The Perfect Storm_A Thrilling Romantic Suspense

by Madyson Grey

  “I’m so glad. Do you know what was stolen?”

  “Well, Miss Ericksen says that the good silver is gone, the silver tea set from the dining room, your mother’s jewelry, a couple of TVs, the stereo system, and all the cash she had in her purse, which amounted to a little over two hundred dollars.”

  “Oh, my,” Victoria said. “Everything is replaceable except the tea set and a few pieces of heirloom jewelry that my mother had. May I please speak to Lena?”

  “Certainly, then I’ll need to speak to you again,” he said.

  While the officer was passing the phone off to Lena, Victoria quickly briefed Rafael on what had happened. When she told him Mateo was the thief, he slapped the table so hard it made their cereal bowls jump, splattering milk on the table. He got up from his seat and paced back and forth in the short motorhome. He clenched and unclenched his fists over and over while pacing and muttering.

  “Lena? Are you all right?” Victoria asked, great consternation in her voice.

  “I’m all right, honey,” Lena replied. “I’m just so sorry about this. I had no idea he would do anything. I thought he was all right, since he’s Rafael’s brother. I should have checked with you before I let him in. I was just getting ready to leave to take a little vacation myself up to Yosemite. I’m so sorry I let you down.”

  “You listen here, Lena, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Victoria said firmly. “I’m the one who’s sorry that you were there. You could have been really hurt or killed. And don’t you worry about your money. We’ll go right down to the bank and wire you some more to replace it. Then you go ahead and go on your vacation. If it happens again, I’d rather you weren’t there at all. The stuff is replaceable. You aren’t.”

  “Thanks, honey,” Lena said. “I’m just sorry this is spoiling your vacation. Don’t worry about the money. I’ll go to the bank and get more. Are you having a good time?”

  “Fabulous,” Victoria said. “I guess the police officer needs to talk to me again. I just needed to hear your voice and know that you’re all right. Don’t forget to set the alarm when you leave.”

  “I won’t.”

  The police officer came back on the line and asked if they wanted to press charges against Mateo. Victoria whispered the question to Rafael, who nodded vigorously and said yes loud enough that the officer heard him.

  “Yes, we do, Officer,” she said. “I can give you Mateo’s address if you want it.”

  “That would be very helpful,” he said, surprised that they would give up a family member so readily.

  Victoria motioned for Rafael to give her his cell phone where the address was stored. He called it up for her, and then handed her the phone so she could read it off to the officer.

  “The home belongs to their mother, but Mateo has been living there with her for a while. She will be very distraught over this, so be kind to her. She is in no way a part of this.”

  “Yes, ma’am, we will be,” he said. “If we recover any of the items, we will hold them at the police station until you return home to claim them.”

  “That will be fine,” Victoria said. “We appreciate anything you can do to recover what you can. My mother’s jewelry is the most important. There are some heirloom pieces that I would be sorry to lose. And the silver tea set had belonged to my grandmother Thornton. The TVs and stereo are no big deal. They can be easily replaced. I’ll call our insurance company and report the loss.”

  “I do need you to sign a form stating that you wish to press charges,” Officer Bell said. “Where are you right now?”

  “We’re in Abilene, Texas,” Victoria told him.

  “If you would go to the Abilene police station, I will call them and tell them that you are coming down to sign a complaint against Mr. Rivera, and then they will fax it over to me,” he instructed.

  “Yes, we can do that. No problem. Just as soon as we finish up our breakfast here we will find out where the police station is and go over to it,” Victoria said.

  “That will be fine. That gives me time to contact them,” he said.

  “Anything else we need to do?” Victoria asked.

  “No, that’s all for now. I appreciate your cooperation. Again, I am sorry for this interruption to your vacation. We’ll keep you informed of any later developments,” Officer Bell said.

  “Thank you for what you’re doing,” Victoria said.

  They hung up and Victoria filled in the details for Rafael. He was absolutely furious with Mateo.

  “I know why he did it,” he fumed. “It’s still his way of seeking revenge on your father. Funny thing is, he never tried anything like this when your father was alive. At least not that I know of. But I’ll bet you that that’s why he came to our wedding. He figured it was a good time to case the place and see what was there worth taking to resell. And he could get the lay of the place. And now that I live there, he had an ‘in’ with the housekeeper. She had met him, knows he’s my brother, and wouldn’t hesitate to let him in. Mowing the lawn was a good ruse, too. I never dreamed that he would stoop this low. I’m so sorry, Vic, that he took your things. So sorry.”

  He sat on the bench seat beside Victoria and put his arm around her. She leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed.

  “It’s OK, Rafael. You had no way of knowing that he would pull this. And it is just stuff. I learned while I was in Seattle that people put way too much stock in things. I was just as happy up there—happier, really—in my plain little apartment than I ever was at home. Much happier than my mother ever was with all of her expensive things. I am sorry to lose Grandma’s tea set, and a couple of pieces of Mother’s jewelry, but the TVs, stereo, and silverware, they are so easily replaced. I’m just thankful that Lena wasn’t hurt. She couldn’t have taken another blow to the head.”

  “I’m grateful for that, too,” Rafael said. “It could have been much worse. I feel sorry for Mama, though. Hey, I should call her and tell her what’s going on. That way she won’t be so shocked when the police knock on her door.”

  “Good idea,” Victoria said.

  Rafael quickly called his mother and told him what the police officer had just told Victoria. She didn’t want to believe that her Mateo would do such a thing, but she finally acknowledged that she had suspected him of stealing for several months. She said she had missed money out of her purse quite a few times, and Mateo had brought things home lately that she didn’t see how he could afford. Fancy clothes, the latest video game setup, a new big screen TV. But he always claimed that he had gotten a good deal, or bought them from an acquaintance for a little of nothing, or some similar story.

  They talked for a few more minutes while Rafael told her of some of the things they had seen and done on their trip so far. She had to hang up when a policeman knocked on her door. She told Rafael she’d call him back later.

  The episode put a bit of a damper on their morning, especially since Mateo was the perpetrator. The theft was enough to be upsetting, but to have it committed by Rafael’s own brother was just ridiculous. But they determined to not let this ruin their vacation. So they got ready to go to the rodeo as planned.

  Before they went to the rodeo grounds, they found the police station. They went inside, identified themselves, and asked about signing the paperwork. The desk clerk handed them the form that had been faxed over from the LAPD, they both signed it, and handed it back. They waited while the woman faxed the form back over and got a confirmation that the transmission was successful.

  Victoria had never so much as watched a rodeo on TV, much less been to one in person. Rafael had watched them a few times on TV, but had never been to one. So they had a blast there, watching the bull riding, the bronc riding, the calf roping, and all the other things that make a rodeo what it is. Victoria’s favorite part, when it was all said and done, was the opening parade with the presentation of the colors and the singing of the “Star Spangled Banner.”

  After they had seen enough of the rodeo, they went in sea
rch of some lunch, and then drove around town a little, just seeing what there was to see. Upon returning to the RV park, they decided to pull out and head on down the road. They got as far as Fredricksburg and passed two museums that really piqued their interest. Finding an RV park, they rented a space for the night.

  It was too late that afternoon to get into the museums, so they just had some supper, and relaxed for the evening. As much as they had hoped to put everything aside, they couldn’t help talking a little bit about the events of the morning and Mateo’s act of aggression against them.

  “I feel so bad for you, babe,” Victoria said, as they lay on the bed watching TV. “I know it must hurt to know your brother could do this.”

  “Yeah, it does,” Rafael admitted. “I’m angry with him, but I’m also shocked that he would stoop this low. I knew he was lazy, and that he still nursed a grudge, but I had no idea that he would do something like this.”

  “Maybe this will help take our minds off of what happened today,” Victoria said as she cuddled up to her husband and caressed his bare torso.

  He turned to her and took possession of her lips with his, deepening the kiss as his passion rose. His hands traveled her body, soon finding her most sensitive places. Before long, their bodies fused as one and their only thoughts were of the fires that burned within them.

  When the fire had imploded within their bodies, they lay silently together each one thinking their own thoughts. It didn’t take long, however, for the smoldering embers to be fanned once more into flames of desire, which demanded to be stoked again and again until their hunger was satiated, and they fell asleep, bodies wrapped together as one.

  Chapter Five

  The next morning as Victoria was waking up, she had vague memories of dreaming about the robbery of the previous day. Only in her dream, the robbery was all mixed up with her mother shooting at her dad, at Lena, at her, and at Mateo, who had his arms full of stolen goods. As usual, Rafael came in and swept her up in his arms and saved her from harm.

  This time, remembering what he had said several weeks ago, she wondered if Rafael had really held her, or if he was just a part of her dream. She opened her eyes to find him propped up on one elbow, watching her.

  What a wonderful sight to wake up to, she thought.

  “Mornin’, beautiful,” he said.

  “Mornin’, handsome,” she replied sleepily.

  Before she could ask him about being in her dreams, he bent down and kissed her sensuously on the mouth, then blazed a trail of fire with his tongue down her throat to her bare breast. The nightmare could wait until later. This dream was real and it was happening right now.

  Much later, they got up, showered, dressed, and sat down to breakfast at the table for two. Then Victoria asked Rafael if she had awakened him in the night screaming again.

  “Yeah, you did,” he told her. “It was about two-thirty this morning. Nightmares again?”

  “Yeah,” she said, “only it was a little different this time. This time the robbery was all mixed up with Mother shooting everyone, even Mateo. Except you always swoop in from out of nowhere and pick me up and save me.”

  “I’m sorry, honey,” he said, caressing her shoulder gently. “That blasted brother of mine. I don’t know why he had to intrude upon our honeymoon.”

  “It was rather thoughtless of him, wasn’t it?” Victoria said with a giggle.

  “Extremely thoughtless,” Rafael agreed emphatically.

  Right after breakfast they battened down the hatches, ran the slides in, and drove over to the Vereins Kirche Museum. It turned out to be an entire complex of museums that took them all morning to tour. By lunchtime, they still hadn’t seen everything, so they went out to their motorhome, hastily made some sandwiches and ate them, then went back into the complex to pick up where they left off.

  It was mid-afternoon when they had finally seen everything there was to see. So they drove over to the National Museum of the Pacific War. It seemed as though they had just gotten a good start on that one when closing time was announced. They had some discussion as to whether they should spend another night in Fredricksburg and finish the museum in the morning, or just go on down towards San Antonio.

  Victoria was all for going on, but Rafael was more interested in seeing the rest of this memorial to the part of World War Two that was fought in the Pacific. In the interest of peace, Victoria allowed Rafael to win this one. She knew that if she were considerate of his wishes that he would in turn be considerate of hers, and do something that she really wanted to do that he wasn’t so hot on.

  So they went back to the RV park and paid for another night. After supper, Victoria called Lena to see how she was. But the signal was so weak where Lena was up at Yosemite that they couldn’t really have a conversation. At least Victoria knew that Lena was safe and hopefully enjoying herself.

  Rafael decided that he ought to call Karen, his secretary, and check in with her. Even though it was six-thirty in Texas, it was still only four-thirty out in California. Karen assured him that all was well on the home front.

  The next morning they finished touring the WWII museum. They had lunch in the motorhome, and then made their way on down to San Antonio. They found a nice RV park close to the Riverwalk and other downtown attractions. With so much to see and do in the area, they decided to rent the space for a week. Rather than to have to unhook the RV every morning and drive it around, they decided to go out and rent a car to use while they were there. It would be much more convenient.

  They enjoyed walking the Riverwalk that afternoon and evening before calling it a day and returning to the motorhome. The motorhome had become so much more than just a vehicle. It had become their private love nest. It was so much nicer than staying in a hotel every night. This way they had their very own clean bed, their very own bathroom and kitchen, and could leave their things in place all the time, rather than toting a suitcase in and out of a hotel room every day.

  San Antonio proved to be a fascinating city with a wide variety of entertainment to enjoy, from the Alamo and the Old World Missions to the Salado Creek Trail, a beautiful green walking trail, to The Majestic, a fabulous vintage theater, and three art museums to explore and savor.

  Victoria talked Rafael into taking her to The Majestic Theater to see The Sound of Music. He balked at first, but when she gently reminded him that she trailed him through the WWII museum in Fredricksburg, he willingly made the sacrifice. If they could always remember this give and take, there would be peace. But they both recognized that this is what it would take for them to have a successful marriage.

  The RV park was so nice that they decided to stay there and just drive up to Austin and explore that town, too. By the end of their week in that area, they still hadn’t seen it all, but decided to continue on down to Galveston. Early Thursday morning they pointed the nose of the RV eastward toward Galveston. Around late morning they rolled into the coastal city of Galveston.

  The rest of that day and half of the next they spent taking in as much of Galveston as was humanly possible. After lunch they lit out for Corpus Christi, taking the route that more closely follows the coastline. All of the time they spent in the RV driving from one point to another they spent in talking. They had a lifetime of learning about each other to catch up on.

  Victoria talked incessantly about Seattle and her experiences there. Rafael told her of his father’s migration to the United States, and that his mother was descended from a very old aristocratic Mexican family who had lived in California for decades before it was ever part of the USA.

  Rafael also told her of his years working with her father, how David had mentored him, and how he owed him his very life.

  “I would have probably self-destructed long ago if it hadn’t been for your dad taking me under his wing,” he said. “Growing up in the shadow of an alcoholic father whose addiction ruined his life and led to his death, and under the influence of an older brother whose heart was filled with hatred for the
man he blamed for all of our troubles, I’m sure that I would have fallen by the wayside somewhere along the line, had it not been for David Thornton.”

  “I am so glad that he was there for you, babe,” Victoria said. “He was such a good daddy to me, and I miss him so much. It’s hard to imagine life without him. Just think, though, if I had hung around LA instead of running off to Seattle, we probably would have met much sooner, and probably under much more pleasant circumstances.”

  “True,” Rafael agreed. “However, it may be that the timing was just right. You may not have been interested in a messenger boy or an intern from the wrong side of the tracks. And I’m pretty certain that your mother would have done everything in her power to keep us apart, just based on the fact that I don’t come from her social stratosphere.”

  “You’re right, I’m sure,” Victoria agreed. “Especially the part about Mother keeping us apart, even if I had been attracted to you then. Which I may have been, you know. I’ve always been a renegade, resisting Mother’s vain attempts to make me conform to her high society lifestyle.”

  They spent the remainder of Friday and all of Saturday touring Corpus Christi. Sunday morning they got up and on the road early. They planned to drive all the way to Carlsbad Caverns that day. There was a shorter route, but as they didn’t want to revisit San Antonio, they would take a secondary highway that would take them through some different country and on up into New Mexico.

  It was a long day, and when they arrived in White’s City, the nearest town to Carlsbad Caverns, the only RV park was filled. So they found a place to park for the night in an empty lot between the store and the gas station. The next day they did the cave tour and really got a kick out of it. It was a first for both of them, and they were hooked.

  El Paso was their next destination. A couple of days in El Paso would give them time to cross the border so they could say that they had been in Mexico. Even Rafael, with his Mexican heritage, had never been in Mexico. They had prepared to cross the border at some point on their trip by securing passports prior to the trip.