by Lynn Cahoon
As she pulled into the last street parking available on the road three blocks away from the event, she ran her fingers through her hair and glanced at herself in the mirror. Satisfied that her hair wasn’t a windblown mess, she got out, locked the car, and joined the crowd walking toward the festival site.
She milled through the crowds, watching the children run through the blocked-off street with abandon. It wasn’t every day you got to play in the middle of the street without risk of injury.
“Oh, to be young and foolish again.”
She turned toward the voice. Estebe stood behind her, watching a group of boys and girls dressed in Basque costume chase each other through the crowded street. “Hey, thanks for inviting me today.”
“I thought you might enjoy the ceremonies. The dancers will open it up in a few minutes, then Ander will talk. After that, the liquor and food flow until late tonight when they close down the street dance.” He took her arm and led her toward the stage. “We’ll have a good view from over here. How’s the County Seat?”
“We had family meal for August yesterday. The dishes are great, but we missed you in the kitchen.”
Estebe looked at her, his dark eyes troubled. “I don’t understand. I thought Felicia was hiring a temp. You can’t do service without another pair of hands.”
“We’ll see.” Angie went on to explain how Ken wasn’t a good fit with the team. As she finished up, she groaned. “I’d rather be without a dishwasher than invite him back to work with us. He made everyone uncomfortable.”
He nodded, thoughtfully. “I suppose if you had met me a few years ago, you would have thought the same thing about me. I was arrogant, cocky, and didn’t have much good to say about those who weren’t at my level. Now I realize it’s more about being nice and taking an interest in people.” He sighed. “And that was one lesson my cousin never learned. I’m afraid not too many people are upset that Javier is missing.”
“He didn’t have to be loved by the masses. He’s missing, and that’s the problem. Has Sheriff Brown told you anything new lately?” Angie worried that the adage about the longer a person was missing, the more likely they’d be dead when they were finally found was going to come true. She saw the answer in Estebe’s face before he spoke.
“No. Nothing new. The sheriff is a good man, but I’m afraid Javier has disappeared to somewhere he can’t even imagine.” He waved off the next question Angie started with a point to the stage. The performance was about to start.
“Thank you all for coming out to our annual San Ignazio Festival. We hope you will feel like family here as we celebrate, no matter where you’re from. Today, you are all Basque.” The woman blushed as a cheer came up from the crowd. “Now, we have a little change in our schedule. Papa Ander Diaz will speak now, and then our dancing troupes will entertain you.”
She moved away from the podium, and a noticeably weak and tired man took her place. It looked like Ander Diaz had aged ten years since she’d seen him last weekend. He held a shaky hand up to the crowd, who cheered even louder. Finally, they calmed down and let him speak.
“I know there have been some rumors going around that I was thinking about stepping down as your leader this year.”
The crowd started booing. This support seemed to strengthen him.
He waved his hand downward again and the crowd quieted. “Well, I’ve decided to hold off. I am not ready to hand over the reins of this lovely community even if I had someone ready to take over all the responsibilities of leadership.” He smiled and winked to the crowd. “I guess you’re stuck with me for a while longer.”
The crowd went wild, and Papa Diaz stepped out on the stage and took in their love and affection. The emotion made Angie smile, but then as she watched, someone streaked across the stage toward Papa. As everyone watched, Papa Diaz was pushed from behind the podium and started to fall. He went down faster than Angie could imagine. A woman was on top of him, screaming. Then her wig fell off, revealing a bald head.
“What the heck? Hey, that’s Carlotta Mendoza,” a man closer to the stage said, then stepped forward. “Someone get her off Papa!”
He didn’t have to worry because two men in suits, apparently Papa’s bodyguards, were already pulling a spitting Carlotta off the old man. Angie moved closer to the stage and set her phone on video. Sheriff Brown needed to see this.
“You bastard,” Carlotta screamed. They blocked her movements but let go of her arms. She reached up to straighten the wig that wasn’t there anymore, and her face burned a brighter red. “Ander Diaz, you’re nothing more than a dried-up old man.”
Kendra came up from the side of the stage and tried to reason with her mother, who was being held back by the two large men as others help Papa up off the stage. She held out the cast aside-wig, and Carlotta grabbed it. “Mama, you need to calm down. What were you thinking?”
Carlotta’s eyes narrowed as she pulled it on over her head. “I was protecting you. Stephen should have always been Papa’s choice for a replacement, not that man-whore Javier. It’s not fair.”
Angie kept filming the ongoing train wreck. “Estebe, call Sheriff Brown and have him get over here. I think I know where Javier is.”
Chapter 21
The gang gathered at the County Seat, waiting for news. Angie and Estebe made soup and a quick soda bread as the group talked about what had happened. Ian had come over as soon as they got back, and he helped chop vegetables.
“We’ll make you a chef yet,” Estebe joked as they spent the afternoon working together in the kitchen.
Ian grinned. “Wouldn’t be the worst thing for me to learn. Right now, if I don’t go out to eat, I make a mean bowl of ramen.”
As the afternoon passed, others joined them. Felicia helped set up a buffet for people to eat when they felt like it with sodas, iced tea, and a wide arrangement of snacks and desserts. By late afternoon, Hope, Matt, and Nancy had shown up to support Estebe and wait for news.
It was after six when a tired Sheriff Brown came into the restaurant, with a disheveled Javier by his side.
“Cousin, it’s nice to see you.” Estebe hugged Javier tightly. “I was worried about you.”
Javier slapped Estebe on the back. “I hear it was you and your friend who finally figured out that I was in Carlotta’s basement. The woman is crazy.”
“I hope you have her in custody. That way no one else will be hurt.” Estebe stepped away from Javier and held his hand out to Sheriff Brown.
“Well, that’s the thing. She’s admitting that she took Javier.” He sat at one of the tables and Felicia handed him a cup of coffee. “Thank you. I think I’m going to be up and working for a few more hours tonight.”
“We have food.” Angie nodded to Hope. “Go get the sheriff and Javier a bowl of soup and some bread.”
“Thanks. There were a couple of boxes of protein bars and a couple of cases of water in the room when I woke up a few days ago. I’m starving for real food. We won’t even talk about the restroom facilities.” Javier sat at the table, taking the coffee Felicia offered. “She was crafty. She invited me out to Initial Point to talk about Stephen and ways to keep him from being Papa Diaz’s choice. She said it would be bad for Kendra for him to get the position now.”
“So you went out to meet her? How did you lose your wallet and phone?” Angie studied Javier as he wolfed down the soup Hope had just given him.
He tore off a piece of bread. “That was genius, right? I figured if something happened, you could track my calls and find me.”
“Except there wasn’t a call from Carlotta.” Sheriff Brown smiled at Hope as she sat his dish on the table. “We ran all your calls.”
“Maybe she called from a pay phone. Or someone else’s phone. I guess I didn’t think about that.” Javier held the bowl back out to Hope to be refilled. His smile when she brought him more soup made Angie realize he wasn�
�t done with his playboy days. Hope just ignored it and went over to stand by Angie. “Anyway, you found my stuff?”
“By accident,” Ian added to the conversation. “You’re lucky I’m a fan of historical sites.”
“I know she kidnapped you to keep Papa Diaz from choosing you. Is that why she killed Heather?” Hope stepped forward, looking at both Sheriff Brown and Javier.
Sheriff Brown sat down his spoon. “She’s claiming she didn’t kill Heather. And there’s no evidence in her house that has Heather’s blood on it, and her prints don’t match anything we’ve gotten so far from the knife.”
“But she’s crazy. That should explain it all.”
Sheriff Brown sighed. “Actually, she’s dying. I talked to her oncologist and she’s been given a few months to live. I guess she wanted to see Kendra set up before she left this world. And having Stephen taking over for Ander Diaz would set them up.”
“But she had to have killed Heather.” Hope looked like she’d been hit with a cold wave of air. “This nightmare has to be over, doesn’t it?”
Felicia stepped closer to the girl and put her arm around her. “Sheriff Brown will find out what happened, don’t worry.”
Hope let Felicia pull her into a hug, but Angie saw the fear still in her eyes. She glanced around the kitchen at the group that had gathered to wait. “It’s late. You should go home and get some sleep. We’re not going to find out anything else tonight.”
After everyone had said their goodbyes and left, Felicia, Angie, and Ian sat around the table, drinking coffee. Felicia sipped her coffee. “Hope’s pretty upset.”
“I think this has been a roller-coaster ride for her. She’s never lost someone to violence before, so when they found Carlotta had kidnapped Javier, it was easy for her to blame her for all the problems. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t always work that way.” Ian stood and grabbed the plate of cookies from the buffet.
“I could see her wanting to get Kendra taken care of before she passed on. According to the doctor that Sheriff Brown talked to, Carlotta has known about her diagnosis for about a year.” Angie broke off half a cookie and offered the other half to Felicia.
“That’s some strong motivation for killing someone.” Felicia took the cookie. “Except Sheriff Brown says that Carlotta and Kendra had dinner plans that night, and as soon as they got home, she took a painkiller and went to sleep. Kendra confirmed it.”
“Wait. Hold on a second.” Angie ran to her office and returned with her notebook. She flipped through some pages and then stopped. “Someone said Kendra and Stephen were in Sun Valley that weekend. How can she be in two places at one time?”
“I know.” Ian held up a hand. “Kendra is a secret twin and Carlotta has been keeping the second girl a secret all these years.”
Felicia was the first to laugh. “I don’t think that’s within the realm of possibilities.”
“Brainstorming means everything’s on the table,” Angie reminded her. “Let’s add in aliens and time travel too.”
Ian looked from one woman to the other. “I think you’re all rummy and not thinking straight. But I am going to call Allen and ask him about this. It looks like you’ve found a hole in the story.”
Angie watched as he walked out of the room. Leaning closer to Felicia, she whispered, “You know that means that all three of their stories are suspect.”
“If we knew where they went to eat, we could ask about reservations.” Felicia looked hopeful. “By the way, I found out who gave Stephen and Kendra that reservation the other night. It was Reba. She said she was just about to text me that one of the reservations had canceled, then Kendra called and asked if she could take it. I guess she’s friends with the couple.”
“But that’s not what Kendra told me that night. She said we called her.” Angie rubbed her face. “If she’s lying about that, what else would she lie about?”
The women stopped talking when Ian came back into the room. “He’s bringing in Stephen and Kendra for questioning and getting warrants to search their houses and vehicles. We might have an answer by the end of the day.” Ian sank into his chair. “I hope that’s true, for Allen’s sake. The guy sounds beat.”
“So what else can we do?” Angie looked at the other two. “Nothing?”
“Nothing. You look a little beat too. Why don’t you go home and I’ll let you know if we hear anything from Allen?” Ian stood and pulled her out of her chair. “Your investigation is over, at least this time.”
“You really think there will be an answer sometime soon?” Angie laid her head on his chest and leaned in close. “I could use a nap.”
“Go home.” This time the words came from Felicia. She handed Angie her purse. “You could use some downtime. I’ve never seen you run this fast on a project.”
“At first it was just trying to find out who killed Heather, but when Javier disappeared, I felt like I needed to figure it out faster. Before something happened to him. I know Estebe doesn’t really like his cousin, but he is family.” Angie closed the notebook. “I’m ready to crash, though. Call me if you hear anything.”
Angie drove home and caught part of the news report regarding the rescue of Javier. A brief mention of Heather’s killer still being at large made Angie shudder. If the killer was Stephen, he just got a clue that Sheriff Brown was still looking for someone. Sometimes Angie wondered if the easy access to news was a good thing or not.
A car was in her driveway. A pretty, newer model, cherry red sports car. When she pulled up, Kendra got out of the car and smiled one of her beauty queen smiles. Angie bet she’d been popular on the circuit. She had the ease to talk to anyone and make them feel welcome and important. As she climbed out of the car and went to meet her, something niggled in her head. Kendra was smart. There was no way her mother could have hidden this diagnosis for over a year. Not with someone in the house noticing her comings and goings, not to mention losing her hair. She glanced back at the car. She’d left her phone on the front seat.
Kendra took a step toward her and sighed. Then she pulled out a long knife from her designer handbag. “I was hoping we could get past this without me having to kill you. But I can see it on your face, you’ve already figured it out. What gave me away?”
“You’re too smart not to notice your mother going through chemo treatments. Now, had you been away at college, I could maybe see a delay, but you knew, didn’t you?” Angie stared at her.
“Of course I knew. I’ve been nursing her through those damn hot flashes for over a year. She didn’t want anyone to know. She wouldn’t let me hire a nurse to make her life easier. And when I got engaged, she swore she’d be at my wedding, no problem.”
“I bet she wanted to be there.” Angie tried to judge her chances of getting to either the car or the house without being sliced by that large knife. She didn’t like her chances either way. Maybe she could talk Kendra into just leaving. “Your mother wouldn’t want you to risk spending your life in jail.”
“Now, you see, that’s not going to happen.” Kendra’s smile was cold. “I’m heading out of this crappy little town soon.”
Angie decided to push. “If you’re going to make the border, you might want to leave soon. I hear Mexico just canceled their extradition agreement.”
Kendra shook her head. “Sorry, I’ve got a couple of loose ends I have to clear up, like you.”
“I won’t tell anyone, I promise.” Angie inched toward the car. She wasn’t going to be able to talk her way out of this one. “Besides, I don’t really know what happened.”
Kendra jabbed the knife between Angie and the car. “I knew Mom was trying to set Stephen up, but it wasn’t working. Papa Diaz wasn’t seeing what an idiot Javier was at all. All I had to do was put Katherine into play.”
“You know Katherine?”
“She was my sponsor for my last run at Miss Idaho. I should
have won that one too, except the winner was sleeping with the judges.” Kendra smirked, and for a second, Angie saw a glint of madness in her eyes. Then Kendra shrugged. “Mom said it wasn’t my time to shine and God had other plans for me. I guess she was right.”
Angie saw the way she looked at the knife. Like it was sacred and she was just fulfilling her god’s wishes. The woman was crazy. She had to keep her talking, though. “So you asked Katherine to get Javier away from Heather?”
“I gave her my key to Carrie Sue’s apartment. I’m supposed to be watering her plants. She was willing to take one for the team. I guess the guy’s a pretty good lover. I know his brother is awesome. Isn’t it funny that those things run in families?” Kendra got a dreamy look on her face. “I was trying to keep Stephen out of this, but I guess he’ll work as a fall guy. It’s not like I can’t find another man. I might just go a little older next time. Someone who is already established.”
“You actually think you’re going to just walk away from this scot-free?”
“Of course I am. Really, no one ever suspects the pretty girl. I’ve gotten away with a ton of things in my life. You’d been amazed if we had time to really talk about them.” She flipped her hair back and tapped her finger on her lips. “Where was I? Oh, yeah, Katherine. Then I was going to play supportive friend, and that guy shows up and messes up my plans.”
“The one your mother hired? Jerry Reno?” Angie hoped when either Felicia or Ian called, they wouldn’t think she was sleeping when she didn’t answer. Having them wonder and call the sheriff was her only hope. Worst thing would be if Felicia had decided to follow Angie home and had just got in her car and came out. If that happened, she’d have to wave her away. It might not save Angie’s life, but at least Felicia wouldn’t be part of the sacrifice. Who was she kidding? No one was going to notice she was missing until she didn’t show up for work. Maybe living in Nona’s house had been a mistake. At least in San Francisco people were closer.
