Trifecta (27 page)

"I'd have to shoot the dog, first, and that would
be a shame," Thomas McQuery said in a conversational tone.  "Such a beautiful
animal, who's just protecting his master."

"Who are you?" Quijada asked.  He seemed perfectly
unruffled, but Julia knew he was probably thinking that he had the man outgunned. 
She almost felt like she was in a gangster movie.  The whole confrontation seemed
like a crazy, surreal dream, here in this rich and beautiful residential area.

"Police Officer Thomas McQuery," he answered. 
"I would advise you to hold on tight to that leash.  I would also like to get
the registration, and a look at the license-to-carry, for the guns your friends
are holding."

"They're perfectly legal," Quijada said. 

"Well now, I'm going to take your word for that, Mr.
Quijada.  If you tell your guards to put the guns down on the ground.  Then Mr.
Chavier and Ms. Monay will leave.  Cause it looked like your associates here were
threatening my two good friends.  Otherwise, I'd have to make out police reports
and take you all downtown for questioning.  It would be time consuming and a gigantic
hassle, which I certainly wish to avoid." 

McQuery sounded amiable and calm, but his air of authority
overrode the conversational tone.  Julia had no doubt he would use his weapon.

"That won't be necessary," Quijada said.  He
was suddenly speaking in rapid-fire Spanish and the guards slowly and reluctantly
put their guns down in the roadside and stepped away from them.

Robin still had his arm around Julia.  He guided her around
Quijada and his guards until they were beside Thomas McQuery.

"Back up slowly and go to Julia's car," McQuery
told Robin.  "I'll hold them here till you leave."

"I'm not leaving.  He might set the dog loose,"
Robin said very softly.

"Then I'll shoot the dog," McQuery said.  "Go
now.  I'll be fine.  Wait for me on Sunset Boulevard.  If I don't show up in ten
minutes call for backup."

Robin was still hesitating.

"Get out of here," McQuery said roughly.  "Take
care of your girl."

Robin nodded at McQuery, and then Julia and Robin backed
up until they were against the car.  Julia could see Quijada's black eyes staring
with hatred.  She pulled the keys out of her jacket pocket and handed them to Robin
with shaking fingers.  No way was she going to drive.  She felt faint and wondered
if the sick feeling was from the terror of seeing Quijada again, or caused by her
pregnancy.

R
obin took the keys from Julia's fingers and opened
the driver's side door.  She got in and slid to the passenger side.  She waited
while Robin stood watching the men in the street for a while.  Then he got in too. 

"The tires will probably be slashed when I come back
for my car," Robin said as he started the engine.  "But it's better to
do what McQuery says.  He's had lots of experience in these kinds of things."

They drove past the tableau in the roadway; one man solidly
planted in the middle of the street holding three men and a huge dog at gun point.

"Was Quijada really serious about the murder/suicide,
or just trying to scare me?" Julia asked as she turned her head, watching the
standoff until they went around a curve and the odd scene was lost to view.

"Quijada would try to make it look like I killed you,
first.  Then committed suicide.  Maybe take our bodies back to my cabin at Lake
Arrowhead and arrange them so it would appear as if we had a nasty, bloody fight. 
That's what they planned before.  Juan Carlos admitted it."

Julia shook her head.  "Unbelievable.  He's way off
the mainstream of normal reality."

"It's worse than you think.  Juan Carlos was promised
a piece of the action when he broke into my cabin last time.  Quijada told Juan
and Mike to tie you up and rape and torture you.  Before they killed you.  They
would have forced me to watch.  Quijada wanted a video of the rape, to satisfy some
perverted hunger.  He not only wanted us dead, he wanted to ruin our reputations,
with a sordid depiction of our deaths."

Julia sat there in shock.  "I knew Quijada was despicable. 
But that's beyond belief." 

"Delusions of grandeur," Robin said shortly. 
"He thinks he can get away with anything.  But he'll get a strong and gritty
dose of real life when he's arrested.  And it won't be long."

Julia nodded at Robin's profile and looked down at the
ring on her hand, trying to dispel ugly thoughts of murder and torture.  The ring
was so beautiful.  And it fit perfectly.  She sighed and took it off.  "That
was quick thinking, about the ring," she said, holding it out to him.

"I got it for you."  Robin took a brief glance
at her and smiled.  "Looks like it fits perfectly."

"I can't accept," Julia said immediately, still
holding it out.  "Even a fake ring with this beauty and craftsmanship is very
valuable."

This was not the right time and circumstance to give her
the ring, but now that she had it he would never take it back.  It annoyed him to
think she could believe he'd give her a fake ring.  "I'd rather you kept it. 
Even if it's so fake it turns your finger green, promise not to throw it away?"
he added, a little anxiously.

"Oh, never.  It's the most beautiful simulation I've
ever seen.  I really do love it, Robin.  It looks like a sparkling flower.  Or a
snowflake.  I don't care if it's fake."  She polished it with her shirt and
held her hand up, admiring the thick band of intertwined hearts and roses and the
beautiful imitation diamonds.

"Yeah.  Fake as my cheating heart," Robin said
rather drolly.  He was looking at her oddly. 

Julia laughed.  The way he said it was funny, but she didn't
like joking about something that had hurt her so badly.  She looked at him quickly,
saw him laughing too.  "Well, it will be a good reminder for me."

"Yeah.  Is it real or is it Memorex?  Is it a mechanic,
or a slimy lying lawyer?  What's behind the third door?  The lady or the lion?"

"How profound," Julia commented with some amusement. 
"But thank you.  I promise to keep the ring."  She looked down so he couldn't
see her face.  "I'm glad we're talking again.  I really do like you, Robin."

"I know," Robin said gently and very softly. 
"And I like you."

Julia felt tears welling up in her eyes.  Damn, the pregnancy
was playing havoc with her emotions.  She turned and looked out the window so he
couldn't see the moisture in her eyes.  She blinked rapidly, hoping a tear wouldn't
fall.  He might notice if she had to wipe it away.  It was black night outside and
very quiet.  She wished she could stay in the car forever.  Safe with Robin.  The
thought of going back alone to her hotel room was a bleak idea.

"I do like women," Robin said.

"Yes.  Well, that's what I understand now."

"Yeah.  And I mean the whole gender.  I love little
three- year-olds.  Beautiful and arrogant teenagers.  Or the shy, awkward ones. 
And the wonderful mothers.  And grandmothers.  I think I love them best of all. 
With their kindness and wisdom, and soft wrinkled skin."

No wonder she had cared for him, Julia thought sadly.

"I date a lot of women," Robin went on.  "Always
looking for the special one who'll make me forget all the rest.  So I don't waste
time.  Not their's and not mine."

This was it, Julia thought sadly.  The kiss-off.  The irrevocable
brush off.  It was the final good-by.  He was trying to justify his womanizing ways
so she wouldn't take it personally, but damn, even after all this time, it sure
hurt like hell.  The ring was a farewell gift.  And Julia realized she couldn't
be angry any more, which had just been a cover up to hide the pain, which was now
descending with a force that took her breath away.  Julia squarely faced the fact
that she loved Robin and the feeling was not reciprocated.

"Sometimes I sleep with women that I like and who
like me."  Robin was speaking in a monotone, looking straight out the front
windshield.  "I can't really excuse my behavior.  But I'm a young healthy male. 
I was always afraid I wouldn't meet the special woman I hoped to find someday. 
It would be such a waste to pass up something as wonderful as sex, for something
I felt might never materialize."

"Your dream woman?" Julia asked, trying hard
to keep from breaking out in tears.  She was also thinking it wasn't fair.  Robin
could carouse around with lots of women, but women were expected to stay chaste
and wait, perhaps in vain, for their knight on a white horse.  Julia knew, for her,
the knight had come and gone, even though he was sitting right here beside her.

Robin nodded.  "You understand my reasoning?"

The awful thing about it was that Julia did understand,
perfectly.  He proclaimed that he wanted to meet someone who would be the ideal
woman for him, so he could give up all the rest.  But he wasn't holding his breath. 
He would enjoy his life, even if he never found his paragon of womanhood.

"Of course.  It's good of you to explain it to me,"
Julia said stiffly.

"I don't think you really do understand."

"Oh, yes I do," Julia said.  "And you're
right.  Not to waste time with women who are wrong for you."

"If you have no experience, you have no basis for
comparison."

"And you're very experienced," Julia commented
wryly.

"Enough to know exactly what I want.  Uh...my experience
was accumulated in a careful manner."

He was saying he had practiced safe sex, Julia concluded. 
And that experience had paid off, making him an extraordinary lover.  Julia found
herself a little angry at his attitude, though.  He wasn't facing the fact that
he would never find that perfect woman.  She didn't exist.  And catting around would
become a way of life.  He didn't want to admit that he liked abundant sex with different
partners because it was an unaccepted and unorthodox way of life. 

It was sad because Julia had always wanted one man to grow
old with.  For a few wonderful hours she had believed it would be Robin.  Those
hours had been the happiest in her lifetime. 

There was one instance in which Robin had not practiced
safe sex.  And she was glad.

"I've always wanted children.  One man will suit me
just fine," Julia commented a little shortly.

"My attitude exactly."

But that wasn't his attitude, Julia thought.  Unless she
was misinterpreting him entirely.  Maybe he really was looking for the perfect woman. 
But he would probably set his standards far too high for any one woman to meet.

They reached Sunset Boulevard and parked the car on the
side of the road, sitting in silence for a while, waiting for Thomas McQuery.  Julia
wished she could stare at him now that she knew that her time was strictly limited. 
Robin said he didn't waste time and she wanted to memorize his face.  He was still
the most attractive man she had ever seen.  Which had been the reason she had decided
he was a degenerate, so long ago, when she had first seen him in the impound yard. 
He had been scruffy, with a slight growth of beard, dusty jeans and no shirt.  She
had been so attracted, right then, she decided he must be a rogue.  Now it seemed
like a curse.  One that would never go away.

"I could sit here forever," Robin said contentedly
as he leaned his head back against the seat rest, looking at her through half closed
lids.  She was surprised because it was exactly what she had been thinking earlier. 
He was still looking at her oddly. 

"I have deep reservations about taking you to the
final interrogation of the men who murdered your brother.  It will be  hard to listen
to.  You'll have to be strong tonight.  I'm afraid it might be painful."

She took a deep breath and nodded.  "I want to go."

"I knew you would," Robin said.  "It'll
put an end to all the speculation.  But it might leave you with some terrible nightmares."

Julia nodded, and rubbed the ring with the soft material
of her black shirt.  She could almost see dark sparkles in the shadows.

Julia was sitting alone in a small dismal room.  The walls
were comprised of cinder block in an awful shade of bile green and the bare ceiling
had acoustical tile and harsh florescent lights.  There was just a scarred, four
legged wooden table and a few straight backed folding chairs.  It was the place
for viewing another room through a large one way mirror in the wall opposite her. 
No one was in the other room yet.  She had a strange sense that this was all unreal. 
It was exactly like the rooms she had seen on T.V., with the cop actors watching
an interrogation.

Julia took the ring out of her purse.  Robin had told her
to put it away while she was in the police station because some unsavory character
might think it was real.  Before it had been dark, in the street and in the car. 
Here in the harsh florescent lighting she could really study it.  Robin said he
got it because it made him think about her, and she wanted to see why. 

It was definitely unusual, delicate but heavy, and extraordinarily
beautiful, almost an antique setting.

Then Tony walked into the room where Julia was sitting."Hi,
Julia."  He was smiling with that wide leprechaun grin.

"Tony," Julia said surprised, slipping the ring
on her finger without thinking.  The last time she had seen him was at the cabin
at Lake Arrowhead.  "It's nice to see you again."

Tony took a chair and sat down at the table beside her. 
"It shouldn't be long now.  Robin asked me to come and sit with you.  He didn't
want you to be alone when you watched this."

"Why can't he be in here?" Julia asked.

"He and Jay reopened the murder case.  Really, Robin
did all the work.  He's not pushy, as you know, but the day after you left California
he was at Cedars-Sinai Hospital with mug shots of Juan Carlos, asking all the hospital
personnel if they recognized him.  There were some good breaks.  He presented all
the evidence to the D.A. and forced our office to reopen the investigation just
last night.  We think Juan Carlos will break and incriminate Aaron Quijada.  Maybe
tonight."

"Unbelievable," Julia said.  She was dumbfounded. 
Robin must have been working awfully hard so she could get justice for her brother.

Tony nodded.  "That's why he didn't go to Boston immediately. 
You didn't know?"

Julia shook her head. 

"Robin never says anything.  He's been working night
and day with the prosecutors in our office.  So he'll be in the interrogation room,
too, since he found all the evidence.  See, we're not telling Juan Carlos he's been
fingered as the unknown orderly who went into your brother's hospital room and sabotaged
the life support machinery.  Not yet, anyway.  Because when that comes out, there's
no way we're willing to plea bargain with him.  Right now Juan Carlos thinks he's
going to be charged with attempted burglary and assault only, if he incriminates
Quijada in the drug trade.  We've been letting him stew for a while."  He pointed
at the still empty room they were looking into.

"So he really did it," Julia said.

"I have the eye witness accounts."  He picked
up his briefcase and put it on the table in front of them, snapping the locks open. 
"I'll show you some of the evidence, although I'm not supposed to.  But you
are closest relative of the deceased.  You wanted the case about your brother investigated,
so we could say that Robin was working for you.  This is some of the evidence he
collected."

He opened the briefcase and handed Julia the copy of an
interrogation.  "That's one of the nurses who was on the floor."  As Julia
started to read the report about an intensive care nurse noticing a small dark man
in a orderly's uniform that she had never seen before in her hospital, Tony interrupted.

"Well!  Congratulations, Julia!"

She looked at him, surprised, when he leaned over and kissed
her cheek.  "What?"

"He's been keeping that ring in his pocket for the
last couple of weeks.  We all told him he was crazy to carry it around like that. 
It's far too valuable.  But I'm so glad, for both of you."

"No," Julia said, looking at the ring in shock. 
"This isn't real?"

"What do you mean?" Tony asked, gazing back at
her with equal surprise.

Julia was still staring at the ring in dazed astonishment. 
"It's a fake ring.  I know it is."

"Oh, no."  Tony was looking at her in anguish. 
"Oh, please don't tell me you thought it was fake?  Cause if I jumped the gun
here, Robin's going to kill me."