Back to the Fajitas

by Leena Clover

  “You got most of that, right?” I asked Tony.

  He looked grim.

  “Pappa’s going to be shocked. He might even ask us to turn back.”

  “I don’t really know Leo,” Tony admitted. “I’ve hardly spoken to him a few times.”

  “You want to know why I believe he is innocent.”

  I can guess what Tony’s thinking too. Tony nodded, walking on with his hands in his pockets.

  “I don’t know much about him either. None of us do. Who is he? Where did Charlie find him? Why did he bring him home? We know nothing.”

  I wasn’t the only one who trusted Leo. Sylvie and Motee Ba were ready to offer him a home. That had to count for something. They were way more experienced in the ways of the world. And they had opened their hearts to Leo.

  “It’s just instinct,” I told Tony. “Some kind of gut feeling. I think Leo’s innocent.”

  “He couldn’t have a better advocate than Meera Patel.”

  Tony put an arm around my shoulder, hugging me close. We went in, finally feeling the exhaustion from the day catch up with us.

  The next morning, I stayed in bed until Tony and Jeet were done with their showers. Then I grabbed a quick one and dressed in layers. We would be crossing into New Mexico today. I wore a turquoise top and a leather jacket. I was looking forward to buying some nice silver and turquoise jewelry to match the outfit.

  “This place has the best pancakes,” Dad was exclaiming.

  He has a sweet tooth the size of Texas. We all do. Jeet and Dad were looking at some flyers at the front desk.

  “The guy at the desk recommends it,” Dad stressed. “Always trust the locals.”

  It was 7:30 AM and Pappa was fuming because we were late.

  “Calm down, Pappa!” Dad finally glared at him. “We’re on vacation. 7:30 is early enough. We’ll hit the road by 9. We won’t be driving more than 4-5 hours a day anyway.”

  Everyone ordered the pancakes. We also got eggs and grits and bacon. The hash browns were made fresh, crispy and burnt at the edges. Dad was driving today. Sally got in next to him. Tony and I sat in the third row. Once again, I wished we had brought a second car.

  Motee Ba was the last to get in. She had been talking to Sylvie on the phone. She caught my eye and I realized she had the latest intel.

  “They are talking to him now,” she whispered.

  That meant the police had brought Leo in for questioning. Would they arrest him today?

  “What are you talking about, Hansa?” Pappa asked loudly.

  Dad looked at us through the rearview mirror.

  “Why don’t we forget about Swan Creek and home for a while?” he said. “This is our first vacation since you kids grew up. Just enjoy the ride.”

  I got the message. Dad didn’t want to talk about Charlie Gibson or Leo. He was giving me a subtle warning. My Dad is pretty cool most of the time. But when he puts his foot down, you better fall in line.

  “What was the last vacation we took with Mom?” Jeet asked.

  He’s become an expert at sucking up to Sally. Sally was missing from our life for several years. Her sudden reappearance had thrown me off. Jeet had easily accepted her as our long lost mother. I wasn’t ready to do that yet.

  “You were too young, kiddo,” Dad said, smiling fondly at Sally.

  Too young to remember, he meant. But Sally didn’t remember either. Dad launched into the story of a weekend trip we had taken into the Ozark mountains. This must have been just a few weeks before Sally went away.

  Our trip was truly monumental, considering. I decided to take Dad’s advice and cleared my mind. I looked out of the window at the changing landscape. We hit a bank of fog just outside Amarillo. It started raining, giving us a firsthand experience of the infamous panhandle weather.

  I wanted to be there for Leo Smith. But I didn’t know how I was going to manage that from a distance. I would just have to try harder.

  Chapter 6

  The LX blazed through the rain and sleet and we made good time. We stopped in a small town at a gas station. We huddled under an awning, sipping hot chocolate, taking in the desolate countryside. Other than the semis thundering across the Interstate, there wasn’t much to be seen.

  “Your Pappa’s not going to like it,” Motee Ba told me.

  “We’ll know more when I talk to Stan later tonight.”

  Motee Ba looked distressed.

  “Why do you believe Leo is innocent?”

  Motee Ba was quiet. “Charlie usually kept people at arm’s length. But he trusted Leo. He must have seen something in the kid.”

  The sky cleared up after that and the car cut through the miles rapidly. A demand for snacks had been made and we had dipped into the stuff my aunt sent. There were some chips made from black eyed peas. The road stretched ahead as far as the eye could see. The landscape was barren, with some sparse dry grass and open fields. A water tower would loom up suddenly, indicating we were passing a small town.

  There was a lull in the car until Jeet suddenly cried out.

  “Welcome to New Mexico!”

  There was a cheer as we entered the second state since leaving home. Dad spotted the sign for the Visitor Center soon after and we pulled into it. I spotted a coffee counter and made tracks toward it. Dad was pulling out brochures from a large display.

  Sally suggested we walk around and stretch our legs. Pappa needed it most and he limped along with his cane. I walked in a wide circle around the periphery of the area. After I was out of hearing distance, I pulled out Tony’s cell phone and called Becky. The situation was dire enough to commandeer his phone.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Hi Meera! Can you believe it? They are saying Leo stole money from Charlie.”

  “Where is he right now?”

  “They took him in for questioning. I think they will detain him today.”

  “Stan told me some woman claims she saw him. Who is this woman?”

  “Must be a neighbor,” Becky mused.

  “Can you find out? Maybe talk to her if you can?”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  I didn’t see a point in calling Stan. It was better to catch up with him at night. Tony had come up to where I was.

  “Does he have a lawyer?”

  I shrugged.

  “We know nothing about him. Does he have any family, or someone he can call?”

  “I thought he is on his own, Meera. Isn’t that why Charlie took him in?”

  “We don’t know that for sure.”

  I completed the loop and sidled close to Motee Ba. I asked her about Leo’s family. She gave me a weird look.

  “Leo doesn’t have anyone. I thought you knew that, Meera.”

  “I assumed that. But maybe he’s just had a fight with his folks or something.”

  Motee Ba shook her head.

  I felt the burden of responsibility weigh me down. How was I going to be of any help to Leo? I could think of no way other than calling Becky and asking her questions. Becky or Stan would have to be my conduits. I had to depend on them to find out the little things. Would Stan do my bidding, I wondered.

  Pappa was looking around, waving his cane in the air, summoning everyone to the car. We got in and settled down. It was getting close to lunch.

  “There’s a small town off Route 66,” Dad said, placing a finger on the map. “Tucumcari. Let’s stop there for lunch.”

  “Where are we stopping tonight?” Jeet asked.

  “Well, the plan was to go to Albuquerque,” Dad said. “But your mother wants to visit Santa Fe.”

  He smiled at Sally and she smiled back.

  “Won’t that throw us off track?” I protested. “We are on a tight schedule here.”

  “Didn’t you always want to visit Santa Fe?” Tony quirked his eyebrows. “It’s supposed to be a ritzy joint.”

  I looked away, refusing to answer.

  A few hills were beginning to appear on the horizon. Dad put
in his CD again and cranked up the volume. It sounded like some old Bollywood songs from the 70s because Dad and Motee Ba started humming. After a while, Sally was humming too. I couldn’t believe my ears.

  When Sally went away all those years ago, she got flung around by a tornado. She forgot all about who she was. The doctor who found her took real good care of her. She ended up marrying him. Other than random dreams which made no sense to her, Sally had no idea who she was or where she came from until she found an old driver’s license in her name and a letter written to her by her dear departed husband. She had set out to find her family and ended up in our lives.

  Living with us had been good for Sally’s memory. She remembered random things or events without realizing how. She didn’t really remember her native language Gujarati, the one she had grown up with. Humming along with a Bollywood song was big. That meant another thread of Sally’s memory had unraveled.

  Dad finally caught up to what was happening. He jerked his head around, turning to stare at Sally. The car veered onto the shoulder and everyone shuddered as it went over the ruts.

  “Watch out, boy!” Pappa yelled in fright.

  Dad pulled over on the shoulder, jumped out and ran to the passenger side. He pulled open Sally’s door and took her hands in his.

  “Do you realize what you just did?”

  She looked a bit uncertain.

  “You were singing along with the song,” Dad explained. “You remembered.”

  “I did?” Sally asked.

  I guessed the humming had been spontaneous and she couldn’t explain it.

  Dad beamed at her. “Yes, you did. We saw this movie in 1976 back in Bombay, after we got engaged. You went around humming that song for days.”

  Bollywood movies are well known for their sound track. Sally was looking bewildered. It was as if a window had cracked open for an instant and shut with force.

  “Stop badgering her, you fool,” Pappa roared. “Get back on the road.”

  Dad couldn’t stop grinning after that.

  “I don’t care what anyone says,” he said. “This is progress.”

  We came across the town of Tucumcari.

  “Look out for the murals,” Jeet yelled, reading off a brochure. “There’s a dinosaur museum and a Route 66 monument of some kind.”

  “Let’s eat first,” I groaned.

  Dad drove around the town. The pueblo style houses with their flat roofs made a statement. We came across the murals and exclaimed over them. I had to get down and get photos. We drove Pappa crazy, posing around the murals forever.

  I spotted a diner with a Route 66 sign over it and we filed in for lunch. They were serving an all day breakfast along with sandwiches and burgers. Everything had green chili on it.

  The boys got burgers with lots of toppings, Tony going for the one with plenty of green chilies. Dad and Pappa got burritos and Sally got a big salad.

  I went for a club sandwich which came with chilies! I gobbled the sandwich and said no to dessert. I sneaked out and dialed Stan’s number. He answered immediately.

  “I gathered you’d call, Meera.”

  “So what have you done?”

  “We brought him in,” Stan admitted. “He maintains he didn’t take the money.”

  “Of course he didn’t. Charlie Gibson was the goose that laid the golden egg. You think Leo would kill the goose for a measly egg?”

  “I agree with you this time,” Stan said.

  This was like a historic moment. I sensed a but coming.

  “It’s this woman. She insists she saw him jump out of that window.”

  “What time did Charlie Gibson die? Did you find out?”

  “Between 7 and 10 PM. The woman says she saw Leo jump out of the window around 7:30. So the time is about right.”

  “The last time we talked, you said this woman saw someone like Leo. How sure is she?”

  “She’s sounding very sure now. She insists it was Leo.”

  “How do you know she’s not lying, Stan?”

  “There’s no reason to think that, Meera.”

  “What does Leo say? When did he leave for his trip?”

  “Leo left some time after 7. He’s not sure when. They had dinner at 6:30. He talked to Charlie about his trip. Charlie gave him some money, told him to take the car, and then Leo left.”

  “What about Leo’s friends? If they can confirm he met them, he’s in the clear, right?”

  “He could have killed Charlie before going to meet his friends. So he goes to Ponca City, shoots the breeze with his friends, drives around and then comes back the next day.”

  “But why? Why would he do that? You don’t have a motive.”

  Stan was quiet.

  “Anna’s making a lot of noise. She seems to have it in for the boy.”

  “Anna?”

  “Anna Collins. She’s the one who’s claiming she saw Leo jumping out of the window.”

  A car honked beside me. Tony was driving and the seat next to him was empty. Everyone else was settled into their seats. Dad had a frown on his face. I hung up, promising to call back when I got a chance.

  “Who were you talking to?” Dad asked.

  “No one.”

  We stopped at a museum and exclaimed over the dinosaurs. Then it was time to move on.

  “We should be there in a couple of hours,” Dad said. “Have you picked a hotel out of those?”

  Jeet and Dad looked through the brochures, trying to look for a midrange hotel. They narrowed down a couple of places close to the main shopping area. We stopped at a gas station just after Tony turned off I-40.

  “We’re leaving the old Route 66 now,” Dad told Jeet. “But we’ll be back on it after we reach Albuquerque.”

  It was past 4 PM by the time we checked into our hotel. Everyone voted for a short nap. I flung my shoes off and jumped onto the bed by the window. I couldn’t dial Tony’s phone fast enough.

  Sylvie answered and I spent a few minutes assuring her all the Patels were doing great. I was getting impatient to talk to Becky.

  “Who’s Anna Collins? Have you ever met her?” I burst out as soon as I heard Becky grab the receiver.

  “Let me ask Sylvie,” Becky said.

  I tried to hide my frustration. Sylvie came on the phone.

  “What you want to know about Anna Collins, Meera?”

  “Who is she?”

  “You know her, Meera. Frumpy gal who works at the public library.”

  I didn’t have much reason to visit the public library. The one at Pioneer Poly met all my needs. I tried to think back and remember who Sylvie was talking about. A frazzled, middle aged woman came to mind.

  “Is she always going around with her head down?”

  “That’s the one,” Sylvie agreed. “Stares at her feet most of the time. It’s that thieving son of hers. She hardly ever looks anyone in the eye.”

  “You know her son?”

  “Don Collins. A bad penny alright. Spends most of his time in prison.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “I heard he just got off on parole. He sits around the house all day, drinking. Won’t be long before he goes back in.”

  Becky grabbed the phone back from Sylvie.

  “Why are you asking about Anna?”

  “She’s claiming she saw Leo jump out of the window. If she’s so shy, why is she talking to the police all of a sudden?”

  “Sylvie says she looks the other way even if she sees a cop car in the distance. It’s because of her son.”

  “And this same woman is volunteering information?”

  I heard Becky swear and say something she normally doesn’t.

  “Guess who just walked into the diner.”

  Chapter 7

  It was almost dark when I woke up. The room was quiet and I was the only one in there. The phone rang. It was Jeet. Everyone was having tea in Motee Ba’s room. I splashed some water on my face and stumbled out. I just followed the sound of the voices.
<
br />   “I can hear you a mile away,” I said, yawning my head off.

  There was a tray of drinks sitting on a table. I smelled the coffee and picked one up gratefully.

  “Who got this?”

  “There’s a café a block down the road,” Tony said.

  We are used to noshing on some heavy stuff in the evenings, so I was hungry. All kinds of snacks were spread out on a coffee table.

  “We need to finish the theplas today,” Motee Ba, said pointing to a stack of them.

  A jar of mango relish stood next to them. There was a fresh box of chevdo Pappa was feasting over. A dozen laddus were beside them. These are fudgy balls made with flour, sugar and butter.

  “Where are we going tonight?” I asked.

  “The Plaza,” Jeet said between mouthfuls of laddu.

  “It’s the central town square,” Dad explained. “Let’s just walk around and get a feel of the place. We are staying here tomorrow too so there’s no rush.”

  “When are we going shopping?” I asked Motee Ba.

  There was no way I was leaving here without some nice jewelry and spices.

  Everyone got ready and we set off on foot. There were big sidewalks everywhere and people were roaming around. Santa Fe draws a lot of tourists year round. Pappa grumbled about the walk. Sally said something to him and he almost smiled.

  We wandered along the shops in the Plaza, looking at what was on offer. There were shops selling local landscapes and pottery. Colored glass sculptures were on display in one. There was Native American jewelry and hand painted dinnerware. I didn’t have enough money to buy everything I wanted.

  The air was crisp and pleasant. I sat on a bench in the square, watching people. A troubadour broke into song just a few feet away from me. I was glad we were going to stay on for one whole day. The place was beginning to grow on me.

  My phone rang, Tony’s phone that is, and I rushed to answer it. Stan was on the line.

  “We can’t find Leo’s friends, Meera.”

  “Why not?”

  “They don’t have phones. And Leo doesn’t know anything else. Or he won’t tell us. They are on Spring Break with no fixed plans. We can’t track them down.”