by Leigh Jones
Johnson nodded and leaned back in his chair. It wasn’t just her job. Kate’s search for truth consumed every part of her. A setback for the newspaper was like a blow to her life’s purpose.
“It’s not all up to you, you know,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“Uncovering truth. Pursuing justice. Even if the newspaper had 100 reporters, it wouldn’t be able to right all the wrongs in the world.”
Kate frowned. “If you’re trying to be encouraging, it’s not working.”
“I’m just saying, you don’t need to feel responsible for fixing everything that’s broken. That’s not humanly possible.”
“If we don’t fix it, who will?”
Johnson hesitated. He glanced up at the painting on his wall. He could almost smell the fresh breeze blowing in off the hills. A longing for home stirred deep in his chest.
“Some broken things won’t ever be fixed here on earth,” he said.
Kate’s derisive snort blew away the encroaching fog of the past. She clearly wasn’t buying it.
“That’s little solace for the people who die violent deaths and the murders that go unpunished,” she said. “That’s actually what I came to talk to you about.”
Johnson sat up straighter in his chair. “The murders? What about them?”
“I had lunch with Benito Muñoz today. He told me Ricardo Peña and Julian Costa were lifelong friends, which made me wonder whether his murder and the prostitution ring were connected. I went to talk to Muriel Costa this afternoon. She didn’t tell me anything new, but you should have seen her reaction when I asked about Peña, who is spending an extended vacation with family in Mexico, by the way.”
Even as his pulse quickened with excitement, a knot formed in the pit of Johnson’s stomach. Every promising lead in the murder cases had turned to dust. He longed to believe his unsolved murders were connected to each other and even the prostitution ring. A common thread would make them so much easier to solve.
“Look, I know you’ve been told to drop the prostitution case, but I think you should keep digging,” Kate continued. “These cases are connected. I just know it. If we keep picking around the edges, something will break loose.”
That’s what he’d decided to do after talking with the chief. Could this be the thread he was looking for?
“I want to believe there’s a connection,” he finally said. “I do. But I need evidence I can take to the chief.”
“I’ve just given you evidence!” Kate said, exasperation filling her voice. “Costa and Peña were friends. Almost like brothers. What are the chances Costa didn’t know Peña was up to his eyeballs in something shady? There’s nothing else in his life that could have gotten him killed, at least not that you’ve found. Doesn’t it seem likely that his death had something to do with what he knew? Maybe he was going to expose whoever Peña was working for. Or maybe he was involved too and wanted out.”
Johnson’s mind raced. That definitely put Costa’s squeaky clean image in a different light.
“That’s all possible. Some of it’s even probable. But I still need something more to go on.”
“You should go talk to Muriel Costa again,” Kate said.
Johnson winced at the thought of stirring up the widow’s grief. His first conversation with her had been excruciating. But then he suddenly remembered someone else who had been there that day: Father Tomás. If the priest knew the family as well as he seemed to, maybe he could at least point Johnson in the right direction. His face must have betrayed his growing excitement because Kate leaned forward with narrowed eyes.
“What is it?” she asked. “You just thought of something, didn’t you?”
Johnson couldn’t help smiling. “Maybe. More like someone. I just thought of someone I haven’t talked to who might open up based on what you told me.”
Kate’s exultant grin lit up her whole face. “I knew it! This is not over. We will figure out who’s responsible for all of this. And then we’ll make them pay.”
Johnson’s smile faltered. “What if we can’t?”
Kate’s eyes widened in surprise. She looked as though he’d slapped her.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’ll follow this lead, but it might not break the whole case open. You realize that, right?”
“Of course,” Kate huffed. “But then we’ll just look somewhere else. Keep digging some more. We’ll figure it out eventually.”
Johnson’s heart sank. He was determined to keep looking so he could say with a clean conscience he’d done everything he possibly could. But he knew the whole weight of the case didn’t rest on his shoulders. How could he lift that burden Kate felt to make everything right? He resisted the temptation to reach out and take her hand.
“I’ll do what I can,” he said. “But if we hit another dead end?”
“Then we’ll keep digging,” she snapped, her eyes narrowing in frustration. “Or at least I will.”
“And what if you reach a dead end you can’t dig your way out of? Does that mean you’ve failed?”
Kate broke his gaze and looked down at her feet. A hint of despair tugged at the corners of her eyes and made her suddenly look achingly sad. Johnson stood, walked around the desk, and perched on the edge of the chair next to Kate’s. She raised her head in surprise and looked at him searchingly.
“You are not responsible for saving people, or punishing them,” he said gently. “You don’t have that kind of power, and neither do I.”
Kate didn’t say anything for what seemed like a long time, but her eyes never stopped searching his face. She seemed torn between wanting to believe him and willing him to change his mind. Johnson waited as she struggled, watching the conflict crease her forehead and crinkle the corners of her eyes.
“But I don’t want whoever’s responsible for this to get away with it,” Kate finally said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Unable to resist any longer, Johnson reached out slowly and took her hand in his.
“They won’t,” he said softly. “I promise you, they won’t.”
Chapter 25
Esperanza sat down at her dressing table and pulled a stack of eyeshadow pallets toward her.
El Jefe had told them to get ready for a special night. He was bringing new customers, and he wanted the girls to be on their best, most welcoming, behavior. Esperanza assumed Jim also would be there. He hadn’t missed an opportunity to see Gloria since that first night he asked to have her all to himself.
Every time Jim had visited Gloria in the last few weeks, Esperanza marveled at his longing gaze and lovesick smiles. El Jefe had even started to make fun of him to his face, although he did it playfully. Esperanza assumed he didn’t really want to offend the man who had become his best customer. But did he worry this man might learn what was really going on and try to do something about it?
Esperanza picked up a stubby black eyeliner pencil worn short with use. As she prepared to sweep it across the edge of her lashes she noticed faint lines feathering out from the corner of her eyes. Fear and constant anxiety had left their mark. But that wasn’t all. A growing guilt shadowed her face as well.
Until recently, Esperanza had thought of herself as El Jefe's caged animal, forced to do his bidding no matter what. She thought he had complete control. But she had slowly started to realize he shared some risk too. Once that understanding took root, she began to get a sickening sense of the vicious cycle of fear and desire that really ensnared them. Any one of the customers could expose what was going on in that house by making an anonymous call to the police. But El Jefe counted on their desire to suppress any qualms they might have about taking women against their will. He also counted on fear of exposure to keep them silent. None of the men would want his family to know what he was doing.
Esperanza thought the cycle ended there. But she had come to understand that she and Gloria had a role, too. At any moment they could refuse to play their part in the charade. They
could fight, scream, expose the true nature of their plight to the customers. At least that might make it harder for the men to enjoy an experience they likely thought of as a meeting between two, consenting adults. So, why did they keep quiet, smiling when they wanted to scream and opening their arms when every instinct compelled them to fight? Fear of pain, or worse. And the desire for freedom, as elusive as it seemed. She’d come to think of it as their complicity in their own captivity. Fear and desire. That vicious cycle of dependency was the only thing keeping El Jefe in business.
Jim’s infatuation with Gloria was a new factor in the equation. Several times, Esperanza had spotted El Jefe watching the man with her sister. Eyes narrowed, lips pursed, he seemed to be calculating the risk of this unexpected complication. Esperanza’s heart hammered in her ears and her head started to throb when she thought about the danger this attempt to gain Gloria’s freedom posed. What if El Jefe decided to cut Jim off before Gloria could convince him to pay her debt and take her away from this hellhole? What if Jim got tired of paying so much money to see Gloria and decided to satiate his desire elsewhere?
Esperanza took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Having a shred of hope was almost worse than having no hope at all. It gnawed at her stomach and sent her mind spinning in torturous circles. Fear of losing it made her cling to it with a suffocating, isolating desperation. She couldn’t let Gloria see how urgently she had come to view this opportunity. Each of Jim’s visits only reinforced her belief that he might be her sister’s only chance at escape.
A tap on her door made her jump. Gloria slipped inside and came to stand behind her. She wore a sleek black sheath dress that hung almost to her knee. It would have been modest if not for the side slit that went all the way to her hip. She had curled her hair and piled it up on the back of her head in a silky, shimmering cascade.
“What are you doing?” Gloria asked, tapping her sister on the shoulder with disapproving urgency. “It’s almost seven. They’ll be here soon.”
Sweat started to prick Esperanza’s brow at the thought of El Jefe's wrath. “I lost track of time. Do my hair while I fix my makeup.”
They worked in silence for the next five minutes. After ringing her eyes with heavy black liner, Esperanza dusted several shades of pink powder across her lids. A soft tangerine blush accented her high cheekbones, and fuchsia gloss turned her lips into a beacon of lust. Gloria had twisted her hair into a knot at the nape of her neck and stood holding out an electric blue, slinky shift as soon as Esperanza set down her last brush. She stood and stepped into the dress, turning around so Gloria could help close the back.
“Are you okay, chula?” she asked, looking over her shoulder as Gloria pulled up the long zipper.
The teen nodded but started chewing on her bottom lip. Esperanza turned around and put her hands on her sister’s shoulders.
“You’re nervous. What is it?”
Gloria smiled hesitantly. Her chest and neck flushed. “I think we’re close,” she said. “I just have a feeling that tonight could be the night.”
Esperanza suddenly had a hard time breathing, like someone had placed a hand over her nose and mouth. “What makes you say that?”
“He’s just been more intense with every visit,” Gloria whispered. “He almost scared me last time, he was so passionate. He held me so tightly… You said I would know when it was time to ask him to take me away from all this. I think it’s time.”
Esperanza pulled her sister close and wrapped her arms tightly around her shoulders. Tears blurred her vision. Before dawn they would know whether their plan would work.
“Oh, Gloria!” For a few minutes Esperanza couldn’t get anything else past the lump in her throat. “Everything’s going to be okay,” she finally said, as much for herself as for her baby sister. “You’ve done so well, been so patient. He’s completely obsessed with you. How could he say no?”
She pulled away and looked into her sister’s luminous brown eyes. They sparkled with a feverish kind of excitement.
“I can’t believe this could all be over soon,” Gloria whispered. “It’s too good to be true.”
“It’s not!” Esperanza took her sister’s hands and squeezed them tight. “You’ll see. He wants you all to himself. All you have to do is tell him that’s what you want too. He’ll do whatever he can to make that happen.”
“What if El Jefe won’t let me go?”
Esperanza had asked herself the same question thousands of times, but hearing her sister say it out loud made it palpably terrifying. Fear made her suddenly dizzy.
“Don’t say that! Don’t even think it,” she said, gripping her sister’s shoulders for support. “Jim will find a way to set you free. He has to!”
Gloria nodded. Tears glistened in her eyes. They stood like that for several minutes, paralyzed by fear and hope. Esperanza’s mind whirled with possibilities. Tonight would be the night.
“I hope you’re right,” Gloria finally said, as the crunch of tires on gravel signaled the men’s arrival. “I hope you’re right.”
Chapter 26
El Jefe brought four men with him. Esperanza didn’t recognize any of their faces, but their hungry eyes and macho swaggers were all too familiar. They looked like little boys at a candy store who’d been told they could have whatever they wanted. When she realized Jim wasn’t with them, sinking, sickening dismay made it even harder for her to conjure fake smiles for the others.
She tried to catch Gloria’s eye to see how she was taking Jim’s absence, but the teen was too busy taking drink orders and trying to avoid the unwanted pinches and caresses of the new customers. Her youth and beauty always drew immediate attention.
About 20 minutes passed before Esperanza heard the front door open again. She glanced up just in time to see Jim slip inside. El Jefe met him halfway across the living room and extended his hand in greeting. But the gesture looked stiff and his usual slap on the back and wide-mouthed smile was missing. He clearly wasn’t happy to have an extra guest. A knot of worry began to form in Esperanza’s stomach.
After the men exchanged a few words, El Jefe motioned for Jim to follow him back to the kitchen. Across the room, Esperanza could see Gloria trailing them with her eyes. She had to figure out what was going on. Turning to the two men closest to her, Esperanza offered to refresh their drinks. From the bar, she could hear the hushed but tense tones coming from the kitchen.
“I’m not trying to crash your party,” Jim said. “I just wanted to see her.”
“You see her too much already, mi amigo,” El Jefe hissed. “She’s not your girlfriend. And you’re not the only man she sees. Gloria’s very popular, no? You see how the other men look at her.”
“Don’t,” Jim said, the slight whine in his voice revealing how much El Jefe's words pained him. “It’s not the same. I really care for her.”
“Bah! Care for her. You care for what she gives you, same as the others. Only you’ve let it become an obsession.”
“Just let me stay tonight. I’m not here to cause any trouble.”
Esperanza held her breath when El Jefe didn’t respond right away.
“Fine,” he finally snapped. “But you’ll wait until all the others have had a turn. If she’s got any energy left after that, you can have her.”
As he strode out of the kitchen, he let out one of his barking laughs. Esperanza stood very still as he passed the bar, hoping he wouldn’t look her way. After he was out of sight, she let out a sigh of relief and hurried back to the living room to deliver the drinks. He showed no sign of having noticed her absence.
Throughout the night, Jim sat in the corner of one of the overstuffed couches, nursing a scotch. None of the other men paid him any attention, but he hardly ever took his eyes off Gloria. His frown deepened and his color rose every time she smiled at one of the other men. In between delivering drinks and enduring groping caresses, Esperanza watched the two of them. When one of the other men bent down and kissed Gloria’s neck, squeez
ing her bottom at the same time, Jim’s whole body stiffened and his lips curled into a vicious snarl. She trembled with dread as she watched his anger boil. She prayed fervently he wouldn’t take it out on Gloria. Surely he knew she didn’t have a choice.
After a few drinks, the men’s attention started getting more insistent. They groped the girls openly, almost challenging them to resist. One in particular wouldn’t leave Gloria alone. El Jefe finally sauntered up to the two of them, standing about 10 feet from Jim, and threw his arm around the new customer.
“She’s delicioso, isn’t she mi amigo?” he crooned. “Hard to resist. Mmmm. No need to deny yourself. Take her back to her room. It’s what she’s been waiting for all day, isn’t that right, putita.”
Esperanza’s mouth went dry as she watched her sister’s eyes widen in alarm. El Jefe saw it too, and it seemed only to fuel his masochistic delight. He reached out and grabbed Gloria’s face, shaking her roughly. His fingers sank into her soft cheeks and she let out a whimper of protest. Esperanza felt Gloria’s terror as though she audibly cried out for mercy, begging for someone to protect her.
“Ha, ha!” El Jefe barked, his eyes flashing with excitement. “Take her, mi amigo. Take her! Oh, and you should know, she likes it rough.”
With one last shake, he released Gloria, leaving only the red silhouette of his fingers and the palpable sense of horror. On the couch, Jim clenched and released his fists, his face flushed a deep red. But he did not make a move to stop the other man from leading Gloria down the hall. Panic clutched Esperanza’s throat, making it almost impossible to breathe. She felt so dizzy she might have fallen if one of the other men hadn’t sidled up to her and put his arm around her waist. She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the back of the house. She at least wanted to be near her sister, even if she couldn’t do anything to protect her from the man primed to brutalize her.
For the next 30 minutes, Esperanza strained to catch every sound coming from the room next door. Her sister cried out in pain several times. Each yelp felt like a knife sunk deep in Esperanza’s gut. The agony of her powerlessness just made the knife twist. When the man with her was done, she quickly slipped back into her dress and walked back into the living room.