DEAD BY WEDNESDAY (18 page)

She didn’t know what to say to that. It didn’t seem to matter because he was on a roll.

He smiled at her. “You know they died in a car accident. Their brakes failed, just like yours. But you didn’t die. That was really too bad.”

She heard Raoul’s gasp but she didn’t look at him. “So you tampered with my brakes. Why?”

“It was Raoul’s fault. He was pulling away. He was going to choose you over me. I couldn’t have that. I’d worked too hard on him. He was tougher than the other boys.”

She licked her lips.

“Do you want to hear about them?” he asked.

She needed to buy time. To figure a way out of this mess. “Yes. Yes, I would.”

Raoul was looking at her as if she were crazy.

Apollo smiled. “Johnnie Whitmore was the first one. Actually, I thought he would be the only one. But then it was so nice that I had to do it again.”

She was going to throw up. Swallowing hard, she nodded, as if she was really interested in what he was saying.

“Johnnie wasn’t very respectful to me. I was his teacher. The expert. He was lucky to have me at that crappy little camp. You know, he was the only one of the boys who remembered me. Of course, my hair was different and I didn’t have these contact lenses then. But he knew me right away. I told him that I was making a CD. He wanted to be part of that. Suddenly, I had value.”

She risked a glance at Raoul. He hadn’t known about the red handkerchiefs, but he’d figured out who Apollo was. She could see it on his face. She wanted to reach out to assure him that she was going to get them out of there.

“But you decided to do it again?” she said.

He nodded. “Ben Johanson was the easiest of them all. I told him that I was his father. I told him that I had always loved his mother and that once I got to know him a little better, I was going to be back in his mother’s life, in his life. The poor kid just wanted a dad. He hung out here several times before it had to end.”

“Of course,” Carmen said.

“Gabe Monroe needed to be taught a lesson. He had no respect for the music. He came to camp like he had a right to be there. I saw him sitting behind his sister’s drums, bragging that he was going to be at band camp the next year. He had no idea the work that it takes, no idea of the sacrifice a musician makes. Let’s just say he had stopped boasting by the time I finished him off.”

Carmen glanced at her watch. It had been almost twenty minutes since Apollo had stepped out of the bushes.

“Henry Wright was almost as gullible as Ben Johanson. On the camp enrollment sheet, there was a question about musical aspirations. Henry had answered that he wanted to go to Stalwart Academy. I never forgot that because I, too, wanted to go to Stalwart. Once he believed I was trying to recruit him, he was more than willing to visit my home. I don’t think he was very impressed, however.” He motioned with his hand, as if he were showing off a prize property. “I guess we’ll never know, will we?”

“I guess not,” she said.

Apollo walked over and put his hand on Raoul’s head. Raoul flinched and it took everything Carmen had to stay in her chair. “You haven’t asked why I picked Raoul.”

Could she bear this? “Why?”

“Because he reminds me of myself. He works hard, does all the right things. It won’t be enough. Just like it wasn’t enough for me. And of course, I’ve already told you how I got to know him. It was my most brilliant effort to date.”

“If Raoul reminds you of yourself then you must care about him. You can still let us go. It’s not too late for you to do the right thing.”

He stood up. “I am doing the right thing,” he yelled. Then he grabbed her arm and pulled her up from the couch.

* * *

F
ROM
THE
TRAFFIC
command center, they fed images from the street surveillance cameras into the computer screen in his car. Lieutenant Fischer was back at the station watching the same images. Sawyer was en route to join Robert.

The blocks near Mahoney High were highly traveled business districts. Fortunately, with the fresh snow, traffic was light and moving slower than usual. In this particular area, they had cameras at every intersection. So, while there were portions of the street where activity could not be viewed, they could easily track movement in and out of the area.

Because they had the approximate time and location, it took them just minutes to find the car. A black ’95 Mercury Cougar. It cruised through one intersection but not the next. There were no side streets between the two intersections.

“He parked somewhere in this area,” Robert said, pointing to the map on the side of his screen. “Keep the tape going,” he said.

They kept watching, fast-forwarding when they could. “Stop,” Robert said. “I think that’s him. Get closer,” he said.

The technician running the tape zoomed in.

Oh, no. Robert was grateful he was sitting or his legs might have given out. The camera angle was good and they could see Carmen driving. She looked terrified. Apollo was sitting next to her, half-turned in his seat.

They could not see Raoul in the backseat but Robert was confident that he was there.

They tracked the car through the next two intersections. The equipment was sophisticated enough that they could calculate that Carmen was driving twenty-eight miles per hour.

Then suddenly, the car disappeared.

Robert put his finger on the screen. “I’m less than a block from there.”

“Wait for backup,” Lieutenant Fischer instructed.

Like hell. Robert started driving.

When he saw the alley, he knew that was where they had disappeared to. He drove down, stopping when he saw the black car pulled into the small area that might once have been a delivery area but now was home to garbage containers and just enough space for one car.

He got out of his car. He took off his winter coat and replaced it with a bulletproof vest. Street level, there was a back door to a custom framing shop. There were no tracks leading up to it. The steep steps up to the second floor were a different story. Several people had walked them.

He clicked on his radio, gave the dispatcher his position and said, “I’m going in.” He clicked off before anyone could tell him not to.

He put his hand in his pocket and touched the ring case. It felt warm and solid. He took that as a good sign.

He started up the steps and was at the landing when he heard Carmen scream.

He kicked the door open and went in low.

Apollo was across the room, a knife in one hand, a gun in the other. Raoul had his hands spread on the coffee table. He was crying. Carmen, tied to a chair, watched in terror.

“Police,” he yelled. “Put down your—”

The bullet hit him in the shoulder, knocking him back. Searing, white-hot pain spread through his arm. He stayed upright and returned fire. Three shots.

And he saw the man go down.

Raoul ran to his sister. They were both alive.

“Robert?” Carmen said.

“I’m going to be okay,” he said, right before he blacked out.

* * *

R
OBERT
WOKE
UP
in a hospital bed. His arm hurt like hell and he felt sick to his stomach. He tried to move but stopped quickly when pain rocketed through him.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Hanson.” A young man dressed in dark blue scrubs was five feet away, his fingers clicking on a keyboard. “I’m Keith, your nurse. How do you feel?”

“Where’s Carmen?” he asked. His throat was so dry.

The young man smiled. “You have some visitors outside. You can see them in a few minutes. You were shot. Do you remember that?”

Robert nodded. “How bad?” he asked.

“You’re going to be fine. You were brought in an ambulance to the hospital and you had emergency surgery for a severed brachial artery. You almost bled out, sir. You’re a lucky guy. Surgeon said you probably won’t even have much residual shoulder damage.”

Robert lifted up the sheet. He was in a hospital gown but that was it. “Where are my pants?” he asked.

“I imagine they took them off you before surgery,” the nurse said. “You didn’t become my patient until you came to the recovery room. I can check for you.”

“I need my pants,” Robert said.

“They’re not going to do you any good,” the nurse said. “You’re not going anywhere for a few days.”

“Please. Can you just go look? I had a ring in my pocket. I was going to ask someone to marry me.”

The young man smiled. “I got married last summer,” he said. “I’ll go look. Just don’t try to get out of bed on me, okay?”

He wasn’t going anywhere. He wiggled his fingers, grateful that he still could.

Severed brachial artery. That explained it. One minute he’d been standing, then his vision had grayed, and he’d realized he was going down for the count.

He needed to talk to Carmen. She might never be able to forgive him but he had to know for sure that she and Raoul were okay.

The door opened a few minutes later and he expected to see the nurse. But it was Carmen with her silky-shiny hair and her beautiful face peeking around the corner. “Hi,” she said.

He tried to sit up in bed.

“No,” she said gently. “Be still. I just talked to the doctor. You’ve lost a lot of blood. By the way, your mother is here. She’s been entertaining everyone in the waiting room.”

He shook his head.

“She’s lovely,” Carmen said.

“Are you okay? Raoul?”

She leaned down and brushed a kiss across his cheek. “We are both fine. We wouldn’t be, you know, if you’d been even a minute later. That man was about to cut Raoul’s fingers off. I’ve never been so frightened in my life. He said that I had to watch, that that was my punishment.”

“Oh, honey,” he said. He swallowed hard. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

“You saved our lives, Robert. You’re making a habit of that.” She rubbed her hand across the blankets. “Raoul told me about Speedy’s Used Cars. He shot those car windshields out. That monster was with him.”

He licked his dry lips. “I should have said something. I didn’t have any proof but I did have my suspicions. I guess I didn’t want to burn Raoul. Subconsciously, I think I didn’t push as hard as I might have because I wanted Raoul to trust me, to like me.” He hesitated. “I knew his opinion about me would matter to you.”

“I was so angry,” she said softly. “So hurt.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. It was inadequate but the best he could do. “I screwed up.” Robert used his good arm and rubbed the back of his palm against his forehead. He had a bitch of a headache.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” she said.

Could he bear it? He nodded.

“I had some time to think,” she said, “while you were fighting for your life. It’s amazing what something like that does for perspective. I love you, Robert. I want you to know that.”

He could feel his heart start to beat fast and figured he was ten seconds away from the alarm on some machine starting to wail. “But—”

The door opened. The nurse stuck his head around the corner. “Sorry, sir. Pants weren’t where I thought they’d be. It’s possible your personal belongings were already sent up to a room. I’m checking now,” he said. He pulled back and the door closed.

His ring was MIA. That wasn’t stopping him.

“Carmen, this is totally the wrong place and the wrong time but I waited once before to ask you this question and I’m not going to make that mistake again. I love you, too. I want to help you raise Raoul. I want us to be a family.” He took a breath. “I can’t promise that I won’t make any more mistakes, but I can promise that every day I’ll be thankful that you and Raoul are in my life and I’ll work hard to always earn your trust and your love.”

She didn’t say anything, but her dark brown eyes were big.

“I had a ring in my pants pocket that I’ve been carrying around for days but apparently I’ve managed to lose it,” he said. “And I’m afraid getting down on one knee is out of the question. So I’m doing this all wrong.”

She shook her head. Her eyes were shimmering with tears.

“You’re doing it perfectly. Yes, yes. I will marry you.” She raised her arm that had been at her side. In her hand was a plastic bag. He could see his shoes sticking out the end.

He grabbed the bag from her. With one arm, he pulled everything out of the bag. When he got to the pants, he stuck his hand into the pocket.

It was there.

He pulled it out and flipped open the hinge of the silver box. “Be my wife, Carmen. I love you.”

She slipped the ring onto her finger. It fit perfectly. His heart soared.

“I love you, Robert.”

It was amazing. A minute ago, a cannon going off couldn’t have gotten him out of the bed. Now he felt as if he could run down the damn hallway. Carmen was going to be his wife. “Is Raoul here?”

She nodded. “Right outside.”

“Can you get him? I want to tell him.”

They were back within seconds. Carmen had her arm wrapped around the boy’s shoulder.

“Raoul,” Robert said, “I’ve got a question for you.”

The boy nodded.

“Do you have any sheet music for the ‘Wedding March’?”

The boy’s dark eyes, the eyes that were so like his sister’s, blinked fast. A grin broke across his face. “You guys are getting married?”

“Yes,” Robert and Carmen spoke at the same time.

“How do you feel about that?” Carmen added.

“I think it’s great. Really great.” Raoul pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I’ve got to call Jacob. He’s going to bust a gut.”

Epilogue

Carmen Jimenez and Robert Hanson were married three
weeks later, on a sunny, yet chilly, February day. The bride wore a long white
dress and the groom wore a black suit with his arm in a sling.

Raoul Jimenez played the trombone, accompanied by Jacob Minelli
on the drums.

At the reception, the bride and groom danced the first dance,
the second dance and the third dance together. At the end of the night, they
took a limo to the airport, where they caught a flight to Jamaica. In his
carry-on, the groom packed a travel-size container of spring soap. In her
carry-on, the bride packed M&M’S and microwave popcorn.

While they were on their honeymoon, Raoul stayed with Liz and
Sawyer Montgomery and worked at Speedy’s Used Cars, making restitution for
broken windshields.

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from WANTED by Delores Fossen.