The Cartel Lawyer by Dave Daren (ebook reader below 3000 TXT) 📕

in with you?” I interrupted as my employer’s face turned a red so deep it was almost purple.

“Yeah,” Camilo said with a nod of his head. “But they already let him go because his parents were here.”

He gave his father a significant look that was meant to make him feel bad, but the older man was completely unphased.

“Unlike that boy, what’s his name… Jimmy?” the scarred man grumbled. “You need a lawyer because those damned cops will use you to try to get to me.”

“Who was driving the car?” I asked as I continued my interview.

“Me, obviously,” the teen rolled his eyes at me. “Like I’d trust that fucking idiot behind the wheel of a Lamborgini.”

“And was the car damaged?” I asked as I made a few more notes to my phone.

“I’m not a fucking dumbass,” the young man snapped in a mirror of his father’s own rage. “I know how to drive.”

“How old are you?” I questioned while I ignored his increasingly foul language.

“Fourteen,” my employer’s son preened a little. “And I got that baby up to one-eighty on the highway before that buzzkill came after us.”

“You did not try to outrun him,” my employer said, and I hoped for his son’s sake that he hadn’t.

“Obviously not,” Camilo rolled his eyes. “I remember the rules. Never run from the cops. Don’t resist arrest… blah, blah, blah.”

“And don’t give them a reason to arrest you,” Osvaldo hissed with a glance to the camera to make sure that the red light was still out.

“If that cop hadn’t caught us we would’ve brought it back in perfect condition,” the teen defended.

“Alright,” I said as I brought the attention back to me. “Have you been convicted of anything in the past?”

“Nothing big,” the teen shrugged. “But it always works out.”

“Because I cover for you,” the scarred father snapped. “If you’re going to be running the business, then you need to learn to keep your nose clean.”

“I know,” the teen drew out the last word as he rolled his eyes.

I shuddered to think of the young troublemaker in front of me as the head of the family business, especially with their ties to the cartel, though that would require him to stay out of prison.

“So mostly community service and fines?” I asked as I brought myself back to the moment.

“Yes,” Osvaldo answered. “I’ve paid all the fines for him. And Alvaro has made sure that he gets to court on time.”

I glanced toward the tall man in the corner of the room to see his almost black eyes stared straight ahead like a soldier at attention even with his relaxed pose.

“Okay,” I nodded as I looked back at the young teen. “You haven’t spoken to the police, right?”

“Do I look like a fucking idiot?” the young Fuentes huffed.

“Of course not,” I replied.

“Yes, you do,” his father said at the same time. “But he won’t talk to the cops. He did at least learn that lesson.”

The scarred man spoke to me, but his eyes were on his son, like he couldn’t decide whether to reach across the table and slap him for the inconvenience, or if he just wanted to sigh and shake his head.

“Good,” I said as I finished with my notes. “Let’s get you out of here. I’ll go talk to the officer in charge.”

“We’ll wait here,” my employer said, and I wondered if I should leave the snarky teen alone with his father.

“Right,” I said with a nod of my head.

I wouldn’t be able to stop the beefy Cuban man if he did decide to discipline his son, but the less time I gave them alone, the better. Though, I was fairly certain that the cartel man knew better than to do anything in the police department.

No one said anything else as I left. Father and son stared at each other like they wanted to see who would blink first, and Alvaro just watched with a placid face. Since they were distracted, I went in search of someone who could help me have Camilo released into his father’s custody.

The redheaded policewoman was still behind her desk with her eyes glued to the book in front of her and a cup of steaming coffee in one of her hands. She tore her attention away from the page when I strolled up to the desk, and she immediately checked for Osvaldo and Alvaro. When she realized they weren’t with me, her shoulders relaxed, and she managed to smile at me.

“Hello,” I said with a bright smile. “I’d like to have my client released into his father’s company.”

“No way,” the young officer from the interrogation room said.

He walked out of the break room with a jelly donut and a mug of coffee, like every cop in every bad cop show that had ever been made. He took a swig of the sweet-smelling drink and then grimaced as the scalding liquid ran down his throat.

“His charges are minor,” I said. “There were no damages to the vehicle.”

“That kid’s been in a lot of trouble,” the policeman muttered while he searched for some place to set his jelly donut.

He couldn’t find a napkin so he just set it on a stack of papers, and I had to fight back the urge to sigh at the new jelly stain that was left on the official documents.

“He’s in good standing with the courts,” I replied. “He’s a minor and should be released into his father’s custody.”

“He stole a very expensive car,” the young cop countered.

“And he will gladly appear for his court date,” I said. “He’s not a flight risk. And the charges are not enough to keep him here.”

“He’s right, John,” the redheaded police woman said as she stood from her chair.

The printer in the