Evasive Action (Holding the Line Book 1)

by Carol Ericson

  “How’d you track me down here?” She poked at her sandwich. Coming to Paradiso had seriously done a number on her appetite.

  “Happened to see your car out front as I was driving through town, and I remember this used to be one of your favorite places. I wasn’t sure you’d be back from Tucson yet.”

  She leaned back and ran her finger around the neck of her new T-shirt. “Picked up some clothes and bought a phone.”

  “Did you make the call yet?” He picked up the untouched half of her sandwich. “Are you going to eat this, or did I just ruin your appetite?”

  “You can have it and my new phone is charging behind the counter, so I haven’t called Jimmy yet.” She drummed her fingers on the table next to her plate. “What does Espinoza think about the two murders?”

  “Same.” He waved the sandwich in the air. “It’s obvious they’re connected.”

  “Really? ’Cause this morning you thought it was obvious that the head belonged to the body by the border.”

  “Good point.” He scooted the plate back in front of her. “I’m feeling guilty. Eat your lunch.”

  She picked up the sandwich and nibbled on the crust. “How is Espinoza going to ID the body, fingerprints?”

  “That’s first, but if she never committed a crime and she’s a Mexican national, we may not get a hit. Missing persons, maybe.”

  The waitress swung by again. “Clay, do you want to order something? I’m off in five.”

  “I just demolished half of my...friend’s sandwich. I’m good, but I’ll take a refill on my soda before you leave.”

  Friends? Is that what they were?

  April cleared her throat. “And I’ll take my phone and the check.”

  “Oh, your phone. I’ll get that for you.”

  Larissa spun away, and April wrinkled her nose. “She looks familiar. The name is familiar, too.”

  “Her family has lived here for some time. She was into the drug scene for a while, but I think she’s clean now.”

  April hunched forward. “Then she probably knows who I am?”

  “That you’re my ex-fiancée or that you’re the daughter of C. J. Hart?”

  “Both. Either.”

  He shrugged, a quick lift and drop of his shoulders. “Don’t be paranoid, April.”

  “If you say so.”

  “How’d it go with Meg?”

  “All right, except she kept watching me as if she expected me to steal the silver—and she doesn’t even have any silver.”

  “There you go again.” He nudged her small purse at the edge of the table. “She must’ve fronted you a little money to get you back on your feet.”

  “She did, but she is living in my house rent free.”

  “You’re letting her live there without paying you anything? That’s generous of you. There’s a little housing shortage in Paradiso due to the new pecan-processing plant. You could get some bucks for that house.”

  “I don’t know.” She dragged her new purse in front of her and unzipped it. “I feel like I kind of owe it to her.”

  “You’re not responsible for what your father did.”

  “Or didn’t do.”

  His mouth tightened. “You don’t owe your mother’s family anything, April, no matter how guilty they make you feel.”

  Larissa set another glass in front of Clay. “Your drink, and your phone.”

  “Thanks.” April studied the woman’s dark brown eyes and shy smile. Then she snapped her fingers. “I know you. You dated my brother, Adam Hart, for a while, didn’t you?”

  Larissa’s eyes widened. “Yeah, I did. I didn’t think you’d remember me, but I remembered you.”

  “Well, it’s good to see you again.” April scooped up the phone and waited while Larissa put down the check and left the table. “Maybe I should try calling Adam again, too.”

  “First things first. Give Jimmy a call and clear the air.” Clay half rose from his chair. “I’ll give you some privacy.”

  “I don’t need privacy to talk to Jimmy.” She waved him back to his seat and tapped Jimmy’s number into the phone.

  She held her breath through the first ring and second ring, hoping for a voice mail.

  “Who’s this?”

  Jimmy’s voice, abrupt and gravelly, made her jump. He’d put on a totally different act when they’d met, but he couldn’t keep it up forever, and even before she overheard his conversation with Gilbert, doubts had crept into her mind.

  “Jimmy, this is April. I—I just wanted to explain what happened and to apologize.”

  “Are you coming back home, April?” His voice softened and a pleading tone had crept into it.

  She lined up her spine against the back of her chair. “No. No, I’m not coming back, Jimmy.”

  “Then you’d better return what you stole, bitch, or I’m comin’ for you.”

  Chapter Six

  April clutched the phone so hard its edges dug into her palm. “The ring? You want the ring back?”

  “I’m not talking about the ring—cubic zirconium, anyway.”

  Jimmy chuckled, which caused her fear to spike even more. Had he missed that wooden token?

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jimmy. The dress? The wedding. I’ll pay you back for all of it.”

  Clay had shifted in his seat and curled his hands into fists where they rested on the table.

  “Don’t play with me, April. You took the flash drive from my laptop—and I want it back.”

  She let out a slow breath. She didn’t take any flash drive, didn’t even see one in the laptop on the desk. “I didn’t take your flash drive. Why would I do that?”

  Clay cocked his head, and she shrugged.

  Jimmy paused. “You were in my office yesterday morning before you took off. I know you were. I found some beads or whatever from the wedding gown. So, you must’ve been dressed for the wedding and decided to snoop on me. Why?”

  April swallowed. This had to be a good turn of events. He didn’t seem sure that she knew about his business—and she wanted to keep it that way.

  “I went into your office looking for you, to tell you I was having second thoughts. Who knows? If I had found you there, maybe you could’ve talked me off the ledge, but you weren’t there and I left. That’s it, Jimmy. I wasn’t snooping on you. I didn’t take any flash drive.”

  “Have you talked to Adam?”

  “He called me yesterday just to make sure I was okay. We didn’t talk long.”

  “How’d he reach you? I’ve been trying your phone ever since I realized you’d skipped out. You ditched it or it’s not turned on.”

  “I’d rather not say, Jimmy. It’s over and I’ll be happy to pay you what I owe you for the wedding—even the cheap ring—but I didn’t take anything from you and I’m not coming back. Why is this flash drive so important, anyway, and why would I want to take it?”

  Clay kicked her under the table and she wagged a finger at him. She had to keep pretending she had no idea the nature of his business. She’d asked a normal question from an innocent person.

  “Important information about my import/export business, and I know you were always asking questions about it.”

  “Just out of curiosity. I’m sorry someone took the flash drive but it seems like you’re more upset about the missing flash drive than your missing bride, so it appears that I made the right decision. Goodbye, Jimmy.”

  Before he could answer, she ended the call and closed her eyes, the phone cradled between her hands.

  “What the hell was that all about?”

  She opened one eye and peered at Clay. “He doesn’t know. He thinks I stole some flash drive because he knew I had been in his office, but he seemed to believe me when I told him I hadn’t taken it.”

  “As far as he let
on.” He traced a bead of moisture on the outside of his glass. “I get that you didn’t want to show your hand, but he didn’t, either. He may still think you took the flash drive, but didn’t want to get into a back-and-forth with you on the phone.”

  April plucked the straw from her iced tea glass and nibbled on the end. “I wonder what’s on the flash drive.”

  “What did he say? You asked him.”

  “Business stuff.” She tapped the straw against her tooth, flicking droplets of liquid on the table. “I’ll bet it’s business stuff. I wonder who took it. One of his so-called friends probably.”

  “You don’t think Adam stole it, do you?”

  A feather of apprehension brushed the back of her neck. That had crossed her mind as soon as Jimmy mentioned the theft, but she’d pushed it away as disloyalty.

  “Why would Adam steal info about Jimmy’s business?”

  “C’mon, April. This is Adam we’re talking about. If he could get rich quick, he’d do it and damn the torpedoes. What better way than to butt in on someone’s drug trade.”

  Heat flared in her cheeks. “Adam wouldn’t...”

  She trailed off in the face of Clay’s hard stare. He’d never had any patience for her coddling of Adam. He would always take her side over Adam’s.

  “You know he would, April. Didn’t he set you up with Jimmy? Why’d he do that? Why’d he facilitate a relationship between you and a drug dealer?” Clay slammed his fist on the table. “If I ever get my hands on that boy, he’s really gonna need the drugs.”

  Sighing, April buried her chin in the palm of her hand. “You don’t understand him.”

  “I know he found your mom in a pool of blood, stabbed to death.” Clay traced his knuckle down her forearm to her elbow planted on the table. “He went through hell, but he didn’t have to drag you along with him. You had your own hell to deal with.”

  “I’m not saying I forgive him for setting me up with Jimmy, but that doesn’t mean he stole the flash drive. He’d have to know that Jimmy would think I did it.”

  “Yeah.”

  She fished some money from her purse, and Clay closed his hand around her fingers. “You’d better keep that until you pick up your debit and credit cards or get them replaced.” He pulled out his own wallet and tossed some bills on the table. “Any chance that brother of yours can send your stuff to you? ID, cards, clothes?”

  “I don’t think that’s going to happen. As long as Jimmy believes me, I’m safe enough. I can take a drive back up to Albuquerque and collect my stuff myself. I have a debt to pay back up that way, anyway.”

  “You’re not really going to reimburse Jimmy for the wedding, the dress and the cheap ring, are you?”

  “No, but I used that cheap ring to buy a car, and now the poor seller is out a car and the cash. I’m sure he got a rude surprise when he tried to hock the ring.”

  “You told me you borrowed that car from a friend.” Clay’s lips twisted into a half smile. “What other lies have you told me, April Hart?”

  April kept her head down as she stuffed her cash back into the purse in her lap.

  You have no idea, Clay Archer.

  * * *

  CLAY LEFT APRIL at her car with assurances from her that she wouldn’t head back to New Mexico without him. He had to question his own sanity for getting involved with April again, but he couldn’t just abandon her. She’d gotten mixed up with some dangerous folks and even if she were convinced Jimmy Verdugo had let her off the hook, he wasn’t.

  When he got back to the office, it was still buzzing with the news that the head and body didn’t match. He didn’t want to think about where that other head was going to turn up. Maybe on another agent’s porch. And the other body? It could be anywhere in the desert.

  He sat down behind his desk and two minutes later Valdez plopped down in a chair across from him.

  “What do you make of it, Archer? There must’ve been two mules coming across the border.”

  “Looks like it.” Clay kicked his feet up on the corner of his desk. “Two mules who were sent to intercept a shipment designated for Las Moscas. Two sacrifices. Whoever planned this had to know it was a death sentence for the mules.”

  “Canaries in a coal mine?” Valdez steepled his fingers and gazed over the tips like some kind of drug muse. “They send these two unsuspecting women to do the dirty work to see if they could get away with stealing from Las Moscas. Next time they’ll try something else.”

  “You’re probably right, Valdez.” Clay dropped his feet to the floor and flipped up the lid of his laptop. “I’m gonna do some work. Did you finish the report from last night yet?”

  Valdez reddened to the roots of his hair as he pushed up to his feet. “I did not. I just got the sheriff’s report today. Do you want to check it over before I submit it?”

  “Your last report was good. I trust you.”

  When Valdez had tripped off with a smile engulfing the bottom half of his face, Clay began tapping away on his keyboard.

  Surely, April had done a cursory search for Jimmy Verdugo. She wouldn’t date and then decide to marry some guy without doing a little research first. She didn’t have the same resources he did, but she would’ve been able to search for a criminal record.

  The woman had impulsive tendencies, but she had a healthy dose of skepticism. The only way she could’ve wound up so deep with Jimmy is if Adam engineered the whole thing.

  April made the mistake of seeing her brother as a hapless druggie with PTSD. Adam might be a junkie with PTSD, but he was far from hapless. He used April with a cunning that she refused to acknowledge.

  Clay had no doubt Adam had fed info to Jimmy about April—her likes, her dislikes, her wants, her needs. But why had April been so willing to marry someone...even if he were the perfect guy?

  She’d twisted his heart and wrung it dry so thoroughly he didn’t know if he could ever love another again. In fact, here he was, ready to do her bidding, ready to protect her. And in the end, she’d walk away from him.

  Clay accessed the NCIC database and entered Jimmy Verdugo’s name. He cocked his head at the display. None of these people could be a match for April’s Jimmy. His mouth tightened. No, not April’s Jimmy.

  Even though his search of Jimmy had returned some James Verdugos, he entered James for the criteria this time.

  He stared at the same results and sucked in his bottom lip. How did an associate of Las Moscas have a clean criminal record?

  Maybe Jimmy hadn’t been in this country long enough to have a record here. April hadn’t mentioned if he’d been born here or not.

  Clay’s fingers hovered over the keyboard. He didn’t have any probable cause on the guy to request a report from Interpol on any activities in another country.

  He shouldn’t even be using NCIC for personal lookups, but he could always justify his actions based on the carved fly April had found in Jimmy’s office.

  Taking a deep breath, he switched to a different database and did a search on El Gringo Viejo. Several releases popped up, but no pictures. Nobody had ever taken a photograph of El Gringo Viejo—at least not that they knew of.

  Where had Adam gotten the crazy idea that his father was El Gringo Viejo? Clay squinted at the small print of the reports online. The dates did match up and C. J. Hart probably did cross the border after murdering his wife, but what else did Adam have?

  If he could get his hands on April’s brother, he’d interrogate him—after he got finished thrashing him.

  The ringing of his office phone jarred his thoughts, and he picked it up after the first ring.

  “Clay, this is Dr. Drew. Denali is more than ready to come home.”

  Clay’s gaze darted to the time at the bottom corner of his screen. “Sorry, Dr. Drew. I didn’t realize how late it was.”

  “No problem. I have him at the offi
ce with me and we’ll be here for another few hours.”

  “I’ll leave right now.”

  Clay hung up the phone and started to pack up his gear for the day. Denali would be overjoyed to see April. That dog loved her and would never forget her.

  Clay snorted. Like master like dog.

  * * *

  APRIL SECURED HER purchases in the trunk of the car that really didn’t belong to her. Poor Ryan. He’d probably gone to the pawn shop, found out the real worth of the ring and figured she’d double-crossed him.

  On the way back to Albuquerque, she’d try to find Ryan and return the car—or buy it from him. Adam had been borrowing her car, and she’d left the fancy wheels Jimmy had bought her parked in his garage. Knowing what she knew now, Jimmy probably never bought her that car. It was either a lease or a purchase in his name.

  How could she have been so stupid? She’d been manipulated by both Adam and Jimmy. This had to be the last straw with her brother. He’d done nothing but take from her, but she’d made it easy for him. She’d given up so much for him and had gotten nothing but betrayal in return.

  Once she got back to New Mexico, she could make herself whole again—pick up her identity, literally—and start again.

  And Clay? There had been no expiration date on that threat two years ago. Back in Paradiso, someone could be watching her right now.

  She glanced over her shoulder as she got into her car.

  Meg would still be at work at the pecan-processing plant, thank goodness. April didn’t need her cousin’s judgment right now—and Meg didn’t even know about the ditched wedding.

  April pulled up outside the neat, white picket fence surrounding a garden of succulents. The cacti had already shed their spring flowers, but their prickly stoicism always struck an answering chord in her heart. There they stood with their arms raised through the scorching desert heat, the dry winds and even the monsoons that swept through southern Arizona in the fall.

  Tears welled in her eyes. This garden had been her mother’s pride and joy. Her mother had been a transplant to the arid Sonoran Desert, deficient in rolling green lawns and neat concrete driveways and delicate dewy flowers, so Mom had created her own oasis, drawing from the beauty of the desert.