Death and Deceit (27 page)

Alan feared this personal essay of Sandra’s could drone on for hours. And
personally he wasn’t up for listening to Sandra for that long. And he didn’t really want to hear all that stuff about Rick over again. The thought of Rick Alvarez right now sickened him. When Liz had told the part about the near rape, he had felt his teeth clench. Alvarez deserved to die as far as he was concerned. He twisted in his chair and cleared his throat. “Can you speed it up, Sandra? Just get to the point, okay?”

“Alan,” Liz cautioned.

“It’s all right, honey. I understand Alan. He’s always been impatient.
Well, maybe he’s right. I do tend to get carried away sometimes. But you wanted to hear the family history I believe, wasn’t that your intention, all of you?” Sandra gawked around the room at the three others.

“I’m trying to understand why Ricardo did what he did,” Liz said. “When Jessie first met
him, she thought he was a nice person, and she trusted him. She thought he was going to help her.”

“He has good qualities,” Sandra said. “He’s a lot like his mother, but you know he has his father’s genes too. His father, now there’s a person. I’m going to go back a bit further though first. I went to school with Christine, Ricky’s mom. She was from a very nice family. Her grandfather, old Ricardo Gomez, owned and operated the gypsum mine. When he died he left everything to his son. Well, his son was not the businessman that his father was, and besides that he was a drunk. Suffice to say, he lost the mine. His only daughter went from riches to rags. The family had to move out of the big house and ended up renting a dump. Christine was such a pretty girl, but both her parents were drunks. She was a grade A student until she reached grade nine. She started running around then with a number of guys, and she ended up getting pregnant. But the baby’s father wasn’t wild. He picked her out of the trash and he would have married her. I think she loved him too. I didn’t think it at the time because that’s when we stopped being friends...for a while that is. She was carrying little Ricky when she came to me again. I hadn’t had anything to do with her for years, but I’m getting ahead of my story.”

Alan was also getting restless. He wondered what the point of all this was. But Liz had insisted in dredging up all of Alvarez’s past. If she wanted to know so much about him, and if it would help get Jessie over all this, he’d try and be patient for their sake.

“The boyfriend I’m talking about was Alton Davis. He —”

“The police chief?” Kent blurted loudly, almost unbelievably.

Everyone in the room gaped at Sandra. They seemed spellbound by her story, as if somehow she would make sense out of the whole crazy puzzle. Sandra had stopped in mid sentence. It took a lot to stop Sandra from talking, and Kent, along with the other two, waited for her answer with baited breath.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Sandra paused only slightly then continued on with a simple nod. “Like I said, he wanted to marry her, but Christine’s aunt, her dad’s only sister and a respectable woman in the community, sent her off to Spain. She had put plans in motion for Christine to have an abortion there and for her to stay with relatives. But Christine had her own plans. She wasn’t about to have an abortion, and when she met Dominic Alvarez, she ran away from the relatives. She and Dominic got married and she brought him back to Canada.”

Alan interrupted, “Do we really need to hear all this gossip?”

Liz shushed him and encouraged Sandra to keep talking.
Sandra picked up right where she’d left off, as if she were a tape recording
bouncing back and forth between play and pause. “When the little girl, Julia, was
born, Dominic got suspicious. The baby was fair skinned and blonde. She didn’t look anything like either one of them. He started hanging around with some drinking buddies, and he soon learned of Christine’s past relationship with Alton. Christine finally confessed one night, after he’d beaten the living daylights out of her. But she never left him. She was faithful to that man with all her foolish heart.”

“You said you didn’t see her for a long time,” Liz said.

“I’d see her around. But one day when she was pregnant for Ricky, she showed up on my doorstep. She had a black eye and she looked like she was going to collapse. I took her in, poor thing, and gave her something to eat, and she told me she was terrified of him. That’s when I found out all this stuff for real. She said he’d been gone for two days, after he’d beaten her bad. I could have wept when she told me that he abused the little girl too. She asked me for money. Said she was gonna leave him. She called it a loan and said when she got a job and got on her feet, she’d pay me back. You know what I said? I told her to go home and get the girl and come stay with me. She couldn’t work in her condition. Besides, she was about eight months pregnant. She agreed and I waited all evening for her.”

When she didn’t come, I got in my car and went out to that little shack. But he answered the door and ordered me to get off his property. I saw Christine huddled behind the stove, her arm around the girl. The look in her eyes was something I’ll never forget. Those eyes were dead. She never came to me again. I saw her around, and watched the kids grow up. Poor little sad things, both the cutest things you’d ever see.”

Sandra clammed up. Just as if the tape had ended. She sat staring straight ahead, not rocking or moving. Then she raised one hand and wiped her eyes. She rose as all in the room were quiet. “I have to go now. Earl will be looking for me. This is a terrible thing has happened...for all concerned.”

She walked over to Alan and he stood up. Sandra wrapped her long arms around his body. “I’m sorry about your troubles. I’ll be praying for yah. And God help me, I’ll be praying for Ricky too.” She sped from the room, long legs striding quickly towards the kitchen door. It closed softly.

Kent rose and so did Liz. She stood beside the two of them. “Why don’t we all get some sleep?” she suggested. “We didn’t get much last night.” Then she twigged. “I never even introduced you two. Alan, this is Kent Morgan, Jessie’s—”

“Friend,” Kent finished for her. He reached over for Alan’s hand, and Alan took it and obliged with a smile.

“So you’re the one who saved Jessie?” Alan asked.

“Not alone,” Kent answered. “Liz had a big hand in doing that, and Jessie
herself made the first move.”

“It was a cooperative effort,” Liz said, smiling at
Alan.

Alan moved towards her and gave her another hug. They then took hands and went up the stairway.

****

Liz crawled in bed and turned on her side. As she drifted off to sleep, she couldn’t help but think of Alan. How he’d taken her hand when they’d climbed the stairs, and they’d sat on the hall chairs for a bit. He told her then how much he enjoyed her company, and how much he had wanted to see her again. He had actually told her that he would like to begin a relationship with her. Not in so many words, but Liz was quick to make him see she understood what he was getting at. She told him though that it would be a little tough considering they were about five hours apart. He had said that was nothing. He said also that he had big plans for the future. She didn’t know what that meant, but she hoped things would work out for them, and that his future would continue to include her.

She rolled onto her back and stared into the night, lit only by the lofty moon. She could make out the roundness of the ceiling light. Only the muffled whine of the wind blowing through the branches of the willow could be heard. Then she thought of the kiss Alan had placed on her lips just before he’d gone on to his own room. It had just been a brush on the lips, but it was the first kiss he had ever given her, and that to her was special, always to be treasured in her book of memories. Things might just be working out for her, if only Ricardo would survive and Jessie got the charges dropped…and if Kent kept quiet about the e mails and her part in all of this mess. She drifted off to a sweet sleep, after pulling the comforter around her cool shoulders.

It was an overcast day when they sat around the breakfast table. Liz felt tired even though she had enjoyed a good sleep. When the phone rang, she jumped off her chair and grabbed the receiver.

“Oh, hi, Sandra...No, I haven’t heard anything about Ricardo. I was just thinking about calling the hospital...You did? Is he...? He is?
Thanks for calling, Sandra...Yes, I will...Goodbye.”

“What was that all about?” Alan asked while munching on a bagel.

Kent picked his cup off the table and walked it to the sink. He turned and
stopped in front of the cupboard to listen to what Liz had to say.

She was just hanging up the receiver. “Sandra called the hospital this morning. Not much change…he’s
still hanging on. Tough guy.”

“That sounds like a good sign,” Kent said.

Liz joined Alan at the sink and they did up the dishes. Kent had borrowed some shaving gear from Alan and went upstairs to clean up. After Alan and Liz had cleaned up the kitchen, they had gotten ready themselves. Their first stop would be to the police station.

At the car, Liz crawled in back with Alan. She wished she had something different to wear. Here she was trying to impress the man of her dreams, and all she
had to wear was a pair of old jeans that she’d been sleeping in on the hilltop with Kent.
She felt lucky though to have found a sweater of Jessie’s to borrow, as the blouse she had been wearing was in complete shreds.
Alan didn’t seem to mind though, if the expression on his face was any indication. It was so apparent it slightly made Liz blush.

He leaned over and whispered in her ear. “I’d give you a hug if we weren’t all tied up in these seat belts.”

Liz giggled. “Save it,” she said. “I’ll take a rain check.”

“Do you think it’s going to rain?” Kent called from the front seat.

Liz giggled again and looked over at Alan. “Ah...rain? I dunno.”

“I thought you said something about rain,” Kent continued.

By now Alan had a silly grin growing on his face. Kent looked in the rear view mirror at them. “What’s going on back there anyway?”

Alan glanced in the rear view mirror at Kent’s eyes. “Nothing, Kent, just concentrate on your driving. You’ll keep yourself out of trouble that way.”

“All right, you two, no hanky panky. You can save that for later, we’ve got to get Jessie out of that jail cell and back to the house. Then we can all make hanky panky.”

Liz and Alan laughed and it was good to bring some relief to a bad situation. As soon as Kent pulled into the police station parking lot, they were out of the car and walking briskly inside.

“So, what’s the plan, Alan?” Kent asked.

“I want to talk to Jessie, then maybe Davis and then I’ll make my call.”

“Where’s your lawyer friend?” Liz asked.

“He happens to live in town. He was a mentor to me when I was beginning my law studies. We became kinda close and I know he’s good.”

When they arrived at the secretary’s desk, they were told that Davis was not in, so they went on down to the jail cell to see Jessie. An officer opened the cell door and let Alan go inside. Liz and Kent waited in the corridor.

Liz watched when Jessie and Alan met in the jail cell.
Jessie stood as he approached her, and the two redheads embraced. It was a tender moment. Kent sat with a magazine, but Liz was too nervous to concentrate on anything other than what was going on at hand.

Alan was not in with Jessie very long; he came back out and said he had a couple of calls to make. As soon as Alan left the cell, Kent jumped up and slid through the doorway before the guard even had a chance to close it.

Liz continued to wait on the outside. When Alan returned, he walked over to the guard and had a short conversation. The guard walked over and opened the cell door and told Jessie she was free to go.

Jessie jumped up from the bed where she and Kent had been sitting, and Kent followed her. As they entered the corridor, Jessie walked straight to Liz and embraced her, then she looked at Alan and said, “Thank you.”

There were no further words as the group quietly left the police station and headed to the car. When they arrived at the car, Jessie turned to Alan. “What does this all mean, Alan? I’m free until when?”

“Until you have your bail hearing. But in a way you’re lucky. Both Sam, your lawyer, and I know the judge. Sam had a talk with him and you’re free to be with me. You could say we’re in charge of you at least until the bail hearing.”

“And when will that be?”

“First of the week, Monday. “You’ll go down and the judge will set your bail. I have to leave, but you’ll be in Sam’s hands.”

“So, when do I get to meet Sam?”

“On Monday, I guess.”

In the car, Liz and Alan once again sat in the back seat. As soon as Kent left the parking lot, Jessie turned to Alan. “I know we’re all tired and you’re probably tired of talking about Ricardo, Alan, but I’d like to know a bit more.”

“Jessie, for Christ’s sake,” Alan moaned.

“Please, Alan,” Jessie begged. “Just humour me a little longer. You were Ricardo’s friend. I put two and two together when I remembered you used to call him Diego.”