Getaway (22 page)

The SUV was a new Navigator with gold trim, its engine idling, white exhaust wafting from the tailpipe.

She walked up to the gate of Hacienda Carmen, opened it, and went inside.

Just after
9:00
P.M
. She’d gone beyond exhaustion to that point where she knew she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep; she was too wired. Now and again her mind would make pictures, like snapshots, of what she’d seen the night before. She tried to push them away, but it didn’t work.

As she went into the bathroom to brush her teeth, she heard three short knocks on the door.

Don’t answer it. Just don’t. Hide in the bathroom. Lock the door.

Okay, she told herself. That’s not a rational response. Probably.

It was probably just Paloma, from the front desk.

She went to the door and opened it as far as the door guard would allow. A woman stood there, middle-aged, dark hair and dark eyes.

“Michelle,” the woman said. “Is this Michelle? Danny’s friend?”

“Who is this?”

“María. María Aguilar.” A pause. “You were a guest at my party.”

She’d come alone, as far as Michelle could see; there was no one on the little balcony or on the stairs behind her.

“May I come in? I won’t take up too much of your time.”

Michelle hesitated.

“It’s important,” she said. “And I would be very grateful.”

“I’m sorry
to disturb you.” María sat in one of the room’s two chairs, twisting around the chunky ring that she wore on her left hand. Her eyes were red, the lids puffy.

Michelle had met María for all of five minutes. Maybe ten. And now the woman was sitting in her hotel room.

Given the last couple of days, this could not be good.

“Would you like a glass of wine?” Michelle asked. She still had the bottle of white in the mini-fridge.

María nodded, twisting the ring on her finger. She wore a black lace shawl over a gray silk blouse this evening, a small gold cross hung on a gold chain around her neck.

“Sorry, I don’t have proper glasses,” Michelle said, handing her a tumbler. She poured her own into a coffee cup and sat down in the other chair.

“Do you know how to reach Danny?” María asked.

“I …” She wasn’t sure how to answer. Should she offer Daniel’s cell number? Wouldn’t María have that already?

“I have his number, of course,” María said with a wave of her hand, as if she’d anticipated the question. “But he does not pick up. And it’s important that I speak to him.”

“Well, if you can’t get a hold of him, I don’t know that I’ll be able to,” Michelle said. “He speaks highly of you. I think he’s just very busy.”

Now María gave her a look, a half-raised eyebrow, head tilted back, the way she’d looked her over at the party. “Really? I had the impression that the two of you are close. That you are … important to him.”

“I’m not sure why you think that.” Which was the truth.

“He brought you to my party,” María said simply. “He introduced you to everyone. He wanted us to know about you. And you are still here, in Vallarta.”

She’d wondered why Daniel had brought her to that party. Now she thought she knew.

She’d been chum, tossed out to attract the sharks.

She felt a surge of rage. She took a sip of wine and swallowed it.

“I should be seeing him soon. I could give him a message for you. If you can’t reach him before then.”

María closed her eyes and rocked back and forth in the chair.

“Yes,” she said, suddenly still. “Yes. Tell him we are loyal. No matter what has been said. Tell him that. Whoever is responsible, we deserve protection.”

She shook her head and gulped some wine. “What’s important is stability. Chaos will only benefit the most wicked.”

“Right,” Michelle said. “I’ll tell him.”

María stood up slowly, her hands shaking. She put the tumbler down on the credenza by the door.

“My husband did not deserve this,” she said. “Tell him that.”

[CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE]

“Morning, Michelle.”

“Hi, Ted.”

He’d let her sleep in till seven this time, and she had managed to sleep, a little, thanks to Tom’s Ambien.

“It’s been a couple days since we’ve talked. What’s going on?”

“I … I haven’t seen Danny.”

“So you been keeping busy?” A pause. She could imagine him smiling on the other end of the line. “You take any good photos?”

“No, I …”

How much should she tell him about the last two days?

“I had something strange happen last night,” she finally said. “María—María Aguilar, the woman who had the party I went to. She came here wanting to get in touch with Danny.”

“Oh, yeah?” Gary sounded suddenly alert.

“She said something about her husband. That he didn’t deserve what happened to him. Do you know anything about that?”

A pause. “Well, it’s a sad thing. He got killed the other night. Him and a couple other guys who I guess were
narcos
. It took a little longer to ID him because they burned his body.”

For a moment she couldn’t speak, only nod, even though he couldn’t see her. “Do they know who did it?” she asked. “Or why?”

Maybe Gary could at least tell her who Oscar was. Who he worked for.

“Couple of possibilities. He got caught out in the middle of something either way.”

“Is it … is it the Gulf cartel? Or the Zetas? Or …?”

Gary chuckled. “My, my. Sounds like you’ve been doing a little research. That’s great, Michelle. I like to see someone who has a genuine interest in the job. I can tell, you’ve got a real future in this line of work.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Well, it’s too soon to say. These guys, they’re always fighting about something. It could be an internal dispute, for all we know.”

She swallowed her frustration. It was as much of an admission as he’d ever make, and it told her nothing.

“Anything else going on I should know about?” he asked.

Through the open window behind her bed, she could hear the donkeys braying on the hillside.

“Look, I’m going to have to call you back,” she said. “I’m meeting Danny for coffee, and I’m running late.”

“So early?” She could picture his smile. “He must really like you.”

“He’s busy,” she said. “I’ll call you after.”

“All right, Michelle. Just make sure you do that.”

She’d lied
. Not a big lie, just a small one. She wasn’t meeting Daniel for a couple of hours. But she’d needed a little time. Time to decide what to tell Gary. She wasn’t sure if he needed to know what had happened that night with Emma and Oscar. Or if it would be dangerous for her to tell him.

“I don’t have a lot of time, but I can meet you at your place around nine,” Daniel had said.

“No, let’s … let’s meet somewhere else. Like, on the beach, maybe.”

“Okay. Your old hotel, how about that? It’s a big place, we can probably grab a coffee somewhere quiet.”

It felt
strange, walking into her old hotel. Like walking into another life. It felt so long ago. But it had been, what? Two weeks? Less than that. A week and a half.

“Señora Mason,” the woman behind the front desk said. “How nice to see you! But I thought that you’d left Vallarta.”

Michelle managed a smile. “So did I.”

“Have you come back to spend some time with us?”

“Well, no, just … I wanted a place to meet my friend, for breakfast. And I thought this would be a nice place. Is it okay, if I’m not a guest?”

“Oh, of course. Where would you like to sit?”

She chose
a table in the corner of the terrace below the swimming pool that overlooked the beach. Far enough away from the few guests who swam morning laps and drank coffees in the shade of the rear patio. Eighties rock played from the terrace bar, in spite of the early hour and the lack of customers.

She’d gotten there a few minutes early, so she could have a chance to catch her breath, decide what she wanted to say and how she was going to say it. But she couldn’t think of any words, not any good ones, nothing clever or strategic.

She was waiting for a man she couldn’t trust, to give him a message from a killer. She didn’t know where she’d be left after she delivered it.

Her heart skipped as Daniel appeared at the edge of the terrace.

He wasn’t going to solve her problems. He’d caused them.

“Hey.”

She rose to greet him. He wore wrinkled khaki cargo shorts and a light madras shirt, and he carried a small canvas duffel bag over one shoulder.

They hugged, and she felt awkward, rigid. He could tell. He took a step back and studied her face.

He looked tired, she noticed. Red-eyed and stubbled.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“I don’t really know where to start.”

“How about with breakfast? I’m hungry.” He grinned, but there was nothing light about it.

He ordered
chilaquiles. Michelle got a fruit plate.

“So?” he said after the waiter had brought their coffees.

You have to tell him, she thought.

“I went out with Emma the other night.”

He put his hand to his forehead and winced. “Jesus. Emma? Why?”

“Because she asked me. Because I thought … She said she was a friend of yours.”

She didn’t want to lie, she was sick of lying, but it was close to the truth, at least.

“Emma is fucking crazy.”

“Yeah, well, I get that now.” Stay calm, she told herself. Keep your voice low. If anyone was watching, they were just having a conversation.

“I met her boyfriend, a guy named Oscar. He was supposed to take me home. He took me to … up to the condos. Where the bodies were. Did you hear about that?”

He nodded. He’d gone pale beneath the tan.

“He told me to tell my friends. He meant you. Didn’t he?”

The waiter approached with Michelle’s fruit plate.

“Hell of a place to have this conversation,” Daniel said, his voice rough. “Let’s go somewhere more private.”

“No.”

“Your breakfast will be out in just a minute, señor,” the waiter said, depositing Michelle’s plate.

As the waiter retreated to the kitchen, she took in a deep breath. “I’d rather talk here. In a public place. I’m just … I don’t really know you. And ever since I met you, all kinds of shit keeps happening.”

“I told you to stay away from Emma,” he said. He sounded pissed.

“You took me to María’s party! That’s the only reason Emma even knew who I was.”

She was so angry that it was easy to forget the lie she told every moment she was with him.

“Is that why you brought me along, Danny? To see what I stirred up?”

“No, I just … I just wanted a date. I told you, I hate those parties.” He tried the half-smile again. She wasn’t buying it.

“You want to hear the rest?” she asked.

“Guess I’d better.”

“María came to see me. She was looking for you. One of those bodies was her husband.”

Daniel stared at the table. “I heard. He didn’t deserve that.”

“That’s what she said to me. She wanted me to tell you that. And that they were loyal and deserved protection.”

“It’s a fucked-up situation,” he muttered.

“You think?”

“Look, you don’t have to worry about it. None of this is your problem.”

“Seriously, Danny?
Seriously?
I was at a crime scene! With dead people! I’ve got the police coming around asking me questions. And it’s not my problem?”

“I didn’t think you were going to get dragged into this.”

“What
did
you think, then?”

“That we were having a good time together. That I could … forget about this shit for a few days. I like being with you, that’s all.”

She wished she could believe him.

The waiter arrived with Daniel’s chilaquiles. “Anything else? Maybe something to drink? A mimosa?”

“No, thanks,” Daniel said. “The police?” he asked after the waiter had left.

“Yesterday morning. Asking about Ned and that night at El Tiburón. I’m guessing you heard about Ned, too.”

“Yeah. Some detective called yesterday. I haven’t returned it yet.” He stared at her. “You give them my number?”

She repressed a shiver. “I had to, Danny. They were going to get it from someone, and I didn’t want to lie.”

He sighed. “Okay. I get it.”

He pushed his eggs and tortillas around the plate, took a couple desultory bites.

“Look,” he said, putting down his fork. “I’m heading out of town in about an hour. Just down the coast, to this little village I like. I’m meeting a buddy of mine. For fishing. I think you should come with me.”

“Why?”

“Just … There’s a lot of shit going on right now. It might be better if you get out of town for a few days.”

“Then why don’t I just get on a plane and go home to L.A.?”

He shrugged. “Might not be a bad idea. If you think you can get on a plane today. Otherwise … you don’t want these people looking for me and coming to you.”

She tried not to let any of it show. That she couldn’t get on a plane today. That she didn’t know if going with him was any safer than staying here.

“Fishing?” she asked. “A lot of shit going on, and you go fishing?”

“It’s complicated,” he mumbled.

“I guess.”

“I know what you’re probably thinking.”

“I’m pretty sure you don’t.”

He checked his watch. “If you’re going to come with me, you have to decide fast. Water taxi leaves at eleven.”

“Why is everyone looking for you, Danny?”

He sighed. “They want me to take sides,” he said.

He walked
with her to Hacienda Carmen. “Think about it while we walk,” he said. “If you want to go, you have time to pack a few things.”

They climbed up the stairs to her room, Paloma at the front desk greeting her with a slight smile and a nod. Went inside.

They stood there by the bed, facing each other.

“Danny,” she finally said, “I don’t know if I can trust you.”

“I guess I haven’t given you much reason to.” He looked at her, his expression steady, and if she hadn’t known anything about him, she would have thought he was utterly sincere. “All I can do is promise you that I’ll do my best to keep you safe.”