“Please. Sit, Mr. Tyler,” Valdez said, resuming his seat. “And please excuse me finishing my lunch. I got here later than anticipated. Can I get you anything?”

“No, sir,” I said, sitting down in the chair closest to me so there was one chair in between us. “I’m fine. Thank you, though.”

“As you wish,” he said. He cut off a large piece of enchilada, put in his mouth and swallowed. He took a drink from the water glass next to his plate and wiped at his mouth again with his napkin. “Mr. Codaselli and Mr. Anchor speak well of you.”

“They’ve been very kind to me.”

“They say that you helped them,” Valdez said in between bites. “In a way that no one else did. That you are trustworthy and that they would consider it a favor if I spoke with you.”

“Again. They’ve been extremely kind to me.”

“Peter does not go out of his way to help people he does not trust, so that is high praise.” He speared the last bite of enchilada from the plate and chewed it, his eyes still on me. He laid the silverware on the plate and pushed the plate gently to his right. He wiped at his mouth again, leaned back from the table and crossed his legs. He tossed the napkin next to the plate and smiled. “So. If you are his friend, then you are mine, as well.”

I wasn’t sure if that was a great thing, but I wasn’t in a position to debate the merits of his statement. “Thank you.”

“How might I be able to help you?” Valdez asked. “Peter has left me in the dark as to the reason for your visit.”

“It involves my daughter,” I said. “A few years back, she was abducted from my front yard.

His brow furrowed and his smile faded. “I’m sorry. I have three daughters myself.”

“Thank you,” I said. “And it’s okay now. I found her recently and she is safe.”

He raised his eyebrows, then a flicker of recognition flashed through his eyes. “You are the man who found Peter’s son. The man he hired.”

I nodded. “Yes.”

Valdez extended his hand across the table to me. “Peter and I have been friends for quite some time. I know how hard on him that was and I know how grateful he was. So I will thank you for helping my friend.”

We shook hands. I hoped he was going to remember how great I was when I asked for what I wanted.

“I’m sorry,” Valdez said. “I interrupted you. Please continue.”

“I should be upfront with you,” I said. “I’m a former police officer.”

Valdez nodded. “I’m aware.”

Of course he was.

“I have reason to think that one or more of my former colleagues might have been involved in my daughter’s disappearance,” I explained. “And there’s a possibility that it might in a roundabout way be tied to a case that your organization was involved in.”

Valdez looked at me thoughtfully, then nodded, encouraging me to continue.

I laid out for him what I knew. That the buy in Imperial Beach went bad, undermined by an agent that had gotten inside, screwing up the safe passage that had supposedly been paid for.

Valdez didn’t say anything.

“I know…or maybe I should say that I assume, that if your organization had paid for a service that it didn’t receive,” I said, pausing for a moment, choosing my words carefully. “You would’ve wanted to be compensated. To have your fee reimbursed since services that were promised weren’t delivered.”

Valdez gave a small shrug, but nodded. “Yes, I’d say that would be accurate. That is…common procedure for us.”

“My belief is that the person who you dealt with,” I said. “The person who offered to provide a safe environment for your transaction is the person responsible for my daughter’s disappearance.”

“Why do you think that it’s specifically tied to one of our deals?” Valdez asked, tilting his head to the side, considering his own question. “I’m not sure I see how that is relevant.”

“I think that when you asked for repayment for lack of services, your contact didn’t have the money and had to look elsewhere for it in order to stay in your good graces. That wasn’t an easy thing to do and got him into trouble.”

Valdez nodded slowly, his eyes on the table, thinking through what I’d told him. He laid his hand on the table and tapped his fingers lightly.

“You have done some excellent research,” he finally said with a smile. “I can see why Peter was pleased to have worked with you.”

I didn’t say anything.

“I can confirm I know of the deal you are speaking of,” he continued. “It wouldn’t be prudent for me to go into details, but I will tell you that the majority of your research is correct. We were involved in the transaction. It did not go as planned, despite precautions that were promised.” He smiled at me. “And we did ask for the return of our fee. Perhaps with a bit of interest.”

The smile stopped at his eyes and I finally saw the face of a man who was capable of far more than I could probably imagine. The kind of man who put the barrel of a gun in someone’s ear and pulled the trigger. The kind of man who enjoyed the fright that the sound of a chainsaw brought. The kind of man who did whatever he wanted.

He blinked and the look vanished as soon as it had appeared.

“But I’m afraid I cannot give you what you’re looking for,” he said.

“Why not?”

He tapped his fingers on the table again. “The…integrity of our organization is based upon trust. Confidentiality. And relationships. So while I can understand your frustration here, it is not my normal practice to reveal the name or names of anyone that we may have worked with in the past. No matter their shortcomings. We don’t disclose our associations and I’m sure you can understand why.”

I could. I knew what he was saying. But I didn’t care.

“Even if the person you worked with proved themselves incapable of delivering on their promise?” I asked.

Valdez hesitated, then nodded. “Yes. We would deal directly with that problem, as we saw fit. No matter our displeasure, we would not consider it good business to publicize whom we might be working with.”

I seriously wondered if there were any more bad guys out there who weren’t so goddamned polite.

And then I remembered the conversation Lasko and I had after visiting with Ben Dailey.

“I have an uncomfortable question,” I said. “Please know that I don’t mean any offense.”

Valdez raised an eyebrow.

“Has your organization ever been involved in child trafficking?” I asked.

The look in his eyes changed back to what I’d seen before. Cold. Angry. Evil.

“I appreciate your preface, Mr. Tyler, but that is still an offensive question,” Valdez said, his fingers drumming a silent beat on the table.

“I apologize. But I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t have to.”

He uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his hands tented together in front of him. “As I told you. I have three daughters. I love them the same way I’m sure you love your daughter. Children. They are…gifts.”

I nodded.

“And I know that in my business, in my world, things happen,” he said, his eyes boring into me. “Not always good things. Necessary things, but not always good. We choose our landscape, Mr. Tyler. And I can assure you, that landscape never, ever involves children.”

“I understand,” I said. “And I never believed that you did. I understand that there are…rules.”

Valdez nodded. “Rules. Yes.”

“Would those rules prevent you from…establishing a relationship with someone who trafficked children?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said, without hesitation. “It’s a business we deplore and we have zero interest in working with anyone associated with it.”

I nodded, my heart beating against my chest. I knew this was maybe as close as I’d get if I was right. I needed to be right and I needed Valdez to help me.

“So what if I told you that the person I believe was responsible for my daughter’s disappearance, the same person who you worked with on the failed transaction…was involved in trafficking?” I paused, letting it sink in. “Would that change your mind about letting me know who specifically you worked with?”