“Aw, c’mon,” he whined with a chuckle. “Who eats this and calls it lunch? Can’t we just stop and grab a sandwich or something?”
“People who don’t want to be accused of murder, that’s who,” she said, already halfway down the sidewalk.
He ran and caught up with her, grabbing her hand. “So, I guess there’s no tempting you with a juicy cheeseburger?”
Her stomach growled. Fueled by nothing but coffee this morning, despite Arch’s insistence she needed to eat something, she fought the visual of a cheeseburger, fought the thrill of the touch of her hand in his, and plodded forward.
“Cheeseburgers clog your arteries, merman. If you clog your arteries, how will we catch a killer and clear your good name?”
He stopped her by tugging on her hand, pulling her into a darkened corner of an alleyway. “Do we think it’s a good idea to go talk to Armand? What if doing that puts him in danger, too? You did hear what the doctor said he heard from those secretaries, didn’t you?”
Deflated, she nodded. “He said he was going to tell everyone. Yes, you’re probably right. We’ll have to be very careful. I say we call in the vampire and send her in first, to make sure the coast is clear.”
He’d positioned himself in front of her, their bodies inches apart, and he looked down at her and asked, “Nina? Aw, c’mon, Esther. She’s mean and surly. Especially during the daytime. Also, she nearly created all-out war with my father last night. Does Armand need that in his life? If he’s as timid as Dr. Joffre, she’ll give the poor bloke a heart attack.”
But Esther giggled at him because, despite Nina’s scary front, she really liked her. She had balls. She had grit. Yeah, she was loud and bold, but who didn’t want to say some of the things Nina said out loud?
“What if I make you a deal?” she asked him, her cheeks growing hotter by the second as he put his hands on the brick wall on either side of her head and his minty breath wafted over her face.
“I’m listening,” he offered in his silken tone, the one that never failed to slither along her spine in waves of warmth.
“Cheeseburger for a vampire.”
“What?”
“You let me call Nina to help us, and I’ll buy you a cheeseburger.”
“That’s so unfair. It’s like asking me to choose which I’d experience I’d like to have. World War One or Two.”
“Speaking of, were you around for those?”
He grinned and dropped a kiss on her nose, making her giddy once more. “I’ll never tell. Now stop trying to find out how old I am and feed me. I know a great place not far from here.”
Chuckling, she tamped down this feeling of pending doom and trailed behind him to find a cheeseburger.
Chapter 15
“You sure this is the place?” Nina asked, looking up at the graffiti-covered brick building.
“That’s what the paper Dr. Joffre gave me says. Look for yourself,” Esther offered, handing the paper over to Nina from the backseat of the SUV.
Esther had texted Nina, and while she and Tucker ate juicy cheeseburgers for lunch, with chocolate milkshakes for extra artery clogging, Nina and Wanda came to their rescue to help vet Armand.
But Esther was worried about Wanda and her pregnancy. She was desperately tired, and fought admitting as much the entire way. Still, Esther was afraid to say anything because Wanda was also hormonal and easily riled. Mermaid versus halfsie wasn’t something she wanted to experience. So, she tread lightly.
“Wanda? Are you sure you’re okay out here alone, keeping watch? I feel like I’m keeping you from something,” Esther said, putting her hand on Wanda’s arm.
Wanda patted her hand and smiled her flawless smile. “Do you mean can the big fat whale keep her eyes open long enough to keep watch for the bad guys?”
“Fucking leave her alone, Wanda,” Nina groused, giving her friend a light shove. “She’s just lookin’ out for your mean ass. Jesus. Would you rather have Heath breathing down the kid’s neck if something happens to you? He can be a real asshole when his Mama Bear’s unhappy.”
Wanda pursed her lips and made a face. “He’ll do no such thing. I’ll box his ears if he puts any blame on Esther. I do as I wish.”
Nina snorted as she applied sunscreen to her nose in a thick slather. “Oh yeah? Well, I’m gonna box yours if you don’t quit taking offense to every fucking thing we say. You is strong. You is good. You is smart. I don’t know how many times we can tell your needy ass that. But you is also the biggest mess of fucking hormonal-pain-in-the-ass pregnant. Nobody doubts your abilities, Wanda, or your usefulness. You’re the reason we have OOPS at all. But we also never thought you could get preggers. That Heath even knocked your ass up is a fucking miracle. Don’t take that miracle for granted, and shut the fuck up before I shave your head while you’re sleeping, Mouth Breather. Feel me?”
Out of nowhere, Wanda laughed until tears came to her eyes, leaving Tucker and Esther fighting a snicker for fear of retribution. Reaching over, she pulled Nina to her and planted a smacking-wet kiss on her cheek. “You’re horrible. Go talk to Armand. I’ll keep watch for any bad guys.”
Nina squirmed out of her embrace and flipped her the bird. “Whatever. Now, let’s talk about this before we make a move. This guy’s probably pretty freaked out, if what the nerdy scientist told you about what he heard at Tecton is true. We don’t want to freak him out any more.”
“And somehow you come to mind when calm subtlety is a necessity?” Tucker asked on a laugh.
Nina stared him down with her piercing coal eyes, quieting him instantly. “Shut the fuck up, Sharknado. I’m not gonna say it again. I’ll show you subtlety when I pop your head off your shoulders.”
“Yeah. What Nina said. Knock it off, you monster, and put your disguise on,” Esther teased, driving a finger into his chest.
Tucker held up his curly black wig and glasses and made a face, but he put them on, just as Esther put on her long blonde wig and a beanie. The fear the press were lurking somewhere around a corner was very real, now that the news had broken that Tucker was accused of stealing the money and selling tainted water.
But after their conversation with Dr. Joffre, it became realer. So, Nina suggested wigs and glasses to further amp up concealing themselves.
“Ready?” Nina asked, not waiting for an answer as she popped the car door open and pulled her hoodie over her head.
“Let’s go see what we can see,” Esther said, opening the door and sliding out to join Nina and Tucker.
As they headed across the street, Esther couldn’t help but notice how dismal and depressing this neighborhood appeared. There was an empty lot directly across from the building, weeds and garbage lining the chain-link fence surrounding it. It almost looked deserted, but when someone came out of the building, she felt a little better knowing there was at least one inhabitant.
Yanking the dirty black door open, Nina shoved them ahead of her. Steps leading to the second floor, where Armand apparently lived, sprawled out in front of them, rickety and crooked. The inside of the building was freezing cold and as dismal, if not more so, than the outside. The scent of bacon and sweat assaulted her nostrils, making her wrinkle her nose.
As they climbed the steps, her heart pounding in her chest, she hoped against hope Armand had some answers. Funnily enough, this wasn’t just about her uncle anymore. This was about a nice guy who’d gotten a shitty rap. She truly wanted to help clear Tucker’s name.
His father’s anger last night had upset her a great deal, and knowing what it’s like to lose your parents made her more determined than ever to figure out what was going on. He was a good guy, and she believed that one hundred percent. Someone was railroading him, she knew it in her gut.
As they reached the second-floor landing, three doors, all rather crowded together in a small L shape, defined each apartment—one just as shabby as the next, with chipped paint and rust peeking through.
Nina pointed to the middle one and cocked her
Without saying a word, Esther nodded, adjusting her blonde wig. Nina’s hand rose to knock on the battered kelly-green door—just as they heard a loud crash.
“Helllp meee!” someone screamed from behind Armand’s door, making Nina react without hesitation.
She rammed her shoulder against the door, pushing it open as though it wasn’t made of steel but flimsy cardboard, and flew inside with Tucker and Esther hot on her heels.
A tiny man, with a thick head of snow-white hair and reed-thin arms stuffed into an overly large plaid bathrobe, lay on the floor, sprawled at an awkward angle.
Esther only caught a small glimpse of someone pushing their way out of the tall window and landing on the fire escape before she rushed to the man, and Nina and Tucker took action.
Nina, in a blur of motion, ran after the attacker, flying through the window with so much speed and efficiency, Esther had to blink her eyes before she could focus on the man whimpering on the floor. A man she assumed was Armand.
Tucker went right behind Nina, hurling his big body through the window with ease and clomping onto the fire escape—and then she heard Nina scream, before there was a series of screeching crashes against the metal of the fire escape.
“Nina!” Tucker hollered from what sounded like somewhere far away.
“Hold on! Don’t move, please!” she ordered the man on the floor, running to the window to see Tucker running behind Nina.
Seeing that everyone was still in working order, she went back to attend the man on the floor. Esther knelt beside him and brushed a lock of hair from his forehead as she kept an eye on the window. “Can you move?”
He nodded his head weakly and attempted to sit up, but Esther stopped him. He looked so fragile. “Maybe I should call an ambulance? Tell me what hurts.”
“Everything damn well hurts, but I don’t need an ambulance,” he grumbled, managing to sit up, using the edge of a torn blue sofa to do it. “Who are you?”
As she put her arm under the man’s back and helped him to his feet, he wobbled and stiffened, moving with reluctance. “I’m Esther Sanchez. I promise you, I’m here to help. And you must be Armand, correct?”
He flopped down on the couch and inhaled a rattling breath. “You’re Gomez’s niece?” he asked in a frazzled tone.
She straightened her blonde wig and her shoulders, feeling quite unsure of herself. “I am.”
He sat on the couch and stared at her, his hair mussed, his bathrobe wrinkled, and huffed a shuddering breath.
In return, she eyed him closely for any injuries, afraid to touch him for fear of scaring him further. “Are you sure you don’t want me to call an ambulance?”
“No!” he all but shouted, then lowered his voice. “Don’t call anyone. Please. Don’t call anyone.”
Esther instantly became concerned. “You are Armand Mendes, aren’t you?”
He shrank his frail body back into the couch “Why do you want to know?”
Looking down at him, so small, his skin so papery thin, she shot him a sympathetic glance. “Because I want to help you, Armand. I promise, I’m here to try to make things better, not hurt you. I want to clear my uncle’s name, and I think you can help.”
His faded brown eyes went fearful as he folded his gnarled hands together. “How…how do you think I can help?”
Esther pointed to the chair opposite him, an old cracked-leather armchair. “May I?”
“My manners. Forgive me. Please do.”
As she slid into the chair, she asked, “Before we discuss anything else, who was that who just ran out of here like they were on fire?”
“I don’t know,” he murmured, his eyes now gone terrified.
She reached over and patted his hand to console him. “Did you see him? Can you describe him?”
Armand shook his head in a rapid motion, his thin chest pumping with his effort to breathe. “No. He had on a black mask. He didn’t say a word, but he meant business. I know he meant business. He had his hands around my neck just as you burst down the door.”
Had his hands around his neck. Hmmm.
“Do you think he was here because of what happened with my uncle?”
For the first time since she’d found him on the floor, Armand became animated, lifting his bony finger to stab it in the air. “I know Gomez didn’t kill himself! I knew him as well as I know myself, and he was too selfish and cantankerous to take his own life!”
She had to smile at that. At least it was some kind of confirmation they weren’t chasing rainbows. “How do you know that? You don’t think he killed himself because of those water tests for H2O-Yo?”
Armand fisted his hand and banged it on the arm of the couch. “I know he didn’t kill himself because of those tests! Those weren’t his tests!”
“How do you know, Armand? Where did he go the night he died?”
“He left work early. Left me to close up shop. Said he had to go to his apartment.”
“Did he say for what?” she asked.
“Gomez went there at least twice a week. So it didn’t seem strange at all to me. But when he didn’t come home, and I called and called with no answer, I began to worry, and then the police called and told me he was gone…”
Her heart clenched tight for the misery emanating from Armand. “Who found him?”
“The night doorman, Lester. He’d seen Gomez go up and had forgotten to give him a piece of mail. He brought it to him, and when he didn’t answer, Lester grew worried. So he called the police.”
Maybe they should be talking to this Lester?
Armand’s eyes shone with tears as he collapsed back against the sofa. “It’s my fault, you know. It’s all my fault. The only man I ever loved is dead, and it’s all because of me.”
Esther’s mouth fell open just as Nina hopped back in the window, with Tucker behind her. “The fucker got away. Man, he was slick AF. I fell two damn stories and it slowed me down. Got Wanda lookin’ out for him, but I’m not holdin’ out much hope.”
“Esther?” Tucker said, coming to stand next to her, his wig crooked. “Is everything all right?”
But she hadn’t gotten past Armand’s admission. She held up a finger. “Are you telling me, you and my uncle…?”
His chin fell to his chest as tears fell from his eyes. “Yes. We were lovers. For many years now, and if I had remembered to lock the office—our office—whoever it was who sent that damn email to H2O-Yo with those test results never would have gotten away with murder. I’m telling you, someone murdered my Gomez!”
“Whoa,” Nina muttered as she came to stand in front of Armand and looked at Esther. “Any idea who the dude was that attacked him?”
Esther gulped in some air as she processed. “No. He had on a mask, but he definitely wasn’t here for a beer, according to Armand. He tried to strangle him.”
Nina knelt down in front of Armand and gripped his hand, her eyes meeting his. “You a tea drinker?”
Armand swallowed hard and nodded with a shaky answer as Tucker put a blanket from the couch over his lap. “Yes.”
The vampire patted him on the hand. “I’ll go make you some, okay? You relax. Everything’s gonna be fine from now on.”
As she rose, Tucker stuck his hand out to Armand, using the other hand to pull off his wig and set it on the shabby end table. “I’m Tucker Pearson, sir. Pleasure to meet you.”
Armand smiled wide, his perfect white dentures flashing at them. “Oh, Tucker. It’s such a pleasure to finally meet you after all these years, too!”
Tucker sat on his haunches in front of Armand and smiled a gentle smile. “Same here. Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
He shook his head. “No. No, I’m fine. Forget about me, and tell me about you. Tell me why you’re here.”
“Do you mind explaining what you mean about locking your office and the emails you sent?”
Armand deflated right before their eyes, his slender shoulders sagging. “Those tests, Tucker. I’m sick over those horrible tests. Those tests weren’t the tests we sent you. We sent you tests proving the water was bad. I know we did. Gomez frowned for days over the results of those tests. He knew the water could cause harm. He tested and retested and logged everything. We never, ever sent you anything that said the water was good, but someone must have gotten into my email and written one up, because there it was, plain as day when the police came and seized my computer! Everything, all his work, was gone. Of course, Gomez blamed me. The old coot had the audacity to say I didn’t lock the door to the office, but I know I did, Tucker. I know it.”
“So, you think someone swapped the tests? Because I can tell you, as sure as I stand here, Armand, I would not have approved something that was even a little fishy—not if there was the slightest chance it could cause even a small problem.”
Armand reached out and grabbed Tucker’s hand, leaning forward on the couch. “I know that, Tucker! Of course I do. We’ve worked together for years. I also know you didn’t send out some memo, telling production the water was a go. What you’ve got is a hacker, that’s what ya got. It’s all just a bunch of fiddle-faddle, that’s what it is. And Gomez was almost to the bottom of it, too. I know he was. He told me as much the day he—” Armand choked up then, his throat working to swallow his grief.
“Armand,” Esther said, tempering her words. “How do you know Gomez was on to something? What proof can you provide that proves he was on to something?”
He gave her a sad look. “Therein lies the problem, my dear. I can’t. I don’t know the first thing about computers and hacking, but he was convinced he was close to figuring out who’d swapped those tests and sent that email from my address. He was sure we could find the records of his logs. So, I ask you, if he thought he was on to something, why would he kill himself—in that mess of an apartment of his, to boot? Gomez almost never went there. He stayed here with me most nights.”
Nina handed him a cup of tea and asked, “You know about his apartment?”
“Are you asking if I knew the man I loved for over thirty years was a hoarder? Yes. I certainly did, and he wouldn’t let that terrible apartment go for all the tea in China, no matter how I begged. So, we came to an understanding, and he moved in here with the promise he could keep his old place.”
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