Web of Evil

Dave Holman didn't budge. 'Are you coming or not?' Ali asked.

'You and Eddie go on ahead,' Dave said. 'And you'd better make it quick. If Hubbard and Martin come back with a warrant, this may be your only chance.'

'And what are you going to do?' Ali asked.

'I'll let you know if it works,' Dave replied.

Ali scrambled out of the Nissan and motioned for Eddie Duarte to join her. A moment later, they were standing on the porch in front of a sun-bleached mahogany door. Ali pressed the doorbell, but there was no answering ring from inside. While she waited, Ali edged over to one of the windows. The curtains had been pulled shut, but there was enough of a space left between them that Ali was able to see into the living room, where a stack of taped cardboard boxes and a collection of mismatched luggage gave evidence of hurried packing. Apparently Jesus and Clemencia Sanchez were headed out of Dodge.

Convinced the doorbell wasn't in working order, Ali tried knocking instead. Nothing happened then, either.

'Her name is Clemencia,' Ali told Eddie. 'Call out to her. Tell her we know she's inside. Tell her I'm here. Say I need to talk to her and that we aren't going away until I dothat we'll stay here all afternoon if necessary. Tell her that the neighbors already saw the cops come and go, and they're watching us now.'

It was several long minutes before Clemencia Sanchez finally came to the door. She pulled it open slightly and then slipped outside. The look she leveled in Ali's direction was nothing short of venomous.

'What do you want?' she demanded.

'Where's Jesus?' Ali returned. 'I need to talk to him.'

Ali knew for sure that Clemencia understood that much English, but the woman deliberately turned away from her, looking instead to Eddie as though she expected understanding from him rather than a translation, which he nonetheless provided.

'He's gone,' Clemencia answered. 'He went away.'

'Gone where?' Ali asked.

Clemencia shrugged. 'It doesn't matter. He isn't coming back.'

'But I want to give him his job back,' Ali said. 'He should never have been fired in the first place. It was a mistake.'

Unimpressed, Clemencia shrugged again. Ali tried another tack.

'The cops that were here before. What did they want?'

Clemencia's dark eyes sparked with sudden fury. Her nostrils flared. 'Jesus knew they would come for him, and they did. That's why he left, thank God. He went away before they got here.'

'But why would they come for him?' Ali asked.

'Because that awful woman fired him,' Clemencia said in a barrage of angry Spanish. 'You wanted him gone, but she was the one who did the dirty work for you. And when he was ready to leave and went to turn in his keys, there she wasat the bottom of the stairs.'

'Monique had already fallen before Jesus left? Why didn't he call for help?'

'Because he thought she was already dead,' Clemencia answered. 'It looked to him like she was dead. And Jesus knew what the cops would thinkthat since she fired him, he killed her. He dropped his key ring, and he's sure they found it. They'll find his fingerprints there, too, and they'll blame him.' For the first time, Clemencia's fury seemed to dissolve into something closer to despair. She stopped speaking and blinked back tears.

At the time the EMTs had been moving Monique to the gurney, Ali had been too busy to pay any attention to the key ring. She had been focused instead on the phone. But she remembered it now. And she knew, just as the detectives had, that the keys had belonged to Jesus Sanchez because his name had been on the ring as well. Paul Grayson had been a great one for wielding his P-Touch labeler. Everyone who had access to the house or the grounds, Ali included, had been issued appropriate sets of keys with their names clearly visible.

She also understood why Jesus had chosen to disappear. She knew full well that the U.S. Constitution aside, all men are not created equal. Hispanics or blacks accused of crimes often found themselves on an entirely different legal track than Anglos didone with an automatic presumption of guilt rather than innocence. In fact, she thought wryly, the same thing held true when media babes ended up accused of crimes they may not have committed.

'I'd like to help,' Ali said quietly.

Without needing or waiting for Eddie to translate, Clemencia replied, 'Why?'

'Because I know what it feels like to be suspected of doing something you haven't done,' Ali said. She scrounged in her purse until she found one of Victor's cards. She handed it over. 'If Jesus wants an attorney, have him call this man.'

Clemencia studied the gold-embossed card then handed it back. 'We could not afford someone like this,' she said.

Just then Ali remembered Velma T's nephew. Maybe Jesus and Clemencia wouldn't find him quite as daunting. 'There's another man I could recommend then,' Ali said. 'I'll forward his information to your niece, Andrea.'

'But still amp;' Clemencia objected. 'We can't afford to pay for any attorney.'

'I can afford it,' Ali said. 'And I will. Be sure to tell Jesus that when you talk to him. And be sure he knows that if he wants it, he still has a job.'

With that, she turned and walked away.

CHAPTER 12

Eddie Duarte stayed on the porch for several minutes after Ali returned to the car and while she was giving Dave a brief summary of what had transpired.

'You gave Jesus Sanchez Victor Angeleri's card?' he asked incredulously. 'Who's going to pay the bill? I'd hate to think what his hourly billable rate is.'

'She didn't take it,' Ali said. 'But I'll pay for whatever attorney they do hire.'

'So now you're setting out to save the world?'

'Only the parts of it I've screwed up,' Ali responded.

'Excuse me,' Dave returned. 'As far as I can tell, you had nothing at all to do with the fact that Monique Ragsdale took a header down those stairs.'

'No, but if it turns out she was pushed'

'She was,' Dave interjected.

'You know that for sure?' Ali asked.

Dave nodded. 'I have a source who confirmed it as a suspected homicide while you were busy with Clemencia.'

'Then whoever's responsible is probably connected to me as well,' Ali asserted. 'And if Jesus is being wrongly blamed for what happened to her? Well, I'm connected to him, too.'

'I hope your husband left you a ton of money then,' Dave said. 'It sounds like you're going to need it.'

Eddie Duarte approached Ali's side of the car and tapped on the window. She rolled it down.

'What did Clemencia say after I left?' Ali asked.

Eddie frowned. 'She told me that you're as evil as your husband.'

That revelation hurt Ali's feelings. Personally, she had to agree about Paulhe was evilbut Ali didn't like being tarred with the same brush.

'I told her I knew you were a good person,' Eddie continued. 'And that if you said you would do something, you would do it. I'm not sure she believed me, though.'

Why would she? Ali thought. 'Thank you for saying that, Eddie, and thank you for coming,' she added. 'I really appreciate your help.'

'Not that it did much good,' Eddie said dejectedly and, offering a good-bye, returned to his car.

'Where to now?' Dave asked. 'Back to the hotel?'

Ali nodded.