Part 24 (1/2)
Elizabeth watched the flat landscape pa.s.sing by outside the car window, the fields of Harcourt Farms cotton stretching row after row toward the horizon. Farther along the highway, swatches of bloodred roses formed a scarlet slash in the distance.
As Zach drove back to her apartment, she couldn't help wondering if Carson Harcourt was really the kind of guy who would let an innocent man go to prison.
Elizabeth and Zach were just finis.h.i.+ng a breakfast of French toast and bacon the next morning when someone started hammering on Elizabeth's front door.
Pulling the sash on her pale blue terrycloth robe a little tighter, she padded into the living room to open the door. She was surprised to find Carson Harcourt standing on the other side of the threshold.
”Good morning. May I come in?” It was a polite request that didn't match the hard look in his eyes and he didn't wait for permission. His glance swung from her to Zach, who strode in from the kitchen barefoot, wearing only a pair of jeans and a s.h.i.+rt he didn't bother to b.u.t.ton.
Zach stopped in front of him. ”Well, here's a surprise. What's the occasion, Carson?”
”The occasion is that since you are no longer to be found at the local Holiday Innor in residence with your last paramourI came to speak to you here.”
Zach's features hardened. ”You should learn to think of women as ladies, Carson, you'd have a lot better luck.”
”What I think is my business, not yourswhich is the reason I'm here.”
”Go on.”
”I want you and Elizabeth to stop snooping into Harcourt Farms business. Whatever it is you're trying to find out, it's none of your concern.”
”There's no law against researching public records,” Zach said calmly, hiding the same surprise Elizabeth was feeling that Carson had somehow found out.
”That's right, there isn't.” Carson's mouth curved but it wasn't really a smile. ”And there's no law against firing an incompetent employee. Stay out of farm businessboth of youor Santiago and his wife will find themselves out on the street.”
Zach stiffened. He was every bit as tall as Carson, but leaner, his muscles harder, more defined. Still, Carson was a formidable opponent. While Zach had a past in San Pico, Carson had power and influence. Carson might be able to cause trouble for his brother, as well as the Santiagos. Elizabeth's stomach tightened at the thought.
”Mrs. Santiago is frightened,” Zach tried to explain. ”She's afraid for her unborn child and to tell you the truth, I think she has every reason to be afraid.”
”What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?”
Elizabeth stepped forward. ”Things have been happening in the house things that can't be explained. Zach and I stayed there most of one night and it was terrifying. I know it's hard to believe, but ”
”But what?”
”There's something there,” Zach said. ”We're trying to find out what it is. If you would cooperate”
”Forget it. I'm not about to encourage any of this. There is nothing the least bit wrong with that house. In fact, the inspectors thought it was in very good conditionyou told me that yourself. Now I'm telling youstay out of Harcourt business. If you don't, it's going to be the Santiagos who suffer.”
Turning on his heel, Carson stormed out the door, leaving them standing there staring after him. The door slammed so hard the sound reverberated through the whole apartment.
”Sometimes I actually do hate him,” Zach said darkly.
”If he does fire Miguel, the family will really be in trouble. Jobs are hard to find, especially one that pays well and includes housing, and they've got a baby on the way. What are we going to do?”
Zach paced over to the window. ”I promised Raul I'd do whatever it took to help him and his sister. I'm not going to break my word.” He turned to face her. ”We're going to do exactly what we've been doing. We'll just be more careful about it.”
”How do you think he found out?”
”Carson's got a long reach in this town. We'll have to find a way to get around it. I'll get word to Mariano Nunez. I've got to go back to L.A. tonight, but I'll try to set up a meeting as soon as possible.”
”You think he'll show up?”
He nodded. ”There's a little cantina he and his friends hang out in at the edge of town. I can get him to meet me there. I'll find out if Espinoza's wife had a miscarriage and if he knows of any other women in the old house who lost their unborn children. In the meantime, I want you to go back to the newspaper and run that list of names.”
They had a fairly complete list now. It would make the research a lot easier. ”There's an alphabetical index of names found in each paper,” she said. ”I'll call my office in the morning and have Terry cancel my appointments. I want to go over to the paper first thing.” She glanced up. ”What if Carson finds out?”
A muscle tightened along Zach's jaw. ”If he wants to play hardball, two can play the game. They've got a strong farm union in this town. Even Carson doesn't like going up against those guys. He tries to fire Miguel without cause, and I'll have the union all over him. Carson likes things to run nice and smooth. Problems with the union are the last thing he wants.”
”I hope you're right.” She walked to where he stood at the window. Outside, two little boys played kickball on the lawn in front of the apartment building. She wondered if she'd ever have a child of her own. What kind of a father would Zachary Harcourt make? She thought of him with the kids at Teen Vision and the amazing thought struck that he would probably make a good one.
She took a breath, her chest suddenly tight. Unfortunately, Zach wasn't the type of guy to make the kind of long-term commitment it took to raise a child.
She turned away from the window, walked over to the sofa. ”I wish I could call Maria, make sure she's all right, but Miguel wouldn't like it, and I don't want to cause her any more trouble.”
Zach moved behind her, slid his arms around her waist and pulled her back against him. ”We're doing the best we can. Maybe something will turn up tomorrow.”
Elizabeth hoped so.
She wasn't sure what kind of danger Maria and her baby might be facing, but whenever she thought of the night she had spent in the house, she believed, soul deep, that danger was real.
Elizabeth left her office early Monday morning, drove down Main, then turned onto Fifth Street, heading for the redbrick newspaper building three blocks away.
She was thinking about the list she carried in her purse when she glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed another car turning the corner, a dark green pickup she had seen several times before. The day she had gone to So Cal Edison, she had noticed the truck two cars behind her. She remembered because another car had turned sharply in front of the truck and there had nearly been a collision, would have been if the driver of the truck hadn't fiercely blown his horn.
The pickup was there again today, three cars back. She pa.s.sed the entrance to the newspaper office and instead of turning in, kept on going. She pulled through the drive-thru at McDonald's, ordered coffee and an egg Mcm.u.f.fin, then turned back onto Main and turned into the parking lot behind her office.
As she parked the car in one of the empty s.p.a.ces, she saw the truck drive slowly past. She didn't recognize the occupant, a large man in a short-sleeved, checkered s.h.i.+rt wearing a battered straw cowboy hat.
Was he following her?
Surely not. She was just getting paranoid.
Still, she didn't want Carson to know what she was up to. She didn't want to risk Miguel's job.
Walking into her office, she made a couple of phone calls then went through a few of her client files. When a half hour had pa.s.sed, she walked out the front door and made her way the few blocks over to the newspaper office.
The pickup was nowhere in sight. She just hoped the lady at the front desk wasn't somehow in touch with Carson.
”I'd like to do a little more work with the microfiche,” she said to the gray-haired woman.
”Help yourself.” The woman continued to type away on her computer. ”You know where everything is.”
”Yes. Thank you.” Elizabeth made her way back to the room with the file cabinets and microfiche readers. She had already checked the names on Mariano's list, but now she had Fletcher Harcourt's more extensive list, which went a lot farther back.