Guilty by Association (Judah Black Novels) (17 page)

Nina narrowed her eyes. “And what do you think?”

A shadow shifted in the hallway. I crossed my arms and leaned to one side. “I promised Chanter I wouldn't be working while I was here. If I were, though, I'd tell you that neither you nor Valentino strike me as the filicidal or fratricidal at first glance. Of course, only guilty people have something to hide.”

She raised her nose slightly before turning away and putting her manicured hands on the knobs of the cupboards above the stove. “I was so sure it would go through. We're respectable members of the community here, both of us gainfully employed with no real criminal records to speak of. What right does BSI have to decide whether or not we're fit parents?”

“The permits aren't about whether or not you're fit,” I explained.

“I know what they're for!” Nina spat. She jerked open the cupboard and pulled down a shot glass before fishing around in the back of the cupboard for some whiskey. “Population control. Can't have the strong outnumber the weak, can you?” She poured herself a shot and swallowed it in one gulp, barely restraining an angry sob.

“I don't agree with all of BSI's policies,” I said in a gentle tone. “If I did, would I be here?”

Nina turned and cast a longing glance into the living room where Ed and Hunter sat, watching their cartoons. “I'll be the first to tell you, Agent Black, that I'm not upset about Elias' death.”

I raised an eyebrow. “That sounds awfully cold.”

Nina shrugged. “It is what it is. Elias caused a lot of trouble for me and my family. When Leo went missing, that was the last straw. He'd been hanging out with so many shady characters. How was I supposed to know he hadn't just sold my baby for drugs or to get out of some new mess he'd created for himself?” She poured herself another shot but stared down into the liquor instead of swallowing it.

“What kind of people was he hanging out with?”

Chanter came around the corner just as Nina downed the second shot. She gave her father a guilty glance and then closed the bottle back up. “Agent Black,” she said in a strained tone. “If you think it would be helpful, why don't you come by tomorrow and go through Elias' things? Perhaps you'll find something that will help you.”

“I'll see you first thing tomorrow, then.”

“Good. Just bring my Leo back to me,” Nina said bluntly. “Then you can go back to wherever you came from. I think that would be best, don't you?” She forced a cruel smile.

I pushed through the back door again and stormed down the stairs. I tried to calm myself on my march across the desert to where Valentino was sitting but succeeded only in slowing my pace. That was enough, I guess. Valentino could probably smell my irritation all the way from the kitchen. When I came close, he glanced my way and his mouth twitched up into a silent snarl. “Not now,” he said and turned away. “Go the hell away.”

I stopped just over an arm's length away and crossed my arms. “When were you going to tell me your son had been kidnapped?”

“Fuck you,
puta
. That shit's none of your goddamn business. Leave me alone.”

“Nina seems to think differently.” He didn't answer me. “Dammit, Valentino, I can help you find him but you've got to be honest with me. You've got to trust me. For your son's sake.”

Valentino was up and on his feet before I finished my next breath, his face just inches from mine. “My brother's dead,” he hissed. “And my son probably, too. At least I have my brother's fucking body to burn. That's more than Leo will ever get. Fucking BSI! Why the hell are you even here? If it wasn't for pencil pushing lowlifes like you, my brother and my son would still be here. All we ever wanted was to live our lives. Just because we're different it doesn't mean you can herd us like sheep and slaughter us like cattle!”

“Valentino,” Sal scolded from the porch.

“Fuck you,” Valentino said and waved his hands dismissively at me before wandering off into the desert.

Sal moved to follow him but Chanter came out the back door and stopped him. “We'll catch up with him later,” the old Indian said. Then he glared at me, the look saying something like, “Are you pleased with the chaos you have wrought?” ...or whatever phrase old werewolf Indians use to say I told you so. “Finish the preparations,” Chanter barked and then stormed back inside.

“Questioning him on the day of his brother's funeral about his family might not have been the best move on your part, Judah,” Sal said, coming up beside me.

“I get the feeling that it doesn't matter the when and where of my questions. Valentino is just generally going to be uncooperative.”

“He's not a bad guy. Headstrong but decent. You just caught him at a bad time.” I glanced over at Sal. He was watching Valentino trek off over the horizon, though his thoughts were very clearly somewhere else. “Do you think he's right? Is there any hope of finding Leo alive?”

I thought about Detective Tindall trudging through the remains of the Summers family across town. “That chance gets lower every day.” There was a short silence. “Hey, I know this might be a bad time but I wanted to ask you something about your ex-wife.”

Sal rolled his eyes. “There's never a good time to talk about Zoe. What do you want to know?”

“I saw her get into a white Jaguar yesterday afternoon. Is that car registered in her name?”

Sal frowned and raised his eyebrows. “No, it's her boyfriend's car. Why?”

“You happen to know the boyfriend's name?” He glared at me. “Please, Sal. That info is either going to expand or shrink my suspect pool. I just wish I knew which.”

“LeDuc.” He gave the name a little extra French flare. “Andre LeDuc. He's some French-Canadian doctor living in Toronto of all places.”

“That’s odd. How did they even meet?”

Sal gave me a sour look and fished out his cigarettes, lighting one. “Work. Zoe used to sing. She had the most beautiful voice. When we met, she was on the verge of stardom, agents coming to her shows every other week and small venues booked for the next six months.”

“Used to?” I said. “She quit?”

He took a long drag, staring off into the distance for a while before answering. “Zoe hasn’t been Zoe, not for almost two years now. About a year before we split up. She took a gig in Toronto in early October last year. I usually go with her but that time I didn’t. I kick myself every day for that decision.”

“Why didn’t you go with her?”

Sal cleared his throat and immediately changed the subject. “How about I introduce you to the rest of the pack
?” Sal put an arm behind my back and pulled me toward the two women that had been stacking wood with him earlier.
I decided not to push the topic further. I’d already angered Valentino. I didn’t need Sal mad at me, too.

Shauna, the first one he introduced me to, was five foot eight inches of solid muscle. She was dark skinned but it would have probably been more accurate to call her mixed race. She wore her dark, feathery hair close cropped and streaked with green, pink and orange. There were silver bars in each of her ears. Shauna didn't say anything to me or offer to shake my hand. She just acknowledged me with a slight nod of the head.

“Shauna here helps manage a gym if you ever want to work out,” Sal bragged.

“You say that like it's something exciting,” Shauna mumbled. “Ninety percent of what I do is mop up blood, sweat and piss when you idiots miss the toilet.”

“She tells the greatest stories about it, though,” offered the other woman, a short and slightly heavy girl with dimpled cheeks and pleasant sea-green eyes.

Sal motioned to the woman that had just spoken. “And this is Daphne. You met Ed, right? Daphne has the displeasure of being his older sister. She's a volunteer counselor out at Concho County General.”

“Ed is a little eccentric,” Daphne explained, gently taking my hand in hers. Her hands were warm and soft, the kind of hands suited more for turning pages than tools. “But I wouldn't trade my brother for the world.”

“Eccentric isn't the right word,” Shauna mumbled and frowned at me. “You're shorter than I thought you'd be.”

“I bet you say that to all the girls,” I said with a stiff grin.

Shauna shifted her weight to the other leg. “Well, I only meant that everyone was so worked up about this new agent in town and here you are. I've seen cacti taller than you. Nobody got their pants in a bunch over them.”

“Depends on how close you get to the cacti.”

Shauna wrinkled her nose at my response. “That kid in there is your boy, huh?”

“Hunter,” I said with a nod.

“Do yourself a favor, lady, and get him help elsewhere.”

“Shauna,” Sal started sternly.

“What? I'm only being honest with her. We've seen problem kids with chips on their shoulders before. There's enough tension in the pack already. We don't need her dragging some stray in because she's got double standards.”

“Wait just a second,” I said putting my hands on my hips. “Double standards?”

“Your laws are good enough for us but not for you?” Shauna snorted. “I had to register and go through your re-education courses. Do you know how many of my classmates are still alive? Two. That's how many. Most of the rest put a silver bullet in their skulls or got black bagged by BSI.”

“I didn't-”

“Maybe you didn't,” she barked. “But that doesn't mean your hands are clean and dirty hands don't get my vote. You think you can just walk in here the same day we commit one of our own and beg Chanter to take care of you?”

“Shauna...” Daphne put a hand on Shauna's shoulder and squeezed. Shauna visibly relaxed and Daphne shifted the gesture of support into a gentle hug. “Let's just get this done, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Shauna said and the two of them went back to adjusting the pyre they were building.

“Tough crowd,” I mumbled.

Sal shrugged as if nothing had happened. “I did try to warn you.”

“Maybe she's right, though.” I ran my fingers through my hair and wished I'd had the foresight to bring something warmer to throw on over my summer clothes. Once the sun dipped below the horizon it was going to get downright chilly.

“Maybe,” Sal said. “She can be bitter about it if she wants but she sure as hell can't blame you for wanting to do what's right for him. Shauna's had a rough life but shell come around and warm up to you eventually. Or, she won't.”

“Somehow, that's not very reassuring, Sal.”

He stretched his arms above his head and cracked his neck. “That's life. Full of uncertainty. Here's a tip, though, that'll make everything easier. Let Hunter fight his own battles. I know your first instinct as his mother is to stand in and negotiate with everyone for him but it isn't fair for everyone to form an opinion of your kid based on their opinion of you and the organization you work for.”

I frowned and watched Shauna and Daphne pull out a stack of newspapers and start lying them across the top, weighting them down with rocks so they wouldn't fly away. Watching them, I found my mind drifting off to the Summers again. I wondered who was handling their bodies, how many uniforms were on the streets, looking for their daughter. Had they died quickly or had the sick, twisted bastard drawn it out for kicks? Who died first and did he make the other one watch while he did it?

“Judah.” The firmness in Sal's voice startled me from my train of thought. I looked up blankly and saw him watching me with those uncomfortably intense eyes. His face lightened almost immediately. “Why don't you go check up on him? We'll call you guys out when we're ready to get started if you want to watch.”

“Yeah,” I said and sank my gaze back down to the ground. “Sure.”

I walked back inside and found Hunter sitting on the floor, rolling a ball around. Ed was snoring on the sofa with an arm thrown over his face while the climax of another episode of
Scooby-Doo
played in the background. Velma pulled the
werewolf mask off the monster of the week and declared the case solved when they found a substitute teacher underneath. I stared at the screen, watching Velma make perfect sense of a whole list of senseless clues while the rest of her group stood back and marveled in awe at her brain power. Of course, the werewolf wasn't really a werewolf. He was a guy posing as a werewolf in order to get away with his evil deeds, which was genius of him. In a world full of monsters, who would ever suspect a human?

Twilight breathed its last breath before they lit the pyre and conducted funerary rites for Elias Garcia. Chanter didn't do the honors, despite being the clear spiritual leader. It would have spoken volumes about his stance on Elias' position in the pack. By abstaining, he could still maintain that he was neither upset nor relieved by Elias' passing. Before things got underway, he did go out and inspect all of Sal's preparations, pointing out some things about the big circle that had been drawn in the sand and rearranging some small things. Still, it was Sal and Valentino that hauled Elias' body onto the pyre. When it came time to light it, Chanter struck up the fire on a torch but passed it on to Sal who then gave it to Valentino.

There were no eulogies or forced remembrances, no kind words for the departed. No one cried. Valentino simply thrust the flame into the pyre and stood by, watching it eat away the dead flesh.

Before that moment, I wouldn't have guessed Sal had such an amazing singing voice but he did. It wasn't anything that would have gone along well with musical accompaniment but alone it was something to listen to. I couldn't understand the words but the cadence of it reminded me more of a lullaby than a prayer, though I was sure it was more the later than the former. If there hadn't been a body burning not fifteen feet away, I could have curled up and gone to sleep to the sound of it and the crackling of the fire. Valentino brought some mundane things, papers mostly, that didn't look like anything special to me but Sal treated them with the highest respect when he lowered them into the pyre. Once the last bit of fuel had been placed in with the body, Valentino stepped outside the circle and started stripping off his clothes.