A Dangerous Harbor (33 page)

"Where've you
been
, sis? You've missed all the fun! Gabe makes the best margaritas, and I can't think of a better painkiller for all we've been through." Leila ogled Raul, winked at her sister and put out a bangle-bedecked hand for him to shake. "I presume this is Chief Inspector
Vignaroli
? Gabe has told me so much about
you
."

Raul, to his credit, smiled warmly at Leila and taking her hand, brought the back of her knuckles up to his lips in a light kiss. Leila, obviously into her second or third margarita, giggled and rolled her eyes at Katy.

Katy looked at her sister and laughed. "How many of those painkillers have you had?"

"Oh, Katy, don't fuss at me now when I'm finally having the fun I came down here for. Come on," she said, tugging her sister along to Fred's boat.

Gabe and the girls were up on the aft deck of Fred's boat.

The girls stood and rushed over to hug Katy, both wanting to thank her and tell her how much they loved, loved,
loved
her sister.

"She's going to introduce me to her acting coach,"
Myne
gushed.

"And I'm going to go back to school. Leila says UCLA is a great school for screenwriters."

Leila shoved a couple of margaritas into their hands and insisted they join them.

Gabe said, "So was Spencer surprised to see you?"

"Well," said Katy, "not exactly." Then she told them all of it. At the end of the story, Leila's face was sober and the girls had stopped giggling.

Katy said, "So,
Myne
, you are really and truly free of Spencer Bobbitt."

Myne
said, "What about Booth and the girl? Do you think we'll ever find out if Spencer was really guilty of their murders, or was it someone else?"

Katy put down her drink.
 
"Has anyone seen Ida Howard today?"

Fred answered. "I took the liberty of announcing to Wally and Ida that they were to be ready for a US Marshal to accompany them back to the States tomorrow."

Katy, knowing that Ida wasn't Wally's first choice of companion, wondered how that was going to play out. Then she thought of something. "Gabe. Remember the night you found the tape?"

"Yeah, and sorry I ever thought to give it to you, since you thought I was responsible for Booth's death."

"Okay, got it, Gabe. But remember you said you came down to the marina because you heard a woman's voice shouting?"

"Yeah, that's right, I was coming down to see if you needed help."

Leila leaned into Gabe. "That was so gallant of you, Gabe. Wasn't that gallant of him to do that, Katy? Isn't he a sweetheart of a guy?"

In another time and place, Leila's antics with Gabe would have come with a lecture. Instead, Katy quietly motioned Raul over to the rail. "Would you do me a favor and check on Wally and Ida?"

He slanted a glance at her then nodded. "Yes, I see what you're thinking. I'll be right back."

When he was gone, she said, "Leila, if you think you'll be okay tonight without me, Raul and I would like to have dinner alone. Then tomorrow we'll move the boat to Baja Naval and get it ready for transport back to the States."

"Sure," said Leila, hearing the note of sadness in her sister. "That's a great idea. Gabe says he knows where he can get fresh oysters. We'll fix dinner on your boat and catch up on old times."

Gabe was signaling behind Leila's back, hoping she wouldn't mention the possibility that Leila's dinner might involve climbing over fences to get those oysters.

Leila pushed Katy for the steps. "Go on, have a night out." She leaned closer and whispered, "Let tomorrow take care of itself. Stay the night. Go for it, you may never get the chance again."

Katy kissed her sister and said, "Watch yourself, sis. Gabe's a dear but he's… well, he's still Gabe."

Katy went to her boat, threw a change of clothes, toothbrush, and her favorite perfume into an oversized purse, swung off the boat and walked the length of the dock to find Raul standing next to Wally and Ida's boat. He was talking to a guard. The guard did an about-face and hustled for the gate.

Raul, his mouth set in a grim line, kept her from going any closer to the boat.

"What is it?" she asked, fearing the worst.

"They are both dead. It looks like she killed him, then herself," he said, handing her the handwritten confession.

"Ida admitted shooting the girl, not because she wanted to frame Spencer, but because it was a mistaken identity. She had lifted Wally's keys to Spencer's boat and picked up Spencer's gun meaning to shoot the man who had ruined her life. When the bed covers moved, she fired. Seeing it was a girl and not Spencer, she dropped the gun and ran, not thinking anything other than getting away. She ran into Jeff and Booth and they told her they'd 'fix' it for her. Of course, Jeff has admitted to moving the girl to the RV park and throwing the gun into the arroyo, but he says he didn't know that Booth wasn't going to take her to a hospital."

Katy said, "That's why she told me it was too late. Wally found out what she'd done and told her he would not take her with him into witness protection. He wanted to take
Myne
, instead, the poor slob."

"He was going to turn her over to the Mexican police, so she killed him and then herself."

"Then Spencer was innocent of killing the girl? He was drugged and slept through all that?"

"The girl might've drugged him with the intention of robbing him before she left. I've spoken to the President, and he's made his part of his mission to clean up the human trafficking in Mexico. We're going to close Antonio's."

Katy shook her head sadly. "Then Ida killed Booth to keep him from talking. That's the voice Gabe heard arguing with him the night she pushed him into the water. What are you going to do about the bodies?"

"I have made arrangements. The bodies will be taken off under the disguise of carpentry repairs for the boat."

When she started to object, he said, "This marina, and certainly the hotel, has had enough bad publicity. We try for damage control when we can. You and I are done here."

"You're right, of course. Booth was dying, why would he go to the trouble to blackmail anyone?"

He put a hand on her elbow and gently steered her for the gate and his car in the parking lot. "Booth had a local woman as his wife. In the states you call it common-law. He wanted her to have some money." He stopped and looked at her. "I know you think me heartless that I allowed Booth to have heroin for his illness. But I paid him in cash, too. And I will see that his wife gets the money from the sale of his trawler."

"That would be very kind."

"Now, no more about these people. I know a place where we can have a simple but hearty dinner and watch the moonlight with a glass of wine."

She put her head on his shoulder and said, "I thought you'd never ask."

Chapter Twenty-three:

Raul lay with his arm around Katy, her head on his chest and her bare leg over his while she drew circles in his chest hair. Dawn was limning the eastern slopes in anticipation of another sunny day.

"You're awfully quiet," she said.

He moved his arm out from under her head, pushed up onto the headboard and then drew her into his arms again. "Yesterday, I was offered a position as liaison between our government and your American drug czar."

She pulled away to look him in the eyes. "Are you going to take it?"

"I would have to move to either San Francisco or DC and I was hoping you might help me make a decision."

"You would be away from your family."

"My family will always be here for me. But, most importantly, the house is gone, the parrot is dead, the past is now truly buried. I can start my life again. So, do you have an opinion?"

"When do you have to make a decision?"

"This week," he said, lifting his head to look at the streaks of morning light in the east. "Today, actually. I have nothing to take with me, except the few clothes I keep here. Regardless of what city I choose I will be busy traveling between the two and sometimes I will fly to Mexico City to talk with our president. So, Katrina Taylor Hunter, will you help me out here? DC or San Francisco?"

"It's hard to find an apartment in either of those cities."

He chuckled. "I wasn't fishing for an invitation to live with you. You Americans get it all backwards."

"It's freezing cold in DC. You'd hate it."

"And San Francisco is warmer?"

"Oh, much, much warmer."

"I will call the Mexican Consulate there. They will provide me temporary quarters until I can find something that suits me."

"San Francisco is small, easy to get around. I'll take you sailing."

"We will date. I will court you. Meet your mother as you will meet mine. Do you like baseball, the opera?"

"Is the pope Catholic?"

"I will get season tickets for us, then."

"Good luck with that," she said, nibbling on his chin.

He chuckled at the tickling. "It shouldn't be impossible."

"Oh yeah? What else you going to do for me?"

"I will love you. And in time, if you see that my love and devotion for you is what you want to live with, then we will marry."

"Oh boy. That's… that's a lot for a girl to think about."

"I am not a frivolous man, Katrina. You've brought fun and humor into my life and when I think of my future, I see us together, for many years to come."

"Then, Raul
Vignaroli
, you definitely should come live in San Francisco. My mother is going to love you as much as I do."

Raul smiled, kissed her, threw back the sheets and, naked, pulled her up onto her feet. "Shower with me and we'll go back to the marina."

The shower was delightfully big enough for two, not that they managed to do anything but soap each other up before Raul hoisted her up to wrap her legs around his waist. They took the lusty minutes joyfully and then finally dried off and dressed.

"Breakfast in town?" he asked as they approached the fork in the road.

"I should get back to my sister. After everything she's been through, I owe her a nice breakfast at the hotel. Then she'll help me move the boat to Baja Naval."

Outside her gate, he said, "I'll walk with you, say goodbye to your sister and then go to see Gabe."

Gabe. She hadn't given him a moment's thought since last night. As they walked through the gate, Katy thought how different the marina looked now with many of the sport fishermen gone. Soon Fred would leave with his girls, Wally's wreck would be taken out into the bay and sunk, as it could only bring bad luck to anyone who thought to buy it.

And her boat… where was her boat?

Katy counted slips, the empty one next to where her thirty-two-foot
Westsail
was supposed to be berthed. Slip thirty-two D.
 
Printed in black on the dock box, wasn't it?
 
Empty. She gaped at Raul, unable to come up with a good reason why her boat wouldn't be there.

As Raul opened his mouth to speculate, a guard trotted up, saluted and handed Raul a note and an envelope to her. "The man said to give you this letter as soon as you came back this morning,
señorita
."