36 Hours (9 page)

“If you’d like to start there, but it’s most important to give your statement regarding the shooting.”

“It’s all connected. Two weeks ago, my best friend Marisa called me begging to pick her up. She said something bad was happening and she was scared. I went to get her, and she and George Garcia were arguing outside this warehouse. George wouldn’t let me take her, so I followed them inside and—”

She hesitated. Jake knew hesitation wasn’t good because it would make a judge or jury think she was making up the story. Maddie prompted her. “And then what?”

“Two girls— about nineteen or so—were being raped by Raul’s gang. Six of them. They were, um, nearly done, and the girls were swearing and crying and one of them jumped on Raul. He hit her and took out a gun. He spoke only in Spanish, and I’m not fluent, but I think he said that they deserved everything they got because they sided with the wrong people. Then he just shot them. Two bullets each. He turned to me and Marisa standing behind George and starting swearing at his brother. George talked to him, alone, and Raul came back and said if we told anyone what happened, he’d do the same thing to us.”

As she spoke, her face paled and she was shaking. Jake’s fists clenched and he barely resisted the urge to hit the wall. This was the first he’d heard the whole story.

Maddie, too, seemed to be affected. “And did you tell anyone?”

“Not for a week. But I couldn’t sleep, and I didn’t hear anything about the girls on the news, like they weren’t important enough for anyone to know that they’d been raped and murdered. Like because they were Mexican hookers they deserved it or something. I got so mad, at the Garcias, and at Marisa for getting involved with them, and at myself for not stopping them. Not at least doing
something.
I talked Marisa into going to the police. We took the bus downtown, talked to a cop.”

“Do you remember the officer’s name?”

“Jimenez. I don’t remember his first name. He took down everything we said and then said someone would call us.”

“Did someone?”

“Kristina Larson. The ADA. She asked us to come to her office on Tuesday, which we did. We each gave our statement, and Larson said to come back on Thursday for a follow-up, she needed to talk to the investigators or something. She threw around a bunch of terms I wasn’t paying attention to because Marisa was becoming hysterical. On the bus home, she fell apart and said she couldn’t do it, she didn’t want to die.” Angel’s voice trailed off. Then she cleared her throat and said, “Marisa disappeared that night and I started looking for her. I came home Wednesday and there were two guys lurking outside who I knew were with G-5. I left. Found out my mom was arrested for drunk driving when her counselor tracked me down, so I lied and said I was staying with Marisa. But I missed the meeting with Larson on Thursday—I didn’t want to go without Marisa. I called her and told her, she said I had to go down, that she needed more information before we talked to her boss and the judge and Monday. We kind of argued about it, and then she said I was a material witness to a homicide and needed to be in custody for my own protection. I said hell no and hung up.”

Maddie asked. “Then how did you end up in juvenile detention?”

“I don’t know. The cop who picked me up said it was a bench warrant because I missed a court date. I didn’t think she’d do it.”

“I don’t understand.”

“She said she’d have me and Marisa arrested if we weren’t at her office by five on Thursday.”

Maddie walked Angel through what happened at the group home, and everything up until they arrived here, at Cutler’s. The whole interview took nearly an hour, and then Maddie shut off the tape and took it out. She stared at it as if not knowing what to do. Jake said, “You can get that to the DA, right?”

Maddie nodded. “There’s so much wrong with this I don’t even know where to start.”

“Wrong?” Angel said. She looked defeated and wholly unlike the fighter Jake had rescued from the warehouse less than twenty-four hours ago, but her voice was strong. “Everything I said was the truth!”

“I believe you,” Maddie said, surprised by Angel’s outburst. “It’s the process—this isn’t how the DA’s office should have handled this. I need to talk to my boss—”

“No,” Jake and Angel said simultaneously.

Jake said, “Maddie, you can’t tell anyone. Not until I know she’s safe.”

“She needs to turn herself in,” Maddie said. “Once she gives her statement to the police about the shooting in Reseda, they can put her in protective custody. I’ll be there the whole time.”

“No,” Angel said. “You promised!”

“I promised I’d listen,” Maddie said. “Jake, you know I’m right.”

Jake grabbed Maddie by the arm. He pulled her into the living room. His voice low, he said, “You get that tape to the DA himself, you represent Angel in court, she doesn’t have to be there, not until we know who put out the hit on her. Larson or this cop Jimenez or someone else in the DA’s office. Right now the most important thing is that she stays alive.”

“I agree. Jake, I believe her. It’s just that—”

“What? You don’t think I can keep her safe?”

“I know you can. But a cop is dead. This tape isn’t going to clear her name. She has to come in.”

“And can you guarantee she’ll be in my sight every minute? Or yours? Can you guarantee her safety?”

“The system isn’t as broken as you think.”

“Like hell it isn’t!” Jake stepped back. He needed to figure out what to do. “Stay here,” he ordered.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Jake went back to the bedroom. Angel was still sitting in the metal chair, her head in her hands. “Hey.”

She looked up. Her eyes were red, but dry. “Tell me what to do.”

He knelt in front of her and looked her in the eye. “Why didn’t you tell me what you really saw?”

“I want to forget. But when I try to sleep, it’s all I see.”

Jake had memories from the war, from the L.A. streets. He was a grown man and there were times he couldn’t forget, he couldn’t purge the images of blood and violence and death that haunted him. “Honey, I wish I could turn back time.”

She stared at him and smiled, just a bit, but it relieved him.

“Lie down,” he said. “Sleep. It’s going to be okay.” He would make sure of that.

She whispered, “Be careful.”

“I should be saying the same thing to you.”

Jake left her in the bedroom and found Maddie standing by the empty fireplace, in the dark living room, the only light coming from the kitchen, casting long shadows on the walls. “She’s my daughter,” he said.

“I know.”

“She’s not safe in the system.”

“Yes, she will be.”

“You can’t promise me that.”

Maddie turned around. “And you can’t protect her for the rest of her life. You haven’t even been
in
her life!”

“I’m going to change that.”

“How?”

“Her mother is an alcoholic. She’s in detox for the next thirty days. I’m not perfect, but I can do better. Do you realize all the child support I’ve paid went to Gina, not Angel?”

“When you told me about that ridiculous arrangement, I told you to formalize it in court.”

He regretted how he’d handled Gina and the news he was a dad, but he couldn’t change the past. He could, however, change the future.

He said, “I need you to get that tape to the right people and call me on my burner phone. Let me know when they’re not looking at her as an accessory to murder.”

“Do you know what you’re doing here?”

“Yes.”
No.
Jake was taking it moment by moment. It had served him well overseas, it had helped him survive prison, it would work now.

Maddie shook her head and glanced at her phone. “You haven’t been thinking since you found her. You’ve been reacting. This isn’t war. There’s a system in place to protect kids like Angel.”

Jake stepped toward Maddie. “Don’t be a Pollyanna. You should know better.” Jake grabbed her wrist and took the phone from her hand.

“Hey! Give that back!”

She’d been attached to the phone from the minute she walked out of the bedroom. Jake should have taken it away when they got here, but he didn’t think she could be this sneaky.

He scrolled through her recent calls and text messages. She’d been texting Tommy Lind, told him to follow her GPS.

Jake took the battery out of her phone and threw it across the room. “I was wrong about you.”

“You know that you’re in over your head, that you can’t protect Angel. I believe her statement. I know she’s innocent, and I’ll make sure she gets a fair shake.”

“Don’t you understand anything I’ve said? They’ll kill her! Why Tommy? Because he’s my friend?”

“He called me, before I talked to you. Said you’d told him you had information about Angel but didn’t tell him she was your daughter, or that you had her. Why’d you lie to him?”

“Don’t turn this around on me!”

“I can arrange her surrender, her arraignment, get her to a safe place.”

“Bullshit!”

“If she continues running, it’s going to make everything worse. You’re going to jeopardize yourself.”

“It’ll be worse if she’s dead,” he said and started down the hall.

She grabbed his arm. “I can’t let you leave.”

“How are you going to stop me?” He pushed her off him. His chest hurt, as if he’d run a marathon with a broken rib. He knew Maddie believed in the system; he hadn’t believed she could be so deceptive.

She’d texted Tommy after she videotaped Angel. That was twenty minutes ago and the cops could already be outside. He couldn’t go back to Lucky’s, but he could get on the road and out of town.

“Angel, we gotta go.”

He looked around the room. She wasn’t there. He checked the other bedroom, the bathroom, the den—she was gone.

“Dammit!”

Maddie stared at him. “She left?”

“She must have heard us talking. She’s freaked out and you just made everything worse!” He stared at her. “If anything happens to Angel, it’s your fault.”

But Jake didn’t believe that. If anything happened to Angel, it was on him. He’d promised he’d protect her. She was counting on him, but he was the one who brought in Maddie. Because he thought…hell, he didn’t know what he was thinking.

A car pulled up into the driveway. Jake intended to run out the back, but first looked to see what he was facing. There was one unmarked car. Two cops. The driver got out. Tommy Lind.

Jake opened the door. “She’s gone.” He glanced up and down the street and didn’t see any other sign of cops.

Tommy stared at him for a second before he comprehended what Jake meant. “Where?”

“She heard Maddie and me arguing, knew you were coming. She’s terrified and now she’s out there with G-5 and LAPD wanting to take her down. I have to find her.”

“Don’t worry about LAPD,” Tommy said. “Jim Friday regained consciousness an hour ago. Gave a statement that Angel saved his life, she saw the shooters first and told him to duck. He overheard two of the shooters saying they wouldn’t get paid without the girl dead. The gang unit called in favors and learned G-5 put the hit on Angel because she saw Raul kill two of Cedros Street women. And it’s clear from their intel that Cedros Street retaliated by killing Raul’s brother.”

And Angel’s friend, Marisa.

“Why didn’t you tell me she was your daughter?” Tommy asked.

“Because you thought she was involved.”

“I would have listened to you.”

Jake didn’t have time to argue. “I have to find her. She couldn’t have gone far.” He reached toward his back to check his gun, and saw the writing on his hand. Angel had been right there with him when he wrote Larson’s address on the back of his hand.

His veins ran cold. “I know where she went.”

His phone rang. It was an unknown number. Angel’s burner phone? He answered.

There was nothing but silence.

Chapter Twelve

Angel didn’t think about what she was doing. If she thought too much, she’d realize it was a stupid, deadly idea. But the last thing she wanted was to ruin Jake’s life. He’d been amazingly cool about everything, but she’d gotten into this mess. She didn’t want to complicate his life anymore.

She’d been taking care of herself for a long time. She’d just continue to do it. Alone. Besides, who was going to take care of her mother when Gina got out of detox? Would the gang go after her? When was it going to end?

While telling Maddie and the camera everything, Angel remembered what the cops, Friday and Martinez, said in the car when they picked her up from juvie. The transfer order had come from the DA’s office. Maddie had thought that was strange, Angel could tell by her expression, even though she didn’t say specifically
why
it had been unusual.

Angel hadn’t thought about it then, because it didn’t seem important. But now? Coupled with everything else she knew? Kristina Larson, the ADA herself, had told the G-5 gang where she was. It was the only logical explanation.

Angel had memorized the ADA’s address when Jake had written it on his hand. It wasn’t far from the house in Los Feliz, and she hotwired a car around the corner because she knew that as soon as Jake figured out she was gone, he’d come looking for her. She drove the winding roads up the mountain, until she was almost at the top.

Kristina Larson lived in a large, two-story hillside mansion with a view of downtown L.A. Being a lawyer must pay really well. Though it was midnight, the lights were on in the house.

Angel checked the wire she’d taped to her stomach. She’d get one chance. Lucky had shown her how to hook up the cell phone to the recorder to create a one-way transmission. In case she was killed, she wanted Kristina Larson to go to prison for the rest of her life.

She got out of the car and walked around to the back of the house. It was built on a slope, with a large reinforced deck that seemed to be suspended in air. Angel wouldn’t want to be here during an earthquake.

Angel hid in the shadows. Curtains covered the large plate glass windows, but the blinds hadn’t been pulled over the sliding glass door. She saw Larson pacing the living room, talking on her phone. Angel couldn’t hear what she was saying, but the ADA was mad.