When he leveled his eyes at me, they were so angry they were nearly black. Slowly, he shook his head.

“How?”

“I found out where they were keeping it. My brother Javi knew. I visited him up at State and he told me where to look. I watched and I waited and the first chance I got, I robbed the bastard. And I bought his drugs with his own money. And stashed them here. It was like he didn’t even exist.”

It was a brilliant plan, really. The gang probably thought it was another gang who’d stolen from them—not a cop. The kids kept selling, so they didn’t get busted up by Heriberto and friends. Heriberto thought he was making money, but he wasn’t. And the drugs went nowhere.

“So what went wrong?” I asked, standing up and brushing off my hands. Suddenly they felt filthy. Probably simply because I knew what the money had been used for. I knew where it had been.

“Rebecca,” he said. “It wasn’t enough anymore. I was starting to see a change in Sam. He was getting tougher or . . . or something. More like cold. So I went to her. I told her I was going to get her out just like she did for me. I had the money and I was going to somehow get it to her and help her leave L.A.”

“And someone saw you there.”

He nodded. “I was an old rival in their neighborhood. And a cop on top of it. Of course someone noticed me. Heriberto put out a hit. That’s all there was to it. I was so close to getting her out. So close to . . .” He trailed off, lost in thought.

“Chris?” He didn’t answer. I bent low and waved in his face. “What? So close to what?”

He didn’t answer, but quickly closed the flaps on the boxes and in just another motion, whipped up the garage door.

“Close to what?” I asked again, following him out, so confused I only barely registered how cool and fresh the air felt against my skin after being inside the locker. He slammed the door shut behind us and locked the padlock. “Hello, close to what?” I repeated.

He raced around to the driver’s side of his car and pushed a button to pop the trunk. He practically launched himself inside, brushing aside jumper cables and other pieces of equipment, and lifted up the carpet. Beneath, inside the well where the spare tire sat, was an envelope. He pulled it out, closed the trunk, and upturned the envelope so the items inside fell out. Photos.

“Close to busting them,” he said.