Candy Crush (29 page)

“Miguel.”

Brandon was instantly alert. “What
happened?”

“Hector – his brother. He’s outside. He
found me.”

She waved at the window. Brandon shifted her
out of his lap and crawled to the window. Butter was still standing
there, growling low in her throat.

“I don’t see anyone.” He sucked in a breath.
“He just came around the corner of the house.”

Brandon stood up, walked to the bedside
table and picked up his cell phone. He punched 9-1-1 and reported a
strange man lurking around his house. Then he dropped to the floor
and pulled Gabriella back into his lap.

Five minutes later, a police car pulled to
the curb. They watched as Hector belatedly realized what was
happening and tried to run. The police officer shot out of the car
and tackled him. By the time he stood up, Hector was handcuffed. As
the police officer was walking Hector to the police cruiser,
another cruiser pulled up and Daniel Franks climbed out.

“I was just thinking it was nice that
someone else finally responded to our call, and he shows up
anyway,” Brandon commented, as they watched everything from the
bedroom window.

The two officers talked for a few minutes,
and then the first responding officer passed Hector to Daniel and
left. Daniel stood in the front yard, talking with Hector for
several minutes. Then he put Hector in the back of his car and
left.

“How come he didn’t question us?” Gabriella
asked.

Brandon shook his head. “I don’t know.
That’s weird. I don’t think that’s procedure.”

“Maybe he decided he’d just call us
tomorrow?” Gabriella asked hopefully.

“Maybe.” Brandon looked thoughtful, and then
he said, “Come on, let’s go back to bed. He’ll be locked up at
least for the rest of the night. Tomorrow we’ll go down to the
police station and find out what’s going on.”

He stood up and pulled Gabriella to her
feet. They climbed into bed and Brandon spooned his body around
Gabriella, wrapping his arm around her waist and draping one leg
across her thighs.

***

She sank into his warmth, but did not
sleep.

Gabriella was too afraid to sleep. Miguel
found her. She was sure that man had been Hector.

Hector had been her main hanger-on, always
available to accompany her wherever she needed to go. Eventually
she realized this was more to keep an eye on her than to provide
his company and friendship. Her feelings had been hurt when she
realized that, because she had started to think of Hector as a
friend, and then she found out he was simply her baby-sitter.

She knew his features well. When he looked
up at the house, she instantly recognized his face, with the eyes
that had an almost Asian-like slant and the thick eyebrows and thin
nose with a knob on the end. And if that wasn’t enough, the scar
that ran the length of his left cheek had almost glowed in the
moonlight. She remembered asking him about the scar once.

“Tactical error,” he said, and then added,
“The senoritas think it’s sexy.”

She supposed some ladies might. She found it
scary.

Part of her was tempted to sneak out of bed
and pack her bags and run again. But another, much more insistent
part demanded,
what about Brandon
?

The very idea of leaving him caused her to
choke as the breath left her body in a big whoosh. In his sleep,
Brandon stirred and tightened his hold around her waist. If she
stayed, how would she avoid Miguel, who she was sure would cart her
off to Dallas, against her will? If she left, she would be walking
away from Brandon and all the happiness she had found in such a
small time, in such a small town. It occurred to her that she was
actually looking forward to winter. Those long, cold nights, curled
up in front of a roaring fireplace, sipping hot cocoa and wrapped
in Brandon’s arms. Not to mention the warm clothing she had already
purchased for herself.

Miguel had probably sent Hector ahead of
him, either to search for her or to determine if their lead had
panned out. If Hector were allowed to call Miguel, he would be on
the next plane into town. Then the police could capture Miguel and
deport him back to Mexico. And her problems would be solved.

Gabriella sucked in a breath and thought the
idea through. Tomorrow, she would go to the police station and make
a full statement, explain everything about Miguel. She didn’t know
exactly how these things worked, but she knew she had to put her
faith into the authorities. That was their purpose, so regular
citizens could feel safe in their own homes, in their own towns.
The police would take care of her, she was sure of it. She wouldn’t
have to leave Brandon. She snuggled closer to him and closed her
eyes, finding sleep at last.

***

Gabriella was exhausted when she woke later
that morning. She felt hung over. It had been the middle of the
night when Hector was snooping around her car. By the time she’d
finally drifted back to sleep, it had been nearly five a.m.

By the time she shuffled downstairs to get a
cup of coffee, Brandon was fully dressed, leaning against the
counter, drinking coffee and eating a piece of toast.

“You look beat, Sweet Pea.”

“Gee, thanks,” Gabriella muttered as she
tried to pour herself a mug of coffee. She sloshed half of it onto
the counter. Brandon pulled the carafe out of her hands and filled
the mug for her. He added creamer and wiped up the counter.
“Thanks,” she muttered again.

He pulled her into a hug and said, “Why
don’t you go back to bed? I’ll let Aunt Constance know you aren’t
feeling well and you won’t be coming in to work today.”

Gabriella considered the idea. “I wouldn’t
mind going back to sleep,” she admitted, leaning heavily into his
chest. “But just for a couple more hours. Then I’m going down to
the police station and making a full statement on Miguel. I want
him deported so I can get on with my life.”

“I like that idea. Why don’t you wait till
closer to the end of the day and I can go with you?”

Gabriella shook her head. “No, I need to do
this alone.”

Brandon didn’t argue, which she appreciated.
He really was a special guy. Her determination to finally do
something that would close that chapter of her life rose
exponentially.

They lingered over a good-bye kiss, and then
Brandon headed out the door and walked to work. Gabriella put the
coffee on the counter, untouched, and went back upstairs to bed.
She didn’t wake up again until noon, but she felt better and more
determined than ever to help ensure Miguel was caught and
deported.

After a quick shower, several cups of coffee
and a sandwich, Gabriella was ready to go. She wore jeans and a
v-neck sweater with a camisole underneath. She flipped her hair
back into a clip and added a minimal amount of makeup. Already she
was more comfortable in her new casual persona than she ever had
been as the always-perfectly coifed Barbie doll Miguel had wanted
her to be.

Gabriella walked in the visitor’s entrance
of the local police station and stepped up to the bored looking
officer sitting at the information desk. “I’d like to make a
statement with regards to the man you arrested last night. His name
is Hector Martinez and he was trespassing in my yard.” It wasn’t
technically her yard, but she hoped that would not matter.

The officer punched a few keys on his
computer and glanced back at her. “We didn’t arrest anyone named
Hector Martinez last night.”

“What? That’s impossible. I saw your officer
cuff him and drive away. Do you have a trespassing call in there? I
think it was about two a.m.”

He punched more keys and nodded. “Yep.
Brandon Sarantos’ house. Says it was a false alarm.”

“No, it wasn’t. Miguel Martinez is an
illegal alien, here on an expired visa, and he is involved in
illegal business dealings. His brother, Hector Martinez was in
Brandon’s yard last night, looking at my car and walking around the
house. I believe Miguel is heading here and I want you guys to
capture him and make sure he is deported. I believe my life may be
in danger if he comes to town.”

The officer’s jaw went slack as he stared at
her for several heartbeats. He finally recovered and said, “Could
you please have a seat, ma’am? I’m going to call the chief and see
how he wants to handle this.”

“Thank you,” Gabriella said politely, and
then she proceeded to ignore the chairs and instead paced the small
lobby area.

***

Two hours later, Gabriella sat in an
interrogation room, repeating her story to a plain-clothed
detective, who furiously scribbled on a yellow notepad, while a
small recording device sat next to his elbow. As soon as someone
did a computer search on Miguel Martinez, they had hustled into
action. Miguel was wanted for questioning associated with several
crimes in the Dallas area. He was also wanted by immigration for
violating the terms of his visa.

The local police were in contact with both
Dallas PD and immigration, and everyone was trying to figure out if
Miguel was still in Dallas or on his way to Michigan or somewhere
else entirely. The police seemed to believe Gabriella when she
explained that Miguel was likely to come to Michigan if Hector had
alerted him to her presence.

Hector had completely disappeared off their
radar as of three days ago. The assumption was he’d driven to
Michigan instead of flown, in order to avoid the possibility of
getting apprehended at airport security.

The officer who responded to the call last
night had been woken up and questioned. According to the responding
officer, Daniel Franks, Assistant Chief of Police, had also
responded and told him he would handle the situation. The officer
didn’t want to question a commanding officer, so he’d handed off
Hector and left. The report was later filed as a false alarm.

Daniel had been scheduled to go on vacation
effective Saturday, and he put in for a personal day so he could
take Friday off as well. He’d told a few of the guys in the
department that he was going out west to do some bird hunting.
Multiple calls and texts to his phone had gone unanswered. A police
officer was sent to his apartment but reported that it appeared to
be empty.

Hector also was nowhere to be found.

When Gabriella left the police station, she
felt a combination of relief and fear. Relief that she had finally
turned her troubles over to the authorities, but the fear was that
they might not be able to do anything. The local police appeared to
believe her story, however, the fact that Hector disappeared and
they had no record that he had even been apprehended last night was
a little disturbing.

Besides that, Gabriella knew that Miguel was
powerful and smart and she suspected that if he did not want to be
found, he would not be. She wondered what had possessed her to
think she could hide from him.

Gabriella drove back to Brandon’s house and
then, because she felt stir crazy, she loaded Butter into the car
and drove down to Main Street and parked behind the candy store.
Her plan was to finish cleaning the storeroom and then walk over to
the DDA office to touch base with Brandon and Constance.

Gabriella opened the back door and Butter
rushed through ahead of her. To take her mind off her troubles,
Gabriella immediately began cleaning. She moved anything that was
still on the floor and then pulled out the broom and swept the
entire room. She filled the mop bucket with water and bleach and
began methodically dragging the mop back and forth across the
floor.

She realized what she was doing: stress
cleaning. Whenever she felt stressed, she cleaned. It was her
thing.

She thought of Brandon.
I should tell him
that whenever he wants his house cleaned, stress me out first
.
The thought brought a smile to her lips.

She rinsed and twisted the mop and continued
her back and forth movements, exerting more force than necessary
just because it felt good to take out her Miguel-induced
frustrations on the dirty floor.

The mop was nearly ripped from her hands
when it caught on something and didn’t pull free as Gabriella
pushed it back the other way. She gave it a tug and nothing
happened, so she walked over and bent down to inspect the floor.
The mop had caught on a piece of plastic. It was white and blended
so perfectly with the floor, one would not know it was there unless
one was looking for it. It was in the corner where the boxes of
overstock had been piled, likely for years and years.

Gabriella tugged on the mop and it broke
free from the strip of plastic. Curious now, Gabriella slid her
fingers along the strip of plastic, and realized it formed a large
square. She ran her hand over the floor enclosed by the plastic
square and when she felt a part of the floor that was raised
slightly higher than the rest, she paused and smoothed her fingers
across the area, trying to determine what she had discovered.

One particular black tile felt different
from the rest and after digging around with her fingers, Gabriella
figured out why: it was actually a metal ring of some sort. She
pried the hidden ring away from the floor and tugged. The floor
abruptly gave way, and Gabriella realized she had just found a trap
door.

“This wasn’t mentioned in any of the real
estate info,” she muttered to herself. She pulled the door open and
peered inside, but she couldn’t see any further than a few steps
down the rough wooden ladder that was attached to the underside of
the door.

She scrambled to her feet and rushed out to
her car to get the flashlight she always kept for emergencies. Her
heart beat irrationally fast and she was desperately curious to see
what was in the hidden cellar, although she wasn’t entirely sure
why she felt this way. She hurried back into the storeroom and
leaned over the approximately two-foot-by-two-foot hole in the
floor. It was barely large enough for an average sized person to
slip through. She turned on the flashlight and aimed it into the
hole.