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Tino sat in the Garza kitchen chatting with Anarosa waiting for Hadda to return from an errand. He had to find out how the girl got in the locked room and gathered the information for the Bohu gang without being caught. Before he’d stopped her, there hadn’t been surveillance cameras in the rooms, but she would have been picked up on a hall monitor going into the offices.
He had to get into that room and gather all the evidence that would bring down Paolo Garza and his operation. His future depended on taking out the drug lord. Tino’s knuckles ached from the tight grip he had on the glass of milk. Breathing slow, in and out, he relaxed his hand and smiled at the cook when she turned to him.
“You are too old for my Hadda,” she said.
Her comment caught Tino off guard. “What?”
“I know what goes on around here. With Hector gone you think you can turn my daughter’s head.” She narrowed her eyes. “I see the way you are always watching everyone. You do not fool me.”
Tino put the glass of milk down and wiped a napkin across his mouth while he gathered his thoughts. She’d witnessed him kissing Hadda the other day when he warned the girl about the new cameras. It was no wonder motherly concern made her testy toward him.
He raised his hands. “I do not know what you are saying. Hadda is a cute kid. I have no notions about your daughter.”
“Then why did you ask me where she was and sit in my kitchen? You have not wasted time in my kitchen before.”
“I have a question for Hadda about Hector. We are still trying to figure out who killed señora Garza’s nephew.” He stood, ready to leave the room, when Hadda hurried in, tying her apron as she entered the kitchen.
“Sorry, I am late...” Her eyes widened when her gaze landed on Tino.
Tino stepped toward her, grasping her elbow and directing her toward the pantry. He’d determined there wasn’t a camera in the small confines and knew exactly what anyone who saw the video feed and Anarosa were going to think.
Hadda was a quick learner, she smiled at him though a bit timidly and walked into the area without a struggle.
“Hadda?” Anarosa questioned.
“It is fine, Mamá,” Hadda called back as Tino closed the door, pressing them close together so they could speak quietly.
“How did you get into Señor Garza’s locked office without the surveillance cameras seeing you?” Tino asked without any preamble.
Hadda trembled under the hand still holding her elbow.
“I am not here to get you in trouble. I need answers. However you got in, is how other people are getting in. It could have something to do with Hector’s death.” He rubbed a hand up and down her arm. “Hadda, I don’t want to expose you to señor Garza but if I don’t get him answers soon, he will start cleaning house, and I will give up you and anyone else I need to keep alive. If you can help me point to someone else, your name will not pass my lips.”
She exhaled and sighed heavily. Her internal battle filled the dimly lit area with indecision.
Finally, when he’d about given up hope of getting anywhere with the girl, she raised her chin and stared into his eyes.
“Señora Garza had Julio make her a remote like señor Garza uses to block the video. I took it from her hiding spot and used it to enter the locked room.” Her eyes glistened with tears.
“How did you know the hiding spot?” It would seem the drug lord’s wife was even more cagey than her husband knew.
“I was cleaning her closet one day and found the compartment. There was also a key. I realized it went to the locked room and mentioned them both to Luis. It was his idea to find out about the shipments and tell him.”
Anger at the gang leader tightened his grip on the girl’s elbow, she winced and he dropped his hand. “You think Luis loves you. But to put you in that kind of danger, he does not love you. If he loved you, he would take you away from here not throw you to the lions.”
Tino searched her weeping eyes. “Bring me the remote and the key tonight and I will take you away from here.”
She shook her head. “No! I cannot leave Mamá and Luis.”
He grasped her upper arms. “How long do you think it would take before the Garzas figure out it has to be a staff member who is the traitor? If you disappear the same time I do, they will think you ran off with me.”
“I will give you the remote and the key, but I will not leave. They will not harm me.”
He stared into her eyes. “How can you be so sure?” It was that moment staring into her eyes, the connection struck him fully. He was looking into Paolo Garza’s eyes. Once he made the assessment, the other similarities stood out like beacons.
“Does señora Garza know who your father is?”
She shook her head. “No. My father is very generous to my mamá and I, but señora Garza believes it is because my mamá and grandmamá have worked for the Garza family many years.”
“I would not be that sure. She is more shrewd than you think. Why did you withhold knowledge of the remote and key from your father?”
“I wanted to help Luis. Father would not let me marry anyone who can’t bring me to a higher status. With extra product, Luis can make more money.”
Knowing this new information, Tino wasn’t sure he could trust Hadda to get him the remote and key and not tell Garza. There was only one safe thing to do.
“When you get the remote and key leave them under the cloth near Guadelupe at the shrine in the dining room.”
He wouldn’t answer her puzzled expression.
“Hadda?” Anarosa called outside the door.
“Go.” Tino urged her to the door.
Hadda opened the door and stepped out. Anarosa scolded her daughter as he exited the pantry. The woman sent him a scathing glare. He smiled back and headed to the office. It wasn’t the Bohu gang who tried for the shipment last night. He also wanted to know who Garza suspected.
~*~
Isabella hunched over the open book reading about the Triple Alliance searching for clues to the statues in the Garza tunnel. Her back ached, her eyes ached, and her stomach had been rebelling for the last hour. Nothing had come up about the statues or the markings. Her gut told her Karyme was planning to dupe either an unsuspecting Aztec artifact collector or the archeological world. Granted her scheme would be refuted, but not before she had rocked the academic world and profited.
She leaned back, thinking the woman probably set up an account somewhere exotic that she planned to retire to. How maternal was Karyme? Would she leave her daughters to their father’s care so she could live the life of luxury on an island? She hadn’t witnessed the woman with her children so she had no clue to her maternal instincts. The employees all seemed to like her.
Her stomach grumbled. Isabella closed the book and pushed away from the table. She hadn’t had any trouble getting into the research section of the National Anthropology Museum with her fake identification. There was one more book she wanted to take a look at, but she wouldn’t be able to concentrate if she didn’t get something to eat.
Rounding the end row of shelved books, she couldn’t retreat before Director Bastante spotted her.
His eyes narrowed as he walked toward her. “Dr. Mumphrey, I thought you headed home yesterday?”
The title of the book he held flashed at her like a neon sign. It was the volume she wanted to look at next. “I—my flight was delayed.”
“Why are you over here when you could have any of these sent over to Templo Mayor?”
She boldly stared into his eyes. “I could ask you the same, director.”
His gaze flew over her left shoulder and he cleared his throat. “I was over here on business and thought I’d look something up rather than bother someone else with finding the book and sending it over.”
Her stomach growled. “If you’ll excuse me, I missed lunch.” Isabella walked past the director, keeping her eyes forward even though every nerve ending in her body danced with the need to see if he found her stack of research books. If he did, he would know she was looking up the same thing he was. The book he held in his hands proved he and Karyme were together in the scam with the statues. Did Garza know his wife and her possible lover were scheming behind his back?