Unbridled
Page 18
As he processed those thoughts, he recalled the name Lopez. Tina Lopez had been the woman who let Tonio stay with her when he ran away from home. Tina had a brother. What was the brother’s name, the one who hadn’t died about the same time the senator’s daughter did? Harry Lopez was the victim of a drug overdose. Or so they said. The younger brother, what was his name? Wasn’t it David?
Lights flashed in his mind. David Lopez. Tonio’s friend. He pulled out his cell phone while Tonio’s attention was on the action scene playing on the big screen. Tina Lopez had a rap sheet. She also had gang associations. Los Diablos Lobitos. Her brother was David. He went to San Felipe. Tonio’s school.
He put up the phone. He was furious. The connection was right in front of his face and he hadn’t seen it. David Lopez was a member of Los Diablos Lobitos. He hadn’t realized it before and Tonio hadn’t told him. Tonio also had to know that David’s arm had been broken by Rado, but he hadn’t told his own father. Why?
* * *
John was silent all the way to the ranch. Tonio watched him covertly, frightened. His dad looked furious.
“Did I do something?” Tonio asked when they were walking in the front door.
John put up his coat and hat. He turned to his son. “Your friend is David Lopez.”
“Well, yes,” Tonio said hesitantly.
“He has a sister named Tina, a prostitute.”
“She’s not bad,” Tonio said. “She was forced to go on the streets—!”
“Yes. By Rado,” he replied coldly.
Tonio swallowed, hard. He looked tormented.
“Rado broke a kid’s arm for talking about him. He laughed while he was doing it. Your friend David doesn’t play with you, but not because he hurt his hand. It’s because Rado broke his arm. Isn’t it?”
Tonio almost panicked. “Dad—”
“What do you know about Tina and David, and their connection to Rado?” he persisted.
“I can’t tell you,” he began.
“You can. You will!”
“I told a cop,” he replied quickly. “Someone I know got him to come see me at the hospital. I told him all about Rado and David and Tina. He promised to make sure David and Tina don’t get hurt. If Rado finds out I told, he’ll kill David! You can’t go over there and make trouble for them. Please, Dad,” he pleaded. “David’s the only friend I’ve got, and he’s scared to death of Rado. He says Rado’s over there all the time now, because David and Tina know enough to put him away for life. David called me on a throwaway phone. He’s so scared!”
John cursed under his breath. “You told a cop,” he said icily. “But you wouldn’t tell me? I’m your father, Tonio!”
Tonio felt terrible. “Dad, you’re like an avalanche when you’re on a case,” he said defensively. “I was scared that you’d go over there to talk to David. Rado would find out and David would die.”
“I can be discreet,” John argued. His face was hard as stone. “Who’s the cop?”
Tonio ground his teeth together in anguish. “I promised I wouldn’t tell. He’s got friends in Los Serpientes,” he added. “Well, not friends, maybe, but people he trusts.”
“A cop with gang friends. A boy who’s in danger of dying because he knows too much. A known killer standing in the shadows. Did it ever occur to you that you’re putting people in the line of fire by saying anything at all? And worse, if Rado finds out that you talked to someone in law enforcement, he’ll be after you!”
“The cop was sitting with someone I know, a woman,” he replied. “It would look like they were getting together and I was just sitting at their table. Even Rado couldn’t believe I was telling the cop anything.”
John ran a hand through his hair. “Damn it, Tonio,” he bit off. “I put you in school in San Antonio to keep you out of trouble. Your friend David is up to his neck with the wolves, and you’re his friend. Do you think Rado doesn’t know? Do you think he believes you won’t say anything?”
Tonio felt nervous. And not only for himself. Now he was worried about Sunny as well. What if he put her in harm’s way? What if Rado was watching the canteen or had people watching it for him? What if he’d seen Cal Hollister with Rado and Sunny and thought Tonio was telling both of them things about Rado that he’d heard from David?
“I didn’t mean to get anybody in trouble,” he said miserably. He looked up at John with dark, solemn eyes. “I only wanted to help David. I didn’t want him to die, or Tina, either. Tina isn’t on the streets because she wants to be. Rado made her. Dad, he’s so dangerous,” he added quietly, going closer. “I was afraid to tell anybody, but this woman I know at the hospital said she knew somebody I could trust, because she trusted him. She’s been hurt by Rado’s gang, too.”
“Some woman, a stranger, says you can trust her,” John scoffed.
“She’s not a stranger,” Tonio protested. “She’s kind and sweet.” He turned his eyes away. “She reminds me of Mom.”
John bit his lower lip. The boy was alone too much. No wonder he was making friends at his school who were out of the mainstream. John had put him there to protect him and to straighten him out. Now it seemed, he’d put him in danger as well.
“I don’t want you talking to David again,” he said firmly. “I’m going to have one of my men shadow you, even at school from now on. Rado’s not getting to you. No matter what I have to do.”
“David’s my friend,” Tonio protested.
“If he knows something on Rado, I have to find out what it is,” John said quietly. “This is bigger than us, Tonio. The man’s killed people. Two, just recently. I can’t let him walk.”
“But he won’t, that’s what I’m trying to tell you! The cop’s going after him. He said he can do it in a way that won’t involve me or the woman who helped me. He can protect David and his sister.”
“If Rado wants them dead, there’s no such thing as protection, least at all from a police officer. He may have the best of intentions, but you can’t go about something like this in a covert way, Tonio. You have to go through the front door.”
“Please don’t get David killed,” Tonio said miserably.
John didn’t reply. He put his hat and coat back on. “I’ll be late.”
“Dad, please...?!”
“I’m not going after them tonight,” he said curtly, his black eyes cutting into his son’s face. “I have to meet an informant.” That was a lie. He was meeting Sunny. “But you keep your nose out of this, understand me? I don’t want you near David until we can get Rado sorted out. Afterward, well, we’ll see.”
“I wish I’d never punched that teacher,” Tonio said gruffly. “This woman I know asked me if I just did it to get your attention.” He lowered his eyes, blind to his father’s sudden flush. “I don’t know. Maybe I did.” He shrugged. “The movie was nice. Thanks. I’m going to bed.”
“Tonio.”
The boy turned on his way down the hall.
John moved closer, his face troubled. “I know we don’t spend enough time together. I’m trying to do something about it. It’s just...” He hesitated and drew in a breath. “You don’t understand how it is with me. I can’t crawl into the grave with your mother. I loved her. But life goes on. It has to. Do you really expect me to live the rest of my life alone?”
Tonio’s face closed up. “There really is a woman, isn’t there?”
John lifted his chin. “Yes. There’s a woman. I take her out for a sandwich now and then. That’s all.”
Tonio’s face hardened. “As long as I don’t have to be around her,” he said sullenly. He turned and walked away.
John looked after him, ready to fight. But Sunny was waiting, and he was tired of trying to change the boy’s mind.
“Dad?”
He looked back from the open door.
“Please don’t get David killed,” the
boy repeated sadly.
“I’ll do what I can,” he said curtly, and left. On the way off the ranch, he had a talk with his foreman about providing additional security for Tonio. As an afterthought, he phoned Eb Scott to see who he had who might be willing to shadow Tonio in San Antonio while he was in school and he put the man on the ranch payroll at once. That settled, he drove back to the city.
* * *
He sent Sunny a text and said he’d be a little late for the evening film. She sent him one back that said it didn’t matter what time. She added that she had a new movie on DVD and maybe they could watch it at her apartment. He sent back an lol and a message that he’d like that even better.
Before he went to her apartment, despite Tonio’s warning, he made a beeline to the Lopez apartment. Earlier in the week, Cal Hollister had promised to have Tina brought in for questioning on prostitution so that they could interrogate her, but the officer Hollister sent hadn’t been able to locate her. It was Saturday night. If she had a “date,” she might be at home. He was going to see.
* * *
He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He couldn’t see any lights on in the apartment from under the door. Odd, the boy at least should be there.
Troubled, he went by Father Eduardo’s church. The priest welcomed him and took him into his office. He closed the door.
“How can I help?” he asked.
“I’m looking for Tina Lopez and her brother David,” John said. “They aren’t at her apartment, and it’s dark. No lights.”
The priest nodded. “They’ve gone into hiding, is all I can tell you. But things are in motion that will bring a good result.”
“What things?” John asked.
The priest only smiled. “Good things. Be patient.”
“They’re witnesses in a murder investigation,” came the reply. “I know that Rado’s making threats. They’re in danger.”
“Not now,” Father Eduardo replied. “They’re safe, and in good hands. Rado’s future is looking darker by the second. But that’s all I can tell you. I gave my word.”
John bit back a curse. Here was the worst dead end he’d had in ages. An active murder investigation, and the two people who might finger the shooter were out of reach. “Can you tell me if they’re still in the city, at least?”
Father Eduardo laid a gentle hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Rado will pay for his crimes, sooner than he thinks. And that is all I can tell you.”
John just shook his head. “Okay. I’ll get with my task force and hope they’ve got another solution.”
“They will have. You worry so much,” the priest said gently. “It is good, that you want to preserve the peace and protect others. It is bad that you give so little of that time to yourself. God guides us, you know,” he added. “He sends us down the river of life with the illusion that we are in charge. But the reality is that we have no control over what happens to us, unless you discount prayer. You must relax and just live life.”
“Sound advice, but I have a stressful occupation,” John said with a faint smile.
“I came from an even more stressful one, to my present job. I can tell you for a fact that once I sat down and let God lead, the stress lessened drastically.”
John chuckled. “It seems I have no choice, for the moment. Thanks anyway.”
“Buena suerte,” Father Eduardo said. “Y que Dios te bendiga.”
“You, too, father. Merry Christmas.”
The priest smiled. “It is good, that we can say this once again. Feliz Navidad to you, too, my son. Y prospero año y felicidad.”
“There’s a song about that,” John said with a twinkle in his black eyes.
“José Feliciano. One of my favorites.”
“Mine as well. See you around.”
“Yes. You will.”
* * *
John worried the problem of the Lopezes and his son all the way to Sunny’s apartment. He couldn’t believe he’d been so preoccupied that he hadn’t realized the David Lopez with the broken arm was the same David who was his son’s best friend. He was working too hard, putting in too much overtime. He was neglecting his son.
He hated even the thought of Tonio in danger from Rado. It seemed that the boy was keeping many secrets from him. He’d said that a San Antonio cop was helping him. He wished he knew which one. He was also curious about the mysterious woman Tonio referred to. The way he spoke of the woman indicated great affection. It was amazing how much John didn’t know about his son.
Perhaps they were right. He needed to be less obsessed with his job and more attentive to his only child. If only he and Tonio could work out their problems. John wanted him to know Sunny. If he could just meet her, it might change his whole attitude. But how to bring that about, without invoking tragedy—that was the thing.
* * *
Sunny met him at the door, in her sock feet, wearing jeans and a long red sweater with a reindeer on it.
He laughed wholeheartedly. “I could use a little Christmas cheer,” he teased as he put up his hat and coat and joined her in the kitchen. “You’re not cooking?” he wondered.
“I’ve had supper. Have you?” she asked.
“Yes...”
“So I made dessert.” She indicated a cookie sheet on the stove. There were several kinds of cookies. All of them looked delicious, even to a man who didn’t normally like sweets.
“Forget the popcorn,” he said at once. “I love cookies. Just enough sweetness without overdoing it.” He made a face. “I don’t like cakes much. And pies, only occasionally. But cookies! My favorite treat! And how did you know I liked chocolate?” he teased, taking her by the waist.
“I didn’t. I took a chance.” She looked up at him, laughing. She looked very pretty with her face scrubbed clean and her long, silky hair around her shoulders. She smelled of wildflowers and soap all at once.
He bent down and nuzzled her nose with his. “We could have gone out, if you’d wanted to.”
“I’d rather be here,” she returned. She smiled. “You can relax on the sofa. In the theater, not so much.”
“True.” He let her go and grabbed two cookies.
“Here.” She handed him a red dish, which he filled to the brim. “Coffee?”
“Do you really need to ask?” he asked with a laugh.
“Silly question. I already made a pot. It’s strong,” she added and poured it out into two mugs.
“I love black coffee strong,” he said when she joined him on the sofa. “I live on it.”
“Me, too. Night shift gets long.”
He stretched his long legs out in front of him. “It does, indeed.”
“Why don’t you take off your boots?” she asked. “I almost never wear shoes inside. Too confining.”
He grinned at her. He tugged off his expensive boots and tossed them to one side, wriggling his toes in his thick white socks. “You’re right. Much better.”
He drew her up beside him after she’d started the DVD player. “What are we going to watch?”
“The new cartoon movie. Well, it’s not new, but I haven’t seen it.”
“Moana!” he exclaimed. “I haven’t seen it, either. I’ve heard great things about it from the people at work. Most of them have kids.”
She smiled. “I love cartoon movies.”
“So do I.”
* * *
The music was lovely, the acting perfect. But about halfway through the movie, John drew her across his lap and kissed her softly.
She wreathed her arms around his neck and kissed him back. In between segments of the movie, his hands slid under her sweater and up her bare back to the fastening of her bra. This was familiar now, comfortable. She felt his hands on her firm breasts with a sense of wonder at how right it felt, how good. She never protested once.
The feel of his bare, warm, hair-roughened chest against her bare skin was so exciting that she gasped out loud.
He held her close. “Rubia,” he whispered at her ear, his voice strained, “you are every dream I ever had of the perfect woman!”
“Not so perfect,” she replied sadly.
He lifted his head and looked down at her. His fingers lightly traced over the breast with the scar. “This makes no difference,” he whispered. “Except that I wouldn’t have had you hurt for all the world.”
“It’s unsightly—”
Before she could finish the sentence, his mouth was on the nipple, moving down, coaxing, invading, consuming her with a faint suction that lifted her right off the couch in a helpless, anguished arch. Her nails dug into his thick hair as she shivered with unexpected pleasure that seemed to feed on itself.
“You like that?” he chuckled, deep in his throat. “I like it, too. So much!”
His mouth shifted to the other breast and he repeated the arousing caress, joy shafting through him as he heard her soft cries of pleasure, felt her body go rigid with desire, with delight.
While his mouth was busy, so were his hands. At first, she protested, a little, but another feverish caress and she let him unzip the loose jeans and push them down her legs. She was vaguely aware of his own jeans following, along with his gunbelt and pistol, but she was so intoxicated with pleasure that she had no will of her own left.
“This is going to end badly,” he bit off at her mouth as his body covered hers. “Very badly...”
“I know,” she whimpered. But she was pulling, not pushing. It was the most exquisite physical pleasure she’d ever known.
“You’re a virgin,” he ground out. “It will hurt!”
“Not much,” she managed.