by A. J. Adams
Mateo spoke quietly. “You’re worried about something? Something you remember?”
I shut my eyes. “No. Yes. I don’t know.”
“Something about Songbird?”
Instantly I felt defensive. “I don’t know what you mean!”
Mateo shrugged. “Have it your way.” He gathered up his laptop. “I’ll get the rest of those projections to you in a day or so.”
“You’re not telling me about Gina?”
Mateo frowned. “You really want to know?”
I remembered I now had access to the golden goose. “No, I guess I’ll just check the files.”
“He gave you access?” Mateo was open-mouthed. “Seriously?”
My head was beginning to pound. I wanted to get rid of him. “Mateo, I’ll see you tonight, at the party.”
He smiled. “I’d like that. Thanks.”
It was too late to remember that this was not a business but a family party, and that Julia and Loli couldn’t stand him. He looked so happy to be invited that I couldn’t take it back. I decided I’d deal with it later. I wanted some time to think.
I left Mateo packing up his gear and went to the secure room. I could hear Arturo talking in his office and the murmur of Catalina answering him. I crept past quietly, and ten minutes later I had the facts.
At first I just stood there, lost in thought. Gina had betrayed Arturo, there was no doubt. The bitch had cold-bloodedly set him up. She must have known what the Americans would have done if they’d caught him with two hundred and fifty kis of coke. It would have been kinder to kill him. She’d been a scheming, greedy, two-faced traitor, and she’d deserved to die. But death by shark was gruesome. The thought of it sent shivers down my spine. It was a typical Arturo reaction, one calculated to inspire horror and fear.
At least he hadn’t hurt her family. I knew other cartels routinely took out whole families for even minor transgressions. A man who crossed a capo might come home to find his wife beaten and raped. A mule who lost a shipment knew her children would be hacked to death. All mobs were brutal by nature, but Arturo was more forgiving than most and had limited any punishment to affecting only the culprit. So why was I so horror-struck?
Idly, I looked at my own file again. Then I read Miguel’s file, also updated after his visit, and I finally examined the pictures of us together. I was smiling, but I didn’t look happy. There was a blankness to my eyes. We didn’t look like a couple, not even in the ones where he had an arm around my shoulders. It was weird, but I felt like I was looking at a clone of myself. Someone who looked like me but who wasn’t me.
I’d been deliberately closing myself off to my past for weeks, but now I closed my eyes and tried to remember Tétouan. I drew a blank. Amsterdam and Rome also came up empty.
Escamilla’s cellar. Arturo said I had told him that I’d been locked up there in a cage until Escamilla had discovered he could blackmail me. I tried to force myself back into that dark time, rebuilding the feel of that cage, and I got a flash of jeering faces. I knew who they were. They were Escamilla’s satellites, the ones who’d been shot the night Arturo took his revenge. I pushed further, but it didn’t help. All I had was those faces and a feeling of rage. I suppose they must have come to laugh at me, but thanks to Escamilla’s germ phobia I hadn’t been raped by them. Still, that cage gave me more than the screaming horrors; I sensed it was important somehow. So what else had gone on there, in that cellar?
I sat there and tried to remember, but it just wouldn’t come. Upset, I gave up. It would come back to me one day. I just had to be patient. I would have some tea and talk to Rafa and Chumillo. Work would get me through.
When I entered the kitchen, I spotted Arturo through the window, walking Catalina to the front gate. She’d stopped crying, and she wasn’t frightened anymore. She looked sad, defeated almost. I watched Arturo say something to her and hand her into a car.
“Arturo was raging when he found out about Gina.” Kyle was standing next to me.
“Gina betrayed him.”
“Yes, but he had another girl, Harper, a banker, who cheated him, and he didn’t kill her,” Kyle pointed out. “In fact, he didn’t do anything, even though she cost him a bomb.”
“What did she do?”
“Leaked details of a land deal to her board of directors. It got her a promotion and cost Arturo a small fortune.”
What a bitch! Poor Arturo. He really had had rotten luck in his love life. “She cost Arturo money, but Gina talked to the Feds and actively tried to set him up. She crossed the line. She became a risk to the family.”
Kyle shook his head. “You and Arturo, you think the same way.”
“Maybe, but I don’t think I could have fed her to the sharks. I would have wanted to, but I doubt I would have had the guts to do it.”
“Women nurture; men destroy.”
He means well, Kyle, but sometimes he’s such a male chauvinist pig. “Yeah, Gina and that banker, real nurturing types.”
Arturo came in, looking depressed. “Sirena, I’m sorry.”
“Is everything okay?”
“No, we need to talk.”
Kyle disappeared, saying something about a systems check, and Arturo pulled me into his office.
“I have to tell you about Gina,” he started heavily. He told the story simply, and he didn’t hide the fact that he’d been in a rage when he’d killed her. “I wanted to kill her sister and the rest of her family, too,” he admitted.
“But you didn’t.”
“Because Kyle said no.”
“Like that would stop you.”
Arturo half smiled. “You don’t seem upset, sirena.”
“I don’t like her ending, it gives me the shivers, but I do see why you got mad and why she had to go. If she was in and out of here for three months and had enough to set you up, she could have done something nasty to Kyle, Chumillo, Rafa or the others.”
“I went crazy,” Arturo sighed. “What I did was pure revenge. It was only afterwards I told myself that it was that possibility that sent me over the edge.”
Typical Arturo, he doesn’t spare himself. “Is that when you gave up on women?”
“It’s when I went for pros in a big way,” Arturo corrected me. “And then I met you.”
It explained a lot. “That’s why you freaked when Davis said I was a squealer. You were thinking I was another Gina.”
“Yes.” Arturo shrugged helplessly. “I was totally selfish: all I could think about was myself, my hurt.”
Maybe I should have thumped him, but I did understand. I knew Arturo to be filled with love for his family, and it was this love that fuelled his determination to protect them. Arturo is a force of nature – a marvel to have on your side and total devastation if he’s not. I had thought that Arturo destroyed those he didn’t love, but now I saw that he only struck if his family was threatened. He could have taken out the banker, but he hadn’t.
“Why not remove Harper?” I asked abruptly.
Arturo was totally taken aback. “She only took money, my money. Harper doesn’t think like us. She thinks it’s all a game and that she was clever by using me.”
“Lovely girl!”
“Stunning, actually.” Arturo grinned. “She crossed the line in our world but not according to her rules. And anyway, it was my money she took, it wasn’t cartel money. And she was no threat to security. She was only here a couple of times, and she didn’t even meet the men.”
It was perfectly reasoned, and it proved Arturo didn’t mix personal with business. That last bit of tension left my body, and suddenly my heart was free.
I could now see the future, and it was a rosy one. He and I might fight – we probably would at some point as we were both stubborn, and we liked to have our own way – but we’d never disagree on fundamentals because we lived by the same rules. We both demanded loyalty, and we found it hard to forgive, but neither of us lived for revenge. We used it as a tool, but our preference was for walking
away. I had left Fuentes when he’d cheated on me, and Arturo had walked out on his banker. Considering both of us had killed, it showed restraint.
Subconsciously I’d had a reservation about Arturo, rooted in that scene in London, but now I was certain that any battles fought would be strictly between us. I’d never have to look over my shoulder. If the two of us fought, we’d go at it like gentlemen.
“Are we good?” Arturo asked.
I shook my head. “Arturo, we’re even better.” I felt light, and I couldn’t help laughing. “I think we’re a perfect match.”
His brown eyes were gleaming with fun. “Loli just called. She sends her congratulations.”
“That must have cost her.”
“She also asked a good question: are you Catholic?”
I was absolutely blank. “I’ve no idea! Does it matter?”
Arturo groaned. “Never say that to the girls!” He picked up the phone. “Your parents were buried by the Church of England, so you’re probably the same. You may have to convert. Luckily there’s a bishop who owes me a favour. Let me give him a ring.”
It didn’t surprise me. Arturo has friends everywhere. It may be irreverent, but I bet that the day we die, Arturo will probably greet St. Peter and the devil as old friends.
“Sebas! Arturo here. How’ve you been?”
As Arturo talked, my phone beeped. I flipped it open. It was that photo again, the one of me looking bashed up and angry. This time though the camera was pulled back, and I could see more. I was locked in a cage, and there was a caption, “Songbird.”
My stomach roiled. Instinctively I hit delete.
Arturo put down his phone. “All fixed,” he announced. “It’s just a question of paperwork. Nothing to worry about.” He looked at me and frowned. “All right, sirena?”
“Peachy!”
Chapter Twenty-Three: Arturo
When Solitaire said she’d marry me, I was over the moon. I stayed on a high, even though it was one of the most challenging weeks in my life.
First Catalina came round. Most people would have run off, worried that they’d be next, but Catalina was a kid and still innocent. Months ago, after I’d cooled down, I’d the idea she might ask for a reckoning one day, so I was prepared.
“You were jealous,” she stammered. “You killed her because she wanted to leave you, and you couldn’t stand it.”
It sounded like she was repeating something she’d heard. “What makes you think that?”
She showed me her phone. “Her novio texted me.”
As I’d guessed, it came from one of the Gulf capos. The bastard was trying to cause trouble. He probably hoped that Catalina would try to shoot me. Luckily she was a gentle girl; I would have hated it if she’d forced me to take her out.
“Your sister tried to set me up,” I told her. “And if I’d been the vengeful type, you’d be dead, too.”
I showed her the evidence, including letting her listen to a recorded conversation between Gina, Jimenez and the DEA across the border.
Everyone in Mexico knows what happens if you talk to the authorities about cartel business. We may be always at each other’s throats, but we’re united when it comes to letting the citizens know to keep their traps shut. If you are stupid enough to talk, and you’re very lucky, you and all your family die. If you’re unlucky, you watch everyone you love die slowly, and then we make you suffer.
Catalina went white as she listened. “I thought she just wanted out.”
“Now you know the truth.”
I sent her home and arranged to have her sent an offer of a bursary to UABC College in Tijuana. Going away would give her a chance to get on in life and to get her mind off her sister. I wasn’t being kind. I was just too happy to want that kind of sorrow around. Packing the kid off was the easiest way.
Next I had to deal with Alexa. She’d suddenly decided to call Seth and became concerned when she discovered his phone had been disconnected. She called mutual friends, found out he’d never reached home, and being a bright girl, deduced I was behind it.
“What have you done, Arturo?” Her face was pale but her eyes determined. “I know you did something.”
We try to keep family and business separate, but it’s inevitable that there’s some overlap. Like the man who misses a debt repayment and has his ribs broken as a reminder not to miss another turns out to be your cousin’s new boyfriend, or the woman you’ve paid for a quiet midweek fuck-and-suck turns out to be your sister’s maid. I’ve had both happen to me, and when shit happens, you follow the rules: deny, deny, deny.
“Alexa, why would I do anything to Seth? You saw him walk out of here. You were with him!”
She stared at me suspiciously. “He got drunk,” she said slowly, “and you were pissed that he kissed Solitaire.”
She’d not heard about the spiked drink because we’d worked hard to keep the whole episode from her, and I wasn’t going to enlighten her. If I did, she’d know I’d taken my revenge.
“I kicked him out, and you brought him back to apologise. That’s the last I saw of him.”
Alexa wasn’t buying it; I saw it in her eyes. As luck would have it, Solitaire came up. Alexa immediately buttonholed her. “I know Seth was a pain,” Alexa said, “but he just had one beer too many. He’s disappeared, and I’m worried about him, Solitaire! You must tell me the truth.”
Solitaire thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Seth wasn’t drunk. He was high.”
“No way!” Alexa was horrified. Her mama brought her up well, you see.
Solitaire took Alexa’s arm. “Listen,” she said quietly. “Don’t believe me. Ask your cousins. Ask Chumillo and Rafa. Ask Quique. We all saw it: Seth was coked up.”
“No!” But Alexa knew it was true.
“Your family were worried,” Solitaire said carefully. “They warned him off.”
She didn’t mention the form the warning had taken or the part she’d played. Alexa, though, had an idea what that meant. She looked horrified.
“Alexa, you’re not going to see Seth again,” Solitaire continued. “He was high, but he knew very well what your family is like when it comes to protecting their girls. Some of the boys told him they were unhappy, and Seth took off like a scalded cat. He won’t take your calls, and he won’t be talking to you when you get back to college.”
“They didn’t kill him?” Alexa asked fearfully.
“Of course not!” Solitaire scoffed. “They just told him to get lost.”
Alexa looked relieved. “I know Seth’s an asshole sometimes, but he’s all right really.”
“You can do much better.” Solitaire was crisp. “Tell you what: I’ll tell Julia you won’t be able to find a decent date before you go back to San Diego.”
Alexa was laughing. “She’ll have every man in Club León here by tomorrow just to prove you’re wrong!”
“If that works for you, it works for me!”
I spoke to Solitaire afterwards. “Thanks, sirena. She took that well.”
“She knows,” Solitaire mused. “She knows inside, but she’s going to pretend she doesn’t.”
“Yeah.”
I hate it when the girls become involved in the darker parts of our business, but what could I have done? Alexa brought him here, and the fucker asked for it, and yet I felt bad about it.
“Never mind, Arturo.” Solitaire’s dark blue eyes were clear and untroubled. “That man was a monster, and if we hadn’t done something, he would have hurt someone else. Alexa maybe. We did the right thing.”
Solitaire is soft, sensuous and all curves, but she’s strong. As strong as me, I think. Stronger maybe. She’s had a hard life, yet she’s retained her compassion. I don’t think I would have. Standing alone in a harsh world with the burden of looking after a mother in a coma would destroy most men, but not my Solitaire. I thanked God I’d found her. My perfect woman.
I was kissing her when Julia arrived. She didn’t like our news, but she tried to be nice abou
t it. It helped that she had Salvatore in tow. He looked a bit sick when he saw Solitaire and me. I knew he was thinking of the last time he saw us, Solitaire holding that drill and then me with the kneecapping, but Salvatore didn’t say anything. He would never speak about it, but he’d never forget.
“That slut left town,” Julia hissed in my ear. “Thank you, Arturo.”
“Kyle had a word with her.”
“Good. I hope it hurt.”
Julia is a sweetheart, but like all women she’s a fiend when it comes to her man. If Kyle had presented her with that chupita’s heart in a jar, Julia would have been delighted. It’s just as well that we don’t have many women in the cartel; it’s vicious enough without female vindictiveness. I don’t count Solitaire, of course. She’s all business.
Loli turned up next. She didn’t look too happy at our news, either, but Julia surprised me by taking her on. “She’s not what either of us hoped for, but she makes Arturo happy.”
Solitaire sighed. “Damning with faint praise, Julia?”
“I heard what happened to you.”
Solitaire stiffened. Her nose went up in the air, and I saw with dismay that the ice princess was back. “Indeed.”
Ouch.
Julia was taken aback. “He drugged your drink! It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
Solitaire relaxed, but Loli was appalled. “I didn’t hear about this! Why didn’t I hear about this?”
“Alexa would have been so ashamed that it wasn’t generally talked about.” Julia looked all superior and then ruined it by adding, “Salvatore was here. He told me all about it.”
From the calm way she talked about it, Salvatore had given her a heavily censored version.
Julia turned to Solitaire. “He said you were concerned for Alexa. It was good of you.”
Solitaire shrugged. “No problem.” Then she made an excuse about needing to talk to Luz and vanished.
That’s when it finally dawned on me that Solitaire had pokered up because she thought Julia had been referring to her time with Escamilla. The fact that Solitaire didn’t remember much was a relief to both of us, but it suddenly dawned on me that having everyone know about it was a tremendous burden. I could have kicked myself, and as soon as I could, I went to find her.