Diamond Park by Phillippe Diederich

Author:Phillippe Diederich [Diederich, Phillippe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2022-03-07T16:00:00+00:00

18.

We drive back to the police station. Somewhere in the building there’s a holding cell with a sixteen-year-old girl who refuses to talk even to her dad. But to see the cops go about their business, you’d think everything in the world was fine.

When I ask the desk officer if we can see Susi, she tilts her head to the side just slightly and asks, “Weren’t you just here?”

“Please,” I say, “we’re best friends.”

She shakes her head. “Only family or counsel.”

Down the hallway some redneck kid is arguing with a woman about someone named Robert, saying Robert was the one who done the shit and it ain’t his fault his father went to Corpus and didn’t know the shit was in the car.

“Drugs,” Magaña whispers.

The guy down the hallway yells, “Wasn’t him, you goddamn bitch!”

“Travis,” the desk officer yells, “control your subject!”

I lean over the counter and smile politely. “Can you tell her it’s us, Magaña and Flaco . . . please?”

The desk officer half rolls her eyes like she’s tired of the back-and-forth with us. “It ain’t gonna happen, son. Only family.”

On the wall of the lobby there’s a photograph of the force, like twenty or thirty cops all lined up like in a school photo. They’re surrounded by a dozen or so shiny squad cars, four SUVs, and a helicopter in the background. Looks like the photo was taken in the parking lot of a Walmart or Target. The officers are half smiling, looking friendly but tough—the Diamond Park warriors. Like twenty in uniform, six plainclothes detectives, and six other dudes in all black tactical gear like they’re in Mission Impossible. All that firepower for a little cow town that’s no more than a dot south of Corpus Christi.

This real shitty feeling about what Joe Cárdenas said creeps around my gut. If he’s not enthusiastic about Susi’s situation, it’s gotta mean things are not looking good for her. And then that bit about the stash house.

The officer ignores us. After a moment I open my mouth to tell her what we discussed about Anaconda, but Magaña grabs my arm as if he knows exactly what I’m about to say and leads me out of the station. It’s already midafternoon and the sun’s leaning over the buildings on the other side of the street and burning down on our side with a vengeance.

“What’s the point?” he says. “We already told them everything we know about Rayo and Anaconda.”

“Yeah, but they need to find him. Susi—”

“Joe Cárdenas said we need his real name.”

“Let the cops do it. That’s their job.”

“Don’t believe it, bro. They have Susi. And how do we even know the cops aren’t in on it?”

“In on what?”

“Think. They’re the ones who won’t let us see Susi.”

“No. No way they’re on Anaconda’s side,” I say. “They’re cops. This isn’t Mexico.”

“Don’t fool yourself, Flaco. I know how cops operate, here and in Mexico.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“Okay, so maybe it’s not like that. But what if it is? Or maybe they just don’t care who the real killer is.

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