State Fair (37 page)

“All the stuff with Levi was fake?”

“Well, not exactly fake. The crimes committed were real—the letters, the quilt theft, the graffiti on his house and yours. Still can probably classify them as hate crimes. It’s just that the actual motivation wasn’t because Levi was black.”

“It was to fool the police.”

“Brilliant plan actually, what with Cal dating Jazz and her daddy being the fair’s first African American manager. I’ll admit it did fool us initially. When race is involved, people get nervous, don’t think straight, get tunnel vision, which is exactly what Mr. Piebald hoped would happen. However, he didn’t count on one of his little skinhead worker bees getting caught driving drunk, violating probation and on top of that having child-support payments in arrears to the tune of eight thousand dollars. To avoid jail time and possibly lose all visiting rights to his kids, he made a deal with the district attorney’s office to give up the goods on his boss.” Hud turned down Main Street in Paso heading north. “So much for loyalty among thieves.”

His words tangled in my head like a crazy alphabet soup. “Okay, that explains what happened with Calvin Jones, but what does my aunt have to do with any of this?”

He turned off Main Street onto a side street where he pulled up behind a strip mall that supported a grocery store, a dry cleaner, a day spa, a used book store and a Subway sandwich shop. A half-dozen police cars and a SWAT van were parked in a haphazard pattern with SWAT team members and cops wearing dark windbreakers milled around with Styrofoam cups in their hands.

“What’s going on?”

He turned off the ignition and got out of the truck.

I unbuckled my seat belt and jumped out, running to catch him. “That explains what happened with Calvin Jones. But my aunt, what . . . ?”

He pointed to an unmarked car. “Ask him.” The car door opened and Gabe stepped out.

“What in the heck going on?” I asked Gabe.

Hud walked up behind me. “I told her a smidgen, but I left the family part for you.”

Gabe put his hands on my shoulders. “What do you know?”

“That all the things directed at Levi and Jazz were red herrings. That Milt Piebald is behind it. Where’s Aunt Garnet?”

Gabe and Hud exchanged looks.

“Sweetheart,” Gabe said. “She’s sitting in the Piebald’s sales office chatting with Juliette Piebald. We’ve got the SWAT team, dozens of officers and a stack of arrest warrants ready to take down this gang except that we can’t because your aunt is discussing corn bread recipes with Juliette Piebald.”

I couldn’t have been more surprised than if you had told me that Aunt Garnet had been accepted as a running back by the NFL. I looked at Gabe, then at Hud, then back at Gabe. “Uh . . . well . . . I . . .”

“Exactly our reaction. The reason I sent Hud for you was we need your help.”

“Is she in danger?”

“Hopefully not. That’s where you come in. I need you to casually go in the office and
get her out of there.”

“Is Juliette in on the stolen car parts ring? Did she know about Cal’s murder?”

Hud piped in, “Who knows? That’s always the sixty-four-million-dollar question when it comes to wives, isn’t it? How much of Gabe’s work life are you privy to?”

Gabe frowned at him. “Hudson, shut up.”

Hud held up his hands. “Just an observation by an impartial third party.”

Apparently I didn’t know
enough
about my husband’s work life. I knew he’d been working on this stolen car case with other agencies. Not once had he hinted that Milt Piebald was possibly involved.

Gabe looked into my eyes. “Forget him. You know I’m only doing this because we can’t think of any other logical, safe way to remove her from the premises. Do think you can do it?”

“Of course I can. She’s my aunt.”

“Just walk in there, make up some kind of excuse and get her out of there,” Hud said. “Leave the rest to us. No heroics.”

“I have no intention of being any kind of hero.”

Gabe squeezed my shoulders. “
Querida
, you know how much I hate using you like this, but there’s no one else.”

“I know. I’ll be careful. I won’t do anything rash.”

“We’ll be watching everything you do and we’ve got the place wired for sound. We’ll hear everything that is going on. Don’t worry, sweetheart, you’ve got the best backup in the country.”

“I’ve always known that.”

“You ready?” Gabe asked. “We’ll have you drive Hudson’s truck.”

I nodded, swallowing salty water.

Hud handed me the truck keys. His keychain was black and tan braided horsehair. “Once you get your aunt into the truck, drive out of the parking lot and back across the street to this parking lot.”

“Got it.”

Gabe kissed me quickly on the lips. “Be safe,” he murmured.

I climbed into Hud’s truck and started the engine. Five minutes later I pulled up in front of the car lot office. I could see Juliette and Aunt Garnet through the plate-glass window. The rumble from his V8 engine rattled the windows, causing both of them to look up, surprised.

I pocketed Hud’s keys and opened the office door. “Hey, Aunt Garnet! I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Dove needs you at home right away. She’s having stomach problems. She thinks it’s her ulcer acting up. She’s asking for you.” Stop babbling, I told myself. Too much information.

Aunt Garnet stood up, touching her chest bone. “Oh, dear, her ulcer? I must . . .” She reached for her handbag sitting on the desk.

“Wait,” Juliette said, standing up, obviously flustered. “She can’t go yet. Garnet and I aren’t through with our conversation.”

“You’ll have to finish later,” I said, attempting a relaxed smile. “Really, her sister is sick and wants to see her. Aunt Garnet can come back tomorrow.” Or, better yet, never.

Juliette’s face turned pale and glanced behind her at a closed office door. “But she can’t leave. I need to . . .” Her clear, modulated voice rose an octave. I got the distinct feeling she wasn’t talking to us. “I can’t do this. It’s wrong . . .” She groaned and leaned forward, covering her face with her hands. “Just go. I don’t care anymore.”

Relieved, I grabbed Aunt Garnet’s arm. We were almost out the door when a loud voice commanded, “Stop right there.”

We turned to see Milt Piebald stepping through the now open office door. “You two can just sit yourselves back down so we can have ourselves a little chat. I’ve been told you’ve been playing a little game of cat and mouse with my sales force.”

“I wouldn’t exactly call that ill-dressed gentleman a sales force,” Aunt Garnet said.

I squeezed her arm in an effort to quiet her.

“Mr. Piebald,” Aunt Garnet said. “I came by to simply check out your fleet to see if there was a vehicle that I might purchase for a reasonable price to putter around town in. I must say I’m not impressed with your selection. I have absolutely no interest in whatever else it is you people do here.”

I squeezed her arm again.
Too much info, Aunt Garnet
.

She reached over and lightly smacked my hand. “Quit pinching me, Benni. I know exactly what I’m doing.”

I pictured Gabe having a heart attack in the van where they were listening to all this. Was he regretting ever marrying into my totally nutso family?

Milt turned to Juliette, his face turning the color of a pomegranate. “What did you tell her?”

“Nothing! She doesn’t know anything.” Juliette started to stand. Milt made a lowering gesture with his hand and, like a well trained cow dog, she obeyed.

The wooden desk chair squeaked from her weight.

“Look,” I said. “I don’t know what you two are doing and I don’t care. I just need to take my aunt home.” With a death grip on Aunt Garnet’s arm, I started pulling her toward the door.

“Stop,” he bellowed again.

I stopped. My mind tallied the facts of our situation. He wasn’t going to let us go until he found out what we knew. Chances were he wouldn’t kill us. That would be stupid. He knew he’d never get away with that. Then again, he might be desperate. Did he have any idea what was waiting for him outside?

All I had to do was talk our way out of this. Give him what he thinks we have . . . information.

I stepped in front of Aunt Garnet. “Okay, we’ll tell you what we found out.”

I could only imagine that Gabe and the other police officers were having conniption fits right about now. Hold off, I thought, sending a mental message to my husband. Don’t send in the cavalry yet.

“We know everything,” I said. “We know that Juliette and Lloyd Burnside are having an affair . . .”

Juliette gasped, sat back in her chair. Milt watched us with wary eyes, his wide mouth partially open.

“We realize that you’re both trying to cover it up to save your budding political career. And you know what? We don’t care. These days, I’d say that no one does. We certainly have no intention of telling anyone. So, that’s what we know, and frankly, whatever deal you two have made about having an open marriage, that’s no skin off my—our—noses.”
Please, please fall for this.
I felt Aunt Garnet’s hand come up and rest on my shoulder.

“She’s right,” Aunt Garnet said. “I find it utterly despicable and biblically immoral, but it is not our business.”

Milt locked eyes with me. Juliette emitted little moans from where she sat, but I didn’t look at her. What Milt saw on my face right now was crucial to whether he believed my words.
Please
, I prayed,
for once in my life let me have a poker face
. Everything sounded magnified—Juliette’s distressed cries, the buzz from the fluorescent lights, the sound of Aunt Garnet’s breathing behind me.

Milt rubbed a hand over his face, glanced over at Juliette, then back at us.

“Get out of here, you dumb broads. And if I hear of you telling anyone about this I’ll make that Mex husband of yours suffer. I have the power to do it and I will. And I’ll sue you both for defamation of character. You got that?”

“Loud and clear,” I said, turning to Aunt Garnet. “Let’s go.” My heart pounded while I walked Aunt Garnet out, helped her up into Hud’s pickup truck and drove slowly out of the lot.

“That was close,” Aunt Garnet said.

Once we left the car lot, we drove across the street to the strip mall. As we were pulling into the parking lot, dozens of police cars and cops on foot swarmed past us into the Piebald offices and surrounded the warehouse. I turned off the truck engine and we watched, a front row seat to the whole scenario.

“For heaven’s sakes,” Aunt Garnet said, leaning forward to see better. “I wonder what that’s all about.”

There was a rap on my window. I turned to see the face of my husband.

I flung open the door and practically jumped in his arms.

“Good work, Ortiz,” he said, burying his face in my hair.

“Likewise, Ortiz.”

Aunt Garnet’s voice echoed from the depths of the cab. “Does someone want to give me the four-one-one on what just happened?”

“I
’LL EXPLAIN WHEN I DRIVE YOU HOME,” I TOLD HER.

“Your truck’s behind the strip mall,” Gabe said, handing me my keys. I gave him Hud’s. “I’ll come by the ranch later.” He kissed me on the lips. “I’ll call Levi and let him know what happened. He can call Maggie and Katsy.”

“Good. They’ll be beyond relieved, I’m sure.”

After calling the twins and telling them we’d be a little later than I expected, I drove Aunt Garnet back to the ranch.

“Before I explain what just happened, tell me how you ended up going with Juliette Piebald. Are you crazy?” I shouldn’t have added that last remark, but it came out before I could stop it.

“I know it was foolish to go with her,” Aunt Garnet said contritely. “But I was so mad at Dove that I told her I’d find my own way home. Then realized that I’d spoken myself into a corner. Juliette saw me sitting on a bench in front of the giant pumpkin exhibit and I guess I looked a little flustered. We got to talking about sisters and before I knew it, I told her the whole story. She offered to take me home. She excused herself and I hear her call her husband on her cell phone, but I thought she was just telling him that she was taking me home. I didn’t know it was a trap. I wasn’t ever really worried. I had pepper spray in my purse . . .”

“You do?”

She sat up straighter and pursed her thin lips. “I was going to use it on that Mr. Piebald if he came at you. I am not without resources, Benni.”

Apparently not.

“It didn’t it occur to you that maybe going off with someone who was a suspect in a murder investigation wasn’t too . . . uh . . . wise?”

She took a hankie out of her purse and dabbed her hairline. “You know, in any new endeavor there is always a learning curve. Cut me some slack. Besides, I thought I could take her down if I had to.”

Okay, I had to admit, her comment shut me up for a moment.