Barbara Levenson - Mary Magruder Katz 03 - Outrageous October (26 page)

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CHAPTER

SEVENTY-FOUR

“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to start packing,” I said when I returned to the house. “I’ll load up my car and just take an overnight bag on the plane, if you don’t mind driving back with a stuffed SUV, Carlos. I tried to get Mother or my brothers and no one answered their cells. Where do you think they are?”

They’re probably at the hospital and either they don’t want to disturb your dad, or they can’t get cell service in some parts of the hospital. I don’t mind taking your things back for you. Can I help with anything?” Carlos asked

“Yes, thanks, let’s get Sam’s crate in first. And fold the back seats down.”

Carlos followed me out to my car with the crate. “Mary, who is this Dash guy?”

“You have no right to ask me about any of my friends, Carlos. Dash is a good lawyer who I worked with while I was here. He’s a good friend.”

“I could see that when he gave you that very long embrace.”

“You were spying on me? I can’t believe you. I’m grateful that you came all this way to help my family, and I’ll always be glad to help your family, but that’s it. You gave up any right to pitch one of your jealous Latin machismo tantrums when you lied to me to sneak out with Margarita. Nothing has changed about our now non-existent relationship.”

“I wasn’t spying on you, exactly, and I’m glad you’re willing to help my family. Just give me a few minutes to explain to you why I was having dinner with Margarita that awful night.”

“You’ll have plenty of time to talk to me while we drive down to Manchester in the morning. For now, I have packing to do, and cleaning up Lucy’s house and visiting with friends before I leave, along with worrying about my dad. He’s always been the super strong person in our family. He has to get well.”

“He is strong. I know he’s a fighter. He’ll fight to regain his health. I don’t have to stay for dinner here. Why don’t I just leave you to do what you have to do. I can come back later to see if you need any help.”

“You can stay for dinner, of course,” I said as I hurried back inside.

“It is so cold here,” Carlos said as he followed me in and retreated to a seat near the fireplace.

I sorted through laundry, throwing towels into the washer and trying to put the kitchen back the way it looked when I arrived here. It seemed impossible that I’d been here only a few weeks. I had begun to feel completely at home in this house.

I put my boots and sweaters in the car along with books, and the few things I had bought at the flea market. The car was looking crowded already. Sam followed me in and out of the house for a while. I realized he was out of sight and hurried through the house looking for him. It only took minutes to spot him sitting next to Carlos in front of the fire. Carlos was rubbing his head and Sam was making his contented purring noises. It hadn’t occurred to me that Sam missed having Carlos around. Carlos was a part of his everyday life since February. Maybe Sam felt as abandoned as I felt during the week before we left Miami.

The front door opened interrupting my thoughts. Rita, Margaret and Hal came in carrying bags and trays. Luscious smells filled the front hall. I hugged each of them.

“Now, Mary, you just sit down or keep doing whatever. We are going to lay out this spread and then we’re all going to sit down to supper and some good cheer for you to take back with you.” Margaret said. The three of them bustled around the kitchen while I watched them and thought about how lucky I was to have a whole group of new friends.

We ate the delicious stew and salads from Hal’s store, a spaghetti casserole and an apple pie from Rita’s freezer and wine from Ken’s cellar. Hal repeated the story of my stay in the wrong house, for Carlos’s entertainment. The laughter and companionship drove thoughts about Dad out of my mind for a little while. It seemed strange to have Carlos sitting here chatting with my new friends. I couldn’t help looking at him and seeing that he was looking back at me most of the time.

Everyone helped clean up the kitchen and empty the refrigerator. Hal promised to contact the caretaker that looked after Lucy’s house and to double check that he cleaned the house thoroughly of any leftover dog hair.

As everyone gathered in the front hall for goodbye hugs, Ken pulled me aside.

“You’ll never guess what news I have,” Ken said. Since he was wearing a dazzling grin, I knew it couldn’t be bad news. “Your friend Riley Simmons and two of the other selectmen from the village called me to come to a meeting. They’ve offered me the job of acting sheriff until they do a thorough search. They said if I will accept the job, I can reorganize the office as I see fit. What do you think?”

“I think it’s a perfect idea. It’ll be good for you and great for the village. You should take it,” I said. “What does Rita think?”

“She thinks it’s what I need. She knows I’ve been restless since we’ve been here, and she saw how I plunged into finding Sherry Yarmouth.”

“You better keep me up to date on what’s happening here,” I said.

Tom gave me a hug and thanked me for ending his hermit existence and promised to keep painting. He retrieved a package he had stashed in the hall closet on his way in. “This is for you and Sam,” he said. Then they were all gone as I stood alone in the driveway waving.

As I walked back to the door, wet white flakes swirled around the light over the front door settling on my eyelashes.

“Is that actual snow?” Carlos asked.

He was standing looking out the front door. I had forgotten that he was still there.

I quickly addressed the problem of where he was going to spend the night. Much as the sight of him still activated that fluttering feeling in my heart and elsewhere, I was not about to have his company in my bed I knew I had to be strong and resist going back into our relationship.

“Listen, Carlos, there’s plenty of room for you to stay here tonight, especially since we have to be up early and on the road. There’s a bedroom and bath suite at the end of the hall upstairs. I still have the last things to put in my suitcase. As soon as I walk Sam, I’ll be packing and turning in.”

Carlos looked away but I still saw his face turning red that was the sign that he was losing his temper. The he sighed and grabbed his duffle bag and moved toward the stairs. I turned away quickly not wanting to dwell on the look of resignation on Carlos’s handsome face.

I grabbed Sam’s leash and took him around the backyard quickly. The snowflakes had stopped, but the autumn winds were freeing the last of the beautiful leaves from their summer home. The bare branches stood out against a red nighttime sky.

Sam and I retreated to our bedroom and locked the door.

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CHAPTER

SEVENTY-FIVE

I set the alarm for five, but I was wide awake long before it rang. I remembered the package that Tom handed me and went to unwrap it. It was a gorgeous painting of Sam looking out at the hills behind Tom’s house. What a terrific reminder of the Upper Valley, I thought

I hurried into jeans, a Miami- weight shirt, and threw my leather jacket over it to withstand the Vermont weather.

Carlos must have heard me rumbling around. He soon joined me carrying his duffle bag into the front hall. “Looks like you couldn’t sleep either,” he said.

“Carlos, what about your rental car?” How will you return it?”

“Your friends, Ken and Rita, offered to come get it and drop it at the Hertz place over the river in New Hampshire. I gave Ken the keys and paperwork last night. You made some great friends here.”

We were silent as we loaded the last of my things in the car. I ran Sam around the backyard one last time and loaded his food, water and dishes. Sam jumped into his crate in the car while I took one last look through the house.

By five a.m., we pulled away from the house, the dark gravel road, and High Pines. I showed Carlos my collection of maps to guide him on his trip back.

“Not to worry,” he said. He pulled out a AAA triptych and a list of dog-friendly motels along the route. “Marco ran around helping me get ready. He wanted to come along and help with the driving, but I wanted to come alone.”

“I guess it pays to have a lot of cousins,” I said. “There’s a diner close to where we get on the freeway. Let’s stop for coffee and rolls.”

We were underway again, fully awake after our caffeine break. Carlos was still shaking his head over the lack of
café cubano
in the area.

We rode in silence for a few minutes. Carlos broke into my thoughts about my dad.

“I forgot to tell you that your mother has been staying in Miami Beach with one of her old friends, Janet Cole. She couldn’t go back and forth to Boynton Beach. Your brothers wanted her to stay with them, but she didn’t want to stay at Jonathan’s because his boys are super busy with sports and Randy has her hands full running to the hospital with Jonathan and then home to drive the boys. William lives too far away in Fort Lauderdale, so Janet insisted that she stay there. My mother invited her to stay with them in the Grove, but I think she felt uncomfortable because of our—situation.”

“Maybe she’ll stay with me in Coral Gables once I get the house open again.”

“I think your mother would like to be living in Miami again, but she won’t upset your dad, especially now with his surgery and all.”

“I wish they’d move back,” I said. I realized that we were making small talk as the miles passed.

“Mary, can I please explain to you what I’ve wanted to tell you ever since you sent your ring back?” Carlos asked. He looked over at me. “Even if you say you don’t want to hear, you’re a captive audience so you’ll have to listen.”

I didn’t answer. I was afraid to hear some excuse that would sound like a blatant lie. Then I knew I would close the door on Carlos for good and forever.

Carlos took my silence for acquiescence, so he began to talk at once.

“You know my dad is on the board of directors of Seaside Bank. In fact he was one of its founders.”

“What does that have to do with you and Margarita?” I asked. I felt a combination of impatience and jealousy at the thought of Margarita.

“Just listen, please. My dad has had a number of business deals over the years. His part ownership in the cattle ranches in Argentina had stopped being profitable, so he was looking around for some new income when some acquaintances came to him with the idea for a new bank. They made him a proposal for a salary and bonuses for every account he brought in with deposits over a hundred thousand dollars.

“Dad and Mama live a rather extravagant lifestyle as you probably noticed, so he was ready to jump into a deal that would bring in substantial income.”

“I just saw something in the New York Times about Seaside Bank being investigated. They mentioned your dad’s name as one of the directors,” I said.

“Yes, that’s correct. Dad started working with the investors. He put some money into the deal himself. As you’re probably aware, he and my mother know a lot of people in Miami and South America. Dad started selling potential customers on moving money to the new bank. Sometime during that first year, he found out that some of these people were not honest businessmen. Some of them were using the bank to launder dirty money, but he didn’t want to lose his own investment in the bank and he was getting a wad of bucks for bringing in these customers.”

“I still don’t see what this has to do with Margarita. I feel bad about your dad but this explains nothing about you.” I was sure Carlos could tell how annoyed I was.

“Give me a chance to tell you the rest of this, please,” Carlos said.

“By the time the bank was in its second year, Margarita and I were married. She spent a lot of time at my parents’ condo in Miami and the condo in Marco Island. I later learned that she asked a lot of questions about Dad’s business.

“Apparently, she also eaves dropped on Dad’s conversations with Mama and she even listened in to his phone conversations on an extension. She put things together and figured out that he was into some questionable things. She also knew who several of the customers were and started checking into their backgrounds.

“Things got worse when I asked her for a divorce. She was out of control spending money on clothes and a new car, and running around with a group of women who were part of the wild South Beach club scene. She wanted a lump sum payment in return for the divorce. I gave it to her and thought we were through. But it wasn’t long before she was back asking for more. When I said no, she told me what she knew about my dad and threatened to go to every federal agency, if I didn’t pay her off.”

“My God, she was blackmailing you.”

“Exactly. Things got worse at the bank. The president and the treasurer started advising customers to invest their money in some wild investments. Some clients of the bank were honest people who had placed a lot of money in the bank and trusted the officers. Several lost their life savings by following this bad advice. My dad wasn’t personally involved in that investment advice, but he is a director of the bank.

“Then the bank made some questionable loans to businesses that may not have been legitimate. I just learned some of this in the past few months.”

“I take it that Margarita made more than one blackmail demand.”

“Oh, yes, she had her hand out more and more often. You saw her with Marielena, Mama’s cousin, at my house one night. She came there to say she had overdrawn her bank account and had some big credit card bills. She wanted my help in paying the bills. I think she brought Marielena along so I wouldn’t lose my temper and throw her out.”

“Did Marielena know about your dad and the blackmail scheme? Marielena and your mother are like sisters.”

“I don’t think so. I just think she thought I should give Margarita dollars for divorcing her, but I’m not sure.”

Our conversation stopped for a minute while I directed Carlos onto the highway to Manchester after we passed through a toll booth.

“The night that I told you I was going to a business dinner, Margarita had made a huge demand. I gave her a deal on the condo in my new building, as you know. You were already angry about that. Well, she wanted to live there rent free and without the maintenance fees. That was the last straw. I went to my dad and told him what Margarita knew and what she was extracting from me in return for her silence. Of course, he was furious and totally embarrassed. That was when he told me all the other things going wrong with the bank. He said there were feds all over the bank looking at records and that it was very possible that he and the other directors would be indicted in the future. He told me not to give her another penny: that it didn’t matter anymore. The cow was out of the bag.”

“I think you mean the cat was out of the bag; that’s the expression.”

“Whatever. I told her to meet me for dinner the night I told you I was busy. She expected some cash. But I was there to tell her that her game was over.

“I picked that restaurant so I wouldn’t bump into any of your friends or I guess I should say our friends. I thought if I met her in a public place, she wouldn’t cause a scene. I was wrong on both scores. You turned up there and saw me and Margarita screamed at me and then tried excessive crying. I finally paid the bill and walked out. I had no idea that you saw me in that restaurant. Then I got your ring delivered by the messenger. I made a mess of everything. If only you would have listened to me. Instead you ran away. Mary, I never would hurt you or lie to you, I was just trying to protect my parents.”

“Oh, Carlos, what a mess. You should have told me all of this weeks ago, before that evening in the restaurant. Why couldn’t you have confided in me? Maybe I could have helped your dad before everything escalated.”

“I didn’t want you to think that my dad was some kind of crook, and that you were getting involved with a family of thieves or something.”

“So when you said you might be asking me to help your family, this is what you meant. Of course, I’ll represent your dad, if he wants, or I’ll help him find counsel that he feels comfortable with.”

“What about us, Mary, you and I? Can you forgive me?”

“Right now, Carlos, I have so much on my mind about my dad. It’s hard to think about the future. Let’s both get back home to Miami and talk some more. Hey, turn here. This is the exit for the airport.”

Carlos made a sharp turn that threw me against him. He put his arm around me and I felt total confusion. I had been working all these weeks to forget Carlos; to put everything about him out of my mind, and now here I was snuggled against him, the smell of his aftershave filling my senses. I wished the ride to the airport wasn’t over.

The early morning light illuminated a cloudless sky. The sun was actually emerging on the horizon. Northern New England looked to be getting a beautiful day. I had mixed feelings as we pulled up to the departure deck of the airport. I was eager to get back to Miami to see my family and be supportive. I missed my office and my house and Catherine and the warmth that encouraged blossoms all year round. Yet a part of me felt a tug pulling me to the Upper Valley and its variety of characters, its mountains, and history. I wondered if I’d ever return here.

I realized the car had stopped and Carlos was pulling my carry-on case out of the back. He walked around and opened my door. I stepped out and ran around to the back of my SUV to tell Sam goodbye.

“Be a good boy, and don’t cause Carlos any grief,” I said as I opened the door of his crate and kissed his long nose. He licked my cheek and nuzzled his head against me for a minute. I closed the crate quickly before I changed my mind and leaped back in the car.

I came back to the front of the car and fished my boarding pass out of my purse. Carlos put my bag down next to me and before I knew what was happening, he held me close and kissed me. That was the moment I knew that I couldn’t survive without more of those kisses Being close to Carlos was like a drug that made me euphoric.

I kissed him back and then we stood and looked at each other for a long minute.

“Safe trip,
mi amore.
I’ll bring Sam directly to your house as soon as we get to Miami. If you need me just call my cell phones. I hope you still remember the numbers,” Carlos said.

“Yes, I do. Why don’t you call me when you stop for the night? I’ll give you an update on my dad, and I think I’d like to hear your voice tonight.”

“I will. I hope we never have another night where we can’t hear each other or touch each other, Mary.” He held my hand for a second and then turned back to the car.

“I picked up my bag and went through the revolving door into the airport on the first leg back to my old life.