Intimate Enemies (28 page)

“Why didn’t you keep your condo and bring them there after school? This is unsafe for all of you.”

She shook her head. “I can’t afford to keep the condo when I’m not working.”

Cassie’s stomach twisted and twisted. “Why didn’t you call me? I would have made it right. I would have worked it out.”

“You were already suffering so and trying to get through your residency. I couldn’t bother you with my problems. I’m a grown woman, Cassie.” A faraway look hazed Lorena’s deep brown eyes. “Besides, it was better that I go. I wasn’t comfortable there after Alejandra passed. Even before…things…just weren’t right…”

Now she was getting somewhere. “Tell me about that. I need to know. What wasn’t right?”

Lorena’s dark face creased in concern. She wrung her hands and glanced at the open screen door, where an older-model car cruised by slowly. “You must go,
mija
. It’s not safe for you here.”

She took Cassie’s arm and started pushing her toward the door. Hurt and frustration collided. “Stop it, Lorena.” Cassie grabbed Lorena’s hands and turned on her. “This is insane. What are you so afraid of?”

“The gangs. Rio must have told you about the kidnapping threat. That’s why he’s here with you, isn’t it?”

Cassie’s mind searched. Spun backward. Something Rio had said days ago on the beach clicked. “I… He… How would you know about something like that?”

“I hear things. People talk around old women like we don’t have ears. This is serious. You need to go back to San Diego. You’re not safe here.”

“I need answers, Lorena.” Growing frightened and desperate, she implored the woman. “I’m
still
suffering. I won’t stop suffering until I know what really happened to Mamà and Santos. Until I get Saul out of our house. I know he’s been stealing from the estate, using the operating fund to buy prostitutes, and bringing them into Mamà’s home.”

Lorena drew a sharp breath. “What? What are you talking about?”

Cassie explained what the private investigator uncovered. “I found him moving money from Casa del Refugio to the operating fund and pulling it out in cash.”

“
Ay!
In Alejandra’s home? That…” Lorena’s face wrinkled in disgust as she curbed her obvious fury.

“I need to know what was going on before Mamà and Santos died. Rio had been living there for six months before they died and neither of them ever mentioned him. Why? Why were they hiding things from me? What else were they hiding?”

“They didn’t want you to worry. Didn’t want to distract you from your studies.” Lorena pulled her hands from Cassie’s and focused a distant but serious gaze out the window. “She and Saul were at odds all the time. The last year it seemed they fought whenever they were together. Saul started spending more time away on business. Alejandra became more involved in her community work. And that’s when—”

“Santos moved back in,” Cassie finished. “What did they fight about?”

“Money, Terra del Mar, his business, Santos, Rio…” She shrugged and sent a nervous look toward the door again.

“Are you afraid of Rio, Lorena?”

“Rio? No! Rio, he’s the best thing that happened to your mother and brother since…since you left for college.”

Guilt pressed in on Cassie.

“He was such a nice influence for both of them,” Lorena went on, for once unprovoked, her voice lightening. “A source of security for Alejandra, a true friend to Santos. When the three of them were together, whenever Saul wasn’t home, the house was like it used to be when you and Santos were young—filled with laughter and peace and conversation and activity. The way a home should be. But Saul…” Her face flipped from light to dark. “He is loco. Ruined everything, just like he did when you were young.”

Cassie could envision how well Rio would have fit in with her mother and Santos. The picture Lorena painted filled Cassie with warmth and gratitude. Rio had been there providing happiness and security for the people she loved when she’d been unable.

Cassie moved to Lorena’s side and squeezed her shoulder. “What happened?”

“
Ay
.” Lorena sank to the edge of the sofa and looked at the door again. “You can’t tell him I told you,” she whispered. “
Las ninas
need me,
mija
. They need the little money I have. Their father,
ay
, I raised a worthless son.”

Cassie was confused now. “Tell who?”

“Saul. If Saul finds out I told you, he’ll take the money…”

“
Dios mío
, Lorena.” Cassie knelt before her. “I will make sure you never have to worry about money again. And Desi’s failures are his own fault. He’s as much a grown man as you are a grown woman.” Cassie took her soft hands. “You’re helping him. Let me help you.”

Lorena shook her head.

Cassie pushed from the floor with enough pent-up frustration to blow off the roof. “I’m sick of this.” She tried to keep her voice down, but it didn’t work very well. “If you won’t let me help you, then at least let me help myself, Nana. Let me find my answers so I can set things right. So I can heal and move on. Isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that what Mamà would want?”

Tears slipped over Lorena’s lashes. Cassie’s heart broke. For the millionth time since the explosion, she wondered if
not
letting go was causing everyone close to her more pain than simply letting go—even without her answers.

“Cassie.” Lorena’s hands lifted, palms up, a helpless gesture. “I honestly don’t know what your mamà would want you to know now.”

Cassie tipped her head, eyes narrowed. Tension gathered beneath her breastbone. A foreboding that didn’t take her completely by surprise, making it all the more troubling.

“Nana.” She lowered her voice, her tone serious but shaky with emotion. “The reason I’m here early is because I was put on extended leave from work because my boss doesn’t think I’m fit to do my job. He’s told me to get my personal life straightened out, grieve the loss of my family, and get my head right before I go back for my fellowship.”

For Cassie, getting her answers meant even more than the job. It meant her sanity. It meant closure. It meant purpose that gave her a reason to go on.

“Oh,
Cassie
…”

“So. Let me explain this another way.” She pulled in a breath, forced the tears back. “I
will
find my answers. I
will
stay here until I get them. I don’t care what they are or how long it takes. But I can’t move on until I have them. So consider, Nana, who do you want telling me what you don’t think Mamà would want me to know? You or a stranger?”

“I don’t really
know
anything. Nothing was right in the months before they passed. Everything was…different. Saul, well, you know how he was, but as Alejandra and Santos and Rio became closer, Saul became more paranoid, more controlling. A couple of months before the yacht accident, Rio pulled away. He spent less time with Alejandra and Santos, rarely ate meals with the family as he used to; only came to visit with me when everyone was out of the house.

“Santos started hanging out with the wrong crowd in town. Alejandra and Saul fought even more. In the last month, Alejandra and Santos spent more time together. More than usual. On the yacht, out to eat, walking the beach. They would talk in whispers with their heads together, then stop the moment someone walked in the room.”

Cassie’s mind circled back to the initial accident report of the yacht explosion, the sketchy, limited information she’d gotten from the police, since they wouldn’t release any information in the ongoing investigation. Several things had bothered her, but what tightened her gut now was the memory of the harbor patrol detective explaining that the gas had built up inside the cabin, sparked, and caused the explosion. The fact that both bodies had been recovered from the vessel indicated that Mamà and Santos had been inside the cabin during the explosion; otherwise, they would have been thrown from the yacht. And Cassie could never understand why they had been inside the cabin on a beautiful fall day out on the open ocean.

But after a night in Rio’s arms, Cassie had a different mindset…and didn’t like where her thoughts were leading. At all.

“I could tell by the way Saul acted,” Lorena continued, “the way he would come home early from appointments and immediately search for Alejandra, that he thought they were…” She looked down at her hands and shook her head. “
Ay, ay, ay
. I told your mother what a problem it was becoming, how it upset Saul. I suggested she have Santos move out on his own, but she didn’t listen, and when I talked to Santos about it, he said he needed to stay for your mother.”

“To keep Mamà company, because Saul was traveling a lot. And it helped Santos, because his shop was struggling. That’s what they told me.”

Lorena shrugged, shook her head. “They never explained. I didn’t feel it was my place to question.”

Cassie’s mind fought against the unthinkable insinuation, while another part tried to prepare for a worst-case scenario. Mamà had never been a mother to Santos. He’d been nearly an adult by the time he’d moved into the estate with his father, and Mamà and Santos had always been more friends than family. But nor had they ever been inappropriate with each other. Yes, her mother had been nearly twice Santos’s age, but she’d also been incredibly youthful—mind, body, and spirit—and beautiful. And hadn’t Cassie seen a myriad of crazy relationships develop at the hospital?

Her thoughts tangled in confusion and denial. A sick sensation slid into the pit of her stomach. They wouldn’t. They
wouldn’t
.

“You don’t think they…” Cassie couldn’t get the words out. “I mean, they couldn’t have been…”

“I never imagined. Under normal circumstances, absolutely not, but…Saul…he was intolerable. The atmosphere at the house, it was dreadful. If anyone was capable of driving people to do things they wouldn’t normally do, it’s Saul.” She lifted an imploring gaze to Cassie’s face, which had to be plaster white by now. “Everyone needs someone,
mija
. Alejandra and Santos…they only had each other.”

Seventeen

Rio had moved the Jeep to a spot at the curb several houses down to appear less conspicuous, but remained standing outside the vehicle with his arms crossed, weapon
mostly
concealed, staring at Desi’s rotten bungalow to create a presence for anyone even thinking about making a move on Cassie now.

He was trying like hell to focus on anything and everything other than the ache beneath his ribs. Waking up and finding her gone had been bad enough, but he could have gotten over that. He could even understand giving her a little breathing room. Last night had been pretty heavy—at least it would have been if she’d been emotionally involved rather than only physically.

But he didn’t know what the hell to make of her reaction to him this morning. Only knew that it felt a whole lot like flat-out rejection. Which was a major problem for him, both personally and professionally. And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

So he turned his mind back to worrying about what Lorena could divulge to Cassie to make this situation just that much worse. The former housekeeper held quite a bit of information—some she knew was damning, some she believed held no significance. She also had a lot to lose if she talked.

He sent another glance up the street, then down. Two familiar faces appeared from the car that had cruised past and parked at the far corner. Men Rio had seen Tomás hanging with on occasion. At least if his partner couldn’t be here, Tomás could still get information and pull in favors from hundreds of miles away.

Rio relaxed a little. These guys might not be cops, but right now, Rio welcomed those who knew exactly how to deal with the likes of the men milling around the porch several houses down.
Diablos
members more than a little displeased to see Rio on their streets.

The neighborhood remained quiet except for some boys playing soccer, but he knew it wouldn’t take long for that to change. He glanced at his watch, unsure how much more time he could give Cassie. No telling how long it would take for word to spread that she was here.

His cell rang, and Rio jerked at the sound, then swore, grabbed it off his belt, and jabbed the answer button. “You find him?”

“Desi’s not at the docks,” Tomás said.

“Shit.” He scanned the street again. “Where is he?”

“The boss said they let everyone off early. A ship changed course or something. Isn’t coming in as expected. Says Desi and a couple other guys hit Amigos for a liquid lunch.”

“I need to know when he’s coming back. I don’t want Cassie within a mile of him. Especially not if he’s shit-faced.”

“I sent a couple of guys.”

“Yeah, they’re here.”

“I told them to take care of the perimeter. Desi’ll probably stay at Amigos ’til closing.”

“We can only hope—”

A tan truck turned the corner with screeching tires and floored it in Rio’s direction. The boys playing ball in the street yelled and scattered, seeking refuge on the sidewalk behind parked cars.

“Uh, no. Not ’til closing.” Rio pushed off the Jeep, held the weapon behind him, and started toward Desi’s house. “Fucking fantastic time for you to be out of town.”

“He carries a nine millimeter in his pants and a knife in his boot.”

“You so owe me, you bastard.” Rio hung up and muttered, “Just beautiful.”

Desi pulled into the driveway, continued onto the lawn, and parked diagonally, then almost fell out the driver’s door. He hauled himself up by the open window ledge and headed straight for the house.

“Hey, Desi!” Rio called, pushing into a jog. “Desi, amigo. I need to talk to you.”

Desi didn’t hesitate, didn’t look back. He took the front steps toward his porch two at a time. Even if Rio sprinted, there was no way to head him off. He was still half a block away.

Rio ran toward impending disaster while an argument broke out behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and found the men who’d been loitering confronted by Rio’s allies.