Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 6-10 - Laurell K. Hamilton [705]
“The Lobos are small and local, but they’ve got a bad rep,” Ramirez said.
“How bad?” I asked.
“Drug running, murder, murder for hire, assault, assault with a deadly, attempted murder, rape, kidnapping.”
Bernardo said, “Kidnapping?” As if the other crimes were to be expected but not the last.
Ramirez looked at him, and his eyes went from friendly to cool. He didn’t like Bernardo for some reason. “We think they abducted a teenage girl, but nobody ever surfaced, and the only witness just saw her being dragged into a van that looked like one that their leader, Roland Sanchez, owned at the time. But a lot of people own gray vans.”
“Have you had a lot of disappearing teenage girls?” I asked.
“Our share, but no, we haven’t noticed a pattern of young women being abducted by the gang. I’m not saying they won’t do it, but they’re not making a habit of it.”
“Glad to hear it,” I said.
Ramirez smiled. “You’re armed, and . . .” He handed me a slender cell phone. “Press this button and it’ll call this phone.” He held up a matching phone. “Rigby and I will come running with backup.”
My eyes flicked to Rigby, who actually tipped his hat at me. “At your service, ma’am.”
Ma’am? Either he was five years younger than he looked, or he used ma’am for all women. I turned from his peaceful eyes to Ramirez. His eyes were kind, but they weren’t peaceful. He’d seen too much of life for true tranquility. I liked his eyes better. “You’re not going to try and argue me out of just Bernardo and I walking into the bar?”
“We suspect Baco of using magic to kill people. That is an automatic death sentence. If he gets a whiff of police, then he’ll clam up and start asking for a lawyer. If you want information from him, you’ll have to play ordinary citizen. Now, if you planned to go in there alone without Bernardo or some man with you, then I’d argue.”
I frowned at him. “I can take care of myself.”
He shook his head. “In the world that this gang runs in, women do not exist except through men.”
My frown deepened. “You’ve lost me.”
“All women are either someone’s mother, daughter, wife, sister, girlfriend, lover. They would not know what the hell to do with you, Anita. Go in as Bernardo’s girlfriend.” He had his hand up, stopping me from interrupting before I could even open my mouth and try. “Trust me on this. You need to have some sort of status that they can grasp quickly and easily. Flashing your animator’s license is too close to a badge. No woman in her right mind would just wander in there for a drink. You have to be something.” He glanced at Bernardo not like he was happy. “I’d go in with you as your boyfriend, but like it or not, I look like a cop, or so I’ve been told.”
I looked at him. I wasn’t sure what it was about most policemen, but after a while they really did look like cops, even off duty sometimes. It was partially the clothes, partially some indefinable air of authority or bad attitude or something. Whatever “it” was, Ramirez had it. Rigby was in uniform, and I wouldn’t have taken him as backup anyway. He made me nervous with his air of contentment. Policemen should never be that well pleased with themselves. It means they haven’t had much experience yet.
I looked at Bernardo’s smirking face. “Agreed, under protest.”
“Good,” Ramirez said, but he was looking at Bernardo, too, like he didn’t like the look on his face. He held a finger up near the taller man’s face. “You get out of line in there with Anita, and I will personally make you sorry for it.”
Bernardo’s eyes drifted from amused to cool. It reminded me of the way Edward’s eyes lost emotion until they were empty and somehow harsh.
I stepped between