Kissing Arizona (30 page)

The green Lincoln with the tail fins laid rubber on the street as it screeched past them, following Vicky. It caught up with her at the end of the block, and ran up on the sidewalk to block her path. Two slender men in baseball caps jumped out to grab her. Vicky looked back once, hopelessly, as they threw her in the car.

For two precious seconds, Denny stood by the cleaning van with her mouth open, frozen in shock. Then all her good survival instincts, so tuned up six months ago, came alive again and added themselves to Will Dietz's lessons and her aunt's recent advice. She stepped into the street, where she had a good view of the Lincoln, opened her phone and punched the number two. Waiting through two rings, she memorized the vanity license plate.

Sarah was clearing her desk, getting ready to check out when her phone rang. She almost let it go to message waiting, but glanced quickly and saw it was Denny's new number calling.
Probably too proud of her new phone to resist.
She answered, thinking she'd have to remind Denny she'd said never to call her at work except for emergencies.

Denny said, with a quiver in her voice, ‘Aunt Sarah, my friend has an emergency and I don't know what to do.'

‘Which friend?'

‘Vicky. The girl who cleans our houses. They were just leaving—'

‘Is Mom there with you?'

‘Yes, she's here.' Her voice got stronger. ‘Will you just listen?'

Wow. Spoken like a cop's kid.
‘Go ahead.'

Denny described, in a rush, the three men who had just grabbed Vicky and put her in a car. ‘She looked very scared, and they're too far away for us to do anything, so I called you because I thought you—'

‘You did right,' Sarah said. ‘Can you describe the car?'

‘Four-door convertible. Greyish green? It looks new but also old – what's that word?'

‘Restored?'

‘Yes. Tail fins? Oh, and I saw the word Lincoln.'

‘You pretty sure?'

‘Vanity plate,' Denny said, ignoring the question as the car roared away. ‘FRDOFUN.'

‘Good! You did good, Denny. Is Mom OK?'

‘Yes.'

‘Stick with her. Talk to you later.' She hung up and put out the BOLO.

They ate a mostly silent supper, since Aggie decreed they were not to talk about whatever was happening to Vicky. Tía Luisa had loaded up the rest of her crew and left without a word, and Aggie had not asked for explanations. Denny sat mouse-quiet during dinner and went early to bed.

After Howard left, Will sat out in the gathering dusk until Sarah pulled into the carport. He got into the front seat beside her and said, ‘I hear you had quite a day.'

‘Indeed. And that was
before
Denny called.' She told him a little about the rest of her day – not much, because exhaustion was reaching out for her, and she still hadn't eaten. ‘What an end to moving day for my poor mother. But damn, Will, that kid did one helluva job, calling me as fast as she did with those bang-on descriptions. And the license plate, are you proud?'

‘I have to say I am.'

‘Our guys have already got that snake, he's being booked. Along with his two helpers, who have extremely interesting rap sheets of their own. Menendez knew who it was as soon as he heard the plate, he went right to his house. Artie's been trying to nail Freddy O. for some time.'

‘Abducting a child, that ought to cook his goose.'

‘He's a pimp and a dealer and most of his girls are undocumented and quite a few are underage and oh hell, just for the fun of it, Artie thinks maybe he can prove the Lincoln Continental is hot.'

‘Car theft, now that's really shocking. Is the girl all right? Vicky?'

‘Mostly. They didn't have time to do much.'

But he knew that voice. ‘But what?'

‘Well, she's undocumented. And her prints are on file, it's a third offense.'

‘Oh-shit-oh-dear. She'll never be eligible for citizenship.'

While she polished off the last of the picnic she told him about her realization, on the way home from Phoenix, that wanting to make total slaves of his women had been a pattern with Frank Cooper. ‘I couldn't be absolutely certain Phyllis was Cheeks, but it stood to reason she was, and that she'd have the most to lose if Frank got fond of somebody else. So I tried reading her one of the emails, and it shocked her so much she showed me I was right. I was guessing she still didn't know about the contract with Laura, and I was right, that blew her out of the water.'

‘Very clever, Sherlock. She give you the LadySmith yet?'

‘No, she's lawyered up now, we'll need a warrant. I think, though, we can point out to her defense attorney that killing Frank might be framed as second degree, but lying in wait for Lois so she could stage the scene as murder/suicide makes it Murder One for sure. When reality sets in we'll get more cooperation, I think. Is there any more of this chicken?'

‘Lots. You want some more potato salad with it?' While he refilled her plate he said, thinking he was joking, ‘What else did you do today?'

She laughed. ‘Well, that was about all for me but Jason went down to the ME's lab to observe while José identified Chuy Maldonado's head.'

Dietz watched, bemused, as she laughed some more. ‘What?'

‘Well, he, you know, flunked his first autopsy. So we all asked him, you know, how did that go for him?' She laughed again.

‘Having your own party or what?' Dietz said. ‘Tell me.'

‘He said, very cool, that Chuy didn't look much like his photos any more. So I said OK, but did José ID the head? And Jason said, “Right away, with no hesitation. But I think he was mainly trying to get away while there was time to stop by the In-N-Out Burger place on the way to the plane.”'

‘Sarah,' Leo said the next afternoon, ‘what were the Cooper siblings doing in here just now?'

‘I called Nicole yesterday to tell her I was taking her store manager away to booking. I thought she should hear it from me. But she wasn't in when I called, so she came in to talk about it today.' She cocked her head. ‘Why are you dodging her?'

‘Just keeping my shirt clean. Was that her brother with her?'

‘Yes. Did you notice how friendly they were acting? I said I suppose it's a relief to have this settled and they both looked kind of embarrassed. Remember I put in the report how they didn't look at each other or speak? I realized just now they must have each thought the other one killed their parents. I guess they were hoping very sincerely we'd stick with the murder-suicide theory.'

‘Really,' Leo said. ‘Don't people realize how scientific we've become?'

‘Right,' Sarah said. ‘Also it helps when the perpetrator goes nuts and confesses.'

Sarah told Denny that Vicky had been rescued from Freddy but she had no other details as yet. Denny, anxious but helpless, went off to the new school every day, came home and did homework, chores, bed like a good little robot, trying to earn points enough on some cosmic chart to keep Vicky safe.

When Tía Luisa's van came to clean the Bentley Avenue house and Denny saw that Vicky was no longer on the crew, she tried to ask Ana about her. Ana shook her head and said, ‘
No sé nada
,' and after that wouldn't talk at all.

After they left, Denny asked her grandmother if Tía Luisa said anything about Vicky. ‘No, honey, and I didn't ask because I knew she wouldn't answer. If Vicky's an illegal, Luisa could lose her license for having hired her.'

‘Boy, we sure know how to punish poor people, don't we?'

‘Denny, you can't fix everything, so fix what you can. Do your homework.'

A couple of weeks later Sarah came home on time for once, got into soft clothes and came out in the kitchen where Denny had just finished browning chops in a pan, and was laying them over Aggie's sliced potatoes and roux. Aggie said, squinting at the control, ‘Is the oven hot?'

‘Yeah, here we go,' Denny covered the dish and slid it in the stove.

Aggie went to watch the news and Sarah said, ‘Denny, let's take a cold drink and sit outside a while.' They went out to their new favorite place, in the shade under the eucalyptus trees, and Sarah told her about the awards ceremony she'd been invited to, on Hilton Head Island. ‘There'll be speeches and awards. From a grateful nation for apprehending the Soltero gang, breaking up their drug-smuggling operation, nailing them for the stash house murders, all of that.'

‘Oh, neat. Are you excited? When will you go?'

‘Oh, I'm not going. I don't want to leave Mom yet. Phil Cruz is going to collect my plaque. And my boss is actually pleased about that case finally, because our share of the confiscated loot will help a lot. Looks like I can quit saying “I just happened to take the call” every time it comes up.'

‘I bet I'm the only kid in fifth grade whose aunt is a hero. Can I take you to Show and Tell?'

‘Why not?' They rattled the ice in their glasses. ‘I got some news about Vicky, finally. Her case is being handled by ICE, because there was a criminal act involved. It's kind of complicated, because Freddy O., while he's charged with just about everything but mass murder, is a US citizen, whereas Vicky's undocumented, so . . .'

‘Does that mean he can kidnap her and beat her up?'

‘Of course not. It just makes prosecuting him for that particular crime very awkward, because they'd have to grant her temporary asylum or something so she could stay here and testify at a trial . . .'

‘Yes!' Denny lit up. ‘Good idea! Let's do that!'

‘Well, nobody's much inclined to, because we've got a ton of other stuff to pin on Freddy O. Including the houseful of other illegals he was harboring, many of them also under-age. So . . .'

‘What?'

‘It looks like Vicky's going back to Mexico very shortly.'

‘Oh,
no
! Aunt Sarah, you can't let that happen! This is her home just the same as it's ours!'

‘Unfortunately that's not true. Vicky's not a citizen and she's been deported twice already.'

‘I don't care! Vicky loves this country and she's willing to work to support herself! Isn't that the kind of American we're always saying we want?'

‘Yes. But Denny, all countries worth living in have laws they enforce.'

‘They don't have to have that one. She could have stayed.'

‘Maybe so. But tell me this: when those bad guys were putting her in the car, who'd you call?'

‘You know that – I called you.'

‘Why?'

‘I knew you'd help her. But—'

‘No buts. You called the cops – that's what everybody does. Help her, you said. And you knew I
could
help her, because I'm a law enforcement officer so the law's on my side. Look at me, Denny. The law's on my side because I'm on its side.'

‘Well, sure, but—'

‘No buts. Every time. You can count on me to enforce the law every time because that's my job. I like my job so I'll always do it as well as I can. You know that joke about it's a tough dirty job but somebody's got to do it? Well funny or not, that exactly describes a cop's job.'

‘So if the law says send Vicky back to Mexico, you'll do it.'

‘That's right. And if you don't like it, don't yell at me. Yell at the people who make the laws.'

‘Come on. I'm just a kid,' Denny said.

‘And I'm just a cop. We all have some excuse, don't we?' They sat still a minute, listening to the doves. ‘You'll grow up fast though,' Sarah said. ‘I can see you're going to be one of those early bloomers. Study hard, will you? We're looking for a few good kids to grow up and change the world.'

Denny gave her one of her patented dubious looks and drank the rest of her soda. Just before they went in she said, ‘Thank you for rescuing Vicky from that terrible man.'

‘You're welcome. It's what I do.' She took Denny's hand and they walked in together toward the good dinner smells.

When the bus doors hissed open just south of the gate, Vicky climbed down and walked wearily toward the sign that read ‘Frontera de Cristo.' The patio held the familiar cluster of tired-looking people, mostly men, talking softly. A couple of volunteers smiled at her, offered her water and coffee. She took some water and found a seat among the returnees.

Most of them were sharing their stories – how long they had been in Estados Unidos, where they'd gone and what jobs they had found. Vicky was very tired and she had a little money, so she knew she would get up soon, eat something and find the cheapest place to stay. But first she wanted to sit a while listening to the stories of the dispossessed. Maybe somebody here had a new idea.

She began to ask the ones who would talk to her, ‘What's next for you? You got any plans, know anybody to call?' She was looking for a small, energetic group to join – people with experience, ready to try anything reasonable. No more crazy chances like Freddy, though.

She moved to a chair near a young, quiet woman who was also listening to the stories. She looked strong, her face was grave but not defeated. Someone worth considering as a friend, Vicky thought. A traveling companion would be a comfort and improve the odds of success.

She smiled at the young woman, who asked, ‘Do you intend to try going back?'

‘I will always go back,' Vicky said. ‘Tucson is my home.'