Category Five, page 16
The day was only getting weirder.
Marisol had turned around when she noticed Lupe wasn’t next to her. “What’s wrong? Where’s the white boy going?”
“Sam! His name is Sam!” Lupe yelled, and was immediately sorry. But she suddenly felt stupid for trusting him. “And I don’t know.”
Veterinary school. When they’d spent that afternoon touring the resort, Sam had told her he was studying to be a vet. Someone who would know how to cut up a body. Was she being a naïve idiot? Lupe swallowed hard.
She and Marisol continued in silence, walking on either side of the row of stones. Now that they knew what they were, it seemed sacrilegious to tread on them. They reached the patio to find Javier and an older man in a baseball cap yelling at each other.
“You took off for several hours yesterday, Utierre! I can’t have my staff taking off randomly during the day the job is due to be completed!”
“I told you, it was important!”
In a moment of supremely shitty timing, Lupe and Marisol arrived just then at the edge of the conversation. The contractor looked at them with a smirk and looked back at Javier. “Sure, ‘important.’”
Marisol put her hands on her hips in classic Lupe superhero pose. “And what are you implying? He was not doing anything untoward–”
“You’re fired,” the man said to Javier, and started walking away.
Javier’s hands dropped by his sides. “What?”
He turned around but continued walking away. “I’m done with you, Utierre. Get your shit and get off the property.”
“But—”
“Now!” And he stalked off, disappearing around the corner of the building.
Great. That’s all the guy needed. He needed that job. She felt totally powerless.
“Javier.” Lupe’s voice seemed to startle him; he jumped and seemed to realize she and Marisol were standing there. “Maybe Sam can do something.” It was the only thing she could think of to suggest.
Javier looked around. “Where is he?”
Oh, right. “He … had to go do something.”
Javier through up his hands. “Great. The one time I actually need him, and he takes off. He’s probably scared.”
“That’s not true!” Her voice had sharp edges, mainly because she had wondered the exact same thing and that bothered her. “He’s … getting some proof to help.”
Javier laughed and looked at her with a bitter smile. “Some proof. Is that what he told you?” He stared at her for a beat, and it wasn’t the kind of stare that made her feel good. “What is it with you two, anyway?”
This made the heat rise behind Lupe’s face. “There is nothing with us two. He’s a friend, that’s all.” Why did he keep bringing this up? She’d waited all winter to see him and it had all been going wrong, almost from the beginning.
Javier looked at her. “I thought I was your friend.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Javier. You’re more than a friend and you know it.”
His voice got quieter, hurt edging each word. “Then why did you stop talking with me after the hurricane?’
“What are you talking about? We talked almost every day.”
“Yeah, about me, about the island. You stopped sharing anything about you.”
Lupe glanced at Marisol. Perhaps she’d been right. She’d shut him out, too. “I’m sorry, I was trying—”
“Lupe!” There was no mistaking the foghorn of that voice. Her uncle was standing in all his dress-uniform glory near the front of the building. “Utierre, Marisol, come here!” He swiped at them impatiently as if they were dust bunnies under the bed, and they weren’t stupid: they ran to him like they were on a string.
The conversation with Javier was going to have to wait.
* * *
The limousines had been arriving since around three. A line of them as far as the eye could see led to the front entrance of the resort, and Lupe had to wonder how the hell they’d gotten all those monster vehicles across the strip of water where the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. But given the VIP level, there were probably private yachts involved.
Protestors streamed in and out among the limos, from the direction of the public ferries, carrying signs that read KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF OUR LANDS! and VIEQUES IS NOT FOR SALE! and her personal favorite, I’LL TELL YOU WHERE TO SHOVE YOUR PAPER TOWELS! with a less than flattering cartoon image of the president. Handling either of these groups was bad enough, but managing the two clashing with each other and an evening’s worth of activities? Her uncle had his hands full.
And his job depended on it. Literally.
His staff was stationed all over the grounds trying to both blend in and lend a sense of comfort, given the recent events. They’d tried their best to keep the news under wraps, but with the wonder of the internet, word got out. ZOMBIES INVADE VIEQUES! and EL CUCO RETURNS? the headlines blared. Her uncle had stationed himself near the grandstand where the bigwigs would be sitting, and where the captain was likely to be. There was nothing concrete pointing to the captain, but he was the most likely suspect so far. Her uncle didn’t agree with that yet, but she would keep an eye on him anyway.
Marisol appeared at Lupe’s left, and they nodded at each other like spies in a television series. But given how helpless she was feeling, and the events of the day, it was more like a horror movie.
“My uncle says they’re all on the island now, the VIPs. It’s only a matter of getting them all through the protestors, on the grounds, and seated before the festivities begin.”
Marisol looked back at the line of limos that still hadn’t moved, the crowds of protestors weaving in and out of the stopped vehicles, yelling into the tinted windows. “At this rate that should be around midnight.”
Javier walked up and stood on her other side. She could feel the stress coming off him as he stood super straight. Great, a nice topping of tension.
All three of them looked at the swelling crowd while her uncle talked with random staff. Javier sighed. “If this is all coming to a head tonight, it’s bound to be a dumpster fire.”
“Yeah, if dumpster fires included ghosts, heart-stealing murderers, and crooked politicians.”
“Don’t they all?” Marisol added. “Sounds like a typical Friday night for this group.”
Javier snorted. “Yeah, I think someone’s human heart gift to Lupe was enough horror for one week.”
“Thank you! Tell this girl she needs to tell her uncle before the psycho finds her in real life.” Marisol crossed her arms and glared at Lupe.
“Real life? Don’t you think putting one in her backpack was enough?”
Marisol’s eyes widened. “Excuse me?” She wheeled on Lupe.
Lupe shrugged. “Oops! Forgot to tell you.”
“For someone who talks so much, you certainly are leaving out a lot of details lately!”
Javier jumped in. “You’re telling me!”
Lupe put her hands out. “Look. I know, and I’m sorry, guys. I love you both, and I’m sorry I held back so much over the last few months, but I really was trying to just be there for you.”
“But that’s it, ‘just.’ We want to be there for you, too.”
Lupe reached out and pulled Marisol into a hug. Javier made a sarcastic “aww” behind them, and Marisol pulled back and shook her finger in Lupe’s face. “But you should have told me about the damn heart in your bag!”
Out of the corner of her eye, Lupe saw movement nearby. The captain had appeared next to the grandstand and was checking his watch nervously. “Guys, look,” she whispered, pointing toward the police captain. “You might be right, Javier. He sure looks like he’s up to no good.” The captain looked around and skirted the building’s edge toward the back.
Lupe looked at her uncle, but he was going over a map of the property with a few of his officers. She started to follow the captain herself, but Javier put his hand out. “I’ll go.”
She gave him the look.
Javier put his hands up. “I know the grounds and the building better than you two, and we need to have someone out here where the action is. Besides, no one left a human heart in my bag!”
“Wait, weren’t you fired?”
He smiled. “Right, so I have nothing to lose!”
“Yeah, but I think we should stick—”
“Lupe!” her uncle bellowed from mere feet away.
She jumped rather comically. Was the yelling necessary? But now was not the time. “¿Sí, Tío?”
“Get me my extra radio from the truck. This one’s dead.” He held up the offending device, then chucked the keys toward her, which she caught with no problem.
“10-4, Chief!” Lupe turned to Javier. “Guess it is you; be careful, Javi. Text us if you find anything or you need help. And not a word to Tío!”
He nodded and started off, but she grabbed his arm this time, made sure her uncle was distracted, pulled him back to her, and gave him a full, open-mouthed kiss. When she let go of his arm and leaned back, a huge grin spread across his face, and he basically skipped off.
Lupe put her arm through Marisol’s. “C’mon. Walk me to the truck.”
Side by side they made their way through the crowd, heading for her uncle’s familiar, beaten-up truck in the distance. Tired of being chauffeured around, he’d brought it back with him on the ferry the day before.
They broke free of the mass of the crowd, and as she walked, Lupe stared at her feet. “Mari, I’m sorry.” Her voice was quiet but determined.
“For what?”
“That I wasn’t … available in the right way when you were dealing with the hurricane and … after.”
Marisol waved her hand in dismissal. “No, Lupe. I don’t know how I would have made it through without your family. You were just doing what you thought was best.”
“But it had the opposite effect! Dad and I, we felt so helpless up there in Vermont. We’re sitting on our deck, the leaves changing around the lake, and you guys were dealing with hell on earth. But Esteban didn’t want us to come down. He said he’d just have to worry about us, too, that he felt better knowing we were safe in Vermont.”
“And I don’t blame him!” Marisol barked. Then she laughed. “I’m surprised you didn’t hop on a plane anyway!”
“I tried! I was just about to press Book Ticket on the website when Dad appeared over my shoulder and took his credit card away from me!”
Marisol laughed harder now, and Lupe couldn’t help but join in. Protestors walking by shot them nasty looks. Not the circumstances for laughter, but that only made it harder to hold back.
They arrived at the car with their arms around each other’s shoulders, tears rolling down their cheeks. Lupe took her arm back to get the keys from her pocket and pressed the fob, the truck beeping at her in response. She opened the front passenger door.
“Just an FYI, my uncle’s kind of a slob with his truck—”
But whatever she was about to say left in a whoosh when she looked in the passenger seat. Her seat, when she rode with her tío.
There, pinned to the tan upholstered back, was another heart. Or was it the same one from her backpack? What difference did it make? The message was clear. Lupe swallowed deeply.
“Lupe, what’s up? Is something wr—”
Lupe stepped back while Marisol fully took in the sight. Drying blood trailed down below the heart like arteries connecting it to the seat, and the air of the truck smelled hot and salty, leaving a metallic taste on her tongue. It was then she saw the bit of a knife handle that was extending from the center of the organ, an arrow that reached out to pierce Lupe and Marisol.
“Mari … isn’t that … your brother’s knife?” The yellow skulls on the handle were worn, but still bright.
Marisol nodded, her mouth hanging open.
Lupe thought back to last summer. “Wait, didn’t I kick that down a sewer drain when we fought last year?”
Marisol swallowed, hard. “I had a guy fish it out for me.” She looked at Lupe with big eyes. “It was all I had left of him.”
“Where do you keep it?”
Marisol pulled her backpack around, the sound of zippers whizzing like bees. “I keep it … in this side pocket.…” But her fingers searched in vain, and they both knew it wasn’t there.
“Someone took it from your bag.”
“But when? I’ve had it on me since I got off the ferry … except for when we went to talk to the lieutenant colonel.”
Someone had followed them and taken the knife.
Marisol grabbed Lupe’s sleeve. “Do you think someone is trying to frame me?”
“I doubt it’s that well thought out. I mean, you weren’t here until today, and the other hearts were taken earlier.” She looked back at the gruesome sight on her uncle’s truck seat. “Nah, I think this was a message to me.”
“A message about what?”
“To stop digging into things, I imagine.”
Marisol stared. “Point taken.”
“As if! All this does is make me more determined to find out who it is.”
Marisol smiled at her. “Now that’s the Lupe I know and am irritated by! So, we going to tell your uncle?”
“Not yet.” Lupe chewed her lower lip.
“What? Why not? Lupe, Facebook posts are one thing, but this is serious shit!”
“Mari, it’s been nonstop serious shit. But if my uncle doesn’t solve this case before the opening, the governor is going to fire him!”
“What? Are you serious? After all he’s done for this island? More than the damn governor’s done, let me tell you!”
“I know, but do you see why I can’t tell him yet? He needs to stay focused on keeping all these people safe, not on these messages to me. He has to keep his job, being a cop is all he’s ever wanted since he was, like, nine years old!” Lupe reached gingerly over the passenger seat and grabbed the beat-up radio from between the seats.
“Okay, okay! But we have to stick together, nena. After all my physical labor this summer, I can be your bodyguard.” She flexed her muscles.
Lupe smiled. “I feel safer already.”
Truth was, she did. It was nice to have someone have your back.
Chapter Twenty-six
Javier
JAVIER HAD STAYED several yards behind, so the captain wouldn’t know he was following, as he had snuck around the back of the building and made his way to the basement. Javier entered the silent stairwell and pressed himself against the wall like he had seen in the movies, stifling a cough from the cloud of white sheetrock dust that engulfed him as he moved. The odor of fresh paint and cement was heavy in the air, and he had to admit he’d always liked that smell. It smelled like newness and … possibility.
He padded down the stairs, and was trying to decide which way to go when the sound of footsteps came toward him from the left. He ducked into a small closet space. The captain rushed by and up the stairs, out of breath. Javier waited until he was certain the man was not coming back, then stepped out. He was about to run up the stairs and keep following the captain when the sound of something falling came from the way the captain had come. Curious, he decided to follow it and find out what he had been up to in the empty basement. But the only things he found were bags of dried cement and paint cans.
“This is a waste of time,” he said out loud, and was about to turn around when he saw a light coming from the far storage room. He made his way toward the light, careful in case someone else was around. He peeked around the corner and didn’t see anyone there. Once in the room, he discovered a lighted table covered with electrical parts and pieces, a clay-like substance, and a white powder. He put a bit on his finger and smelled it: fertilizer. It was a makeshift worktable, a door over two sawhorses, but not for any work he knew that was going on at the resort. He took out his phone and took a photo of the odd collection of items, then made his way quietly back to the stairwell. He took the steps two at a time, and carefully peered around the basement door. There was no sign of the captain around the building, so he ran to the front to find the chief. He found him standing near the bandstand with Hernán.
“Chief Dávila! There’s something I need to show you.” He turned to Hernán. “Excuse me.” He turned his back on the captain’s son and pulled up the photo on his phone. He said to the chief in a whisper, “I found this in a room in the basement. It isn’t anything the resort is working on, so it seemed suspicious.”
The chief peered at the phone. “Help an old man out and zoom into that part of the photo, will you, Utierre? I want to see the labels.”
Javier obliged, enlarging the pic.
The chief’s head snapped up. His expression still looked calm and collected, but Javier could see concern around his eyes.
“Where did you say this was?”
“A room in the basement of the main building.”
“Whatever was being made there is done and gone. But it’s not good.”
Hernán asked, “Not good how?”
“Javier, did you see anyone down there?”
Javier glanced over at Hernán and paused. The officer seemed to be eavesdropping, but he was going to learn the truth about his father soon, so it might as well be now. “Yes. Captain Torres. He was down there alone before I found it.”
Hernán’s eyes widened. “I was just telling the chief that my father’s been acting weird lately.”
Dávila grabbed his radio and barked, “Ramirez, get the bomb squad over here near the grandstand, stat! I need them to sweep the area.”
Bomb?
Chapter Twenty-seven
Lupe
LUPE AND MARISOL were shaken by what they found in the truck, but they put their game faces on and slipped among the crowd like minnows, bobbing and weaving through the mass of humanity.
They arrived to find Javier and Hernán standing around Chief Dávila like schoolchildren, the look in their eyes holding helplessness. Even Esteban seemed restless.
“So, what’d we miss?”
Marisol snorted, but coughed to cover it up. Lupe shot her a look.
