by Alexa Verde
His jaw hurting from clenching his teeth, he tried the door handle to what he guessed would be a walk-in freezer. It was locked. Of course, there was a possibility of it being locked for the night. But then why would the front door be open? And why would Mari’s motorcycle, purse, and cell phone be here?
He knocked on the door. “Miss Del Lobo, are you there? Are you hurt?”
There was a pause, scuffling, and then a feeble knock from inside. He went light-headed with relief.
“You’re an insistent one, Dr. Goodman.” Her voice was weak. But there was less panic in it than he’d expected. Her speech didn’t sound slurred or confused, so maybe, just maybe hypothermia hadn’t set in yet.
He said a prayer of thanks.
“I’m going to get you out of here.” He sized up the massive door. It would be difficult to knock it out, though he could give it a try. But the best solution could be the easiest one. “Miss Del Lobo, where do you have the keys?”
“My purse. Dining table near the door.”
Luke hurried toward the door. There was a great chance the person who’d locked her in the freezer might have taken them. Luke found her little black purse decorated with lots of metal chains and searched it for keys. Yes! The keys were still there. He exhaled a lungful.
He grabbed the keys, hurried back, tried one key and then another. It was the third one he tried that finally fit. His heart pumped blood faster in his veins. He flung the door open, and she practically fell into his hands. He scooped her up, her lanky frame limp and lifeless, and something stirred deep inside him, a feeling he hadn’t experienced since Cynthia’s death.
Strangely, Mari still had the scent of the coconut shampoo coming from her short hair. Her skin was cold against his fingers, and her teeth were rattling off a staccato. He gritted his own teeth. The situation might be worse than he’d thought.
Please, Lord, save her.
Chapter Three
Silently praying, Luke carried Mari to the leather sofa in her office. He cranked up the heat instead of the air conditioner. Then he ran to his car and pulled out the overnight duffel bag with extra clothes and a blanket he had in the trunk, just in case. He’d never thought he’d be using it for something like this.
After helping her inside his sweatshirt, he pulled off her cowboy boots to change her socks. A dagger was taped to her ankle. His jaw dropped. No, nothing about Miss Del Lobo should surprise him. Not anymore.
Luke went about his business. He untapped the dagger and rubbed her cold feet vigorously to warm them up.
“You’re going to be okay,” he said. It hit him by surprise how much he wanted her to be okay. “I’ll make sure of that.”
She didn’t respond.
Maybe he’d been too rough in his earnest effort. He glanced up at her. She was lying with her eyes closed, not a word of protest coming from her pale lips. He longed for her to be back, the girl he’d first seen on a restaurant stage back in Dallas. Fierce and fearless Mari Del Lobo.
“Why did you return?” Her whisper was barely audible. “I refused to help you. I’m a stranger to you. You just met me.”
He heaved a sigh of relief at hearing her talk. “Actually, I saw you the first time three years ago. In a small Dallas restaurant, singing with a band and playing the guitar. You had lots of chains. A strong voice. Overwhelming energy.”
Her eyelashes fluttered, but she didn’t open her eyes. “Did you like it?”
“I was intrigued.” Her feet felt warm now, so he pulled the spare socks on them.
He unwrapped her makeshift mittens, giving her points for resourcefulness, and rubbed her hands energetically. They seemed to be warming up as well. But as soon as he withdrew, he missed the feeling of her smooth skin against his fingers.
His own temperature increased. Surely it was due to the heat in the room. Because he couldn’t allow himself to be attracted to her. What was wrong with him? Her brother had killed the woman Luke loved. Besides, he needed to treat her as a patient.
She opened her eyes and stared at him. “I don’t… remember you. You didn’t… try to speak to me.”
After wrapping the blanket around Mari, he sat near her on the sofa. He monitored her breathing. It evened out. Good.
“There were plenty of guys who tried to get your attention. Then you got into a fight. I went to help you, but you’d already knocked out your opponent.” He always liked soft-spoken, polished, and elegant women. Mari Del Lobo had looked like a rebel without a cause.
Her lips curved in a half-smile. “I couldn’t sing… there… after that.”
“I know.” He tried for a pulse. It was weak but steady.
“How? Did you come to look for me?”
“I visited the restaurant. The food was good enough.” He’d downloaded some of her songs, too. But a month later he’d met Cynthia — soft-spoken, beautiful, and elegant. He’d also gotten busy with work. He’d forgotten about a wannabe rock musician with a fierce voice and an attitude to match. Or so he’d thought.
“The food. Of course.” Her lips curved a little more upward.
“How do you feel?” He looked into her hazel eyes. Interesting, she had specs of honey dots in them.
“An hour ago, like a chicken in the freezer.” She hid her eyes behind a thick curtain of long eyelashes, and he immediately missed her eyes. “Now, better.”
If she still had a sense of humor, it couldn’t be that bad.
Thank You, Lord.
Luke rose to his feet. “I’ll take you to the hospital. You do look much better now, and your shivering decreased significantly. But I want to make sure you’re okay.”
“Maybe later. I’ll pull through.”
“Stubborn, aren’t we?” He snatched a navy-blue mug from the desk in her office, filled it with water in the kitchen, came back to the office, and stuck the mug in the microwave. A minute later, he placed a couple of tea bags and a generous portion of sugar he’d found in her cabinets into the steamy water. A citrus aroma filled the room. He didn’t want her to burn her fingers, so he wrapped the towel from his duffel bag around the mug.
“Thanks.” Mari accepted it from his hands and took careful sips of dark-brown liquid.
“You’re welcome. I want to warn you. I saw a guy in a black hoodie lingering near your motorcycle this afternoon. When I tried to get to him, he took off. Tonight, I found a word spray- painted on your motorcycle. Die.”
She didn’t even blink. “Probably still part of the hate mail. A year ago, the same word was spray-painted over my house. Several times.”
He narrowed his eyes. “This has got to stop.”
“No kidding. Why did somebody wake up and decide to threaten me again? Maybe because it’s close to the one-year anniversary of Tony’s death.”
“Or maybe Antonio didn’t die in the first place. And now he’s back.”
She shook her head.
For several minutes, neither of them said a word.
The shrill ring of the phone on her office desk split the silence, making them both wince. He pressed the speakerphone button.
“Mar! Finally. I tried to call you on your cell phone. Are you okay?” The deep male voice was filled with worry and relief at the same time.
“I’m better now, Aidan. I got locked in the freezer.” Mari’s voice sounded much steadier than minutes ago.
“They just told me there was trouble at The Café. The chief sent Derek to check on you,” Aidan said.
As promised, there was a knock on the door.
“Looks like that’s him now. Gotta go,” Mari said.
Luke disconnected the phone. “I’ll open the door. You stay here.”
She struggled to get up. “Don’t tell me what to do. You’re not my father. And he can’t tell me what to do, either.”
The knock intensified. “Police! Open up!”
Luke shrugged. “Okay. I’ll carry you to the door.”
Mari glared at him.
Assuming he’d won that ro
und, Luke walked to the door and let the police in.
A broad-shouldered policeman with a small scar on his chin and a five o’clock shadow stepped inside. “Good evening. I’m Derek Ryan. Somebody called about this location. I apologize for the delay. There was a bad accident north of town. Are you the one who placed the call?”
“Yes. I’m Luke Goodman.” He showed the policeman his ID. “I was passing near the restaurant when I noticed the lonely motorcycle.” He gave the details and showed Ryan to the office.
At the office, Mari smiled at the policeman and managed to get up from the sofa to give him a hug. This was a warmer greeting than Luke expected, and he received a strange sting inside. Derek Ryan treated Mari with familiarity, as if he’d known her his entire life, which was probably the case. There was a sense of community in small towns Luke had missed while growing up in a big city.
Mari downplayed the incident, which she seemed to do frequently, and refused to call in paramedics. Luke shook his head. The woman didn’t seem to care about her own safety at all.
So after taking her statement and dusting for prints, the policeman left.
Luke locked the door and shoved tables against it for good measure.
His senses still on high alert, he returned to the office. “Why did you say you didn’t need any help?”
“Because I don’t. Besides, I don’t want to get Derek or Aidan in trouble.”
“What do you mean?”
“Chief Dawson isn’t my biggest fan.” She sighed. “I used to be a troublemaker while growing up. He’s also a close friend of my father, and my dad and I… We’re estranged. The last straw was… Well, Chief Dawson thinks I told everybody he’d helped Antonio to cover up his murders.”
“Did you?”
“No. But the chief wouldn’t believe me. Did you call the police before entering The Café?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Didn’t you notice how long it took Derek to get here? I don’t think Chief Dawson told him right away about your call. If Derek tries to help me, the chief won’t like it.”
Luke had a hard time believing the chief of police would hold a grudge like that, but he let it go. “Derek seemed to be very friendly.”
She smiled warmly. “We used to date, briefly. We both moved on. But we stayed friends.”
“He’d probably like another chance.” An uneasy feeling settled in Luke’s stomach.
“The past is the past. I’m all for recycling, but not when it comes to boyfriends.”
Good. But then, the small town was probably full of her former boyfriends. Judging by the glances he’d seen men throwing her way in The Café, Mari Del Lobo had no trouble attracting male attention, even though she was no conventional beauty. Serial killer’s sister status notwithstanding, maybe the guys thought it would be a huge challenge to win her over. And what man, him included, didn’t like a good challenge?
For a moment, he wanted to be the one to receive a warm smile and a hug from her. Behind colored bangs and metallic chains on her wrists, there was a caring side to her he hadn’t expected to find. The thought was unsettling. He was in Rios Azules to find out if her brother had really died or had been behind the recent murder. Surely such intentions couldn’t make a girl swoon.
Luke took inventory of her symptoms. During her talk with the police, she hadn’t been moody, confused, or irritable, and her speech had been clear. She seemed to be recovering rather well. He smiled, pleased with the results. As a doctor, of course.
But now back on her leather sofa, she hid in his blanket, as if it were a life saver. “I know you returned to The Café because I’m Tony’s sister. Still… thank you for saving me.” She said it as if she were not used to people helping her. Judging by her independent streak, that didn’t come as a shocker.
He sat down in the chair at her desk. “You’re welcome. But all I did was—”
“Yeah. You were in the right place at the right time. Must be a habit of yours.” She tilted her head to the left. “So I owe you one. No, two, including one for Tara. You don’t strike me as a nut case. So why do you believe my brother is alive?”
“A recent murder. The victim was stabbed to death. She also had the corners of her mouth cut upward.”
She raised her eyebrow. “That’s all? Yes, it was a part of the Smiling Killer signature. A well-known part. So it could be a copycat. How did you find out about the victim?”
“Simple. It was on the local news.”
She moved forward, her eyes sparkling. “You know, I could take you to Tony.”
“Seriously?” Heart jumped in his chest. Could it be that easy?
“Yes. To his lot at the cemetery.” She leaned back.
He frowned. But he’d better let it go. She’d come around soon enough. Right now, she needed to see the danger she might be in. “Miss Del Lobo, how did you end up being trapped in the freezer in the first place?”
She stared at him for some time, as if wondering if she could trust him enough. “Somebody locked me there.”
“Any idea who?”
She pursed her lips. “Not yet.”
“Maybe next time when you’re alone in the restaurant, you should lock the front door.”
“Maybe you should stop telling me what to do. And I did.”
He’d seen the lock. It hadn’t been tampered with. And the front door had been open when he’d come in. If the Smiling Killer had decided to punish his sister for leaving him for dead, he’d need to have accomplices, someone close to her. “Who has the keys?”
“You ask an awful lot of questions.” She crawled out of the blanket, placed the half-filled mug with tea in the microwave, and nuked it.
“Maybe if you answered them, I could help you.”
“Did I ask for it?” She narrowed her dark eyes.
“For what?”
“Help.”
“No.” He let out an exasperated sigh.
“Why would you want to help me? A serial killer’s sister?” She pulled out the mug from the microwave and took several slow sips. Then she put the mug aside, sat back on the sofa, and sprawled the blanket over herself again.
“You’re much more than that. A courageous friend. A smart businesswoman. A good supervisor. A hard worker. A talented singer. A strong woman. An adrenaline-loving biker. And if I knew you for more than one day… imagine what I could come up with.”
“That’s a good start.” She chewed on her lip, as if pondering his words.
He wanted her to ponder his words. “Antonio’s real identity is so horrifying and overwhelming. But you’re not a part of it. He committed the crimes. Not you.” Why was it important to him that she realized that?
She looked him straight in the eye. “What do you want? In life?”
“To fulfil God’s plan for me. To help people heal. To prevent them from being hurt in the first place. Right now, to find the Smiling Killer to prevent more murders.”
“What’s your biggest fear?”
“To get stuck in the past.” Whoa. Where did that come from? “What’s yours?”
“It’s about my brother.” The honey specks in her hazel eyes disappeared, making them darker. Her pupils dilated, and she stared at him without blinking.
He glimpsed a dark abyss in her eyes, so deep there was no saying what was at the bottom of it. A cold draft went over his body. “You were close to Antonio, weren’t you?”
“Very.” She blinked and looked away. “He was different with me. He was a caring brother. You know, when you love someone so much and that person dies…. they take a part of you with them.”
It dawned on him. “But that’s not what scares you. You’re afraid of the part that stayed. You’re afraid to turn out like your brother.”
“Yes.” She stared at him again. “I’ll answer your question. Several people have the keys to the front door. Both lunch and dinner shift cooks, head waitress, my friends who help me out sometimes. I can make a list of names. But none of those people
would want to hurt me.”
“Sometimes people closest to you hurt you the most.” His protective instincts got the best of him. When had keeping Mari safe become so important to him?
“You mean like my brother. Why did you tell me about your suspicions? What if I’d been in cahoots with him?”
“I took a leap of faith. Someone threatened you for real. Or you wouldn’t have called the police.” He prayed that he was right and that Mari wasn’t as deceitful as her brother. Luke studied the dark circles under her eyes. “In your busy day, did you have time to eat? How about some soup? It should also warm you up.”
“Do you say it as a doctor?” She lifted an eyebrow. “Well, I had a terrific dinner. One of the perks of owning a restaurant. But soup sounds great. There’s some caldo de mariscos in one of the fridges. There should be more than enough for both of us.”
He followed her directions, returned with two bowls filled with soup, and nuked them. As he took them out, the scent of fish, shrimp, garlic, and cilantro filled the room.
He bowed his head.
“Dear Lord, thank You for this food we are about to eat, and please bless it and make it nutritious to our bodies. Thank you for saving Mari Del Lobo from harm tonight, and please keep her safe in Your care. Please keep innocent people safe from harm. Amen.”
When he lifted his head, he caught a surprised and somewhat sad glance from her. She hadn’t participated in the prayer. So maybe she wasn’t a believer. His heart squeezed. Hopefully, he could do something about changing that.
He dug into the seafood soup with mussels, shrimp, sea bass, potatoes, and spices.
“How do you like it?” The corners of her mouth curled up.
“One of the best things I’ve tried in my life.” He meant it.
“Wait till you try our shrimp scampi. You’ll swallow your tongue.” She ate fast and with gusto. Obviously, her energy was returning.
When they were done, she eyed the basket with cookies on her desk. “Dessert? Chocolate chip cookies.” She paused, and her eyes narrowed. “Can seizures be caused, let’s say, by a meds overdose?”
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
“Tara doesn’t have a history of seizures. She was the one who’d accepted this basket for me. She also happens to love chocolate chip cookies.”