Down Among the Dead Men (A Thriller) (13 page)

Beth just stared at him.
La Santisima?
She had no idea what this meant, and didn’t really
want
to know. She was tired of this pretty boy and his unrepentant arrogance.

“I have five simple words for you,” she said. “‘Stay away from my sister.’”

His smile widened. “Protective to the last.” His gaze shifted to her left hand. “I like the ring.”

Then he turned and headed down the sidewalk.

Beth glanced at the tiny hooded skull on her finger, and when she looked up again, Rafael was gone, nowhere to be seen.

Good riddance to bad rubbish, she thought, hoping she could avoid running into him on board ship.

Fortunately, it was a big place.

Offering up one last silent curse, she turned her attention to the leather-goods shop.

Where the hell was Jen?

30

T
HE SHOP’S PROPRIETOR
was a small, unkempt woman with a shock of gray-white hair. She sat on a stool behind a counter with a cash register, surrounded floor to ceiling by racks full of black, red, and brown leather jackets and handbags.

The counter was made of scarred glass, and neatly laid out inside were wallets and checkbook covers with the words MEXICO and PLAYA AZUL burned into them.

The place wasn’t exactly large, and Beth saw no sign of Jen anywhere. In fact, the proprietor seemed to be alone.

“Excuse me. I’m looking for my sister. She came in to use the restroom?”

The woman shook her head.
“No inglés.”
 

Wonderful.

Beth’s command of Spanish wasn’t much better than Jen’s, but working in the Los Angeles criminal court system, she’d managed to pick up bits and pieces of a dozen different languages.

“Mis hermana,”
she said.
“El baño.”
 

The old woman held out a hand, palm up. “One dollar.”

“No, I don’t want to
use
the restroom. I’m looking for my
sister. Mis herm
—”

She suddenly realized that if using the facilities cost a dollar, Jen would’ve been out of luck. She’d forgotten her wallet. But she hadn’t come to Beth, begging for more money, so it only made sense that she’d gone in search of a free toilet.

Beth wondered why she hadn’t seen Jen leave the shop, but then it wasn’t as if she’d been keeping constant vigil.

Nodding thanks to the old woman, Beth moved past the racks of jackets and stepped outside, scanning the street, hoping to see Jen headed back toward the restaurant.

No such luck.

She opened her purse, dug out her cell phone. Someone had told her that the wireless charges down here would cost her a fortune, but she was pretty sure a twenty-second call wouldn’t break her.

She hit speed dial, waited for it to ring. Instead it went straight to voice mail and Jen’s greeting came on the line:

“Hi, this is Jen. If you’re an old boyfriend, fuck off. Otherwise, leave a message at the beep.”

Beth hung up. Couldn’t believe Jen was still using that greeting, but then why should she be surprised? No matter how many “eye-opening” nights her sister had—whether it be with some biker bad boy or a couple of spiritual, incestuous whack jobs—Jen would always be Jen.

Beth looked across at the restaurant again but saw no sign of her sister. At the top of the block, however, was a McDonald’s, one of Jen’s comfort zones, one that might just have a free public toilet. Beth dropped her cell into her purse and headed toward that familiar red and yellow sign.

A few moments later, she was standing inside, amidst the usual mix of locals and tourists chowing on burgers and McNuggets. The restrooms were tucked into a corner near the back, and Beth crossed to them, pushing her way into the one marked: MUJERES.

There was one stall. Empty.

Damn it.

Where the hell was she?

Turning, Beth headed back outside and pulled her cell phone out again, checking up and down the street as she dialed.

Again, no ring. Straight to voice mail. Which meant that Jen was in a dead zone or had her cell phone off.

Beth waited for the beep.

“Hey, where are you? I went to the leather-goods shop and you were gone. I’m at McDonald’s now, but I’m going back to the restaurant. If you’re there, don’t move.”

Hanging up, she tucked the phone back into her purse and headed down the street, hoping she’d see Jen standing outside the restaurant.

But when she got there, there was still no sign of the girl.

Their waitress wasn’t there, either. Beth flagged another one, who stood nearby. “Excuse me.”

“Sí, senorita?”

“I’m sorry,” Beth said. “Do you speak English?”

The waitress shook her head.
“No. No inglés.”
Then she turned and said something in Spanish to the chef, who had just finished preparing another taco plate.

The chef stepped out from behind his stove, wiped his hands on his apron, and came over.

“Is something wrong,
senorita
?”

“No,” Beth said. “I mean, yes, but not with the food or anything. I don’t know if you noticed, but I had lunch here a little while ago with my sister.”

He nodded. “
Sí,
I remember. But you were alone.”

“No, that was later. The girl I was with was about my height—a younger, prettier version of me—and she was wearing cutoff jeans and a halter top. She asked the waitress if she could use the restroom.”

The chef shook his head. “Our washroom is out of order. Most people use the one across the street.”

“Yes,” Beth said, trying to remain calm. “Yes, I know. I went over there, but she’s gone. I was hoping she came back here. Have you seen anyone around here in the last few minutes that looked like the girl I described?”

“No,
senorita
.”

“What about our waitress? Is she around?”

He shook his head. “She go home early on Saturdays.”

Beth gestured to the other waitress. “What about her? Could you ask if she’s seen my sister?”

He nodded and called out, saying a few words in Spanish. The waitress, who was busy wiping a table, looked at him blankly, then shook her head and rattled off a reply that didn’t sound promising.

The chef returned his gaze to Beth. “I’m sorry,
senorita,
she hasn’t seen anyone like that.”

“We just had lunch here.”

He shrugged. “We serve many customers, most of them
turistas.
You come from the cruise ship,
sí
?”

Beth nodded.

“Perhaps she was tired of shopping and went back there.”

“No,” Beth said. “She wouldn’t have gone without me. She wouldn’t…”

Beth paused, thinking about it. Jen had been upset when she left. Maybe this was her way of punishing Beth for not taking her seriously. A classic ditch, straight out of junior high.

In other words, typical Jen.

Still, if this wasn’t a ditch, Jen could be looking for her right now. May have come back to the restaurant, seen that she was gone, and started checking shops in the area.

But why no phone call?

And why had Jen turned off her phone?

Was the battery dead?

It wasn’t time for panic. Much too early for that. There was undoubtedly a simple explanation for all of this, but that didn’t keep a tiny tickle of fear from fluttering through Beth’s stomach.

“Senorita?”

Beth focused, looking at the chef.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m keeping you from your work. Thanks for your help.”

He nodded, then tightened the strings on his apron and went back to his stove.

Beth decided the best thing to do was stay put, in hopes that Jen would either return or call.

Twenty minutes later, she gave up and started back toward the ship.

31

Vargas

“
I’D LIKE TO
check out.”

The night clerk was an elderly gentlemen, just a few years shy of retirement. He looked up from his magazine and set it aside, his eyes widening slightly at the sight of the bandage on Vargas’s head.

“Is there a problem with the room, sir?”

It was a wonder he couldn’t hear Vargas’s heart beating.

“No, the room’s fine. I got some unexpected news and I have to leave.”

“I’m afraid you’ll be charged for the entire night. Company policy.”

Vargas was expecting this and didn’t object. He just wanted to get out of here.

The clerk quickly processed the checkout, gave Vargas a receipt, and five minutes later he was rolling his suitcase toward the Corolla, heart still pounding, a knot the size of a fist in his stomach.

The battered, bungee-corded rear end of his car seemed to call out to him, a beacon for both his dread and his curiosity.

Check your trunk, Mr. Vargas
.

I think the message is clear.

After the phone call, he had resisted the urge to immediately run down to the parking lot. Had instead washed the blood off his keys, then taken a shower to wash the remaining blood and dirt off his body, before changing into a fresh set of clothes.

Repacking his suitcase, he’d checked the room for anything he may have forgotten, then closed the door behind him and went straight to the motel lobby.

He had considered abandoning the Corolla altogether, but it was the only transportation he had—or could afford—so his choice was clear no matter
what
might be waiting for him beneath that battered trunk lid.

But he couldn’t check it here.

There were possibly dozens of eyes staring down on him in the motel parking lot. Not the place to try to satisfy his curiosity.

He needed to get somewhere private.

Throwing his suitcase in the backseat, he climbed behind the wheel, jammed the key into the ignition, and started the engine.

Ten minutes later, he found himself driving through an industrial section of town, steering toward a dark cluster of warehouses.

Pulling into a narrow alley between a glass factory and an unfinished furniture wholesaler, he parked near a Dumpster and waited a full half hour to make sure that no night watchmen were about. He checked the high corners of the warehouses for any sign of surveillance cameras.

Satisfied that he was alone and not being recorded, he took his flashlight from the glove compartment, then opened his door, stepped around to the rear of the car. The knot in his stomach started to burn, and his heart seemed to have burrowed its way up into his throat.

Couching down, he unhooked the bungee cord from his bumper and let the broken trunk lid rise, then stood up and shone the flashlight inside.

He had expected to find a body. But to his great relief, all that greeted him was a cardboard box. Just big enough to hold, say, a soccer ball.

What the hell?

He picked it up, felt something loose inside, banging against the sides of the box. The flaps were sealed shut by a strip of duct tape, not unlike the one he’d pulled from his mouth.

Setting the box back down, he peeled the tape away, opened the flaps, and pointed the flashlight beam inside.

What he saw made him step backward involuntarily, a wave of revulsion rising in his chest.

It was a severed head.

Eyes wide. Frozen in horror.

Sergio?

Vargas stared down at it in disbelief and continued stepping backward until his back met the wall of the glass factory. Feeling his legs start to give out, he leaned against it for support and tried to keep his breathing steady.

Then his cell phone rang.

Knowing instinctively who the caller was, he dug it out of his pocket, clicked it on.

“Across the street,” the voice said.

Vargas turned sharply, looking out through the mouth of the alley. There was a car parked on the far side of the street—a Lincoln Town Car—a man leaning casually against the driver’s door, cell phone to his ear. He made no attempt to hide himself, clearly illuminated under a streetlight.

His dark hair was on the longish side, hanging loose around his collar. The left half of his face was mottled with red, blistery burn marks.

Vargas felt something cold and prickly skitter up his spine.

“There is only one question you need to answer, Mr. Vargas: Has the message been received?”