Granny Apples 05 - Ghost in the Guacamole (24 page)

“If the cops trace that call, they're going to rain down on you, you know that?” Phil said with concern.

“Frankly, I don't care,” Emma said, giving him one of Granny's signature head jerks of defiance. She placed another call.

“Now who are you calling? Jeremiah?”

“No, Rikki, but Jeremiah is next on my list.” When the call went unanswered, Emma said, “That was Rikki's cell phone. It went to voice mail.”

“Maybe she's in another meeting?” Phil suggested.

Emma left a voice message for Rikki to call her as soon as possible, then placed a call to another number and turned on the speaker. When that call was answered, she said, “Christina, this is Emma Whitecastle. I was in to see Rikki earlier today. Is she in? I need to speak with her. It's important.” Emma was tempted to tell Christina to get out of Dodge but didn't want to panic the woman just in case she was being watched.

“No, Ms. Whitecastle,” Christina said in a professional voice infused with forced energy. “Rikki left the office a short while ago and didn't say where she was going. Maybe she went to the hospital to see T.J.”

“Thank you,” Emma said into the phone. “If she returns, please ask her to call me right away.”

She looked up another number and dialed it. When it was answered, Phil looked surprised. Emma asked, “Is Mr. Bullock in?”

“Yes,” said a pleasant voice, “who should I say is calling?” Emma disconnected.

“Were you checking to see if Bullock is where he's supposed to be and didn't give Carlos the slip?” Phil asked her.

“Yes,” Emma admitted. “And it looks like he's still there.” She pointed at the offices of Fiesta Time.

A
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promised, the next call went to Jeremiah. Like Rikki's, his call also went to voice mail. Emma left a message to call her, then also texted him in case he was somewhere where he couldn't talk. Almost as soon as the text was sent, her phone rang. It was Jeremiah. “Hey,” he said as soon as Emma answered. She put him on speaker and she and Phil gathered close.

“What's going on with you?” Emma asked.

“You don't know?” he laughed. “Your spirited spy has been shadowing me for the past hour hounding me to call and tell you what's going on. I figured she'd already popped in and given you a full report.”

“Is she there with you now?” Emma asked.

“Sure is.”

“Then she's not here telling me anything,” Emma told him while Phil smiled. “Ghosts are like us, Jeremiah. They can't be in two places at once.”

“Nice to know,” Jeremiah said with a slight snort. “She can really be a pest, can't she? An itsy-bitsy pest, like a gnat.”

Close by in the background, Emma heard Granny call out, “I heard that!”

“Wait until she really gets to know you,” Emma warned him. “So what's up on your end?”

“I tracked down Hector Gonzales at the hospital,” Jeremiah told them. “In fact, I'm still at the hospital. When I saw that you called, I went someplace to get some privacy. Earlier, Hector and I went to a corner of the cafeteria and had a little heart-to-heart. I honestly don't think he had anything to do with the shooting, but I think he has his suspicions.”

“Are they related to his daughter Isabel?” Phil asked.

“He won't say, but I wouldn't be surprised because I think he's protecting someone. Who better than your own kid?”

“He might have seen her at the restaurant the day of the shooting and isn't saying,” Emma suggested.

“I think that's a possibility,” Jeremiah said. “When I told him we had a connection between her and the tour bus company, his body language definitely tightened up, like someone punched him, but he still didn't say anything.”

“Where is he now?” Phil asked. “I hope you didn't let him out of your sight.”

“Not a chance. I called Aaron and tossed him a bone. Told him what I suspect about Isabel. The cops took Hector in for questioning. This should take the heat off of their hunt for Carlos for the time being.” He paused. “So what about you two?”

“We're tying up similar loose ends,” Emma said. “Carlos told us something that also points to Isabel as not only being involved, but possibly the shooter or the one who hired the shooter.”

“Really?” Jeremiah asked, surprised. “Something the kid didn't tell me?”

“Yep,” answered Phil. He glanced at Emma and winked. “Never underestimate the power of a mother's inquisition, even if it's someone else's mother.”

Emma smiled back. “Carlos told us that Isabel was overheard talking on her phone saying that Rikki would soon be out of the picture for good. That doesn't necessarily mean dead, but given the circumstances, I'd rather lean on the side of caution. Also she said something about receiving a big payoff and leaving town. That person told T.J. and that's what sent him flying off to the restaurant the day of the shooting. He went to warn Rikki to protect her and ended up face-to-face with the shooter himself.”

“It didn't sound like T.J. had a clue about it going down that same day,” added Phil, “just that it might happen.”

“By the way, we know where that loan agreement is hidden.” Emma tossed the information out and waited for a reaction.

“Did Carlos tell you he knew where it was?” Jeremiah asked, his voice swelling with irritation. “He told me he never found it and didn't know where it was.”

“No, not him,” Emma said.

“Wait a minute,” said Jeremiah, his tone switching to amusement. “Felix told you himself, didn't he? I should have known. What else did he tell you that I don't know?”

“That was our only holdout,” Emma said. “You gave us Carlos. We'll give you that.”

“I didn't give you Carlos,” Jeremiah conceded. “You found him with Granny's help. That ghost is like a heat-seeking missile.”

“She must have liked that comment,” Emma noted, “because I didn't hear her grousing.”

“Granny seems to have wandered off,” Jeremiah said. “She's probably looking for newly minted ghost pals.” He paused and Phil and Emma could hear people talking in the background. “All clear,” Jeremiah said when the sounds drifted off. “I'll call Aaron when I get done with you and tell him what you just found out about Isabel. He'll probably put units on both Hector's house and Isabel's place as well as put out a BOLO.”

“By the way,” Emma added. “We checked up on Steve Bullock and he's still in his office. We were worried that somehow he snuck out past Carlos.”

“Yeah,” Jeremiah said, “if I were him with all this about to explode, I'd stick as close to my normal routine as possible. It's easier to plead innocence if you don't look like you're running from something.”

“What kind of car does he drive?” Phil asked.

“Hang on,” Jeremiah said. A few seconds later he read off a plate number and gave them the description.

Phil went to the fence and scoped out the cars. When he returned to the table, he said, “It's still there.”

“I tried to call Rikki,” Emma told Jeremiah, “but she didn't answer. You might see if she's with T.J. If she is, we need to get her somewhere safe. She's not as long as Isabel is on the loose.”

“She's not there,” Emma heard Granny say.

“Dammit, Granny,” snapped Jeremiah. “Do you have to pop up like that?”

Emma grinned at Phil and whispered, “Granny just startled Jeremiah by popping up.” Phil covered his mouth and laughed.

“Do you mean you didn't see Rikki?” asked Emma for clarification.

“That's what I said,” answered the ghost, who must have had her head next to Jeremiah's phone to hear. “She's not with T.J. or with Chef Lopez, who has a room full of visitors, including her wife and son. The only person with T.J. is his mother. Poor lady is just sitting there, running rosary beads through her fingers, waiting for her son to wake up. It's heartbreaking.”

“Hold on, folks,” said Jeremiah. “I have another call. It's Aaron.”

Emma looked at Phil, locking eyes with him. “Are you thinking what I'm thinking?” he said to her.

“That Rikki went to the restaurant?”

“Uh-huh,” Phil confirmed. “She doesn't know that Isabel is after her. She thinks she's safe because Lucy's still in jail, and once she learned about that loan document, she was hell-bent on finding it. Not to mention, her judgment's clouded a bit by that tequila.”

“We need to get to the restaurant,” Emma said, standing up and starting for their vehicle. She ended the call.

“What about Jeremiah?” Phil asked, following her.

“He'll call back when he's done with Aaron, and we can have him send the police there to find Rikki. In the meantime, we can start heading over there ourselves.” She glanced at her watch. “It's the beginning of rush hour, but we're heading into downtown, not out of it, so we might make good time.”

When they were both in the SUV and heading for LA, Emma got nervous when Jeremiah didn't call right back so she called him. “It went straight to voice mail,” she told Phil. “He's probably still talking with the police. “I'll text him our concerns and have him tell the police to get to Restaurante Roble.”

“Good idea,” Phil said as he urged the SUV in and out of traffic. “If Isabel is heading back over there, she'll probably wait until dark. At least that's what I'd do, and since it's summer, sundown isn't for a few more hours.”

When they got to Olvera Street, they parked in the same lot they'd used before, but instead of a leisurely stroll down the quaint street, they strode with purpose to Restaurante Roble but not so fast as to draw attention to themselves. The street was only sparsely populated. It was the shoulder time of the day. The office workers were heading home and tourists were dragging back to their hotels after a day in the sun seeing the sights. Shopkeepers were cleaning up and getting ready for the next day's tourist action while waiting on straggling customers.

“Boy, this place closes up early for a Friday,” Phil said.

“I think I read somewhere that most of it closes up by six or seven,” Emma said. “The only day they're open late is Saturday. Rikki mentioned that there is only one other restaurant open for a late dinner and that's only on Friday and Saturday nights, like them.”

“Not good,” noted Phil as they walked. “It means if Isabel's coming, she might arrive before dark, knowing the street will be mostly shut up. I hope Detective Espinoza has already sent a unit to check it out.”

When they got to the restaurant, it looked abandoned, except for an elderly couple dressed in shorts and colorful shirts taking photos through the bars of the lowered security gate of the front door adorned with police tape. The man looked at Phil and Emma as they came to a halt. “I wonder what happened here,” he said to them.

Phil shrugged. “Too bad, we were looking forward to having dinner here tonight.”

“So were we,” said the woman. “We use their products at home all the time.” She gave them a warm smile. “We're from Wisconsin. How about you, folks?”

“Locals,” said Emma. “I've eaten here before. It's quite good.”

“There were two nice policemen here a minute ago,” the man said. He pulled out a white handkerchief and wiped the sweat off his brow. “But they wouldn't tell us anything. All they would say was that the place was closed for a few days for police business.”

“I got my picture with them,” gushed the woman. “Isn't that exciting? Real Los Angeles police officers, just like on TV.”

Emma looked around, then asked, “Where did the police officers go?”

The couple shrugged simultaneously as if rehearsed. “They checked the security gate,” the man said, “to make sure everything was locked up tight, then got a call on their radio and took off. It looked like they were just doing a check.”

As the couple wandered off, Phil looked at Emma. “That woman and Granny would get along great.”

“I think you're right.” Emma backed up across Olvera Street and looked up at the windows of Rikki's office. “It doesn't look like anyone is there, but in daylight no one would need lights or a flashlight to look around.”

“Maybe we were wrong,” Phil said. He went to the gate and jerked it. It held tight. “Maybe Rikki didn't come here.”

“Let's go around back and check that door,” said Emma. She took off for the service alley with Phil on her heels.

The back alley was narrow and empty. The back door to the restaurant had a sign fastened to it announcing it as belonging to Roble. Next to it was a Dumpster. There was no police tape. Phil checked the door. “It's unlocked,” he announced in a whisper. “Guess the police didn't have time to check back here.”

“If Rikki is here,” Emma said, “she would have come in this way and probably disabled the alarm.”

“But if she's gone already, would she have forgotten to lock up when she left?” Phil noted.

“Who knows?” Emma said. “She's not exactly thinking straight by coming here in the first place.”

Phil quietly opened the door. “You stay here and keep watch. Just in case Rikki's not here, where was the agreement again? She might not have remembered what we told her.”

“You're not going in there,” Emma told him in a forced whisper. “If you get caught, you'll be charged with breaking and entering, and it could put your law license in jeopardy.”

“Well, you're not going in there alone,” he hissed back at her.

“If Rikki's there, I'll text you to come in. If she's not, I'll check for the document and be in and out before you even know I'm gone,” she told him. “Besides, you'd make a better guard than I would. If someone comes along, you can just say you stepped back here to pee.”

“Right, like I pee in back alleys all the time.”

“You're a guy,” Emma cracked. “Guys pee anywhere that's convenient. I once saw Grant do it behind a potted plant at the Beverly Hills Hotel.”

“And there's another good reason why you divorced him and are going to marry me.”

Emma stared at Phil. “Are we really going to do this here and now?” She tried to look angry, but couldn't and started giggling. “Come on, Phil, out of my way. Let's get this over and done with. You know I'm the better choice to slip in there.”

With reluctance, Phil finally gave in. “Okay, but if you're not out in ten minutes,” he said to her, “I'm coming in, law license or not. And make sure you have your phone.”