Live Free or Die

by Jessie Crockett

“I can prove. What if I say he is with childrens when fire is happening? Diego will say he is home.”

  “Luisa, I saw Diego out the window after the fire. I don’t think that will help Ernesto. If you know something, you’d better tell me now.”

  Luisa took a deep breath. “I was with Beulah at Museum.”

  “When?”

  “The night she die.”

  “What were you doing there?”

  “When I clean Museum, I see some things are not the same. Some things are not there. Some things are changed with things that look much like them. I say to Beulah this is happen, and she is not happy.”

  “I’m sure she wasn’t. Were you there when she died?”

  “No. I was at Museum for clean, and Ethel say to me to not work there more. I say this to you before.” I nodded, remembering our conversation the day before I found Ethel’s body. “When she is saying this I think I tell Beulah about missing things before I am forgetting what things look like in Museum.”

  “So you went to Beulah’s house?”

  “I walk there from the Museum. I say to Beulah what I think, and she not happy. She say she needs see what things I am talking but she wants no one know she is looking. She say is secret.”

  “Did you go with her to the Museum?”

  “We waited for to be later so Ethel not there. I drived Beulah in her car. She no can walk to Museum.” So that explained how she got there.

  “Did you drop her off or go inside?”

  “I went in for show her what was gone or changed. She was very not happy. I am to clean at store of Gene Ramsey also, and I say to her we need go, but she say no. She say to me to go to other job and say me to come back later for to get her.”

  “So you walked to The Hodge Podge and cleaned there and left her alone in the Museum?”

  “She say I use her car to go to work. She not want it near the Museum for someone see she is there and is faster for me to come back for her if I drive.”

  “Did you come back?”

  “Yes. I listen fire trucks at Gene’s, but I was not thinking Beulah was hurt. I finish clean. When I try to go Museum was fire, and I could not go in.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us she was trapped inside?” I was shocked. We might have been able to save her.

  “She say to me was secret she was there. I think she was at her house, so I take her car to her house and put in garage. I look for her in house, but she not there.”

  “But you still didn’t go back to the Museum and tell us that she was there?”

  “I scared. I think someone say I hurt her because I no have job at Museum. I say to Diego go to look. I felt bad I say to her about the missing things.”

  “So you went home and sent Diego to the fire scene?” I asked.

  “Yes. I stayed with little boys, and he go look.”

  “Where was Ernesto when you got home?”

  “I not know. I ask him, and he say is better I not always knowing what he is doing.” Luisa started to cry again.

  “Is he illegal?”

  “He come here legal but now he is not legal. Visa for three months only. Now is over one year he is with us.” This was not going to be good. Ray would be delighted. I had to track down Hugh as soon as possible.

  “Do you think he had anything to do with the fires or what happened to Beulah and Ethel?” Luisa bit her lip.

  “I think no. He no hurt people. He does work for boss and worries what it is, but he is good man helping us and getting money.”

  “Okay. I’ll go to the police station and see what I can do for Ernesto. I can’t promise anything if Ray gets hold of Immigration, but I can tell you the investigation into the fires and deaths isn’t Ray’s job. It’s mine and Hugh’s. Ernesto will get a fair chance with us.” I put the beard and hat back on. Passing back through the living room, I waved at the kids and limped out the door. Augusta still had the car running.

  “I saw Ray stuffing a skinny guy in the back of the cruiser. Was that the guy that ran you off the road?”

  “Yup. He’s Luisa’s illegal alien brother. I need to call Hugh. I hate to bother him on Christmas Eve, but it’s urgent.” Augusta handed me her cell phone, and I caught Hugh closer by than I was expecting. He had returned to Chris’s house and parked out front to wait for his return.

  “He says he’ll meet me at the station. I’m sorry this isn’t turning out to be a very festive night.”

  “Don’t worry about it, but if you don’t mind, I’m going to drop you off and leave you. I don’t want to meet the village mystery man looking less than my best.” Augusta braked hard in front of the police station and waited for me to get out. The police station had been a store like Dinah’s at some point in the past. It was a wood-framed building with huge, street-side windows. Ray had the place lit up for Christmas. Looking in, I could see Santa handcuffing Ernesto to the rail running along the deli case. The case had been too heavy to bother to remove when the police station was brought in, so Ray made the best of things by unplugging it and storing his town reports and speeding ticket booklets on the shelves where the meat and cheese used to go.

  I’d just pushed open the door when Hugh squealed up in his Chevy.

  “I feel so underdressed.” Hugh flicked his eyes from me to Ray. I pulled off my beard but left on the rest of the suit.

  “Thanks to you, Gwen, Ernesto here isn’t saying anything.” Ray dragged a chair next to the deli case and jacked one foot onto it. I wonder how long he’d been practicing that maneuver.

  “I believe he isn’t required to tell you anything. Besides, this is a fire investigation, not a police matter.” I reached into the front of my Santa coat and pulled out the pillow I’d used to enhance my belly. The feathers had been poking me in the tummy for hours and I’d had enough.

  “What about the car accident? You could’ve been killed. Not to mention he stole Ethel’s truck. As soon as I get done questioning this sicko about what he did to those two women and why, I’m calling immigration.”

  “Not so hasty, Ray. The owner of the truck is dead and can’t report it stolen. If Gwen, Ernesto and I don’t remember being in any accident, you haven’t an investigation to pursue. All you’ve got is a dead woman’s truck at the bottom of a ditch.” Hugh squinted at Ray and waited for his words to sink in.

  “You’re not serious. There’ll be fingerprint evidence.” Ray whipped his leg off the chair and kicked it across the room.

  “It was pretty cold out in the middle of that storm. I expect a guy from a tropical country would have been wearing some gloves.” Hugh strode over and picked up the overturned chair. “Now let’s all sit down and talk about this professionally. Gwen, why don’t you get off that ankle and ask this guy a few friendly questions? You know his family right?” I nodded and sat down across from Ernesto.

  If anything, he looked even more shrunken than when I’d him pinned to Beulah’s laundry room floor. His dark, sunken eyes darted toward my crutches. Hugh took a seat beside me, and Ray remained standing.

  “I don’t have anything to do with immigration. I only need to know about the fires. Where did you get the truck?”

  “I drive for Boss.” Ernesto’s eyes darted back and forth between Hugh’s face and my own.

  “What’s your boss’s name?” I asked.

  “He say I call him Boss. No names.”

  “So your boss is a man?”

  “Is a man. Like me.”

  “Like you how?”

  “Is not old. Not boy. Like me. Yellow hair. I drive for him. Take stuffs to places.”

  “What kinds of stuff?” Hugh had his notebook out again and was quickly filling pages with scrawl.

  “Stuffs for buildings. Stuffs in buildings.”

  “Stuff like a giant hand?” I asked. Ernesto nodded.

  “Where were you going with the giant hand?” I asked.

  “To place for keep stuffs. Is other town, not Winslow Falls. Not far. Boss say to me to put hand with other stuffs, but
I am never drive in snow and have much problems.”

  “Can you tell us anything else about your boss? How did you meet him?”

  “Luisa cleans house for a lady. Lady say to Luisa she knows a job for someone to work without papers. Does Luisa have a friend for this job? Luisa says yes, and I go to the place lady says to find Boss.”

  “Do you know who the lady was?” I asked.

  “The dead lady with cat.” Ethel.

  “So you hated the job. That’s why you killed her.” Ray leaned over Ernesto, who shrank even lower into his chair.

  “Ray, don’t try to help.” I turned back to Ernesto. “Where did you meet your boss?”

  “At Museum. Behind building.”

  “When was this?” I asked.

  “Three weeks. Maybe little more.”

  “Do you know anything else about this man? His name? Any place you went together? Did you ever see his house?” Ernesto nodded his head with gusto.

  “I helping him with stuffs on his garden. Big toys, like you are looking. And Jesus baby. Lots stuffs. He say for his childrens for Christmas.” I glanced at Hugh and then at Ray.

  “A big Santa? In his yard?” I asked, pointing to my suit. Ernesto nodded again.

  “First the truck, now a job for Ernesto. Why does Chris’s name keep coming up with Ethel’s?” Ray asked.

  “I don’t know,” Hugh said, “but I don’t think he’ll like his visit from Santa this year. Let’s go.”

  “You two go on without us. Ernie here and I aren’t going anywhere. I’m arresting him for trespassing.” Ray swaggered to his banged-up metal desk and switched on his computer.

  “Trespassing where?” Hugh asked before I could say something rude.

  “Anywhere. Everywhere. An illegal alien is trespassing everywhere he or she goes. I intend to press charges against this guy even if you and Gwen lie about the accident.” Ray hunted and pecked his way across the computer keyboard, swatting his false beard out of the way every few seconds. Thank God Augusta never fell for him. They might have had kids.

  “I got some interesting information from Luisa this evening.” I used the drive to Chris’ house to fill Hugh in on Luisa’s story.

  “That explains how Beulah managed to get to the Museum that night. Do you think she’s telling the truth about leaving her there alive?”

  “I can’t think of any reason for her to lie about it, can you?”

  Hugh drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “She could have been the one stealing from the museum. Maybe Beulah surprised her at it, and Luisa killed her, then set the fire.”

  “Then why would she have admitted she was there?”

  “Maybe she’s covering for Ernesto.”

  “You mean, she thinks he was involved with the deaths or with the fires?”

  “Maybe both.” He was right. Luisa had many reasons to protect Ernesto, and she could also be sheltering Diego. I knew how much I was willing to do for my own sons. Could Luisa be any different?

  But I wanted to believe Luisa. I didn’t want there to be a bad guy. I wanted a bolt of lightning or faulty wiring to be responsible for the fires. I wanted a slip and fall to be the cause of death for Beulah and even for Ethel, but that seemed less and less likely. I probably knew the person doing all this. I felt like someone had stolen from me.

  We stopped in front of Chris and Trina’s. It looked even worse than when the damage was fresh. The inflatable Santa had given up the ghost and lay crumpled at the edge of the drive. Mrs. Claus remained humiliated by the elf sprawled over her generous bust line like a felon in training. Mary and Joseph gazed mournfully into an empty manger. I wasn’t Santa. I was the Grinch.

  Hugh stopped the car, then fetched my crutches. After what happened here earlier, I was grateful to be allowed out of the car at all. I held firmly onto his arm, and we made it to the door. A low wattage bulb spilled light over Hugh as he thumped on the door with an overgrown bare fist.

  “Don’t you have any gloves or mittens?” I asked, looking at his red knuckles.

  “Nope. Can’t find any that fit.” I reached out for his free hand, pressing my own palm flat against his as a standard of measure. He’d need something at least twice as large in all directions. Waiting for Chris to come to the door was not the best time for my thoughts to wander to what else he might have that was larger than normal, but wander they did. I blamed Augusta. If she hadn’t been hanging around doing makeovers and boiling up pots of hormone stew, I’d be concentrating on the business at hand, not the feel of Hugh’s hand.

  Trina jerked open her front door and blinked at Hugh. I’d never seen her disheveled before. Her dirty blond hair stuck out like a poorly rinsed paintbrush. Her bottom lip was missing its lipstick. A frazzled green bow had hitched a ride on her shirttail. “Last minute wrapping,” she said, her eyes crazed and extra bright.

  “Sorry to slow you down, ma’am. “ Hugh stuck out a protective arm between Trina and the door frame as her lolling eyes landed on me.

  “What are you doing here? Krystal just stopped crying, and I’m too much of a lady to repeat what Chris said when he saw the yard.”

  “Is he here now, ma’am?” Hugh asked. My stomach fluttered, and I hoped she was going to say he’d abandoned the family and was never coming back.

  “He’s in the living room setting up the video game system he got for the kids. Until that thing is plugged in and under the tree ready to surprise the crap out them, he doesn’t have time to talk to anyone. As a matter of fact, we’re not even speaking to each other.” She started to close the door, but Hugh’s iceberg of a shoulder held it ajar. He held his badge at eye level. Trina shrank back and glared at me again.

  “We need to talk to him now.” Trina pulled the door open and stomped ahead of us into the living room. Presents avalanched toward us from all four sides of the room. I expect there was a couch in there somewhere, but I couldn’t see it. Chris was on his knees in front of a glitzy artificial tree swearing and tugging at black and red cables.

  “Those kids had better love this damn thing. I could wire a house faster than I can hook this up.” He looked over his shoulder and dropped the gadget he was fiddling with when he saw us. “I thought Santa’s helpers were elves, not giants.” Chris hopped to his feet in one smooth motion.

  “We’re here to ask you some questions about one of your employees.” Hugh pulled out his notebook and made a production of consulting it. “An Ernesto Tavares.” Chris slid a glance at Trina, and she closed the living room door.

  “A guy named Ernie worked for me two, maybe three years ago. You talking about him?” Chris crossed his arms over his chest and looked thoughtful.

  “This is a current employee. Pretty easy to pick out of a crowd. Skinny, black hair, barely speaks English. Hired even though he’s illegal.”

  “Can’t say that he’s ringing any bells.” Chris widened his blue eyes at us and smirked some more. If I had to guess, I’d have said he was enjoying himself.

  “So the fact that a man currently in police custody says he works for you and that you asked him to use a truck belonging to Ethel Smalley to haul materials surprises you, does it?” Hugh tapped on the notebook with his pencil.

  “Indeed it does. He must be pretty desperate to be making up crap like that on Christmas. Did you say the guy’s in jail?”

  “Ray’s holding him for now.”

  “Well, it sounds like you’ve got your criminal then. If he had Ethel’s truck, he probably killed her and stole it. I’d say a murdering illegal alien would be thrashing around trying to pin blame on just about anybody to get out from under, wouldn’t you?”

  “He says he helped set up your lawn ornaments,” Hugh said.

  “Trina, did I or did I not spend all weekend two weeks ago, by myself, setting out a festive delight for our kids and all the rest of the neighborhood? It was a goddamned masterpiece until someone crashed through there like a nine-legged moose on roller skates.”

  “Every time I
peeked out there you were all by your lonesome.” Trina picked her way across the packages and slipped her arm through his. “You’re such a good daddy.” She swatted the air with her supercharged eyelashes. I wondered if all that mascara acted like dumbbells for her eyelid muscles.

  “Is there anything else we can help you with? I wouldn’t want to keep you since you must have a busy night ahead of you, Santa.” Chris gave my suit another pointed look.

  “There is one more thing,” I said. “Trina told me you took the hand off the top of the clock tower and stuck it somewhere for safekeeping. Where exactly did you put it?” Chris dropped Trina’s arm and looked momentarily off balance.

  “I put it in the clock tower.”

  “You brought it all the way down the scaffolding, then went inside the building and up a steep flight of stairs to try and stuff it into the tiniest room in the Museum? That’s what you’re telling me?” I said.

  “Hey, I’m a good guy. I wanted to keep it safe so the clock tower seemed like the most out of the way place. If I’d known it was going to be burned up along with part of the Museum, I would have picked a different spot, but how could I have known?”

  “That’s a good question Chris. How could you have known?” I asked.

  “That’ll be all for now, folks. You have a pleasant holiday.” Hugh stuck his hand under my elbow and twirled me toward the hall. Trina hurried after us and slammed the door, locked it, and extinguished the light over our heads.

  Twenty-Four

  Pulling into the driveway, I noticed that Augusta had lit the Christmas tree. Its twinkling lights shone through the bay window. The porch light was on, too. It was a weird feeling to come home late and have the place look welcoming. It had been quite some time since any of the lights left on weren’t ones I’d thought to leave on for myself.

  “Not really the most festive Christmas Eve, was it?” Hugh switched off the engine like he was prepared to sit and talk a while.

  “Christmas hasn’t been the same for me since my husband died, and it’s been harder since the boys moved out.” I stared at my feet and tried to ignore the way Hugh’s cologne mixed with the smell of wood smoke drifting from his clothes.