Revenge of the Chili Queens (22 page)

After all the excitement (not to mention a much-needed shower and a quick change of clothes), the last thing I felt like doing was working the Showdown for the rest of the afternoon. Lucky for me, I didn’t have to. Tumbleweed was looking for someone to get over to Alamo Plaza early with the paperwork for that night’s event—
The Chili Queens Help the Homeless
—and I was happy to volunteer. Rest and relaxation. That’s what I needed. And to me, the plaza sounded like a better place to find it than the fairgrounds, where I’d been wrangled and almost mangled.

It was also where I’d been kissed.

In spite of the little voice inside me that told me to play it cool when it came to Nick, I found myself smiling and
with a spring in my step when I thought about all I’d discovered that afternoon.

Nick had an alibi. He wasn’t a murderer.

He also just happened to be the best darned kisser these lips had the pleasure of running into in a long, long time.

During the cab ride over to the plaza, the thought swirled through my head along with the possibility of what it might mean—and where it might lead—and I was still smiling when I got out of the cab. Something tells me I would have gone right on smiling if I didn’t drop off the paperwork at the main tent and head over to our own tent so I could start getting things set up for that night’s festivities and see a man I didn’t recognize slip into the tent next to ours and start rummaging around.

Curious, I scooted behind a pallet of folding chairs that would soon be set up under the tents around the plaza and watched. The man was slim and of medium height with short-cropped dark hair and dark eyes just the same as—

“Teddi!” The name slipped out along with a breath of amazement. It was Teddi, all right, out of her drag costume and wearing a pair of khakis and a green and white plaid button-down shirt. No doubt she . . . er . . . he had just come from the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office where Ginger told me Teddi—whose name when he wasn’t in drag was Teo—counseled grieving families.

So what was he doing here at the plaza long before Ginger was scheduled to arrive?

And why was he rummaging around the tent?

It didn’t take long for the little mystery to get even more curious.

Teo grabbed a piece of paper from underneath the counter where Ginger and Teddi would later set up their slow cookers, stuffed that same piece of paper in his pocket, and headed out of the plaza.

There was never any question in my mind that I was going to follow.

Keeping twenty feet in back of Teo, I trailed him down Crockett Street and all the way over to the River Walk where shops and bars and restaurants lined both sides of the San Antonio River and tourists milled around snapping pictures and climbing into the flat-bottomed boats that showed them the sights and took them from attraction to attraction. Here, one story down from street level, the humidity off the river was like a hand that strangled the air in my lungs, and between that and the fact that Teo kept up a brisk pace, I was tempted to drop into a seat at one of the outdoor cafés and order a pitcher of margaritas.

Instead, I kept him in my sights, tailing Teo down one small arm of the River Walk and into another. He finally stopped and went into a shop with a red front door, and, still wondering what was up and what he was up to, I parked myself behind a gigantic pot of flowers, my gaze on the door of the place called Tatiana’s, and took a couple minutes to catch my breath.

When the door popped open and two middle-aged women came out, shopping bags swinging from their arms, the picture started to become clearer. It came into perfect focus when I closed in on Tatiana’s and saw that the front window display featured an array of snazzy items: picture hats that dripped veiling and flowers,
purses studded with sequins and rhinestones, shoes with tips pointy enough to skewer a vampire, and heels so high, even I wouldn’t dare wear them.

I marched into the shop and saw Teo at the front counter, so busy checking out a long string of sparkling blue and purple beads, he never bothered to turn around when the little bell over the front door tinkled.

I sidled up next to him.

“Doing some shopping?” I asked.

He flinched once when he heard the voice right beside him and again when he saw it was me. “Oh, Maxie. What are you . . .” His surprise froze into a smile as stiff as a meringue. “Are you playing tourist this afternoon?”

“Just getting an idea of what’s going on,” I said, and I was trying to be cryptic and hoping he’d get the message, but he never had the chance, because a grinning clerk emerged from a back room with a gold lamé evening gown on a hanger in one hand.

“Here it is!” the woman crooned. “And isn’t it just the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?” She ran a loving hand along the skirt and caressed the nipped waist, the tiny capped sleeves, and the deep, plunging neckline. “You, my dear, are going to be so glad you ordered this one. It’s lovely, and you’re going to look delicious in it!”

I moved before Teo could and intercepted the clerk when she was halfway back to the front counter with the sparkling dress. “Nice,” I said with a look at the gown. I took a gander at the price tag that hung from one sleeve. “And expensive!” I whirled back toward Teo. “You’ve got good taste!”

“Well, of course I do.” He tried for that little simper that
looked so perfect when he was in drag. In street clothes, it came off as slightly sour and a little pathetic, too. He tossed his head. “Just wrap it up, Donna,” he told the woman.

“You’re not going to try it on?” She was honestly disappointed. “I’ve been waiting since you ordered this dress and that was . . .” She scooted forward and checked the sales receipt on the counter in front of Teo. I had no doubt it was the same piece of paper I’d seen him retrieve from the tent over at the plaza.

“It’s been weeks,” Donna said. “And I can’t wait another minute. I want to see how lovely you’re going to look in this little number.”

“Wrap it up, Donna,” Teo snapped. “I need . . .” He slid me a look. “I need to get out of here.”

Donna might have been surprised, but she was not about to offend a paying customer. She went in back to wrap the gown, and that was just fine by me. It gave me a chance to close in on Teo again.

“You sure about this?” I asked him.

“About . . . ?”

“About buying a gown I’m guessing you can’t afford? But then, you told me you were going to turn things around, didn’t you? The other night, when I said you looked so yesterday, you told me, ‘Not for long.’ This is what you were talking about, right? This fabulous new dress.”

His lips pinched. “So? So I ordered a new gown. It’s what I do.”

I shrugged. The better to look like I wasn’t trying to intimidate him. “Fine by me. I can understand that you have to mix up your wardrobe now and again. And you have to
make a big splash. I get that, too. That’s what the whole drag scene is all about, and hey, I think it’s great. Theater. Drama. Standing out in the crowd. I know you and Ginger appear at these kinds of charity fund-raising events all over town all the time, so I get it that you must need one heck of a wardrobe. I guess that’s why I’m a little surprised you’d spend so much on just one gown. I figured you’d want to spread the money around, use it on more than just one outfit. You know, the money you’ve been stealing from the tip jar over at the fund-raisers.”

Teo’s mouth opened and closed. It opened again, and color shot into his cheeks. He was a good-looking guy, compact and wiry, but when he looked at me like that—his dark eyes wide with fear and his jaw hanging slack—I almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

It’s hard to be completely sympathetic with a guy stealing money from fluffy kitties, sweet puppies, and kids who can’t read.

His left eye twitched. “You’re not . . . you’re not going to tell anyone, are you?”

I had to pretend to think about it. “That all depends.”

He swallowed hard and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “You can’t.”

“Can’t tell anyone? Why not? Ginger already knows, by the way. She hasn’t talked to you about it yet, though, has she? She was pretty broken up when she found out the truth. My guess is she’s still trying to find a way to discuss this with you that’s not going to break her heart.”

He’d already taken his wallet out of his pocket, and he
turned it over and over in one hand. “I didn’t mean to hurt anybody. That’s not why I did it. I just . . .” He darted a look toward the back room, where I heard Donna fussing with tissue paper. “It’s just that when that Dominic, when he found out I was taking some of the money . . .”

Of all the things I expected Teo to say, this wasn’t one of them. Dominic knew Teo was stealing? Teo was desperate to keep his thievery a secret?

And then Dominic was dead?

My heart bashed my ribs. My blood went cold. I came to the River Walk searching for a thief.

And it looked like I’d found a murderer.

It was my turn to swallow hard.

“Are you sure you want to tell me about this here?” I asked him and hoped the answer would be no.

“I’ve got to tell someone.” Teo’s dark eyes welled with tears. “I’ve been holding it in all week and now . . .” He sniffed. “I’ve really made a mess of things. I know you’ll understand once I explain, Maxie. We have to go somewhere else. So we can talk.”

Go somewhere to talk.

With a man who’d just admitted that he was a murderer.

I was just about to tell him I had to get back to the plaza when Donna came to the front of the shop with a white shopping bag. “You let me know when you’re going to wear this gown,” she told Teo. “Because wherever you’re going to be, I’m going to show up there so I can see you in it. It’s gorgeous, and hon, you’re going to look gorgeous, too.”

His smile was a little watery around the edges when
he looked my way. “Thanks,” he told Donna, “but I’ve changed my mind. I’m not taking the gown.”

She flinched like she’d been slapped. “But this was a special order.”

“It was. I understand that. You can keep the money I gave you for the down payment.” He slid the receipt across the counter to her. “And if you don’t sell the dress anytime soon . . .” Teo slipped his arm through mine. “Give me a call if nobody else wants it,” he told Donna. “Maybe by that time, I can save up enough money to pay for the gown myself.”

And with that, he walked me out of Tatiana’s.

•   •   •

I’m not exactly sure what I expected. I mean, murderers are by definition bad people, right? But Teo didn’t drag me into some dark back alley and conk me on the head. Instead, he led me to the nearest café and ordered mojitos for both of us.

“You’re not going to . . .” It felt so crazy to even say it, I made a face. “You’re not going to kill me?”

Good thing he’d just swallowed a mouthful of mojito or he would have spit it across the table. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you. About your confession. You said . . .” It was hard to get the words out of a mouth that felt as dry as California, so I wet my whistle with mojito. “You said you felt guilty. About what you did to Dom.”

“See? That’s exactly what I thought would happen. It’s exactly why . . .” He passed a hand over his eyes. “I didn’t
kill Dom,” he said. “But I knew that’s what the cops would think. I couldn’t let anyone find out what really happened. I knew you were asking questions and poking around. And I can tell you’re a smart cookie. I’m sorry, but that’s why I went to the Showdown the other day and told you to mind your own business.”

“You!” I sat up like a shot. “You’re the one who grabbed me and—”

“Sorry, sweetie!” His smile was genuine enough, even though his bottom lip trembled. “I know it was a little melodramatic. But I had to do something. I thought if you found out—”

“Not about Dom? You didn’t kill Dom?”

“Of course not. But the tip money . . .”

“You did steal the tip money. And that’s what you didn’t want me to find out about. Because you were afraid I’d turn you in.”

“Well, maybe you would have. Maybe you wouldn’t have. I really don’t know you well enough to know what. But that’s not it at all. What I was afraid of is that somebody would find out what Dom did and they’d think I really did kill him.”

His words played over inside my head, twirling and whirling in there along with everything I’d learned about the victim and the case. “Dom had change and dollar bills in his pocket when he was killed,” I said. “And you were stealing change and dollar bills. You gave Dom some of the money you took?”

“Not hardly.” He clicked his tongue. “That Dom . . . well, he was cute enough, wasn’t he? And charming, too.
At least that’s what I thought from the little bit I talked to him on Monday evening. He was hanging around. Well, you know that. You saw him. And you know, come to think of it, every time I saw him, he was looking your way.”

Before I knew Dom was a wife-stealing, partner-hurting creep who lied to Martha and Rosa and stole their recipes, I actually would have been flattered. The way it was, I really didn’t care. Besides, cute or not, no way Dom could be as good a kisser as Nick.

But back to the matter at hand . . .

“So Dom was hanging around and . . .”

“And he saw what I did.” Teo hung his head. “I thought I was being careful, but still, he saw what I did. He saw me take money out of the tip jar.”

“He was going to report you?”

Teo nodded. “Unless I shared some of the tips with him.”

Even I never imagined someone being that cold! Not only was Dom a wife-stealing, partner-hurting creep who lied to Martha and Rosa and stole their recipes, but he filched money from a charity, too.

“That explains the money Dom had on him when the police found his body,” I said. “And you were worried that if the police made the connection, they’d figure out what you were doing.”

“That,” Teo said, “and they’d think I had a motive to keep Dom quiet. But I didn’t do it!” he added before I could even suggest he did. “I’d never kill someone just to keep them quiet. Not over a few hundred dollars.”

“That’s what you’ve been worried about. That’s why
you weren’t as careful with your clothes and your makeup. That’s why you were snappy and standoffish. You were scared.”