Courted by Karma (The Adventures of Anabel Axelrod) (35 page)

Shaking my head at
the madhouse that was now my life, I smiled grimly and started pacing. “Okay, Maria. This is what the overall plan is for your niece. Let me know if you think it will work but,” I laughed in amusement then and shook a finger at her warningly, “no flinging yourself and attacking me. Promise?”

Maria blushed
and twittered, but nodded her head rapidly while promising with a big smile.

“
There are two parts to my plan. The first part concerns Blanca’s safety and her future. Late tonight, Blanca will sneak out of her house. We will be waiting. We will bring Blanca back here and she will then stay at an undisclosed place for the next month. She will be protected until she’s brought to her new home and school.” Pausing by Maria’s chair, I squeezed her shoulder and said, “Aunt Maria, I’m afraid you will need to stay away from your niece for a few weeks or even months, until we determine if she is safe. She’ll be enrolled at Shattuck and will start classes after Christmas with the new term. Blanca can live there safe and sound for the rest of this school year.”

Maria
frowned ominously at my statement she’d need to stay away from Blanca. Then she started squealing and waving her arms at the mention of Shattuck. I stopped in my pacing and gave her a look. Maria visibly struggled to contain herself at this news, but lost the battle. However, she did stay in her chair this time when she erupted with volatile excitement. At a complete loss to decipher one word from the babble of questions pouring forth nonstop out of her mouth, I left it up to Anna to communicate with Maria.

I
asked John, “Have you heard of Shattuck?”

He looked up from
reading the open notebook and answered, “Yes, ma’am. Shattuck-St. Mary’s is a prestigious boarding school located on the Northeast side of Faribault.”

“Very good, John, that
’s one gold star for you today,” I replied primly to his smarmy tone and heard Luke’s soft snort off to my right. “They have a lower school for grades six through eight, and what they term an upper school for high school age students. Blanca can get away from her stepdad and his lovely friends, and be near enough for Maria to eventually visit.”

I resumed pacing and tapped
Maria’s shoulder to get her attention again. “Listen up, Maria. I understand you have many questions and we’ll talk more in-depth about them later. For right now, can you please just believe that it’s true Blanca’s been accepted, for all intents and purposes, at Shattuck and you needn’t worry? I have a good friend that runs the administration office and she’s given me her assurances.”

“Excuse me, of course
! I am simply so excited for my Blanca that she will have such an opportunity…”

It was impossible to resist smiling back at the bubbling excitement gushing from the woman,
but I interrupted firmly, “I am so glad we are in agreement this plan is viable for your niece. Maria, what I need from you now is your close attention. This is your part in the plan and very, very important. Please hold your questions until I am done telling you everything, alright?”

“Yes,
I am listening, Anabel,” Maria breathed out, twisting to follow my pacing progress.

“
You have to do three things that only you can do. The first thing you need to take care of immediately after this meeting. Go talk privately with Blanca and let her know you’ve arranged for her future safety. Your sister must be convinced Blanca has left the state. Blanca needs to leave a note saying she has runaway to California to escape the bad man. In the note, she can reassure her mother she is safe with friends and will contact her soon. It’s going to be tough on your sister Inez, but no more than she deserves for putting her daughter in harm’s way. Our only goal is to make sure Mr. Pervert the pedophile gives up on the idea of getting near Blanca.

Maria
pounded the table and declared, “Yes, yes, this is true! We have friends and family in California, so Inez will believe this runaway story! Since the bad men hit and punched Inez, we have been terrified and have talked of this solution before for Blanca.” Maria spat and added bitterly, “But Inez always believes her husband’s lies that he will stop gambling, and I know they can locate Blanca with our relatives in California.”

I made a face.
“Yeah, it’s pretty amazing how women manage to convince themselves of the weirdest things over a man. Okay, then. I don’t know how reliable Blanca is…”

Anxiously,
Maria broke-in, “She’s a very good girl, very smart and respectful.”

Nodding, I said, “I’m sure she is, but it still’s probably wisest if we wait to tell Blanca the truth
about where she’ll be living until after she runs away. Anna and I will tell her tonight. If she’s bummed at the idea, it will only be until school ends in June. Then we can reassess the threat level…” I cut my eyes in John’s direction when I heard a smothered yip, but he returned my look blandly. Watching him closely a second longer, I turned back to Maria, but not before I caught the quick glance of amusement John shared across the table with Luke. The cocky bastards were getting a kick out of my plan.

‘Wait until John hear
s his part!’

Chuckling to myself, it suddenly clicked where I
’d heard Stella’s evil little laugh before.

Maria reiterated firmly, “Blanca is a good girl and will do as she
’s told, but I will wait as you say, Anabel.”

“
She will be safer, Maria, so I’m relieved you understand. Okay, this is the second part. We’re giving you the cash to give to your brother-in-law to pay back his loan.”

At Maria’s gasp,
I shot a quick look in Luke’s direction. I think I forgot to mention this part of my plan to him in my office earlier.

Pushed back from the table and s
prawled lazily in his chair, Luke’s legs were out in front of him and crossed at the ankle. His clasped hands were resting on his abdomen, and with half-closed eyes, he was watching me pace. He didn’t react to my statement, but I could see the glittering green of those eyes. Anna knew this part of the plan and was nodding, while John was sitting forward and listening.

“
After you tell Blanca the plan for her to runaway tonight at midnight, you must be out in public somewhere at that time, so nobody suspects you knew. Is that a problem?”

Maria shook her head and said eagerly, “I will do anything to make
the plan work for Blanca. Anything!”

I grinned at the woman
and held up a fist. “Go Woman Power! Now, when your sister tells you the news of Blanca’s running away, you must be completely, hysterically distraught.” I asked innocently, “Will that be a problem?”

Everyone laughed, Maria the hardest.

“You will go over there tomorrow immediately after your sister calls with the discovery of the missing Blanca. You can watch Jorge freak out for a while, in fear for his life.” Maria squealed her delight and I smiled slightly. “When you are satisfied the asswipe is petrified, tell Jorge you are paying his bad debt. Tell him you’d been trying to scrape up the money to save your niece before this news of her running away. You’ve begged and borrowed from friends and wiped out your own savings account to come up with the cash. Let Jorge know you planned on telling him this good news today at Thanksgiving dinner. You must stress over and over to Jorge that you’re only paying this one time, and only because you don’t want your runaway niece hurt. You are not doing this for him, but so that Blanca will feel safe someday to come home when the threat is gone.”

Maria
was nodding happily at these instructions and started clapping and squealing in earnest. “Yes, I can do this. I like this word asswipe, Anabel. What next?”

“Yeah, I’m partial to it myself,”
I agreed. “The next bit will be hard for you, but I’m ordering you to tell Jorge how much you hate his guts. You must call him the foulest names you know and warn him you will kill him if he ever hurts your sister.” I shrugged. “You know, the usual Thanksgiving chit-chat amongst family members.”

I didn’t glance at the
sniggering men, but Anna and I exchanged grins while I waited for Maria’s loud laughter to die down. “Jorge needs to be warned that the one condition of your giving him the money is that he must never divulge to a living soul Blanca’s ran away to California.” Seeing the protest building up on Maria’s open face, I stopped her. “Of course, he can’t be trusted.” Relieved and nodding, Maria settled back and I went on, “So worst case scenario, Jorge talks and give out a false trail.”

Maria clapped excitedly. “Yes! Nobody will know where she’s living
. Blanca will grow up safe and become a big, important lawyer!”

I regarded Maria dubiously
and asked, “Are you sure that’s what she wants to be?”

Maria pounded a fist on the table. “Yes, Blanca is a
good, smart girl!”

I held up my hands
in pacification and said reluctantly, ‘Okay, okay, I guess it’s possible to be a lawyer and a good girl.” I muttered, “I’ve heard of stranger things.”

Picking my way carefully over Luke’s
extended legs; I yanked gently on his black hair when I passed behind him.

Pacing
to the other side of the table, I continued, “This is the third thing, Maria, and the most important to part two of the plan. Jorge must call and make arrangements to go pay the loan off right away on Thanksgiving night. What is the loan shark’s name, anyway?”

John spoke up helpfully while reading from the notebook, “It says his name
’s Nester Ramirez.”

Maria’s lip curl
ed in disdain and she made a rude hand gesture, even as she nodded that John was correct.

Passing behind
John’s chair, it was hard to resist the urge to flick his shiny, shaved head.

So I didn’t.

“Well, well, it’s another gold star for my best pupil.”

John drawled, “What do I get for three gold stars, Ms. Anabel?”

Luke’s dimple flashed at John’s question and Anna snickered, but she saved me from responding when she asked, “Is Maria’s immediate payoff demand so that Jorge doesn’t go spend the cash?”

I said evasively, “Yes, that’s the reason.
” Something in my voice had Luke’s head tilting infinitesimally, so I hurried on saying, “Maria, you insist Jorge makes the arrangements immediately for the payoff. When Jorge calls Nasty Nestor, you listen to his call. Without Blanca there as Jorge’s insurance for not getting his body parts cut off, I don’t think he’ll be idiotic enough to gamble away the payoff money. Still, let’s not take any chances, eh? This will show Jorge you mean business and don’t trust his gambling butt one damn bit.”

“This is the truth!” Maria swore,
beating her fist against the table again. “I will not give Jorge the money until the minute he is leaving! I will never forgive him for putting Blanca in danger, the…” She went off in a burst of Spanish words that caused Luke and Anna to laugh, while John and I shrugged blankly at each other.

I called Maria
back to task and got her to repeat her part until I was satisfied she knew what to do tonight and tomorrow.

Smiling
at the excited woman, I reached in my purse and passed her the envelope of cash. “Here you go. So, that’s it then, Maria. It’s time for you to leave and speak privately with Blanca. We’ll see her at midnight tonight. Stress to your niece the importance of keeping her mouth zipped, or Blanca may be stopped if the wrong person hears of her leaving. That means Blanca’s mother, Blanca’s friends, your other relatives—absolutely nobody should be told.”

Maria nodded and asked
tentatively, “My Blanca may be frightened. Should you have a secret code word to tell Blanca when you and Anna pick her up at midnight?”

“Absolutely! What a good idea!” I grinned
, and Anna added her agreement. “You pick, Maria.”

The Hispanic woman screwed up her face in thought for a second
and then broke out in a beaming smile. “Asswipe!”

Anna and the guys laughed while I
twirled my fingers and said, “Asswipe it is! You have our numbers and I have your number, right?”

Wreathed in smiles, Maria
hugged the envelope to her awe-inspiring bosom. “Yes, everywhere I can be reached is in the notebook.” Beaming across the table, she added, “Dear Anna knows my phone number, too.”

Anna got up and came around to hug Maria, adding her assurances
to mine that Blanca would be happy and safe. She promised to give Maria progress reports at every tutoring lesson.

Luke stood up politely, helping
Maria to scoot back her heavy chair as she rose. “Maria, nice to meet you and don’t worry.” Smiling down at her, he added enigmatically, “Your niece is a lucky girl.”

Glowing, she
looked from Luke to John, who smiled back and nodded encouragingly. She spread out her arms. “Bless you all, you are my saviors sent from Heaven above to…”

Wise to her ways
now and before she could really start in on the accolades, I tucked her arm in mine. The men relaxed visibly when I led the chattering, radiant Maria straight to the door.