“Later, when she got back to LA, she called us,” continued Emma Garcia, ignoring Guerrero. “She wouldn’t say where she was or why she’d been late at the border. She said she’d explain everything in person. I picked the video up from a panadería on Pico where she said she’d leave it for me. Then we didn’t hear from her again until the day she died.”

“What time?” I wondered how Cathy Vega had spent her last day.

“Noon. She told us where she was going to be working in the afternoon and to send someone to meet her. She sounded upset. When Raul and I got there, she was already dead. And that’s when we saw the two of you for the first time.”

No wonder they were suspicious of us. Fair enough. Cathy Vega had made some very unwise moves. Between ripping Monica Fullbright off, something about a badly planned heroin deal and a group of desperate politicos, somebody had knocked her off.

“If you didn’t kill her, why were you there?” challenged Guerrero.

My head hurt. It was obvious they weren’t going to tell me any more. “I didn’t even know her. I was hired to find Cathy Vega, only I was told she was a Guatemalan named Carmen Luzano. I dragged in and out of Immigration looking for her. Finally I got a phone call telling me where to find Carmen Luzano, but when I got there Carmen was Cathy and she was dead.

“I’ve been chased, I’ve been hit on the head and my client’s disappeared. That’s everything I know except for the name of my client, and I’m not giving you that. So do what you want, but leave my friend out of this. She knows less than I do.”

I got to my feet. Damned if I was going to let them hit me while I was down. “Come on, Lupe, let’s book.” I stared defiantly at Emma Garcia, then at Tony Guerrero. “Make your move, ‘cause we’re leaving.”

Emma Garcia started toward me but fell back when she saw the others weren’t going to help her. Tony Guerrero said something in Spanish to Raul, who immediately let go of Lupe. Rubbing her arm, she moved toward the doorway.

I had to step around Cathy Vega’s legs to get to the door. Who was she? A martyr? A con?

“When this is all over,” Lupe said, stopping in the doorway and turning back toward Emma and Tony, “I’ll come back to help you. I don’t like to see people going hungry. I got a little boy myself.”