He ran his hand down his face. Damn, she was naïve.
“I know!” she said. “I know I was stupid. Javier died because of me. I have to live with the fact that I killed a man.”
Rogan sat forward. “You listen to me,” he said firmly. “You did not kill a man. Cabeza was the idiot who was stealing from the Vipers. God knows who else he was cheating. His time was limited.”
“You don’t know that for sure.” Her eyes held a glimmer of hope.
“I do.” He gave her a stern look. “So you’re going to put those feelings of guilt right out of your head.”
“Do people always do what you say?” she asked, sounding intrigued and a little disgruntled.
“If they know what’s good for them.”
“I swear I never would have used that information if I knew it could put Tilly in danger. I never dreamed that Javier would involve her. I can’t forgive myself for that.”
He sighed. She had herself so tied up in knots. He wondered if she had the strength to get through this. Well, he couldn’t let anything happen to her. Tilly would kill him.
“I tried to protect her,” she continued. “They held me in this house with all these poor women who were addicted to the drugs they kept feeding them. One of the girls had a phone and I tried to call and warn Tilly.”
“She thought you wanted her to help you.”
“What?” Miller gaped at him in shock. “No! I wanted her to run. I knew they would come for her. I overheard them talking about going after her to get the money.”
“So you didn’t make that call as a test of your loyalty to the gang? To try and lure Tilly here?” he asked, thinking about what Iker had told him.
Her eyes widened and she gaped at him in shock. “What? No! What makes you think that?”
“Because that’s what Iker Florez told us.”
“Oh my God. Tilly must hate me! She thinks I betrayed her.”
“Actually, Tilly never really believed that. Don’t worry, I’ll call and explain all of this to her.”
“They walked in while I was on the phone. They wanted to know everything I’d said and I wasn’t strong enough to hold out. So I told them. I’m so sorry. Most of the time, they must have kept me high because everything is a bit of a blur after that. Do you think Tilly will ever forgive me?”
“Tilly seems like a very forgiving person. How did you find out about Javier cheating the Vipers? And why did you even want to get involved with the Vipers? What were you looking for? A fix?”
“No!” She glared at him. Maybe she was stronger than he’d thought. “I told you, I’m not a junkie.”
“Sweetheart, that’s what all junkies say.”
“I’m telling you the truth. I wanted in with the gang because I think Iker killed my mother.”
He narrowed his gaze. “Explain.”
“My mother left just before my seventh birthday. My father was in and out of jail and I guess maybe she got sick of waiting around for him or maybe she was just sick of me, I don’t know. But she left me with a neighbor and never came back. I was sent to live with my grandmother and I never saw my mother again.”
She took a deep breath.
“My grandmother eight months ago. I was going through her stuff when I found this newspaper article. It was about my mother’s murder. They never found her killer. All this time I thought she was alive, out there living her life. Even though she abandoned me, a part of me still loved her. I figured I’d never know what happened to her and I tried to put it behind me. Then a few months ago, my father turned up.
“He does that every so often, looking for cash or wanting a place to stay. I usually give him money to get rid of him, but this time he was drunk and in a talkative mood. So I asked him a few questions.”
She took a deep breath.
“He said he knew who killed my mother. Iker Florez. He actually said she deserved it. For leaving him. Deserved to be murdered. Then he told me how he’d gotten his own revenge on Florez. My father was supplying Javier with drugs and he knew Javier was taking a bigger cut than agreed, hiking the price up before selling them on to the Vipers. My father was getting his cut. I asked him what he was doing on my couch if he was flush and he told me his money man was in jail.”
“So you decided to do your own investigation into your mother’s death?” Rogan asked incredulously. “That was a damn stupid thing to do.” He hadn’t meant to be so blunt. She was still recovering—she probably needed understanding and sensitivity. He wasn’t really the person to offer those things.