Sinclair Justice (Texas Rangers #2)(52)

“Again? I don’t believe I ever told you.” Curt drummed his fingers against the tabletop. The waitress had cleared everything and they were having coffee.

“Why are you being so cagey? I’m just making conversation.” Emm stirred half and half into her cup.

“Yeah, well, you’re being nosy.”

Emm smiled wryly. “It’s uncomfortable when it comes back atcha, isn’t it?”

He relaxed a bit and smiled reluctantly. “Guess so. Goes with the territory. To answer your question, I paid almost 150k for the Carrera with all the royalties last year from my new best seller. I saved them for that purpose. I’d always wanted one, and I’m not getting any younger.”

Emm looked suitably impressed. “I agree there’s no substitute for a high-performance car and the rush you get behind the wheel. Dad wouldn’t tell me exactly what mine cost, but I know it was over 100k.” She folded her napkin over her plate. “So you don’t have any insight to share on the cartel’s methods? Anything that could help locate Yancy and Jennifer?”

“I already told you, no.” His voice rose again. “You didn’t have anything to share either, so it looks like this was a—” He broke off.

“Wasted conversation? Then at least I can get the bill. But we made the appointment, and I keep my side of the bargain. Just like Yancy would.”

He flinched at the name, as if he couldn’t help himself. She knew he’d been wildly in love with Yancy, but her half sister had found Curt too hidebound to stay with him long-term; plus, she said he was equally boring in the sack. From the look on his face, he was also recalling their breakup. But as she’d finally pierced his tough reporter hide, she had to take advantage.

She stirred her cup again. “I didn’t realize you still had feelings for Yancy.”

Curt shoved back his thick blond hair with a frustrated hand. “Neither did she. I tried to dissuade her from threatening Brett Umarov because I know he’s dangerous, but she wouldn’t listen.”

Emm frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“She didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

Curt sighed. “Brett is probably one of Los Lobos’s top distributors on the East Coast, and Yancy threatened to go to the DEA about him if he didn’t help her find Jennifer. She believed he was involved in her daughter’s disappearance. I believe he’s been moving cocaine and heroin for the cartels for years, hidden in his band equipment on his tours. The DEA has brought him in several times and searched his bands and equipment, but they’ve never found anything substantial, just personal stashes. They ducked the charges because all of them have clean records. At least until now.”

Feeling sick to her stomach, Emm shoved her cup away so hard, coffee splashed into the saucer. “When did this happen?”

“A few days before Yancy disappeared. I thought she told you, thought that was why Brett has been dragged back in for questioning. I figured you told Sinclair. ”

A furious flush stained her cheeks. “If you knew all this, why the hell didn’t you tell the police?”

“I tried to tell that Ruiz fellow. But he blew me off, said they’d already interviewed Brett and found nothing.”

“You said you heard Brett had been questioned again . . . Who told you that?”

Curt scowled. “You know I can’t reveal my sources. I’ve been investigating the Mexican cartels for years and I have to give my sources absolute, total anonymity because of how dangerous it is for them to talk to me.”

“Uh-huh. What about protecting the woman you claim to love?”

Curt surged to his feet, a flush coloring his own broad cheekbones now. “She broke up with me over a year before she was grabbed. She didn’t even return my calls when I tried to keep in touch. But still, I tried to be there for her. I warned her not to threaten Brett. I even went to the police when she disappeared—”

“So if I ask, I’ll find this official report on file, right?”

Curt froze halfway around the table, his napkin still clenched in his hand. He tossed it on the table. “Are you calling me a liar?”

“Curt, you’re a reporter. You bend the truth for a career.” Emm tossed her own napkin on the table. “Well, this is one time you won’t slant your way out of a scandal. I think you know more than you let on. And I know you’re living very well on a reporter’s salary at a time when every daily in the country is cutting costs.”

Curt leaned across the table toward her, saying through his teeth, “You don’t talk to me like that, you rich little bitch!”

Emm gathered her purse over her shoulder and looked him straight in the eye. “You’re right; I don’t have to talk to you at all anymore. The Texas Rangers are on the case. You’re hiding something, and even if I can’t find out what it is, they will.” She turned on her heel and walked away, aware of the pure venom aimed at her back.

Emm’s eyes burned with tears as she drove back to her hotel. That had been a useless exercise, except for the information about Yancy threatening Brett. She’d be sure she told Ross and Abby tomorrow during the interview. They could check the evidence to see if Curt had really called Ruiz, as he claimed. As for Curt, she was more convinced than ever that he was hiding something, and it wasn’t just his sources.