“If Judge Noble were found jumped in a parking lot, would you let someone else handle it? Even if you didn’t have a badge?”

“I take your point.”

“So are you going to listen to me? Because I need your help tracking these assholes down, and I’m not about to let Ari get involved. If her dad somehow got mixed up with all this cartel shit, I need to know.”

Rix slowed for another stop sign and looked over at me. “So that’s how you got the report. Heath mentioned his little sister has mad computer skills.”

“We’re not talking about that.”

He laughed. “Got it. She doesn’t hack into police departments and pull up reports. Check.”

“You really want to go there? Your girl was cool with dating the head of a gang.”

The laughter faded and his expression sharpened. “Shut the fuck up.”

“Glad to see you take my point there too. So, you gonna help me or what?”

“Tell me what you know.”

It took me all of three minutes to give him everything I had, because there wasn’t much. Other than the fact they’d beat the hell out of Mr. Sampson and stolen his medallion, he’d only been able to give some crappy generic descriptions, except for the tattoos that were associated with one particular cartel.

“I got an idea,” Rix said when I was done.

Ten minutes later, we turned down a familiar street. If I’d been thinking straight, I would have come back here too.

Chains, the pawnshop Lord Robichaux owned. It was a better place to start than Voodoo Ink because Con had banned all gang ink from his shop long ago.

If these were low-level guys out for kicks, there was a chance they’d try to sell the medallion for a little quick cash. Lord saw plenty of commerce on a daily basis, and all sorts of stuff came across his counter.

Rix and I climbed out of the SUV and headed inside.

Elle, Lord’s woman, looked up from the display case where she was reorganizing jewelry as Rix leaned on the glass.

“You leave fingerprints on that, they might be your last.”

“Didn’t you hear you aren’t supposed to threaten a cop?” Rix said.

She laughed. “You know I’ll always think of you as the scary mofo who convinced me way too well with your bad-guy facade.” She paused and tapped a finger on her lips. “I can’t decide if I liked you better then.”

“You harassing the customers again, sweet thing? Pretty sure we had that discussion a few dozen times,” Lord said as he stepped out from his office, closing the door behind him.

“It’s not like they’re here to buy anything. I mean, I could maybe guilt Rix into buying this super-sweet stained glass pendant that came in last week because Valentina would lose her shit over it, but I know that’s not why he came.”

“What do you guys need?” Lord asked.

“Information,” I said, finally joining the conversation.

Lord’s expression didn’t change, nor did he seem surprised to see me here. I guessed word had already gotten around that I was back in town. “What kind?”

“I’m looking for a Saint Michael medallion that got stolen last night. Gold, probably about forty years old.”

“Whose was it?”

“Skip Sampson. He got jumped by two guys who might’ve been with the cartel.”

One of Lord’s eyebrows rose when I mentioned the word cartel. “You know I stay away from that. Don’t need that in my shop. They use Hector’s shop to fence their shit. They know better than to come here.”

“It was a worth a shot,” Rix said with a shrug. “Let’s hit Hector’s next.”

Lord leaned a hip on the counter. “You sure you know what you’re doing? Fucking with those guys would be a bad move. They fuck back with a whole lot of firepower . . . if they get permission first.”

“Who gives permission to the cartel?” Elle asked. “I thought they were a law unto themselves.”

Lord shot her a pointed look. “No one you need to know about, because he doesn’t exist for you.”

“Who?” she demanded with a glare.

Lord didn’t have to say his name. Rix and I knew who he was talking about. Everyone did, but they didn’t talk about him . . . a man who lived in the shadows but had his hands in everything that happened in this city. I knew exactly where I needed to go next.

“We’ll get out of your way. See you around, Lord.”

“I heard you’ve got a girlfriend now. Word on the street is you took Heath Sampson’s sister on a date last night to the Distillery. Your old partner, Mac, was in here this morning on another case, and mentioned his wife was there last night with her sister and saw you both.”

I had to suppress a sigh. I swear, men gossip way more than women.

Rix turned to me. “You’re dating Sampson’s sister? For real?”

It wasn’t like I was keeping it a secret. “Yeah. You’ll be seeing more of her.” To Elle, I added, “She doesn’t have a lot of friends in town, but I don’t know if I trust your crew not to scare her away.”

“Oh, hush. We don’t scare anyone away. We welcome them into the fold. What’s her number? When can we meet her? How long is she staying? Does she like Thai food? We’re going later this week.”

Lord wrapped an arm around her chest and pulled her back against him. “Let the man talk and maybe you’ll get a few more answers.” He dropped a kiss on her red hair like he couldn’t resist, and he sure as fuck didn’t care who was watching.

“She’ll be around a while. I don’t know if she likes Thai, but I’ll ask.”

The declaration was enough for the men, but clearly not enough for Elle. She opened her mouth again, but Lord squeezed her.

“I’ll get your number to her. She’s good people.”

Elle clapped her hands. “I can’t wait. Fresh meat!”

I was a little worried I’d unleashed a tidal wave that would be uncontrollable, but helping Ari make friends wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Being back and seeing familiar faces after staying away for a year made me realize how much I missed home. Maybe it was selfish of me, but I wanted to give her even more reason to stay too. Also, unless things had changed, she’d never been the kind of girl to have a posse of girlfriends, and from what I knew of Elle, Vanessa, Yve, Valentina, Charlie, and Delilah, they’d be good to her.