Part 28 (1/2)
”He will not listen. He will just get angry.”
”Yeah, well, you'd be surprised how convincing I can be.” Zach broke the connection, thinking of Maria and her ghost, and the murdered girl in Fresno. He reached for the phone to call Liz, wis.h.i.+ng he weren't so eager to hear her voice.
He had told her he needed time. Maybe he did. Mostly he had pulled back because he was afraid. What if Liz ended the relations.h.i.+p? Just the thought made him sick to his stomach. He didn't know how his feelings for her had grown so deep so fast, but they had.
He was crazy about her. He had broken his own rule and now he was in very serious trouble. But Liz wasn't sure of her feelings. Or if she was, she was even more afraid of them than he was.
He didn't know what to do. Apparently neither did she. But both of them had something more important to worry about than their own personal problems.
Taking a deep breath, he leaned back in his chair and dialed Liz's number.
All of the turmoil Elizabeth had felt when Zach left rushed back with brutal force when she heard his voice on the phone line in her office. She'd been doing her best not to think of him, trying to put her life back into perspective. But working together as they had been for nearly a month, it was almost impossible to do.
Zach kept the call brief and fairly impersonal, phoning to tell her about the fight between Miguel and Raul, and ask her to speak to Maria. If she heard a wistful note in his voice, it was only that she wanted to hear it so badly.
She didn't linger over the call. She knew how she felt about Zachshe was in love with him. But she was realistic enough to know that whatever Zach felt for her would be fleeting. Zach was a loner, a runner, a man who needed no one, and every hour she spent with him would only make losing him harder.
As soon as she hung up the phone, she dialed Maria's home number, praying Miguel would still be working in the fields.
Thankfully, a woman picked up the phone.
”Maria? It's Elizabeth. Can you talk?”
A tight sound came from Maria's throat. ”I am so glad you called.”
Worry trickled through her. ”I would have called sooner. I didn't want to cause a problem with Miguel. Are you feeling all right? Is everything okay with the baby?”
”I am tired, is all. I am taking the sleeping pills at night, but no matter how much I sleep, I am tired just the same.”
”Have you seen the doctor lately?”
”Si, just three days ago. I was spotting a little, not much. He said I should stay off my feet, try to get more rest. He said the baby is doing all right.”
”He was sure about that?”
”Si.”.
”Is there a chance we could talk? I mean in person? I'd really like to see you.”
”I would like to see you, too. I was thinking to call. Miguel is gone two nights. Last night Isabel stayed with meIsabel Flores. You remember her?”
”You said once that she was a friend.”
”That is right. She lives in the big house here on the farm but she is busy a lot.”
”Did anything happen last night? Did Isabel see the ghost?”
”No, I do not think so. The little girl she does not come that often. I have not seen her for a while.”
”Is Isabel staying with you tonight?”
”She was going to stay but Se”or Harcourt he wishes to see her tonight.”
”Se”or Harcourt? Carson Harcourt?”
”Si. Isabel is his housekeeper.” There was something in Maria's voice, something she wasn't saying. Elizabeth remembered the attractive young Hispanic woman she had noticed several times the night of the party she had attended at Carson's house. Surely Carson wasn't involved with the girl. Then again, even if he was, they were both consenting adults.
Still, Carson was her employer, the man who paid her salary. Elizabeth couldn't help wondering if Isabel's duties included more than just taking care of his house.
”If Isabel can't stay, would you like to spend the night at my apartment?”
”Gracias, no. I cannot do that. Miguel might call and if he does, he will be worried if I am not here.”
Miguel. The thing Elizabeth wanted most to talk to Maria about. ”You can't stay there by yourself.”
”I was hoping I thought maybe you might come and stay with me.”
Elizabeth's stomach contracted. She knew things Maria didn't know. The articles she had read rose up in her mind, the sickening descriptions, the way the young girl in Fresno had been raped and tortured. How her body had been mutilated before she had been buried.
Elizabeth's mouth went dry. How could she spend another night in the house when she knew the truth about the people who had lived there?
Not there, she told herself. It was a different house, a completely different time.
Besides, how could she allow Maria to stay in the house if she were unwilling to do the same?
”Are you sure you won't stay with me?” she pressed. ”We could make popcorn. I could bring home a video and we could watch it on TV.”
”Miguel would not like it.”
Elizabeth sighed, fighting an urge to kick Miguel. ”All right, if that's the way you feel, then I guess I'll have to come out there.” But sometime soonwhether or not Maria was afraid it might cause troubleshe had to talk to Miguel, somehow convince him that forcing his wife to stay in the house during these last important days of her pregnancy was harmful to her and their baby's health.
Relief sounded in Maria's voice. ”You will come. That is good. Maybe you will see the ghost.”
A shudder rolled down Elizabeth's spine. Maybe she would. If she did, what would it mean?
Elizabeth's chest tightened at the gruesome possibilities.
”I need to see you.”
”Where are you?” Carson asked Stiles.
”Ten minutes away.”
”I'll be here when you get here.” Carson hung up the phone and a few minutes later, Isabel showed Les Stiles down the hall to his office. Carson thought about the plans he had for the girl that night and gave her a smile of reminder, which she warmly returned.
His smile slid away as Stiles walked in, hooked his beat-up straw cowboy hat on one of the bra.s.s hooks in the row next to the door, then sat down in the chair next to his desk.