Fatal Intent (Desert Heat Book 3) (9 page)

FOURTEEN

Before she knew it, Alex was finished with her classes and her finals were done. She was packed and ready to move back home the next day, the Friday before the fourth of July. Perfect timing, since she loved the holiday in Dodge. It was one of the few things she did like about Dodge.

Her dad was happy to have her for the rest of the summer so his other employees could take vacations while she was there to cover for them. She hadn’t decided yet, whether she’d stay at her dad’s house or at Dylan’s. Dylan hadn’t asked, so she wasn’t sure it was what he wanted, but, if they were going to move in together in September, she didn’t see why it would be a big deal.

Early in the morning, she bade her housemates farewell, and made the hour and a half drive to Dodge. Dylan was at work, the boys at a summer day camp program run by the school and her dad would be at work, too. Rather than figure out where to take her things, she drove to the newspaper plant and parked there.

“Dad, I’m here,” she called, as she entered the familiar building. One of the permanent employees was sitting at the reception desk, which had been her place until she left a few months before. And would be again, now. “Hi, Ruth. Is my dad here?”

Ruth smiled at her. “He had to step out for a few, but he said to give you your desk as soon as you wanted it, and he’ll see you for lunch.”

Alex laughed. “He expects me to go right to work, huh?” she said.

“Oh, yes. You’re on duty for the parade tomorrow, and he said you’ll take over the ad calls again,” said Ruth. She looked to be struggling to keep a straight face.

“Great!” said Alex. “My favorite thing.”

“Well, you’re welcome to it. We all hate it.” Ruth waved toward the back of the building, where the other permanent employee and maybe a temp or part-timer were working.

“So do I.”

Ruth gathered her things and got up. “If you, ah, want to just sit here and take calls, I’ve got other stuff I could be doing. Okay, Alex?”

Alex nodded. “That’s fine. Thanks, Ruth.”

Alone in the front office, Alex had a few minutes to kill before the first call came in. As soon as she answered, the person on the other end, one of her regular gossips, recognized her voice. “Alex! I’m glad you’re back dear. Here to stay, now? Are you finished with school?”

“No, Mrs. Green, I’m just back for the rest of the summer. How are you? Have you got a story for me?” After that, the news of her return spread fast enough that answering the phone kept her busy until her dad returned, just before lunchtime.

“Hi, kiddo,” he said, breezing in and kissing her on the cheek. “Ready for some lunch? My treat.”

“Can’t beat that offer,” she said, smiling. “Let me just get someone up here to take the phones and I’m right behind you.”

They both rode in his car, since hers was loaded. The trip to La Paloma was laughable. They could have walked just as quickly, and maybe it would have been just as cool, if he hadn’t been driving only a few minutes before. The air conditioning barely had time to get cool before they were there. With the noonday sun beating down, Alex was glad at least for the shade the car provided. They hurried into the restaurant and the super-cooled air there.

“Why is it so much hotter here than in Casa Grande?” she asked.

“Fewer trees and it may be a few feet lower. But their temperatures usually match ours,” her dad answered.

“Oh, Dad, that was a rhetorical question. It isn’t really. It just feels that way.” Looking at the menu, Alex didn’t see anything she was hungry for. Maybe just a salad and some iced tea.

When they’d ordered, Dad gave her a serious look, and said, “So, kiddo, we need to talk.”

Alex sat a little straighter. Talk?

“I know you’re an adult, and I haven’t objected to your relationship with Dylan. He’s turned out to be a fine young man. I’m not thrilled about what you’re doing, but I recognize I can’t stop you.”

Alex began to fidget. The last thing she wanted to talk about in this building, which seemed to throw echoes even of a quiet whisper into the far corners of the room, was her private life. Her dad noticed.

“This won’t take long. I just want to know whether you’re staying with me, or with Dylan. He tells me you’ve agreed to move in with him if he gets a transfer and can move up to Tempe where you’ll be going to school.”

Alex glanced at her intertwined fingers. The buzz of a huge fly distracted her and she brushed at it to keep it away from her. “I haven’t actually decided,” she confessed. “Why?”

“Decided whether to live with him in Tempe, or who to stay with while you’re here?” he countered.

“Um, here.”

“Well, here’s the thing. If you want to move in with him here, again, I can’t stop you. On the other hand, if you’re going to stay with me, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t overnight with him off and on. You know how this town is.”

She did. Moving in with Dylan would be less of a scandal than sleeping with him now and then. It was crazy, but she could see her dad’s point. That made the decision for her. No way was she going to live in the same town with Dylan for two months and not ever sleep with him. Especially when Dylan couldn’t very well come to her, with the boys. “I guess I’ll be staying with him, then, if he doesn’t mind,” she said.

Her dad dropped his head for a few seconds. When he looked up, his eyes were soft and wet. “You’ve gone and grown up on me, kiddo,” he said. “Somehow I envisioned some ceremony, or at least a clash of trumpets, when you moved out of my house.”

“Oh, Dad, you know I love you. And you had to know I wouldn’t live with you forever.” She wished there were a way to make it cleaner, more, like he said, something to mark the transition. When she’d left for Casa Grande, she never dreamed she wouldn’t be back to live there for a while longer.

He smiled weakly, “You betcha, kiddo. I knew that.”

It was only much, much later, as she lay in Dylan’s arms drifting off to sleep, that she understood her dad’s emotions. It must have been similar when her mom left, too. One day, he’d gone to work, expecting to come home to his wife and five-year-old daughter waiting dinner for him.

Only, it hadn’t been that way. He’d come home to an empty house, with a note on the door that Alex’s kindergarten teacher had taken her  home, since her mother hadn’t come to pick her up. She knew that much from what Nana had told her, but she’d only thought of her own abandonment, not his.

What must he have felt, in endless days after that, when his wife didn’t return? She didn’t remember asking him every day when mommy was coming home, but she must have, until she gave up. How long had that taken? Alex wouldn’t ask, not with his feelings so raw about her. At least he knew where she was. There was that, anyway. It wasn’t as if they’d never see each other. They’d have some time together, get together for barbecues or whatever.

Alex went to sleep troubled, and dreamed of her mom for the first time in years. She’d almost forgotten what her mom looked like, but in the dream, it was like looking in the mirror. Except her mom was blonde. Their faces were so much alike, but Alex got her hair from her dad. In her dream, her mom said, “I’ll be back for you, little girl.” But she never came back.

FIFTEEN

Dylan had been delighted that she’d stay with him until they could move to Tempe. He brought home the news on Friday that he’d been selected, along with two others, for an in-person interview in Scottsdale on the seventeenth of July. They planned to make a three-day weekend of it, and do some house hunting in anticipation of him getting the position. Meanwhile, they had a holiday weekend to enjoy even though Alex had to work during the parade.

Dylan went out early in the day to put their lawn chairs in a good spot for the boys to see everything. Even so, he was almost too late. Chairs already lined the entire parade route.  Not trusting theirs to stay where he put them, he sent Alex a text asking her to drop the boys off before she started taking pictures, and he settled in to chat with people nearby and wait for the parade to start at ten a.m.

Alex brought the boys a little after nine-thirty, remarking that she should have brought some rope to tie Davi into his chair. He would turn seven in just a few days, but he was as energetic and mischievous as ever. Dylan preferred his naughtiness to Juan’s serious demeanor, though. He worried about Juan, and the effect everything they’d been through was having on him. Thank goodness for excellent government employee insurance. He would keep both boys in counseling as long as they appeared to need it.

It had been just about a year since Dylan and Alex reconnected, after four years apart while Dylan got his law enforcement certificate and began his career in the Park Service and Alex grew into a beautiful young woman. He still couldn’t believe his luck, that after all that had come between them, she was still as much his as he was hers. And now they’d started their new life together, everything perfect except for the lack of his ring on her finger. That would come, though, he was sure.

She just needed to know he had accepted her career aspirations and wouldn’t try to hold her back. He’d have to be careful of that. It still bothered him that she didn’t seem to understand danger, and would put herself right in front of it for a story.

As the first parade entries appeared at the far end of the street, he pointed them out to the boys while watching the sides of the road for Alex. He knew she’d be trotting alongside the parade, gradually working her way toward the end of it, taking pictures of the band, the 4-H kids with their sheep, the floats and every other outlandish display someone could think of.

It would be just like her to dash across in front of a bevy of high-stepping horses to get the best angle for a photo, heedless of the flashing hooves inches from her head. He’d just have to learn to keep his heart inside his chest, where it belonged, instead of having it leap out every time Alex did something reckless. He couldn’t change her—he’d tried and almost lost her—but he could school his reactions.

He’d promised Paul he would bring Alex and the boys over in the afternoon for an old-fashioned Independence Day fried-chicken dinner, and they’d stay to watch the fireworks that night.

Alex told him when she showed up at his door last night with her car full of clothes and her arms full of books that her dad had given her the choice, stay with him or with Dylan, but no running back and forth. Dylan hadn’t told her that he and Paul had already discussed it, and he knew she’d be given the ultimatum. Paul had wanted to know if she was welcome before he laid down the law.

The two men understood each other now, and he’d solemnly sworn to Paul that if he, Dylan, ever hurt Alex, Paul could beat him to a pulp and he’d never raise a finger in self-defense. Paul had said, “Count on it, boy.” Then he’d smiled.

It was a pleasant surprise to find Tia Wanda at Paul’s house. The rest of the crowd that had celebrated Alex’s birthday had other plans, but Dylan was glad to see Wanda any chance he got, and it had been a couple of weeks. He’d stayed at home since Alex’s party, and Wanda had been busy meeting with supporters and deciding whether to run for mayor again. Since her husband, Hector, had been killed in November, she was considering stepping down and not running again. Dylan and others wished she would stay another term, at least. Even Kevin Thurston had thrown his support her way.

Alex was in reporter mode the minute she saw Wanda. “How about a quote, Wanda? Are you running again?”

Wanda laughed. “Off the record? I haven’t decided.”

The banter continued through the afternoon and into the early evening, as they cut into a chilled watermelon and savored the delicious, sweet juices. The boys, of course, were engaged in a war to see who could spit the seeds the furthest.

As the fireworks started, Dylan noticed Alex and Wanda sitting with their heads together and talking in low voices about something he couldn’t hear. Girl stuff, he figured. Ironic as it was, Tia Wanda had stood in as a grandmother figure for him, while at the same time being a mother figure, or something like it, to Alex whenever her Nana wasn’t around. He watched them fondly, two of his very favorite women on the earth.

“Who wants to light some sparklers?” Paul asked. He disappeared into the house and came out minutes later with a box of fireworks that Dylan thought might rival those going off in the town square. For a while, he forgot to watch Wanda and Alex as he helped the boys with their sparklers.

~~~

Alex had been filling Wanda in on Dawn Redbird’s condition and in general trying to pick her brain about why the Patriots would be involved in harassing the Native American activist group she led. Wanda professed not to know either, but Alex sensed she was holding back, and continued to press her with questions from different angles.

“What about the Tohono O’odham ancestral lands being cut in half by the border?” she asked, knowing it was a hot button for Wanda. The facts of the issue were also the reason so many of the local tribe had Latino last names. It was difficult to tell which ethnic heritage an individual might claim, with the prevalence of almost-black hair, dark eyes and dark skin tones among Latinos and Natives both. Wanda’s contention was that along these borderlands, there was little difference.

“You know, a lot of the Akimel O’odham have Latino names as well,” Alex observed. “Why is that?”

“Child, trade across what is now the border was going on long before there was a United States of America. The Spanish conquered the entire region and imposed their names, and then the people mixed with other tribes. We’re all related anyway. The Pima are just a different group of the O’odham. Think of it like Europe. A few lines on a map don’t keep people from one side of the line from knowing, loving and marrying people from another side. Our names simply identified how we chose to interact with the earth in the places where we lived.”

Wanda’s lessons had become more impassioned since the death of her husband at the hands of members of a minor cartel the previous fall. Without Hector to balance her, she seemed determined to spend her remaining years forcing people to see history the way she did. More and more, she railed against those ‘lines on a map’ that prevented her and many others of her people from seeing relatives on the wrong side of the line.

Alex worried about Wanda when she began to wheeze. “Wanda, where’s your inhaler? I’ve let you get too riled up.”

“In my purse, dear. Would you get it? I’ll try to calm down.” Wanda sat back, looking a bit gray, as Alex went into the house to fetch the purse.

A glance over her shoulder as Alex went inside revealed the men still playing fireworks with the little boys and paying no attention to her and Wanda. When she returned, Wanda rummaged in the purse for her inhaler and breathed deeply for a while.

“Tell me about school,” she said.

Alex gave her a worried look. “Not much to tell. I got a couple more required classes out of the way during the first summer term, but then I decided to come home and save the rest of my prize money for next semester. Dylan’s trying to transfer to an office in Scottsdale or Mesa, and if that happens, I’ll be able to live with him and go to school. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”

“You’re not planning to marry?” Wanda asked, a frown creasing her forehead.

“Well, he hasn’t asked me again lately. But just between you and me, next time he does I’m going to say yes. We’ll probably wait until I’m done with school to actually tie the knot, though.”

“Don’t waste time, kiddo,” Wanda said.

Why does everyone decide to call me whatever cockamamie nickname Dad comes up with?

“Wanda, I’m only twenty. There’s plenty of time.”

“So you think now,” Wanda answered, wistfulness coloring her tone.

To change the subject, Alex brought up the mystery she’d discovered a couple of weeks before. “Wanda, did you ever know a Sarah Davis?”

“No, I don’t think so. Who is she?” Wanda asked.

“Funny coincidence, I guess you could say. When I moved in with Lisa and Nat, Lisa mentioned their previous housemate had disappeared while they were out of town. They figured she'd changed her mind about school, packed her stuff and went back home.

I got curious and tracked down her parents, and found out she knew Dawn, so I asked Dawn about her. She was part of the group, but she was Caucasian. Her parents told me she used to post about the group on Facebook. No one has seen her, even her parents, for about four months.”

Wanda sat up straight, appearing alarmed. “No one reported her missing?”

“I guess her parents finally did, but apparently the investigation went nowhere. Dawn said she quit coming to meetings about the same time. I’d like to get to the bottom of it, but the trail is cold.”

“Maybe she doesn’t want to be found,” Wanda said.

Alex looked at her, puzzled at the statement. Wanda looked tired again, and Alex was thinking they ought to get her home where she could rest. Or maybe to the hospital. Was that weariness she saw in Wanda’s face normal for a woman not yet seventy? She started to get up and go to her dad for advice when Wanda said something else. It was slurred, but Alex understood it perfectly.

“Reminds me of your mother.”

“What? What about my mother?” Alex said. Wanda didn’t answer. She seemed to have passed out.

“Wanda? What did you mean about my mother?

“Ask your dad, dear, I’m too tired,” Wanda mumbled, and then her head lolled to the side.

“Dad! Dylan! Hurry! Something’s wrong with Wanda!”

Both men came running. Dylan put his hand around Wanda’s wrist and spoke urgently. “She has a pulse. Get an ambulance, quick!”

Paul went running for the house phone while Alex tried to keep the boys out of the way. In a matter of minutes, two EMTs came running through the house and cleared everyone away. “Looks like heart. Who’s with her?”

“I am,” Dylan said, looking to Alex and then the boys before climbing into the ambulance with Wanda.

She nodded. “I’ve got them. See you in a few.”

As the ambulance raced away, Alex reached deep inside herself for calm. She needed to quiet the boys and get them home. Her dad was already on his way to the hospital, and she wanted to be there herself, but her first duty was to Dylan’s boys. She got them home, read them a few stories and then got them through their baths and ready for bed. As soon as they were both asleep, she called Ange.

“Can you come over, Ange? I’ve but the boys to bed, but I need to go to the hospital. No, it isn’t Dylan, sorry I scared you. It’s Wanda Lopez. The EMTs said probably heart attack. Dylan went with her. Okay, thanks.”

Ange arrived ten minutes later, gave Alex a peck on the cheek and said, “You could have called earlier. I’d have put them to bed.”

“I know, Ange, but we all needed to calm down. I was glad to have something to do. They’re asleep now. Thanks for coming. I’ll call you when I know anything.”

“You’re welcome. Go take care of your man,” Ange said.

On the way to the hospital, Alex recalled what Wanda had said, just before she collapsed. Something about her mother, and that she should ask her father. Was it possible he knew something about her disappearance? Something he’d kept secret all these years? White rage spiked through her vision, causing her to swerve. When she regained control, she told herself aloud to set it aside. She could confront her dad about it when Wanda was better.

Wanda
had
to get better. Dylan couldn’t lose her so soon after he’d lost his mother. For that matter, Alex couldn’t lose her either. Tears blurred her vision as she swung into the hospital’s parking lot. First priority, Wanda. Then she’d have a ‘come to Jesus’ talk with her dad.