You’re not worthless trash.”
I stare at her and I’m not sure if she knows what she’s saying, but I close the distance between us. She sucks in a breath as she backs away and bumps up against the wall. I pin her there, staring into her eyes, anger raging in my chest like a forest fire.
“I know I’m not,” I say and my lips are so close to hers. “I know Nicolas isn’t either. I know what I’ve had to do just to survive, all because of the shit circumstances I was born into. I know I’m not a monster, but do you?”
She says nothing for long, painful seconds. “What do you want from me, Angelo?”
“I want you to admit that the supposed good guys are going to throw an innocent man behind bars for life. I want you to understand that there is no black and no white but an ugly shade of gray. Nothing’s obvious, nothing’s certain, and you can keep on thinking that my guys and my people and I are all monsters, but the real monsters are killing with no repercussions and ruining lives to cover it all up.”