“That’s another possibility.” Sam leaned back in her seat. “This is getting complicated.”
“Mom, I doubt any mystery gets solved because something was spelled out verbatim in a diary.”
Sam laughed. “Okay, you’re right. I need to keep reading.”
She turned back to the book and was partway through the next page when Kelly elbowed her arm. “They’re coming out. What do we do now?”
A white casket topped with pink flowers was being wheeled to a hearse at the curb in front of the church. “Follow to the cemetery?”
“I’m game if you are.”
Sam counted twenty-five people, including the friends they knew and the parents, trailing behind the hearse and dispersing toward other vehicles. Margaret leaned heavily on the arm of a man, one of the smokers, who handed her into a black limousine parked at the curb. Miguel’s entourage consisted of four men, two in dark suits, like his own, and two in uniform. The uniforms chatted and interacted with the others as friends. This was no official duty today. Someone had mentioned that Lila’s father was a cop—Sally Flores. A few other key answers slotted into place.
Kelly started the car and watched as the hearse and two limos drove slowly southbound. Cars from the parking lot fell in line, although a fair number turned in the opposite direction. During a break in the traffic, Kelly joined the cemetery-bound contingent.
In less than ten minutes, the vehicles began pulling over. A three-foot-high rock wall enclosed the cemetery, a dirt patch filled with white crosses, with a few scraggly trees around the bordering edges. A green awning tent stood over an open grave fifty yards into the enclosed acreage.
“What do you think, Mom? Looks like there is no way at all to keep out of sight if we walk in there.”
“No, that won’t work. Let’s just observe and take note of who’s here. I can’t see any point in trying to talk with them here anyway. They’ll stay a short while and then go somewhere for a meal.”
“Well, there are the two limos with the parents. Those two are definitely in his and hers camps today, aren’t they?”
“The men hanging around with Miguel must be co-workers. They have that look, more than relatives. And I’m guessing the man Margaret is leaning on is her new husband, significant other, or whatever.”
A few younger people had come along, but neither Sam nor Kelly recognized any of them. School friends, probably. Even Patsy hadn’t opted for this portion of the ceremony, most likely due to her study schedule. The other few who trailed along the dusty pathway were presumably the parents’ friends who’d known Lila from childhood.
Sam felt a sudden wash of sadness. Twenty-five years old, at the prime of her beauty, just beginning her young adult life, and Lila had left this world with so few true friends. Had she really been so abrasive as to deserve this? She and Kelly exchanged a regretful look then drove away.
Chapter 32
“Okay, what evidence do we have and where can we go from here?” Kelly asked. They’d arrived back in their comfy hotel room and kicked off their shoes. “Since neither of us can stay here in San Antonio indefinitely, we need to make the most of our time.”
She was missing Ana and Scott desperately, Sam knew. As for herself, home life at the ranch beckoned. On the other hand, she wanted to stay until she could go back with something that could be of real help to Danny.
“Let’s spread out everything where we can look it over, and we’ll make notes,” Sam said.
Kelly grabbed her little notebook. Sam covered the surface of the coffee table with photos and set the diary beside them. From her jacket pockets, Kelly brought out two ballpoint pens and a matchbook she had retrieved from Lila’s purses and pockets at the apartment.
“Wow, I haven’t seen one of these in ages,” Sam said, picking up the matchbook. “When I was a kid, every restaurant had them printed up and there would be a big bowl of them near the door.”
“That one’s from Thrashed,” Kelly pointed out. “I certainly didn’t see a bowl of them, but Lila must have picked it up there.”
One of the pens was imprinted with The Gap logo, obviously brought home from her work. The other said Manny’s Bar & Grill: San Antonio’s Finest Steaks. Sam dialed the phone number on it and got a recording informing her that they opened for dinner at four o’clock.
“Maybe if we go early it won’t be too busy and we can find someone to talk to,” Kelly suggested.
“Hungry again already?”
“Well … maybe a little.”
Manny’s Bar & Grill proved to be a hometown version of some of those big-name chains, but Manny gave it the personal touch. By the number of vehicles in the parking lot at four-thirty on a weeknight, it was a success. The women walked into a large room, decorated in hardwoods, plush fabric booths, and historic photos of the Alamo on the walls. They’d agreed in advance that the most likely place Danny’s group of friends would have hung out was the bar, so they requested seats there.
The bartender, it turned out, was Manny himself, a fifty-something man with touches of gray in his dark hair, who performed his tasks behind the bar with quick, efficient movements. The women ordered drinks and food, then Sam pulled out the group photos of Danny’s friends.
“Yeah, I know this bunch,” Manny said, taking a look. “Some are regulars. I think this one has been coming in here since he was a kid with his parents. A couple of these, actually.”
Sergio and Danny.
“The others kind of float in and out, you know.”
Sam found one group shot with Lila in it and pointed to her. “This young woman—was she with them a lot?”
Manny shook his head. “Not until, I’d say, maybe four or five months ago.”
“With the whole group or just one of the guys?”
His hand waggled back and forth. “Sometimes one, sometimes all of them.” He picked up the group photo again and stared intently. “For awhile she was dating one dude. I’m not sure if he’s in this picture.”
Sam held out the one with Lila and straight-posture guy.
“Yeah, she was with him a time or two. They’d come in without the rest of the group, but that’s not the one I’m thinking of either. Sorry, sometimes the customers become sort of a blur when you’ve been doing this twenty years.”
Their burgers and fries arrived, and Manny turned his attention to another patron at the far end of the bar. He came back about five minutes later.
“You know … one thing that stands out in my mind was an evening when some of this group was in here. They were usually pretty well-mannered kids, liked to drink and laugh, but things never got ugly, you know. But one night there was some kind of a blowup.”
Sam’s eyes widened. “Fistfight?”
“No, no. More like a girlfriend/boyfriend thing, and it was that girl you asked about, the one with the long dark hair. The group was at that table over there, and I remember her standing up real sudden. Bumped the table and tipped over a drink, and one of the other girls shrieked when it spilled on her. That’s what got my attention. So the girl who was standing was shaking her finger at a guy and yelling. Something like ‘How can you do this to me?’ and then she went flouncing out the door.”
“Did the guy follow her? Like, was he apologizing or was he yelling back at her …” Kelly asked.
“You know, I just don’t remember. I must have gotten busy with someone else about then. As long as they weren’t busting up the place, I minded my own business.”
“And the guy she was mad at—can you remember which one he was, from this group?”
Manny shook his head. “Like I said, she was shaking her finger, they were all staring at her. Hard to tell which one she was yelling at.”
He moved away again, and Sam looked back at the picture. It was pretty much the same group they’d met at Thrashed, plus a guy she didn’t recognize, minus Abby who must not have joined them that particular night. Or maybe Abby was the one with the camera.
“This photo
kind of stands out, doesn’t it?” Kelly said, wiping her fingers on her napkin and pointing at the one of Lila and the man with the straight posture. “He doesn’t seem to be part of the regular gang.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.” Sam had finished her burger and pushed the plate aside. “And I’m wondering who we might contact to find out who he is.”
“Maybe there was a romance and a breakup, and this guy got furious over Lila’s moving on with Danny? Furious enough to track her down and confront her.”
The man in the photo had an edge about him, tougher, more mature than the high school chums. Sam considered Kelly’s idea.
“If he wasn’t part of their high school crowd, maybe Lila’s mother would be the one to ask.” Sam pulled out her phone and dialed Margaret’s number. It was answered on the first ring.
“I’m back home now, and if you want to come down here, I’ll take a look at the picture.”
“Could I send it over the phone?”
“Sorry, I don’t have a cell phone that works that way.”
Kelly tapped Sam on the arm. “It’s only a couple hours away. Unless you want to stay over another night.”
Their flight was scheduled for the following morning, and Sam didn’t want to stay over, any more than Kelly did.
“We can be there by eight. Is that okay?”
Margaret hesitated. It had been a long day with the funeral and everything, but she agreed and gave them her address.
Chapter 33
It was slightly after eight when Kelly pulled up in front of the large, two-story brick and white-trimmed home in Nuevo Laredo. A tired-looking Margaret opened the door. She wore a plush robe and slippers, and although her hair was still sprayed into place, her face bore the ravages of tears. Her almost-perky demeanor from the other day in Taos had completely disappeared.
“Sorry it’s getting late,” Sam began. “I know it’s been a rough day for you.”
“Anytime Miguel and Howard are in the same place, it’s a rough day for me.” Margaret glanced toward the top of the staircase, then showed them into a living room that looked like something out of House Beautiful. Her new husband seemed more prosperous than a cop. Maybe money was part of the reason behind the split.
Sam pulled out the photo of Lila with her arms around the other man. “Do you know who he is?”
“Of course. That’s Richard Potter. They dated for quite a while.” Margaret gazed at the couple fondly. “I always thought he would be the one to marry my daughter.”
“What happened?” Kelly blurted. “Sorry, that’s probably none of my business.”
Margaret shrugged. “Lila. I guess she just changed her mind. She got so set on moving to San Antonio with her dad, but Richie couldn’t move there because of his work. And even though it wasn’t that far away, they just drifted apart.”
“Was there someone else in her life at that time? Maybe she officially broke it off with Richard?” Sam remembered Lila’s diary comment about getting a guy to do anything she wanted, ‘just like R.’ Maybe he was too compliant, too much of a pushover for her?
Margaret handed the photo back and shook her head sadly. “I don’t know. Lila could be secretive. Only this week I found out how many times her father fixed her traffic tickets and that he got her off of a DUI charge. She didn’t share things with me very much. Richard stayed in touch with me. He’s in the Marines and comes by anytime he’s home on leave.”
“Did he know Lila was dating Danny?”
“He did. Apparently, she told him.”
To rub his face in the fact that she didn’t need him anymore?
“He’d heard that Danny moved to Taos, again most likely through Lila. He told me this when he last came here to the house.”
Maybe Lila’s chasing off after someone who didn’t want her was the final straw for Richard and he’d come to New Mexico for a showdown? Sam tried to come up with a way to phrase the question gently.
“No,” Margaret said quietly. “Richard deployed to Afghanistan the day before she died. I’ve written to him. It didn’t seem like the kind of news to send by text message, if you know what I mean.”
Sam and Kelly offered their sympathies and left.
“Well, that rules out Richard as a suspect for the murder,” Sam said as they got into the car.
“I hate to say it, but I was kind of hoping it would be him.” Kelly was yawning as she took her seat.
Sam reached into the back seat and pulled the carved box from Kelly’s pack. “Wake yourself up before we start the drive back.”
She did the same with the box from her own pack. “Yes, the pieces certainly could have fit for this Richard being the killer. Jealousy, holding out hope of getting Lila back, knowing that she had followed Danny to Taos. But I suppose the US military is a pretty infallible alibi.”
They arrived at the outskirts of San Antonio shortly before eleven.
“Are you sleepy, Mom?”
Sam glanced over and saw that Kelly seemed wired for action. She felt the same.
“I’m fine. In fact I was thinking we might get one more chance to talk to Sergio. He works late, remember, so maybe we could meet up, show him the pictures, remind him of the incident at Manny’s and see what he remembers about that.”
“Call him.”
Sergio told Sam he’d worked until ten and was settling in at home, but they were welcome to come by.
“He sounded tired from taking inventory so late, but at least he’s willing,” Sam said. She told the GPS the address he’d given her.
His apartment was half of a duplex in a neighborhood that had seen better days. Most of the flat-roofed houses on small lots were probably rentals now, based on the condition of the yards and the number of motorcycles parked where grass used to grow. Sergio must have been watching from the front window; he opened the door when they set foot on the tiny porch.
He wore loose sweats and his damp hair looked as if he’d recently showered.
“I was just having a beer before bedtime,” he said. “You want one?”
“No thanks, we’ll be quick.” Sam pulled out the packet of photos. “We found these at Lila’s and wondered if you recognize any of the people we don’t know.”
He reached out and took the prints. His expression softened when he looked at the group photos. “Wow, this has been awhile. These two have to be from our high school days. Danny must have given them to Lila. She wasn’t part of the gang back then.”
Sam stood beside him and pointed to the faces, naming the ones she thought she recognized. He nodded. “Yeah, you got most of them. This guy is Jacob Brown—he wasn’t at Thrashed the other night, but he’s around town still. This is Javier Montoya—he’s away at college in Dallas, doesn’t get back here a whole lot these days.”
Sam showed the photo of Lila with her arms around Richard Potter. “We heard that she dated him before she moved to town.”
“Yeah. He came around a few times, went out with all of us at least once, but I guess it was pretty much over between them.”
Kelly spoke up. “The owner at Manny’s Bar & Grill said there was an incident once, Lila yelling at a guy in the group, then getting up and storming out. Do you remember that time?”
Sergio shook his head. “No, not at all. I must not have been there.”
“Do you think it could have been Richard she was breaking up with?”
He shrugged. “It even could have been Danny. I tell you, the girl’s moods were all over the place. People say hormonal—well, if that’s the case Lila was off the charts. Sweet, bitchy, hot and cold. It didn’t take me very long not to trust anything she said.”
Even her own mother had described her as devious.
“And Danny—did he play into that drama?”
“Danny’s a peacemaker. He doesn’t like conflict. His whole family is like that. Everyone keeps their cool and there’s no shouting or fighting at his parents’ place. Lila—kind of the opposite. I never knew her parents
, but I heard stuff. They get off on yelling and screaming, it seems like.”
“And yet Patsy seems to really like Lila.”
“Patsy’s a sweetheart and she doesn’t want to believe the worst about anyone. Look at her, going to law school so she can help out needy women and their kids. That’s just Patsy. You gotta love her, but don’t go by her impressions of somebody like Lila. She’ll give everybody the benefit of the doubt.”
He handed the photos back to Sam, picked up his beer bottle, and took a swig.
“Is there anything else you can think of, anything that would help us figure out how to get Danny out of this mess? Maybe another man she dated besides Danny or Richard, someone who might have held a grudge?” Sam asked.
He started to shake his head, but paused. “I don’t know if this relates at all, but there was something …” He set the bottle on the kitchen counter and paced the length of the room. “Something’s coming back to me. It happened at work. I was on the forklift in the back lot of the lumberyard, and I had just stopped. You know, noisy equipment and when it quits there’s this sudden silence. Well, I heard two men’s voices. I couldn’t see them behind a big stack of pallets, but one was my boss and I think the other man was a customer. I caught something like ‘track that no-good scum to New Mexico.’ When I walked toward the building, I saw that my boss was talking to a cop. It was the cop who’d said that.”
“A cop. Could it have been Miguel Contreras? You know what he looks like, right?”
“Yeah … you know, yeah, it could have been.”
Sam and Kelly exchanged a look.
“You asked about whether Lila was dating anybody else … you mean after Danny left?”
“Anytime. Before, during, or after.”
“I think so. I can’t be sure. Whoever it was either wasn’t part of our group or he was keeping real quiet about it.”
“And you think this because …?”
“Lila. It’s how she was. She had to have a guy in her life, and it makes sense that once Danny was gone a couple months, she would find someone else. Richard wasn’t coming around. Just saying.”
Deadly Sweet Dreams Page 15