Ellie walked into the front room where I still stood, watching two rather large police officers patting down the two men who’d spooked us. The driver of the truck was leaning against his vehicle, legs spread and hands placed flat on the truck’s hood, while the other man, the scary-looking one who had been on his cellphone, was being held against the other side, yapping a mile a minute at the officer checking him for weapons, or whatever it is they look for in a pat-down. To the officer’s credit, he kept his cool, responding minimally, all the while doing his job. That is one profession that has my profound admiration. Well, that, and teaching high school. They both seem to tread boldly where even the angels fear to go.
Beside me, Ellie gave a little shudder as she slipped her arm through mine. ‘What do you think will happen with those two?’ she asked, pointing with her chin across the street.
I knew what she was thinking, and I agreed: I didn’t want them out and about, not if they had anything to do with the Miramar issues. I shrugged, trying to project ‘casual and unconcerned’. No need for the two of us to be upset.
Annie Bronson came back inside. She left the kitchen door wide open, and I could clearly hear voices as each officer examined something lying on the ground just off the back steps. I was dying to get out there and poke around, but figured I’d better stay put, at least for the moment. I wanted to be seen as an asset, not someone in the way. Unless Detective You-Know-Who was acting as a human blockade. Then I might consider …
Reality check, AJ, I chided myself. Let’s just work on solving this issue first before we jump into any more hornets’ nests, OK?
‘Here’s the scoop,’ announced Annie as she pocketed a notebook. ‘The two jokers across the street swear they have no idea why they’ve been stopped, but one of them is carrying an ID that claims that his name is John Smith, while the other’s license identifies him as John Kuscak. Not too original with the first names, that’s for sure,’ she chuckled.
Ellie and I stared at one another without a word. I could tell that Ellie was as baffled as I was; I mean, lots of folks are called John, right? I glanced outside as the men were each put in the back of a police cruiser, hands cuffed behind them and furious scowls on their faces. Whatever they were being taken in for, they were mad as two hornets themselves!
‘Well,’ said Annie abruptly, consulting the very large wristwatch on her right arm, ‘If I’m going to be in on this I need to get going.’ She looked at Ellie and me as if we knew what she was talking about. Our expressions must have spoken volumes because she stopped, hands on hips and an amazed look on her face.
‘For some reason, I thought you two knew about … well, never mind. We just picked up two guys with fake IDs. And that’s just scratching the surface. Whoever was here …’ she indicated the backyard with her chin ‘… they weren’t the friendly type. We found a loaded pistol kicked in a corner by the back steps. It’ll be printed and logged as evidence, and I have a feeling that one of those sweeties out there …’ here a chin jerk toward the front of the house ‘… had something to do with this.’
I don’t know who felt more stunned at Annie’s bombshell announcement, me or Ellie. I knew that eventually all of this would start making sense, and now I could see how Emmy’s concerns, the list of names, and Maria’s fears were all viable reasons to be afraid of these people. This was a lucrative trade, the fake ID card business, especially in a resort area where jobs were plentiful for those who possessed identification. I could understand why some would take the risk, but I still couldn’t fathom losing my life over it. That just went to show how little I knew about the desperation of these folks.
I plopped down on the nearest chair, an IKEA model with a bouncy wooden frame and minimal padding. Pulling my feet into the seat, I wrapped my arms around my knees and sat silent. I needed to process all that had happened since we’d arrived at Annie’s bungalow, and wondered if Ellie regretted the suggestion to leave the Miramar.
‘I did another reading,’ Her matter-of-fact tone belied the seriousness of what Ellie had just announced. I knew her well enough to realize she was sufficiently bothered about current events to react this way; she did not use her cards for personal gain or answers.
‘And?’ I raised one eyebrow at her in question.
Ellie looked down at her hands. ‘I’m not sure, AJ. The cards have never been so … well, so obscure. I can’t see anything.’ She lifted her head, a sober look on her face. ‘I’m really scared, AJ.’
‘I am too, Ellie, but we’ll get through this. The police are taking care of things now and we’re safe here, OK?’ Not that I believed it without a 24/7 police guard but I knew Ellie was looking for comfort.
She gave a snort, accompanied by one of her trademark eye rolls. ‘Right. Look how safe we were today,’ she said sarcastically.
I shot her an irritated look. ‘Ellie, it wasn’t my idea to leave the Miramar.’
Oops – I’d just fired off an unintended first salvo. Not a wise move when dealing with Ellie; she was Queen of the Word Wars, and I usually backed off quickly, choosing the role of loser rather than ‘walking wounded’. I attempted to back-pedal as I watched her eyes narrow and lips fold tightly together. She was gearing up for a return shot when my cellphone rang.
‘This is AJ,’ I answered, the words ‘saved by the bell’ traipsing through my brain. My cousin, thwarted by technology, could only mutter to herself. I smiled at her as I half-listened to Annie Bronson. Ellie glowered back. Typical, but she’d get over it. Eventually.
Suddenly Annie’s words made me forget the potential feud and sit up straight. ‘Say that again?’ I asked, opening my eyes wide.
‘One of those gentlemen we arrested today, and I do use that term loosely, was identified as Danny Martinez, the brother of the guy found at the Miramar last week. Since that was one of the names on the list you so kindly shared with Fischer and Baird, I thought you’d like to know.’
‘Really,’ I replied, sounding inane but, honestly, what else could I say?
I could hear someone talking in the background, and Annie said abruptly, ‘OK. I need to go, AJ. Stay in the house and I’ll be there about five.’ With that, the line went dead.
‘Well?’ Ellie sounded impatient, as if I’d withheld some important info from her. ‘They’ve identified another person from the list.’
Ellie just stared back. ‘Who?’
‘Israel Martinez’s brother. Danny Martinez. Remember? Israel was the first body they found at the Miramar?’
‘Ah,’ Ellie said, sounding sage.
‘“Ah”, what?’ I was beginning to get irked at her abstruse and monosyllabic responses, especially since she’d just been ready to annihilate me five minutes before.
‘That explains what I saw in the cards,’ she replied, standing to her feet and stretching, arms raised high over her head.
‘You just told me that the cards didn’t say squat, Ellie,’ I said, feeling exasperated. ‘Now you say you saw the Martinez brothers?’
She began walking toward the kitchen, but turned to give me a superior smile. ‘I saw them last night.’ With that parting shot, she walked out of the front room, leaving me fuming.
Chapter Twenty-three
If there is anything more irritating than carrying on an argument with the back of someone’s head, I don’t know what it is. Ellie knows that, just like she knows all the other buttons to push with me. I have to admit, though, that she is as loyal as the day is long and would gladly tear off someone’s head if they said anything rude about me. With that in mind, I let it – and Ellie – go.
I sat and stared out the window, not really seeing anything. I felt so far removed from the Miramar and my job as an assistant concierge, and it felt like months since I’d done any real work. Sighing, I leaned my head back and let my eyes fall shut. Sleep was my weapon of choice whenever things went belly up in my life, and I was beginning to feel like a good hibernation might be the order of the day.
When my cell
rang once more, I was tempted not to answer. It would either be Detective Annie Bronson with another update – she could just leave a message – or, heaven forbid, my mother, whose sixth sense for all things catastrophic rivals Ellie’s. I couldn’t help glancing at the screen, though, curious to see which one it was. The name that appeared surprised me, enough to actually answer.
‘What?’ I said curtly into the phone.
‘Get in here,’ hissed Ellie, speaking so close to the mouthpiece that it sounded like static coming through the lines.
‘Why?’ I whispered back, feeling a trifle silly. I mean, she was in the next room.
‘I think there’s someone in the house, AJ! Get in here now!’ Ellie disconnected and I sat, phone in hand, staring at the blank screen. What in heaven’s name was going on now?
Heart pounding – the last week had done wonders for my cardio health, blood pressure notwithstanding – I slid from my chair and crouched on the floor, now conscious of the sounds around me. With my ears tuned to radar-detection strength in order to hear what Ellie had heard, I half-walked, half-crawled into the kitchen. Ellie was under the table, and why she thought that was such a great hiding spot I had no idea. She was clearly visible from the hallway and I almost laughed out loud when I saw her.
Sliding under the table’s edge, I sat on the floor next to her. She really looked scared, and I impulsively hugged her.
‘Ellie, old houses make noise. Maybe that’s what you heard, you know?’ I squeezed her, feeling her shoulders tremble under my arm.
‘I know what old houses do and don’t do, thank you very much.’ The old Ellie was back, quick as a flash, which took care of the shaking. I had to smile. She is so wishy-washy sometimes. ‘Just listen for a sec.’
I felt like a participant in one of the old ‘duck and cover’ videos the Government used to put out during the Cold War years. Instead of listening for incoming atomic bombs, though, I was listening for an intruder in a house that wasn’t mine, kind of like a pot calling a kettle black.
‘How are the mighty fallen,’ I muttered to myself, earning a sharp jab of Ellie’s bony elbow. If this kept up, I would be black and blue.
A loud creak from the hallway made me jump, literally, and I whacked the top of my head. There was an instant silence. Ellie’s eyes grew so large I thought she’d lose an eyeball, and my pulse seemed to migrate from my chest to my head. I was fully scared to death. That was becoming the emotion du jour here in San Blanco.
‘See? I told you!’ Ellie triumphantly sprayed the words across my face and I gave her a dark look in return as I wiped them from my cheeks. Nothing like an impromptu shower, courtesy of my hissing cousin.
Before I could think of something equally childish to say, a soft sound, almost a sigh, could be heard clearly from the hallway. It was vaguely familiar, although I couldn’t place it. Apparently Ellie could, and did: she leapt from beneath the table and made a mad dash for the back door, with me hot on her heels and my heart pounding to beat the band.
The sound of a bullet zinging past my ears gave me wings and I flew through the backyard and all but vaulted the low wall in one mighty jump. Ellie was close behind and we fell, panting and staring at each other, into the empty lot behind Annie’s house. I couldn’t hear anyone chasing us, so maybe the bullet was just a friendly reminder to keep our noses out of someone’s business. Someone’s very illegal, very lucrative business.
The snapping of twigs and the thud of heavy feet on the ground shook me to life.
Grabbing Ellie by the hand, I tugged her to her feet and we sprinted for the nearest house, a small cottage on the edge of the vacant lot that hugged the edge of the water.
Please, oh please, oh please, let someone be there, I silently begged. Preferably someone with a phone and a hefty lock on the front door and bulletproof windows.
I chanced a look back over my shoulder and saw the top of someone’s head as they peered over the fence. When an arm came over the top, something shiny in hand, I pulled Ellie to the ground and began scooting crab-like through the lot.
‘Hey! What’s going on? You there!’
I was never so glad to hear someone shouting at me. Standing near the back door of the small house stood a woman whose size belied the toughness of her words. When I saw the shotgun in her hand, I felt both relieved and worried; I didn’t want the little old lady from San Blanco to take a potshot at me just as I was escaping a killer.
‘It’s OK, it’s OK!’ I shouted back, getting back to my feet and heading for her house. In response, she raised the shotgun to shoulder height. Ellie and I waved frantically at her, yelling that we were running from someone who’d taken a shot at us. To my intense relief, she lowered the weapon.
Panting and covered with dust from our crawl through the lot, Ellie and I stumbled into the woman’s yard. I turned to look back toward Annie’s house and saw the figure of a man standing in the spot where Ellie and I had landed when we vaulted the fence. I pointed.
‘Look! There he is!’ The woman craned her neck and squinted slightly, her eyes narrowed against the sunlight.
Ellie was on her feet and running before I could stop her. She headed straight for the door of the little house and burst inside. I shrugged an apology and made to follow, but the old lady reached out and grabbed my arm as I passed. Her grip was strong, and I had no choice but to stop.
‘What’s going on, young lady?’ she demanded, a suspicious look crossing her face.
‘We’re trying to get away from him.’ I gestured over my shoulder at the man who was now walking away toward the front of Annie’s property. The woman followed his movements with her eyes then turned loose of my arm.
‘You might as well go inside. Seems your friend’s already made herself at home.’ The grin instantly softened the pattern of wrinkles that ran through her face, giving her a kindly, grandmotherly look. Of course, I’ve never seen a grandmother who carried a shotgun around, but there’s always a first.
I smiled at her gratefully. Any port in a storm, I always say, and this particular port came with its own armory, making me feel a tad better about being chased. At least the playing field was closer to level now, thanks to a gun-totin’ granny.
The inside of her cottage was – no other word for it – eclectic, to say the least. Antiques jostled for space with stacking plastic cubes that held books of every kind, and the mishmash of patterns that assailed my eyes almost made me dizzy. In short, it looked perfect for someone like her.
‘Name’s Sarah Bacon, but I never use it. Call me Sal,’ she said, stumping over to the sink and running water into a kettle that looked as old as she was. The gun was still tucked under an arm, and I began to wonder if it was some sort of accessory, a good luck charm of sorts. She must have read my thoughts because she said, ‘It isn’t loaded. Just use it for scaring folks who have no business on my property.’
I smiled at her in what I hoped was a friendly manner, but my mouth was so dry from running that I could feel my lips stretching across my teeth. I’m sure I looked as feral as I felt. ‘We didn’t mean to invade your space, ma’am.’
‘Well, you did,’ Sal said bluntly. ‘And your friend there,’ she added, pointing with her chin at Ellie who sat curled on one end of a couch covered with violently-colored flowers, ‘She just came in without as much as a by-your-leave. Good thing I only use my gun for looks.’
Talk about jumping out of the frying pan and straight into the fire! Ellie and I appeared to have stumbled into a time warp of sorts, with a woman whose words, demeanor and actions would be more at home in the mountains of the last century.
I was trying to think of another plan when Sal spoke up again.
‘If you’re running from those men, the ones who make a living out of cheating honest folks, with their false papers, and promises that are even more false, you’re in a world of hurt. If I were you, I’d plan on lyin’ low for a while. You can stay here if you need to. I could use the company and you could use a safe h
ouse.’
I figured that staying here, even for just a few hours, would be better than trying to get about on our own. At least we’d be with someone who actually knew how to handle a firearm and wasn’t afraid to try. I had to smile. It was almost funny, in a weird way, to think that Detective Annie Bronson had her very own vigilante living less than a hundred yards away.
I looked straight into Sarah Bacon’s shrewd eyes and said, ‘We’d surely appreciate it.’
And then it occurred to me that she knew who we were running from, and why – she’d said as much. Things were getting “curiouser and curiouser”, as Alice would say, and I was starting to feel as if Ellie and I were falling down our own rabbit hole.
Two mugs of tea and an hour later, I was sufficiently calmed down to tell Sal exactly what had transpired between accepting my dream job at the Miramar and this afternoon. It was the stuff of movies, I know, but all true and all too fresh in my mind. If someone had told me I’d be as close to death as I had been in the last few days, I’d have laughed them out of town. I wasn’t laughing any more, though.
Sal stared at me thoughtfully, cradling her own mug as she eased back and forth in a rocking chair that looked like it belonged in a museum. She’d listened to me in silence, only interrupting for an occasional clarification. I had found myself talking to her as easily as I talked to my own grandmother. If my Grandma Tillie had carried a shotgun, they could have been twins. They both had that no-nonsense, take-care-of-business attitude that tended to make me spill my guts.
And now that I think about it, that’s probably how my mother found out some things that I thought were my deepest, darkest secrets. Thanks for nothing, Grandma Tillie.
All talked out, we three sat in the darkening room, the squeak of the rocking chair punctuating the silence. I was still worried but not nearly as much as I had been. The problem had been handed over to someone whose existence I hadn’t even been aware of a few hours before. Sal Bacon seemed more than capable of coming up with a plan and I was more than happy to let her.
Murder at the Miramar (Augusta Burnette Series) Page 14