“Which friend?” What? I wasn’t expecting a friend. My tension ramped back up to high. For a second I dreaded what I would find. Was this a false friend? Had Katherine gotten out, after all, and taken Carmen and Luisa hostage? I just left Walter and his lawyer at the station, so it wouldn’t be them, but it could be one of his thugs. I yanked out my phone.
And heard Jason’s voice from the kitchen. “This friend.”
Oh. Silly me. I’d texted him I was headed back here. Sliding my finger off the 911 button, I peered through the window. Carmen, Luisa, and Jason sat on stools around the stainless-steel island, their beer bottles already half empty. Jason rattled off something in Spanish to Luisa, making her laugh. All normal. All safe. All as it should be.
I went around into the kitchen and jutted out my chin, squinting at him. “¿Tu hablas?” I asked in a less-than-stellar accent, pointing at him.
“Yeah, he speaks fine,” Carmen said, wearing her signature broad smile.
“Speaking Spanish comes in handy on the job, plus nobody who speaks it expects a Chinese-looking dude to understand what they’re saying,” Jason said. “Anyway, I thought we might have more to talk about before you leave. I didn’t realize these lovely ladies were throwing a party.”
I slid onto the last stool and thanked Carmen for the Anchor Steam beer she handed me. It had been one of my mom’s favorites. She’d told me long ago it was one of the earliest of the modern microbrews, first appearing in San Francisco in the seventies. It was still a darn good libation.
No tortilla-making was going on here tonight, and the kitchen was clean and wiped down. Still, it smelled of peppers, lime, masa, and all the other yummy foods Luisa and Carmen conjured up. I spied Pajarito snoozing inside a cardboard box in the corner.
I held up the beer. “Here’s to Paul.”
“And to Zoe,” Jason added.
“Y Jeanine,” Luisa tacked on.
Here’s to Mom. She would have so loved to be with us right now.
“And, may I add, to Cody, who acted with courage today, turning in his own sister,” Jason said. “It couldn’t have been easy for him.”
“I’ll say. He did the right thing, though.” I raised my bottle higher. Thank you, Cody.
“Cheers,” Carmen said. “Salud.”
I let the cool hoppiness slide down my throat.
Carmen bustled around, setting out homemade tortilla chips and two bowls of chunky salsa on the island. “This one is caliente,” she pointed, “this one not so much.” Luisa pointed to the hot one and made a quick fanning motion with her hand in front of her mouth to illustrate.
“Got it,” I said.
“We learned today that Katherine Russom killed Paul,” Jason told the women.
I nodded. Carmen was doing a whispered near-simultaneous translation to her mom. Carmen crossed herself, and after she told her mother what Jason had said, Luisa did, too.
“What’s even worse is that she tried to get Liz’s daughter, Zoe, to do the dirty work for her.” I dipped a chip in the milder salsa, which still packed a wallop of spice.
Carmen translated, then asked, “Why did she do this evil thing?” She gazed from me to Jason and back.
I swallowed. “Katherine is close to her father. As Mamá reported,” I pointed to Luisa, who grinned, “Walter has a gambling addiction and is losing money. In fact, this morning Hector told me Walter owed some Mob guy so much money he might lose his house.”
Carmen’s eyes went wide.
“Hector promised me he would tell the detective who it was,” I continued. “Katherine lives in that house, too, and runs her business out of it. She’d be nowhere without Daddy’s support.”
“Yep,” Jason agreed.
“Paul was working hard against Agrosafe, as you know. Getting their main product banned would have put the company out of business.” I waited until Carmen’s translation to Luisa caught up. “Katherine must have figured killing Paul would at least let her father stay solvent.”
Carmen rattled off more Spanish. Luisa shook her head sorrowfully.
“That’s the thinking,” Jason said. “Was Zoe still at the station when you left, Robbie?”
“Yes, but Liz had gone in and texted that I might as well leave, because they weren’t going to let me in with her. She called a criminal lawyer friend, too.” I explained to Carmen about Zoe saving the messages from Katherine. “Jason, Gifford would have sent someone to the place where Zoe lived to get the thumb drive, right?”
“Yeah.”
“She at Maris House?” Carmen asked.
“She is.” I cocked my head. “How did you know?”
Carmen threw her hands in the air. “Had a nephew who lived there for a while.”
“Zoe said she’s been clean for nearly two months,” I said.
Carmen translated, then said, “I’m glad to hear it. They do drug tests on the residents, like, every day. Hard to avoid getting found out.”
“Liz, ¿cómo está ella ?” Luisa asked.
“It’s a long story, Mamá.” I blew out a breath. “I think they will heal now, Liz and her daughter.” I waited for Carmen to translate.
“Bueno, bueno.” Luisa stood. She came over and embraced me, kissing me on both cheeks. “Voy a mi cama.”
“She says she’s going to bed,” Carmen said.
“Good travel,” Luisa said to me. “Cuídate. Take a care.”
“Gracias, Mamá.” I smiled at her. “Ven a visitar Indiana .”
“Voy.”
“She says she will,” Jason said. He got a kiss on both cheeks from her, too.
Luisa disappeared out the back door as Carmen popped a few chips into her mouth.
She surveyed our beers, which were all empty. “Kahlúa, anybody? With coffee, with cream or whole milk, with vodka?”
“Man, I haven’t had a White Russian in a million years,” I said. “Hit me up with Kahlúa and milk over ice, please, but hold the vodka. I have to drive out of here at five-dark-thirty.”
Jason shook his head. “Not for me, thanks. I’m not on call, but I have to head home pretty soon.”
Carmen poured the same for herself as for me. “I think we need a little music, no?”
