Irma disappeared behind the building just as Jax approached his car. Jax got in and spit up dirt and gravel with his already bald tires as he spun out of the parking lot.
I watched as the dirt settled. “Are we going to follow him?”
That’s when I heard the familiar voice and a tap on my passenger side window.
I’d never seen Charles back away from any confrontation, but I swear I could see him physically shrink away from Irma.
I rolled down my window and Irma stuck her face inside the car. "I've been seeing a little too much of you two lately. Just what the hell do you think you're doing here?"
I leaned away from Irma's chubby face, repulsed by the smell of the unwashed hair. I wasn't sure if I should tell her the truth, but Charles made that decision for me.
"We were following Jax."
"What business you got with Jax? He don't seem like your type of friend." Irma had pushed her head further into the window as she questioned Charles.
"Look, Ms. Tucker, your tenant hired us yesterday. For some reason she wanted us to be at that house this morning. She wanted somebody to see that house explode. And now we want to know why, and how Jax is attached to this."
Irma's wrinkled lips drew into a thin straight line, well, as much of the straight line as wrinkled lips can make. Slowly, she backed out of the car window. I thought she was going to leave, but then, she reached into the pocket of her house dress with her chubby little fingers. And when they came out, her index finger was on the trigger of a snub-nosed .38 revolver.
"Well, seeing as your client has been blown into little bitty pieces, I think your contract is probably void. So if you know what's good for you, you’ll find yourself another case.” Looking pointedly at Charles, she said, "I never want to see your little fairy ass again."
I didn't even have time to turn around and see the look on Charles’s face. Apparently, he had had enough of Irma Tucker. Before I knew it, he had his arm extended and was pointing his .44 Magnum at Irma's chest.
"I'm really not sure who the hell you think you are, you fat old fuck, but I'm not listening to your backwards ass call Mimi a fairy ever again. Before you put a gun in someone's face, you better make damn sure you know who you're dealing with. And I'm pretty god damn sure you don't know shit about me."
To my surprise, Irma actually backed up a step. She even put her gun back in the pocket of her house dress. But then she bent over, putting your hands on the edge of the passenger side window, and said, "You really are as dumb as you look, aren't you?” Then she straightened and walked away.
Charles must have been in shock, because he still had his gun aimed at the place where the woman had been standing, several seconds after she'd walked away.
"What the hell was that?" I asked.
Charles put the .44 Magnum back into his shoulder holster and sucked in a deep breath. "You know how I am when people call my friends names." And then I was blinded by the charm of Charles's smile.
I'm not sure if the drive to Gilroy had gleaned us any new information, but I did now realize that Irma Tucker wasn't just a little old lady with a shotgun, protecting her property. Irma Tucker was dangerous.
"Something tells me that the further we stay away from Mrs. Tucker, the longer we'll live."
Charles shook his head and turned the key to start the Land Rover. “I really wanted to roll up the window and choke her, then put the car in drive and make her run alongside.”
I laughed out loud. “You should have.”
“If only I didn’t have the car turned off, I might have.” He looked at the driveway to the fruit stand again.
I looked in the direction he was staring and saw a metallic orange BMW M6 I, and gasped. This car’s price started at a hundred grand, and this was the closest I’d ever been to one, but it wasn’t the car that made me gasp as it slowed and drove past us. It was the driver.
Charles was drooling over the BMW and didn’t see who was inside. “Did you see that paint job?”
I didn’t say anything. My mouth felt like I’d eaten a persimmon, all of the saliva sucked dry. I tried to swallow, but nearly choked. I can honestly say I’d never felt this sick in my life.
He turned to me when I didn’t answer. I have no doubt, my face said it all. “Are you okay?”
I managed to croak out, “Dominic.”
Charles looked at me as if I’d been dipping in Jax’s stash. But his attitude changed when he saw the man pull into the parking lot of the fruit stand and get out of the car.
Casually stepping out of the BMW was a lanky man who stood just over six feet. He had the body of a runner: lean, but not scrawny. He wore expensive looking brown slacks that moved like water when he walked, and a crisp dress shirt in pale peach that made his olive skin glow. His charcoal hair was short on the sides and the top was slicked back with some sort of pomade. Basically, his look said Italian mobster through and through. But it was the grin that took my breath away. His beautiful soft lips arched, showing perfect pearly teeth. They were like the teeth you see on movie stars: perfectly align, perfectly white, and perfectly freaking sickening.
“The D.E.A. guys weren’t kidding.” Charles slammed his hand on the steering wheel. “That son of a bitch. I’ll kill him myself.” He reached for his door handle.
I grabbed at Charles with every ounce of strength I had. “No! I can’t do this right now.”
I wrapped myself around Charles and I didn’t let go. I was shaking so hard, my insides ached.
“If not now, when?”
“I don’t know, but not now.” I finally let go of him. My body felt as if I was having a seizure.
“Mimi, what is wrong with you? This is your husband. The bastard made you think he was dead. You need to confront him.” Charles started for the door handle, but stopped. “You really don’t want to talk to him?”
I shook my head. If I’d ever felt like my heart was broken, it was nothing compared to how it felt at that moment. You always hear that having a heart attack feels like an elephant is stepping on your chest. Well, I had elephants on all four sides and they weren’t stepping, they were stomping. I wanted to have a do over. I wanted to go home and pretend we never saw this. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t muster the tears. I was so fucking mad, I couldn’t do anything but stare.
I watched Dominic swagger to where Irma stood, just inside the door of the fruit stand. Irma took a step towards him, leaning in and pointing her finger in his face. In a move that was something I had never witnessed in Dominic, he grabbed Irma's finger and twisted it, shoving her hand toward her face. Not one to back down, Irma acted as if her hand was just fine, but dropped it to her side. She didn't back away from Dominic. It looked like she was chastising him. Then Dominic took another step forward, his face only inches from hers and spit must have been flying as he screamed at her, because Irma lifted the hem of her house dress, exposing her mottled legs, and wiped her face.
This time I could read her lips clearly. She said, "Fuck you,” and walked away. Dominic stared after her.
"Holy shit," Charles said. "I'm guessing he's not used to being spoken to like that. It must be taking everything in him not to go after that old bitch and slap her down."
At that moment I could have been a Venus fly trap, as my mouth was wide open. I had never in my life seen Dominic so irate. I wondered what this new life had done to him. His demeanor seemed so stiff, so detached, so incredibly angry. I realize that no matter what, my Dominic was dead, because I didn't know this man.
Dominic pulled a gun from his waist and aimed it at Irma’s back. He took aim, and then put the gun away.
"So do you just want to sit here staring?" Charles asked, "or do you want to get the hell out of here?"
I couldn't even speak. I just shook my head as I watched Dominic stalk towards the Spanish style home up the driveway from the fruit stand.
"I'm just going take that as a get the hell out of here." Charles started the Land Rover, and peeled rubber a
s he made a U-turn and headed back towards Salinas.
I laid my head back on the head rest and closed my eyes. I wasn't sure if I wanted to get to the bottom of this case, or just go crawl in bed and sleep forever.
12
The feeling of the acid roiling around in my stomach was too much. Afraid to say anything, I tapped Charles on the shoulder and pointed to the side of the road. My stomach churned and sweat poured from every pore of my body as I reached for the door handle and got out of the car. I stumbled down into the ditch on the shoulder of the road and squatted down, putting my head between my knees.
"In through the nose, out through the mouth," I kept whispering. "In through the nose, out through the mouth."
When Charles stepped up behind me and touched me on the shoulder I had reached my tipping point. I leaned forward on all fours, prepared to throw up. But when I got there, the sweating stopped, the nausea subsided, and my sick feeling turned to anger.
Very uncharacteristic of Charles, he sat there in the weeds beside me rubbing my back, but in that moment, I didn't want to be touched and pushed him away. I closed my eyes tightly, trying to remember the Dominic that I had fallen in love with and married. I knew in my heart the man I saw across the street was not that man. He may have looked like him, but my Dominic was definitely dead, literally and figuratively.
I sat up, straighten my shirt, and said, "This is not happening. I'm telling you, Charles, my Dominic would not have done this to me."
I sat back on my heels and rocked back and forth slowly, not quite ready to stand. I looked Charles in the eye and saw something I'd never really seen: pity. That was something I never wanted to see from anyone.
"Mimi, we both saw the same exact thing. You knew Dominic better than I did and you were the one who said it was him.”
I'm really not a stupid blonde, but I felt like one at that moment. No offense to real blondes. I wasn't in denial. Fine, I might possibly be in a little bit of denial. Something in my gut told me that just was not Dominic.
"I get it. I understand what you're saying. I'm just saying that I have never seen Dominic use that type of aggressive body language."
Charles shook his head. "It's been a long time since you've seen him. You don't know what he's been through since the accident. Hell, maybe he doesn't even remember you. I'm just saying, people have been known to survive accidents, wander off into the wilderness, and not be heard from for years. They have amnesia. Maybe he just remembered his family, and they just happen to forget to mention you."
“This is real life, Charles, not a soap opera.” And I giggled. “But maybe we’ve stepped out of our real life, and we’re in someone else’s daytime drama.”
“No way in hell. The good ones aren’t even on the air anymore.”
He had me shaking my head and laughing. Only Charles could make me laugh in such a dire situation. My body relaxed enough that I felt as if I could stand again, and I did. I brushed the dirt and weeds from my pants and wrapped my arms around Charles as if he were my lifeline. I hugged him so tight and so long, he didn't have a choice but to hug me back.
"As implausible as your story is, I think I'm going to try to contact Dominic's parents."
I let go of him, but he held on. In that moment, I loved Charles more than anyone on Earth.
"I'm not sure that's such a good idea. They cut you off since Dominic's death, and there has to be a reason for that." Charles helped me back up from the ditch and into the car.
“Hell, they weren’t even around when we were married. I saw them at the wedding, and never saw or heard from them again.”
I thought about it as we walked up that hill. I had tried contacting Dominic's parents, but they made it perfectly clear that I was no longer family. Was the fact that Dominic might still be alive the reason they cut me off? What was the point? Dominic and I were in love, and that had no effect on the Capurro family business.
It hit me like Muhammad Ali's boxing glove; I had been with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Seeing Dominic with Irma, and knowing she was somehow involved with Jax, Dominic's being married to me definitely had an effect on his family's business. Dominic had married the enemy.
I got back in the car and sat up tall in the seat. I was not going to be destroyed by this. As I put my seatbelt on, I turned to Charles.
"You remember how I once told you I wasn't really sure about what Dominic's family was into? I mean, I knew they were in the produce business, but I always had this feeling there was something on the side. His family was filthy freaking rich. I know the produce business is a good business, but I didn't think it was that good."
Charles turned the key in the ignition, but didn't put the car in drive. With both hands on the steering wheel, looking straight ahead, he said, "Before I say another word, I want you to promise me that you won't hate me when I'm done talking."
I sucked in a deep breath and held it. I didn't know how to respond to this, but I wasn't going to make any promises.
"Just fucking tell me.” I spat the words at him.
"Right after the accident, I did some digging and looked into the Capurro Family." Charles kept staring forward at the highway in front of us, not daring to look at me. "Because of your employment with the FBI, I kept the information that I found myself. I promise you, I told no one."
"Oh my fucking God, you knew the Capurro family was in the drug business, didn’t you?” I screamed.
He turned to look at me. “Yes.”
Furious, I asked, “Just what exactly do you know? And why did you let me think you knew nothing when Luke was talking to us?”
Charles hesitated.
“If you tell me you knew Dominic wasn’t dead, I’m going to kill you right here and now. I don’t even give a shit if I end up in prison for the rest of my life, because at this moment, I feel like my life is over.” Now the tears were flowing, and Charles was a blur.
"I promise you, I had no idea Dominic was still alive. And the information that I found didn't give me concrete evidence, but it did give me an inkling that his family was into illegal business dealings."
Usually, I would thank goodness that there is such a thing as waterproof mascara, but at this point, I didn’t give a shit what I looked like. I swiped my hands across my eyes to dry the tears. Charles was telling me that he'd found out information about Dominic's family, and had withheld it all this time. I wanted to hate him, but I knew he thought he was doing what was best for me.
"I'm trying to understand why you withheld this information," I said between sobs. "I know that you think you were doing what was best for me, but this is breaking my heart."
Charles reached over to touch me and I flinched away. He snapped his hand back as if he'd been burned. "You know I would never do anything to hurt you, and I figured this information would hurt you more than help you. And then time passed. Until now, I never gave it a second thought."
"Really? Not until now did you ever think about it again? What the fuck? It didn't dawn on you when the D.E.A. guys were talking to us to tell me about this?" I slammed my fists on the dashboard of my car.
"I promise you, I didn't even think about it."
I just stared at Charles's eyes, looking for reason. In those eyes I saw a man who loved his best friend, and truly did think he was doing the right thing. I leaned over and sobbed on his shoulder.
So far, Charles had let me hug him and cry on his shoulder, so I knew he really hurt for me. Sometimes there are just things that it's better not to know, and this was one of those things. Now that it was out there, I had to do something about it.
"Can you please take me home?" I sat back in my seat and closed my eyes.
As Charles drove south back to Salinas, I open my eyes, grabbed my cell phone, and called Nick.
Wouldn't you know, it went to voicemail, just when I needed to hear his real voice. I breathed steadily, trying to compose myself and not to alarm Nick, and said, “Hey, it's me. As soon as you get this message, please
stop by my house. It's really important, but I can't talk about it on the phone."
13
I really thought I'd have time to go in the house and get cleaned up before talking to Nick. That thought vanished as I saw him sitting in his Porsche Boxster outside my house when we arrived.
As I got out of the car, he approached me, "What the hell? I got here soon as I got your message, and you weren't even here. You scared the crap out of me. Anyway, I’m glad you called. I have some interesting news.”
Then he looked at my face, and pulled me close. “My news can wait.”
I heard Charles drive away, but I didn't turn to see him go. Though I knew he was doing the right thing in his mind, and I was trying to come to grips with it, I couldn't look at him. Maybe I didn’t want to come to grips with it. It didn’t even dawn on me that he was driving away in my car.
Nick walked me into the house. “Coffee?”
I shook my head. I was trying to muster the words to tell Nick about what happened.
Nick pulled out a chair at the dining room table, and I sat down. Then he pulled out a chair for himself and sat across from me.
I didn’t know how to start, so I said, “What’s your news?”
Nick looked at me for a long moment. “What’s going on?”
I shook my head and tears welled in my eyes. “You go first. Please.”
I could tell he didn’t want to give me his news. He was desperate to hear what I had to say, but he also knew I wasn’t ready to talk.
“The kids didn’t have any trace of meth in their systems. They weren’t cooking meth in that house. They may have been cooking it, but not in the house.”
I smiled, knowing the innocent children were okay. But how innocent were they? They couldn’t be completely unscathed in this.
“Do you think Jeff and Alyssa are alive?”
“Not sure. It’s not my crime scene to investigate, so I can’t go looking for evidence. My boss has warned me to stay clear. The FBI and D.E.A. have taken over.” He reached out and touched my hand.
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