“Sí.”
“Can you stay with it?”
“Sí.”
Simon glanced at her. They wound around the road that paralleled the ocean. Along the coastline and up into the hills stood some of the most beautiful villas Nikki had ever seen. The ruggedness of the mountains with their rocky peaks, stretching far up into lush greenery overlooking the azure-colored sea, offered amazing scenery.
“What are we doing?” Simon asked.
“I’ll explain when I can.”
“Okay, if you say so, Señora Cu…”
She put a finger to his lips. “Don’t say it. Do not say it.”
Simon frowned.
She leaned forward and asked the cabbie, “Do you know if there is a beach in front of that villa back there?” Because the drive had dropped so steeply, Nikki couldn’t see what was in front of the villa, just that the ocean spread out below it.
“I don’t know. Maybe so. I know that house though. It’s magnifico. I do fishing tours, too.”
He took his hands off the wheel and reached into his front pocket, turning around. Nikki screamed as an oncoming truck nearly sideswiped them. The driver didn’t seem to notice or miss a beat. He handed a card to Simon, whose tanned face had gone pale.
“You and your lady friend can come on the fishing boat with me. I take you out there.”
“Oh yeah. Great. Sure.” He leaned into Nikki and whispered, “I hope he can drive a boat better than a car.”
Nikki nodded. “So, the house, you see it from the ocean?”
“Oh yes. It’s like a castle. All glass and very tall. It’s built right there into the mountain.” He tapped the side of his head. “I am trying to remember if there is a small beach. There is in front of some of the other villas.”
“Do you know who lives there?”
“No,” he said—a little too quickly. “Must be very rich though. Probably an American.”
“Or maybe a drug lord. I hear there is a lot of that down here,” Nikki said.
“No. I don’t think so. We are for tourists only. There are no drugs or crime here.”
Uh huh, sure. Who was he kidding? Whether or not whoever owned that villa was on the up and up, there was no way the cab driver could convince her that Puerto Vallarta was simply a tourist town any longer. Things had changed a little bit since the era of Liz Taylor and Richard Burton had filmed The Night of the Iguana. Sure, she was a tourist here and she didn’t want to investigate the underbelly of the glamorous beach town, but she wasn’t naïve enough to believe that the long arms of the drug cartels never touched this place.
“Oh well, yes, must be someone rich who lives there. I wonder if they ever rent it out. My fiancé and I were looking to rent a nice place for our wedding next spring.” She took her wedding ring and turned it around. She would remember to shove her hands in her pockets when she got out. “Aren’t we, honey?” She leaned her head on Simon’s shoulder.
“Huh?” Simon looked at her with incredulousness.
She elbowed him.
“Oh yes, we just love it here.”
She shook her head and took a good look at Simon. The cab driver took a second look in his mirror. This was going to be hard to pull off. Not that Nikki ever bought into stereotypes, but Simon was wearing a rainbow tie-dyed T-shirt, and he’d put on some mascara earlier. He wasn’t doing straight all that well for the moment.
“I do know there are houses and villas for rent in that area. It’s called Conchas Chinas. I don’t know who you would ask though.”
“That’s okay. I was just wondering,” Nikki replied. She’d remember the area. Surely there were property management people that she could contact. Maybe if she found out who owned the villa, it would help in some way—small or large, it didn’t really matter. She was grasping at straws here and knew she’d have to probably grasp at a lot more to find the answers.
They’d followed the jeep all the way into town, when suddenly it sped away. “Señora, your friends they are going too fast. I can’t drive that fast.”
Crap. They might’ve been made. “Can you see them at all?”
“No. They are gone.”
Nikki sighed and hoped they had not spotted her or Simon back at the hotel getting into the cab.
One thing was certain: the guys in the jeep may or may not have had a hand in Villa Man and Dream’s murder, but for them to take off the way that they had, they were involved in something shady.
“Where to, Señora?” the cab driver asked.
“Do you know where Alliance Car Rental is?”
“Sí. Near the airport.”
“Great. Take us there.”
“Plan A?” Simon asked.
“Sí, Plan A.”
Chapter Thirteen
Nikki asked the cabbie to wait for them. Then she thought twice and decided that maybe they should rent a car. They hadn’t done that when they landed because they’d all figured this would be ten days of fun and sun, with no need to drive anywhere. If they wanted to go into town they would cab it. Things had obviously changed.
“Pay the guy,” Nikki told Simon.
“Me? No. You’re the one who is into chasing cars all over town. You pay him, sister.”
She sighed and fished ten bucks from her purse. “Let’s go, darling.” She took Simon’s hand.
“Come fishing, amigos. I take you out there. Much fun. Lots of fish. Call me.”
“Right. We’ll call,” Nikki said. “Have a good day.”
“We will? Call him to go fishing?” Simon asked.
“Please. Of course not. Come on, we need to find out who rented that car.”
They walked into Alliance Car Rental. A young guy, about twenty, smiled broadly at them from behind the counter. This should be easy, Nikki figured as she approached the desk.
“Hi, Jorge.” She indicated his nametag, then crossed her arms just under her boobs to make them stand out a bit more. It wasn’t beneath her to use as many assets as possible, though there wasn’t much to the assets on her chest. His smile widened. Yep, easy. But then she noticed that his eyes were focused on Simon. “Uh, can you give my brother and me a moment?”
“Of course. Take all the time you need.” He flashed a big smile at Simon.
Nikki took Simon back by the door.
“What the hell, Snow White?” He placed his hands on his hips. “See, I am back to playing nice and not calling you mean names any longer.”
“Thanks for small favors. Here is the deal: my charms are not going to work on Jorge, but yours will.”
“Seriously?” He glanced at the young man behind the counter. “Hmm. Jail bait. Plus, I don’t think Marco would approve.”
“Simon. Really? This is work. Let me do the talking and you bat those pretty eyelashes. Got it?”
He rolled his eyes and gazed skyward. “Fine. Got it. I play pretty as usual, and you get to do all the smart stuff—like the talking. It’s a good thing I’m pretty, you know.”
“Yes it is. You are gorgeous, Simon.” Compliments and placation was the story of their friendship much of the time. They walked back up to the counter.
“So, Jorge, here is the deal.” Jorge tried to stay focused on Nikki but yep, his eyes were pretty much trained on Simon’s baby blues. “Do you work here every day?”
“Yes. I also am an actor at the La Artista Perfectos in town. I am in a play now. You should come see me. Every night I am there for the next month. I play a priest.” He smiled. “I can get you tickets.”
“Oh, good. That sounds fabulous.” Simon said. “I loooove plays. And plays about a priest—even better. Love that! We must do that.”
Oh boy, he was laying it on pretty thick. Nikki decided to jump in with the talking part of this little exercise. “So, here is our problem. You see, this guy who rented a car from you stole my brother’s wallet.”
“What? No! That is a crime! Terrible!” Jorge said.
Nikki wanted to stick a finger in her throat and feign gaggin
g, because now Jorge was laying it on as thick as Simon. “Yes. That is exactly what happened.”
Simon nodded emphatically. “Bastard. Who would do such a thing? I am a nice guy!”
Nikki had to put an end to the dramatics here. “He rented a real nice car, a Cadillac; silver Escalade. You know, for rich guys.”
Jorge nodded.
“And, he gave us a ride from the beach back to our hotel because he said he was staying at the same place. But he wasn’t. And when we got out of the car and went to our rooms, my brother here…” She rubbed his shoulder. “…couldn’t find his wallet or his passport. We are sure that man took it. He was kind of tall, a little chubby, an American, long hair. Do you know him?”
“I do. We have only two Cadillac Escalades. I know that man you’re talking about. I remember him.”
“Do you know his name?”
Jorge started typing in something on his computer and a moment later said, “Paul Carrigan.” He said the hard g as if it were soft.
“Thank you. Was he with anyone?” Nikki asked. “A blond woman, or another couple?”
“No. But he is supposed to return the car in two days. I can hold him here for you and call you.” He smiled at Simon.
“That would be perfect,” Simon replied and wrote down a number on a card. “You are the best, Jorge!”
“Here. I give you my number, too. You must come watch The Priest and His Services. It is quite eye opening.” He winked at Simon and handed him a card.
“Absolutely,” Simon replied. “We would soooo love that. Wouldn’t we, Sissy?”
Nikki smiled. “We certainly would.”
After renting a car they walked outside, but froze when Nikki saw a police car pull in. Detective Martinez got out of the car. “Come on. We better hurry,” she told Simon, turning him around.
“Why?”
“No time for questions.” She hustled him to the rental lot. “Just tell me that you didn’t give Jorge your real number.”
“What do you think I am? A rookie? Of course I didn’t give him the correct number, but if I was single…” He licked his lips. “I just might be able to do the jail bait thing once or twice.”
“Slow down, Hugh Heffner. We have to get out of here. The detective investigating Dream’s murder, and what now looks to be that of Villa Man—this Paul Carrigan—just got here, and before long the jig will be up for us. Get in. I’m driving.”
She got behind the wheel of a red Mini Cooper and started it up. A moment later they were winding through the streets of Puerto Vallarta.
“Now where?”
“Back to the hotel.”
“Can we just stop at this little bakery I read about in Food & Wine a few months ago? I think I deserve it. I have been a very good sport playing along with your little show back there.”
“Oh okay, like you didn’t enjoy going for your Oscar. Please. You are so transparent. But sure, I could use a little chocolate. Think this thing has a GPS?”
“I’ll MapQuest it,” he replied. “I don’t think Siri speaks Spanish.”
Nikki shook her head and decided not to even go there.
They wound up getting lost, but finally found their destination near the heart of town. A sign out front read Los Postres, and the windows and inside of the shop were festively decorated with Christmas lights, with a strand strung around a small palm. They were definitely south of the border at eighty degrees in December.
They each ordered a slice of chocolate tres leches cake and an iced coffee then sat down at a little corner table where they could watch the people filing along the streets. Biting into the chocolaty, gooey treat they both said, “Yum,” at the same time.
Simon took a sip from his iced coffee. “What do you think of all this? I mean, really?”
“I don’t know. I think there is a lot here to unravel and maybe we’re in over our heads this time, but I feel compelled.”
“Of course you do. Ms. Justice of the People.”
She frowned. “And what does that make you?”
“Stupid.”
“Ah. Okay then.” She laughed.
“No. Not really. I want to help too, and we will figure this out. We have always made a good team. Now might be a good time to tell me about who we were following back there. You said that you would fill me in.”
“I did. Yes.” She explained about the threesome who had been at Juanita’s the night before, and how she’d spotted them in the parking lot next to the hotel. “They were driving the jeep, and as soon as the passenger in the cab in front of us got in, I noticed them hightail it out of here. I suspected that they were following him.”
“But the cab went down the drive of that villa. If they were following him, then why didn’t turn down the drive?”
Nikki swallowed her last bite of chocolate perfection. “Obviously, they didn’t want the guy to know they were following him.”
“Maybe they weren’t following him at all.”
“Of course they were Simon. Did you see how weird that cabbie got when I suggested that there could be a drug lord living in that villa? I think whoever does live there is bad, and I think that the jeep with the three bad asses inside it that I saw at the restaurant are up to something, too. Regardless, none of it is good. And, why are you arguing with me?”
“Just playing the devil’s advocate. Now wipe that surly look off your face. This is how we do things. If I wasn’t always challenging you in these situations, we might not get it right. Right? Now you know we make a great team because of it.” He high-fived her, which she reluctantly returned at first. “Ready?” He stood and held out his hand.
As they walked outside and headed to the car, Nikki didn’t like the weird feeling she had—like they were being watched. She reached her hand in her purse instinctively and withdrew a bottle of perfume—Derek’s favorite. As they neared the Mini Cooper a dark SUV sped toward them from the opposite direction and pulled up alongside them, barely a couple of feet away.
“Nikki? Nikki Malveaux?” a voice called.
Most people she knew still called her Nikki Sands. The driver of the SUV was the intense woman from the restaurant, the one who had met with the men in the jeep earlier—who Simon and she had just been discussing. Her window rolled down, she pointed a gun at them. “I think we need to talk.”
Nikki reacted quickly, spraying the perfume in the woman’s face. The woman dropped the gun in her lap as her hands went up to cover her eyes. Nikki yelled at Simon to get in the car. She nearly struck a couple of other vehicles as she burned rubber and began racing through the streets of Puerto Vallarta.
Chocolate Tres Leches Cake
A tres leches cake(from Spanish, "three milks cake"), is a sponge cake—in some recipes, a butter cake—soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream.
When butter is not used, the Tres Leches is a very light cake, with many air bubbles. This distinct texture is why it does not have a soggy consistency, despite being soaked in a mixture of three types of milk. This version includes chocolate, and every amateur sleuth on the hunt could always use a little chocolate in her cake. For one thing, chocolate is a good antioxidant, so it’s good for you. And, in this case, the sugar combined with the caffeine is going to help Nikki and Simon in the moment when things are looking just a tad scary with some woman with a gun chasing them through the streets of Puerto Vallarta!
6 eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 12 ounce can evaporated milk
3 tablespoons instant espresso coffee powder
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1½
cups whipping cream
Cake Ingredients:
Unsalted butter, softened, for the pan
3 oz. (2/3 cup) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 oz (1/3 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup whole milk
3/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
For the soaking liquid:
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 12-oz. can evaporated milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
Pinch kosher salt
For the topping:
2½ cups heavy cream
2 Tbs. confectioners’ sugar
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Cocoa powder or chocolate curls, for garnish
Bake the cake:
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F.
Butter the bottom and sides of a 9x13-inch Pyrex baking dish or a nonreactive metal pan. Line the bottom of the baking dish or pan with parchment and lightly butter the parchment.
Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
Separate the eggs, putting the whites in a medium bowl and the yolks in a large bowl. With an electric mixer, beat the yolks with 3/4 cup of the sugar on medium speed until the mixture is pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the milk and vanilla and beat until combined, 1 minute more.
Clean and dry the beaters and then beat the egg whites, gradually increasing the speed to high, until they reach soft peaks, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a stream, continuing to beat on high, until you reach firm but not dry peaks, 1 to 2 minutes more. Whisk a third of the dry ingredients into the yolk mixture until thoroughly combined. Gently fold in a third of the egg whites with a rubber spatula. Fold in the remaining dry ingredients and egg whites, alternately, in two more batches each, until fully incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared dish or pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then invert the cake onto the rack, remove the parchment, and let cool completely.
A Killer Margarita (Nikki Sands'/Wine Lover's Mystery Series) Page 7
