“Do you think I’ve conveyed the necessary urgency?” Noah asked her.
“Oh yes,” Lucy said. “Dropping Rick Stockton’s name conveys urgency. Speaking of Rick, does he have any more information about this Jasmine?”
“He sent me a message to talk to Brad Donnelly of the DEA. I haven’t had a chance to call him—but since you’ve worked with him, go ahead, call, put him on speaker.”
“You’ve met him, right?”
“Couple of times since I’ve been here.”
Lucy had Brad on speed dial. They hadn’t seen much of each other outside of work over the last three months, mostly because Brad was overwhelmed putting the San Antonio DEA back together after a corrupt agent decimated it. He was the acting ASAC for the office, but word was that his position would be permanent by the end of the year.
“Donnelly. Is this Lucy?”
“It is.”
“It’s about time you called.”
“The phone goes both ways, Brad.”
“But this isn’t a social call.”
“It’s not. I’m putting you on speaker—I’m with SSA Noah Armstrong.”
“Serious?”
“Could be.” She put the phone down on the center seat and pressed SPEAKER. “We’re all here.”
“Armstong,” Brad said.
“Hello, Brad. Call me Noah.”
“What can I do for you?”
“Jasmine, rumored to be the illegitimate daughter of a drug cartel leader,” Noah said. “I don’t have a last name, or a family. I hope you have more.”
“Yep. I’ll tell you what I know—which, frankly, isn’t much—but first tell me how she came up in one of your investigations.”
Lucy quickly explained the case they were working. “We have a photo, and a CI identified her by her first name only—claimed he didn’t know her last name.”
“Brave soul—or you have something on him. Here’s what I know—I need to give you both a little history lesson first. And to be honest, some of the information I can’t verify. It’s all rumors, and even the rumors are vague.”
“We’ll take anything at this point,” Noah said. “We have a dead body and two missing women.”
“First, the rumor that Jasmine is the illegitimate daughter of someone in the cartel is probably accurate. Don Flores, one of the old-time cartel bosses, had two families—his first and legitimate family in Mexico, and his illegitimate family in Corpus Christi. Some say he was a polygamist, but I doubt it—you and I both know, Luce, that criminals have a weird and twisted view of religion. Flores was very Catholic, four sons with his wife, went to church, the whole nine yards. Sure, keep a piece on the side, but he wouldn’t marry her. I can’t remember the mistress’s name—I can find it if you need it—but she had two daughters. The younger daughter went to college in Massachusetts or Maine and has as far as I know never stepped foot back in Texas. The older daughter—Jasmine—embraced the family legacy. Rumor is that she was Don’s favorite, and she learned everything from him.”
“Her name isn’t Flores?”
“I don’t know what she goes by. Legally, her name isn’t Flores. She was born Jasmine Constance Ricardo. But she dropped her last name long ago. Married once, the guy’s dead under suspicious circumstances, she inherits a small fortune. But this was years ago—when I was a rookie in Arizona. I don’t have any more information—but I can get it.”
“Was she a suspect?” Lucy asked.
“Not that I know of, but again, I don’t have the file handy and I’ve never had need to read it. Jasmine is one of those names that pops up but never goes anywhere because we don’t have a current photo or address for her. Couldn’t interview her if we wanted to, and since we’ve never had even circumstantial evidence against her, no warrants for fishing.”
Brad covered the phone and mumbled to someone in the background, then came back. “Sorry, I have like five minutes. But you should know that Don Flores was killed by his own family. It’s not a big secret, but it was a long time ago. Fifteen, sixteen years.”
Noah said, “So you don’t know what she’s specifically involved with?”
“No—again, everything is quiet rumors about her. The one rumor is that she’s working with her family in Mexico—but because Flores hasn’t moved into my jurisdiction, I don’t know a lot about their operation. It’s possible that now that Tobias’s operation is wiped out, they’re planning on making a move, but at this point all we’re seeing are local turf battles, no big organization coming in. Yet—because we all know it’s going to happen. Where there’s a void and that shit. Oh! One more thing. Even though Jasmine and Don were tight, she’s not fond of the drug trade. Go figure. She has her hands in semi-legitimate business enterprises. That’s the word, at any rate. Do you want me to ask around?”
Lucy glanced at Noah. He said, “Yeah. And don’t be subtle. Maybe we can shake some trees and make her nervous.”