Second Chance Hero

by Liz Lee

She covered her face in her hands and shook her head. “You’re impossible.”

  “Yeah, I know. Let’s go see Mr. Miller.”

  “Why?”

  “See if he has any strange questions. While we’re at it we can stop by good ol’ Stan’s office too.”

  She followed him through the halls. Stan was busy with a group of boys in no zero’s detention.

  David just shook his head. He’d have lived in detention if they’d had no zero’s detention in his day. He’d rarely turned homework in, but he’d always aced the tests. Drove his teachers crazy.

  He smiled as he remembered those days.

  When they reached Miller’s office the man was looking a little rough around the edges. David wondered why.

  But then the principal waved them in and David saw the photo the man was holding. His little girls.

  He sighed and put the photo down. “Sad day. You know they had a younger brother.”

  David was confused, so was Lil. “They?” she asked.

  Miller nodded. “The Hernandez kids. There’s a little brother. Rafe. We don’t know where he is either. The entire family just disappeared.”

  “Two dead so far.” David watched Miller’s face but all he looked was concerned. And sad.

  “So far.”

  “I heard the police say it might be a drug thing.” David was fishing, but if Miller was involved, he wasn’t biting.

  “I’d be surprised. The Hernandez parents were actively involved in their children’s education. They took our after school English classes. They weren’t the type to get involved in drugs.”

  He ended that line of conversation when he turned to Lil. “I hear the police found your bag but no papers.”

  She nodded. “They probably trashed the papers.” David could tell she felt sorry for Miller. And she was probably right.

  “They probably did,” Miller said. “The police are very interested though. It’s all upsetting to the students. Especially the younger ones.”

  “Yes it is,” Lil said.

  Miller picked up the photo of his daughters again. “Makes you appreciate what matters.”

  And didn’t that just make him feel like crap? The principal might be high on David’s list of potential Degas connections but he was damn sure working his way off it now.

  Lil stood, told her boss she’d let him know if anything changed then she and David walked out of the office.

  “I told you he was a good man.” Lil whispered the words.

  David didn’t bother telling her how looks could be deceiving. Not when she could very well be right.

  When they passed by Stan’s office, he stopped them. “Have you talked to Nancy? I haven’t been able to reach her.”

  The worry on Stan’s face made Lil smile. Stan might be creepy counselor in her book, but he cared for Nancy.

  “I sent David over this morning. You know me and my worst-case scenario brain. She just has a cold. No big deal.”

  The relief on Stan’s face made her smile even more. They said goodbye to both Stan and Mr. Pipes who was standing by the front door, a frown on his face.

  This mess probably got to him too. He lived for these kids.

  She nearly tripped on a piece of gravel, grabbed David’s arm at the same time he grabbed her.

  It would be easy to lean into him. It would be easy to forget all about her dreams of a family, of commitment, of forever.

  She pulled away as his hand dropped. “Maybe we should drop by Nancy’s again. Just to be on the safe side.”

  “I could stop by the apartment. Whip her up some homemade chicken noodle soup. I have some stock in the freezer.”

  Of course he did. His homemade soups were to die for. But that would take time. “Or we could just go by the grocery store and pick up some of the canned stuff.”

  “Condensed soup for a cold. You’re evil.”

  She laughed and told him about the conversation she’d had with Detective Ortiz.

  And he told her about how Ortiz had been valedictorian of his class. Didn’t surprise her a bit.

  But why had he come home? Maybe he was drawn to San Mario for the same reasons she was. Or maybe he was a Degas pawn. She thought about the man she’d spoken to, his intensity, his almost ferociousness. No, she couldn’t see him on the bad side of the law. Not ever.

  Thirty minutes later armed with David’s homemade soup and a loaf of bread from the grocery store, they pulled into Nancy’s driveway.

  Her house was dark, her garage closed.

  But then she did have a cold. Surely she was just sleeping.

  Lil slid out of the truck and started toward the house, but David stopped her. “Hold on, Lil.”

  She did as he asked and heard Nancy’s blue toy poodle Max barking like crazy in the house. His little head bounced up and down in the living room window.

  They knocked on the door, but no one answered.

  Lil didn’t like the feeling of dread weighing on her shoulders.

  “Maybe she just stepped out. She could’ve gone shopping. Or to the grocery store. Or to the church.”

  David backed away from the door, but he didn’t let go of her arm. “Maybe,” he agreed. But she could see he didn’t really believe it. “Just to be on the safe side, I think we’ll call the police.”

  Sure. “And they’ll laugh at us for calling them. She’s a grown woman. She’s allowed to leave her house.”

  She slid back into the truck with him as he dialed the non-emergency number.

  Who knew the non-emergency number by heart anyway?

  Max’s little head still bounced up and down in the window. He’d lost the bow on his right ear. She listened as David explained the situation.

  His yes, yes, no took little interpretation. The dispatcher obviously thought the call was bogus. Which it was. It had to be.

  But David finally made his point, and a few seconds later a police cruiser pulled into the drive behind them.

  The police told them to stay in the truck and then they disappeared inside the house.

  A few seconds later they were back outside. Only they weren’t smiling and they weren’t saying everything was fine. They were calling for Detective Ortiz and asking Lil to step inside.

  No way was Lil going in that house without him. Dammit. He’d known the minute he’d seen the dog something was wrong. Way wrong.

  He followed Lil and the officers inside Nancy’s house. The answering machine was blinking like crazy. The demented dog barking in perfect time to the machine’s red light.

  Lil gulped and let the dog jump into her arms. “Max is afraid of the beeps. He takes Prozac.”

  Great. The dog was psycho.

  Nancy’s car was in the garage. He could see it through the window in the kitchen door. Her purse was on the table. Along with her keys. Suddenly this was looking bad. Real bad.

  Detective Ortiz walked in, and David knew Lil was right. Ortiz knew something. But what?

  “Hello again, Ms. Palmer.” He nodded at David. “Martinez.”

  Then he turned back to Lil. “You seem to be the common denominator in my cases lately.”

  David could tell she wanted to blurt out the truth.

  “We were just worried when Nancy didn’t answer her door,” he said.

  Ortiz didn’t smile. He didn’t try to put Lil at ease. He simply said someone would be by later to speak with them.

  Later. So how come they’d had Lil walk in the house now?

  He didn’t like it. But there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

  David grabbed Lil and practically pulled her out of Nancy’s house before she said something to Ortiz that put him on alert, or more of alert than he already was.

  She put Max down and they climbed in the truck and he started talking. “You’re not going to work tomorrow.”

  “Are you crazy? That’s how they got her. She’d have been fine at work.”

  Why’d she have to argue? Dammit. “I just want you safe, Lil. And we
don’t know she’s gone.”

  “You saw the car and purse. She’s gone. This is crazy,” she said as she clenched her fist in her lap. “Insane. People don’t just disappear like this. And cops don’t just get killed. It’s all blowing up, David.”

  She was right. It was escalating. Degas was out of control.

  “We’ve got to stop him, but what if we can’t? What if he wins?”

  David pulled into his parking spot and grabbed her shoulders. “That’s not an option.”

  It wasn’t. Degas would not win this war. He couldn’t.

  But Degas was a secondary concern. For now David just wanted to get Lil inside to safety.

  Thirty minutes later Detective Ortiz was sitting on the couch, looking at Lil as if she were a specimen under a microscope.

  She hadn’t been able to stop shaking.

  Degas had Nancy. She just knew it.

  And Ortiz did too. Even though he was telling them the opposite.

  No sense of struggle. No blood. Lil wanted to throw up at the thought.

  Nothing wrong other than Nancy’s purse on the table and a frightened dog.

  So what was with the way Ortiz was looking at her?

  “That’s good then. She could be anywhere.” Please, please be anywhere. Please don’t be gone. Don’t be another of the missing.

  She bit her lip to keep from crying and Ortiz leaned forward.

  “She could be, but when I went in her bedroom, I found the strangest thing.”

  Oh no. Lil didn’t want to hear.

  But she couldn’t stop him.

  Ortiz’s gaze never left her face as he delivered the news. “Your missing papers, Miss Palmer. They were all on Nancy Valdez’s bed. But strangely Miguel and Solidad Hernandez’s papers weren’t there. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

  It took every ounce of willpower for Lil not to tell the detective everything she knew. She looked across the room but no one was there. Another detective was interviewing David in the bedroom.

  “You’re in a dangerous place, Ms. Palmer.”

  Like he even had a clue. She shook her head. “Nancy has nothing to do with this. She couldn’t have. She couldn’t.”

  Detective Ortiz’s eyes were filled with what could’ve been pity. Or it could’ve been an act. Everything about the man told her he was solid. That she could trust him, but still, she couldn’t tell him. Not without talking to David. Not without permission from Ryan.

  “Your stolen papers were found at her house.” He was fishing. Looking for a way to implicate Nancy in the robbery. He was wrong. He had to be.

  “You’re not hearing me,” she said. “Nancy’s not a criminal. She cares about these people. She’s a part of this town. She has friends and family here. This is….”

  Ortiz leaned forward. “You’re right. It makes no sense. She works with the barrio babies.”

  “She doesn’t look at them like that.”

  “But a lot of people do. A lot on both sides of the border.”

  “And now she’s gone too. Just like those missing girls. Just like the Hernandez family.”

  “It looks that way.” Ortiz finally sounded comforting in a weird cop sort of way.

  “She’s not a criminal.”

  “But she is gone. Ms. Valdez cared because these are her people. You’re a crusader. And while I can respect that, I sincerely hope someone’s explained how deadly this could turn.” Ortiz’s turned his cold stare to the bedroom door.

  “Are you trying to scare me?” Funny that he would think David was behind her being there when David had practically begged her to leave. She couldn’t explain any of that to this man. Lil wanted the detective’s focus back on her.

  She got her wish.

  “One of your students is missing along with what’s left of his family. His sister and father are dead. Now your friend is gone and your stolen papers end up at her house. She’s either been taken by the people who broke into your home, and they wanted everyone to know it, or she’s directly involved in that break in. Ms. Palmer, if you’re not scared half to death you sure should be.”

  He knew. She still didn’t know how, but she could see the knowledge in his eyes. “Everyone should be scared.”

  Ortiz looked at her with a mixture of admiration and sadness at the same time David and the other detective stepped out of the bedroom.

  “As of right now, we believe you’re the last person to see Ms. Valdez before she disappeared,” Ortiz looked at David. “We might have more questions.”

  He stood and looked down at Lil and she met his gaze head on.

  “Goodbye Ms. Palmer. Keep what I said in mind. I’d hate for you to disappear too.”

  When the door closed behind him, Lil fell apart.

  David pulled her into his arms as she cried, and she was thankful, so thankful for that.

  “It’s okay Lil.”

  How could he think so? How?

  Lil laughed into his chest as she shook her head and tried to find comfort in his spicy scent. “No it’s not, David. It’s not okay at all.”

  David held Lil because it was the only thing he could do. No telling what Ortiz had said, but he’d scared the crap out of her, that was for damn sure. At least now they knew why the police had called her into Nancy’s house. Problem was, they also knew Ortiz hadn’t wanted her to see.

  “I think it’s time to rethink our plan,” he said. It killed him to even think it, but they were running out of choices.

  She nodded her head against his chest, agreed. Dammit. It was their only choice.

  “Nancy disappearing changes things,” he said. “Add Detective Ortiz suspecting you know something and the papers showing up at Nancy’s house, it’s not safe.”

  He ran a hand down her back, felt her shiver with what he was sure was far more fear than passion.

  Then she tilted her face up to look at him, her eyes glistening with tears and he felt himself sinking.

  “I know you’re right,” she said. “I know it’s not safe. But will it be safer if I go?”

  She was looking to him for answers. Answers he didn’t have. It killed him to admit it. “I don’t know, Lil. I don’t know.”

  He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Then let his head rest on hers. Let the clean, natural scent of her shampoo invade his senses. “You weren’t supposed to be in danger. You were just getting me into the school. That’s all.”

  She pushed away from his chest frowning. “Maybe we should call Ryan.”

  Ryan. David could kill Ryan for getting Lil into this mess. If he didn’t know better he’d think this was exactly what the agent had planned. “He’ll be in touch. Trust me.”

  Lil paced the living room, picked up a couch pillow, tossed it to the rocking chair he’d salvaged when the woman next door moved into a retirement center.

  “I’m afraid, David. How could someone just take Nancy like that? She lives in a nice neighborhood. She’s a professional. This isn’t like the Hernandez family.”

  No it wasn’t. That’s what scared the bejesus out of him. “They killed a cop, Lil. Nothing about this is normal. From the minute Degas took the Hernandez family, this case changed.”

  He wished she’d come to him again. Let him hold her instead of pacing back and forth, looking like she wanted to be sick.

  “Someone knows something, David. We just have to find them.”

  He read her intent and stepped in front of the door. “No way. No way are you going out there to ask questions. Let the police do their jobs.”

  “Police like the ones Rafe saw taking his family away?” She was mad now. Mad at him. If that’s what it took, so be it.

  “Ortiz isn’t a dirty cop.”

  “Then why don’t we tell him the truth?”

  She was right. But not yet. Not until he’d cleared it with Ryan. Before he told Ortiz the truth, Lil had to be safe. It was the only way to be sure. The only answer. Still. “You have to leave.”

  Her chin
jutted up and her eyes sparkled with anger as well as tears. “I’m not about to leave when there will be a target on your back.”

  She wasn’t getting it. Not at all. “Look. I don’t want you to go. I’ve enjoyed our time together. It’s…” what was it anyway? Almost perfect. Almost. “It’s nice. But I need you to be safe. Go somewhere. Set up a foundation. Send money….”

  “Set up a foundation and send money?” Her voice was unnaturally quiet and he knew he’d blown it, but dammit, he couldn’t just let her stay and get hurt.

  “Yeah. Go to London or Paris. Come back when this is over.”

  “And what if it’s never over?”

  He shrugged. What could he say? It might never be over. They might never find Degas. Miguel might be yet another story mothers told their children to keep them on the straight and narrow. “Then you know you tried.” Tried and were safe. Away from San Mario. Away from Degas.

  When she turned to him this time her smile was forced. “Thank you, David. Thank you for reminding me what it is I’m doing.” She laughed and shook her head. “For a minute there I forgot. I let fear get in the way. I forgot about that poor frightened little boy and his teddy bear. I forgot that Miguel sent his brother to me. To me.” She pointed at her chest and shook her head. “No. I’m not leaving. I’m staying here. Working. And if I do set up a foundation it sure as heck won’t be from anywhere else.”

  How the hell had he messed this up so supremely? Dammit. “Did you hear a word I said?”

  She laughed humorlessly. “Yes,” she waved her hand around the room. “ You said this is nice. And boy does that ever make me feel special. Sure, it’s nice. When you’re trying to push me out the door and straight to Siberia.”

  “Siberia would be good. I think you’d be safe in Siberia.”

  “You want me gone.”

  She wasn’t hearing him at all. “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said.”

  She laughed again. “Oh, I heard you. You’ve said it a million different ways. Yeah Babe, I like you a lot. Hey sweet Lil, we’ve got something good. Why mess it up with words like forever?”

  How could she so totally miss his point? He stepped forward. Grabbed her shoulders. Maybe now she would listen. “How about I don’t want you to die?”

  She pulled away. “It’s just an excuse.”