“Maybe three or four months.”
I saw something from the corner of my eye. When I turned to look, it disappeared back into the kitchen. I kept my eyes fixed on the doorway.
Maggie kept up the questioning. “How do you feel about what's happening to Adela now?”
He didn't hesitate. “She's getting what she deserves.”
“You think she killed her parents?”
“I know she did.”
“And how do you know?”
“She tried to get me to lie for her. She wanted me to say that she was with me all night.”
“And was she with you all night?”
“No.”
“Was she with you at all that night?”
“Yes. She snuck over and I let her in through my window. We did it a couple times in my bed and then she left.”
“When did she leave?”
“I don't know. I was sleeping.”
“Then how do you know she left?”
“She was gone when I woke up. She called me in the morning, when the police were at her house, and she told me to tell them that she was here all night.”
“Maybe she was.”
“She couldn't have been. Detective Davies said she killed her parents at two in the morning.”
“How do you know she wasn't in your bed at two? You just said you were asleep.”
“I never told Detective Davies that she wasn't with me at two. I just told him that I couldn't say she was. ”
“Didn't you want to protect her?”
“Not after I found out what she'd done. You think I want a crazy bitch like that as a girlfriend? I date a lot of girls, but I draw the line at murderers.”
Maggie paused to rub her temples. A real piece of work this kid. I returned to watching the door. It was back, a tuft of frizzy hair poking out. Slowly, the hair moved further into the doorway, followed by a pimply forehead, and then finally an eye. She saw me looking right at her and ducked back behind the wall.
Maggie saw her, too, but she kept her attention focused on Raj, whose back was turned to the doorway. Maggie asked why he thought Adela did it.
“She was pissed that they were divorcing.”
“You think she killed her parents just because they were divorcing? Doesn't that seem a little crazy?”
“Surprised me as much as anybody,” he said.
No longer afraid that she was going to get in trouble, Raj's puberty-stricken sister poked her head fully into the doorway. I threw a wink her way, getting a smile full of braces in return.
“Well, thanks for going through all that again,” Maggie said. “So you said you like to date a lot of girls?”
“That's right.”
“Did Adela know?”
“I don't think so. You think I'd tell her?”
“How do you think she would've reacted if she found out?”
“I guess I'm lucky she never did, or it might be me that got whipped to death.”
“Were you ever serious about Adela?”
“Listen, I thought Adela would be a lot of fun. I mean you've seen her, right? She's hot as they come, but she had… issues. ”
“What kind of issues?”
“She was all clingy, you know what I mean? We went out a couple times, and it was like we were married or something.”
“If it bothered you so much, why didn't you just break it off?”
“She was my boss's daughter. I wanted to let her down easy.”
“By having sex with her?”
“Like I said, she was hot.”
“How many other girls were you seeing?”
“I don't keep count,” he said, self-satisfied.
“Did Adela know any of these other girls?”
“I don't think so.”
“How about Margarita Juarez? Adela knew her, didn't she?”
Raj went instantly icy. His smarmy grin frosted over. Behind him, his sister covered her delighted mouth.
“What?” he asked.
“You heard me,” Maggie said with steel in her voice.
He laughed. “You must be crazy.”
“Quite a triangle you got yourself into, Raj. Did Adela catch you in bed with her mother? Or maybe Hector found out about you. I can't imagine his surprise, finding out that not only were you deflowering his precious daughter, but you were also poking his wife.”
He was nervous now. His face was flushed, and he sputtered out the words, “You can't prove that.”
I checked out the sister. She was loving every minute of it. She was giggling, her hands clamped over her mouth.
Maggie decided to push him. “Maybe you're the one that killed them, Raj. Maybe Hector found out about you, and he was going to fire you. There goes your dream of working in front of a camera. It's not like there are any other news agencies on this planet. Lagarto Libre's the only game in town.”
He shook his head no.
“You had to kill him, didn't you? He was going to ruin your life. And you had to kill Margarita, too. If you hadn't, she would've told on you.”
Raj kept shaking his head, and now he was biting his lip. I sat on the edge of my seat, reading the signals he was giving off-hand wringing, foot tapping. He kept reaching up to scratch a nonexistent itch on his cheek. He was close to tipping. Keep pushing, Maggie.
Maggie switched to a motherly voice. “Just tell us the truth, Raj.”
“No,” he said. “I'm not going to talk to you anymore.” He was shutting down.
Maggie is screwing this up. Stop fucking around with the nice tone and push him, hard.
“C'mon, Raj, just tell us the truth,” she said lamely.
I looked at Raj. He had his arms crossed. He was clamming up tight. “I'm not saying another word,” he said.
Son of a bitch. I'll do it myself. I tried to put my finger in his face, forgetting my fingers were all wrapped up tight. I had my whole shaky karate-chop hand pointing at his nose. “You better start talking, you little shit. Adela's going to get gassed, and I don't have time for your bullshit-”
“Mom! Dad! They're harassing me!”
“Be quiet you little-”
“Mom! Dad!”
Shit.
The sister disappeared an instant before Mr. and Mrs. Gupta came rushing in. “What's going on here?”
“They're harassing me,” Raj griped.
Maggie was glaring at me. Fuck me.
“Call our lawyer,” said the father.
“No need to do that,” I said. “We were just leaving.”
I followed Maggie to the door, utterly defeated. I took one last peek back-mother and father standing together, behind their son, and way over, in the corner, was the sister, making very deliberate eye contact with me.
