by Levi Fuller
“He won’t run,” Sheriff Hardy assured them and plopped himself down on one of the chairs in the foyer.
They waited patiently for a few minutes, and then Frank called to them as a young woman took his place at the desk. “Come on then, through here.”
Frank lead them to what appeared to be a staff break room.
They sat at the only table, and Reis took out his recorder.
“None of that now. Just have your word so I can get back to work.”
Reis raised his eyebrows and exchanged a glance with Boone, who had her note pad and pen out, before looking back at Frank.
“You didn’t mind the recorder last time. Has something changed?”
Frank gave him an ugly smile. “Last time, I had nothing much to do. Today I am busy. Besides, you obviously didn’t take my words seriously, seeing as you let Lucia Kay escape.”
“Come now, Frank,” Sheriff Hardy interjected, forcing a laugh. “Lucia Kay is just off dealing with business related to that old bookstore of theirs.”
Frank huffed. “Sure she is.”
Reis fought down the urge to badger Frank about what his specific problem with the Kays was, if it was all really down to some over-zealous sense of national pride or if it was more than that. Instead, he asked the question he had come here for.
“What exactly is your role here, at Turquoise Valley?”
Frank gave him a long look, then shrugged. “I mostly do the accounting, but I’ll staff the desk, make bookings and deal with walk-ins too.”
Reis nodded, feeling his anticipation rise. “So you don’t go out onto the grounds?”
“Not normally. Sometimes someone will kick up a fuss over whatever, and I’ll go out and deal with it if there’s no one else.”
“Can you explain then what you were doing on the knoll where the body of Carlos Monterra was found?”
Frank shifted back in his seat and propped one foot upon his knee, making the metal bull on the sole clearly visible. “Who said I was there?”
“Your shoes,” said Reis, his caramel eyes growing hard.
Frank returned his foot to the ground, then scowled, but said nothing.
“Why were you there, Mr. Connor?”
Frank rolled his eyes to the ceiling and let out a long sigh. “You guys are really desperate, huh?”
“Just answer the question, Frank,” said the Sheriff.
“I had to do a check of the grounds after the body was found. Make sure everyone had cleared off.”
“I assume,” said Reis, looking sideways at Sheriff Hardy, “that you had called it in first?”
“Yes.”
“And you were presumably told not to go near the actual crime scene?”
Frank locked eyes with Reis and sneered. “So what if I went for a look? I wanted to see if what they’d said was true, that it looked just like Henry Kay’s murder.”
The Sheriff groaned, and Reis flashed the insolent man a grim smile. “I’ll be needing those shoes, Mr. Connor.”
“What for?”
“So that Dr. Fell can make a comparison with the footprint cast.”
“You got a warrant or whatever?”
Reis huffed a laugh. “I can come back with an order for your arrest if you prefer.”
Frank snarled, then went to a locker and pulled out a pair of golf shoes. He took his own shoes off and slipped the others on, still muttering under his breath.
“There. If I get them back with so much as a scratch on them, you tell that Mark Fell he’ll have me to deal with.”
Reis raised an eyebrow at the threat, while Boone bagged the shoes and Sheriff Hardy shook his head in seeming resignation.
“One last thing, Mr. Connor,” Reis said as Frank opened the door and stepped out into the corridor. “What is your view on immigrants?”
“Immigrants. Come here trying to steal our jobs and homes. They should stay on their own damn side of the fence.”
Reis watched Frank leave and shook his head. While the man’s words were harsh, he didn’t yet think that Connor was their man.
****
Rosa bit back another curse as the car hit another rut in the road and her shoulder collided with the door. All she could see was the sky, but they hadn’t been driving for long yet, so she guessed that they were likely still in Naco.
“Hold on tight back there,” called Diego, his head tilting up to the rearview mirror as if he was trying to see her in it.
She muttered an oath, and he laughed, then the blue sky vanished as he pulled into a garage.
“Welcome to my home,” he said, opening the door and helping her out, both removing their sunglasses.
Rosa took in the spacious garage. She eyed the cloaked sports cars lining the far wall, then followed her host through a side door and into a spacious room.
“Come on, we will talk in my office. They should have laid out something to eat and drink there too.”
At the mention of his servants, Rosa let her eyes travel over everything as she followed him down a passageway but saw no sign of anyone else.
They climbed the stairs and entered a room with views out over the backyard, complete with a swimming pool and lush green grass, but her eyes couldn’t stay on the scenery for long. She was looking at a symbol carved into a wooden plaque above the fireplace. Her hand closed automatically over her father’s seal, which bore the same mark—a sealed scroll, lying before an inkpot and quill.
He chuckled again. “Just like Lucia. My brother clearly taught you well.”
Rosa started and turned wide eyes on him. She shook her head automatically. “My father didn’t have any siblings.”
Diego’s lips tilted up on one side. “None he was allowed to mention. And we’re only half-siblings, having the same father, but different mothers.”
Rosa tilted her head to the side. “Why couldn’t he mention you?”
Diego smiled. “We’ll get there. First, you, like Lucia, need to be made to believe that I am not Diego Melbourne, but rather Charles Kay, brother of Henry Kay.”
“How? If you think that,” she gestured at the crest, “will be enough, you’re wrong.”
“Oh, I know that things like that wouldn’t help. I feel a more direct approach is better.”
Rosa took an automatic step back as he reached for a tray on his desk, sliding it towards himself. On it was a small mirror, a plastic case for contact lenses, and some liquid.
He raised an eyebrow. “Scared of everything, aren’t you?” then he shrugged. “Well, I guess I can’t blame you.”
She stood stock-still as he carefully removed his contact lenses and placed them in the case, keeping his eyes downcast. She looked down at the blue-tinted lenses and realized they weren’t vision correction.
When he looked up at her, she couldn’t quite conceal her gasp as she met a pair of eyes the exact same shade as her own, as her father’s. The jade eyes were a rare genetic trait, prized by her grandfather. She looked back at the contacts, then at his jade eyes, and realized the strange turquoise shade was exactly what you would get if you placed blue contacts over such vivid green eyes.
“So what now?”
Charles Kay gave her a long look that reminded her painfully of the way her father used to x-ray them if she came home late from school. She realized suddenly that his voice, while more resonant and robust than his brother’s, seemed to flow in the same kind of way. It is what her mind had been trying to tell her from the moment he had opened his mouth.
“Now, Rosa Kay, we try to finish what your father started.”
She waited, keeping her own gaze level, determined, as she had always been with her father, to be ready for whatever was coming.
“First, we need to get an in with the police team.”
Rosa smiled when Mark came straight to mind. “And after that?”
Her uncle raised one eyebrow. “After that, we solve your father’s murder.”
8
“The shoes are an exact match,” s
aid Dr. Fell, entering the bullpen where Boone and Reis were waiting for his report.
“And the blood?”
“Unidentified.”
“Excuse me?”
“It doesn’t belong to our victim or anyone in the town’s database,” Dr. Fell clarified.
“So what now?” asked Sheriff Hardy, having approached from behind.
Agent Reis turned to look at the man. Ever since they’d returned from the golf course, Hardy had been muttering a continuous string of certainties that Frank was their guy. That he had inherited his family’s hatred and nationalism, coupled with his fiery temper and aggressive nature, made him completely capable of a rash murder.
Reis sighed. “We’ll need a warrant to search his place. Based on the shoes matching and him having had no reason to go near the site. Dr. Fell, if you can also give us a list of other shoes that seem to match the time frame, we’ll see if we can find any in his home.”
Mark frowned but nodded and handed over an already completed list. “I did it while the bloodwork was running the comparison.”
Reis chuckled while the Sheriff muttered something that sounded a lot like an insult before announcing loudly that he would be getting on that warrant.
“Good work, Dr. Fell,” said Reis. “It’s late. See you tomorrow.”
****
Mark jumped in fright when he returned home, and Rosa stepped out of the shadows on his porch.
“You have to stop doing that,” he reprimanded, pulling out his keys.
“If you’d answer your phone, you would have known I was coming over.”
Mark chuckled. “Forgot it at home. Shouldn’t you be fetching Camelia?”
“Pastor Ian can take her back home.”
Mark nodded, giving her a long look, then disappeared into his dark house, waving her to follow.
“So, what can I help you with?”
Rosa smiled, grateful that he had asked. “I want to know if the FBI is tracking anyone for the murder of Monterra.”
Mark held her gaze a moment, then sighed emphatically. “Look, Rosa, I can understand why you are so into this case, okay, but it can’t be the same guy. He’s in prison.”
“Actually, he’s dead,” Rosa bit out in annoyance and then winced at her own stupidity. Her father’s voice was now joined by the uncle’s she never knew existed. It reminded her that until their enemies were revealed, secrets were all that kept them alive, the power of having knowledge others didn’t.
She sighed inwardly as Mark stared at her agape. It was her newly found uncle’s fault that her head was spinning and her emotions raw. There had to be a gentler way to let a girl know that the town’s recluse millionaire was actually her murdered father’s half-brother.
She suddenly laughed. It wouldn’t matter if he revealed the truth slowly; she would still be in shock. She’d still be unable to concentrate on anything but the single task she had been given.
Mark’s familiar azure gaze became concerned, and he reached out a hand towards her. “Rosa…”
She took it firmly in both of hers and turned to face him fully. “I’m fine, Mark, really.” She gave his hand a squeeze when he threw her a disbelieving stare. “A lot has happened in a very brief space of time, but I am fine. All I need is your help. You told me a lot before, now I need an update. I want to stay in the loop.”
Mark’s face flashed through several emotions. It was apparent that he had noted her recent change. She'd gone from being an automaton wreathed in an apathetic fog to something that resembled the Rosa he'd known, the one who was keen-minded and actually had powerful emotions.
Finally, he sighed. “Can you tell me why you want to stay in the loop?”
Rosa felt a pang shoot through her chest as she shook her head.
He looked away, and she released his hand. “You know my family Mark. I need you to let me keep their secrets a little longer, okay?”
Mark looked up. “So you will tell me one day?”
She flashed him a genuine smile. “Yes.”
Mark uttered a defeated laugh. “Okay. They’re going after Frank Connor.”
Rosa’s green eyes widened in disbelief. “Frank?”
“Yeah. We have basically nothing, but the Sheriff seems determined, and the FBI is going along with it.”
Rosa glared at the floor for a minute, then tensed her fists. “Thanks, Mark. I should get back to Camelia for supper. Before she gets worried.”
****
Rosa left Mark with a hasty goodbye and rushed home to find Camelia dancing around the kitchen. She was saying how she and Mrs. Goodwin, the mayor’s young wife, were still going to be holding that fair next month. Ian was confident that the case would be solved by then and that Lucia would be home. So everything would be back to normal and they could raise everyone’s spirits with some good old-fashioned fun.
Now, as she strode through the dark, sleeping town, Rosa wondered if maybe she had gone too far in letting her sister remain ignorant and happy. Even if the police were stupid enough to arrest Frank, they would have caught the wrong guy.
Just like last time.
She looked up at the house and wondered again if she was doing the right thing. She had consulted with her uncle, and he had agreed that they couldn’t do anything directly yet. Armed with the knowledge gained from the day with her Uncle Charles, she knew that the man they’d arrested for her father’s murder had been an FBI agent. The idea still made her head throb, but she felt she had to at least try, because for all she disliked Daniel Reis, if even half her uncle’s guesses were correct, they couldn’t trust their Sheriff.
She looked at the dark windows and decided to circle the house to see if any lights were on around the back.
Rosa heard a gun cock and spun to face it, hands up in humanity’s gesture of surrender.
“Ms. Kay, a little late for a visit, isn’t it?”
She looked up at Agent Reis, properly appreciating just how absurdly tall the man was. “Frank Connor isn’t your man.”
Reis’s eyes went wide, and he lowered the gun, holstering it and gesturing her to the door. “Why don’t you come in?”
She followed him inside and found Agent Boone awake too, looking her up and down as they all sat in the living room.
“How do you know we’re going after Connor?” Reis asked without preamble, earning a gasp from his partner.
Rosa shrugged. “He’s the sort that likes to loudly and publicly bemoan his many woes, imagined or otherwise.”
Reis met her eyes, and she felt sure he would call her out on the half-truth, but he simply moved on. “Why are you so certain we are wrong?”
“Because Frank is an idiot and not the only one who says things out of turn.”
“Like Mark Fell?”
Rosa felt her stomach drop through her feet but managed to maintain her calm expression. “ No. Like Sheriff Hardy, who was complaining about the lack of finds meaning you two were likely to stay for a long time.”
Boone half chuckled, half cursed, and Reis leaned forwards. “Okay. That doesn’t tell me why you think we’re wrong.”
“Like I said, the man is an idiot. He would never be smart enough to kill one person without leaving any trace, let alone two.”
Reis’s gaze sharpened like a blade and seemed ready to carve the truth straight from her mind. “Two?”
Rosa stood, knowing she would lose her composure under that gaze. “You asked me once whether I believed that Grey was guilty of my father’s murder. I imagine you did it more to shake us than anything else, but I will answer you all the same. No. I never really have.”
Reis exchanged a veiled look with Boone, then took the step Rosa had been waiting for. “Why?”
She felt her lips lift in a half-smile. “Because after the shock had crashed through the town, Sheriff Hardy was heard complaining about the lack of good evidence. Then Grey, who had always kept to himself, started coming into town more, asking questions. Next thing, there’s evidence that
starts turning up. A witness. It all snowballs, and Grey is arrested.”
“A witness.”
Rosa tilted her head to the side, thinking that as Grey was one of theirs, they’d surely know all about his downfall. “That’s what we were told.”
“I see. So you think history is repeating itself. You don’t just think that perhaps your friend, Dr. Fell, is more competent than his predecessor?”
Rosa smiled. “He’s definitely better, but that doesn’t mean the things being found aren’t planted to take down the wrong man.”
Reis rose slowly to his feet and took her in. “Thank you for bringing us your take on the case, Ms. Kay.”
She felt her eyes narrow fractionally. “If you don’t want another Grey on your hands, you’ll take my warning to heart.” At that, she left, hoping with every fiber of her being that they didn’t call her back. She knew her capability for spinning lies and truths together so seamlessly was at an end.
9
Four days had passed since Rosa Kay’s nighttime visit, and Agent Reis still wasn’t sure that he was doing the right thing.
“Stop stressing about it,” Boone’s voice said from inside his earpiece.
Reis glanced around automatically, though he knew she had realized his agitation from his silence, not because she could see him. Since Rosa’s visit, he had been running a shadow op. Tapping into phones, CCTV, and anything else he could lay his hands on. Watching the movements of the Sheriff and his team, leaving Gaby to keep an eye on the Connor residence, filming every coming and going. He had done it on her word because the Rosa Kay that he met on arrival was not the one that had come to their house in the dead of night. Something had changed her, and he was convinced that it had something to do with the mystery of her sister’s flight.
“You think I’m right too, though?” he couldn’t help asking as he followed the Sheriff’s car at a crawl through town, making their way slowly to Frank Connor’s home.
