Tinkie was tired of his cancerous narcissism. “We got the architect’s drawings of the house, but there are other secret passages, aren’t there? That’s your specialty. Secrets among secrets. Layers revealed slowly, like peeling an onion.”
“Complexity makes life interesting.”
Tinkie walked to within a few feet of him. “Someone is hiding in that house. Someone dangerous. I was injured. Another woman was pushed down stairs. And your granddaughter is missing. If she’s in that house, she may need help. Can you step outside yourself long enough to realize that Estelle may be in danger?”
“If Estelle is in her house, she’s safe.” The hint of a smile touched his features. “In the last years, I’ve often had the sense that someone was watching me in that house. I walk down the halls and feel a gaze on my back. Sometimes I catch the tail of a red dressing gown going around a corner, but when I get there, nothing.”
His statement was like a shower of ice water. “When was the last time you were there?” I asked.
“Officially? That would be when Carlita died. There was a family service there, a wake.”
“And unofficially?”
“The house is empty. Sometimes I go there to look at the portrait of my daughter. I miss her.”
I knew exactly which portrait. The day was pleasant and warm, but my body had grown cold.
“I gather Federico doesn’t know you visit there?” Tinkie was having a hard time keeping her tone neutral.
“He doesn’t know I come back to Costa Rica at all. He said that to him, I am dead. He won’t speak my name.” He laughed. “Why should he care if I go there? I built the house for Carlita. It will pass to Estelle in a few years. If I go there, it’s none of his business. He drags filthy movie people there. He takes his whores there. No one in the movie business has morals.”
“That’s a blanket condemnation of a business you don’t know about.” I’d had enough. “A lot of people in film have ethics and-”
“And you’re sleeping with Graf Milieu.”
I didn’t deny it, and I had the most awful thought that perhaps he’d watched us from the peephole behind the portrait. It was a Norman Bates concept.
He laughed. “I haven’t been watching you, Ms. Delaney. But film crews talk in town, and eventually everything of interest filters back to me. My network of sources is impeccable.”
“I’m flattered that I’m of interest,” I said. “But does your network of impeccable sources tell you where your granddaughter is, or who’s in the house attacking people?”
“Some say it’s the ghost of my daughter.”
“And what do you say? Are you responsible for the attacks on Tinkie, Jovan, Joey, and me?” I walked up to him, and it took me a moment to realize he was in a wheelchair.
“And your question has been answered,” he said with only a hint of bitterness. “I’ve been in this chair for the past eight months. I’m not capable of frolicking through the secret passages for mischief or spying.”
If he hadn’t been such an old roach, I might have felt sorry for him. “But you are capable of hiring someone to do so.”
He nodded. “A smart man would pay someone to do his dirty deeds.” He paused a beat. “Though I’m innocent, of course.”
“Where is Estelle?” I pressed.
“She refuses to see me because I told her the truth. That her father wanted her mother gone so he could live his profligate life. I told her about the affairs and the way Carlita came home from Los Angeles to cry and berate herself that she wasn’t beautiful enough to keep her husband.” His forearms rested on the wheelchair, but he couldn’t keep his fingers from dancing in the air.
“Why did you do that?” I asked. “Why would you hurt your own granddaughter like that? Federico is her father.”
“The Gonzalez family always faces the facts, Ms. Delaney. We look life in the eye and spit.”
“And you may have cost your granddaughter her happiness.” Tinkie leaned forward into his face. “You are a vile, unhappy old man and you want everyone around you to be the same. You stole Estelle’s chance at a relationship with her father and filled her head full of anger and suspicion.”
“I tried to protect her.”
There was a terrible second when I thought Tinkie was going to punch him. She controlled herself and stepped back. “Your soul is rotted. You’ll die alone and that’s what you deserve. Let’s go, Sarah Booth.”
I was almost out the door when he called out to me.
“Ms. Delaney, you won’t last a year in Hollywood. The cannibals will eat you alive. They’re already nibbling.”
I didn’t bother to respond. He was still hurling bile when we walked out the front door and into the sun.
“We didn’t learn anything new,” I pointed out. My head had begun to throb.
“Not true. We learned a lot about the family dysfunction, and that the old bastard has access to the Marquez house and money to hire someone to do dirty deeds. He’s capable of anything.”
I sighed. “Poor Carlita and Estelle.”
“Do you think he was trying to set us up when he mentioned seeing someone in a red gown? That sounds like your ghost.”
“Unless he’s manipulating all of this. He didn’t exactly say he’d seen her ghost.”
Tinkie opened the wooden gate that led to the street. “Maybe she’s haunting the place, waiting to kill him.”
“Always the eternal optimist, Tinkie. Let’s get our things out of the house. We aren’t going to find an answer and I don’t want to be there after dark.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Tinkie was in a funk as she drove back to the mansion. She gripped the steering wheel, drummed her fingers, sighed, and generally showed her discontent. When we pulled up to the gate, I was glad to see three security guards still there.
Federico had insisted that Promise Security Agency remain on the premises until Tinkie and I were completely clear of the house. The interview with Estoban Gonzalez had disturbed both Tinkie and me. It was difficult to look into the abyss and not be affected. He was unhinged, and in a way that I would never understand. How had his love for Carlita and Estelle become so twisted that he’d deliberately destroyed them trying to make them hate Federico?
And why hadn’t Federico told us that the old man was alive? That nagged at me. Even if he thought Estoban was in Venezuela, surely it was worth a mention that he was still breathing and meddling.
As we stopped at the entrance, I recognized Daniel. He and two additional guards were checking a horse trailer that had come to pick up Nugget and Flicker and return them to their home. Seeing the horses gave me a pang, because I’d grown fond of them, but it also reminded me that I missed Reveler and Miss Scrapiron. It seemed like a million years since I’d ridden my wonderful gelding through the vast expanse of the cotton fields.
The horse trailer pulled through, and Daniel turned to us. “Did you forget something? I thought everyone had left.”
“We’re getting our things,” Tinkie explained.
He looked at Sweetie in the backseat and gave her ears a rub. “Federico was explicit that I remain here until you leave, so I and these men will stay.” He frowned. “I’ve sent all my men to other jobs but I can call them back.”
I hesitated. It was true that the security guards hadn’t been able to protect us, but it was nice to know someone with a weapon was on the premises. “We’ll be fine with you watching the gate. If we need something, we can call.”
“Senor Marquez made it plain that your safety was my first priority.”
“It’s okay, Daniel. We won’t be all that long.” My emotions were mixed. Tinkie and I had a perfect success record with our cases. We’d solved every one. It went against the grain to simply walk away without knowing who was behind all the problems at Casa Marquez.
