“When I could be. But she underestimated me. She thought I wasn’t wise to who she was, but I guess the way she used people was part of her charm.”
“So you saw her on and off?”
“And every time that I assumed she was out of my life for good, she’d call and ask me to meet her someplace new. She always paid. It was like she knew what she had to do to keep me on the string.” He turned to Teo. “You know women like that?”
Teo ignored the attempt at male bonding. “You must really have had a thing for her.”
“It got to be a game. I wanted to see what was going to happen next.”
I decided to move the time line to the present. “So this went on for, what, years?”
He gave a slight nod. “I moved around, took a couple of different jobs, but she always knew where to find me. Then a long time went by when I didn’t hear from her. I decided it was time to come back to my own country, time to start over and find a better life. So I quit the job I had in Albuquerque, arranged for this one and got ready to move home.”
“How did you end up in Santa Fe with Wendy?”
“She called one night, and she said she was sorry she’d been out of touch. She wanted to make it up to me. Seeing her one last time seemed like a goodbye present, so I said sure. She told me I was going to love the resort where we would stay, that it had these cute little casitas scattered over the hills, and we would have one all to ourselves. I didn’t tell her I was moving here. I thought maybe I’d change my mind about that if, you know, things went well.”
Teo took over. “Do you have a different opinion now about why Wendy invited you to the resort? Not just for a good time, but maybe for something else?”
“Sure. She knew Vítor Calvo was going to be there, and she wanted to kill him. I don’t know why she wanted him dead, but she did.”
I drew in a sharp breath, but Teo went on. “So you think that’s what she planned all along?”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
He sounded almost earnest now. “Here’s what happened, and you can believe it or not. On the phone she told me she was going to Golden Aspen to look over the place for Gracey Group, kind of like a secret shopper. She asked me to register and get an extra key for her, and she would pay me back in cash. She said it would be better if we weren’t seen together, in case somebody figured out who she was.”
“So you registered. Did you use your own name and credit card?”
“No.”
“But you were able to register?”
“I found a way. I wasn’t going to charge anything, so it didn’t matter what card number I gave them. I had cash and I paid in advance. I had some outstanding traffic violations, so I figured it would be better not to use my own license and name until I paid them off.”
I looked at Teo, who shook his head slightly, as if to tell me to move on. I remembered Sophie’s lecture about fake IDs. How many times had a patron left a credit card or license on this man’s bar and walked off without it? Pocketing the credentials of somebody he resembled might have been easy.
I moved on. “If you weren’t going to be seen with her, what was the point of being there?”
“Come on, lady. We weren’t there to socialize. It was no big deal. I checked in and texted her where I was. She joined me, and we ordered room service.”
I didn’t want to hear what else they did. “What happened then?”
“The next morning she said she was going to look around, make notes and stuff, talk to employees. She said there were some good hiking trails and I ought to enjoy my day, that I’d see her later in the afternoon. After she left, though, I decided to go down to the lobby and get information about what else I could do. I had to pass the bar, and I saw Wendy inside. She was arguing with an older guy. Turned out, he was the doctor.”
“Were they loud? Is that how you knew?”
“Loud enough, and she was waving her arms. At one point he pushed her away.”
“Did you confront him?”
“No. The fight—and that’s the right word—was dying down by then. She backed away, and he turned to leave. I knew we weren’t supposed to be seen together, and since it looked like the trouble had ended, I watched from the doorway. She left by another door, and Calvo came out my side. He looked upset, even bumped into me without apologizing.”
“Was anybody else around?”
“It was close to the lobby, but I wasn’t paying attention to anything but the fight.”
“Did you hear anything that was said?” I asked.
“They were across the room. I couldn’t hear Wendy, but when he started in my direction I heard the doctor tell her she’d better leave him alone, or she would be sorry.”
“So he threatened her.”
“That’s what I thought at the time.”
“But not now?”
“He’s dead. She isn’t.”
A chill coursed down my spine. Teo asked Ex to go on.
He was speaking faster now, in a hurry to finish. “I gave her some time to calm down, then I went back to the casita. She was already there. I told her I’d seen her fighting with a guy in the bar, and she said he was a surgeon from someplace in South America. She claimed she knew him because he’d been interested in investing, and she’d shown him around one of the Gracey Group resorts. She claimed that he got drunk and attacked her, and she barely got away. Since then he’d been stalking her, and this wasn’t the first time he’d showed up. Calvo was part of the reason she’d asked me to register for both of us, just in case, but somehow he’d found her anyway.”
“You believed it,” Teo said.
“She was crying. I had to work to calm her down. And, you know, I’d never seen her that way. Wendy was a good-time girl. She never worried about anything.”
“Did she say why she didn’t call the police the night he attacked her or later when he started stalking her?” I asked.
“She was afraid her side of the story would reflect badly on your father and the company.”
I exploded. “And so, even though she was in Santa Fe with you, having a little tête-à-tête—one of many, apparently—you thought her reasoning made sense? Because, you know, it seems to me that shacking up with you might reflect badly on my father and Gracey Group, too.”
“Let him finish,” Teo said, putting his hand on mine. “Ex knows he made a mistake.”
Ex turned to me. “That sister of yours is the biggest mistake I ever made!”
“Please go on,” Teo said. “You can understand why this is hard to hear.”
We were playing good cop, bad cop, and we hadn’t even arranged it. Reluctantly I sat back and folded my arms.
For a moment Ex seemed to debate whether to continue.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It is hard.”
He gave a short nod. “She finally calmed down, and she said she wanted to be alone, only she was afraid he might come after her. I told her I had a gun in my car. I’d driven from Albuquerque, and I usually carry it in the glove box. She asked me to bring it to the room, just in case. The gun’s registered, perfectly legal, so I did. I told her I’d stand guard, but she said she needed an hour alone. She was going to write down everything that had happened that morning, and send it to her lawyer. Then he could decide how she should handle things.”
Neither Teo nor I commented.
“So then—” he blew out a long breath “—then I told her she could have the gun while I was gone, and I showed her how to use it. I loaded the bullets myself. I explained how to handle it. At first she didn’t want to touch it, but eventually she picked it up. She said she could never pull the trigger, but maybe just pointing it at Calvo, if somehow he got inside, would be all she’d need.”
Wendy hadn’t needed instructions. The gun in h
er safe was proof. But she’d played along, acting the part of the frightened, helpless female, and he’d bought it.
Or else his entire story was a lie.
“You left her there alone?” Teo asked.
“She insisted.”
“We all make mistakes.”
Ex put his head in his hands. “I walked around the grounds looking for Calvo, to make sure he wasn’t lurking. I figured it would be good to know where he was staying. So I talked to one of the maids, gave her a little money, and she told me which casita was his. When I went back to the room, Wendy was napping. I figured the worst was over, and we were leaving the next day anyway. Things improved after she woke up. I put the gun in the room safe, just in case. We had drinks and dinner in the room, and she made nice. I fell asleep way too early, but I figured I’d just had too much to drink, and Wendy said she was tired, too. She got into bed with me.”
He looked up. “And that was the last time I saw her. I woke up before dawn the next morning, but Wendy had disappeared, overnight bag, the whole nine yards. For a while my head was pounding so hard I couldn’t remember where I was or why. And then, little by little, everything cleared and I started to worry something terrible had happened to her. I got up and went to the safe to get my gun. It was gone.”
“Do you think she drugged you?” Teo asked.
“I can hold my liquor, and I hadn’t had more than two drinks, maybe three. The evening was fuzzy, but by then my head was clear enough to figure out what must have happened. I threw on my clothes and took off for Calvo’s casita. I wasn’t sure who to worry about, Wendy or the doctor. The sun still wasn’t up, and nobody else was around. When I got there, his door was ajar. I went in and Calvo was on the floor, blood pooled all around him.”
He paused, and Teo leaned forward to encourage him, though neither of us spoke.
“My gun was lying next to his body,” he said. “The one I’d loaded myself, so even if the gun had been wiped clean, my fingerprints would still be on any bullets that hadn’t been fired. I’d been arrested once, so my prints were in the system, and the gun was registered to me. I realized that I’d been well and truly set up.”
We waited, but he didn’t continue.
“If I was in that situation, here’s what I would do,” Teo said. “I would grab the gun and make sure everything I’d touched since entering was wiped clean. Then I would go back to my room, pack, wipe down that room and get the hell out of there. All before the sun rose.”
He nodded. “Pretty much. Except when I went back to our room to grab my clothes, I saw that the jeans I’d worn the day before had blood on them. She must have taken them with her to Calvo’s casita and afterward dumped them on our closet floor, grabbed her own things and left. But not before she slipped his wallet and some kind of fancy watch in the jeans’ pocket.”
“You still have them?” Teo asked.
“You’re kidding? Gun, wallet, watch, jeans? Buried somewhere along the Turquoise Trail on the way back to Albuquerque. The only mistake she made? She didn’t use enough of whatever drug she slipped me. I’m sure I was supposed to sleep until the maids arrived.”
When neither of us knew what to say, Ex went on. “So that’s what happened. Except all the parts where I just went along with whatever she said because I was crazy about her. If you want to believe something badly enough, you do.”
Silence fell, except for a flute-like trill of a bird in the forest canopy beyond us, and the whirring of insects. “Yeah,” I said at last. “Sometimes you do.”
Ex got to his feet. “When I was pulling out of the resort parking lot, I heard sirens coming from the other direction. I probably got out just in time.”
Teo and I stood, too, and I told Ex a detail he apparently didn’t know. “Somebody called housekeeping and asked for more towels. The maid went to deliver them and found the body.”
“Your sister.” He thrust his hands in his pockets. “You know I’m just going to disappear again, don’t you?”
“Nobody can predict what’s going to happen next,” Teo said. “If I were you, I’d keep an eye on the news.”
“You mean in case Wendy has an attack of conscience and admits she killed him? That’s never going to happen. I’ll be on the run for the rest of my life.”
“Whether you’re telling the truth or not, I’m not going to tell her where you are,” I said.
I don’t think he believed me. “So? You found me. Someone else will do what you did.”
“You said it yourself. Extradition is tricky.”
“You think I’m worried about the cops? I don’t want to end up like Calvo.” Hands still in his pockets, he headed back the way we’d come.
Teo and I stood shoulder to shoulder until he was no longer in sight. “Do you think he’s telling the truth?” I asked as the darkness closed in around us.
“What do you think?”
I was struggling to put everything together. “Right from the beginning Wendy was after me to find him. That’s all she wanted. She claimed she wanted to tell the police where he was.”
Teo was still staring into the shadows. “If you told her tonight that you found him, what do you think would happen?”
I didn’t want to answer.
“I think her reason for wanting to find him is simple. It’s all about the gun,” he said.
“She wanted to know where the gun ended up.”
“Everything hinges on whether Ex is telling the truth. But if he is? If things had played out the way she’d planned, and the sheriff had found the gun beside the body, along with everything she planted, then your sister could have gone home and resumed her life.”
“Because Ex’s fingerprints were on the bullets.”
“But if Ex took the gun and disposed of it, she had two choices. To disappear forever, in case he came forward or someone at the resort identified her, or to find him and make sure he never told anybody what happened that night. Because if he did tell his story, for whatever reason, it wouldn’t be as simple as his word against hers. Wendy’s the one who knew Calvo.”
Teo turned to me, sympathy in his eyes. “You’ll have to decide where you’re going to go with this, Ryan. I know it’s a lot to think about tonight.”
I had already decided. “There’s only one thing I can do, but I know you’re not going to like it. I’m going to find and talk to Wendy. I have to. It’s the only way my family will ever have closure.”
He was silent so long, I thought he was mentally listing all the reasons that was impossible, but I was wrong.
“Then maybe I can help you,” he said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
The day after I returned from Costa Rica I finally met Ike, a gorgeous specimen of the nearly-fifty crowd. He was sandy-haired, with broad shoulders and chest, and a terrific smile. Since we were having dinner on the water, he was wearing a bright tropical shirt that looked great with Sophie’s chartreuse sundress. Best of all, when he looked at Sophie, his expression said he’d won the grand prize in a once-in-a-lifetime giveaway.
“Teo’s coming tonight?” Sophie asked after introductions were finished.
“He’s meeting us there.” Teo had gone ahead to choose the perfect table. He had his reasons.
In addition to being a hunk, Ike was brave enough to teach middle school and obviously liked kids. “Does Bismarck need a walk before we go? Mind if the girls show me your neighborhood?”
“Perfect. I still have to get ready, and my mother’s not going to be here for another half hour.”
Theoretically Mom was coming to babysit, but she was really coming to grill me about the trip. I wasn’t looking forward to our conversation.
Holly and Noelle took to Ike immediately, and by the time they left, they were chatting happily, Holly in charge of the route and Noelle clutching his hand.
Sophie followed me u
pstairs and flopped on my bed. “Something’s cooking, isn’t it?”
“Yep, at my favorite restaurant. My favorite noisy restaurant.” I looked down at the jeans I’d been in since returning from Costa Rica. “I’m taking a quick shower. Be back in five.”
When I returned in my robe and clean underwear, Sophie looked up from her lap. “Ike gave his phone to Holly so she could document their tour. The video’s adorable.”
“Maybe I’ll send it to Bryce.”
In a conversation that morning, I’d given Sophie a quick overview of the trip, and the things Ex had told us. Now she looked sympathetic. “Something tells me you won’t be saving it for your sister.”
I dug through the closet. I hadn’t done laundry since my return, but I found a denim skirt and knit shirt, both clean and unwrinkled, my only standards.
“How much evidence will I need before I feel sure Ex was telling the truth, or at least most of it?” I asked when I emerged, clothed if not zipped or buttoned.
“Loyalty’s a hard habit to break.”
“As much as Teo loves his own family, I’m not sure he understands. He’s trying to help me put Wendy and everything she’s done behind me, but he still thinks like a cop. He always will.”
“Let this play out, Ryan. That’s all you can do.”
The front door slammed, and Bismarck woofed to tell us he was back.
“Gram’s here!” Holly shouted up the steps.
“Oh, joy.” I finished dressing and combed my hair.
“You can think about what to tell her over dinner,” Sophie said.
“I’m going to need something stronger than wine.”
“Martinis on me.”
Downstairs we greeted Mom, who was in the middle of showing her granddaughters the new board game she’d bought them. After Ike was introduced, and before the front door closed behind us, she managed to get me to one side. “I’ll be waiting to hear about the trip.”
I put my hand over hers. “Listen, no matter what, don’t answer the house phone tonight. Okay?” I had turned off all the ringers, but I needed to be sure.
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