Nobody's Angel (31 page)

“Could be sitting on a chunk of cash and trying to cover his rear end.”

“I'm sorry about your laptop, Cesar.” Faith rubbed her hand up and down the icy tea glass as Adrian's younger brother dug into a sandwich. “If I had my credit card, I'd buy you a new one. And the bank switched my checking account numbers, so I don't have new checks yet. I can call Tommy and have him pick up my office laptop and bring it down here next time he comes. He has family here.”

Cesar waved away the suggestion and finished chewing before answering. “It's the beginning of the school year. I don't have anything major due. I can always use my roommate's if I need it.” He glanced with concern at Adrian, who was pacing up and down his mother's kitchen. “You decided it's safe to come here?”

“This asshole likes empty houses, and this place is never empty. Must be frustrating the hell out of him.”

“We really need to talk with the D.A.’ s office,” Faith interjected quietly. “They'd have a better list of Tony's associates than we would. Maybe if we told them what we suspect, they would cooperate.”

Cesar snorted, glanced at his brother, and returned to his sandwich. Adrian continued pacing.

She wanted to slap some sense into him, but she could see it wouldn't help. Adrian was convinced the D.A. harbored a grudge and a prejudice. Maybe he was right. What did she know? She was just a dim-witted housewife. “All right, don't go to the law. They're all a bunch of redneck stuffed shirts anyway.”

Adrian grunted something that could have been agreement or muffled laughter.

Cesar was the one who replied. “Jim passed the info on to the D.A.’ s office. They told him the case is closed. There's nothing they can do.”

Well, so much for that idea. She supposed there wasn't a case unless they spelled it out for them. “All right, can you remember all the places Tony transferred funds to?” she demanded of Adrian.

He jerked a chair around, straddled it, and reached for the legal pad he'd thrown on the kitchen table. “Yep. What about you?” He started scribbling.

“I handled all our personal transactions. I'm the one who dealt with the broker. I can call and play the poor widow and ask if Tony was involved elsewhere, but I doubt if Tony even knew who I was dealing with.”

“And I doubt if the guilty party would admit it.” He glanced at his notes, jotted down another, and crossed his arms over the chair back. “We need account numbers. If we had those, we could go on-line with most of these places and pull them up.”

“I imagine Tony kept all that information in another box. If he had time, he would have taken it with him. But if I took the keys before he could claim them …” Faith bounced a pencil on the table. “He still probably had numbers or something in his billfold. He had to have banked the bulk of the cash.”

“We're right back where we started. We need to trap the guy who's following us and find out what the devil he wants.”

Cesar finished his sandwich and wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. “Friend of mine lives out past that trailer park you told me about. He drove by last night and said there was a red Explorer in the drive.”

Adrian immediately shoved away from the table and started to rise. Faith smacked his arm and pointed at his chair. “Sit right back down there. Sandra knows who you are. She won't tell you anything she doesn't want you to know.”

“You're turning out to be damned bossy,” he protested, but
he took his seat again. “What do
you
suggest?” he asked snidely.

“A little more respect, Mr. Macho.” Faith sipped her tea and thought about it. “Chances are, if it's our mysterious broker who's tracking us, he doesn't know about Sandra. She wasn't someone Tony would flaunt in financial circles.”

“Sounds like Sandra would have spent every dime Tony stole if she knew about it,” Cesar commented, reaching for the refrigerator door behind his back and producing a carton of milk without getting out of his seat.

Faith grabbed the half-gallon carton as he lifted it to his mouth. “Don't do that. It's rude. I bet your mother wouldn't let you drink from it.”

Cesar grimaced and glanced at Adrian. “You could have picked someone less like the women we already have in this family.” He stood up to fetch a glass.

Adrian grinned briefly and looked her up and down. “I thought I'd found someone as far different as I could.”

“I'm the same sex as your mother and sisters. That's all it takes. You want to live like animals, go find a cave.” Unperturbed by the complaint, Faith swung around the legal pad Adrian had been writing on. She recognized most of the names and firms he'd written down. Tony liked dealing with the biggest names, whether or not they were the best at what they did. “I can't believe any of these men would have anything to do with illegal funds. If we want to believe it's anyone except Tony or Sandra ransacking our houses, then we have to figure it's someone who knows they've been doing something wrong.”

The phone rang. After a silent exchange between the brothers, Cesar reached for it. Adrian scribbled abstract designs across the bottom of the legal pad.

“Yeah, she's out sick. I was supposed to call and forgot. If she's feeling better, she'll be in this afternoon.” Cesar hung up, ran his hand through his badly cut hair, and glanced uncertainly at Adrian.

Adrian shot him a glare. “You shouldn't lie for them. Dolores?”

“Yeah. She was at the bus stop this morning. Someone must have picked her up.”

Wearily, Adrian shoved the chair out from under him. “I suppose the boyfriend has an apartment?”

“Probably, but I don't know where it is.”

Faith warred with herself about becoming involved, but she was already involved. She knew what it was like to be a confused and hurt teenager. They did stupid things, like marrying stupid men. She didn't want Adrian's little sister to go through that. “She'll have an address book. It's probably in her purse. If she took her purse, she'll still have notes jotted in her notebooks, on her desk, under her bed. She wouldn't want to lose something that important.”

Adrian raised his eyebrows but didn't question. He took off for the far reaches of the house. Cesar grimaced and finished his milk. “I should be on my way to class. She's the one who's supposed to take over for me. Girls have no sense of responsibility.”

“Belinda doesn't?” Faith challenged him.

He shrugged. “Okay, maybe Belinda. Sometimes. But getting pregnant right now isn't all that responsible.”

“But maybe it's better if she has a life than following Adrian's route. It's hard being yourself and being there for everyone else at the same time.”

Cesar shook his head. “A family like ours can't afford the luxury of being ourselves. We have to work twice as hard for everything. Dolores has to learn that.”

Faith pitied the teenager faced with that attitude. Not everyone could have the brains, energy, and ability of Adrian. He'd set a difficult example to follow. Her own sister had always been the smart one in the family, the one most destined to follow in their parents’ footsteps. Maybe the eldest children were blessed with more responsibility than the ones who followed. That didn't make them any better. Or worse.

As Adrian stalked into the room carrying a piece of school notebook paper, Faith stood up and snatched it away from him. “I'm going with you.”

“This is none of your damned business.” He tried to snatch it back, but she stuffed it into her purse.

She didn't like arguing, had never nagged in her life, had always given in to Tony and her parents and everyone else simply to keep the peace. She couldn't go back to being that cream puff anymore. She patted his chest, recognized the tensing of his muscles beneath her hand, and met his gaze firmly. “You want to keep your sister, you'll let me come with you. Cesar has to go to class, and Dolores hates you right now.”

She shouldn't have been so harsh. He looked defeated and accepted her offer without further argument. Maybe it was time Adrian Quinn Raphael learned to accept the help of others.

Faith contemplated locking Adrian in the van when they located the apartment in a run-down boardinghouse on one of the city's more dangerous streets. Steam almost visibly poured from his ears as he grabbed for the door handle before she'd even parked the van.

She hastily turned off the ignition and pocketed the keys before running after him. Damn good thing he didn't carry a gun, but a man like Adrian could be deadly without any weapon other than his fists.

She grabbed his arm before he could rip open the door. “She may not be here,” she reminded him. “You could be scaring the poor boy to death for no reason.”

He pounded on the door instead of ripping it off the hinges.

A lanky teenager in torn T-shirt with tousled blond hair answered. He looked blankly at them and said nothing.

“Who is it, Mike?” a familiar feminine voice called from the interior.

Faith groaned as Adrian bunched the kid's shirt in his fist, shoved him backward, and stalked inside without invitation.

“Get yourself out that door this instant, Dolores!” he shouted at the terrified girl sitting on the sway-backed plaid couch. “So help me, I'll handcuff and tie you—”

“I'm not going home,” Dolores replied sullenly. “I refuse
to be a slave any longer. You're back. You do it. You take care of the kids and Mama and clean the house and work yourself to death in a crummy fast-food place. I won't.”

“Shut up, Adrian,” Faith intruded before he could open his mouth. The boy looked terrified now that he knew who they were, or maybe because of Dolores's declaration. Chances were good that he'd never considered marriage or responsibility or anything except Dolores's rather bountiful breasts. Boys that age were like that. “Dolores, if you love Mike, you won't saddle him with the same burden you're complaining about. He needs to finish school, find a good job, and provide a decent place to live before he can even think about taking you in.”

“I can live anywhere,” she said sulkily, refusing to look at them. “I can work full-time. I don't need school. They don't teach anything that will help me work anyway.”

“Dolores, so help me—” Adrian started across the floor, but Faith grabbed his arm and hung on.

“Adrian, listen for a change, will you?” She shook his arm to capture his attention.

He glared down at her, and when she didn't flinch or release him, he glared at the boy. The boy tucked both hands under his armpits and managed to look defiant. Both had the sense to shut up and let the women do the talking. Faith gave thanks for small favors.

“Dolores, look, you've had to grow up much too fast while Adrian was away.”

Dolores snorted at the term “away” but didn't interrupt.

“You have to help him back into the swing of things. Adrian doesn't understand that you're not a little girl anymore, and that the others aren't babies you can tuck into bed at night. You're a lot more grown-up than he gives you credit for, but you really don't need to grow up this fast. You need to be cheerleading again, going to football games and parties, not working at a crummy fast-food chain. If you don't like it now, wait until you've done it to support kids and a family for a few years.”

“Mike's a good mechanic. He'll make a lot of money.” She
tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She still wasn't looking at them, but she was listening.

“Mike could get run over by a bus tomorrow,” Faith answered harshly. “Life happens. You have to be ready for it. Unless you enjoy being a burden on someone else, you need to finish school, get some kind of technical training at least. Adrian can help, once we knock some sense into his head. But right now he has a lot on his mind and hasn't been paying attention.”

Dolores threw an uncertain look at the silent Mike. He shrugged and looked a lot less defiant than earlier. Not finding what she wanted there, she dared a look at Faith. “Is he coming home, then?”

Faith figured this was the time for Adrian to step in, but he remained tight-lipped, fists at his side, waiting for her to answer. She didn't have any answers.

“Actually, we could use your help a little.…” she said tentatively.

Adrian's eyebrows flew up, but he was obviously biting his tongue. Hard.

Dolores scowled, but she wasn't protesting.

All right, so she'd have to wing it. Trying to remember what she would have liked to hear when she'd been that age, Faith mentally rolled her eyes and tried again. Separate magnet and nails first, she reminded herself, turning to the boyfriend. “Mike, this is kind of a family thing. Would you mind if Dolores called and told you about it later?”

Treated as if he were an adult, the boy looked relieved and a little anxious as he glanced at Dolores. “You know I'll be here. You do what you need to do.”

She shot him a black look and stood up. “Fine. But I'm coming right back here. I'm not baby-sitting those brats again.”

Hearing Adrian's growl, Faith smiled, dropped an arm around the girl's shoulder, and practically shoved her out the door. “Thank you for listening.”

Out at the van, Adrian held out his hand, and deciding she'd
already tested his patience beyond endurance, Faith slapped the keys into it.