The Devil's Orchard (17 page)

“This way,” Eduardo said as he helped her out of the water to the muddy bank on the other side. No sooner had he said it than a car pulled up with the headlights off.

Gracelia froze, a cold sensation coming over at the thought of dying beside the Rio Grande like so many who’d tried to sneak into the U.S. like this. The back door opened and she gasped, while Eduardo drew his weapon.

“Gracelia, come on,” Jerome said as he stepped out.

“Thank God,” she said as she stepped into his arms. “You scared me almost to death.”

“I didn’t want you walking along the road by yourself with all that’s going on.”

“Fuck you,” Eduardo said, his gun at his side but still in his hand, obviously understanding Jerome’s insult as to how safe she was with him.

“Eduardo, put it away,” Pablo said in Spanish, his gun extended and pointed at her guard’s head.

“We have no time for this. Save it for those who really want to hurt us, and, Eduardo, if you speak to Jerome like that again, you’re out,” Gracelia said. Eduardo glared at all of them but eventually gave a quick nod.

“You can ride in the next car, Eduardo,” Jerome said as he held her, not caring she was getting him all wet. In the backseat Jerome kissed her and squeezed her breasts as if he couldn’t wait to touch her.

Not that she cared about Pablo and the driver in the front, but neither man moved his eyes from the road, giving them as much privacy as possible. If they were quiet they could fuck, but she wanted to wait until she was clean and dry.

“We’re driving the entire way?” she asked as she massaged his hardening cock through his jeans. The sensation of the material against her hand reminded her of the times she’d been with Armando. He’d loved for her to get him off in his pants while they were out in public. No man since had possessed her so completely, which was one of the reasons she still mourned him.

“We’re an hour from the helicopter I hired to take us to Houston. From there we’ll take a flight into New Orleans in the morning.” Jerome returned the favor and rubbed the seam between her legs. It felt so good she forgot about her damp clothes. “We’ve got a lot to do to find the fuckers who did this. If we don’t hit back and hit back hard, we’re going to lose all respect on the streets.”

“You really do want to help me, don’t you?”

“It’s no time to doubt me,” he said as he unzipped his jeans and took his dick out. “I already told you, if you want I’ll leave you, and guys like Eduardo can help you get what you want.”

“Don’t act like a hurt little boy,” she said as she lowered her head. That Jerome had taken the time to come get her had made its impression.

He cared about her, which was another reminder of Armando. When she became too clingy he’d put her back in her place like a real man should, but when she’d distance herself he’d come chasing her. Rodolfo had tried to cheapen all those times he’d said he couldn’t live without her with his snide commentary. Her brother always pointed out that Armando’s professions of love always came when he was broke, and once she’d dumped cash on him he degraded her again.

“I’m not acting childish. I’m tired of having idiots like that think they can treat me like shit and get away with it.”

She swirled her tongue around the tip of his penis and smiled when he thrust his hips toward her mouth. “Because you are with me, I’ll make it up to you. Compared to you, Eduardo means nothing to me.”

That was all the talking they did until the car stopped at a remote heliport full of equipment spray-painted with oilfield names. Their pilot barely looked at them as she, Jerome, and Pablo boarded. The thick envelope of money Jerome had given him was obviously too distracting.

“Tomorrow we start again right, sweetheart?” she asked Jerome as they lifted off.

“Something like that,” Jerome said, and the same coldness she’d experienced when the car stopped near them came over her again. Perhaps there was something to fear in Jerome, but she did her best to put it aside. She needed him more than she was afraid of his betrayal.

“Are you guys busy this afternoon?” Remi asked on the way back to Cain’s.

“I promised the kids something fun, but if you and Dallas are up for it, we’ll treat you to dinner. It might be noisier than you’re used to, but it’ll be good training for your future.”

“Between me and you, I never factored in the possibility of children in my life.” Remi put her hand on her knee and patted it a few times, as if glad to have her to talk to. “When you found Emma, I was jealous for so long, especially after Hayden was born. When Emma was duped into leaving, I saw your pain, but now I know you’re happier than you’ve ever been because you had faith in her.”

“My mother always said anything worth having is worth any pain or work you have to put into it.” She took Remi’s hand and turned it over so she could see her palm. “Everything I have, you’ve got right here if you’d stop being such a…Well, there’s no good word for it that doesn’t get me punched in the mouth.” She laughed.

“What are you talking about?”

“Make the commitment Dallas is waiting for. Don’t keep giving her the impression that what you feel isn’t permanent. You do that and everything you’ve ever desired is in the palm of your hand.”

“Did she tell Emma that?”

Cain laughed again. “You think Emma’s going to share that with me? If Dallas said anything to her, she’d keep it in confidence even from me.” She put her hand behind Remi’s neck and squeezed. “I’m saying this because I’ve been there, and Emma was skittish until she walked into my house and found half the closet empty for her. When it became
our
home, that was the day she thought she wasn’t another notch.”

“That’s what I was going to ask you. Do y’all want to go with us to the house I want to show Dallas? Emma’s her best friend, so I figured she’d love sharing this process with her.”

When they got home it didn’t take much to convince the girls and Hayden to go along with Remi and Dallas. The drive didn’t take long since the house Remi was interested in was four buildings down. It’d been years since Cain had stepped foot in the place she’d sold when her mother died, and she stopped and stared into the formal living room to see the changes the new owners had made. The family that had bought her parents’ home was moving to Houston for a job change, according to what Remi said on the way over, and Remi held everyone back when they entered.

There was an open house for the weekend, so she ignored the people crowding into the place. So far everything was different, but as she touched the wood of the stair handrail, memories of her childhood seemed to be trapped in the grain of the wood. Her parents’ voices echoed through her mind, and she ached from missing them.

“If it freaks you out I’ll forget it,” Remi said from behind her.

“I couldn’t think of anyone my parents would approve of raising a family here more than you, so show it to her.”

Hannah ran ahead of them, with Dino chasing her. They toured the first floors and moved as a group upstairs to see the bedrooms, and again Hannah moved ahead, but Cain didn’t worry until she bumped into the legs of a man on the top step. He put his hand on Hannah’s shoulder to keep her from falling back.

“Sorry, mister,” Hannah said as Cain scooped her up and held her. Even though she was a step down she was still taller than the guy Hannah had collided with.

“It’s okay,” the man said in a low voice, too low in her opinion. It was like he was purposely trying to distort his voice. “She is beautiful.” The guy had his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels.

Cain detected a slight accent in the four short words, but he kept his answers too short for her to get a real sense. The man sounded Hispanic, but he didn’t really appear Hispanic, and she didn’t recognize him. His face, though, struck her as familiar.

“Thank you.” She settled Hannah in her arms and turned to put her body between them. It was a precaution, simply an overreaction since the man was wearing a pair of expensive-appearing linen pants and a golf shirt. He wasn’t armed unless his piece was strapped to his leg, and he made no move to get closer.

“House shopping today?” she asked, her eyes locked with his.

“Yes,” he said. His hand came up to comb back his longish dark-blond, highlighted hair. “You?”

“Hon, are we going up?” Emma asked, and the man briefly glanced at her.

“Sure, excuse us.” The man moved aside and let them by. He descended after that and she watched him go, still suspicious. When he reached the bottom he looked at her, smiled, and left. She stood there until he was out of her sight and didn’t move until Hayden asked which of the six bedrooms used to be hers.

“Let me show you,” she said, but her feet were nailed to the floor. The man wasn’t someone she knew, but her gut told her she should’ve. She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to remember where she’d seen him, trying to put him in the right location for a clue, but frustratingly nothing came to her.

She walked through the rest of the house, but the carefreeness of the day strangely left her. It felt so important to jog her memory of where she’d known the guy. The only things that took her mind off the intruders on her day were Hannah running from room to room, with Dino now sticking to her, and Hayden asking her questions about everything. He’d always been curious about his grandparents, so she was happy he’d at least grow up with Ross. Her own grandparents had given her so much in a relationship so different than she’d had with her parents.

“What do you think?” Remi asked Dallas while they stood in the master bedroom.

“I love it.” When Dallas answered, Remi smiled at the Realtor who’d been discreetly following them. After a short phone conversation, the others working the sale started clearing the other potential buyers out.

“Ms. Jatibon,” the woman said, handing over an open folder and a pen. “Congratulations. I hope you have many happy years here.” Once Remi had signed in all the appropriate places, the woman gave her a large ring of keys.

“Just like that?” Dallas asked.

“I can’t wait for what comes next with you, so just like that.”

Cain laughed and put her arm around Emma. She didn’t really know the couple who’d bought the house from her well, but they’d had two small children. That’s what had swayed her to sell the home where her parents had raised her and her siblings, once most of her family was dead. After all that death, not only did she and Emma deserve a fresh start, but these walls deserved the sound of children echoing through them. Now she wished the same for the new owners and the children she hoped they’d be blessed with.

“Let’s go celebrate.” She waved her family down to give Remi and Dallas a moment alone.

“Are you okay?” Emma asked as she ran her fingers along the spot on the wall where Dalton’s picture had hung.

“I don’t have bouts of intuition very often, but that guy on the stairs—well, it was strange.”

“Strange how?”

“Have you ever met someone and wanted to punch them in the face before introducing yourself?” She decided to let it go for now. Sometimes that’s what it took for something to come into focus.

“A few people, actually, but I leave the beatings to you since it’s murder on my nails.”

“You can help me redecorate, right?” Dallas asked Emma when she came down glued to Remi and cutting their talk short.

“Down to the pillowcases,” Emma said, laughing. “Remi will have to work overtime to keep up with us.”

“You’re in trouble now,” Cain said, having made up her mind to forget about everything until she had time to sit and really dwell on it.

*

Gustavo sat in his car and beat on the steering wheel with his palms. It might’ve been his mother’s idea to reconstruct his face, but it was his brilliance that had gotten him so close to Cain without her recognizing him. Everyone had made fun of him for following Remi, but through her, he’d gotten what he was after all along—a way in that would get him close to Cain.

“Fuck you, Jerome,” he said. He laughed and stopped beating the wheel before he bruised himself. The next time he saw his mother’s lover he was going to kill him, preferably in front of their men. That was the fastest way to show everyone who was really in charge and who had the brains to run the organization.

He kept laughing at the thought of Cain’s expression. The gears in her head were almost visible as they spun, trying to place him, and even though it’d worried him for a moment, she’d failed. So much for that sharp mind everyone, including his uncle Rodolfo, was in awe of. No one wanted to believe him, but Cain was like every other woman he’d known—a stupid bitch with the audacity to tell men what to do.

He’d gotten close, but now he had to close the deal. He hadn’t figured out how to get that done yet, but he wanted to take his time. If he failed again he’d have to give up his dream of having Emma before killing her, then Cain. But if he couldn’t grab her, he’d settle for just killing them both.

The people in the house came out in a crowd, except the ones he was there to see. He slid down in the seat and decided to wait. As he stared at the door his thoughts drifted back to meeting with Jerome and the reaction of his men. Chico, Pablo, and the others were also dead for listening to the asshole he’d introduced to them. Jerome was one more thing Rodolfo had been right about, and he should’ve taken his uncle’s advice and left Jerome to the dogs.

Only one guy had appeared uncomfortable with Jerome’s display, and he had to fish a minute for the man’s name. He searched the contacts in the phone his mother had given him. “Are you alone?” he asked when Andre Reyes answered.

“Who is this?”

“It’s Gustavo, and if you warn anyone I’m calling you—you’re a dead man. Are you alone?”

“I’m driving around looking for you, so yeah. Where are you, anyway?”

“Stop somewhere and I’ll give you an address. Tell me when you’re ready.” It took Andre a while to say he’d pulled over. Now that Rodolfo wasn’t in charge, it was hard to know who to trust, but he had no choice. He couldn’t finish this by himself.

“What time do you want me there?” Andre asked once he’d repeated the information three times.

“Tonight at ten, and you’d better not bring anyone else. This place is crowded, so I’ll know if you do.”

“You sure you don’t want some of the others?”

“Forget it, and don’t ask for mercy one day soon.”

“Wait,” Andre said, loud enough so he heard him as he took the phone from his ear. “I’ll come, and you have my word I’ll come alone.”

The door opened and Cain came out first. He disconnected and watched them through the gate. Emma, flanked by her children, made him ill, as did the sight of the swell of her stomach. It seemed almost satanic.

“I’ll still fuck you so you can see how you wasted your life,” he said as he looked at Emma. “And instead of killing Cain, maybe I’ll let her live. That way the memory of the moment I hand her that baby after I cut it out of you will be burned into her brain. She’ll never know another minute of peace.”

*

“Who is this whack job?” Special Agent Claire Lansing said as she took eyes off her targets to check out the man hiding in the car a hundred feet down the street.

“No one that pops to mind,” Lionel Jones said. They were on their own today, since their team leader Joe Simmons had his meeting with Ronald Chapman set for the last half of the day. “I ran him through face recognition, and nothing.”

“He’s either really upset that Remi scooped him on the house or something else is going on.” She took several pictures of the man but he was muttering into his phone, so even with their equipment at the highest level, they couldn’t hear what he was saying. “You think we need to give Joe a call?”

He glanced at his watch and shook his head. “Give him three more hours, since he wanted to finish with Chapman today.”

“So this is where Casey was raised?”

“I read through her file a few times and saw pictures of her as a baby being held by her father in that front yard. They didn’t even have a gate and fence back then.”

“Maybe they didn’t need it.”

Lionel pointed their microphones back toward Cain and her group, even if it was a waste of time, and recorded what was being said. “True, Dalton Casey wasn’t the kind of man I would’ve messed with, but in those shots he was a father with his new baby. The way she talks about him makes me believe she idolized him. I never knew my father.”

“Think about who he raised. Dalton wasn’t all that wonderful, so your mother did a much better job.”

Lionel’s phone rang and he stared at it until it almost went to voice mail. He didn’t understand why Chapman would be calling him if he was supposed to be meeting with Joe. “Yes, sir, can I help you?”

“Where are you?”

“We’re with the Casey family, and we’re covering Remi Jatibon for the team usually assigned to her. Remi is buying real estate, and it’d be too crowded out here for more than one surveillance crew. They’re moving from one location to another, so can I do something for you?”

“I need you and Lansing to come in for your interviews.”

“Sir, did you not understand me? Agent Lansing and I are the
only
two people out here. Joe and Shelby, when she comes back, are our investigators, but Claire and I are the surveillance experts.” Claire stared at him with a disbelieving expression. “Are you sure you’d like us to desert our post?”

“This isn’t the army, Jones. Get in here. I want to wrap this up as soon as possible so I can turn in our report. In my opinion you all could be holding hands with these people and they’d still be able to kill half the population of New Orleans without you figuring it out.”

“Yes, sir.” He hung up and got out of the van. It was bad enough for Cain to humiliate him. His employer didn’t need to pile it on.

Claire followed him out and shut the panel door behind her. The move made him comfortable since he didn’t trust that someone like Chapman wasn’t spying on them. “He really wants us to pull out?”

“Wants to talk to us now. For some reason it can’t wait until we can call in another team.” He kicked at the ground in frustration. “For someone who bitches about how we do stuff, he’s going out of his way to make it worse.”