by Gerald Lopez
Someone came by to clear their plates and smiled.
“Although?” the detective said when the worker was gone.
“Cabot mentioned to me that he’d decided to settle down and retire here. I told him it was a good idea and… hold on. He told me he was selling off the properties he owned, and would be moving in with Naomi. How could I forget all that?”
“And enemies?”
“None that I know of,” Walter said. “The man was generous to the locals, and liked having a good time. This was his place to relax and just live. And he did exactly that—lived until he died.”
“Was the killer a local or visitor?”
“Hmm,” Walter said, thinking.
Their waiter brought their desserts, and asked if there was anything else they needed. After the men said they were fine the waiter left.
“I can only hazard a guess about that last question,” Walter said. “As much as I hate to say this it would sort of have to be a local. Someone that could get in and out of the hotel easily without being noticed. A newcomer to town would be spotted right away.”
“Marianne knew I was a detective without being told.”
“Ranvir and I thought you might need an ally or two in town. And it’s funny you mention Marianne just now.”
Chapter 6
Drag Me Down
“I’M FAIRLY CERTAIN we’ll bump into Marianne at our next stop,” Walter said. “There will be cocktails and dancing. Hopefully she’ll be there. It really is unusual for Naomi not to show up here tonight. She’s a creature of habit.”
The detective smiled. Walter had sounded like a detective himself when referring to Naomi as a creature of habit.
“And I haven’t heard a word from Corinne which is unusual,” Walter said. “If the dancing man killer went after twenty-year-olds I’d be even more concerned for Corinne’s safety.”
After swallowing the bite of delicious dessert in his mouth, the detective spoke.
“Tell me about Arnou.”
“You’ve seen him. He’s as handsome as it gets. Helluva body too—I’ve seen him on the beach. Highly fuckable as you’d say, and he knows it. But he’s way too high strung. Someone needs to bring him down to size, however they can. Who knows, maybe you’re the man to do it? Just don’t fall in love with him.”
The detective smiled, then held Walter’s hand.
ADELE PUT ON a long, sexy, nightgown with sheer robe she had stored away in the back of her closet, opened a bottle of her brother’s expensive—never to be touched—wine, poured herself a glass of said wine, then walked out to their back terrace. The breeze from the sea felt cool but good.
“I found the open bottle of wine and poured myself some,” Lucie said, then giggled. “Big brother would have a fit if he were here right now. What a beautiful nightgown you’re wearing, Adele.”
“We’ll have to go to the store and get you one,” Adele said.
Their talk was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. Lucie jumped. “Who can that be, Adele?”
“Maybe it’s Maxime,” Lucie said. “How do I look?”
“Beautiful, but I’m in my nightshirt. I should go change.”
“Answer the door first, Maxime won’t notice what you’re wearing.”
“OK,” Lucie said. “Make sure everything’s covered up, Adele. Your nightgown and robe are a bit revealing.”
“Don’t worry about me, go and answer the door.” When Lucie had gone, she lowered one side of her nightgown and robe so her bare shoulder was exposed.
Lucie walked to the door, looked through the peephole then shouted to Adele. “It’s Mercedes from next door.”
“Let her in, dear. She’s probably heard all about our exciting day.”
A stout woman with long, black hair entered, wearing a thick robe and slippers. She said hello to Lucie, then walked to the back patio.
“I guess you’ve heard all about our day,” Adele said.
“Don’t tell me something happened here too,” Mercedes said.
“Corinne fell from the sky, landed right on top of our brother, and squished him to death,” Lucie said.
“What?” Mercedes said. “Gracias a Dios.” She switched from Spanish to French for the sisters’ sake. “Oops, sorry I was speaking Spanish again. Thank God you’re finally free of that old bastard brother of yours, may he rest in peace or pieces—whatever the case may be.”
“Corinne was sent from God like a miracle,” Adele said. “We’re having Maxime work on her, so she looks like an angel for her viewing at the chapel.”
“Oh, I need to make sure I don’t miss that,” Mercedes said. “I think it really was God finally saying you two had suffered for long enough. Now that your brother won’t be holding on tight to the money, you can finally have this place redone.”
“That is top on my list,” Adele said. “After donating my brother’s old clothes and things to the church.”
“And we’re not going to wear black,” Lucie said.
“Good for you,” Mercedes said. “We should all wear red to the bastard’s funeral. He made all of our lives a living hell. I don’t know how you two put up with him for so long.”
“We promised Mama to take care of him,” Adele said.
“That explains it then,” Mercedes said. “Your mama was a saint, unlike some other mothers in this town.”
“What brings you here in your robe and slippers, dear,” Adele said.
“Oh my God, I almost forgot,” Mercedes said. We were out of town and just got back, that’s why I didn’t know about your brother. Did Corinne get pushed out a window by a jealous wife or a furious lover?”
“We don’t even know what happened yet,” Lucie said.
“I do now, Lucie,” Adele said. “I just forgot to tell you. Mercedes, darling, what’s your news?”
“We stopped in the store so my husband Pierre could buy some of those crackers he loves so much,” Mercedes said. “That’s when we heard there was another child victim tonight. The dancing man struck again.”
“What kind of mother lets her child out at night with a killer on the loose?” Lucie said.
“An unfit mother,” Adele said.
“That trashy Spanish woman who tried to be friends with me is just that type,” Mercedes said.
“Nina?” Lucie said. “The woman who sends her daughter out at night to sell flowers to tourists in the clubs?”
“That’s her,” Mercedes said.
“Oh, you don’t think it was her sweet little girl that was killed, do you?” Lucie said.
“Sweet?” Adele said. “That child has a mouth on her.”
“With a mother like Nina you can’t blame the child,” Mercedes said. “And I am worried it may have been Louise that got killed.”
“Oh my God,” Adele said. “Now I feel bad for what I said. Louise always seemed so small and fragile for her age.”
“That’s because her mother beat her from an early age and starved her too,” Mercedes said. She heard the sisters gasp and continued. “François, Louise’s father, came into the store when we were there, and told us all of that. “There was dried blood on the side of his face from where Nina had smacked him with a frying pan.”
“What happened?” Lucie said. “Why did she smack him?”
“Because François tried to keep her from beating Louise and throwing her out on the street,” Mercedes said. “Just because the child bought a gelato with some money she found on the street.”
Lucie gasped. “The poor child. To be thrown out on the street with a killer on the loose.”
“François said that Nina told him she hoped the killer would get Louise,” Mercedes said. “He also said that Louse had been beaten so badly she couldn’t even stand up, so she wouldn’t be able to fight off the dancing man.”
“How horrible,” Lucie said.
“And what did François do to try and help Louise?” Adele said.
“He couldn’t do anything,” Mercedes said. “Nin
a hit him so hard with the pan that he blacked out, and when he woke up Louise was gone. He was still hardly able to walk, and going crazy because of Louise being missing, so we drove him to the doctor.”
“Some women don’t deserve to be mothers,” Adele said.
“Poor, poor Louise,” Lucie said. “Females have it hard at every age.”
“It doesn’t help when we fight and abuse each other,” Adele said. “That Nina is a criminal and should be treated like one.”
“That’s not all that happened tonight,” Mercedes said.
“What else could there possible be?” Lucie said.
“DID THE TYLENOL help?” Walter said to his detective, when they stopped a moment on the sidewalk in the club district. He saw him nod his head yes. “Those guys really did put a bit of a hurt on you. I’ll buy you a decent drink at our next stop, and it will help with the pain.”
A group of excited and happy young men dressed in their clubbing best passed by them. One young man looked back, and blew Walter and the detective a kiss.
“I love, daddies!” the man said in English. “And I don’t mind being in the middle!” He laughed before he was dragged away by his friends into a club with a neon rainbow above the door.
“Not my type,” Walter said. “How about yours?” His detective shook his head no. “Good because we’re headed into the same club as our young fan.”
What have I gotten myself into? the detective thought.
“A GLASS OF wine will help steady my nerves before I tell you the next part,” Mercedes said.
“I’ll get it,” Lucie said.
“Bring the bottle back with you,” Adele said.
Mercedes sat in a chair next to the metal and glass outdoor table, then spoke. “The police must’ve said something to you about what happened to Corinne when they looked over her body. Otherwise they wouldn’t have let Maxime take it.”
“I wasn’t paying too much attention at that time,” Adele said. “But when Father Albion drove me home, he explained what the police had told him. The stupid girl—Corinne—hadn’t eaten a bite all day. She didn’t even have anything to drink.”
“How did they know that?”
“Some of the workers going home after their shift at the La Mer hotel told them. Anyway, she ended up being affected by the sun. The workers said that she dropped her cigarette on the rocks overlooking town, climbed over the ropes to get it, and fell.”
“Your story about God using her to take your brother out makes for a better tale,” Mercedes said.
“I agree,” Adele said. “And you know I have always said the hotel needed something better than rope to keep people from falling off those rocks. Corinne’s only living relative—her grandfather—died last year and she’s been all alone in the world. My sister and I will be handling all of the expenses for her viewing and service.”
“That is very kind of you, but you and Lucie have always been kind and generous—unlike your brother. Anyway, Corinne was always a bit of a—what’s the word—slut. But it’s nice to see that our gracious Lord found some good use for her in the end.”
“That is true. God is merciful to even the dumbest… and sluttiest of his children. At least this way some good came out of the girl’s death.” She stopped talking when she heard a phone ring.
Mercedes took her phone out of her pocket and answered it. “Yes, Pierre. We are all fine, my love. No I haven’t told them yet. OK, bye.”
“He was checking up on you,” Adele said.
“I’m back with the wine,” Lucie said. She had the wine bottle, as well as a glass for Mercedes on a silver tray.
“Pour me some, please, Lucie,” Mercedes said.
“Your husband is checking up on you, and you’re just next door,” Adele said. “You look nervous too, Mercedes. What new thing has happened?”
Chapter 7
New Revelations
“YOU’RE MAKING ME nervous now, Mercedes,” Lucie said, as she sat in the chair across from Mercedes after pouring her some wine.
“Don’t be nervous,” Mercedes said. “My Pierre said to tell you that he has his old gun loaded and at the ready. If he hears anything the least bit unusual coming from your house, he’ll rush right over. So will I with my big, solid wood rolling pin. We need to all look out for one another.”
“What on Earth happened?” Adele said.
“They found another body tonight,” Mercedes said. “My son, the police officer, phoned to tell us about it right before I came here.”
“Robertito?” Lucie said. “He’s so nice.”
“And handsome too,” Mercedes said. “Those tourist sluts from America are always chasing after him when he goes to the beach.”
“It’s that small bathing suit he wears,” Adele said. “The Speedos he wears leaves nothing to the imagination.”
“See, I told him the same thing,” Mercedes said. “But I’m his mother, what do I know?”
“How old was this last child they found?” Lucie said. “I’m almost scared to know.”
“The scary thing is that the other dead body was no child but a grown woman who was strangled to death,” Mercedes said.
Lucie and Adele both gasped.
IF HE HADN’T taken a Tylenol earlier, the detective would’ve needed one when he entered the club. Loud music filled the surprisingly large space. He spotted an attractive go-go boy in the corner and another dancing on the bar.
“This club attracts both locals and tourists,” Walter said. “Do me a favor, please, and find us a table while I go talk to someone.” His detective grabbed him, then planted a full kiss with tongue on him. “Wow. That was surprising, babe. I’ll be right back.”
Looking around, the detective noticed there were two levels in the club. There were tables and chairs, as well as a sofa or two on the second level. The lower level had some tables and chairs too, but most of it was taken up by a crowded dance floor and a small stage. The lights from disco balls and strobes bounced off furniture and people. After finding a table on the upper level, the detective sat back and looked at the mix of bodies on display. Some were nice, others more average. At least one or two had a gut like he did. His eyes never strayed far from Walter, who had just gone into the men’s room.
Walter looked at himself in the mirror. He ran his hand through his thick white hair then down his flat stomach. Although he was no longer young, he could hold his own next to the club boys. For added measure he’d worn a formfitting blue shirt—his detective’s favorite—and slim pants that he knew looked good on him. Things were going so well with his detective that he couldn’t help but smile. His detective had made his feelings clear for once, and that was a big leap for him. For a second he entertained the thought that maybe the two of them had missed each other equally during their time apart.
“Hey, baby, you look like you might laugh or cry at any minute.”
Walter turned to see a tall, black, drag queen behind him. The drag queen was dressed in a dramatic red, sequined dress with a matching red wig, and a very fluffy red and gold feather boa.
“Hello, Queenie,” Walter said. “Do I look like an idiot?”
“No, honey,” Queenie said. “You look good enough to eat. That handsome man you walked in with couldn’t take his eyes of you.”
“It’s him.”
“No,“ Queenie said. “Not the one that got away.”
“The one I stupidly pushed away,” Walter said. “He said it, Queenie.”
“Said what, baby?”
“I asked him outright if there was anyone else. If he was in love.”
“And?” Queenie said.
“He said he’s only ever loved one man all his life then pointed to me.”
Queenie squealed, then kissed Walter’s cheek. “Oh shit I got lipstick on your cheek. She wiped it away with her hand.
“I don’t want to lose him this time, Queenie—I can’t. He’s the love of my life.”
“Then don’t fuck up, girlfriend.”
>
“Will you and the girls do me a favor?”
“Anything for you and your man?”
“My man loves Dalida especially two of her songs.”
“WHO?” ADELE SAID. “Whose body was it the police found?”
“A local or a tourist?” Lucie said.
“We don’t know,” Mercedes said. “Robertito hasn’t heard yet.”
“Oh my God,” Adele said. “What if it’s someone we know? First little Louise, now someone else.”
“Don’t get all upset, Lucie,” Adele said. “We don’t know anything for sure yet. Mercedes, does that mean we have two murderers in town now?”
“It sounds like it. Robertito thinks so since it would be unusual for the dancing man to suddenly change his choice of victims. And also the dead woman wasn’t found near the body of the little girl.”
“I’m scared,” Lucie said.
“Don’t be,” Mercedes said. “We’re right next door. Just make sure you keep the doors and everything locked up tight especially when you go to bed. We have a key to your house, remember—so we can get in if you need help.”
“Thank God,” Adele said. “Things really are worrisome.”
“All of this talk made me forget about poor Corinne for a minute,” Lucie said. “Are you going to let Maxime put Corinne in Mama’s wedding dress all by himself?”
“Of course not,” Adele said. “But he explained to me that there is a lot he has to do before he’s ready to dress Corinne. He’ll call me when he gets to that point. It doesn’t do to leave a man alone with a pretty, young, woman even if she’s dead.”
“That is so true,” Mercedes said. “Men are weak-minded when it comes to women even dead ones. And I’ve heard some naughty tales about things that can happen.”
“Like what?” Lucie said. “The women are already dead.”