Web of Evil

A few minutes later, dressed but with a towel wrapped around her wet hair, Ali hurried down the hall to April's room and knocked on the door. A young woman Ali had never met before opened the door. The room was strewn with a collection of clothing and garment bags. April stood in front of a mirror wearing a full-length navy blue maternity smock complete with wide pleats, a white Peter Pan collar, and matching white cuffs.

'This is my friend Cindy Durbin,' April explained. 'Even though it's Sunday and she's supposed to be off work, she brought over some clothes for me to try on. What do you think?' April turned in front of the mirror. 'Is this too retro?'

Ali nodded curtly in Cindy's direction. The outfit was retro, all right. It looked like it could have stepped right out of Lucille Ball's 1950s costume closet for the old I Love Lucy shows that were still in perpetual reruns on TV Land.

'It's fine,' Ali said.

April turned from the mirror and studied Ali's face, which must have betrayed some of her roiling feelings. 'What's wrong?' April asked.

'Someone fired Jesus Sanchez, the gardener, yesterday,' Ali said. 'Did you do it?'

'No,' April responded. 'Mom did. His salary and the cook's both came out of what Paul kept in petty cash. Other than my credit cards, that's the only real money I have right now. Mother said I couldn't afford to keep paying them because I'd run out of money that much sooner. She said she'd take care of getting rid of them for me so I wouldn't have to do it. Why, did we do something wrong?'

Yes, you did something wrong, Ali thought, but there didn't seem much point in discussing it.

'Never mind,' she said. 'I'll fix it. What's the cook's name?'

'Henrietta, I think,' April said. 'Henrietta Jackson.'

'Where does she live? How long had she worked for you? Do you have a phone number for her?'

'No. Paul probably had that information, but I don't. It would be in his office.'

And that's locked up behind a wall of crime scene tape, Ali thought. How convenient.

'That's all right,' she said. 'I'll find her.'

'Why?' April asked. 'What are you going to do?'

'I'm going to hire them back,' Ali replied. 'Or, if nothing else, I'll at least offer them severance pay.'

'But who's going to pay it?' April objected. 'I can't.'

'Then I guess I will,' Ali said.

With that, she stalked out of the room and slammed the door shut behind her.

CHAPTER 11

With her temper flaring, Ali stormed back into the room she was sharing with her mother, where she was surprised to find Edie seated at the desk in front of Ali's open laptop. Dave Holman had arrived and taken over the easy chair. He was also finishing up the leavings from their breakfast cart.

'No breakfast buffet at Motel 6,' he explained, polishing off the last remaining croissant. 'Who lit a fire under you?'

'Monique Ragsdale fired both the cook and the gardener yesterday to keep April from spending some of her precious stash of cash. She sent them packing and blamed it all on me.'

'So?' Dave said.

'We're going to find them and hire them back.'

'But they can't go back to the house,' Dave objected. 'The place is a crime scene.'

'The fact that it's a crime scene isn't their fault,' Ali replied. 'If nothing else, I can offer them severance pay. Did anyone call?'

Edie nodded and handed Ali her cell phone. 'Andrea Morales,' Edie said. 'She wants you to call her back.'

'The gardener's niece,' Ali explained as she scrolled through her received calls and punched the appropriate number.

'Andrea?' Ali asked.

'Yes.'

'This is all a terrible misunderstanding. Your uncle never should have been fired in the first place. Is it possible for you to put me in touch with him?'

'Why?' Andrea asked bluntly.

'Because I want to offer him severance pay at least and possibly his job back,' Ali answered. 'There's some confusion with my husband's estate at the moment. The right hand doesn't necessarily know what the left hand is doing.'

'The woman who fired him knew perfectly well what she was doing,' Andrea countered. 'She told him he should get his stuff together and get the hell out. She said you were the boss now, and that you didn't want to pay him anymore.'

'But I will pay him,' Ali insisted. 'Can you put me in touch with him?'

'My uncle's English isn't so good,' Andrea said. 'He'll need someone to translate.'

'Would you?'

'I guess,' Andrea agreed.

'So where is he?'

'Here,' she said. 'Well, a few blocks away.'

'Where's here?' Ali asked.

Andrea didn't answer the question directly. 'Let me ask him if he wants to talk to you. I'll call you back.'

Ali hung up and turned to face Dave. 'Now how do I find Henrietta Jackson?'

'Who's she? The cook?' Dave asked.

Ali nodded.

'And that's all the information you have on herjust her name? No address? No phone number?'

'Paul probably had more information than that, but it would be in his office and'

'And the house is a crime scene,' Dave finished for her.

'Exactly.'

Dave busied himself with making phone calls, but Ali didn't listen to what he was doing. She was thinking about Paul Grayson. She had always had her own money, but Paul had handled the bill paying for everything, including the household accounts. She had never realized until today that the help had been paid in cash. Despite the fact that they had been in this country for years, it probably meant that either Jesus or his wife, Clemencia Sanchez, or both of them were illegals, living and working beneath the INS radar.

For the first time Ali wondered about Elvira Jimenez, Paul's former cook. Was the same true for her? Was she, too, working without proper papers? And what had happened to her? After years of working in the household, why had she been let go? And what about Henrietta? The woman's distinctive accent placed her as being from somewhere in the southern United States. She certainly wasn't an undocumented immigrant, so was she working in an underground economy simply to avoid paying taxes? And if Ali did manage to find Jesus and Henrietta and offer them their jobs back, what kind of liability would she be incurring?

'Your cook has no driver's license as far as I can find,' Dave announced a few minutes later. 'At least, she doesn't have a California driver's license.'

'How did you do that?'

'I know people who know people,' he said.

'What about Jesus Sanchez? Could you find him?'

'I thought his niece was going to put you in touch with him.'

'What if she doesn't? What if I need to find him on my own?'

A moment later, when Ali's phone rang, her concern about locating Jesus Sanchez proved entirely accurate. 'My uncle doesn't want to see you,' Andrea Morales announced.