“He means a letter, little Sistah,” Sammy added. “Billy Castro asked me if Sacramento Lugo gave me a stamped, addressed envelope that was supposed to be mailed if he didn’t come back to send it himself. I told Billy he was an idiot. If Sacramento had given me a letter, I would have figured out by now he wasn’t coming back, and it would already be wherever he wanted it to go.”
“What did he say to that?”
“He got foulmouthed, and I had to toss him out of the casino,” Sammy said with just a hint of the accent spoken by locals in Hawaii. “When he got up off the ground, he had nasty words for Louie about lying to him and said it was a good thing he was already in the hospital. It didn’t make any sense to me since I thought Louie was in jail, but I followed him to the hospital. He must have known where he was going because I lost him once we were inside. That’s when I called you, Attorney Huntington. I read you were trying to get Louie a new trial, and I figured you had to know Billy Castro was bad news.”
“Where did you read that?” I asked.
“In a tribal newsletter.” Sammy would have said more, but we were interrupted by an announcement.
JESSICA HUNTINGTON YOU’RE WANTED AT THE INFORMATION DESK IN THE MAIN LOBBY. JESSICA HUNTINGTON YOU HAVE A CALL WAITING. JESSICA HUNTINGTON PLEASE GO TO THE INFORMATION DESK IN THE MAIN LOBBY.
“Go, go!” George said. The eclipse was over as the ring of men parted to let me pass. The information desk was only a few feet away.
“I will, but you’ve got to let Peter or Kim sit in on the interview with Billy Castro.”
“Kim can do it if she promises not to be as yappy as her boyfriend. Peter and Brien have to go back to work.” She gave me a thumbs-up as I dashed the few feet to the information desk.
“Sammy, thank you so much. I have lots more questions for you too. Can Kim and I visit you later at the casino?”
“Anytime, Sistah. Anytime.” His accent was more pronounced, and his smile revealed a spirit every bit as big as his physical stature. “I’m there every day from early morning until late at night—it’s my home away from home.”
“You’ll hear from me this evening to arrange a meeting.” I couldn’t resist giving him a hug. When he returned it, I felt like I was being embraced by a comfy easy chair. George cleared his throat, and before he scolded me, I ran for it.
“I’m Jessica Huntington. You have a call for me.”
“Thank goodness. Peggy sounds desperate. That’s not at all like her.”
“Hello,” I said when I took the phone.
“Ms. Huntington, please get up here. Louie is calling for you. When I say calling, I should say bellowing. There’s nothing wrong with his lungs or larynx.”
“Tell him I’m walking to the elevator,” I said as I hung up.
“What elevator do I take to get to the quarantine unit?” I asked.
“I’ll ask Trevor to take you. He’s not as big as the men in your circle of friends, but he knows his way around here. Plus, access is restricted, and he can handle that too.” She smiled, and her eyes crinkled. “Trevor!”
“What is it, Mae?” Trevor asked as he came running. He was wearing the telltale blazer given to members of hospital security.
“Peggy Hyndman needs Ms. Huntington upstairs in the quarantine unit, pronto! Can you escort her, please?”
“Why not? It looks as if the action is over.” Trevor was a tall man but on the lean side compared to the mountainous men lingering in the lobby.
Don’t count on it, I thought. You’ve entered the vortex of heinousness.
“That was some takedown from that Sammy guy. As good as any I’ve seen on TV in a long time. I don’t suppose you want to tell me what’s going on.”
“I wish I could. I’d love to sort this all out for you. For now, it remains a mystery.” He held the door for me. After I stepped inside, he used a key card and hit the button, sending us upward. “I’m sorry I missed the show.”
“The guy on the floor was a fool. Sammy had him by the collar, but he took a swing at him. Sammy picked up the guy, held him in his arms like a baby, and laid him out on the floor in seconds. The whole time, the guy was squawking and kept it up until the big man shifted his weight and knocked the wind out of him.”
“What was he squawking about?”
“Tough guy stuff like ‘you’ve done it now.’ ‘You don’t know who you’re messing with.’ ‘If you try to make money with that letter, you’re a dead man!’ That’s why I asked what’s going on. That sounded like blackmail to me.”
“Well, well, well,” I said. “Did you tell Detective Hernandez what he said?”
“Who?” he asked as the elevator came to a halt, and the doors slid open.
“Never mind. I’m sure the detective will contact you, and you can tell him every word the fool said,” I replied. “He was probably just trying to be a bigshot. What a mouth, huh?”
“You can say that again!” A woman in a jazzy set of scrubs extended her hand for me to shake. I waved at Trevor and followed the nurse to a door we entered after she swiped her keycard. “Welcome to quarantine.”
There was a reception area with uncomfortable looking chairs in one corner, and a desk that didn’t appear to get much use since it was empty except for a phone. Peggy had me leave my personal items in one of several file cabinets. Then we stepped through a set of locked glass doors where she put on a mask, gloves, and a clean gown over her scrubs. When she asked me to do the same, I must have looked puzzled.
“We’ve got to follow the protocol,” Peggy said. Then she leaned toward me and whispered. “Besides, it’s a good idea to keep up appearances and look the part if anyone pays Louie Jacobs a visit. While you’re in the room with him, you can pull down the mask, but don’t take it off.”
“Got it.” I could hear Louie the minute we entered through the second set of locked glass doors leading into a four-room unit. It was easy to determine which room he was in, given the ruckus he was making. His room was made almost entirely of glass. A plastic curtain was partially drawn on the windows hiding him from view. A guard, dressed as we were, sat nearby.
“This isn’t the personal protective gear we wear when we’re holding a person for observation who may have been exposed to a deadly virus like Ebola. If anyone asks, we’re saying Louie’s under observation because we suspect he may have been exposed to an unusual strain of TB.” I nodded.
“That’s a good cover,” I said. “I never got the chance to meet with Louie in the ward where he was being held, but I understand they didn’t have as many hurdles to jump to gain access to the ward.”
“That’s true. Even bad guys might hesitate before breaking into a quarantine unit.”
“George Hernandez is a smart fellow,” I asserted as I followed her to Louie’s room. “Does Louie understand all this?”
“I tried to tell him. He was wild-eyed with terror when he came out from under the sedation, so who knows how much he heard or believed. Maybe you’ll have better luck since I was told he began demanding to speak to you before he threw a fit and fell out of his bed on the locked ward.”
“Lawyer!” Louie bellowed when Peggy walked into the room ahead of me. I was surprised that the glass windows in his room didn’t rattle. Before he could holler again, I stepped to the foot of his bed.
“Wow! You must be feeling better, Louie,” I said, keeping my distance as he glared at me.
“Where have you been?” he asked. “Why won’t anyone tell me what’s going on?”
“They tried, but it must be hard for you to hear what they’re saying while you’re yelling at the top of your lungs.” I dragged a chair over to his bedside when he quit glaring.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Peggy said as soon as I sat down. She smiled as she spoke to Louie.
“You can holler if you need me, Louie, but the little buzzer works too, and you won’t permanently damage your vocal cords.” He reached for the buzzer lying on the bed beside him but said nothing as Peggy le
ft.
“They knocked me out,” he added as soon as the door was closed.
“Detective Hernandez, the police officer who asked that you be moved to a more secure location, said they had to do that to make sure you hadn’t broken anything when you fell out of bed onto your keister.”
“My what?” I pointed to my behind. He shook his head, and then his lip curled into a smile for half a second. “You don’t have as much padding as I do, so that was risky, Louie.”
“I didn’t mean to do it. Why didn’t you tell me they were moving me? I don’t trust people—not even the police, like the detective you just mentioned.”
“I apologize. Detective Hernandez and I discussed it last night, but I didn’t realize he’d act so quickly or that you’d object. I planned to visit you today. I should have realized there’s a fine line between being moved around and pushed around. Especially when the move was ordered by a man you never met before.”
“Jail’s where you really get pushed around. Everyone here’s been much nicer to me. I should tell that Peggy lady that I’m sorry. She offered to bring me a grilled cheese sandwich and a banana since I missed breakfast for the X-rays. I told her I hate grilled cheese, which isn’t true. Do you think it’s still sitting around somewhere? I like bananas too.”
“Let me ask. I’m sure Peggy can find something for you to eat. Maybe some ice cream too. Nurses always keep ice cream on hand.” I stood up and put the mask back in place.
“You’re coming back, aren’t you?”
“Yes, Louie. We still have business to discuss.”
“Louie says he’s sorry,” I told Peggy, who was sitting at a desk across from Louie’s room. “He doesn’t hate grilled cheese, and he’s wondering if it’s still here somewhere—the banana too.”
“He’s out of luck. Officer Sherman ate it.” Peggy was deadpan.
“It was tasty!” Officer Sherman commented. “Poor guy.”
“I’m sure I can find another one for him, though, and the kitchen must have a banana left,” she said after breaking into a big smile. “Can I get you something as a thank you for shutting him up?”
“Ice cream would be wonderful. I told Louie you have good ice cream here.”
“A grilled cheese, a banana, and ice cream for two coming right up.” Peggy’s dark eyes sparkled with good humor. “I’m glad he’s hungry. He’s scary skinny. I lost an older sister to anorexia when I was young. It was hard. She never would have eaten a grilled cheese or ice cream, so I’m glad that’s not his problem. I saw that they’re waiting for test results, and there are more tests planned, depending on what the first ones say.”
“Yes. He’s here because I was concerned by how frail he looked when I met with him at the jail. He’s been losing weight for months, and it’s not clear why.”
“Hmm. A dozen possibilities are running through my mind, but we’d better wait for the test results. In the meantime, you’d better get back in there before he starts hollering again. I’ll get the food to him as fast as possible before he changes his mind.”
“Thanks, Peggy. I’ll let him know.”
When I went back into the room, I thought he’d fallen asleep. I tiptoed closer, not sure if I should wake him or not. I didn’t need to worry.
“How long am I going to be here?”
“I can’t tell you that, but I hope we don’t have to move you again until we’re sure you’re not sick. Food’s on its way.” I sat down in the chair and tried to get on with the other topics I needed to speak to him about. “I don’t want you to worry too much because we’ve solved the problem, but Detective Hernandez had the right idea to move you and do it quickly.” Louie made eye contact but didn’t say a word.
“While you were getting your X-rays on your way up here, Billy Castro managed to get into your room in the locked ward.”
“Are you surprised? I told you the police can’t be trusted—not even the tribal police.”
“This isn’t a general police problem—this is a Sacramento Lugo-related police problem. When they tried to catch Billy Castro…”
“Tried? What does that mean?”
“Hang on, hang on. Let me rephrase that, okay? The first time they tried to catch Billy Castro, he was searching your hospital room. Sammy Keanu followed Billy Castro from the Soaring Hawk Casino after Billy Castro confronted him about a letter that he believed Sacramento gave him. He was coming here to have another, um, chat with you because he was sure you lied to him when he asked you about the letter. Do you have it?”
11 Surprising Secrets
Louie’s eyes filled with tears. I handed him a tissue from the box next to his bed, and he blew his nose. He leaned back on his pillow with a look of misery on his face.
“He did, but I left it in his room instead of taking it with me. When he found it after I left, he was angry with me. I told him I’d do it if he gave me another chance. He said not to worry about it because he’d find someone else to hold onto it for him.”
“Did you tell that to Billy Castro?”
“Sort of,” Louie responded. “He asked me about it along with a bunch of other questions the night Sacramento was killed. I wasn’t sure what to say, and I was out of it. Sacramento was dead, so why did it matter? I told him Sacramento would never trust me with anything important. That wasn’t a lie, was it? Billy and Timothy searched me and went through everything at the campsite to make sure I didn’t have it. Billy even made me show him where I hid my stuff when I left it up there and he went through that too.”
“Did Billy or Sacramento say anything about why that letter was so important?”
“No, but I asked Sacramento if it had anything to do with the man who was watching him. He said maybe,” Louie replied. “I knew it was important because before he gave it to me, Sacramento took it from the place where he hid his drugs so the housekeeper wouldn’t find them.”
“Do you mean in the drawer with all the money?”
“No,” Louie replied in a slightly annoyed tone. “I told you he didn’t care about the money. He hid the letter, and the drugs we used for partying, in a vent near the floor next to his bed. I’m not sure what else he kept in there.” A knock on the door kept me from asking my next question. I couldn’t see the door from where I was seated, but Louie could. His eyes lit up.
“Food!”
“I’ll let her in,” I said.
“Good. I don’t want to fall on my keister again.” A real smile flitted over his face. I was glad to see a smile, but I worried about how moody he was and how quickly his mood shifted.
“Here’s your food plus orange juice, milk, and a cookie to go with your ice cream.” Peggy gave me a wink as she set the tray in front of him.
“I also brought ice cream and a cookie for your attorney.”
“Thanks,” we both said as she left. The minute the door closed; I began quizzing Louie again.
“Was there anyone else in Sacramento’s life that he confided in or considered to be a close friend?” I waited for Louie to reply as he swallowed a bite of his sandwich while considering my question.
“There was an older guy he talked to sometimes. He used to work at the casino in Indio. Sacramento said he felt bad because the guy got fired for something he didn’t do. His name is Manny. Sacramento never told me his last name, but he works at the Agua Caliente Casino in Palm Springs.” He went back to eating while I opened my ice cream and the little spoon that came with it. When Louie finished about half his sandwich, he set it on the tray.
“As you already know, Sacramento was close to Auntie Agnes. He talked to his mom sometimes about what he wanted to study at college and why. He mentioned one of his mom’s friends because her brother or somebody in her family is a college counselor. She was talking to Sacramento about his college plans.”
“What was her name?” I ate my ice cream and waited because Louie’s mouth was full again.
“You know my memory isn’t so good. He didn’t talk about her very often, but h
e was happy one day because she’d tried to explain things to his dad. Beverly, maybe, or Brenda—no Belinda—that’s it. Ask Sacramento’s mom, she’ll know her last name. Do you think he gave the letter to Belinda or Manny?”
“I’ll find out. Knowing what’s in it could help us understand what happened to Sacramento.”
“The Cleaner Man wouldn’t care what was in a letter Sacramento wrote,” Louie argued.
“I know you’re convinced the Cleaner Man killed Sacramento, but someone’s going to lots of trouble to get that letter. Billy Castro went after you on a prison ward in the hospital to make you give it to him. Even though Timothy Ridgeway hasn’t come right out and said it, we believe he’s the one who stabbed Sacramento and set you up for it. What’s not clear is why he and Billy have gone to such lengths to get rid of you and Sacramento. Maybe it has something to do with the letter.”
“Really? I didn’t stab Sacramento?” The tears flowed now. “Billy said I had the knife in my hand and that just because I couldn’t remember doing it was no excuse to the law. That’s when I gave up and decided it was my fault, no matter who did it.” I shook my head in disgust.
“Did you tell any of this to your lawyer?”
“I think so, but I can’t remember. He looked at me like I was crazy when I tried to tell him about the Cleaner Man. I don’t think he believed anything else I said after that.”
“We need a little more time to gather the evidence that can be used in court to prove what happened that morning—or the night before. Timothy Ridgeway is in custody too. Now that they’ve both been arrested let’s hope one of them will tell us the truth.”
“Good luck getting the truth out of those two.”
“It takes more than luck to get to the truth. We’re working on it, which is why I want to track down that letter. One thing is already clear to me; whoever agreed to hang onto the letter for Sacramento didn’t mail it, or Billy Castro wouldn’t still be looking for it.”
“Good thinking! I’m glad you’re on my side, Attorney Huntington.” Louie smiled and wiped the tears away.
A Dead Nephew Page 12