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“I’m okay. Better. The gun scared me because of the last time, but Skinner was nice to me.”
Who in the hell was this Skinner guy? Why did he have a gun? And where could Carson find him? “Skinner?”
“Doesn’t he work with you?” Sam asked. “Why did I think that Skinner and Jackson were helping you with the Munoz case?”
He stiffened although he tried to hide his reaction. “Let’s sit and I want you boys to tell me everything. Every interaction and detail you can remember.” He nodded at Caden. “You can make the drinks.”
“Got it!” Caden gave him a thumbs-up.
He was an adorable little guy even if Carson preferred the prettiness of his baby doll.
“I made cherry turnovers this morning!” Mickey announced. “Adam showed me how and said they were good. I’ll warm some up.”
Mickey headed to the kitchen as Nash led Adam to a large table. He urged Sam toward the table.
It didn’t take long for drinks and warm pastries to be placed in front of them and the stories began. Carson listened as he sipped his coffee with Sam on his lap. He would be holding on to his boy for a little longer. At least until he knew what was going on.
“Linc, can you pull up the security footage?” Carson asked. Lincoln had helped the shop get the security system up and working and had access to it. He needed to make sure that he could log in from anywhere like Lincoln could.
“Yeah, give me a minute.” Lincoln pulled out his phone.
“Did I do something wrong?” Sam whispered in his ear.
“Wrong?” Carson looked over at Sam to see him chewing on his bottom lip.
“I meant to ask you about Skinner and Jackson earlier. When they first came in. I thought they were men you’d brought in to help like he detectives from Vegas.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” he quickly assured his boy. “Even if you had brought them up, I don’t know what I could have done. It’s interesting that they protected you from your father.” That also left the question of what they were doing there. If the men weren’t sent by Sam’s father, did they have a connection to the Munoz cartel?
“I know it sounds crazy because of the whole gun thing, but I don’t think they want to hurt us,” Caden said.
“The man had a gun, baby,” Lincoln said.
“It wasn’t pointed at us though,” Caden argued. “And Skinner sent me into the back, away from danger, to call you.”
“He has a point,” Nash agreed. It was the first time that he’d spoken.
To him, Nash didn’t get enough credit for his intelligence. Sure, Nash joked around and often reminded Carson of a big kid, but when it came to his job, Nash was one of his best detectives.
“If those Skinner and Jackson guys aren’t with Sam’s father, why are they here? The only other thing we’re dealing with is the cartel,” Nash said.
“They’re not with the cartel,” Adam said quietly.
“How do we know for sure?” Mickey questioned. “I know I’m new here and I wasn’t around for all this cartel business, but those men knew what they were doing. Skinner brought out that gun from nowhere. And Jackson? He seemed like a clown, but he knew how to handle Sam’s father.”
Carson studied the young man. He might be new to the group, but he was smart and paid attention.
“I agree. Being on the streets for as long as I was helped me read people. I don’t know what Skinner or Jackson are doing here, but I trust them.” Caden straightened. “I need you to trust my gut, Daddy.”
Lincoln sighed. “I want to, baby boy. I do. We have another problem though.” He set his phone on the table. “The video from this afternoon was altered.”
“Altered? What do you mean?”
Lincoln pressed Play on the screen.
Both he and Sam sat forward. The volume was turned down, but Carson could clearly see when Sam’s father stomped into the shop. The weird thing about the video was the two figures who were blurred out.
“Damn it.” Carson snatched up the phone and tapped the screen, but nothing happened. The video continued to play. Sam’s father reached for him, but a hand reached out and caught Sam’s father’s wrist.
