“Reckon she wouldn’t. Don’t think he’s on her radar. But she sure as f**k’s on his. He’s taken an interest in Alexa Berry now Walker. The good news is, this was a natural progression seeing as he had an interest in Rodriguez before he caught sight of your wife.”

“Explain,” Walker rumbled.

“He had a lot to say about Rodriguez. Gotta tell you man, heard about her association with him, wasn’t pleased to hear those two were paired and you were in Vegas marrying her. That was until Peña called and gave me the full brief on Lexie, who, by the way, he’s surprised as f**k to find out is in Vegas gettin’ hitched.”

Walker didn’t like that. Not at all. Some vice cop who knows Lexie enough to be surprised. Some vice cop who hears someone asking around and gives a shit enough to pick up the phone.

He didn’t f**king like it at all.

Tate continued, “He liked Rodriguez. Had a lot to say about him and a lot of what he said was good.”

At this news, news that took him off guard, Walker pulled in a deep breath but didn’t speak.

Jackson went on, “Said he didn’t get why Rodriguez was in the game, never understood it. Talked to him often. At first it was because he sensed Rodriguez would flip, wanted to groom him to become a CI then he did it because he sensed Rodriguez might straighten his shit out. They struck up a relationship. Rodriguez gave him time but not info and during these times Rodriguez shared he had a variety of pressure from his family and his woman to leave that life. Peña took an interest in him, sought out Lexie and tried to work with her to work Rodriguez.”

“He explain to you the interest?” Walker asked.

“Yep. Called him an ace pimp, you believe that shit though the way Peña said it, even after all this time, sounded like he couldn’t believe that shit either. Peña said the man treated his girls like gold. From the start, a john jacked them up, that john got a visit. Another pimp tried to lean on them, that pimp got a visit. He protected their turf, gave them a high percentage of their take, they got roughed up or knocked up, he took care of their medical bills and he never took freebies. Girls all over Dallas leavin’ their men to join his stable, he took all comers and beat back the pimps who came lookin’ for them. When he died, far’s Peña knew, he had fifty-seven girls in his stable.”

Jesus. That was a lot of women.

And Walker was not feeling good hearing that Lexie’s claims were true about Rodriguez. He’d convinced her different. And apparently he’d been wrong.

Jackson kept talking. “Rodriguez and Lexie told Peña that he steered clear of Lexie and when I say that I mean they didn’t live together, never got engaged, she didn’t take any of his earnings, most of the time they met it was on her turf so he rarely brought her around his business. Not only didn’t she take money from him, neither did his family. It was separation of family and business, strict. This caused Rodriguez to be conflicted seein’ as he was doin’ that shit to provide for Lexie and his family. So his main motivation for doin’ it wasn’t a motivation. This is what confused Peña, seein’ as he kept doin’ it and, from what both Rodriguez and Lexie told Peña, the pressure he was gettin’ to stop was far from light. By his report, Lexie threatened to end it with Rodriguez about once a week. How he talked her around, Peña didn’t know but he did. And Peña was even more confused that he went down and he went down not because of the girls but because of dope.”

“He’d partnered with a dealer,” Walker told Tate.

“Yeah, Peña explained all about Duane Martinez. All about him.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Far’s Peña could tell, Rodriguez propped up Martinez. He mighta had some cracked respect from Peña but still, Peña said Rodriguez wasn’t the sharpest tack when it came to relationships. Apparently, this Martinez guy is downright blunt when it comes to everything. Rodriguez didn’t have enforcers. Rodriguez did time. Rodriguez was an athlete. Rodriguez could take care of himself and his girls and he did. Personally. Peña says Martinez used the association with Rodriguez as a shield. He says he has no evidence Rodriguez dealt dope, never had any and he looked deep. He had his stable, he stuck to his stable. But Martinez and Rodriguez were tight, brothers from the ‘hood and Rodriguez gave his brother protection.”

“Went down doin’ it,” Walker muttered, his eyes sliding to the station seeing Lexie at the counter, yammering and smiling at the clerk who was smiling back in a way that, Walker suspected, she went on for two minutes longer, the man would get down on a knee no matter the diamonds on her left finger.

“Maybe not,” Jackson said into his ear and Walker’s gaze went unfocused.

“Maybe not what?”

“Martinez inherited Rodriguez’s stable.”

Walker felt his chest start to burn.

“What?” he asked quietly.

“Peña has no proof but everyone knew who did what with those two. And Rodriguez was well-liked by everyone but other pimps. The tragic hero. Losin’ his scholarship was part of it, he was famous in his ‘hood and not livin’ the dream didn’t make that fame fade just changed its nuance. Further, this guy was a badass. Acted as his own enforcer, never got bested. That kinda reputation holds a lot of sway. That said, according to Peña, he was just a nice guy. His word was gold. He was a diplomat. A peacemaker. A master at balancing while standin’ on a fence. There was a sit down; he was often called on to mediate. People trusted him. He was solid. A rival dealer needed to take someone out, he wouldn’t aim for Rodriguez even if he was providing protection for his brother partially because Rodriguez was well-liked and this would be unpopular, mostly because Martinez is not well-liked.”

Walker kept his eyes locked on his wife as he asked, “Peña thinks Martinez ordered the hit?”

He asked it but he knew. He knew men like Shift. He knew. That piece of shit would do it and still cry at the funeral.

“That’s the word on the street, according to Peña. Murder never solved but that shit spread wide and Martinez moved up the ranks. You gotta be one cold motherfucker to take down your brother in order to take over his stable. He recruited soldiers and got a different kind of protection. But Peña says there’s more. Says Martinez was resentful of Rodriguez’s success on the basketball court then his respect on the street and his way with his girls, especially seein’ as he hit the game late, after he came back from Indiana and Martinez had been in the game for years by that time. Says Rodriguez was blind to that shit. Wouldn’t hear a word against Martinez and that was what Peña was using to sever the ties and get him to go straight. Peña is convinced Rodriguez stayed in the game to have his brother’s back. Rodriguez never explained why those were ties that bind and why they bound him so tight he’d risk losin’ his woman and family but he figures something in their history connected them and Rodriguez was the kind of man who took loyalty seriously. Unfortunately, Martinez was not.”