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Santería. Especially the ones with connections to the Mexican drug cartels.”
    â€œOh yeah?” Evangeline peeled her sticky ponytail from the back of her neck.
    â€œI saw a show about it on the Discovery Channel.”
    She turned to stare at him.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou watch the Discovery Channel? Somehow I figured the Cartoon Network was more your speed.”
    â€œI’m a man of many tastes,” he said. “You should know that about me by now.”
    â€œSo you were watching the Discovery Channel…”
    â€œYeah, and like I said, it was about these drug dealers using Santería to impress their enemies and keep their underlings in line. Only they called it La Regla de Lukumi. Or some shit like that.” He rolled down his window and a breath of hot air rushed in. “This car smells like a friggin’ ashtray.” Like a lot of ex-smokers, Mitchell had a low tolerance for cigarette odor.
    â€œI’ve never even heard of…what did you call it?”
    â€œ La Regla de Lukumi. I’d never heard of it, either, until I saw it on this show. Anyway, there’s a group that operates along the border called the Zetas. They’re militia and ex-military officers from south of the border with some Guatemalan Special Forces thrown in to boot.”
    â€œIn other words, a bunch of real badasses.”
    â€œBadasses with a capital B. The drug cartels recruit these guys to act as enforcers. And now they’redeepening their networks into cities like Houston and Dallas. From what I saw, they’re about as nasty a gang as you’re ever likely to meet up with, and get this—they even have their own witch doctor, shaman, big kahuna…whatever you want to call it…that advises them.”
    â€œYou think these Zetas have made it all the way into New Orleans? That’s who Betts is trying to impress?”
    â€œNot the Zetas, per se, but their employer. You gotta understand how these people operate, Evie. They don’t just believe in taking out the enemy. They think if he dies screaming, they’ll still have power over him in the afterlife. Hence, their affinity for torture. I’m willing to bet Paul Courtland and his brother did some heavy-duty screaming before they died.”
    â€œI don’t doubt it, but it all sounds a little too spiritual for a guy like Betts.”
    â€œI’m not saying he believes it. He’s just not above using it to make a point.”
    Evangeline reached over and adjusted the air conditioner vent so that it would blow directly on her face. Mitchell took the hint and rolled up his window.
    He shot her a quick glance. “So what do you think?”
    â€œI’m not sure I buy the whole Zeta thing, but I guess I wouldn’t put much of anything past Betts.”
    â€œExactly. That’s all I’m saying.”
    â€œI’ve been thinking about those two men Meredith Courtland saw in her husband’s study that night. From the way she described that meeting, it sounds like they were putting the screws to Courtland. She heard arguing and she could tell her husband was angry. The trial was over, he’d done his part…yada, yada, yada. If those guys were federal agents, isn’t it possible Courtland was playing both ends against the middle?”
    â€œWorking for the feds, you mean?”
    â€œLet’s say, cooperating with the feds.”
    â€œAren’t you forgetting something? It was Courtland who got Betts off.”
    â€œSo?”
    â€œIf Courtland was ‘cooperating’ with the feds—” Mitchell put the word in finger quotes “—why would he work so damn hard to get Betts acquitted?”
    â€œMaybe they had bigger fish to fry. The middleman, for instance, between Betts and the cartel. What better way of finding out who his supplier was than by putting someone inside his operation that he trusted? His lawyer, no less.”
    â€œSo