donât stray far from their mothers.â
âCould be a father or grandparent is raising her,â said Greco. âAs for the womanâwell,â Greco spread his hands apologetically. âComes with the territory.â They both knew that a dead Latina, especially one who might be undocumented, was unlikely to garner the same sort of media coverage as a white American woman.
âWeâd get all the media attention we needed if we broadcast our suspicions,â said Vega.
âThatâd be like using a fire hose to extinguish a candle. No thank you,â said Greco. âI donât want to be the guy cleaning up that mess.â
âIs that what you told Adele Figueroa after someone torched the community centerâs Dumpster last month?â
Greco drummed his fingers on his desktop. âWhat, Sherlock? So now you think a bunch of dumb-ass kids decided to move from vandalism to murder?â
âHow do you know the fire was started by kids?â
âI donât. But in my book, if it walks like a dog and shits like a dog, itâs not a camel with a personality disorder. That fire had all the earmarks of a few punks fired up on their own rage and bravado.â
âThe words that were spray-painted across La Casaâs parking lot seem a little close for comfort, donât you think?â
âEasily a hundred people saw those words, Vega. They werenât poetic. Or original. That situation is nothing like what we found at the lake.â
âHow about Ernesto Reyes-Cardona? Is he a dog or a camel in your analogy?â
Greco blew out a long breath of air as if Vega had been sent as a personal test from God. Jobâs final burden. âThatâs not a Lake Holly police matter.â
âI know. Itâs Metro-North jurisdiction. But it happened here, Grec. All of these crimes happened here. Scott Porter told me about two other Latino men who were beaten in Michael Park. Donât all these potential bias incidents make you wonder whatâs going on in town?â
âSo now youâre taking your cues from a guy who wants to hand out green cards like theyâre grocery coupons?â
âIs Porter right about whatâs happening in town or not?â
âThat shit happens? That people sometimes behave badly? Of course. But I donât like your insinuation that weâre not doing our jobs. Hell, you know the drill as well as I do. You try to interview an illegal, he wonât talk to you. Or he gives you a fake name. Or a fake address. Even if these people give you a real address, they move every fucking week. They donât have steady jobs. How the hell can I catch a criminal if the witnesses and victims scatter like cockroaches every time I step into a room? Never mind all the shit I have to do when I finally do talk to them. I canât ask them the same things Iâd ask my own kids if I caught them messing around. I see a white guy pissing on the sidewalk, I can bust his ass and no oneâs gonna do anything but applaud me for doing my job. I do the same thing to an illegal, and in two minutes flat, Iâve got Scott Porter and every Hispanic group in the county breathing down my neck and calling me a racist.â
Grecoâs view of the world, 101. Vega leaned an elbow on the corner of Grecoâs desk and rested his cheek against his fist. âI see the county-mandated sensitivity training had a big impact on you.â
âYeah? Fuck you. You canât decide if youâre for them or against them. Thatâs your problem. Least I know where I stand.â
Vegaâs view of the world, 101: wherever you are, you donât belong.
Neither man spoke for an instant. Then Greco turned away from Vega and punched a number into his phone. He told the person on the other end to wait around another ten minutes. He hung up and turned back to Vega.
âEver meet a guy named Tim Anderson?â
âNo. Should