1
Nicole nearly ran to her car, knowing she had to pick up Shelley instead of letting her board the bus for home. She drove faster than usual, hoping she wouldn’t get a ticket She’d meant to leave early, but she’d been delayed by Miguel.
She parked near the school and waited outside Shelley’s classroom to make sure she didn’t miss her. She couldn’t resist peeking through the narrow window in the door to see Shelley gazing out the window. No matter how good a teacher you are, Nicole thought, you usually lose them the last five minutes. She had great respect for Shelley’s teacher, and somehow seeing all those nine-year-old faces going blank made her feel better about her own students who tended to mentally drift near the end of the class.
When the bell rang, Nicole watched all the little bodies flood from the room, then reached out and touched Shelley on the shoulder. “Surprise!”
“Mom!” Shelley cried. “What’re you doing here?”
“We’re not going straight home.”
Shelley immediately sensed trouble. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ll tell you in the ear.”
The worried look didn’t leave Shelley’s pretty face, but she didn’t ask any more questions. They’d gotten in the car and driven about five minutes before she asked in a tiny, frightened voice, “Why can’t we go home?”
Nicole hesitated. Should she make up an excuse? No. Shelley was almost ten. She couldn’t hide the truth from her.
“Honey, last night someone broke into our house,” Nicole began, deciding to leave out the part about the mugging on the River Walk. “Apparently someone else was also hiding in there because…well, the intruder was murdered.”
Shelley looked at her, her eyes huge and vivid blue. “Murdered!”
“Yes. A policeman Sergeant DeSoto had posted outside was also murdered.”
“Wow!” Shelley exclaimed. “Didn’t anybody try to murder you?”
“No. No one laid a hand on me.”
“I’m so glad, Mommy! I mean, if you got murdered…”
Nicole looked over to see Shelley’s eyes filling with tears and was glad she hadn’t told her about the mugging. “I’m just fine, sweetheart.”
“Okay.” Shelley swallowed a couple of times and wiped at her eyes. In a moment she asked, “How did those people get murdered?”
“They were shot.”
“Didn’t you hear anything?” Nicole shook her head. “Oh, a silencer,” Shelley said wisely.
“Yes.”
“Gosh.” Shelley stared straight ahead, then suddenly tensed. “Jesse! Did he get shot?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Don’t you know?”
“Honey, he’s missing.”
“Missing!” Shelley cried, seemingly more upset about her dog than the deaths of two men. Nicole understood. The men were anonymous. The child loved her dog passionately. “Mommy, are you sure somebody didn’t kill him?”
“I really don’t think so. I believe he escaped. You know he can’t be caught if he doesn’t want to be.”
“That’s right!” Shelley said excitedly. “I bet he can run even faster than that big black dog.”
Nicole went rigid. To her knowledge, Shelley had never seen the Doberman. “What big black dog?”
“The one outside our house the night Daddy brought me home late and you two had the fight in the driveway, and the same one I saw outside the schoolyard at recess today.”
“Oh,” Nicole said, trying to sound casual. “Was the dog alone?”
“No. It was with a man. He waved at me.”
“Did he say anything to you?”
“No. He was too far away. He just watched me.”
“Did the teacher see him?”
“No. Mommy, do you think Jesse will be home when we get there?”
“We can’t go home tonight,” Nicole said distractedly. “The police are still working there.”
“Oh, sure. Crime scene.”
Nicole looked at her. “Shelley, you sound twenty-five.”
“Well, I’m not dumb. Do you want me to talk like I don’t know anything?”
“No,” Nicole said wearily.
“But what if Jesse comes home and we’re not there?”
“Then he’ll come back again. You know how persistent he is.”
“What’s persistent?”
“Good heavens, a word you don’t know? I can’t believe it. ‘Persistent’ means never giving up. He’ll keep trying. Shelley, about the man at the school—”
“Are you sure he’ll keep trying?”
Nicole looked at her daughter’s beautiful, worried little face. “Sweetie, Jesse loves you as much as you love him. He won’t give up on you after one day.” Shelley looked slightly mollified. “Now tell me some more about the man at the school. What did he look like?”
“Ummm, tall. Dark hair. Long dark hair pulled back. Like Miguel’s.”
“Was it Miguel?”
“Maybe. He had on sunglasses, too. But Miguel never said he had a dog.” Her forehead wrinkled. “I did hear him say something.”
“If you weren’t close enough to see his face clearly, how could you hear him say something?”
“ ’Cause he said it loud. Not to me. To the dog. He started to leave and the dog stayed. He turned around and said, ‘Come, Jordan.’ I like that name, Mommy.”
“I do, too,” she said, thinking. The dog that had bitten Izzy Dooley wore an ID tag with an Olmos Park address. She was certain it was Paul’s. Could Miguel also have a black dog named Jordan?
Unlikely but possible, she thought. But whether or not the man with the dog was Paul Dominic or Miguel Perez, what had he been doing outside the schoolyard looking at her daughter?
2
“I don’t like this place very much,” Shelley complained, looking around the motel room.
Nicole flipped open a suitcase and began removing clothing. “What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s not home,” Shelley said dully. “Did you remember to feed the fish before you left?”
“Yes.”
“What if Jesse comes home and he’s hungry? There’s no food.”
“He’ll go to Mr. Wingate’s.”
“Can we go home tomorrow?”
“Well, if we can’t move back in, we can at least drop by and see if Jesse’s back.”
“I don’t see why we can’t move back in now,” Shelley complained, stretching out facedown, head toward the foot of the bed. “Do they have cable here?”
“I’m sure they do.” Nicole closed the suitcase. “All right, I think we’re all set for tomorrow. Now I have a couple of calls to make.”
Shelley let out an exaggerated sigh. “Can I watch TV?”
“Yes, you may, as long as you keep it low.”
While Shelley listlessly flipped the remote control from channel to channel, Nicole called Vega’s. Bobby answered, and without amenities Nicole asked to speak to Carmen. When she came on the phone, Nicole gave her the name of the motel and room number.
“Are you going to have police protection?” Carmen asked.
“I doubt it, although I’m going to let the police know where I am.”
“Do you know anything else about the murders?”
“Nothing,” Nicole told her. “I’m sure the whole thing will be on the evening news.”
“No doubt. Nicole, I’m so worried about you.”
“We’ll be fine,” Nicole said, just as she had to Kay. “It’s sort of an adventure, being away from home for the night. Besides, hardly anyone knows where we are. If someone came looking for me tonight, he’d expect me to be at my mother’s.”
“But what about her?” Carmen asked. “All alone in that big house?”
“She’s not home. Seems there’s a carbon monoxide leak, and she’s staying with Kay Holland. She doesn’t know anything about all of this, and I don’t want her to. And please, Carmen, don’t you tell anyone, either.”
“Nicole! Do you think you have to warn me about that? My lips are sealed. But if you need anything—”
“I’ll call,” Nicole said, knowing she wouldn’t. There was nothing Carmen could do to help her. Besides, she didn’t want to involve her any more than she already had.
Next she called police headquarters and asked for Raymond DeSoto. “Shelley and I are settled in at a motel,” she told him. “Do you know any more about what happened this morning?”
“A little bit, but I don’t think I should discuss it now. How about having dinner with me?”
“Dinner?” Nicole repeated blankly. “I’m with Shelley.”
“I should have been more precise. Would you and Shelley like to have dinner with me?”
Nicole was so surprised, she found herself floundering. “Well, uh, just a minute.” She put her hand over the mouthpiece. “Shel?” The child looked up from the television. “Would you like to have dinner with Sergeant DeSoto?”
Shelley’s eyes widened. He’s asking me for a date?”
Nicole couldn’t stifle a smile. “He’s asking” both of us.”
“Oh.” Shelley appeared to be thinking. “Sure.”
“Shelley accepts,” Nicole said into the phone. “So do I. But we have to be back early because it’s a school night.”
“I know a great little pizza place. It’s rather secluded, and I really shouldn’t been seen with you because of the investigation. Would that be all right?”
Nicole ignored her slight hurt over being regarded as a liability. “We love pizza.”
“Good. Tell me where you’re staying and I’ll pick up you ladies around six.”
3
Cy Waters stepped into his small home, kicked off his shoes, and sighed. He stood still in the entrance hall for a moment, sniffing appreciatively. Rich smells drifted from the kitchen. Unusually rich smells.
“Cy, that you?”
Aline had been calling this out every evening for the thirty-two years she’d been Mrs. Waters.
“No, it’s Sidney Poitier,” Cy returned.
“Make yourself at home, Sidney. Dinner will be ready soon.”
Cy walked into the perfectly neat if comfortably worn L-shaped living room. Pictures of the three children who had kept this room in chaos for years hung on the walls. Cy glanced at them. Good kids. Attractive kids. Smart kids. And as much as he loved them, he was glad the last one had left to go to college in Dallas last fall. Being alone with Aline felt like they were newlyweds again, and Cy was enjoying it.
Aline, tall, full-figured, and stunningly attractive at fifty-one, walked into the room carrying Cy’s glass of tonic with a slice of lime. “Hard day?”
“Brutal.”
“You always say that.” She sat down beside him on the couch.
“Something smells damned good in the kitchen.”
“Beef Stroganoff.”
Cy’s eyebrows shot near his graying hairline. “What happened to that low-fat, low-calorie, low-flavor stuff you’ve been starving me on for the past three weeks?”
Aline took a sip of her own tonic. “I thought we needed a break.”
Cy closed his eyes. “Praise the Lord.”
“Cy, I spend a lot of time on those meals. I’m a nurse. I know what I’m doing. Besides, the doctor recommended that diet for you. He said in a few weeks you’d adjust to it.”
“Sure. Bet he wouldn’t go on it unless he had a gun to his head.”
“Don’t be such a grump.” Aline touched one of her gold stud earrings absently for a moment, then said, “Speaking of being shot in the head, I heard you had a rather interesting case today.”
“Yeah.” Aline looked at him expectantly. “Where did you come by that information?”
“I have friends who are married to cops and friends who are cops.”
“Okay. Today’s business was pretty bad.” Aline continued to stare at him. “You want to hear about it?”
“Might as well. Dinner won’t be ready for twenty minutes.”
“But you never want me to talk about work.”
“That was when the children were home.”
“No, just two weeks ago—” Cy broke off. He smelled the delicious meal bubbling in the kitchen. He looked into Aline’s lovely doe eyes, and he understood. “You know who’s involved in this case, don’t you?”
She smiled sweetly. “You bet I do, honey. I was on duty in the emergency room when Nicole Sloan was brought in after those two animals almost killed her, remember?”
“Yes.”
“Poor little thing was beaten to a pulp. They had to do plastic surgery to repair her face. It really got to me because she was only a couple of years older than our Carrie.”
“I know.”
“It isn’t just that,” Aline explained. “There was something about that case that bothered you. You tried to talk to me about it, but I wouldn’t listen. The whole thing upset me too much. But I want to hear now.”
Cy nodded. “It always bothers me when slime like Magaro and Zand go free. Zand bought that alibi that got him and Magaro off. Everyone knew it, but no one could prove it.”
Aline shook her head. “That’s not the part I’m talking about. I’m talking about the murders of Zand and Magaro.”
“All the evidence pointed to Paul Dominic.”
“But you had doubts.”
“Until he ran. If he was innocent, he wouldn’t have taken off like that.”
Aline raised an eyebrow. “Cy, I know you. I know something bothered you even after Dominic disappeared. And I know it’s still bothering you now. I hear it in your voice. And it’s connected to the murders this morning at Nicole’s house.”
“Okay, you’re right. But can’t this wait until after dinner?”
Aline shook her head. “No. No details, no Stroganoff.”
Cy groaned. “So that’s why I’m getting the good dinner tonight. Bribery.”
Aline grinned. “That’s right. So start talking, honey. I want to hear everything.”