Murder on the Equator Box Set

by Becca Bloom

  Deciding to keep my opinions to myself and focus on the mere facts, I said, "Antonio saw me give it to Agent Vasquez."

  Sylvia asked, "It’s Agent Vasquez now? Not Washo?" She knew the significance of the formal use of his title as much as I did. But he totally started it when he called me Miss James at the hotel.

  Abuelita tapped her fingers against the top of the counter, and Tia Rosa still sat like a sad little lump on top of the stool beside her.

  "You in trouble. Is my fault," Tia Rosa said sadly.

  "They know we in the room?" Abuelita asked.

  "Antonio knows. It's only a matter of time before Agent Vasquez connects the dots, but please don't worry. It'll be okay," I said to reassure Tia Rosa.

  "Connects the dots?" asked Abuelita. "What mean that?"

  "It's when someone draws the right conclusion. Like the connect–the–dot activities for kids?"

  Abuelita looked at me in confusion. Clearly, Ecuadorian kids had other activities.

  I tried to explain further. "You connect the dots and it makes a picture."

  She nodded in understanding. "Is new expression for me."

  She resumed drumming her fingers against the counter, her eyes staring off into a corner of the room. Sylvia eyed her suspiciously while I vainly hoped Abuelita was merely pondering the many uses of her new expression instead of the information I'd given her.

  When she finally spoke, she said, "I be back," and left the room before any of us could think to ask where she was going.

  Sylvia rolled her eyes and mumbled to herself as she returned to the stove. I turned the light on in the oven to check the progress of my cupcakes, then poured Tia Rosa a cup of coffee. I wished there was something else I could do to help her feel better. I hated seeing her like this — so disappointed.

  Abuelita returned minutes later with a square carton with at least two dozen eggs and a family-sized packet of toilet paper. She said, "Come, Rosa. I take you therapy."

  Tia Rosa slid off her stool, tossed back the last of her coffee, and followed Abuelita. Before the swinging door closed behind them, Sylvia shouted after them, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

  As the door swung toward us, I saw Abuelita grin. "How you think I get the idea?"

  Sylvia sighed. "That's exactly what I was afraid of." Grabbing a stack of carrots, she joined me in the center island, dicing the carrots mercilessly. "I hope Antonio isn't too attached to his car. With the sun baking us like it is today, he'll have a mess on his hands. And if it rains…" She shivered at the thought.

  I had to bite down on the corners of my cheeks to keep from smiling at the thought of two vengeance-seeking senior citizens egging and papering his precious convertible. It would serve him right if it rained.

  One of the waitresses came in and said something to Sylvia. She spoke too quickly for me to understand her, but I did catch a name. Luis.

  Sure enough, behind her, stood the owner of the gas station.

  Sylvia waved for him to join us, and the waitress went back to the dining room to attend to the customers.

  Luis shuffled his hat from hand-to-hand. "I'm sorry to disturb you when you're busy, but I was hoping maybe you learned something new."

  I didn't know if he had heard about Alex yet, so I told him. "Alex is dead. He was found in his bed at the hotel. They suspect poison."

  Luis exhaled loudly enough I could hear it. "I spoke with him just yesterday. I was convinced he knew something. Now, I know it."

  "It may not be what you think it is," I said, filling him in on the testing scam. He’d been right.

  His jaw tensed. "Sophia never would have involved herself in something like that."

  "Nobody has called her honesty into question, but is there anyone in the group who would have been desperate enough to kill her to prevent her from telling on them?"

  He visibly relaxed once he heard how Sophia was not included amongst the cheaters. "I wouldn't think so. All of them were from wealthy families who could have afforded to send them to school without the scholarship. In fact, there was an article in the paper about the injustice of them winning the government scholarships when other students who could not afford to attend university were denied. Miss Matty was very vocal in defending her students, telling the reporters how hard they had worked. She'd be devastated to know they had cheated."

  "She knows. She's going to tell the current high school director and is prepared to have their offer withdrawn," I said.

  Sylvia tapped her spoon against the side of her pan. "That’s such a pity. I hope they keep her on. Even if her career got off to a rocky start, there is no denying how much she has helped the kids in our school system. I would hate to see her pay for the thoughtless acts of her former students."

  I asked Luis, "Did Alex say anything to you?"

  Luis bowed his head. "No, and now I think I understand why. Knowing him, he was planning to exploit his classmates’ dishonesty to the fullest. He would have them between a rock and a hard place since he had nothing to lose if they accused him of thinking of the scheme in the first place, whereas they all have prestigious jobs. If one of them were found out, it would go public."

  "Are you going to the dinner tonight?" I asked on the chance he had been included on the guest list. Speaking of which … I had doughnuts to make.

  "I wasn't invited, but I'll be there. Will you?"

  "The murderer knows what I'm doing and is too smart to let their cover slip now. They've also committed another crime and might act differently than you would expect. Can you keep your eyes and ears open for me and let me know if you see anything out of place?" I asked, careful not to lose count as I measured cups of flour into the mixer.

  "You should find a way to be there," Luis insisted.

  "I have plans tonight." And nothing was going to change them. The ball was already rolling.

  Chapter 24

  In my harried thoughts, I let the doughnuts rise too long, leaving some of them without their trademark holes. Not wanting the dozen or so “ruined” circles to go to waste, I plopped some of Sylvia’s berry jam in the center and topped them with a crumble mixture like that’d been my plan all along. I had other things on my mind.

  We waited until dusk to make our move. Loaded up on sugar (someone had to eat the cupcakes and taste test the doughnuts) me and my partners in crime, Abuelita and Tia Rosa, made our way down the narrow streets past the cathedral to Christian's house. Creepy Suit Couple lived in the place directly in front and, true to his promise, he had a loudspeaker propping open his front window blasting reggaeton music. People milled about his front lawn, bringing bowls of popcorn as an offering for the free booze he offered. Being a liquor importer, it had been an easy thing for Christian to invite his neighbors over to celebrate the start of the weekend. He had made sure to invite the Creepy Suits.

  The closer we got to his house, the more we tried to stay in the shadows. Our target was a dilapidated two-story house on a corner lot with an alleyway to one side where the neighbors parked their cars, their own residences not affording room enough for a garage.

  The air was still humid after the afternoon rain, so my ripped jeans didn't dry on the line. I had another pair in my carry-on, but I had already ripped a hole in one treasured pair and I wasn't too keen on ruining another. So I donned the khaki shorts Jessenia had made me pack. My legs looked like beacons in the night, but all I cared about was getting Lady back. I didn't need to look cool to do it.

  Abuelita and Tia Rosa were dressed in head-to-toe black. I was glad I had grabbed my black hoodie.

  We strolled down the street, smiling at neighbors and nodding at the people who crossed our path as if we were innocent tourists out for an evening stroll.

  I checked my watch. We were right on time.

  Christian stood on his front porch, chatting it up with the neighbors and friends he had invited to his party. An older woman wearing a floral dress with a button-down sweater stood beside him. With the irritated perseverance C
hristian displayed with her conversation, I could only guess she was his mom. She scanned the street in front of her and pointed every so often, asking him something to which he would frown and point inside the house. She refused, the cycle began again.

  I tried to catch Christian's attention without drawing any attention to myself and my trusty sidekicks. If he hadn't managed to get the Creepy Suits over to his party, all my plans were for naught.

  Christian’s mom pointed at me. She clasped her hands together under her chin and, when Christian nodded at me and gave me a thumbs-up, she clapped and bobbed up and down on her toes. Then, she licked her thumb and smoothed his hair, which he strongly protested.

  The alleyway to the side of the house I was certain held Lady was blocked with cars. The wall we would have to climb looked higher than Christian had described it as being, but at least it didn't have barbed wire or broken glass on top.

  About halfway down the concrete wall surrounding the property, the branches of a guava tree stood over the top of the wall, providing some much-needed cover. Parked underneath was a Jeep with a roll cage. That was where we would go up.

  Stepping lightly, the Jeep’s alarm beeped at me to go away.

  I looked back at Abuelita and Tia Rosa.

  Abuelita waved me forward. "You go first. You more heavy."

  Thanks for that. I tried to lean most of my weight against the side of the wall as I a balanced between the tailgate and the top of the roll bar, taking it so slowly my thighs shook. But the Jeep didn't chirp again.

  The wall was close enough, I threw my leg over it, grateful for the tree blocking me from the crowd at Christian's house.

  Once I was firmly seated at the top of the cement wall, I turned around to help Tia Rosa and Abuelita. At least, that had been my intention. Abuelita had already plunked herself beside me by the time I had situated myself. Together, we offered a hand to Tia Rosa who, while as round as a soccer ball, was as light as a hummingbird.

  We surveyed the backyard below us as we caught our breath. The center was a mud pit from the afternoon’s rain, and it looked as if a compost pile had exploded over the yard with pieces of bread mixed with corn and other organic waste. Across the yard, against the opposite concrete wall was a cage. In it were two terriers. One stood up, her ears perked up as she looked from side to side just like Lady did when she was curious. She had had puppies not long ago, but I didn’t see any sign of them.

  A rustle under my feet made me look down to see two German shepherds baring their teeth and staring at me with black eyes, as if to dare me to set foot in their domain. I checked to make sure the door to their cage was closed with the flashlight Tia Rosa pulled out of her plastic bag. The poor dogs had bald spots along their backs and legs. I lifted the light to get a better look at the terriers. I could have counted their ribs. It wasn’t only Lady who needed our help.

  It was a pity that with such a large backyard, all four dogs were kept in cages. And while the shepherds had the benefit of the tree for shade from the sun and shelter from the rain, I could see a puddle of mud seeping through the mesh bottom of the terriers’ cage.

  "Ay, ay, ay," exclaimed Abuelita. Elbowing me in the ribs, she said, "I attach the spots. The bad people, they say true."

  Tia Rosa corrected, "No is attach spots. Is connect dots."

  Abuelita tsked, waving her sister’s correction off. "Is no matter. Jessica understand, yes?" she asked me.

  I hated to think of the beating my English would take by the time I finally left Ecuador for home. I determined to watch Adi's longest period drama that night before I started speaking like Abuelita. There was nothing like early nineteenth century English to straighten out a skewed vocabulary.

  “I understand.” Sadly for me. However, I couldn’t quite figure out how the dog snatchers had told the truth. Though I had scanned over the property a few times, I still didn't see Lady.

  And then it dawned on me. The terrier’s curious ears and the black eyeliner and markings of the German shepherds. Somebody had escaped from their cages. They were her parents.

  Tia Rosa opened her plastic bag and pulled out a handful of doggie treats. "I bring this for Lady, but she no mind if I give to her family."

  "Is illegal, this," said Abuelita, pointing at the cages. "These people, they have the puppies and they sell for too much money. No is good. Is true Lady from here, but she no make money until she on the television. They no want her. She mistake. She the mix."

  The intelligence of a terrier and the bravery of a German shepherd. That was my Lady.

  My anger at the couple who had trapped the dogs in cages without a care for their wellness so long as they produced puppies rose justified what I was about to do.

  But first, how to get down from this wall….

  I still didn't see Lady, but I knew she had to be on the property. My best guess was to look inside the house. There was a door at the back.

  Sliding down and stretching my legs as far as I could, I set the toe of my shoe on top of the shepherds’ cage and promptly pulled it back when they lunged against it to eat my foot. Hmm … the cage looked sturdy. While I despised seeing them behind bars, I was grateful for it.

  Tentatively, I tried again. If I wanted to find Lady, there was no other way to do it. The cage jostled as the dogs slammed against it to get to me, their barks ringing in my ears. I shushed them as I hopped down to the ground, but that only made them louder.

  Tia Rosa stayed on the wall to serve as a lookout, she being the only one of the three of us who could whistle louder than a puff. My eyes had adjusted enough to the darkness, I left the flashlight with her.

  Abuelita jumped down beside me, every bit as fit as I was (or, more accurately, wasn’t … I was a work in progress). When I looked at her with admiration, she said, “What? I do the rumbaterapia. You know? The dance class?” She shook her hips and hands in a cha cha — just like Mammy with her pop and lock moves.

  “Sounds like fun,” I commented as we stepped away from the dog cages and moved toward the house. We were greeted with honks, but I couldn’t see very well in the dark. I signaled for Tia Rosa to shine the flashlight at the noise. Oddly enough, it sounded just like the Canadian Geese that used to fly over my parents’ house where I grew up in the Portland suburbs.

  “Oh no,” said Abuelita, smacking her arm across my chest, bringing me to a halt.

  “What is it?” I asked, my nerves on point.

  “Is the gooses.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” I didn’t know what she was worried about. I’d fed geese at the park before.

  “The gooses be mean. If you hear the hiss, you be careful.”

  Even in the dark, I could see their white forms as a gaggle of geese emerged from the side of the house. Standing erect with their wings out, all five of them began to hiss at the same time I heard Lady’s shrill bark on the other side of the feathery barrier.

  How bad could a few geese be. Right?

  Chapter 25

  It turns out that angry geese are definitely a problem. They gathered in front of the very door I needed to get through, fiercely protecting their territory with sharp beaks and shattering the peaceful, pastoral image of geese floating lazily on a pond. They were mean!

  At one point, when my legs and arms could not possibly hurt anymore, I surged through the mass of fluffed, white feathers, my hands in front of me waving side to side to clear a path. Abuelita glued herself behind me, using me as a human shield. She had found a stick somewhere between the wall and the door and whacked me against the side more often than she waved a goose away.

  I stretched forward to the door handle, praying it wasn’t locked. I heard Lady’s fingernails scratching against the wood on the other side of the door. The knob turned and I sighed in relief as I tumbled inside, pushed forward by Abuelita, who promptly closed the door behind us.

  I knelt down to the floor and Lady knocked me over with her enthusiasm. I hugged her to me and she nuzzled into my neck. I trie
d to get her to sit so I could make certain she was unharmed, but she was having none of it. So, I ran my hands over her, satisfied when she did not wince or yelp.

  "What do you say, girl? Do you want to get out of this place?" I asked softly.

  As she always did, Abuelita said, "You talk dog. You crazy."

  I didn't mind that kind of crazy, so I just grinned at her. I had my dog back.

  The music from across the street vibrated the windows, reminding me that we needed to get out of there.

  I gathered Lady into my arms, not wanting her to suffer at the beaks of the guards on the other side of the door we had to return through. "Come on. We need to leave."

  Abuelita said, "You go. I behind you."

  Taking a deep breath and mustering up my goose-battered courage, I charged through the door with my head down and my arms wrapped firmly around Lady.

  An onslaught of sharp peaks jabbed at my arms and legs, but I kept going. It wasn't until we got to the German shepherds’ cage when I realized that the terriers were out of their cage. They jumped at my feet as if to say, "Rescue me too!"

  A breeze rushed through the yard, banging the open cage door against the concrete wall. I understood how Lady had come to be with her parents’ ability to escape. Even now, the female gnawed on the latch to the German shepherds’ cage. What would happen if I let all four dogs out? That would give me time to call the police. Abuelita had said that what the Creepy Suits were doing was illegal.

  It was bad enough I had trespassed onto private property, I might as well do a good job of it.

  I climbed on top of the cage, careful to keep Lady and my fingers away from the larger gaps in the dogs’ cage. Tia Rosa reached down, grabbing a squirming Lady from my arms.