Peter’s arm nestling against my stomach could be explained by the way he had to lean across me in order to point. I maybe could reason the hand on my thigh was bracing him. I possibly could rationalize that the gentle squeeze of his fingers was supposed to be reassuring. But when his hand moved up the inside of my thigh, then quickly back to my knee, I ran out of excuses. “That’s his auto body shop and this one here, that’s Leila’s sister’s hair salon.”
“What are you doing, Peter?” I asked agitatedly. Or thought I had asked. When no one responded to my question, I realized the lack of air in my lungs made speech impossible.
I found my voice when Peter removed his hand and sat back against the opposite arm of the sofa. Pointing to the spreadsheet, I cleared my throat and asked, “How are you recognizing these abbreviations?” Did I sound as hoarse to Luis as I did to my own ears? His furrowed brows could be interpreted as deep thought, or a result of the hitch in my breathing.
“Cai worked at the auto body last summer and Darryl gets his hair done at the hair salon. As for the others, I tried to take over the accounting when Joe died because I didn’t want Iss around. I couldn’t make the figures work, so I had to call him anyway.”
Looking over the list of abbreviated names, I thought of something else. That was a lot of businesses for someone like Alvarado. “Did Iss own all those businesses or have a piece in them?”
Peter shook his head and shrugged. “No way he owned anything of Leila’s. But she owned some of his. Once Leila got her Green card, it was just business between them. And most of the vendors on that list are owned by cops.”
Luis’s jerked his head up from studying the laptop and turned to Peter. “Cops? How do you know that?”
“Joe told me. I don’t know which cops, but he always said he kept the business in the blue. ‘Cops is always better than regular peeps, Pete’. Think I heard that about a hundred times.”
My eyes met Luis’s and both of us understood the implications of that. We knew there was a cop involved, but cops? Plural? Were they all laundering money? It seemed likely since there was no way a simple cleaning service charged a small diner five grand a month. But according to the books, the cleaning service which contracted with the diner got paid that much the previous month. And I’d seen Colorado’s Finest Diner, what the fuck could they have been cleaning? Certainly not tablecloths.
“That explains the cash at Alvarado’s house. Dench died and Alvarado didn’t have access to the diner to launder it,” I said and immediately shook my head. He should not have had that much cash in his house. There was no way I could make that work in my head. Alvarado was a piece of shit, but he wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t keep evidence around. “But if he was taking care of the diner accounts again, why didn’t he funnel that money in? And those passports? Why did he keep all of that shit at his house?”
“He didn’t.” We both turned to Peter as he continued, “I…put those in his house.”
That statement effectively slapped me back to my senses. “You set him up?” The guy didn’t even seem guilt-ridden as he shrugged nonchalantly.
“I thought they were Iss’s. I found them in a safety deposit box that Joe got for me. I think I signed for it about three years ago. Joe had fixed up an identity for me. He was doing the same for Cai and Darryl. I figured that was what was going to be in the box. Instead, I found that stuff.”
“Could be bullshit. Alvarado said this kid intro’d him to a cop on the take,” Luis interjected.
“He lied,” Peter said, standing up. “I’ve been out of that life since Joe took us in. Iss was just pissed because he figured out I put that shit in his house.”
“Quiet. Both of you. I need to think.” A bevy of thoughts chugged through my head. All that money, all the passports, left in a box only Peter had access to. “Ron said Dench would do anything for his boys.” I examined the computer, then turned to Peter. “I need Joe’s records for the diner.”
“What are you thinking?” Luis asked.
“I think the passports and I.D.s were evidence to start an investigation. But an investigation wouldn’t be able to do much with cash. The money could only be for one thing: Peter and the boys. I think Dench was hiding those passports and that money because he was about to turn himself or Alvarado in. Did you put everything from that box in Iss’s house?” Peter nodded slowly, a frown of denial pulling at his brows. “And you’re sure Joe put them in the box.”