Tessa might have nodded, he wasn’t sure, but she didn’t say anything.
“Your mother covered her ears, but she couldn’t have blocked out his yelling. Then he grabbed one of her hands and twisted it. ‘Read my palm or go to jail. Then what will happen to your little brat?’ He put his hand in hers and held it there with his other one. He wasn’t but twelve or thirteen, but he was big. And strong. With thick wrists and huge shoulders. Your mom was like you; willowy.”
Willowy? Was he turning into some kind of poet? Next, he’d be discussing the color of her eyes and the way her hair shone when the light hit it.
“All the blood went out of her face. You know how water goes out of the sink when you pull the plug? That’s how the color drained out of her. She made this gasping, strangling noise and tried to pull her hand back, but he wouldn’t let go. I ran in and grabbed him around the waist and yanked him back. He held on and she stumbled forward. When she started screaming, he let go and slapped her. Called her a bitch. I knew the word of course. Either read it or heard it from someone. Probably my brother.”
This time he did roll his eyes.
“But I’d never heard it used. Not to call someone that to her face. I was so shocked I couldn’t move. Jacinto picked up the crystal ball and threw it on the floor. He grabbed the cigar box that I guess held her money and ran out the door. That’s when I saw you for the first time.”
He couldn’t help himself. He reached over and put his hand on her leg. He liked that she didn’t seem to object.
“She screamed after him, called him names, I don’t think she realized what happened to you. I grabbed some kind of scarf or shawl thing, and wrapped it around your leg. Then she saw you and pushed me back so she could get to you. I just stood there and watched. There was so much blood, it scared me. I noticed the phone in the corner and dialed 911. I didn’t stick around to see what happened because I knew I’d be in deep shit if Mamacita found out.”
He glanced at Tessa and watched as a tear leaked out and hung on an eyelash before falling.
She brushed it away with the back of her hand. “All I remember is the pain and her screaming at the paramedics that she couldn’t afford for me to go to the hospital. Couldn’t they just sew it up? I didn’t know what sew it up meant, but I was sure I wouldn’t like it. Did Mamacita ever figure out what happened?”
“I don’t know. I slipped in without being seen, but at supper she shot me a hard look and gave me extra chores. I didn’t have the nerve to ask why.”
“What happened to Jacinto?”
“He never came at me straight on, but the next couple of months were hell. Guys would punch me in the arm or trip me, then make fun of how clumsy I was. Called me a freak for being so tall. Told me I was adopted.” That was the part that hurt the most. The part he almost believed.
“Of course I was clumsy, I was growing about an inch a month. I never knew where my feet were. I didn’t need anyone to trip me. I did it myself. But the kids did whatever he told them, they were all afraid of him. I think even the teachers were afraid of him. Then summer came and his family moved away. I hadn’t thought of him again until yesterday.”
Ruben stopped in front of a new, two-story, lot-line-to-lot-line house in West U. Jeeze, he hated to see the old houses with character pulled down to make room for something so out of place. But he couldn’t fault the owners for selling out when they had the chance. Most were elderly and needed the money.
“Is this the place?” He twisted toward Tessa.
“Yes. My supplies are in the garage. With the lunch you packed me, I’ll be fine until you pick me up this evening. Unless you think it would be safe for me to go home. He didn’t find the appointment book so there’s no reason for him to come back.”
“He doesn’t know you don’t have it. You’re not safe until we have him locked down. Besides, Bob is still at the cabin. Let’s see how far we get today. If we can scoop him up, you’ll be home tomorrow.”
Why was he so disappointed that she wanted to go home? Hadn’t he been dreaming of his own apartment just last night?
“I’ll call you from time-to-time today. Make sure you’re okay. But don’t wait for me to call. If anything doesn’t feel right, call me right away.”
He got out and opened the car door for her.
She stepped onto the lawn and put her hands on her hips. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to walk you inside. Make sure it’s safe.” What did she mean, what was he doing?
“No, you’re not. This is my job. I can’t have you snooping around. I need these people to recommend me. I’ll call you if I see anything suspicious.”
He clinched his jaw. “What if he grabs you and you can’t call?”
“Okay. I’ll call you when I get settled inside. If you don’t hear from me in fifteen minutes, come running.”
“Make it ten minutes and we have a deal.”
She rolled her eyes and started up the driveway, her artist’s bag over her shoulder.
Was he going to have to worry about her all day?
Chapter 29
Ruben’s desk looked just as it had when he left on Friday. No little elves had come in and cleared it for him.
“Morning, partner. You look like shit.” Adam gazed at him over the rim of his coffee mug.
“Thanks. You look like sunshine yourself.” Actually, Adam did look pretty good. Smiling. Who smiled at 8:00 on Monday morning? Someone who’d had a better weekend than he had.
“Ready to go catch us a bad guy?”
“Couldn’t happen too soon for me. Someone broke into Tessa Reynas’ house on Saturday. I’ve had her stashed at my cabin all weekend.”
Adam’s eyebrows rose. “Was she hurt? Any idea who did it?”
“No, and no. Not unless I have a report hidden here somewhere about fingerprints.” Ruben shuffled through his in box. Nothing.
He glanced at Adam. “Why don’t you see if you can track down that report? I’ll call Tessa and make sure she’s okay before we head out to question Jacinto.”
“She’s a witness, Ruben.” Adam sat his mug down and stared at him.
Fuck, he must be serious. He let go of his coffee. He wouldn’t dare give me the same lecture I gave him about Jillian. Would he?
“I know exactly what she is and I don’t need a Romeo, even a reformed Romeo, to remind me.” I also know what she thinks she is; a witch with magical powers.
“Okay then.” Adam picked up his coffee. “Let’s see if we have enough evidence for a warrant.”
Ruben buried his head in work and tried not to think about what Adam said. Adam had always had plenty of women. They seemed to flock to him, but he’d been looking for the right one. Even if he tended to look in the wrong places. He was a serial monogamist. Was Jillian just his latest mistake? He couldn’t live through Adam with another broken heart.
Not for him, though. He had never looked for Ms. Right. Just for Ms. Right Now. But the women he picked were looking for the same thing, so he hadn’t left a trail of broken promises. Just satisfied smiles.
At one time, he’d kept count. He was secretly proud of his conquests. Not anymore. He suspected he’d be ashamed if he knew the number.
Ruben almost jumped when Adam rapped on the corner of his desk. “Forensics is still working on the prints they took from Tessa’s home. We’ll be ‘the first to know when we have something to report.’ No point waiting on those guys. Let’s see if we can rattle his cage sans warrant.”
“I have a lot I need to tell you about Tessa Reyna and her mother. Wait till we get to the car. This is quite a story.” How much he would tell his partner, he wasn’t sure. But he definitely needed to let him in on the victim’s past experience with their suspect.
Adam stopped. “In that case, I’ve got to tell you something before we get involved with this case and I forget. I need you at my house a week from Sunday at 2:00 o’clock.”
“Does your deck need staining again already?” H
e didn’t have time to worry about this now.
Did Adam just flush? Yep, his neck was red.
“No, it’s a get-together. A party. My folks are coming out and my brother and his family will be in from Alaska. Bring Mamacita. Wear a suit.”
What the fuck? Wear a suit? He didn’t wear a suit on weekends. As for Mamacita, he’d have to check a lunar calendar, but the way things were going, she might be dead by then.
TexDot listed Jacinto’s address as an apartment near the Galleria. Only a block or so away from Ruben’s in measurable distance, but miles away in real estate terms.
Even the elevator was nicer than anything Ruben owned.
Ruben eyed the plush carpet and the occasional tables in the hall. It even smelled like money. Where did Jacinto get the bread for digs like this? Everything he checked said the guy was barely making ends meet.
He stood in front of the oversized door. “How do you want to play it? A polite knock or beat the crap out of it?”
Adam winked. “It always pays to be polite. At first.”
Ruben knocked gently, then harder. “Time for Plan B.” He balled up his fist and pounded on the door, calling, “Ruben Jacinto. Police. Open the door.”
Nothing happened.
He pressed his ear against the door. “If he’s hiding in there, he’s doing a good job of it. I don’t hear a thing.” He turned and put his nose next to the doorframe. “Or smell anything.”
“That’s it. We don’t have any reason to ask the super to open the door. We’ll try the neighbors, see if they know anything about him.”
Ruben glared at the door for several seconds, but that didn’t help.
There were only four apartments on the floor, so it didn’t take long to find out that no one had seen Jacinto all weekend.
“Not that we missed him any,” said one man, a gray-haired business type that Ruben pegged as well past sixty. “He plays his music loud enough to rattle the pictures on the wall. If you try to say anything to him, even nice and friendly, you’re likely to find your car got keyed during the night.”
The trophy wife clinging to his arm nodded. “And the people he brings around . . . Not the sort you’d expect to see in a place like this. I keep my door locked at all times, and I won’t go out on the balcony if I know he’s home. Of course, he’s not home that often. Stays gone a week or two at a time.”
The wife lowered her voice to just above a whisper. “There was this one guy, he had boobs bigger than mine.”
She glanced down at her chest. “And that’s saying a lot.” She grinned at Ruben and winked.
Ruben handed her his card. “Please give me a call, day or night, if he comes home.”
She ran her tongue across her lips and glanced over her shoulder at her husband’s retreating back. “Any time?”
“If he comes home.” Ruben frowned, but Adam chuckled as she closed the door.
“Let’s try the garage. See if his car is in his spot.” Adam pivoted and started for the elevator.
Neither he nor Adam spoke as the elevator crept silently to the garage. A dark blue Beemer, the only car registered to Ruben Jacinto, sat in his numbered spot. He placed his hand on the hood. Stone cold.
Adam cleaned his glasses on his tie. “If he’s not in the apartment, and his car is sitting here, you know what that means?”
“It means we’re screwed. We don’t know where he is or what he’s driving.”
Adam dialed Forensics as they hiked back to their car. He held the phone away from his ear and Ruben could hear the techie yelling not to bother him again. He’d let them know when he had anything to tell them.
“Little pissant.” Adam jabbed the ‘off’ button.
Ruben almost smiled. It was about time Adam got as frustrated as he was.
“You want to head back to the office? See if we can stretch your information about Jacinto knowing the victim into a reason for a warrant?
“I’d really have to tap dance to make a run-in twenty-three years ago, when he wasn’t but twelve or thirteen, good enough for a warrant. If it did turn up anything and a defense attorney got it kicked out at trial, anything we learned would be Fruit of the Poisonous Tree.” Ruben started the car but didn’t pull away from the curb.
“So what’s your brilliant idea? Sit here until Forensics calls us back?”
“Why don’t we head back to that gym? See if that old fart has any idea where Jacinto hangs out when he’s not in his apartment for a week or two at a time.”
As he reached the intersection, he glanced right, toward his apartment. Could he stop by and pick up some clean clothes, check his mail? No, that would give Adam an opportunity to ride him. He had clothes at the cleaners. He’d grab them after work. Even if it did mean driving twenty minutes out of the way.
Adam checked in with Jillian while they were driving, so Ruben figured he could check on Tessa without getting too much grief.
She was fine. No one suspicious was lurking around. Leave her alone so she could finish the job. She didn’t want to have to come back tomorrow.
Guess that told him.
Chapter 30
RJ’s Gym didn’t look any better than it had the first time they were there. It didn’t smell any better either.
The front door had been locked, so they went around to the alley in back. That door was locked also, but a dumpster hid them from view. Ruben knelt in front of the door and an expertly wielded credit card had it jimmied open in less than a minute.
Adam pulled his sleeve over his hand to open the door. “I don’t like this. The place should have opened an hour ago.”
Ruben waited for his eyes to adjust to the gloom. Light drifted in through a couple of high windows, but they hadn’t been cleaned since the Truman administration so it remained faint. Silence filled the room like a physical presence.
He wrinkled his nose. “You know that odor I didn’t smell at Jacinto’s apartment? I smell it here.”
“Yep, this is bad. What do you think? Did we come in through the unlocked front door?” Adam pinched the bridge of his nose.
“No. Someone might have tried it and remember it was locked. It was the back door that was open. We just turned the knob, came in and found it like this.”
Ruben eased his way through the gym to the manager’s office. That door was locked, also.
“Over here,” Adam called. He stood beside a large barbell.
They hefted it together. Ruben adjusted his grip on the cold steel and counted to three. They swung it at the doorknob, and the door popped open. The smell, which had been unpleasant with the door closed, now flowed out like a river of death.
The manager lay on the floor in an unnatural heap. His head twisted to one side.
“There’s no point in checking for a pulse. No human could bend in that position if still alive.” Ruben held a handkerchief over his nose. He’d forgotten the Vick’s again.
Adam had his own handkerchief out. “He’s wearing the same checked cardigan and stripped shirt he had on when we were here Friday.”
“That would be definitive on some people, but this guy might not think it necessary to change clothes every day. Let’s back out the way we came and wait in the car while we call it in. I’ve seen enough dead bodies for one week.”
“What is it, four in eight days?” Adam blinked as if the fumes stung his eyes. “This guy must be trying for a record.”
“Now maybe your techie friend will think those fingerprints are important enough to move to the top of his list.”
“We’re almost finished here. How about you?” Ruben cradled the phone against his ear while initialing evidence reports.
“I’ll lose the light in another hour and have to stop. So quit calling me and let me get back to work. After I finish, it’ll take me twenty minutes to clean up my stuff, and another twenty minutes to fawn over the old lady so she’ll write my check without a fuss. At most, you have to pick me up in an hour and forty-five minutes. If you can’t do it, tell
me now so I can call a taxi. I’m not sitting around this place a minute longer than necessary.”
“And where would you have that taxi take you?” He regretted his decision not to tell her about the old man. She obviously thought this was all a game, but he needed to tell her face-to-face in case she had another panic attack.
“I’d bet my paycheck there’s a Starbucks within a mile of here. I’ll wait for you there.”
Okay, maybe she wasn’t as flighty as he’d thought. “Call me when you finish painting. If I can’t leave then, I’ll send a squad car to take you someplace comfortable to wait.”
“No squad car. The old lady would have a heart attack if an actual police car pulled up in front of her house. Her neighbors might see it.”
“Tell her it’s your boyfriend.”
“Then he’d better be darn good looking.”
Now why did that bother him?
A faint aroma of paint filled the car, but Ruben didn’t mind. It was a hundred times more pleasant than what he’d smelled all afternoon.
“Sorry I left you waiting, but there was more traffic than I expected.” Was she angry? She’d been pretty clear waiting at that house would be uncomfortable.
“It worked out okay. The owner got a phone call, and I sat in the kitchen with the maid. Jobs must be hard to come by if she stays with that bi . . . old lady.” Tessa chuckled. “I guess I can’t talk. I was working for her myself, but only for one day. What about you? Did you catch a break in the case?”
Why did he always have to be the one who had to break bad news to her?
“We didn’t find that Jacinto guy. He’s in the wind, and our only link to him was found murdered this morning. That’s why I got hung up today, and why you can’t go home yet.”
“Shit.”
Wow, she was mad. That was the first time he’d ever heard her use profanity. The women he was used to treated obscenities like salt; sprinkle it everywhere to spice things up.
The Witch On Twisted Oak Page 18