Connie nodded, leaned back in her chair, and confidently laid out her explanation for the crime. “As I was saying, the victim was not covered, and the bed, lumpy and soft as it is, shows a deep impression. More than our little ‘victim’, if she was of average weight for that height, would have made,” she said, pointing to the mannequin that had been prepared for the exam.
“The husband claims they had been involved with some drug dealing and that his wife was supposed to meet with one of the men.”
She chuckled and shook her head in disgust before proceeding. “You guys have a twisted idea of what meeting with someone is. Anyway, as I said before, there was no forced entry. The nature of the gunshots is not typical of a drug style execution. The husband claims they ate dinner, but it was barely touched. My guess is, he went to get dinner, came back, and saw through the window that his wife was doing it with someone else. Not too smart on her part, but maybe she thought he would take longer to return. In any case, when he saw what was going on, he lost it, went and got his shotgun, returned, and blew them away. He laid out the dinner to support his story.”
The instructor nodded and urged her to go on. “What about the other body? Where did it go?”
Connie stood, walked over to the mannequin, and pointed to the groin area. “I’m assuming you intended these bits of stuff on the mannequin to be brain matter, because it’s inconsistent with what would happen to a shotgun blast to the ‘privates’,” she said with a smile, teasing him. “So, I’m assuming they were involved in, let’s just say something my Catholic school mind would rather not discuss in mixed company.”
“I knew you were good,” the instructor said.
Connie did a mock bow and continued. “The plastic liner of the shower curtain is missing from the bathroom and there’s no trail of blood from the bed to outdoors. Therefore, the husband likely wrapped his wife’s lover in the shower curtain and took the body elsewhere. That’s supported by the small bit of plastic caught on a nail by the door jamb.”
The instructor clapped. “Very good, Connie. Nice job today.”
“Thanks. If you don’t have anything else, I’d like to go back to the dorm now,” she said and walked back to her teacher.
He stood and plopped the pint container of food back onto the table. “Big exam tomorrow, right?”
Connie nodded. “I have some studying to do and I want to call home and see how things are going.”
He laid a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. You’re going to pass that test with flying colors. You’re the first one to solve this crime and only a few others will get it as quickly as you did. You’re one of the best I’ve had.”
“I appreciate that vote of confidence.” Only the best could choose where they wished to be and she was itching to go home to Miami.
After another few exams, she only had one real hurdle left to go: the self defense test. She hoped that when all was said and done, she would be at the top of her class and buying a ticket back to Miami.
#
After a quick dinner in the cafeteria, Connie returned to the small, dormitory style room she shared with one other woman. She sat at her desk, quickly glanced through her e-mail, and seeing nothing urgent, closed her laptop. The various messages could wait until after she talked to her family.
She dialed and the phone rang a few times before her sister Carmen answered.
“Hey, sis. How are you?” she asked.
“Good. What about you?” Carmen responded.
“I’m fine. Have any luck landing a job yet?” Carmen had been looking for a nursing position for once she graduated.
“Even if I told you, you’d probably never believe me,” Carmen replied.
Connie leaned back in the chair, propped her feet on the desk, and wondered what trouble her sister had gotten into this time. “Carmen, with you anything’s possible. Please, don’t keep me waiting.”
Carmen regaled her with the details of her interview with her prospective employer. Connie laughed as Carmen described the look on his face as his files fell on the floor. Her eyes teared up from her amusement as her sister exaggerated the telephone run-in with Mrs. Ruiz.
“This guy sounds like he’s in real trouble,” she said.
Carmen chuckled. “Yeah, real trouble. He needed help right away and I felt so bad for him that when he asked me to call everyone, I gave in.”
Connie shook her head. “Oh no, sis. Don’t tell me he’s got a pretty face and got you to do the work for free. We didn’t raise a fool, you know.”
“I know, Connie,” Carmen said with an exasperated sigh at her sisterly chiding. “He offered to pay me.”
“And you accepted of course,” she jumped in.
“Now, Connie, don’t get all crazy.”
“Tell me he paid you, Carmen.” There was a moment of silence on the line, then her sister laughed — the unrestrained, earthy laugh Connie had missed so much during the months of their separation.
“Well?” she prompted.
“Do you always do that?” Carmen asked.
Connie furrowed her brow, trying to imagine what her sister was talking about. “I don’t get it.”
“Victor —”
“It’s Victor now? When did that happen?” she teased as she slipped her feet off the desk, tucked the cell phone between her ear and shoulder, and gathered her books and study materials.
“Victor asked me if I always finished sentences for other people. So do you?”
Heat crept into her cheeks and Connie was glad her sister was not in the room to witness her embarrassment. “All right, you got me. I’ll keep quiet while you explain how he got you to do his work for free, didn’t hire you, and became Victor all in the course of one day.”
Carmen chuckled. “Lighten up. He did pay me for the day and he likes to be informal.”
Connie waited for her sister to go on, wondering if she had gotten the job, but Carmen didn’t say another word. After fifteen seconds or so, Connie asked, “So did he —”
“Hire me? I knew you couldn’t keep quiet,” Carmen kidded.
Connie wished her sister was in the room with her so she could provide a sisterly smack to get her in line. “Tell me,” she pressed and looked at her watch. She had to hit the books shortly.
“Do you know he actually had the nerve to ask if I planned on having babies soon?” Carmen admitted.
Connie bolted upright in her chair, righteous indignation seething in every pore of her lawyer’s body. “He’s not allowed to ask that. The Neanderthal should know. If he refused to hire you because of that, we’ll sue.”
“Take it easy, my little legal eagle. He admitted he shouldn’t have asked, but then again, it’s something I wasn’t thinking of doing right now.”
Her adrenaline going, Connie couldn’t stop. “I should hope not. At least not until you’re married.”
“Ah, Connie. Earth to Connie,” Carmen teased. “This is the twenty-first century. People do that now.”
“But not you, Carmen.”
“How do you know?” her sister said, knocking all the wind out of her sails. Connie’s little sister had … well, lost it … while Connie was still nearly a virgin at the age of twenty-six. She didn’t consider her couple of short college relationships a lot of experience, sexually that was. She didn’t know what upset her more, Carmen’s active love life or her own chaste state.
“Carmen,” she said huskily and paused to clear her throat. “As long as you took the right precautions.”
And as long as her sister wasn’t doing it with that no account Julio from down the block, she thought to herself.
A heavy sigh drifted from the other end of the line. “Of course, I do. Don’t you?”
Connie blushed, hesitated, and then stammered out a quick, “Of course. Of course I do.” Well, at least the few times she had in any case.
“Believe it or not, Victor hired me, even though I was too young and too inexperienced. I don’t know why and I don’t care
. He’s paying me well and I’ll be able to get experience so I can get another job once Yolanda comes back.”
“That’s great, Carmen. Congratulations. We’ll have to celebrate once I get home.” Home, she thought with a pang of longing. It had been months since she had been back to the small cinder block house off Calle Ocho in Little Havana.
“You know where you’re being assigned already?” Carmen asked.
Connie hesitated and finally admitting, “Well, no. Just wishful thinking on my part.”
“Con?” Carmen asked softly, using her pet nickname for her older sister. The one reserved for important moments or serious ones.
Connie wondered what was suddenly bothering Carmen. “What’s up, sis?”
“Have you talked to Mom and Dad about where you’ll be living if you’re assigned to Miami?”
Connie chewed on her bottom lip. “No, but they have to know I’m not going to live at home if I come back to Miami. I mean that’s so Old School.”
“I know. Still, Mom launched into one of her ‘My Daughters’ speeches the other day. I think she’ll give you a hard time if you tell them you plan on getting your own place.”
Connie sighed and dragged a hand through her hair. “Well, I’ll deal with it if and when I’m lucky enough to get the Miami assignment.”
Not to mention good enough, she thought, suddenly assailed by doubt.
“Okay. I won’t say anything. Besides they’re not home right now. Want me to have them call you later?”
“No. I’ll be at the library studying. Tell them I’ll call tomorrow. Carmen?”
“Yes, Con. What is it now?” Carmen said with a sigh, as if waiting for Connie to chide her about something.
Connie smiled, certain she would catch Carmen off guard. “You never told me if he was cute or not?”
“Who? Victor?” Carmen said, obviously playing dumb.
“Of course, Victor. Who else?”
There was a long, drawn out moment over the phone line as her sister considered it. “I don’t think he’s your type at all, Connie.”
“And yours?” she teased.
“No way,” came the immediate reply. “He’s much too old.”
Connie pictured him, wondering what he looked like from Carmen’s sparse references. The picture of a cigarette-smoking, paunchy, sixty-something male chauvinist immediately came to mind. “Well, I hope he’s not so old that you’ll be looking for another job in a few weeks.”
“I said old, not ancient. I think he’ll be around for a while.”
Carmen stopped for a second and laughed. The kind of laugh that told Connie her sister wasn’t being totally truthful. “Okay, Carmen, spill the beans. What’s with this doctor of yours?”
“Don’t worry, Connie. You have to go, remember, so take care. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Connie stared at the phone for a second after Carmen ended the call, wondering what her sister was keeping to herself. Then she grabbed her things, slipped them into a well-worn knapsack that had seen her through law school and now nearly thirteen weeks at the FBI Academy. She hoped that in another two weeks, she would retire the knapsack forever as she left the academic realm and jumped into the real world.
That was, if she could nail all her exams. She rose, heading to the library for another long night of studying. This was too important to leave anything to chance.
#
Connie stared at the results posted on the bulletin board and smiled. Her joy was short lived, however.
“So, Speedy Gonzalez. Think you’re one up on us, don’t you,” she heard from behind her.
She looked over her shoulder and upward as she stared at the man who had been the bane of her existence for the last two and a half months.
Paul Stone was handsome, intelligent, wealthy, and he made sure everyone knew it with his inbred arrogance. A native Floridian, he had grown up in, as he said it, Myah-muh, and considered Connie just one of the thousands of Cuban cockroaches who had invaded his city.
“You have a problem, Stone?” She faced him and crossed her arms before her in a challenging pose.
He leaned closer, towering over her as he looked at the test grades and standings. “You’re number one. I’m number two, but not for long,” he said as he shifted away, but still remained close.
“That self defense test.” He tsked and shook his head in chastisement. “Pretty little thing like you is going to have a hard time, darlin’.”
Connie, barely over five feet, craned her neck to examine his six foot plus height and too broad shoulders. “Well, you know what they say. The bigger they are —”
“The harder they fall,” he finished for her with a decidedly assured masculine smile. “Not this time, Speedy. Give me a call in Myah-muh from wherever you’re assigned.” He waved and was about to walk away when Connie stopped him by laying a hand on his arm. She took a piece of paper from a pad, jotted down a number, and handed the slip to him.
Stone took it and scrutinized it for a second, a deep furrow across his brow. “What’s this?”
Connie smiled. “It’s the number for the Miami Bureau office,” she said, pronouncing it Mee-ah-mee as the Cubans did. “Call me, Stone and I’ll let you know how things are going in Mee-ah-mee.”
She left him standing there, open-mouthed. But even as she tried to put his words out of her mind, she knew he was right. The self defense test tomorrow would be the hardest challenge. Especially if their instructor decided to test her mettle by pitting her against someone like Stone, who had at least a foot of height and a hundred pounds on her.
But she could do it, she reminded herself. She was a black belt and well-versed in martial arts.
She would knock Stone flat on his ass if she had to in order to get back home.
#
She stood on the mat in her ghi, waiting as the instructor explained the scenario to the class. Also dressed in the traditional martial arts garb of a loose white jacket and pants, a black belt around his waist, he walked around the circle of men and women who would one day be FBI agents. His hands were held loosely behind his back as he strolled and dictated the terms of the test.
“Class. As I indicated earlier, there will be bodily contact in this test just as one day in the field you will be required to defend yourselves. Of course, it is to be light bodily contact. We don’t want anyone to be injured during the exam.”
The instructor returned to the center of the mat and faced her. “Gonzalez. You have earned the honor of being the first one tested today. Let’s see,” he said, looking around the circle of students once more.
He smiled and Connie cringed as his eyes settled on her worst nightmare.
“Stone, please join us. You will be the perp in this scenario. Also, please bring that pipe with you,” the instructor said, pointing to the long, heavy, hard rubber rod used in lieu of the real thing.
Stone grinned, picked up the rod, and tossed it into the air, where it flipped end over end before landing in his hand with a loud slap. He remained on the edge of the circle, five or so feet from Connie and the instructor, who outlined the remainder of the test.
“Gonzalez, you have chased the perp into a confined area. You have also lost your firearm along the way. Having cornered the perp, he has grabbed the nearest weapon — a piece of pipe. It is up to you to disarm him and get the cuffs on.”
The instructor tossed her the handcuffs which she tucked behind her back into the black belt around her waist.
Stone moved a little closer and flipped the hard rubber rod into the air again.
Connie backed away, wanting to keep him at a distance where hopefully her smaller size would give her the ability to outmaneuver him.
Stone maintained the space between them, circling, the “pipe” held loosely in his hand. A too satisfied grin on his face, as if he had already beaten her in the exam.
“Did I mention that the perp is a psychopath who has just gunned down two other agents and who will stop at nothing to ge
t away?” the instructor advised.
Stone smiled with undisguised glee. Despite the earlier words about no injuries, the instructor had pretty much just given him free rein during the test.
A sickening feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. It lasted for about a second.
Stone charged at her, arms open wide, but she skipped away from his lumbering attack and delivered a quick punch to his ribs.
Stone grunted in pain and faced her, his grin gone and anger blossoming at the chuckling and murmurs from their classmates that she had gotten in the first strike.
She put her hands up in a fighting stance, waiting for him to rush forward again, but having felt the bite of her punch, he acted more cautiously. Feinting that he was going to attack, he tried to draw her in, but she would have none of that. With their size difference, she couldn’t allow him to get a hold on her.
“Class. Notice how Agent Gonzalez is keeping her distance. Being patient to wait for the right moment,” the instructor advised.
She tried not to let his words distract her, keeping her eyes on Stone. Circling him, but Stone’s patience was clearly at an end.
He heaved the rubber rod to distract her. She shot her left arm up to block the blow and the rod connected with a sickening thud, then a snap. Fiery pain seared along her arm from her wrist to elbow and black circles danced before her eyes as waves of pain engulfed her.
Sensing her weakness, Stone rushed her.
Through the agony, years of training and instinct took over.
She feinted that she was going down as he came at her. When he was near enough, she snapped up and kicked out. Her foot caught him straight in the groin. He stopped short, like a bull elephant shot dead in its tracks, and she completed her task. With a quick jab to his face with her good right hand, she knocked him out.
He hit the mat hard beside her, obviously dazed.
Cradling her one arm to her stomach, fighting the roiling nausea caused by the pain, she grabbed the cuffs at her back, sat on Stone’s behind and slipped the cuffs over one wrist and then another.
Circles of dark and light danced in front of her eyes from the shards of agony shooting through her left arm. She took a deep breath and somehow managed to push upright.
Now and Always Page 2