“Oh, I know,” I said snidely.
“You’re going to bring up his lack of emotion onstage now, when he’s not here to defend himself?” he railed at me. “Senan had flawless technique!”
“He did,” I agreed, trying to calm him down. “He could have developed the rest. Too bad he didn’t have the time.”
“Fuck!” Lincoln yelled, sitting down on the couch and yanking on his hair. “I never thought Mazzara would kill him. When I told him I couldn’t drop everything and fly to Colombia in the middle of a production to pick up drugs for his distributors, he became enraged. I told him, if I lost my job, how will that look? But he didn’t care.”
“So you’re bringing the drugs in yourself.”
“Yes. One suitcase for me, two for Mazzara. That was our deal.”
“But Mazzara moves a lot more weight than a couple of suitcases,” I said like I knew what I was talking about. “What you were moving was…what? For people to get a taste?”
“What I brought in was for me to entice new buyers, new sellers. Once I had new clients and new partners lined up, he’d step in.”
“So you’re the middleman. Mazzara sees you, you see the distributors, and no one’s connected at all except through you.”
“Yes, isn’t that what Senan told you?”
“He just told me you were a drug dealer and he had you by the short hairs over it,” I said, smirking at him. “He also said you were addicted to him like you were to the money from moving the drugs.”
Lincoln charged over and grabbed me by the throat. “Did he tell you I wanted you?”
“No.”
“No,” he repeated, stepping even closer to me. “Of course he didn’t.”
“I—”
“He hated that all he had on me was blackmail, but that if I could, if he weren’t in the picture, I would pursue you.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered,” I assured him when he let go of me.
“No?” he goaded. “Powerful men don’t do it for you?”
“I don’t need you to help me with my career. I’ve done quite well on my own.”
“Yes,” he agreed, “you have. And when I needed someone to pin this debacle on, there was only one at the CBC who travels as much as I do, jetting all over the world.”
I had that sudden feeling of unease, like I’d stepped out of my story and into someone else’s. “Who?” I asked, taking a step back, toward the door.
“That would be you, Celso,” he answered cheerfully. “I told Mazzara I’d turn informant if he didn’t get me out of this mess, and when he went looking for a patsy, he agreed that you, an orphan, without family or ties, were the best bet.”
“Mr. Harrington,” a voice said behind me, “so good of you to come by.”
At last Iunderstood why Lincoln was so chatty with me. I’d wondered why he told me everything after one little lie. He thought Alberto Mazzara was going to put a bullet in my head, so why not spill? It made sense. Somehow, though, I wasn’t terrified. It was probably because I knew Eli was there, with Stafford, listening in.
When Special Agent Stafford had called and said that it looked like Lincoln was getting ready to run and that they needed me to confront him, I had agreed to go, but Eli’s stipulation was that I was not going alone. Stafford agreed because it was a no-go otherwise, and Eli stayed in the van, out of sight, on the corner, while I walked around the block.
Now, of course, things had changed. And again, I wasn’t scared; I was more worried about how Eli was feeling on the other end of the audio feed. I would never hear the end of this if I was shot. My dancing days, my doing anything days, would be over. I’d be in perpetual lockdown in my new home.
“How do you plan to make me responsible for Senan’s death?” I asked Alberto Mazzara, whom I knew from the pictures I’d seen of him earlier in the day. I was a bit concerned that no one was talking to me in my earpiece, but another guy who was with Mazzara, the one who was holding the gun on me, had wanded me when he walked over, so I was wondering if Stafford had to go silent so the bug detector would not pick up that I was, in fact, bugged.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Harrington,” Mazzara replied, smiling. “We have enough of a paper trail and other—”
“Alberto.” The man holding the gun on me spoke his name in a harsh whisper, holding out a tablet for him and tipping his head at Lincoln.
I wasn’t great with Spanish, I was better with French and German, but I knew the basics. From what I could understand, I gotlawor something like that, andboyfriendI knew. I was so glad I didn’t have to qualify my and Eli’s relationship anymore, like I had to do the day before with Luna. Eli and I were officially what we’d always been, so when Alberto Mazzara grabbed hold of my shoulder, hard, and held the tablet up to me and asked who the man was beside me, I answered honestly.