don’t have anything related to it.”
“Do you have a photo? Sometimes that works.”
“No.” Montoya scowled.
“Then I’m sorry, detectives, but I can’t help you.” She rose.
“I told you it was a waste of time,” Montoya growled to his partner.
Detective Hunt held out his hand. “I’m sorry we wasted your time.”
Juliana shook it. When he released her, something warm and slippery slid into her palm. She closed her fist to keep the object from falling.
Juliana saw the dead girl, needle tracks stark on her stick-thin arms. Her long, blonde hair was unwashed and unkempt. A necklace hung around her pale neck.
As the vision faded, Juliana asked Hunt, “Who is she?”
“Lila.” His gaze was intent.
Montoya’s head snapped around to stare at his partner.
“You wear her necklace,” Juliana realized. “It’s warm from your body.” She closed her eyes and knew three more things instantly. “Lila was your sister. You became a narc because she OD’d.”
When she opened her eyes, Hunt was nodding. He didn’t look surprised. But Montoya’s mouth hung open. Juliana ignored him and handed the necklace to Hunt. “You wanted your partner to know I was real.”
“Yeah. He can be closed-minded,” Hunt said with smug satisfaction.
“Bite me,” Montoya retorted.
“I still can’t help you without something related to the object. Get me that and I’ll do what I can. You said it was a relic. Do you know where it came from? Are there other items from that same location?”
Montoya shook his head. “We don’t even know what kind of relic it is. We’ll ask our snitch to get more information.”
Juliana gave him her business card. “Contact me directly next time.”
She turned to his partner. “Detective Hunt, will you walk me out?”
Hunt frowned but followed her out of the department. When they were alone in the corridor, he said, “I assume you want to say more about the necklace?”
Juliana swallowed and nodded. “Your lady, Celeste, doesn’t understand why you wear another woman’s chain.”
Detective Hunt was unable to hide his surprise.
“Perhaps you’ve worn it long enough.”
She left it at that and drove home to her apartment. Maybe she should take her own advice. She’d mooned over Charlie for long enough. Now that she’d had him, she could let the dream Charlie go.
Unfortunately, now that she’d had him, she wanted him even more.
CHAPTER 4
Charlie wore the scent of sex all day. It had been a mistake not to shower after leaving Juliana’s bed. It was so strong it overpowered him at every turn, swamping him in carnal memories of Juliana’s breasts, the glistening pink flesh between her legs, and her tight body gloving him as he thrust.
He didn’t know how he had had any coherency to talk to dozens of people and keep his cover story straight. But he had, and he felt elated to have a lead. Rumor said a new major narcotics dealer would soon emerge. The details of how this would happen were murky, but it involved a bidding war and a relic. The reward for having this relic was to operate a new drug pipeline to Columbia. Rumor said the relic was in town. It had to be the sculpture, crazy as that sounded.
The people he’d talked to agreed there were only a few men powerful enough to pit Miami’s drug dealers against one another in a bidding war and live. All Charlie had to do was find out which man it was and steal the sculpture back before the auction began.
Something bothered him about the whole thing, so he stopped in the local library to view their newspaper archives and do a landline Internet search. He didn’t want to risk a wireless search on his laptop.
Charlie’s client, Hollywood promoter Jordan Hessler, had told him the sculpture was the fertility god Hun-apu. Why would a sculpture of a fertility god be of interest to a drug lord?
He did a search for Hun-apu and found the Maya Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque. The photo of the sculpture Jordan had given