Chapter 7 #2
“He never would have made that call if he’d known about your theft charges,” I reminded her.
“He feels terrible about what he did. It was all a big misunderstanding.” Cam had assumed Vero had stolen his Lincoln Mark V in retaliation for the time he’d “borrowed” her beloved Charger.
But the souped-up purple Lincoln hadn’t belonged to him either.
It had belonged to Mrs. Haggerty. And Vero would never have driven that hideous monstrosity if my neighbor hadn’t given her the keys and asked her to do it as a favor.
Mrs. Haggerty had been quick to clear up the misunderstanding with our local police, but not before they’d discovered Vero’s warrant in Maryland.
“If given the opportunity, I’m sure Cam would want to help. ”
“We can find Theo ourselves,” she said stubbornly.
“I’ll bring my rolling pin,” Gloria said. “Your mother and I can be very persuasive.”
“You and Aunt Norma are staying here,” Ramón said. “Someone has to stay and keep an eye on Vero. She shouldn’t be there, in case things get ugly.”
“Oh, they’ll definitely get ugly.” Javi’s eyes gleamed with menace.
“This will not get ugly,” I said sternly.
“The last thing we need is to do anything that might reflect badly on Vero. Picking a fight with a witness will only hurt her case.” Javi looked like he wouldn’t be above breaking a few kneecaps to jog Theo’s memory.
For that matter, neither did Norma and Gloria.
Someone had to be the voice of reason. “When we figure out where Theo lives, I will go and talk with him. I’m sure he can be persuaded to do the right thing …
without bloodshed,” I added pointedly. “If Javi and Ramón want to come along, they can wait in the car.”
“And if Theo refuses to testify?” Javi asked.
“Then—and only then—will we consider less diplomatic tactics.” Javi and Ramón weren’t the only ones who were willing to do whatever it took to get Vero back home where she belonged.
We all ducked at the crash of shattering glass. Something heavy hit the floor with a thump.
Ramón and Javi bolted to their feet. They tore through the living room, unlocked the back door, and sprinted out of the house.
The rest of us rose from the table, rattled.
Shards of broken glass glistened in the carpet under a jagged hole in the living room window. A rock lay in the middle of the floor.
A bright white shoestring had been tied around it, holding a piece of paper in place.
“What does it say?” Gloria asked as Norma bent to pick it up.
Norma freed the slip of paper and squinted at it, holding it a full arm’s length in front of her. “Let me borrow your readers,” she said to Gloria. Gloria pulled a pair of neon-pink frames from her pocket and passed them to Norma. Gloria and I read the note over her shoulder.
You’re all thieves!
It was written in the same handwriting as the folded message in the envelope on Vero’s desk.
We started, hands to our hearts, as Javi and Ramón burst back into the house.
“We couldn’t find them,” Javi said, bent over his knees as he struggled to catch his breath.
“Did you get a look at their car?” I asked.
“Didn’t see one,” he answered. “They must have parked somewhere else and come on foot.”
“The camera didn’t catch anything either.” Ramón tossed the rumpled pillowcase at Vero. She looked guilty as she caught it against her chest.
“Maybe one of the neighbors saw something,” Gloria suggested.
“I already asked,” said Ramón. “Lenore doesn’t remember seeing any cars.”
“Lenore doesn’t remember her own name most days,” Vero pointed out.
“I asked Wendell, too. He was outside on his porch, smoking his cigar. But the only person he saw was Sophia on her way out for a jog.”
Javi’s attention snapped to Ramón. “Sophia’s back?”
Vero shot him a look of disgust. “Don’t look so excited to hear it.”
“I’m not! I just didn’t expect her to be home. That’s all.”
“Who’s So—”
Vero shushed me with a finger. “Don’t say her name. I hear it only takes three times to summon a demon.”
Gloria scolded her. “Don’t be ugly, Veronica. Sophia went to grade school with Javi and Ramón. She moved back in with her parents a few months ago. They live at the end of the block.”
“She’s no one we should be concerned with,” Vero said, glaring at Javi. “She’s got nothing to do with any of this. She didn’t even go to college.”
“I heard she found a job at Hooters,” Gloria said. “Sophia always did have a beautiful figure. Probably from all the working out.”
Vero scowled at her aunt. “All this talk about her is working out my last nerve.”
“We should at least talk to her,” I suggested. “Maybe she saw something.”
Vero glowered at Javi, ready to pounce if he volunteered.
“I’ll do it in the morning,” Ramón said. “It’s late, and I need to get that window secured if we’re going to get any sleep tonight.” Glass crunched under his boots as he went to get some plywood and nails from the garage.
“I’ll get the vacuum,” Gloria said.
Javi’s eyes cut to the newly installed chain locks and dead bolts on the front door. “How long has this been going on?” he asked Vero.
“Since before I got here.” She took the note from her mother and stuffed it into her pocket without bothering to read it, as if she already knew what it would say. “They’re the same kinds of messages I was getting back at Ramón’s.”
I shook my head. “Those notes might have been written by the same person, Vero, but they are not the same. Those earlier ones were just letters on paper. Not threats in spray paint or hate mail on rotten eggs. And definitely not a rock through a window. Someone could have been hurt tonight. We should report it to the police.”
“We’re not calling the cops,” she said stubbornly.
I looked at Norma for support, for some affirmation from the only other mature adult in the room that filing a police report was the logical thing to do, but she only shook her head.
“Those messages … what they say, the things they accuse her of … they will only make her look guilty. Vero’s right.
We should leave it alone. Ramón will talk to Sophia in the morning and ask her if she saw anything. ”
Ramón came into the room carrying a piece of plywood and a hammer. Gloria brought the vacuum. Neither one of them said a word, though I was sure they had both heard my suggestion about calling the police.
Vero knelt behind her cousin, glass clinking quietly as she began gathering up the shards while he set the board over the broken pane.
I looked pleadingly at Javi. He held the plywood in place while Ramón hammered.
I knew Javi was no fan of law enforcement, and they were all just trying to protect Vero, but was I the only one who was worried these threats might continue to escalate?
And yet, as I remembered the note I’d found on her desk earlier, I couldn’t deny how all this could be twisted and used against her in court. Someone who knew her—had probably gone to school with her, maybe even lived with her—believed Vero was guilty, with enough conviction to vandalize her home.
I knelt beside her and helped her pick up the glass.
When we were done, Norma tossed the rock into the trash can. “Come on, everyone. The capirotada is getting cold.”
We all took our places around the table as if the interruption had never happened. Norma pulled a bottle of schnapps from the cabinet while Gloria spooned out generous portions of dessert. I took a serving of bread pudding, but it did little to settle my nerves.
“It’s late,” Norma said. “We should all get some rest. Finlay, you shouldn’t drive home tonight. You can sleep on the trundle in Vero’s room.”
“I don’t want to impose,” I insisted. “I can stay at a hotel and come back in the—”
Ramón and Vero shook their heads in short, clipped movements, a clear warning in their eyes that it would be rude to say no. “That would be lovely,” I said. As soon as the words were out, the tension lifted from the table.
“Thank you for dinner,” Javi said to Norma. She answered with a curt nod. He held his palm out for my keys as he rose from his chair. “I’ll sleep in the van and keep an eye on the house.”
Gloria, Ramón, and Vero all pinned Norma with a look.
“You’ll sleep in the basement with Ramón,” Norma relented.
Javi’s jaw fell slack with surprise, and he offered a quiet “Thank you.”
Norma got up to clear the dishes. “Get some sleep, everyone. Tomorrow, we’ll look for Theo and make him tell everyone what he knows.”