“Sylvie Bissenette,” Darius said immediately.
I knew of Sylvie. I’d never met her, but she was a private investigator in town who had a reputation, a good one.
And this idea was a good one, too. Badass bitches take on Denver.
I liked it.
“She had a partner,” Darius went on. “He re-enlisted, died overseas. That means she’s used to workin’ with somebody. But Lee also contracts with her occasionally, so she might not be big on takin’ you on if that makes things shaky with Lee.”
God.
Lee.
Every time I turned around it came back to Lee standing right in my way. And he was my brother. I loved him, respected him, admired him. I needed to finesse that, not try to find my way to blow through it.
“That said,” Darius carried on, “she’s a chick in the business and knows it isn’t easy breaking through. She might be down with workin’ with you because of that.”
A ray of light.
“Uh, dude,” I started, “there is another way.”
“That would be?” he asked.
“You’re in the biz, so you could vouch for me with the Licensing Board.”
That expression I did not like crossed his face before he hid it and replied, “Ally, I’m not licensed, and I’m not gonna be. Workin’ with Lee, I don’t gotta be. But still, it isn’t going to happen.”
I didn’t get this.
Sure, he had a rap sheet, but as many times as he got arrested, nothing ever stuck. He’d never done time.
And it wasn’t like he was the only human being who did wrong and turned his life around.
I wasn’t certain how the Colorado Licensing Bureau felt about it, but he’d been working under Lee now for over a year. He was on the crime-free wagon and hadn’t once even teetered, much less fallen off.
I could tell by his face that this wasn’t the time he was going to share, and I wondered if there would be a time he would do that voluntarily.
I suspected there would not.
So that meant it was soon going to be my time to get out the tequila and have a sit down with my brother of another color. He lived. He breathed. He worked. He even smiled and sometimes laughed.
But something about him made me feel he was on hold. Waiting.
For what, I didn’t know.
But it was becoming clear it was time I did what I could so Darius Tucker would stop existing on pause and hit play.
“I’ll talk with Sylvie,” he offered.
“That’d be cool, Darius,” I accepted.
Darius changed subjects.
“Now, you know both Hank and Lee have been in my face to keep you out of this Rosie shit, but I know if I tried, you’d lose your mind and you’d get in it. So I’m gonna keep you briefed.”
Seriously.
I loved Darius.
I grinned.
He kept talking.
“He’s smoke. His shit was good shit and he’s still got fans here, so I’m workin’ my way through who I knew was partial to his product. The boys from New Mexico have no ties here. This is not good. No known associates, nothin’ to go on. Brody’s workin’ that book thing and he’s also workin’ hotel/motel registrations for me. I’m takin’ this on two angles, shuttin’ down Rosie and shuttin’ down the source of danger by findin’ those guys. It’s not gonna be easy so Lee has also assigned Hector to work with me.”
I nodded.
Darius carried on. “Because of their relationships with you, Hank and Eddie can’t work this case officially. They’ve assigned it to Jimmy Marker. Jimmy’s keepin’ them briefed, they’re briefin’ me.”
Poor Jimmy.
A colleague of my dad’s, I’d known Jimmy Marker since I was a little girl. And Jimmy was batting a thousand. That would mean he’d picked up every Rock Chick case, now including mine.
“You got Santo and Lucky on your ass,” Darius continued. “You still carry, keep your stun gun and pepper spray on you. Vigilance, Ally.”
“Always, honey.”
This time, he nodded.
