Murder in the Tenderloin (Peyton Brooks' Series Book 2)
Page 30
She rubbed her hands across her cheeks. “He asked me to do something for him when he died.”
“What?”
“He asked me to go to his mother and sister, and tell them…tell them that he died helping us bring down El Viento.”
“Whew!” Jake sat stunned.
“Yeah, whew. At first I thought, screw you, I don’t have to do a damn thing you ask. You’ll be dead, but now…”
“Now it’s different.”
Peyton nodded. “I wish it wasn’t.”
Jake leaned forward, bracing his arms on his knees. “Here’s the thing, Peyton. I’m not telling you to forgive him. God knows, I’ll never forgive Claire for what she did, but maybe, just maybe, you need to do this for yourself.”
“I know. It’s just it was so much clearer when I thought he was just a thug, a remorseless killer, not a kid with a mother and sister he was trying to protect.”
“Life’s a bitch that way, ain’t it?”
Peyton couldn’t stop her smile. “Yeah, a real humdinger of a bitch.”
“I felt that way about a certain cop I knew until she wouldn’t let me live in a dive and forced me to quit being a teller. Now look at me, I’m taking pictures of heads in boxes.”
Peyton scowled at him. “You’re never gonna let that go, are you, Ryder?”
“No, Peyton, it was a head in a box.” They both laughed, then he reached over and put his hand on her arm. “I’ll go with you to tell them, okay?”
“Really?”
“Yeah, no one should do that alone.”
“Thank you, Jake,” she said and covered his hand with her own.
* * *
Peyton parked her car in front of the house on Utah and Jake rolled down his window. They both stared up at it. The house was squat and yellow, but carefully maintained. Two bay windows looked over the street from the front, reminding Peyton of eyes, and a basketball hoop had been nailed above the garage door.
Jake shifted and looked at her. He had his camera bag with him; he took the damn thing everywhere he went now. It made her smile.
“You okay?”
She nodded. Inside her emotions were roiling, but she forced her exterior to appear calm. This was the worst part of her job. Telling a family that a loved one was dead, but somehow this was worse. She had to tell Luis Garza’s mother.
Drawing a deep breath and releasing it, she closed her fingers over the door handle and pushed it open. Jake got out with her and waited as she crossed around the car.
“I’ll wait here.”
She nodded. She didn’t trust herself to speak. Wiping her hands on her pants, she forced herself to take that first step up the walkway. After that they came easier and she walked with purpose to the front stairs. She didn’t allow herself to grab the rail, because she was afraid it might ground her and force her to realize what she was doing.
Halfway up, however, she stopped and stared at the small porch and the scuffed black paint on the door. As always, her father’s words came back to her. Sweetness, the hardest thing about being a cop is looking at the criminal with the same humanity as you look at the victim. In that moment, she knew he would understand.
Climbing the rest of the way, she knocked at the door. She could hear voices inside and looked back down at Jake. He leaned against the car with his arms crossed, but he gave her a slight nod. She nodded back and swallowed against the dryness in her mouth.
Daniela opened it. She had a large, fluffy sweater on and she pulled it about herself. Her dark hair was mussed and she had no make-up on. Her eyes narrowed as she recognized Peyton. “Inspector…”
“Brooks,” Peyton offered. “How is your son?”
“He’s stable. He has a long recovery, but the doctors think he’ll make it now.”
“I’m so glad,” said Peyton and she meant it.
An older, heavy-set woman appeared behind Daniela, wearing a flowered house dress. Fluffy pink slippers covered her feet. She pushed her short hair back from her forehead and Peyton recognized the look about her eyes. Ester Ortega Garza, Luis’ mother.
“Daniela, quién está aqui?”
“Inspector Brooks, Mama.” She turned back to Peyton as the woman shuffled to the door. “Did you come to talk about my son, Inspector?”
“No.” Involuntarily Peyton glanced over her shoulder at Jake.
Daniela stepped out onto the porch and so did her mother. Peyton moved back a few paces.
“Who’s that?” demanded Daniela.
“It doesn’t matter. Listen, Luis asked me to come.”
“Qué?” questioned the mother.
“Luis le pidió que viniera, Mama.” Luis asked her to come.
“Oh.” The mother’s expression filled with anxiety.
“Raphael Peña is dead,” Peyton told Daniela. “He won’t hurt you or your son again.”
Daniela gasped, then turned to her mother, repeating the words. They both laughed and hugged at that.
“Daniela,” Peyton said, interrupting them.
Daniela looked up at her and her expression sobered. Peyton knew she guessed where this was going. “What?”
Peyton stared at Luis Garza’s mother, the woman who had given birth to him, nurtured him through life. She summoned up every bit of Spanish she had learned and she forced herself to speak, “Su hijo está muerto.” Your son is dead. The cruelest four words a person can tell another. “Lo siento mucho.” I am so sorry. Those next four words seemed so inadequate; they always did.
Luis’ mother didn’t respond right away, she just stared at Peyton and shook her head slowly. Peyton switched back to English. “He died protecting his family. He died helping us stop Raphael Peña.”
Daniela stared at her. “He helped you find Raphael?”
“To protect you and your mother. Your son.”
Tears filled Daniela’s eyes, but she was distracted by the keening sound that tore out of her mother.
Ester’s knees gave way and she began to sink. Daniela tried to hold her up, but she was too heavy.
Peyton moved forward and caught her, helping her daughter ease her to the ground. The woman gripped Peyton as sobs tore out of her, gripped her and held tight, her body huddled over Peyton’s arm.
Peyton sat there, amidst the San Francisco fog, and held the mother of the man who had killed her father because when it came down to it, she understood this grief, this pain, this devastation, and in that, she and Ester Garza were connected.
* * *
Jake lowered the camera and stared at the back display. Three women knelt on the porch, holding each other. He felt a little ashamed for taking the picture, but here was life, here it lay captured at its rawest element. Grief.
He stared at Peyton’s face. For so long, he’d tried to think of her as an enemy, but this was something more. It was much more complicated than that, and he still didn’t know how he felt about it.
He put the camera away and waited, leaning against the car. The San Francisco fog rolled in and lay like a blanket over the City, pulling everything in, shutting out the rest of the expansive world.
He watched as Peyton and Daniela got her mother to her feet and helped her back inside the house. Then Peyton reappeared and started down the stairs.
Daniela appeared on the porch again, calling down to her. “Inspector Brooks, thank you.”
Peyton nodded, giving her a sad smile.
Daniela’s head disappeared and Peyton strode the rest of the way to the car. She reached into her pocket after her phone as she came to a stop before him.
“You okay?”
She glanced back at the house, holding the phone in her hand. “Yeah.” She turned back and forced a smile. “You were right. I needed to do that.”
“I’m always right.” He focused on the phone. “Who are you calling?”
Peyton gave him a sidelong look. “My mother,” she said, moving around the front of the car, “Then Marco and Abe. The four of us are going to go get shit-faced drunk
.”
Jake gave her a bewildered look as she opened the car door and lifted the phone to her ear. “Drunk?”
“Yeah, Abe knows this great gay bar down in the Castro where we can go and dance the whole night. The drinks are cheap and the music is off the hook.”
“Gay bar?”
Peyton nodded. “Hey, Mom,” she said, ducking into the car. “It’s me.”
Jake shook himself, then yanked open his own door.
“Peyton!” he yelled.
THE END
Now that you’ve finished, visit ML Hamilton at her website: authormlhamilton.com for more information on the Peyton Brooks’ mysteries and her other contemporary fiction novel, Ravensong.
Then check out her fantasy series, The World of Samar, at worldofsamar.com.
All ML Hamilton titles available at Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats.
The Complete Peyton Brooks’ Mysteries Collection:
Murder on Potrero Hill Volume 1
Murder in the Tenderloin Volume 2
Murder on Russian Hill Volume 3
Coming Soon:
Murder on Alcatraz Volume 4
The Complete World of Samar Collection:
Emerald Volume 1
The Heirs of Eldon Volume 2
The Star of Eldon Volume 3
Coming Soon:
The Spirit of Eldon Volume 4