Bullseye

by Virginia Smith

  Throughout the entire monologue the attorney never looked up from his note taking. His pen hurried across the paper leaving a scribbled trail of blue ink. Three full pages of it.

  He’s recording Alex’s story word-for-word.

  For some reason that irritated Mason even further. Though it made perfect sense to take notes rather than record a session with a client and risk someone getting hold of the tape, the guy was missing half the conversation. Even people who hadn’t been trained in interrogation techniques understood about body language, didn’t they? Seventy percent of a person’s meaning was relayed through nonverbal means. Facial expressions, the position of the hands, the way someone’s shoulders were angled either toward or away from the person they were talking to—those all said far more than words, even to an untrained eye.

  Not only was Alex’s body sending some contradictory messages, but Hector’s body was practically screaming. It was saying, “Yeah, whatever. I don’t really care what you say, and I’m not paying much attention. I’ll do the job I’ve been paid to do, but don’t expect me to get personally involved.”

  By the time Alex finished, his arms were folded tightly across his chest and he had scooted around in his chair until his back was pressed against the hard plastic to put as much distance between the attorney and himself as possible. He doesn’t trust him. Smart kid. Beside him, Karina watched the scribbling pen with an almost trancelike stare.

  Navarro kept writing for almost a minute after Alex finished, then set his pen down. He finally looked up into his client’s face. “All right. I’ll contact the district attorney’s office and find out how they’re going to proceed. Then we’ll make plans from there.” He tore the pages from the spiral notebook, laid them in the folder, and closed the flimsy cardboard cover.

  Karina sat upright in her chair. “Wait a minute. That’s it?” Her head turned to glance at Alex for a second, and then back to the lawyer. “What are we going to do now?”

  Hector slid the folder back into his briefcase and answered without looking at her. “I told you. I’ll speak with someone at the D.A.’s office and we’ll figure it out from there.”

  “But does Alex have to stay here? What about bail or something?”

  “We can’t even ask the judge for a bail hearing until he gets more information from the D.A.” The man got to his feet. “I promise I’ll get in touch with you soon. Hopefully by the end of the week.”

  “The end of the week?” She cast a glance across the table at Mason, though what she expected him to do, he couldn’t imagine. Much as he hated to admit it, the guy was right. The judge wouldn’t release a kid with suspected gang involvement without knowing more details. Still, Navarro could pretend to be more sympathetic, the little jerk.

  Mason didn’t bother to get to his feet, though Karina and Alex did. Looking shell-shocked and a lot younger than he had ten minutes before, Alex let his attorney shake his fingers.

  “Alexander, I promise you, I’ll do everything I can to move this along as quickly as possible. In the meantime, the best thing you can do is be cooperative and get along with everyone here. If you cause trouble, word will get back to the judge.” He paused and waited for Alex to look at him. It was the first time Mason had seen the little weasel look the kid in the face. “Do exactly as you’re told and everything will work out okay. Do you understand?”

  Though the advice to get along and be cooperative here was sound and completely logical, Mason was surprised by Alex’s reaction. He jerked back like he’d been slapped, eyes suddenly round. The pair exchanged a long, weighty stare before the kid nodded.

  Interesting. Something had just happened between the two, a private communication of some kind. Mason rested his elbows on the plastic arms of his chair, his mind busy.

  Navarro waved at the window and the guard on the other side hefted himself out of the chair to open the door. The

  lawyer started to move toward it, then stopped suddenly as though he’d just remembered something.

  “Oh, Ms. Guerrero, would you mind signing something?” Without even looking, he reached into his briefcase and slid out a sheet of paper. “It’s a consent form for me to talk with Alexander without you being present.”

  He handed the paper to Karina and reached inside his jacket to whip a pen out of his shirt pocket. When Karina took it and headed toward the table to sign without a question, alarms sounded in Mason’s head.

  “Why would that be necessary?” Mason put weight in his voice, so that the words filled the room and bounced off of the tile floor. Karina stopped with the pen above the paper, and Alex tossed a startled glance his way.

  Navarro shrugged. “I don’t see it as a necessity. Of course Ms. Guerrero will be privileged to anything I say to her brother. But if I’m in the building and have a few spare minutes, I can visit with him.”

  Karina opened her mouth to question him, and Mason could see by her expression that she was about to agree with the lawyer. He hardened his stare. Her brother was a minor. It was her responsibility to know everything that went on between him and his attorney. Besides, Mason didn’t trust the little weasel.

  Alex spoke up. “I’d like to have visitors whenever I can. It’s pretty boring here.”

  Mason tried to catch Alex’s eye, but the kid refused to look at him. To his disgust, Karina apparently came to a decision and signed the form. She cast a quick defiant glance toward Mason as she handed the paper to the public defender.

  Dumb decision. He didn’t bother to hide his disgust. He folded his arms and shifted his body in his chair so he was looking at the wall instead of her. Why was he wasting his time here anyway, if she wasn’t going to listen to him?

  “Thank you. I’ll be in touch soon.” Navarro tucked the paper away in his briefcase and left the room.

  The moment the door closed, Karina rounded on Mason. “What was that about?” The question sounded more like an attack. Which wasn’t fair at all.

  Mason gave her a cold look. “You’re his guardian.”

  “Yes, and Hector is his attorney.”

  “You have a responsibility to be involved in Alex’s defense every step of the way.” He tried to stop himself from saying the next words, he really did. But the angry, accusing glare on her face goaded him. “Or have you forgotten the fact that one reason he’s in this mess is because you weren’t aware of what he was doing when he was running the streets in the middle of the night?”

  Her face went white, and Mason instantly regretted the verbal barb. She felt guilty enough as it was, and only a jerk would remind her of that.

  “I’m sorry.” He softened his tone. “That was uncalled for. This isn’t your fault. Really. You can’t watch a teenager every minute. Nobody can.”

  Alex stepped forward, his face flushed. “In case you two haven’t noticed, I’m right here. If you’re going to talk about me like I’m some stupid baby who can’t understand you, maybe I ought to just leave.”

  Mason tore his gaze from Karina’s tortured face to look at the kid. “You’re right, Alex. You’re not a baby. You’re a young man who’s in a really ugly situation, and your sister is doing everything she can to get you out of it.” He loaded unspoken meaning into his stare, Alex’s request to protect Karina hanging in the air between them. “And I’m here to help her.”

  Alex took the meaning. His throat spasmed with a swallow, and he jerked a nearly imperceptible nod. Then he turned to Karina. “I don’t want you to do anything else. I’ve got an attorney now, and he’ll take care of everything.”

  Karina visibly bolstered herself. “Of course I’m going to do whatever I can, Alex. You’re innocent, and I’m not going to stand back and let you be accused of something you didn’t do.”

  “No!”

  The teen’s vehemence surprised them both. Mason arched his eyebrows. Was that simply the protest
of a brother concerned for his sister, or was there more behind Alex’s shout?

  The boy turned on Karina. “You need to just back off, you hear? My lawyer can handle everything. You don’t know what you’re getting involved with.”

  Outside the window the guard had noticed the altercation. He rose from his chair and started toward the door.

  Mason spoke before the man could interrupt. “Why don’t you tell us what’s going on, Alex?”

  The teen’s face flushed a brilliant red. “Nothing’s going on. I just want everybody to leave me alone, that’s all.”

  A childish response, of course. Alex was clearly upset. Karina’s mouth hung open, and the expression she fixed on her brother was both hurt and confused. But whatever she might have said was cut short when the guard opened the door and stepped into the room.

  “Is everything okay in here?”

  “I’m ready to go back to my room.” Alex stomped past the man and was through the door before anyone could stop him.

  Staring at his retreating back, tears sparkled in Karina’s eyes. The sight of them made Mason want to run after the boy and drag him back here to apologize to his sister. Though in a part of his brain he knew the kid was trying to protect her from whatever he’d gotten himself mixed up in, he couldn’t stand to look at the pain in her face. Even though she was the most infuriating woman in the entire world, he had to fight off an urge to round the table and gather her in a comforting embrace when the guard left them alone and followed Alex.

  The impulse died in the next instant. She turned to him, fury burning in her face like a bonfire.

  “This is all your fault! Calling you was the second biggest mistake of my entire life.” She put both hands on the surface of the table and leaned forward, thrusting her face in his

  direction. “The first was getting involved with you when we were sophomores in high school. I wish I’d never met you!”

  With that she stomped out of the room after the guard, leaving Mason to wonder why in the world he’d ever been stupid enough to return to Albuquerque.

  TWELVE

  “I have somebody else for you to check out, Brent. Name’s Hector Navarro.”

  Mason paced the asphalt behind the rental car, one hand in his jeans pocket and the other holding his phone to his ear. Inside the car Karina sat like a statue staring through the windshield. Her stiff posture told him she was still unreasonably furious. The call to his F.A.S.T. partner had been partly to delay the moment when he had to climb into the seat beside her.

  “Hold on a sec, Mason.” Brent must have covered his phone, because his voice became muffled and distant as he spoke to someone else.

  Mason paced from the rental car across several parking spaces, passed the bumpers of three other cars, then turned and retraced his steps. He’d just completed his third bumper-to-bumper trip when Brent returned to the conversation.

  “Sorry about that. I was just finishing up a meeting. Now, tell me the guy’s name again.”

  “Hector Navarro.” Mason spelled the last name. “He’s an attorney, a public defender. Looks like he’s about twelve years old. The ink’s probably still wet on his law degree.”

  A keyboard tapped in the background. “You think this Maddox guy’s got a lawyer in his pocket?”

  “No idea, but that’s what I hope you can dig up,” Mason replied.

  “If there’s a connection, I’ll find it.” A low chuckle rolled across the phone line. “Kind of funny, don’t you think? When I was out in Vegas trying to help Lauren, you were back home researching stuff for me. Now the tables are turned, and I’m helping you and your girl.”

  Mason’s feet skidded to a halt on the pavement. “She’s not my girl. It is not the same thing.”

  A pause. “Okay, if you say so.”

  The indulgent tone in his friend’s voice plucked at a couple of Mason’s nerves. “Don’t waste your time trying to draw parallels between my situation and yours. They don’t exist. You were attracted to Lauren from the start and I’m—” A glance inside the car at Karina’s statuelike silhouette set his teeth together. “I’m definitely not.”

  He must have sounded a lot fiercer than he thought, because Brent apologized. “My mistake. Sorry.” But his voice didn’t sound nearly contrite enough. “I’ll get on this Navarro guy and call you back when I have something.”

  Mason disconnected the call without saying good-bye. Sometimes his friends could be even more irritating than a meddlesome family. Caleb with his constant praying and Bible lessons, and now Brent’s insinuations that there was something between Karina and him. It was enough to drive a guy nuts.

  He headed for the driver’s side. When he opened the door, he heard Karina’s voice.

  “I’ll be right there, Lana. Thanks for letting me know.” She closed the cover on her phone and looked up at him when he slid behind the steering wheel. Rather than the red-faced anger he’d expected, she looked a bit pale. “We need to go over to the salon right away.” The words trembled on her voice.

  “Is everything all right?”

  She shook her head. “Someone broke in last night. My boss can’t find anything missing, though. The only sign that anyone was there is my station.” She swallowed. “It’s been vandalized.”

  * * *

  Karina pushed the hair salon’s glass door open and rushed inside. Lana and Gloria were both there, working on customers. A familiar older woman sat in one of the chairs in the small waiting area, thumbing through a magazine. One of Lana’s regulars, waiting for her weekly shampoo and style. Karina spared her a quick smile on her hurried way to her station. Mason followed at a slower pace.

  “There you are, honey.” Lana turned away from the woman in her chair to follow them, a pink curler in her hand. “I left everything the way it was so you could see it. Well, except for the apron, a’course. I moved that just to make sure…” She cast a quick glance toward her customer and went on in a near whisper. “To make sure there weren’t no body under it.”

  Karina nodded, but Mason cocked his head, a quizzical expression on his face. “Why would you think that?”

  Lana eyed him up and down, her expression going from curious to appreciative. Lana enjoyed talking with handsome men, and judging by her slow smile as she inspected Mason, he qualified.

  “Aren’t you gonna introduce me to your friend, honey?” Her eyes didn’t leave Mason’s face, though she addressed the question to Karina.

  For some reason, her obvious delight in Mason disturbed Karina. Not that she was jealous. Of course not. She wasn’t the slightest bit interested in Mason. Didn’t even like him, in fact. He’d acted like an arrogant jerk with Hector, and for two cents she’d drive him back to the airport right now and dump him off to catch the next plane out of town. That settled in her mind, she made a quick introduction.

  “Lana, Mason. Mason, Lana.” She pointed at each as she said their name. When Lana’s carefully plucked eyebrows rose, she expanded the introduction a bit. “Mason’s a friend from long ago. And Lana’s my boss.”

  Mason had apparently decided to change his stripes and pretend like he had some manners. He held out his hand for Lana to take. “I’m pleased to meet you. What were you saying about a body?”

  Lana lingered over the handshake a moment too long, and Karina felt the unpleasant stirrings of jealousy. Which made her angry. Of course she wasn’t jealous. If Lana wanted Mason she could have him, even though she was at least twenty years older than him. She’d been called a cougar before.

  Still, Karina breathed a tad lighter when Lana released his hand and launched into a description of her morning. “I didn’t see it when I first unlocked the door. My arms were so loaded with clean towels from home I near dropped them on the way to the back. It took me a few minutes to store them away, and then I come back up front. That’s w
hen I noticed it.”

  She paused and glanced at Karina’s chair with the exaggerated gestures of a high school drama student. Though she’d already heard a version of this tale on the phone, Karina found herself caught up in the account.

  “Noticed what?” asked Mason.

  Lana’s voice dropped to a harsh stage whisper. “The body in the chair.” Then she smiled, and her voice returned to normal. “Not really, but it sure looked like one from the back. Somebody had taken one of the wig stands from up front and taped it to the chair. Then they tossed a couple of our aprons over it. From the back it looked like somebody was sitting there with a blanket over their head. Somebody who didn’t move at all, like they was dead or something. It fell off when I jerked the apron away.” She pointed at the chair, where a white plastic wig stand lay like a faceless, decapitated head. The curly brunette wig lay on the seat beside it. “That’s when I noticed the mess.”

  They all looked at Karina’s station. Her three drawers stood open and empty, and all her combs and curlers and spare shears had been piled on the small countertop beneath the mirror. The product bottles she kept on her shelf had also been added to the pile. What a weird feeling, to see her professional tools lying there in disarray. She’d always taken pains to keep everything neat and tidy at her station.

  “Did you call the police?” Mason asked.

  “Why, no.” Lana shook her head. “Why should I? Nothing was missing. The rest of the store looks fine. We never leave anything in the register at night anyway, and besides, the door was still locked. I had to unlock it. I figured Karina musta come in after I closed last night looking for something, and maybe was playing a trick on me with the wig.”

  Karina shook her head absently while examining the jumble of products and tools. “I didn’t, but even if I had, I would never leave a mess like this.”