TWENTY-TWO
Hank Williams was buried two days later, and Darcy Daniels three. Governor Bode Bonner stood between his wife and daughter as Darcy's casket was lowered into the ground. Becca buried her face in his chest and cried until his shirt was wet. Roped-off barricades manned by Texas Rangers and state troopers kept the crowd back. Security was tight, but television cameras captured every moment. Lindsay Bonner wore a black dress, a black hat, and a black veil.
Enrique de la Garza watched the funeral on the television. Even in the veil, something about the governor's wife seemed vaguely familiar, as if he had seen her before. But like a dream he could not fully recall, he could not place her. He turned back to his abogado but pointed at the screen.
'They bury their people. I want to bury my son.'
'Enrique,' his lawyer said, 'during the last month I have exhausted every possible avenue-diplomatic channels through the American consulate, every political connection I have here and in the U.S., the church… I even called the local sheriff in Fort Davis and offered compensation. But he refused. The Americans, they will not release his body. And they probably have moved the body by now, to El Paso or perhaps Austin.' He gestured at the television. 'And trying to kill the governor, that did not help matters.'
Felix Montemayor had once served as attorney general of Mexico. Born into an aristocratic family in Guadalajara, he had attended college at Stanford and law school at Yale. He had pursued a political career long enough to become connected and then a lucrative career in private law; he now enjoyed a more lucrative career as Enrique's personal lawyer. The press had dubbed him el abogado del Diablo. The devil's advocate. Enrique slid the satellite phone across the desk to his lawyer.
'Get him on the phone.'
'The governor?'
'The sheriff.'
Felix found the number in his briefcase then dialed. He put the phone to his ear. After a moment, he said, 'Sheriff Roscoe Lee, please. Felix Montemayor calling.'
Enrique gestured for the phone. He took it and waited for the sheriff to answer. A slow Texas drawl came across the line from four hundred miles away.
'This here's Sheriff Lee. Mr. Montemayor-'
'No, Sheriff. This is Enrique de la Garza.'
The phone went silent, but he could hear breathing.
'You know who I am, Sheriff?'
'I do.'
'And you know what I want?'
'I reckon so.'
'One million dollars, Sheriff. Cash. For my son's body. I can wire the money anywhere in the world you would like.'
'But I live here. In Fort Davis, Texas.'
'Then I will give you the money there.'
There was a long pause and then a heavy sigh.
'Well, I don't know what the hell I'd do with a million dollars anyway, Mr. de la Garza. Guess I'll pass.'
'Sheriff, are you a father?'
'I am.'
'Then you must understand my desire to bury my son in a proper Catholic service?'
'I do. But I can't let go of the body without the state boys and the Feds giving their okay, and that just ain't gonna happen, 'specially after you just tried to kill the governor. Some folks take offense at that sort of thing. So your boy is just gonna have to sit in my freezer a while longer.'
Enrique ended the call and looked at his lawyer.
'His body is still there.'
'This one of those unforeseen, unexpected, unpleasant moments?'
Jim Bob turned to the insurance policy named Eddie Jones and nodded.
'But not the kind I figured on.'
'You want me to bodyguard the boss from now on?'
Jim Bob shook his head. 'From what I hear, you're a little quick on the trigger.'
'Maybe. But I never lost a client.'
'We brought in more Rangers, SWAT guys carrying more than pistols.'
'Good. 'Cause they'll be back.'
'Bode killed them.'
'There'll be more.'
'I knew that was his son,' Lindsay said. 'Now he wants revenge.'
'Which is why you can't go back to the border. It's not safe, Lindsay. He might come after you.'
'No one down there knows who I am. In the colonias, I'm just a nurse.'
'What about Becca? This hit her hard.'
'I'll stay until she's ready to go back to school. She needs a bodyguard.'
The Governor's Mansion looked like a scene out of The Godfather after the war between the Mafia families had begun; armed guards patrolled the perimeter and spotters with rifles stood on the roof. Ranger Roy loitered thirty feet away. He apparently had decided not to let the governor's wife out of his sight this time, and he hadn't since she had returned to Austin. She had been gone a month, the longest she had ever been apart from her husband. She had embraced Bode when she had first returned to the Mansion, but not since. She still slept on the day bed. Even nearly getting killed couldn't bring his wife back to their bed. Even though he had banished Mandy to the governor's office in the State Capitol. They now sat outside on the bench facing the south lawn. They had returned from the funeral but had not gone inside the Mansion. They sat close, but he knew better than to touch her.
'It's good to have you back.'
'I'm not back.'
'You ever coming back? For good?'
'I don't know.'
'You're leaving your family for a bunch of Mexicans in the colonias? '
'You left me for Mandy.'
'After you moved out of our bedroom.'
'I don't want to do this, Bode. Not now.'
Bode stared out at the green grass and the blue sky above. Hank and Darcy were gone, and his wife wanted to be.
'I need you, Lindsay.'
She sighed heavily, almost a cry.
'You don't need me, Bode Bonner. You just need a first lady.'
'When will the senora return?' Inez said from her desk by the door.
'I do not know.'
'But she will return?'
'I do not know.'
But he knew she would never return.
Jesse had driven her to the airport three days before. When she got out of his truck, he knew he would never see her again. That day had come. She had left him. And he had learned the answer to his question: It was better to have never loved than to have loved and lost.
'I miss her,' Inez said.
'I loved her.'
Lindsay embraced her daughter.
'I know, honey.'
'Why didn't he save her? Daddy.'
