Wicked Eddies (9 page)

“No mother should outlive her child,” Brenda said in a hoarsened voice. “It's heartbreaking. Absolutely heartbreaking.”

Lee gave her hand a squeeze, swallowed hard, then looked at Mandy. “We understand you were the one who found her.”

“Yes.”

He shifted in his chair, as if it was suddenly too confining. “They called me in to identify her body.”

“I'm sorry. That must have been awful. I didn't realize they'd ask you to do that since we all knew it was her, from her photo.”

Another awkward silence. Next to Mandy, Cynthia dabbed at her eyes.

Brenda cleared her throat and glanced at Lee. “Lee said she looked peaceful. Is that how she looked to you when …when you pulled her out of the water?”

Mandy nodded, then took a deep breath, while the image of the girl's bruised but serene face appeared in her mind, her long brown hair swirling in the water. “Her eyes were closed as if she was sleeping.”

The whole Ellis family leaned forward.

Mandy realized they needed to hear more. She didn't want to describe Faith's naked body, however, and the bloating that had begun to swell the torso. “Her face was beautiful, even with the bruises.”

Brenda gasped and put a hand to her cheek. “Bruises?”

“From the river, most likely,” Mandy hastened to add.

“What do you mean?” Brenda asked.

“The force of the whitewater. It bangs things, people, against the rocks. Even folks who fall out of rafts in the rapids wind up with bruises.” Mandy winced. “Sorry, I'm not saying this very well.”

“No, no, that's okay. I know this can't be easy for you.” Brenda crumpled her tissue. “They told Lee that the river probably removed her clothes, too. What do you think? Can the rapids do that? I hate to think of her starting out that way.”

Next to Mandy, Craig dropped his head and squinted his eyes shut, as if he didn't want to hear about his sister's naked body being churned by the river.

“I just started working as a river ranger this spring, so I don't have much experience with … situations like this.” Mandy paused, tried not to squirm. “But my instructor said, in my training this spring, that it's very common for bodies, um people, to be found partially or totally unclothed. So, yes, that's probably what happened.”

God, could I sound any more lame?

“And could you tell how she died?” Craig asked. “Did you see any, um, wounds, or anything?”

Mandy shook her head. She glanced at Lee, and he shook his head, too, so she added, “Hopefully, the coroner found something today during the autopsy.”

“We want some answers, obviously,” Lee said. “It's hard to believe little Faith isn't with us anymore. I keep expecting her to come flying in the back door, letting the screen bang, which she always did, no matter how many times I told her not to.” A bittersweet smile rose to his lips then faded. “Kinda wish I hadn't harped on that so much now.”

“I remember her practicing on that guitar,” Cynthia said in a choked voice. She nodded at the acoustic guitar that leaned up against the brick fireplace. “She has—had—such a sweet voice.”

A series of awkward reminiscences followed. Of Faith's first date in New Mexico and the tearful breakup that followed almost immediately after. Of her attempts at cooking under Brenda's guidance that included both a delicious chocolate cake and a burned pot of macaroni and cheese. Of her struggles with math, and Craig's attempts to help her when he was home on the weekends while earning his business degree at New Mexico State. And about how unhappy she'd been with the move that spring.

“I know Faith didn't want to move until the summer,” Brenda said. “Didn't want to be drop-kicked into a new high school and class schedule with only a few weeks to go until the end of her sophomore year.”

“Moving during the school year is supposed to be the best time for kids,” Lee said automatically, as if they'd gone over this many times already, but he was repeating it for Mandy's benefit. “That's so they can make friends more easily. And if I was going to take over a rafting business, spring was the only sensible time to do it.”

“I know all the good reasons for the timing,” Brenda said, “and deep down, I think Faith did, too. But she was so unhappy. That's why I asked Howie to take her under his wing, show her the river, teach her fly fishing and such.” Her hands tore apart the tissue. “I guess that was a mistake.”

Lee scowled. “That detective had no proof of anything improper between Howie and Faith. And he won't find anything, because there's nothing to find.”

“This isn't something we should discuss with Mandy here.” Brenda whispered.

Cynthia squirmed next to Mandy, and Craig's hands gripped his knees so tightly his knuckles turned white.

Given the family's reactions, if Howie had been abusing Faith and one of them found out, Mandy could envision any of them reacting violently. She still felt she had to tread gently here, though. “Detective Quintana has to look into all possible leads,” she said, “and since I'm a part of the investigative team, I know what he's doing. So if you want to talk—”

“He's barking up the wrong tree is what he's doing,” Lee shouted, his face reddening and his hands clenching into fists.

Brenda put a hand on Lee's arm, shot him a look, then turned to Mandy. “As I said, we aren't going to discuss it.”

A dead quiet descended on the room, until Mandy realized that if anything more was going to be said, she had to be the one to speak first. Even though she didn't want to, she felt she should offer information about Howie, since Cynthia had implied that they wanted to know. “Um, did you want to know anything about Howie's discovery?”

Brenda shook her head violently and looked away, her fist to her mouth.

This was the point where Mandy should have steered the conversation in another direction, but she couldn't think of anything besides the old standby, “How 'bout them Broncos?” and that was definitely inappropriate. She was saved by the cell phone ringing in her purse.

“Excuse me.” She stood and walked into the hall while digging for her phone. “Hello?”

“Hey, Mandy,” Rob answered. “You still up for listening to Ian's bluegrass band at the Vic tonight? Their first set starts in a half hour.”

Mandy glanced at her watch. Almost eight-thirty. “Hold on a minute. I'm at the Ellis house with Cynthia. Let me ask her how much longer she wants to stay.” She signaled for Cynthia to join her in the hall.

Mandy held her hand over the phone and whispered. “This is Rob. He wants me to listen to a friend's band play at the Vic with him. How long do you want to stay here and do you need me to stick around later? I'm happy to say no to him if you need me.”

Cynthia shook her head and whispered back, “It's getting pretty awkward in there. I think they've asked all the questions they can handle right now. And it's about all I can handle, too. Let's use the call as an excuse and bolt.” She put a hand on Mandy's arm. “And you don't need to stay with me, but thanks for the offer.”

Cynthia went back to the Ellis family to say that they had to leave, while Mandy made plans to meet Rob at the bar. After a flurry of hugs and goodbyes, they left the house and got in Mandy's Subaru.

While Mandy put the car in reverse, Cynthia said, “Thanks. I know that was hard for you, but I think it helped. I know it helped me.”

“If they want to talk about Howie later, I can come back,” Mandy offered.

Cynthia stared out the passenger side window. “The less said about good old Uncle Howie, the better.”

_____

An hour and a half later, Mandy was whirling in Rob's arms in front of the small stage at the back of the Victoria Tavern, trying to keep up with his lively two-step. She gave a desperate wave to the acoustic guitar player, Rob's friend Ian, who laughed and kept on strumming. Just when she thought she'd have to beg Rob to rest for a minute, the song ended with a flourish from the banjo player. Rob and Mandy joined in giving a resounding hand to the band.

Ian announced the band would take a short break, so Mandy and Rob walked back to the table they were sharing with Kendra, Ajax, and Dougie. Kendra had a sheen of sweat on her brow, and Dougie's mop of hair was damp. The three of them had been dancing together on the other side of the dance floor.

Mandy took a long, cool sip of beer then sat back and smiled. “This is exactly what I needed after that scene at the Ellis home.”

Kendra's brow furrowed. “How's Cynthia taking the death of her uncle and her cousin? I noticed she's not working tonight.”

“She's a lot more broken up about Faith's death than her Uncle Howie's,” Mandy said. “There seems to have been some bad blood between her and her uncle.”

Ajax shook his head. “Damn shame that girl had to die so young
. Any idea how her body ended up in the river?”

“Not yet.” Mandy let her head loll back against Rob's large, strong hand while he rubbed the tension out of the back of her neck. “Man, you know just what I need, Rob. Don't stop.”

He grinned. “Nothing like some down-home bluegrass dancing and a neck rub to bleed the stress out of a hard day.” He leaned over to whisper in her ear. “And some down-home loving, too,
mi querida
.” He nipped the tip of her ear.

Delicious tingles tickled Mandy's neck, but she managed to elbow him playfully in the ribs. “Down, boy. Save that for later.”

Dougie rolled his eyes. “The lovebirds are at it. C'mon, Ajax, how 'bout a game of darts?”

The two of them wandered off, and a friend of Kendra's asked her to play pool, leaving Mandy and Rob alone at the table.

Rob draped his arm across Mandy's shoulders and searched her face. “Seriously, though, are you okay? That can't have been easy, talking about Faith with her parents.”

“I'm okay,” she replied. “It had to have been a lot harder for them. They're just starting the grieving process.”

“And they aren't going to have much time to themselves in the next few days. Howie Abbott's funeral is Tuesday, then Lee and Craig are working the fishing tournament for the next four days before Faith's funeral on Sunday.”

“They aren't taking time off between the funerals?”

Rob shook his head. “In this economy and at this time of year, an outfitter can't turn down any opportunity that comes his way to meet potential clients. That's why I volunteered, too. Lee especially needs to do it, since he just bought the business.”

“How's his business doing?”

“I really don't know. I know he's running trips because I've seen his boats on the river and his vans and trailers on the highway. But I have no idea if he's making any profit.”

“I had barely talked to him before tonight,” Mandy said. “Have you?”

“We've both been too busy lately. Haven't had time to do much besides wave at each other.”

Mandy drained her beer glass. “What about Jesse Lopez? Do you know him at all?”

Rob refilled her glass. “The Jesse who owns the gas station? Why're you asking about him?”

“Apparently he had a grudge against Howie Abbott.”

“Jesse could hold a grudge all right,” Rob said with a nod. “Especially when it was justified. I had to talk him out of filing charges against a couple of other gas station owners who always put up price changes on the same day. He groused about it for weeks afterward.”

“Really? Why'd you talk him out of it?”

“The suit would have been thrown out. It wouldn't have gotten him anything other than a bad rep among other business owners in town. I told him that sometimes you've just got to let things slide, especially if you're a Hispanic business owner in this valley.”

Mandy nodded. She had heard Rob say many times that he and other local Hispanic businessmen had to earn market share by being sharper than their rivals, reacting quicker to changing conditions. All reasons he wanted to expand RM Outdoor Adventures. “So you and Jesse know each other pretty well.”

“I guess I'd say we're friends, though we're not that close. I've fished with him and his brother a few times. He's good.” Rob finished off his beer. “Mostly, we just talk business, whether or not tourism's growing in the valley and by how much. When's a good time to expand. Things like that. Speaking of which …”

Uh oh.
Mandy stiffened.

Rob didn't seem to notice as he poured himself another beer from the pitcher. “Have you had a chance to think anymore about selling your uncle's place?”

“Barely.” Mandy took a gulp of beer. “I've been a little busy.”

“I know, and I know it's hard for you to give up a house that has so many memories for you. But if we're going to expand the business and offer year-round adventure trips, like we agreed, we've got to start. Before scheduling any climbing trips this fall, we have to enroll guides in training classes and order the equipment. Soon. And we don't have the money for that.”

He studied her for a moment then reached into the pocket of his jean jacket that was draped on the back of his chair. He pulled out a business card. “The wife of one of the other outfitters is a real estate agent. I asked around, and people seem to think she's pretty good. Why don't you give her a call?”

Reluctantly, Mandy took the card. “I don't think Uncle Bill's place is ready to put on the market.”
And I'm not ready to put it on the market.

“That's something this agent can help you with. She'll do a walk-through of the property, tell you what needs to be done to make it show well. And she can give you an idea of what it'll sell for.”

Mandy flipped the card over and over in her hand, as if it were a hot potato. She refused to read the name on it.