Rafael (The Santiago Brothers Book One) (12 page)

“Did your neighbor, by any chance, get a
better look at the person?” Rafa asked.

She faced him again. Her eye caught something
behind him and she began to head in that direction. Rafa closed his
eyes in frustration. Couldn’t she see how worried he was about her?
Breathing in a calming breath, he opened his eyes, pivoted, and
followed her into the kitchen.

“Unfortunately, no, and I had just secured
the back door and closed the blinds so I didn’t see anything
either. I definitely heard the door being worked. Phelps, you got
anything?” She squatted down to peer at the door handle he
brushed.

Phelps grunted. He placed the latent
fingerprint brush back into his kit. He frowned at Genie. “I’m
thinking we aren’t going to get much here. Whoever was trying to
break in smudged the prints pretty bad. It will be a miracle if I
get a partial.” He pulled out tape and squinted at the
doorknob.

“Hmm.” Genie’s brows scrunched together.
“Well, do what you can to get me that partial. I want to catch the
genius who thought he could break into my house.” She stood up and
gave Rafa a determined look.

He crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing on
the door. Genie was okay, he continued to tell himself. By the look
on her face, if someone had crossed her path, she’d be the one left
standing. But if the door had been unlocked… Rafa squelched the
negative possibilities before they took on a mind of their own. He
wouldn’t think about what could have happened to her alone, without
him.

“What I can’t figure out is if this is
connected to the case or not…”

Her thinking aloud brought his thoughts back
to the present. Huera and Montenegro weren’t exactly amateurs. They
knew how to pick a lock. An uncomfortable dread settled in his
stomach. Even though Genie was capable, Rafa couldn’t picture her
winning against those two. “Why do you say that?”

“Well, there have been a few home invasions
in the area, but plenty of less-secure houses are in the
neighborhood.” She shrugged. “What else could it be?”

“Who outside the department would know you’re
on this case?”

Her eyes drifted upwards as she thought about
the question. “Well, outside my family and my friend Audrey — they
don’t know the particulars of the case, just it’s the most
important one I’m working. So, essentially, no one.”

A funny look crossed her face and she refused
to meet his eyes. Rafa’s brows came together in thought. Was she
hiding something from him? “Are you sure? No one else knows?”

She cleared her throat and faced him. A
flicker of impatience crossed her eyes. “I’m positive. How about
you? Who have you told?” her tone half-accused.

“Other than my mother? And no details, of
course.”

“Of course. Well then, if you didn’t tell,
and I certainly didn’t, perhaps…”

Before she could mention the word “leak,”
Rafa pulled her out of the kitchen to an adjoining hall, out of the
earshot of the other officers. “Genie, I know where you’re headed
and that's a serious accusation.” Investigations into officer
misconduct never ended well. Once started, they’d overshadow their
case and although officer misconduct was a grave offense,
Springfield needed these murderers stopped, and that meant officers
working the case.

Genie’s hands were on her hips. “Don’t you
think I know that?” She did a quick glance over her shoulder at an
officer who lingered in her living room, her eyes filled with both
worry and skepticism.

“What about Franco?”

“What about him?”

“Do you think he might have let it slip?”

Genie half-snorted. “Franco’s a loudmouth,
I’ll admit, but he wouldn’t be that stupid. He cares more about
prestige than anything else. It'd be a major foul if this case
tanked because he had leaked intimate details to someone wholly
unconnected. No, he’d love to see me close the case so he can take
his share of the credit.”

“Well, if a departmental leak is the theory
we’re going on, then it’s probably best not to mention it in front
of the other officers.”

She closed her eyes in resignation, and
sighed. “I know. Perhaps I’m a bit hasty.” She cast a doubtful
glance at the officers in her living room who were engaged in a
lively conversation. “Maybe there isn’t a leak.”

“Maybe not.”

“Mmm-hmm. I’m sure of it. I don’t know what I
was thinking.”

Her eyes remained averted. The thought of her
being the leak was preposterous. What worried him was it just might
be probable. She had a competitive streak a mile wide. What if she
saw an opportunity to solve the case on her own and disclosed
information to someone she thought could help? “Maybe we should
wait for the fingerprint results before we start questioning the
department.”

Genie nodded. She turned a shoulder away and
shuddered. The frown and the worry lines between her eyes marred
the brave face she tried to put on to the rest of the officers. A
powerful urge to draw her into his arms came over him, but he
resisted. Instead, he laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. She
offered a brief emotionless smile in return and walked back toward
the kitchen.

Rafa
moved onto the porch. The night air cooled his face and calmed his
nerves. He’d ask Genie about what she was hiding, but not in front
of other officers. He didn’t want another fight and she’d give him
one as soon as he confronted her. Rafa sighed, raking a hand
through his hair. How could he ask her without sounding accusatory?
Well, Phelps would be working on her kitchen door for a while so he
had time to think. It troubled him that she was keeping something
from him. He couldn’t imagine she’d conceal something that could
help solve the case.
If it meant a promotion?

A couple of officers walked up the path to
the front door. “Anything else we should know about?” Rafa asked
when they were near.

They shook their heads. The taller of the two
spoke. “No, sir. We canvassed half the neighborhood and no one saw
anything. Marks and Esposito are still out but they’ve radioed in
the last two minutes with nothing to report.”

Rafa thanked the men and released them to
handle other business.

Genie walked onto the porch. “Well, they were
able to get a partial, but it will have to be run through the
system and that could take time.”

“That’s positive news.”

“We might get a match.”

“Well, until there is, we need to talk about
protection.” He put his hands on his hips.

Genie scrunched her brows. “Protection?”

“For you.”

“For what?” she scoffed.

“Um, the break-in?” He couldn’t help the
impatience in his tone.

“
Rafael,
there was an
attempted
break-in, not a real one. Two different things.”

“
Eugenia,
we have to assume the
attempted
break-in is connected to the case.”

“We don’t have any proof of that!”

Rafa sucked in a breath, gritting his teeth.
“It was your idea.”

She put her hands on her hips. “And I’ve
changed my mind.”

Her determined stare did nothing to break his
resolve. “Proof or no proof, you still need protection. We aren’t
dealing with some petty, high school gang here. If there’s a sliver
of a chance the Snakes know you’re connected to the case, you could
be a target.”

“So could you.” She arched a challenging
brow.

Rafa took in the hands on her hips, the set
jaw, and the obstinate look in her eyes. All at once the breath
from his lungs drained and the thump of his heart slowed. Her lips
moved but the sound of her voice was off in the distance somewhere,
as were the closing doors of the cop cars in front of the house,
and the voices of the officers in her home. He could count on one
hand the number of civil conversations they’d had. All other times
were spent making their way toward each other’s jugular. Genie
seemed bent on being argumentative at every turn and Rafa couldn’t
help but love it … and encourage it. “Do you look for ways to be
bullheaded?”

That stopped her.

“Did you just hear what I said?”

Well, perhaps not.

“I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

Genie rolled her eyes. “Where were you,
space?”

She also knew how to push his buttons with
precision. “Genie,” he said slowly, hoping to draw her focus in.
“Please. Your safety is…” His voice died. What did her safety mean
to him? The image of her house surrounded by police cars flashed in
his mind. Officers mulling about, crime-scene investigators dusting
for prints… He once again felt the jolt of fear of her lying inside
on the floor in a pool of her own blood, the wounds on her chest in
the shape of a serpent.

“What?” She breathed, breaking through his
grim thoughts.

He caught a brief trace of expectancy in her
gaze, but it quickly vanished.

“Paramount.” He nearly choked the word out.
To hear the truth verbalized stunned him. It seemed to stun her,
too. Her eyes widened, and her lower lip dropped. The seconds
ticked away as they stared at each other, neither wanting to break
the spell.

Genie broke away first. “How ‘bout we
compromise?” she whispered.

“Sure,” he swallowed. A “her way or no way”
kind of woman, he was eager to hear her “compromise.”

She took a deep breath. “I’ll agree to
protection, if and only if my life is in danger.”

So much for compromise.
“That’s it?”

“That’s what I have to offer.”

“How ‘bout this.” Rafa crossed his arms over
his chest. “I stick to you like glue.”

****

I stick to you like glue.

Genie shivered at the thought. The suggestion
both unnerved and thrilled her at the same time. She couldn’t
remember how long she had stood on her porch just staring at the
man after hearing his solution, but his triumphant smile had told
her too long. Afterwards, she had a hard time getting him to leave
for the night. His eyes told her he’d wanted to stay. Genie hadn’t
heard her heart thump that loudly in a long time. But her internal
alarm clamored and she pushed him out as soon as Phelps finished
fingerprinting.

He’s just your partner… that’s why he feels
responsible. Nothing more.

“Oh, God, why can’t it be more? You let Jeff
leave…” She let her voice fall. Someone could be listening.

Genie shifted her stance as she leaned
against the alley wall of a Chinese restaurant waiting for Ricky.
He didn’t phone at his usual time — five in the afternoon — and
Genie became concerned. She sent him a text to meet her here around
midnight and it was half past. The longer she stayed, the more
attention she’d draw, and she was tired of telling every man who
passed she wasn’t selling.

Ricky rounded the corner and Genie released a
quick sigh of relief. “What took you so long?”

“Sorry, sorry.”

“Ricky, you know the deal. You check in when
you’re supposed to and be on time for our meets.”

“Right. I said I was sorry.”

Ricky was not a brave man. Genie appreciated
the fear she invoked in him since it kept him in line. An
uncontrolled source could put their handler in serious danger.
Genie assessed the assertive tone he took as drawn from fear and
not a sudden stiffening of backbone. “What is it? What do you
know?”

“These murders, man… They got everyone
spooked.”

“Who’s everyone?”

“I know a guy who knows someone who lives in
that apartment where that girl was found. He said a couple of
Hispanic guys was hanging out there, right before she got
killed.”

“Could he describe them?”

Ricky shrugged. He pulled his dark hood
tighter around his head and stepped closer. The whites of his eyes
bore into Genie’s. “Said just two dudes in a black four-door. He
never saw ’em before but was heading out so he didn’t pay much
attention.” He shifted his feet, unable to keep still.

Genie squinted, the dimly lit streetlamp a
few feet away providing little light. “Ricky, are you stoned?”

He stepped back. “Naw, man. I ain’t
stoned—”

“Just scared,” she whispered.

He stood there mute. No argument. He sniffed
and gazed out toward the street.

“Is someone following you?” Genie moved her
hand to her waist where her service weapon rested underneath her
jacket. She scanned the street. Nothing seemed unusual. Just a few
guys laughing loudly across the street, smashing bottles on the
concrete, and the occasional car passing.

“I don’t think so.”

“What do you mean, you don’t think so?”

He put his hands on his head and shook it
vigorously. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.” He hacked and Genie
stepped back, unsure whether what he spewed was contagious.

“Alright, head home. And Ricky…”

The guy started off at the word “home.” He
stopped and faced her.

“Were you at my house earlier?”

“Huh?”

He couldn’t possibly know where she lived.
She offered him zero personal information that was actually
factual. The less the source knew of her, the less of a chance he
could control her. “Never mind. You phone in when you’re supposed
to.” She pointed a finger at him. “And don’t be late next
time.”

She saw him nod and head in the opposite
direction he had come from earlier. Genie remained in the small
alley, taking her position against the wall. She waited a full ten
minutes to see whether anyone moved to follow Ricky, before leaving
for home herself.

At least she knew the assassins stalked their
prey before striking. Now, if she could just figure out who was
next on their list.

GENIE
groaned at
the sound of the doorbell. Despite her protests, Rafa insisted on
being her personal bodyguard. “And he called
me
bullheaded,” she muttered. She grabbed her keys
off the kitchen table and jogged toward the front door. She was
about to reach for the handle when she noticed her reflection in
the mirror on the hallway wall.