Rafael (The Santiago Brothers Book One) (5 page)

“If you look in the manila envelope at the
back of the file, you'll see pictures of the deceased. Alberto
Gonzales. Again, fifty-five years old, father of three.” Her voice
was clipped and professional.

Rafa pulled out the color photos. On top, a
close shot of the victim’s wounds. Five punctures ranging from his
heart down the left side of the body into his abdomen. “The stab
markings are definitely in the shape of a snake, the mark of the
Snakes.”

“A punctured lung, and damage to several
internal organs, the medical examiner concluded the official cause
of death was due to blood loss.”

“You said there were more victims?” Rafa
flipped through the photos, searching for more bodies.

“Yes. Mario Desanto, a high school student.
Consuela Cruz, wife and mother of three. And the woman you saw at
the crime scene.”

“The woman at the crime scene,” Rafa
repeated, his mind recalling the woman’s bloody shirt. “Does she
have the same stab wounds?”

“From what I could see. There was a lot of
blood, though. I’m not entirely sure about the number of
wounds.”

Rafa leaned his head against the back of the
chair and stared at the ceiling, pondering the likelihood this
woman suffered at the hands of the Snakes. “We’ll need confirmation
before we can count it as the same MO.”

“The body should be at the ME’s right now. I
was going to try to catch some of the autopsy.”

Rafa closed the file and stood. “Right
now?”

Genie shook her head. “She’ll start the
procedure in the morning, at nine a.m.”

“The lieutenant mentioned a detective named
Franco? I met him at the scene.”

Genie groaned. Distaste for her colleague
shone clear in her eyes. “Yes. Although if the body has been moved,
I doubt he’ll linger around. I had a couple of the uniforms start
the canvass of the neighbors before I was called away.”

Rafa yawned. His muscles had stiffened while
he sat in the chair.

Genie smiled. “Looks like you need some rest.
How about you check in to a hotel and I’ll meet you here tomorrow
morning at eight a.m.? If there are any updates at that time, I’ll
fill you in as we head over to the hospital.”

If she hadn’t smiled, Rafa would've taken the
suggestion as another order. He wanted to begin right away by
revisiting the crime scene, but Genie was right; rest first. He put
in a full day of work in California before the flight and, with the
time change, he would be no good to anyone if he were delirious
from lack of sleep. The Snakes rarely made mistakes, and Rafa
couldn't afford not to be on his game.

“I’m actually staying at my mother’s.”

“Oh, right. I should have guessed. She and I
attend the same church, you know?”

Rafa smiled, recalling fond memories of
sleeping in a back pew. “I know. I used to attend myself, when I
was younger.”

Shock registered on Genie’s face.

“Surprised to see I wasn’t always a
delinquent?”

Genie flushed. She closed the case file,
snatched her jacket from the chair, and marched to the door. With a
feline grin, she flicked the lights off. “Good night, Detective.
And welcome home.”

Rafa
stood alone in the dark.
Home
.

****

Rafa
thanked the cabbie and watched the vehicle drive down the darkened
street. He let out a heavy breath.
This is it
. He faced the small, two-story, white Cape
Cod-style home. The front porch light was on, beckoning him
forward. Rafa swallowed, his throat dry. With his garment bag slung
over one shoulder, he picked up his duffel bag from the sidewalk
and trudged forward. Was his mother asleep? He hated to have to
wake her. What would she say when she saw him? After his stint with
the Snakes — and after coming to grips with his mother kicking him
out of the house — he’d kept in touch over the years, calling her
when he graduated from college and then the police academy. He
didn’t usually discuss his work, knowing she’d worry. One topic he
refused to engage in was when he would return home.

Home
. He had
dreamed of this moment so often, he marveled at his trepidation.
The last time he saw his mother was when she sent him to live with
family in California. Had she forgiven him? She assured him, over
the phone, that she had, but Rafa couldn’t bring himself to believe
the words. He remembered how he had treated her. How he had yelled
and threatened her… how he had made her cry. He couldn’t face his
mother again. Despite the discomfort, it was still easier to live
in cowardice.

He stepped onto the small porch and set his
duffel bag down. He reached for the doorbell and paused, finger
hovering just in front of the button. It took an investigation to
bring him home. No, his boss ordered him here. Rafa was fine with
another officer flying out to assist Springfield PD. He didn’t have
the guts to face the woman who birthed him, to apologize in person
for the grief he’d put her through.

Rafa closed his eyes, his body trembling with
suppressed emotion. His breath came rapidly. When he was asleep,
his dreams always ended with his mother accepting him with open
arms. When he was awake, he imagined multiple outcomes, each ending
badly… for him. What if she changed her mind after seeing him? What
if she rejected him? Ordered him from her home a second time?

“God, please give me strength. All I want is
forgiveness. If only—”

The door creaked open and Rafa opened his
eyes, startled. There stood his mother in a soft pink robe, her
rich mahogany hair in sponge rollers. She’d hardly aged; only the
laugh lines around her eyes had deepened, as did the small
half-moon creases at the corners of her mouth.

“
Rafael.
Mi hijo
.” Tears
glistened her eyes before streaming down to her open-mouthed
smile.

Just like in his dreams.

“Mamá.”

She released a soft cry before throwing her
arms around him, crushing him in a fierce hug. Rafa let the garment
bag drop to the porch and he wrapped his arms around her, his own
tears falling into her hair.

****

Genie hugged her jacket to her frame, the
cool wind of the emerging spring causing her to shiver. She kept
her hood low, passing all late-night stragglers without a glance. A
few more blocks and she would be at the meeting place — a familiar
alleyway in the heart of the roughest part of the city. She hated
coming to this part of town; most of the domestic violence calls
were from this area, the worst grade schools in the county weren’t
far from where she was, and the liquor stores outnumbered the
convenience stores two to one. But officers of the law serviced the
whole community, and not just the affluent.

Genie stifled a yawn. Perhaps she should have
followed her own advice. Right now, Rafael Santiago would be at his
mother’s house, snoozing. Well, she couldn’t sleep — wouldn’t sleep
— until she solved this case. She had her career to think of.

Rafael Santiago
.

Genie shook her head in disbelief. He hadn’t
left her thoughts since she abandoned him in a dark conference
room. She stifled a chuckle, wondering what he thought of her now.
He had never noticed her in school, but they were paired on this
case, so he’d have no choice but to acknowledge her now. Genie
couldn’t help the feeling of pleasure that shot through her at the
thought of Rafael Santiago being aware of her.

Stop it, Genie
.

And just like that, the elation deflated.

He may look even better than he did some odd
years ago, may even be more intelligent than he obviously let on in
school, but a cheetah doesn’t change its spots. Can’t change its
spots. She considered what he'd said earlier about not being proud
of his former actions. It had surprised her that he would confess
at all to the infractions he made as a minor. Rafa alluded he’d
done more than what she knew of when they attended school together.
What had those actions been? How much more of a train wreck had he
become? Rafa left Virginia shortly after graduation and she hadn’t
seen or heard of him since, except in the prayers of a fervent
mother in church.

Maria Santiago
.

She hadn’t seen his mother in quite a while.
Her work as a detective, and the disagreement she had with God over
Jeff, left little room in her life for church. She still attended,
but only if she didn’t have a pressing investigation.

And every investigation was a priority.

Still, she knew she should return with more
regularity. Her best friend Audrey Hughes had encouraged her to
attend a weekly Bible study. Perhaps she could sit in for a class
or two. She had questions that needed answering and what better way
to get those answers than from the source.

The source.

She had to meet hers tonight. The Snakes were
a gang of drug addicts and money launderers, or so Rafa had
mentioned. She’d meet with the gang unit after the autopsy, but
right now she’d talk to her eyes and ears on the street. She hadn’t
heard of any new packs forming in the city and now this group had
killed four people? Her precinct needed to be ahead of the game,
not behind it.

A whiff of smoke and Genie knew her source
was near. She recognized his preferred brand of cigarettes. The
heavy, dank odor hung in the air and Genie swallowed a groan; she
would have to wash her clothes twice to get the smell out. The
stronger the scent became, the more she wrinkled her nose.

She rounded the corner of a small strip mall
and caught sight of her source, Ricky, against the brick wall of a
coin-operated laundry. The light from his cigarette appeared and
disappeared like the soft glow of a lightning bug. His rapid drag
of the butt troubled Genie. He was nervous.

He straightened and closed the distance
between them. “Why you drag me out here at three a.m.?” he
seethed.

Genie held her breath against Ricky’s rank
breath, choking the cough in her chest, but she didn’t retreat.

Ricky continued his rant. “Don’t you gotta
crime scene to be at?”

“So you know about the stabbings?” He took a
step back and mumbled something under his breath. Genie leaned
forward. “What’s that? I didn’t hear you.”

“I don’t know nothin’!”

Genie snatched her source’s collar, yanking
him towards her. “Lower your voice,” Genie warned. She glanced
around to see whether his exclamation had drawn attention.
Satisfied it hadn’t, she released him, but stayed close. “Listen,
there’s a killer running around. What do you know?”

He licked his lips, the shine of saliva
gleaming in the moonlight. He flicked his cigarette farther into
the dark of the small alley. Genie watched the light of the butt
fade. She walked over to the discarded litter, raised one
pointy-toed heel, and crushed the cancer stick into the cement. She
strode back to where her source slouched. “Are you finished? Now,
tell me what you know, Ricky.”

He jammed his hands in his coat pockets.
“Alright, alright. Look, I heard about dem murders, but I don’t
know who’s doin' it.”

“Do you know why?”

He shook his head. “Don’t know that
neither.”

“Then what do you know?”

“Peoples are scared, that’s what I know. That
ol’ man that worked at that Mexican restaurant? Why would anybody
wanna kill him?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

Ricky shuffled his feet. “I don’t know, man…
I don’t know.” He sniffed, shaking his head.

Genie made it a practice not to disclose
sensitive investigative information to protect the credibility of
the case. But with four bodies in two weeks and no suspects, she
had to rethink the rules. If the community’s fears were manifesting
themselves in the nervous tics of her usually static source, then
she was making the right choice. “Okay, listen carefully.”

Ricky angled in.

“The stab wounds are in the shape of a snake.
It’s kind of a gang tag.”

“A snake?”

Genie swallowed another yawn. Not even being
out here this late at night in a dangerous part of town could
muster enough adrenaline to keep sleep at bay. And if she had to
repeat herself, they would be out here all night — and her bed was
calling. “That’s what I said.”

“I ain’t heard of nothin’ like that.”

“This is new. Don’t go blabbing it around or
you’ll alert the killer, and I want to catch whoever’s doing
this.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t wanna get stabbed.”

“Good. Get with your regulars and see if
they’ve heard anything. And be discreet.”

Ricky nodded and then disappeared into the
night. Genie drew in a deep breath before beginning the trek back
to her car. She decided on an alternate route to her vehicle to
detect any possible surveillance.

As she
trudged on, the exhaustion making her muscles numb and her eyelids
heavy, her thoughts strayed to Rafa. With ten years on the case, he
had to be invested. She was sure his career was riding on the
outcome and having someone new, like her, would threaten any
promotional opportunities. He all but accused her of not caring
about the victims — a deflection to hide his own greedy ambitions
for glory and advancement — two main goals of every detective. But
she was no fool. He might have been a source in the Snakes
organization but this was
her
town. She had her own sources. He’d have little pull here,
unless he planned to join up with his old crowd from high school,
and most of them were either gone, dead, or in jail.

Genie quickened her steps, her car in view.
She smiled. Rafael Santiago wasn’t the only one who could get
information. She’d discover who the killers were before he had a
chance to say “promotion.” Then his perfect hair and delectable
dimples would be back on a plane to California. Her life would
return to normal.