her computer and access to DEA data. It didn’t take long to find an example of the skull and snake tattoo that Rosa Merides described, and then to learn that it was affiliated with a gang in Los Angeles. Aggie cross-referenced known gang affiliations with the name “Clara” and up popped Clara Anne Valeria. She had a sheet, but no active warrants. No arrests since she was a minor. She was currently twenty-five and her address was listed in Topanga Canyon.
Nate said, “I know that address. That’s Elise Hunt’s house in Los Angeles.”
“Really?”
Aggie dug deeper. She got a photo of Clara—it was older, but Merides was right, she was a looker. Naturally tan skin, long dark hair, dark eyes under long lashes. Perfect cheekbones. She could have been a model. Except her eyes … they were cold.
Clara had a younger brother, Donald “Donny” Valeria, no known gang affiliation, but he’d been arrested three years ago for possession with intent, pled, and been given six months’ probation. He was now twenty-three, no known address, had an expired California driver’s license. Aggie printed out his photo as well, and sent both to Lucy on the off chance that Lucy had seen them.
Next she ran Pablo Barrios. He had no recent record, a couple of dings when he ran with the Saints years ago.
She should have found him yesterday when she ran Mitts. But there was no Barrios as a known associate in his file. If she’d had time, she would have thought to run all the Saints and then cross-reference them to Mitts.
Stop.
Aggie knew she had a bad habit of second-guessing herself, especially when something seemed obvious to her now. She knew that it wasn’t obvious to most people, and that the connections she made were based on intuition as much as evidence.
“I have an address for Barrios and two known associates. If Merides is right, he’ll lead us to Clara and hopefully she’ll lead us to Elise.” Aggie frowned.
“This is a solid lead, what’s wrong?”
“It’s a lot of what-ifs. What if she was lying?”
“She wasn’t.”
“How do you know?”
Nate gave her a half smile. He was really cute when he smiled. “My guess is that she tried to find him, couldn’t, and now wants us to destroy him. I can live with that.”
Suddenly, he grabbed the DMV photo of Donny Valeria off Aggie’s desk. “Who is this?”
“If I’m right, Clara Valeria is the ‘looker’ Merides told us about. Donny is her brother.”
“This is the guy who killed Mitts Vasquez.”
“Are you sure?”
“I chased him. Got a good look at him, gave a description to SAPD. But I didn’t have a photo, and they haven’t recovered the car he stole.”
“How do you know?”
“I still have friends in SAPD.”
“We need to tell them.”
Nate hesitated.
“We have to,” Aggie said clearly. “Nate, he killed a man. This will put pressure on him.”
“You’re right. Damn. That makes this an official investigation, and my suspension could fuck it all up.”
“Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it,” Aggie said. “I’m not suspended, and Merides was my contact. I did the research, I found her house, I got the information.” She looked at him. “Thank you, by the way.”
“For what?”
“For realizing I was frozen because of those dogs and handling the interrogation like I’d suggested. You had more clout with her because you are suspended. She could very likely get any confession thrown out because of it.”
“She didn’t confess, not outright, and I don’t care about her. She and her kids will screw up down the road and find themselves dead or behind bars. Either is fine with me. Right now, this is our best lead to finding Brad.”
“Let’s go.”
Chapter Thirty-one
OUTSIDE MONTEMORELOS, MEXICO
Two hours after they captured Peter Blair, Kane pulled up to an RCK safe house high in the mountains west of Montemorelos. It was remote and private, though Jack had never been to this particular property.
Ranger jumped out of the truck and inspected the property before he cleared it for Kane and Jack to bring in their prisoner. It was getting hot, though it wasn’t yet noon. The adobe structure kept the building cool, at least for now.
Kane secured Blair to the stone wall, then Jack pulled off his hood. The hood had two primary benefits: first, it would make finding the RCK safe house more difficult for Blair, and second, it disorientated a captive, instilling a deeper sense of fear and panic, which helped to make them talk.