MacFarland was up early the next morning. He found he had difficulty sleeping while Pierson and Delgado were in the same house. He kept dreaming that one or both of them were sneaking into the other's room to kill her rival. He couldn't understand why they didn't like each other. It certainly couldn't have anything to do with him. After all, he wasn't really interested in either of them.
Although it was just before sunrise, it was light enough outside for MacFarland to see someone coming towards the back door. Surely it couldn't be Rufus. MacFarland had heard the old warrior snoring in the basement. He went to the back door and looked out.
Doug Mason stood there, his arm raised, ready to knock. MacFarland opened the door. "Bro! How are you?" asked Doug.
"I'm okay, Dougie. What the hell are you doing here? Do you know everybody is looking for you?" He held the door open for Doug to come in. The young man entered the kitchen and sat down at the table. The coffee maker stopped perking, and MacFarland poured out two cups of coffee. "Cream? Sugar?"
Mason accepted the coffee but waved off the cream and sugar. "Yeah, I know. The cops still think I had something to do with stealing the money, so they've been trying to follow me. But I outsmarted them. Hey, do you have anything to eat? I'm starving."
"I told them that you didn't steal the money." MacFarland went over to the refrigerator and took out a carton of eggs and some bacon. He began to break the eggs into a bowl and whip them up.
"You did? How did you know, bro?"
"Because I overheard Gabrio Torres and Leslie talking about how they got the ransom. And I saw them retrieve it from your room."
"My room? Cool! Too bad I never got a chance to go back there myself. I coulda had all that money myself."
"Then the police would be right. You would have stolen the money. It has to be returned."
"Oh, yeah, right, dude. I sorta forgot that."
"You still haven't answered my question. Why are you here? How did you even find me?"
"Oh, Jerry told me. He knows where I am. He said I should tell you my news."
MacFarland put some bacon on a platter and put it in the microwave. He personally didn't like bacon cooked this way, but this was primarily for Dougie. He poured the whipped eggs into a skillet and started scrambling them. "What news, Doug?"
"Oh, yeah, the news. I overheard Leslie talking--"
"How? Did she come back to the house?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess so. She was arguing with Jack. They always seem to be arguing. I don't know why he's such a hardass. He should be happy she's home, but noooooo. He has to try to lock her up, like she's done something wrong."
MacFarland was thinking that she probably should be locked up. "So what happened?"
"Jack is telling her she has to stay in the house or he will beat the crap out of her. I guess he's done that before. At least that's what she's told me. So she tells him to fuck off, and then she says that she is going to go away with that fellow who runs the cartel, you know, the man who was behind holding me and Jack in that house? I forget his name..."
"Alejandro Gil."
"Yeah, that's the dude! She is going off with this Alejandro dude and Jack will never be able to touch her again. That's what she said to him."
"When did this happen?"
"I guess it was yesterday. I'm pretty sure it was yesterday. Yeah, it musta been, 'cause I had to go get my stash at home."
The microwave pinged and MacFarland got the bacon out and put several slices and some of the eggs on a plate. He had just put the plate down in front of Doug when Pierson came down. She was already dressed and ready for work. She headed directly for the coffee maker and poured herself a cup. She spied the eggs and bacon. "Hey, that looks good. Got enough for me?" She looked at Doug Mason. "Who are you?"
Mason held out his hand. "I'm Doug Mason, officer."
Pierson didn't bother correcting his misidentification of her title, but sat down and waited for MacFarland to serve her. He put a plate in front of her, hoping that this meant she had forgiven him for allowing Delgado to come to Denver. Not that he had any say in the matter. Calida Delgado was not the kind of woman who took orders from any man. "Oh, you're the asshole who went to rescue your niece and brother in Mexico."
Mason chomped down a mouthful of eggs. "Yep, that's me."
"What are you doing here?"
"He has some news about Leslie Mason," said MacFarland. "And hopefully Gabrio Torres." He hoped that Pierson would take the hint and pump Mason for more useful information.
"What news do you have, Mason?" she asked.
Mason washed down some more of his breakfast with a sip of coffee. "I don't know about Gabrio Torres. Why would she be with him?" Then he must have realized that Torres had been working with Leslie all along. "Oh, I get it. They were in this together."
"They probably were," said Pierson. "So, again, what is your news?"
"Oh, yeah, that. Nothing much. Just that I think Leslie is going to meet this cartel guy up at our cabin. That's where I think she's going."
"She told Jack that she's going up there?"
Doug Mason laughed. "No way! She told me to make sure to keep him away from the old pot farm. I'm not so high that I don't know when she's playing psycho--um, mind games with me. She told me that so that I would tell Jack to go there. But I know!" Mason smiled slyly. "You can't outsmart me. I know she's going up to the cabin."
"Where is the damn cabin?" demanded Pierson.
Mason looked surprised at her sudden urgency and gave her the address. She grabbed her badge, car keys, and started calling Lockwood to meet her at the station. As she headed for the door, MacFarland jumped up. "Where are you going? Have Lockwood come here and pick you up. I need to use your car!"
"No way, asshole! I told you I didn't want you getting involved with this case. Stay home!"
As Pierson raced out the back door, Delgado walked into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "You people are so noisy in the morning! How early is this? ¡Por Dios! It's not even six thirty! What is going on?"