The minute Pilar shut the car door, Gabe stepped on the gas and headed to the west end of the parking lot, where he parked between two dark SUVs and they both got out of the car. “C’mon, honey. My car is the next aisle over. Lean on me. I’ll get you home safe and sound.”
Once they were inside Gabe’s car, Pilar said, “I’m cold, Gabe. Look how I’m shivering. Turn on the heat. Oh, God! You are not going to believe what happened back at the club. You will not believe it!”
“First, you have to calm down and talk slowly, so I can decide if I want to believe it or not. Take deep breaths and start at the beginning. I suspect this has nothing to do with young Toby, but start there, anyway. Are you listening to me, Pilar?” Gabe demanded as he turned on the turn signal to bypass a Honda Civic that was going too slow for his liking.
“Toby turned down the offer. He’s upset about Mr. December. I tried my best to talk him into a month in Hong Kong by saying his new girlfriend could tag along. At her own expense, of course. He said no. Gabe, the kid didn’t buy into anything I said. He’s trouble. Big trouble. You had to see the way he was staring at me. Spooked me for sure.” Pilar kneaded her hands together as she struggled with her breathing while she talked.
Gabe risked a sideways glance at his trembling wife as he momentarily took his eyes off the road. His first and only thought was, We waited too long. It’s happening now. He knew he was supposed to say something, anything to make his wife feel better. He couldn’t think of a thing. “I guess all that means is you did not get in touch with the people in Hong Kong.”
Pilar turned to stare at her husband. “Seriously, Gabe, do you think that’s where my head was? What I just told you was nothing compared to . . . to . . . what happened next.”
“You know what, Pilar? Just relax. We’re almost home. We’ll talk there.”
Pilar clamped her lips shut as she moved over to sit in the corner of her seat, up against the passenger-side door, and hugged herself. She closed her eyes, hoping what she’d just experienced was all a bad dream, and she’d wake up any moment. But it didn’t work, and her thoughts turned wild and crazy as she struggled to come to terms with what she knew was going to happen. Someone had been in her car. She was certain of that. Zuma didn’t trust her. The big question was why. She was almost positive she hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary to raise his suspicions. Toby? The Hong Kong deal? With the way her luck was running, it was probably all of the above. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.
“We’re home,” Gabe said as he slowed the car and drove down the ramp to the underground garage. He slid his parking key into the slot, and the bar went up, so slowly he wanted to get out and push it upward himself. The minute the bar was over the hood of the car, he stepped on the gas and barreled down the concourse to the ramp that would take him and his car to the second-floor parking level. He swerved in, tires screeching on the cement. He equated the sound to a jet crashing through the sound barrier. He knew it wasn’t even close to that actual sound, but in his state of mind, that was exactly what it seemed like. He turned off the engine and turned to look at his wife.
“Can you make it to the elevator, or do I have to carry you?” His voice wasn’t kind; nor was it unkind. It was simply flat. Pilar recognized it for what it was: no more games, no more excuses. “Fish or cut bait” was Gabe’s favorite expression when things got to this point. And he was at that point right now.
“I can make it. I’m okay now, Gabe. Thanks. I was really rattled there for a while, but I’m steady now, and my head is clear. Right now, I think I’m more angry than anything else.”
Then she was out of the car and racing across the parking garage to the elevator. Gabe had to run to catch up with her. Neither said a word until they were inside the condo with the doors locked behind them. Pilar headed straight for the kitchen, where she opened the cabinet for a bottle of whiskey. She splashed a glass half full, gulped it down, and looked at Gabe.
“Do you want a drink?” she asked.
“No. And you don’t need any more, either. You need a clear head right now. We both do.”
Pilar nodded. Her throat burned from the fiery liquid. She was no drinker, was almost what some people called a teetotaler. She looked at the flower arrangement on the table in the breakfast nook. This morning the flowers were vibrant and perky. Now they looked wilted and half dead. “You see, Gabe, the flowers are dying. That’s why I don’t like them. They die. They don’t last. Everything dies.”
“Nothing lasts forever, Pilar. You know that,” Gabe said quietly. “Now would be a good time to finish your story.”
“It is a story, isn’t it? Our lives are a story. Maybe I should write a book when we retire. We might even make some money off it. Okay, these . . . three . . . goons—I don’t know what else to call them—accosted me in the parking lot. All the lights were out. That should have warned me, but for some reason, it didn’t. When I was ready to leave the first time, only the overhead lights above the doorway were on, and the lot was dark, so I went back inside for a flashlight. All I could find was a little penlight one of the kitchen staff gave me off his own key ring.
“They were on me before I had a clue anything was wrong. They were Zuma Delgado’s people. They slapped me, and then one of them punched me in the stomach so hard that I threw up right there in the parking lot. They said Zuma wants to see me tomorrow, so that must mean he’s here. Right here in D.C. They said there was no advertising. Zuma wants to see heavy advertising. That’s it in a nutshell. They just melted into the darkness then, like they were never there, but their smell stayed behind. It made me gag. I admit it. I panicked. I didn’t know what to do.
“Then I realized someone had been in my car. Nothing was taken, but my cell phone was at the bottom of my purse. Not in the pocket where I always keep it. My wallet and its contents were intact. The iPad was also out of place. The big thing is that when I pressed the remote to open the door, it didn’t chirp. At the time, I was so rattled that I wasn’t paying attention. I don’t think it was Delgado’s people who were in my car. I think it was someone else. I caught a whiff of a scent I have smelled before. Like aftershave. Subtle. I smelled it when I bent over the seat to gather up my stuff from the floor. At the time, it barely registered, but I remember it now. The guy, or whoever it was, must have bent over, and his face brushed across the seat. Faint scent, and an expensive one, but it was there.”
“And this means what?” Gabe asked irritably. “Now you’re saying there are two forces who are against us. Is that what you’re saying?”
“Can you think of a better explanation? I told you that Toby is involved in all of this somehow, someway. And he is refusing to go to Hong Kong. That tells me a lot. What time is it, Gabe? We have to call Mr. Navarro or, at the very least, send him a text. I think you should do that since you spoke to him this morning.”
“And tell him what?”
“Tell him we need more time. At least another couple of days. We need to fall back and regroup. Stall. Whatever you think will work, so we don’t lose out on the deal.”
Gabe dropped his head in his hands. He wished he was a kid again, so he could run and hide and cry his eyes out. Instead, he shook his head to clear his thoughts and stood up. “No. I’m done. If you’re too blind to see what’s going on, then there is nothing I can do to help you. I told you hundreds of times, and the last time was this morning, to be precise, that I have no intention of going to prison. Not even for you, Pilar. I’m going to get my passport out of the safe, along with some cash, and I’m going to do what we both said we were going to do when the time was right. This is my right time. You do what you want. I’m done. We worked this all out a thousand different times. Half is yours, and it’s all set up. My half is mine to do with what I want.”
“What! You’re leaving me holding the bag! Oh, no. It doesn’t work that way! We’re partners.”
“Tell that to your lawyer if you end up behind bars. I am leaving right now,
and I am not coming back. Do what you want.”
Pilar continued to screech at the top of her lungs as she pummeled Gabe’s back. She followed him toward the safe built into the wall just off the living room. She tried to prevent him from opening the safe, but he shrugged her aside. He gathered up a small-caliber pistol that he had a license for, and a manila envelope with his name on it.
A similar envelope, bearing Pilar’s name, along with a second small-caliber pistol, and a stack of mortgage papers remained inside the safe. He closed the door to the safe, spun the dial, and replaced the picture on the wall that covered the safe.
“You can’t leave me like this! We’re married! You said, ‘Till death do us part.’ You swore to me you meant it. I would never leave you. Never!” Pilar screamed.
Gabe felt his insides start to crumble. He closed his eyes for a moment as he willed himself to turn a deaf ear. “I’m going, Pilar. You have about ten minutes to decide if you’re coming with me or not. That’s how long it will take me to get to the garage level. I won’t wait.”
“What about your . . . your stuff?”
“Where I’m going, I won’t need that stuff, as you put it.”
Dumbfounded and frozen to the floor, Pilar watched her husband walk out the door and out of her life. Ten minutes. All she had to do was open the safe, take her envelope and the gun, and she could make it to the garage in the allotted time if she wanted to. Her eyes glazed over. How could she do that?
Pilar Sanders realized she couldn’t do that. It simply was not who she was.
Chapter Thirteen
“Hey, guys, listen to this,” Dennis said, then read an e-mail from Toby. “That guy Snowden just showed up in the break room and told me he was assigning me a new babysitter. She’s supposed to arrive when we do the first show. He sent Mia to follow Pilar Sanders to wherever she’s going. What’s going on? And don’t tell me nothing, either.”
“He sounds worried. I’m starting to think your friend is a bit of a prairie flower. In other words, a wuss,” Maggie said tartly.
“No, he’s not, and I resent your saying that, Maggie. Toby’s just . . . What he is . . . is he’s different. He’ll come through. He isn’t used to this sort of life, so cut him some slack. He’ll be okay. So what do you want me to tell him?”
“The truth. Lay it out for him. He is, after all, the client,” Ted said. “Tell him, if he can, to check in between sets. Tell him that as we get more info, we’ll keep him in the loop.”
Dennis did as instructed. “He said okay. He was ready to go onstage. Each show lasts forty minutes. We’re good here.”
Ted turned on his blinker and entered the Post’s parking garage. He headed toward a vintage, shiny, black Thunderbird, which was Zack’s trademark. He tapped his horn and swerved into a parking space two car lengths down from the Thunderbird. “That’s Zack’s car. He refurbished it. Took him years. Okay, everyone out.”
Espinosa was first to exit, then Maggie and finally Dennis. Ted grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. He loped his way over to where a short, chubby, bald man wearing bright red sneakers and a matching ball cap was getting out of the car. They clapped each other on the back and did a manly hug before introductions were made.
“I’m hungry,” the human soccer ball said.
“What else is new? You’re always hungry. But we are, too, so let’s head to the cafeteria. We can have some privacy and eat at the same time,” Ted said, leading the way across the parking garage to the elevator that would take them to the cafeteria.
The group made small talk, mostly about the blustery weather here in the District, as opposed to Miami’s sunshine, and about having the right clothing.
Pleasing, pleasant aromas even at this time of night assailed the reporters as they walked down the line, picking and choosing a little of this, a lot of that, and finally huge slices of cherry pie with whipped cream on top.
Settled at one of the long cafeteria tables, Zack spoke first. “Even though it’s not polite, I can talk and eat at the same time. Let’s get to it, so I can catch a few z’s. I’m about dead on my feet.”
“Yeah, yeah, we eat and talk, too. Time is money. I’ll bring you up to date on what we have, what we think, and what we actually know. It’s the knowing part that has us stumped.” Maggie quickly brought the round little reporter up to speed. They all watched as he shoveled food into his mouth, nodding from time to time at Maggie’s information.
Zack popped a garlic twist into his mouth and savored it for a moment, before he said, “You guys don’t know the half of it. Listen up. Here goes. I’ve been on this guy for so long, it seems like forever. He’s third in line to take over Guzmán’s spot in California. That’s Dito Chilo, who is now in prison, as you well know. I just happened to be in the same bodega as Zuma when the news that his boss had been captured came across. The owners had this small TV on the counter. I couldn’t believe it.
“You should have seen the shock on Delgado’s face. He was out of there so fast, his feet left skid marks. I’m pretty fast myself, so I was on him like white on rice. He didn’t catch me, because he only had eyes for his phone. The two guys ahead of him to take over from Guzmán are serious badasses. He’s no fool. He had his car loaded down with his cohorts in thirty minutes, and five minutes later, he was on I-Ninety-Five, headed this way. I didn’t have time to get anything, so I’m here with just the clothes on my back and my backpack. We were more than halfway here when you called.” Zack stopped talking long enough to drain his coffee cup.
Dennis sniffed at what he was hearing. “That car you drive is pretty distinctive, especially those wheels. Do you expect us to believe he didn’t spot you? Where is he now?”
Zack attacked the rest of the food on his plate. “Right now I do not have a clue. I stayed with them while they checked into some sleazebag motel on the highway. I slipped the night clerk twenty bucks to tell me what room they were in and how long they were staying. I promised him a Benjamin, possibly two, if he would keep me apprised of their comings and goings. I’m not ashamed to admit that I have a pretty liberal expense account. At least you guys know where they are, so it’s win-win. Excuse me. I need some more coffee.” Zack left the table to get another cup of coffee.
The little group looked at each other. Dennis rolled his eyes. “I’m not buying that those guys didn’t pick up on a shiny, black, vintage Thunderbird. Those dudes live for cars and jewelry.”
“I heard that,” Zack said, sitting down at the table. “Here’s the thing, kid. No one pays any attention to a little fat guy like me. I’m bald, I wear glasses, I’m round, and I do not look like I pose a threat of any kind. I look like this because I want to look like this. I have more bylines right now than you will have in your entire life. I got it going on.”
“Yeah, but do you have a Pulitzer?” Dennis asked, tongue in cheek.
“Three, to be precise,” Zack said as he forked half the slice of cherry pie that was on his plate into his mouth. “You have to get up real early to get ahead of me, kid.”
“I’ll remember that,” Dennis said, his cheeks pink at the put-down.
“Okay. I think I’m done. What’s our game plan here? I need to warn all of you about something. Zuma and his thugs carry some serious firepower. They like guns. I want to say one more thing here before we call it a night. In order for Zuma to step into the number one slot, he’s got to pull off a big score. I mean big. I’m sure he’s thinking that the Sanders woman is his answer. That has to be it, because there is no other reason for him to be here in the nation’s capital that makes any kind of sense. Y’all chew on that, show me the way to my bed for the night, and tell me where to meet up with you in the morning, at which point we’ll start to make things happen. Or not.”
Back in the underground garage the group split up, with Ted offering to take Zack to the Post’s apartment. The plan was to meet up at Betty Lou’s Café in the morning for breakfast.
Maggie, Espinosa, and Denni
s trooped up the ramp and walked around to the front of the building, where they hailed separate cabs to take each of them home.
“See you guys in the morning,” Maggie said, climbing into the first cab. She leaned back, closed her eyes, and tried to come to terms with what was going on. She felt antsy, like she was missing something. She sighed. She hated when this happened, but, as always, she knew that whatever it was that she was either missing or not missing would reveal itself eventually. It was the word eventually that made her crazy.
* * *
Mia Grande was careful to stay two car lengths behind Pilar Sanders. She’d switched cars with Snowden since Pilar had seen the racy Ferrari and would recognize it in an instant. The pearl-white Stetson had stayed behind in the car. She was now wearing an Atlanta Braves baseball cap, her hair tucked up tight underneath. She clenched her teeth at the way the owner of the Supper Clubs was weaving in and out of traffic. She was hard-pressed to keep up with Pilar’s erratic driving, but with skillful defensive driving, she was able to stay with the woman right up to the moment when she pulled into the parking lot of one of the Supper Clubs. Now what? she wondered.
Was Pilar going to get out of the car and go inside, or was she just going to sit in the parking lot? Mia was too far away to see what she was doing, even though the lot had at least a dozen weak, yellowish, overhead lights. Frustrated, she realized there was nothing she could do but wait it out. She hated this part of surveillance.
Ten minutes crawled by before the back door of the club opened to reveal a man standing silhouetted in the light from inside. A light tap of Pilar’s horn told him where to go. He ran and climbed into the car. A few minutes later, both car doors opened, and the man and Pilar changed cars, with the man driving. Mia assumed the man was Pilar’s husband, although she’d never seen him. Common sense said Pilar would run to him in her emotional state. They were probably going home. She shifted from PARK to DRIVE and waited until the car was at the exit before she drove off, careful to stay close but not too close.
High Stakes Page 14
