“I know the community you’re talking about. Finally, something that will be easy to do. It takes almost an entire day to get to San Bernardino, have lunch, and drive back. You’re a double-dynamo.”
“Wait until Brien hears you say that,” Laura responded and snickered. “He sure was in awe of the gas-defying headset Peter demonstrated for us. Will you be able to use it if you need it?”
“It’s seemed straightforward enough, but I shudder thinking about a situation in which any of us will need it.”
“I’m with you on that. You’re going to be challenged to put together a chic outfit to wear with it,” Laura teased.
“Maybe I ought to find out where Tommy and Brien bought those awful desert camouflage outfits that they showed up in a few months ago. Those were almost as bizarre as the gear they wore last night. As if anything would help those two motor mouths blend into their surroundings.”
“Ha! That’s true. We should ask Peter if anyone’s working on a super-secret line of muzzles.”
“His super-secret friends are probably more interested in getting people to talk rather than shut them up. We can dream, though, can’t we?” I’d been walking as I spoke to Laura and had reached the sliders leading into the kitchen from the patio.
“Did you reach Valerie Taylor?” Laura asked as I stepped inside.
“Not yet. She didn’t answer when I called, so I left a voicemail telling her who I was and that it’s urgent I speak to her. I sent her a text message too. If I don’t hear from her by this afternoon, I’ll pay a visit to the casino.”
“I wish I could be there in case you run into John Lugo again. He must still be trying to decide if he’s going to hit on you or order a hit on you—know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I get it. You’re in fine form this morning, Laura. I’d rather not have to deal with either possibility. Slapping him in the face for getting fresh would be preferable to wrestling one of his goons to stay alive. I hope Valerie Taylor will get in touch, so I don’t have to set foot inside John Lugo’s lair.”
“It is Saturday, you know. Neither one of them is likely to be around.”
“Shoot! I’ve already been out in the heat too long. If she doesn’t call, I’ll lean on Manny to get her to call me or go with me to pay her a visit at home.”
I released Anastasia from her leash, and she ran to her water bowl in the kitchen. Bernadette was sliding pans into the oven, and Auntie Agnes was loading the dishwasher. They both looked at me when I mentioned Valerie Taylor by name. Auntie Agnes picked up a package and hurried toward me. Bernadette was on her heels the minute she shut the oven door.
“Hang on a second, Laura.”
“What is it?”
“You just missed Manny. He delivered this to you from Valerie Taylor.”
“Well, how do you like that?” I exclaimed.
“Like what?” Laura asked.
“Auntie Agnes received a special delivery from Valerie Taylor with Manny Ortiz as her courier.”
“That must be good. Call me when you know what’s in it. I’ve got to go, and so do you,” Laura said. “I had a special delivery waiting for me when I got home last night—a cute little stuffed alpaca, which I guess means Eduardo’s in Peru. There was a see-you-soon note with it. I was glad to see Frank hanging all over you with that sexy grin on his face. He must be feeling better. Let’s get this case closed so we can spend our time with the men in our lives instead of the Cleaner Man or John Lugo.”
“Amen, Sistah! Thanks for everything.” I ripped the package open as soon as I ended the call. A packet of information neatly arranged in a blue see-through plastic envelope with a snap closure was inside. I immediately recognized a copy of the report hidden in Sacramento’s room. This one was highlighted and tagged. In addition to the report, there were receipts, memos, and printouts of emails.
“What did she send you?” Bernadette asked in an excited tone.
“At first glance, I’d say plenty of evidence a prosecutor would need to make a case against Lenny Morgan for fraud, conspiracy, bribery, and extortion. Maybe other things once I’ve had a chance to review everything she sent.”
“That’s going to give him a case of the blues,” Bernadette responded.
“I hope the Riverside County District Attorney will make the case he deserves a glorious burst of bright orange,” I added.
“What about John Lugo?”
“He’s mixed up in it too, Auntie Agnes. Valerie made copies of an email between the two men concerning their ‘lizard’ problem—as in an endangered lizard they’re ticked off about because it creates a problem for their plans. I hope our whistleblower has taken a vacation.”
“Manny says not to worry about Valerie,” Auntie Agnes added. “He went to her condo and brought Peter along. She agreed to give you the package, packed her bags, and left with Peter. She didn’t go on a vacation, but she did call in sick.”
“Manny flew into action after last night, didn’t he?”
“He won’t admit it, but he’s got a soft spot for her. All the talk about the danger she might be in probably did it,” Auntie Agnes suggested. “I’m sure he doesn’t want to see her end up like Sacramento.”
“Maybe he should stick around to keep Valerie company. I don’t want him to end up like Sacramento either,” I muttered as I checked the time on my phone. “I’ve got to go. I’m going to put this in the safe in Dad’s office, and then I’m out of here. If Manny calls or comes back for some reason, why not insist that he stay with Valerie for the next few days?”
“We’ll try,” Bernadette said.
“What do you mean we’ll try? He’ll do what I say, or else!” Agnes commented.
“Or else what?” Bernadette asked. I was tempted to wait for Auntie Agnes’ answer, but I had to get to the hospital. Their laughter overtook me, though, as I dashed to “Dad’s office.” Even though Dad hasn’t used it since I was a twelve, it’s still his office. I ran my hand across the back of the chair he’d sat in while talking to me about his work as an architect. The anxiety I’d begun to feel about the odd twists the day had taken had already vaporized. I slid a panel out of the way, entered the combination, and stashed the materials in the safe.
“You know what, Anastasia? This is one weird case. Who do you think killed Auntie’s nephew—the psycho Cleaner Man with two identities or the conniving businessmen, one of whom happens to have been his father?”
My wise poodle declined to respond. She did do a perfect pirouette and bounded from the room when I took out my keys. She loves to go for car rides.
“I wish I could take Anastasia with me, but there’s no way I can get her into the quarantine unit at the hospital.”
“You can’t take her anywhere, or she’ll miss her play date,” Bernadette said. “Now that I’ve got a dog, I have all sorts of new friends. It’s too hot to spend time with them at the dog park right now, so Agnes suggested we have a doggy pool party.”
“Did you hear that, Anastasia? It’s a party.” Party is a word that girl knows well. Anastasia woofed, raced out of the kitchen, down the hall, through the great room, into the foyer, and then came dashing back into the kitchen again.
“I’d say she can hardly wait. I don’t how you two have so much energy for parties given how many times we’ve hosted the entire Cat Pack this week.” Anastasia, Bernadette, and Auntie Agnes got hugs as I took off to see Louie. “Have fun!”
*****
“How’s it going, Louie?” I asked.
“I’m bored. That’s good, though, because I’ve been too scared to be bored until now. When I get bored, I feel sad about Sacramento.”
“I understand. We’re working as hard as we can to sort things out for you. Hang in there, okay?”
“I really don’t mind. This is definitely better than jail.” Louie paused for a minute and then smiled. “I feel safer too. No one’s going to get past Peggy.”
“She does run a tight ship.” When I told Peggy that I had books and
food for Louie, she’d gone through my bag before letting me take them into the quarantine unit.
“Here are the books you wanted. Those will come in handy when you’re bored. You’re looking much better. Peggy says your latest test results ought to be back soon.”
“Did she tell you I’ve gained two pounds?”
“No, she didn’t, but that’s excellent news.” I dug into the canvas bag I had with me and pulled out a container Bernadette had packed for him. I’d left some for Peggy too. “This will keep you on the right track when it comes to gaining weight. It’s chocolate pie from my friend, Bernadette. She made it with Auntie Agnes’ help.”
“Thank them so much for me, will you?” His eyes teared up a little. “I’m becoming spoiled.”
“Wouldn’t that be great? Being just a little bit spoiled won’t hurt. I’ve lived with Bernadette most of my life, so I’m speaking from experience.” I pulled out the photos I had of Valerie Taylor. Even though Manny had seen Sacramento and Valerie together, I wanted to confirm that she was the woman Louie had seen coming out of the casino the night he and Sacramento had that fight.
“That’s her… she’s the one I saw leaving the casino when I met Sacramento before we had a fight about her. In these pictures, she’s not dressed in party clothes like she was that night. Her clothes are more like what you’d wear to a job.” Louie looked through the pictures again. “That’s why I recognized her that night. I’ve seen her before, talking to the bartender and the woman who seats you at the Aces High restaurant. I bet she works there.”
“She does, indeed, Louie. Your memory’s getting better too.” A knock on the door interrupted our conversation.
“Come in,” Louie said. George walked in, wearing the quarantine gear.
“Hello, Jessica, fancy meeting you here.”
“I can see you’ve taken a wardrobe tip from Tommy and Brien.”
“It wasn’t my idea, but the nurse on guard duty doesn’t seem to understand the concept of compromise.”
“Why are you here?” Louie asked, ending the chitchat.
“I have news that I wanted you to hear right away. I don’t know if your attorney has told you that she read John Lugo the riot-act a couple days ago.”
“The what?” Louie asked, looking at me with worry on his face.
“He means I confronted John Lugo and told him to do what he should have done in the first place—have an autopsy done to find out what happened to his son.”
“Doesn’t that mean they have to dig Sacramento’s body up?” Louie’s eyes switched to George.
“It does. He had that done the very next day, and we already have preliminary results from the autopsy. This isn’t the final word, Louie, because there’s more to be done,” George said. “Some things won’t change, though.”
“Although everything can always be challenged in court. John Lugo can ask to have another doctor examine Sacramento’s body instead of taking the coroner’s word for it.”
“That’s already happening. When John Lugo decides to do something, it gets done and in record time. Our coroner had a sidekick, courtesy of Sacramento Lugo’s dad, who suddenly developed a conscience or a surge of curiosity.”
“Okay, so will you tell me what all this means?” Louie was anxious as he asked us that question—glancing at George, then me, and back to George.
“Sacramento wasn’t dead when someone stabbed him with the knife. There’s no evidence that he resisted his attacker, and that’s probably because he’d already been stabbed in the back—not with a knife but with a needle.”
“I don’t understand. The Cleaner Man killed him?” Louie asked, obviously confused.
“He tried, Louie. We can’t prove it’s the Cleaner Man yet, but we’re getting closer. Whoever it was stabbed Sacramento in the back so hard, the needle broke off. Part of it was lodged in a thoracic vertebra near his ribs.”
“He means it when he says we’re getting closer.” I exclaimed. “This isn’t the first time that George has sent a body to the coroner’s office that came back with results like that. In that case, there was other evidence to suggest the man we’re all calling the Cleaner Man was involved.”
“Have you found another name for him?”
“We’re not certain, but we’re working on what could be the Cleaner Man’s real name,” I replied. Louie nodded, but all sorts of expressions flitted across his face.
“Frank Fontana, a detective who works with the Sheriff’s Department, is arranging to have Sacramento’s clothes tested. They were sent to the crime lab, but when you confessed, and your lawyer entered into a plea agreement, they shut down the investigation, and no one ever examined his clothes. We’re hoping there’s evidence on them that can tell us who stabbed Sacramento in the back with the needle. Someone also turned Sacramento over before he was stabbed in the chest with a knife. There could be clues on his clothes about who did that too.” George paused and took a breath.
“Here’s what I really came here to tell you. The person who stabbed Sacramento with the hunting knife used a lot of force. A bigger, stronger guy than you probably did that. Also, from the way the knife grazed the sternum—you know, the breastbone, they can also tell which way the blade was facing when the person stabbed Sacramento.” George demonstrated what he meant by breastbone.
“In short, the person who stabbed Louie was right-handed.”
“Woohoo! Louie, you’re left-handed!” I exclaimed, jumping to my feet. “That’s something the courts can’t ignore. Now they’ve got to take another look at your case.”
“Left-handed and a puny little runt. Does this mean I’m not going to prison?”
“Not any time soon. Even if the D.A. is crazy enough to ask for a trial, we have plenty of material to create reasonable doubt in the minds of a jury. That’s in addition to the fact that we have another motive for the murder and a suspect who also happens to have been the person who arrested you without cause.” I paused, trying to calm myself down. There was still work that needed to be done. I had one of those sizzling surges of electricity.
“You know who is right-handed, don’t you?”
“I do indeed. We’re doing all that we can to locate Officer Ridgeway. We’ve checked all the hospitals in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.”
“Why is he in the hospital?” Louie asked.
“He was shot when he tried to kill Xavier Oliver,” I responded.
“Why would he want to do that? Is he working with the Cleaner Man?”
“No. My best guess is that Timothy, or whoever he works for, made a connection between you and Xavier Oliver. He went after Xavier for the same reason Billy Castro went after you—for Sacramento’s letter.”
“I already told you I could have bumped into Xavier if he was at the same shelter or got a free meal at someplace when I was there. I just don’t remember him, and Sacramento wasn’t ever in any of those places. Why would Timothy think Sacramento, or I, gave Xavier the letter?”
“I don’t know. Until George tracks him down, we won’t know why Timothy has done any of the things he’s done,” I replied.
“Just when I thought this might be over.” Louie leaned back against the pillows that were propping him up. “It’s too soon to relax, isn’t it?”
“You can relax a little, but we won’t. The momentum is on our side, but we need to keep moving. You sit here and focus on the good news that we now have evidence that you didn’t kill your friend. We’re also much closer to being able to prove who did.”
So is John Lugo, I thought. We need to find Timothy Ridgeway before he does so, he can wring the truth from him. Or before Lenny Morgan gets to him to shut him up.
I was wondering what else we could do to locate the missing man when Peggy knocked on the door to Louie’s room. She rushed inside before any of us could respond to the knock.
“There’s a call for you, Detective. It’s urgent. You can take it in the reception area.”
“Maybe that’s ne
ws about our fugitive’s whereabouts right now, Louie.” George gave him a pat on the arm. “Hang in there and enjoy the chocolate pie. Maybe your nurse can find you some ice cream to go with it.”
“I’m taking off now too. I’m going to get to work on the papers we need to file with the courts to have your case reviewed.”
“Thank you for everything. Both of you.”
“Hey! Don’t forget to thank me. I’m the one who knows where the ice cream comes from around here,” Peggy added. “I’m glad these two brought you good news. It’s about time someone did.”
“Thank you too, Nurse Peggy. Especially for not using that extra-large needle on me.”
When Louie’s door closed, I went into the “airlock” and had my quarantine gear off before George did. I followed him to the phone where his call was waiting. Had they found Timothy Ridgeway? Alive?
23 Thor and Amazonia
“I’m on my way!” George hung up the phone.
“Did they find Timothy Ridgeway?” I asked as we waved goodbye to Peggy and dashed to the elevator.
“No. The call isn’t about Ridgeway. Betsy and Brien had a close encounter with the other man we’ve been pursuing. According to Brien, he almost had him, but the Cleaner Man stabbed him and got away.” I was stunned for a second. Fortunately, when the elevator door slid open, it was empty. I had lots of questions.
“Is Brien okay? Didn’t the gas mask work?”
“He’s fine. The gas mask worked, and in more ways than one! Apparently, the Cleaner Man was standing there in all white, including the Stetson. He froze when he turned around and saw Betsy and Brien only a few yards away from him wearing their shiny, see-through face masks.”
“I can understand that. Who’d expect to run into Thor and Amazonia in a deserted area—with or without the masks?” I asked. “Since they’re alive and didn’t catch him, I take it there’s more to the story.”
“Yes, when Betsy realized the Cleaner Man was standing over the homeless guy she was there to bring in, she ran toward him. He pulled out a small container of gas and sprayed them. When it didn’t work, he took off. Brien went after him and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. The Cleaner Man reached behind his head and stabbed Brien’s arm with the needle. Brien loosened his grip, and that was enough for the guy to twist free and get away. Brien says the Cleaner Man ran up the rocks ‘like a bighorn sheep.’”
A Dead Nephew Page 25