Cait turned off South Mission Road onto a residential street without sidewalks. Tired pastel stucco houses were ringed with chain-link fences or concrete block walls topped with wrought iron. She slowed. There was Lita’s food truck, in front of a carport with a sagging roof covered by a blue tarp.
At least Lita hadn’t given her a wrong address. The first time she’d met the woman, Cait had judged her a loser. Their conversation today had put things in perspective. Lita appeared to be a young person trying to make a decent life for herself.
Cait parked, headed for the front gate and unlatched it. Two strapping pit bulls, a white and a tan, came around the side of the house and ran at her, growling.
She jumped back and closed the gate, reached in her purse for her cell. Dialed Lita’s number. The call went to voice mail, but a minute later, Lita stepped out the front door.
“Beanie, Pero, stop that right now. Vamoose.” The taco vendor was barefoot, wrapped in a bathrobe, a towel wrapped around her head. Their aggression curbed for now, the dogs slunk toward a side yard as Lita held the front door open for Cait.
“Come in. I’ll be ready in a sec.” Lita padded down a tiled hall and disappeared. Cait sat on the edge of a maroon couch in the dimly lit living room. Movement and a rustling sound made her aware of someone in a reclining chair nearby.
Dark eyes in an ancient face fixed on Cait. Her watcher was an old woman, limbs spindly as ocotillo branches, silver hair pulled back in a bun. A snaggle-toothed smile revealed pink gums and an intricate map of wrinkles on mahogany skin. Old but sharp as a cactus spine.
“Come closer, dearie.” Her voice was soft but commanding. “So I can see you.”
“Hello.” Cait scooted closer, noticed the film of cataracts glazing the woman’s pupils.
“You’re my granddaughter’s friend?”
“We’re getting to know each other.” Cait introduced herself, sensing this elder would detect inaccuracy, cataracts or not.
“I’m Nicolassa. Welcome to our home.” The woman clutched a fleece throw with arthritic fingers.
Lita appeared, dressed in jeans and a thick jacket. “Abuela, can I get you anything? We’re going out for a few hours. Mama will be back soon.” To Cait, she said, “This is my grandmother.”
“I’m fine, mi nieta. I have my music. You go.” Nicolassa waved a wizened hand toward a boom box on a table.
The two said goodbye and left the house. As Cait started the Jeep, she asked, “What does she listen to?”
“Chicken scratch, waila music. My uncles play in a band and they made her some CDs. You mind?” Lita held up a cigarette and lighter.
“Go ahead.” Cait cracked a window. Smoke bothered her but it was more important to put Lita at ease. They got on Kino Parkway, heading north for the Catalina foothills and the party house where Lita had last seen Julius. “How old is your grandmother?”
Lita rolled down her window, took a deep drag and exhaled. “No one knows. Her family’s from near Hermasillo, down in Sonora. She came to live with us years ago when her husband and daughter passed in an auto accident. She’s a curandera, good with herbs and prayers. She’s the only one in my family who doesn’t give me shit about wanting to be an artist.”
“I like her.” Cait said. “She reminds me of some of my relatives in Zuni.”
Lita asked where Cait was from. She explained as they had traveled up Alvernon Way and merged onto River Road. At Sabino Canyon Road, they headed north onto Kolb Road and from there onto a series of narrow winding streets.
“Here.” Lita pointed at Cloudburst Terrace. Cait made a hard right, and soon the asphalt turned to gravel. She downshifted and eased up a steep grade, drove to the end of the street, and turned back.
Lita looked over her shoulder. “We just passed it. The place with the gate and stone wall.”
Cait slowed and looked in the rear view mirror. “Wonder if it has security cameras. You can’t see the place at all.”
“Don’t know about cameras. You have to punch in a code for the gate.” Lita looked back. “You think Julius might be up there?”
“I’m operating on a wild guess. But his kidnappers are playing games. They have the police thinking Julius is in Albuquerque, but he could be anywhere. My fiancé is worried sick about his brother.” Cait pulled over. “We could hike up the mountain above the house and see what’s going on.”
“That sounds like a plan. I figured we’d do some sneaking around.”
Cait u turned, drove past the gate again and parked when the road ended. “This is risky. You don’t have to do this.”
“Yeah, I do. I blamed him for abandoning me there. But maybe it was because they drugged him at that party.” Lita pulled on a woolen cap. “Something bad happens to Julius, I’ll never forgive myself for not trying to help.”
***
The waning sun ignited streaks of orange and red as the women made their way up a boulder-filled wash that cut down from the Catalinas. The warmth of Tucson’s winter sun vaporized as the skies darkened. Cold air swept down from mountaintops harboring snow left over from a January storm.
Cait let the way, Lita right behind. The pace was slow as they picked their way over loose rock and dodged thorny brush and cactus. Lita struggled, slipping and sliding because her tennis shoes weren’t made for hiking, but she didn’t complain.
Cait was happy to see the glow of a full moon peeking over the Rincons. Moonlight was a welcome alternative to using flashlights which might attract attention.
They climbed out the drainage and bushwhacked across the side of a hill, clambering over boulders and avoiding cactus that seemed to grab at them.
“Down there. That’s the place.” Lita pointed.
They dropped down the hill and found a good vantage point of the back of the party house.
Cait had debated calling Jack, but she didn’t want to give him unfounded hope or raise a false alarm. Plus, he wouldn’t want her investigating on her own.
Maybe Julius had been snatched after he returned to Albuquerque. But Cait’s suspicions were triggered by Lita’s descriptions of the post-match party at the compound below. He could have been lured there and abducted.
They crouched on the steep hillside and looked over a masonry wall that enclosed the backyard. Cait grabbed binoculars from her pack.
The back and side yards were dark, but lights shown through uncovered kitchen windows of the large one-story house. Inside, two men sat at a table, eating from bags of take-out and drinking beer. One man tossed a beer can at a box on the floor. He reached for a large clear bottle and took a deep swig. Cait focused in on the label. Tequila.
Several handguns and what looked like an automatic rifle lay on the table. “They’re well-armed and liquored up.” Cait offered Lita the binoculars.
“Wonder if they have dogs?” Lita spoke softly. “Should I throw pebbles in the yard and see what happens?”
“Careful. We don’t want those guys to notice. Don’t hit the house.” Cait wished she had a good camera with a telephoto lens. The distance was too great to use her cell phone for close-up photos of the men.
Lita tossed a small rock over the wall. Cait tensed. The men inside continued to pass the tequila bottle back and forth. “Try it again.”
Lita threw another rock, which plunked off patio concrete. No dogs barked, and the two in the kitchen didn’t react.
“So what’s the plan?” Lita shifted around.
“Watch and wait. I’m not sure what to do. There’s no sign of Julius.” Cait raised the binoculars and glassed the house from end to end.
Once the flame-colored sunset bled from the horizon, the moon rose higher. A lone coyote yelped, provoking joyous responses from the canyons and cliffs above them.
Lita broke the silence. “These guys sure don’t fit in with this snooty neighborhood. How can they afford that house?”
“Drug dealers make tons of money, especially those higher up in the game. The low-level sellers operate in poor areas, but Mr. Big is footing the bills for this place. Tell me again about that party.”
“The guy driving us made a call and the gate opened. I drank way too much champagne at the casino, so my head was spinning. Inside, Julius started talking to these guys, and he didn’t introduce me. I was mad because I thought he was being rude. One of them handed Julius a margarita. After a while, one of the guys put a hand on his shoulder and walked Julius into another room. They ignored me, and it seemed like Julius was staggering. Looking back, it seems like something was wrong. They must have put something in his drink.”
Lita hugged herself against the cold. “So those are drug dealers?”
“Or with a gang. Do you recognize anyone?” Cait handed over the binoculars.
“Not really. I was kind of wasted at the party. I remember this one guy talking to Julius. He had a tattoo down his forearm, like a big wild cat.”
“A jaguar?” Cait frowned.
“Maybe.” Lita passed the binoculars back. “It had spots.”
A light blinked on in a room previously dark. Cait focused the binoculars on the uncovered window and gasped. “It’s Julius.”