Jesus, Shift wasn’t only a piece of shit motherfucker; he was also seriously f**king stupid.

And Ty was still grinning when he noted, “What you’re sayin’ is I owe you.”

“No,” Peña’s voice got low, “what I’m sayin’ is, don’t know what shit brought Lexie back Dallas way, but thank you for provin’ me not wrong you give a f**k about your wife. Martinez spread wide he was recruitin’ Rodriguez’s pu**y for his stable and was already takin’ orders. You took care a’ that so I didn’t have to. And also what I’m sayin’ is, the message you sent was not received. He may leave Lexie alone but he is one pissed off black man and that rage is directed at you. You got some experience, I bet, watchin’ your back. Use it and stay diligent.”

Ty’s grin died and he muttered, “Fuck, what I do not need is another f**kin’ problem.”

“Well, now you’re makin’ me feel like Santa Claus,” Peña replied and Ty turned and walked deeper into the garage.

Then he asked, “You gonna share?”

“Well, I wasn’t seein’ as I want your nose clean with all that I’m doin’ though I may be in Dallas but my karma must be in Carnal since I got a message for you this morning from one of your neighbors. First, I’ll tell you that, when I was up there, I walked into the Carnal Police Department and flashed my badge. The officer on duty at the desk, not a very bright bulb, took one look at it, opened the doors wide and gave me his code to the copy machine. Considering those f**kwads have been gettin’ away with murder, literally, I figured they all couldn’t be as dumb as the man they got guardin’ the door so I also figured I didn’t have much time. But I did use my time at the copy machine wisely before someone cottoned onto my activities and I was cordially and collegially ousted. I will not share with you what I found. I will also not share with you what some of Carnal’s citizens I spoke with in a variety of establishments readily shared with me. What I will share with you is that, after spending some time since leaving the beautiful state of Colorado acting on some of the things I learned during my vacation, my activities have been noted. And this morning, an Officer Frank Dolinski phoned me wanting to have a cop to cop chat. Now, Officer Dolinski told me that he heard word some time ago that you were being paroled and, seeing as he’s either one smart motherfucker or clairvoyant, he knew your release could mean good or bad things but, good or bad, he told me you got a lotta friends in that ‘burg, all of ‘em been nursin’ not a small amount of antagonism for over five years, so it was gonna mean something. Further, Officer Dolinski’s father was a cop as was his grandfather and he actually likes his job, wanted to follow the family tradition since he could remember and earned his badge to protect and serve and not doin’ both to cover his own ass. So, he’s been payin’ a lot of attention and when I say that I mean a lot and when I say a lot I mean for a f**kin’ long time.”

Ty was listening, his gut tight and his chest squeezing and when Peña didn’t continue, he prompted, “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Peña replied. “So, Dolinski set the ball rolling prior to your release but shit like this goes slow and you were out before things could get sorted.”

“What shit goes slow and what things are gettin’ sorted?” Ty asked.

“Dolinski’s deep cover mission for an internal investigation into pretty much the entirety of the Carnal Police Department with specific interest in Police Chief Arnold Fuller,” Peña answered.

Ty’s body went solid.

Holy f**k.

Peña continued. “This investigation centers around a variety of things including Fuller’s mishandling of a case when a serial killer was hunting his patch after which a complaint was lodged by a Special Agent Tambo of the FBI not only about Fuller’s department fumbling the case but also Fuller’s manner and professional approach, questioning his suitability to be in his job. Tambo’s complaint was added to complaints from Carnal’s citizen that were piling up and IA started sniffing around but could get nowhere seein’ as tracks were covered and nearly every cop in the department was dirty so they needed an inside man and, mud’s so deep at Carnal PD, they couldn’t see clear of it and find one. Dolinski’s coming forward as a whistleblower and willing undercover agent set the ball in motion for an intense investigation into the entire Department but centering on the aforementioned f**k up with the serial killer as well as the possible corroboration of local law enforcement officers in the cover up of the murder of a drug dealer in Los Angeles and the extradition of a Carnal citizen to stand trial for that crime. IA in LA, who are working joint with your local IA on that particular concern, apparently has some information that the dealer murdered was allegedly dealing blow to one Detective Gene Fuller, who happens to be Police Chief Arnie Fuller’s brother, and ole Gene reportedly likes his blow, enough to get in deep with a dealer and, on a cop’s salary, the only way to cover that debt was for the dealer to go away.”

Holy f**k.

Peña kept talking. “As you know, two dealers dead in California by the same gun, a .38 but what you don’t know is that Detective Chet Palmer has a .38 registered for personal use. But, when questions were asked, Detective Palmer was requested to produce this gun and couldn’t do so saying, when he went to get it, he noticed it was missing and, belatedly, reported it stolen and says that it’s been years since he’s touched that gun so it could have been years ago it was stolen. Two and two began to make four and the person making four in Carnal for IA is Officer Frank Dolinski.”

Holy f**k.

Peña wasn’t done. “See, the problem Dolinski has now is that there is a very clever Carnal ex-cop whose friend went down for a crime he didn’t commit and, if you don’t mind me sayin’, a very clever current cop in Dallas who’s got an interest in that man’s wife who are both nosin’ around. Makin’ matters worse, for some reason I’m sure you know nothin’ about, although some time has gone by, Special Agent Tambo and his superiors have suddenly started asking questions about the complaint Tambo lodged and they haven’t been real thrilled with the answers they’ve been receivin’ but instead of shruggin’ their shoulders and movin’ on, they’ve decided to start leaning and they got a lot of weight. All this and Dolinski’s already got his ass swinging way the f**k out there. It is not lost on all concerned that two black men in two states framed for murders they didn’t commit, one taking his life, one losing five years of his, if uncovered, will make national news. Dolinski says because of this things are in-tense at the Carnal Police Station and he wants me to be aware that if these outside factions keep up their activities, some twitchy people may get seriously f**kin’ twitchy and Officer Dolinski says he’s this close to askin’ his girl to take his hand in marriage and he’d actually like to get the chance to ask her not to mention marry her and make a family with her and not get his head blown off and some random black guy who’s unlucky enough to look at one of these ass**les funny servin’ time for that crime.”