Touch of Red (Tracers #12)(68)

“What’s with the tie?” Jasper asked.

“I’ve got a deposition.”

“Bummer.”

Bummer was right. Sean was in a severely shitty mood right now, and only part of it was due to lack of sleep.

Today’s deposition was for the case in which Sean had taken a bullet and fucked up his leg, one of the worst days of his life. Rehashing it all with a bunch of attorneys was the dead last thing Sean wanted to do right now.

What he wanted was to fall into bed. Preferably with Brooke. He wanted to have mind-blowing sex with her and then sleep for about a week.

Would it be a violation of their “casual” relationship if he showed up at her house for the third night in a row? He sure as hell hoped not, because he needed to see her. Soon. He was feeling desperate, and the hours he’d spent in that freezing minivan thinking about her had only made it worse.

When they reached the minivan, Jasper rapped on the panel. The door slid open, and they climbed inside.

“How’s it going?” Jasper asked as he squeezed his bulk into the front passenger seat.

“It’s going,” Ric mumbled, staring through the binoculars. He lowered them to his lap and turned to look at Jasper, then Sean.

“What’s with the tie?”

“I’ve got a deposition. Where’s Mahoney?”

“Still having lunch at Cajun Jay’s. He’s been there almost two hours with a couple buddies. Callie’s got eyes on him inside the restaurant.”

“Man, a two-hour lunch? Must be nice,” Jasper said.

“Yeah, he wrapped a big trial this morning, so I think he’s in celebration mode.”

Sean gritted his teeth. He couldn’t wait to take this guy down.

“Who’s he having lunch with?” Sean asked Ric.

“Tom Moore and Dave Garver.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Who’s that?” Jasper asked.

“Moore is another judge,” Sean told him. “Garver is a sheriff’s deputy.”

“Retired sheriff’s deputy,” Ric corrected.

“Total dirtbag,” Sean said. “We caught him up in an undercover operation—what was it, four years back?”

“Five,” Ric said. “We did this sting op at a motel off the interstate, busted a prostitution ring. Lot of the girls were minors, one as young as fourteen.”

“Garver’s car was in the parking lot,” Sean said.

“He claimed he was there meeting a girlfriend, not a hooker, and we could never make anything stick,” Ric said. “But I always suspected he was there for one of the kids.”

“A few months later he took early retirement,” Sean said. “I’m pretty sure his brass knew what he was up to.”

“What, like, he had a track record?” Jasper asked.

“Probably something like that. Whole thing smelled bad from the beginning.” Ric looked at Sean. “Kind of like this.”

Sean stared across the town square at the restaurant where Eric Mahoney was probably eating crawfish and sucking down beers. And meanwhile Jasmine Jones was laid out cold in some funeral home by now. Sean didn’t have a clear picture of the judge’s connection to the most recent victim—or to Samantha Bonner—but he had some ideas.

“Check it out,” Jasper said. “He’s on the move.”

Sean leaned forward in his seat so he could see through the windshield. Mahoney stood in front of the restaurant now, slapping his buddy Garver on the back. Moore stood beside Mahoney, handed him a cigar, then offered him a light.

After shooting the shit for a few minutes, the trio split up, with Garver heading north toward some parking meters and the two judges heading south toward the courthouse.

Ric’s phone beeped and he dug it from his pocket.

“Callie’s on her way. She slipped out the back.”

Sean watched with disgust as Mahoney and Moore continued down the sidewalk, puffing their cigars. Moore was short and stocky, but Mahoney was tall and in pretty decent shape for a fifty-year-old. Once upon a time he’d played football for UT El Paso, and he still carried himself like a jock.

“Be nice to have that cigar,” Jasper said. “Think I should follow him?”

“No,” Ric said.

“Why not? Maybe he’ll toss it before he goes inside.”

“Doesn’t matter. We can’t use DNA for a warrant this time.” Ric looked at Sean. “Any word from the cybercrimes unit at Delphi?”

“Alex is still working it.”

A sharp tap, and then Callie opened the door. “Hey, look. Everyone’s here.” She squeezed past Sean and slipped into a seat. “What are you doing here? I thought you had a deposition this afternoon.”

“I’m getting an update.” Sean checked his watch.

“Man, that was a long lunch.” Callie rubbed her stomach. “I ate that whole damn po’boy and dessert. I think I might throw up.”

“Hey, take it outside,” Jasper said. “I’m in this van for the next eight hours.”

“What’s the word on Mahoney’s lunch bunch?” Callie asked Ric.

“Nothing new on either of them. I ran their records.”

She leaned forward. “You know about Garver, right? About the rumor he got caught in a prostitution sting a couple years back?”