A Basket of Trouble (22 page)

with us being so short-handed. They deserve the reward.”

Jessica nodded. “I’m counting on the silent auction to bring in

lots of money for the nonprofit, though. Thanks again for donat-

ing the two gift baskets.”

Claire waved her hand. “I was happy to help.”

Another couple came up to talk to the hosts, so Claire slipped

away. She spotted Jorge Alvarez standing at the bar, looking

spruced up in a leather-shouldered sport coat and bolo tie. When

he left with two glasses of red wine, her gaze tracked him to Nancy Schwartz. Nancy took a sip of her wine, then snuggled close to

Jorge and gave him a discreet peck. He responded by leaning over

as if whispering in her ear, but nipped it instead.

Well, those two are certainly lovey-dovey.

Roger appeared at her elbow with a small plate piled high with

gooey desserts. His gaze followed hers. “Charley’s horse whisperer sure cleans up well. Who’s he with?”

“That’s Nancy Schwartz, Brittany’s mom.”

He frowned. “Isn’t she the one who bad-mouthed Jessica’s

nonprofit?”

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Claire nodded. “I’m surprised she had the nerve to show up

here, though I suppose Jorge invited her.”

“They do look like they’ve got the hots for each other. Speak-

ing of hot, you should try this chocolate-stuffed jalapeno pepper. I know you like dark chocolate, and its kick isn’t that bad.” He held the plate out to her.

Claire inhaled the intoxicating scent of the chocolate, and her

resolve to avoid the desserts weakened. She picked up the pepper

and took a bite. A moan escaped her lips as the soft, rich chocolate coated her tongue. But as she chewed, the fire from the jalapeno

took over and bloomed in her mouth. Some seeds must have been

left near the stem. She coughed and tried to finish it quickly, so she could swallow it. But that just released more fire. And heat crept up her neck, the start of a hot flash. Tears filled her eyes.

“Crap, I’m sorry, honey. I guess you got a hot one.” Looking

worried, Roger held out a napkin.

Claire grabbed the napkin, spit the pepper into it and balled

the mess up. She took a gulp of her wine and fanned her sweaty

chest. “I need to go outside and cool off. That pepper started a ma-jor hot flash.”

Roger ushered her out of the ballroom. He led her across the

lobby to the glass doors opening to the outdoors. Once out on the sidewalk, Claire took a couple of big breaths of the evening air.

The cool, dry breeze evaporated the dampness on her skin. Finally she felt her flush receding.

Roger swallowed the bite of blonde brownie he was chewing

and studied her. “You okay?”

“I’ll live, but no more chocolate jalapenos for me.”

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“Sorry about that.” He held out his plate. “You want something

else?”

She waved him off. “No, I should have stuck to my resolution

to stay away from the desserts.” She looked up at the clear night sky and could barely make out the wispy trail of the Milky Way.

“Don’t the stars look beautiful tonight?”

“Sure.” Roger didn’t sound impressed.

Then Claire heard the familiar giggle of a young woman

nearby, followed by the deep-throated laugh of a man. She turned

toward the sound. Brittany was walking up from the parking lot

with her arm in Vince Donahue’s. Her head was turned toward

him and away from Claire. Her spiked heels clicked on the pave-

ment, and her short metallic skirt swirled around her slim hips.

Oh to have slim hips again, Claire mused as she watched them go

inside.

Roger drank the last of his beer and waggled the empty glass.

“Ready to go back in? I could use another.”

“Sure.”

They followed Brittany and Vince at some distance through the

doors. Before Claire could catch up to them to say hello to Brit-

tany, the young couple paused to talk to Tom Lindall and Hank

Isley in the hallway.

Claire put a hand on Roger’s arm. “Stop for a moment. Say

something to me.”

“What?” Looking confused, he glanced at the group ahead then

back at her. “Is that the manager of Peak View Stables?”

Claire watched Tom drape a companionable arm over Hank’s

shoulder while the men all laughed at something. “Yes, and it

looks like he knows Hank Isley pretty well, too.”

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“Maybe Hank used to work for him.”

“I’ll have to ask Charley.”

Vince, Brittany, and Tom turned to walk into the ballroom to-

gether. But Hank hung back, as if trying to distance himself from them.

Claire turned Roger so they were both facing away from Hank.

Roger gave her a questioning look, and she glanced over her shoulder. Hank slowly sauntered into the ballroom.

“Remember Charley mentioning that Tom Lindall seemed to

know about Gil’s drinking problem?” Claire said to Roger.

After Roger nodded, she said, “I don’t think Brittany would

have told him. I wonder if Hank is Lindall’s spy.”

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thirteen:

immigration problems

“She took it well, thank God, and didn’t walk off the job.” Jes-

sica took a sip from her water bottle.

“I’m surprised.” Claire was standing outside the corral at Gard-

ner’s Stables with Jessica after a hippotherapy session Monday afternoon. She had asked Jessica what the new wrangler’s reaction

was to Kyle and Gil’s unsolved murders.

“Kat’s a tough broad. She mentioned she’d fought her way out

of a couple of tight spots in the past. I got the impression one was an attempted rape.” Jessica frowned. “Kat told me she has a concealed carry permit and could defend herself if anyone threatened her. I’m not sure I like one of our wranglers carrying a loaded

weapon.”

“What’s Charley think?”

“He doesn’t know yet. He’s been back in his office all morning,

on the phone. I thought it would be better for me to be the one to talk to Kat.”

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Jessica looked out toward western horizon, where a trail ride

had just departed. Hank was leading the group, and Brittany and

Kat were both bringing up the rear, so Brittany could train the new wrangler.

“I don’t know if there’s much you can do about it, if she has a

permit,” Claire said. “And maybe it’s a good idea to have a weapon on the premises. I’m glad she decided to stay on. You definitely

need the help. But on to another topic. I’ve been itching to ask

you, how much money did the silent auction bring in Saturday?”

“Even more than I hoped for.” Jessica smiled, and her whole

attitude brightened as she talked excitedly about what she planned to do with the money. Soon, however, the frown reappeared.

“Damn, there’s that detective again.”

Claire turned and watched Wilson’s car drive into the park-

ing lot. Another unmarked car followed Wilson’s into the lot, and two men got out. Like Wilson, they weren’t in uniform, but from

their bearing, they looked like cops. They wore khaki pants, dark polo shirts and athletic shoes. One was middle-aged with black-rimmed glasses, and the other was tall and well-muscled and

looked to be in his late twenties. The older one talked to Wilson while they walked up from the lot. The younger one scanned the

grounds of the stable as if sizing up the operation—or looking for something.

“Whatever they want, I’m sure Charley will need to be in-

volved.” Jessica headed toward the trailer where Charley was

making phone calls. Claire followed. They ended up reaching the

porch at the same time as Wilson and his two cohorts.

“Hello, Mrs. Gardner, Mrs. Hanover.” Wilson waved a hand to-

ward the middle-aged man. “This is Sam Unger with Immigration

185

and Customs Enforcement. He has some questions for you and

Mr. Gardner.”

“I’ll get Charley,” Jessica replied.

While Jessica went inside, Claire invited the men to sit on the

benches on the porch. Her heart thudded, but she tried to hide her nervousness while she sat with them. The younger ICE guy took a

seat where he could have an unobstructed view of the whole stable yard.

Charley followed Jessica out of the trailer and joined them. He

looked worried. “So, what’s up?”

Wilson introduced Sam Unger to him. “Remember those

phone numbers from Mexico in Kyle Mendoza’s cell phone? We

have reason to believe he was involved in an illegal immigrant

smuggling operation.”

Claire tensed, but Wilson didn’t reveal his source. Nor did he

look at her. Unger did, though, so he knew.

“As part of that investigation,” Wilson continued, “these men

need to examine your employment records.”

Oh dear,
Claire thought.
That starts the clock on Pedro losing his
job.

Charley frowned. “And if I don’t have every T crossed and ev-

ery I dotted in my paperwork, I’m in trouble. Is this really neces-sary?”

“I’m afraid so,” Unger said.

“In a murder investigation,” Wilson added, “we need to explore

every possible lead.”

“Shit.” Charley put his hands on his hips. “Do you have a war-

rant?”

Unger handed over a piece of paper.

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Charley studied it. “I know I can request three days to get my

records in order.”

Now it was Unger’s turn to frown. “Yes, you have that right,

though I’m disappointed that you aren’t being more coopera-

tive. I was hoping to move forward in my investigation today.” He paused and quirked a brow at Charley. “You don’t have anything

to hide, do you?”

“No, I don’t, but I know my rights, and I’m not going to change

my mind.”

“We’ll be back on Thursday, then. Were you aware of Kyle

Mendoza’s activities?”

“Hell no,” Charley said. “If I’d found out, he wouldn’t have

been working here anymore. First I heard anything was when De-

tective Wilson here told me about the Mexico phone numbers.”

Wilson glanced at Claire. “Yes, and your employee Pedro Tru-

jillo told me that he knows nothing about them, even though he

knew Mendoza.”

Unger lounged back in his chair, as if perfectly relaxed, but

Claire could sense that behind his sunglasses he was peering in-

tently at her brother. “You know,” he said with a languid drawl, “I find it very difficult to believe that neither Mendoza’s close friend nor his employer knew anything about his illegal activities.”

Charley crossed his arms. “Well, I didn’t.”

“But your sister did.” Unger glanced at Claire.

“What?” Charley and Jessica said in unison and stared at Claire.

Claire slid deeper into her seat. “Someone told me in confi-

dence about Kyle’s involvement in an immigrant smuggling ring,

and I passed that information on to Detective Wilson.”

Charley looked incredulous. “And you didn’t tell me?”

187

“I’m sorry, Charley. I had to promise I wouldn’t.”

“I think I have a right to know about anything illegal going on

at my business,” Charlie said with a scowl.

“Nothing illegal was going on here. In fact, Kyle wasn’t really

doing anything illegal either. He wasn’t involved in any actual

smuggling. He was just recommending people for jobs.” Even to

Claire, her back-pedaling seemed lame.

Charley bunched a hand into a fist, then crossed his arms as

if to prevent himself from hitting something. “I can’t believe this!

Aren’t I more important to you than whoever you made this

promise to?” His voice rose with each word.

Jessica glared at Claire. “It must have been someone here at the

stable.”

Rubbing his chin, Charley thought for a moment. “You know, I

never asked Pedro about those phone numbers. Since he and Kyle

were friends, he probably does know something.”

He glanced at Claire, as if for confirmation that Pedro was her

source, but she remained still and silent. Then he looked at Wil-

son. “I know he didn’t talk to you, probably because he’s suspi-

cious of cops. But he might talk to me. If you all wait here, I’ll go up to the barn and ask him about those numbers.”

No, don’t!

Unger’s smile was predatory, hungry. “Good idea. I’ll go with

you.”

He began rising from his chair, but Charley stopped him with a

hand on his shoulder. “The barn’s not part of the public area of my business. You can’t go there without a warrant or invitation, and I’m not inviting you. As I said, Pedro’s probably suspicious of cops, so if you want your information, I need to go alone.”

188

Unger glanced at Wilson, who nodded, then sank back into his

chair.

Claire’s mind raced while Charley stood and walked down

the porch steps. Charley was unknowingly putting Pedro at risk.

“I’ll go with you. Pedro likes me.” She hustled down the stairs and walked toward the barn at a fast clip so no one would have time to stop her.

Charley caught up with her. “Why are you coming along? Was

Pedro your source?”

Claire glanced back at the group sitting on the porch and

judged that they were out of earshot. “No, he wasn’t, but I’ve got to tell you something else about him before you put him in danger.

And you can’t show any reaction to what I’m saying in front of the cops.”

Charley stopped and stared at her.

Claire grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the barn. “Keep

walking.”

“What’s going on?”

“Pedro was one of Kyle’s clients. He’s an illegal immigrant.”

Charley’s face reddened. “Damn it! Why the hell didn’t you tell

me before?”