Healing Love: Saints Protection & Investigation (28 page)

“Jesus, they’re everywhere,” Bart said. “I wasn’t going to believe that this was a real threat from close inside, but the cartel has their hand in most of Texas.”

“They’ve got ties into almost every state,” Chad stated, carefully checking the information.

“That’s not all,” Cam growled. “Look in Virginia.”

Monty, pulling up intel from the FBI, agreed. “They’ve got a far reach, even into rural Virginia counties.”

“So, we’re not looking at the call necessarily coming directly from Mexico, but could be one of their co-horts here?” Marc asked.

Jack looked around the group before his gaze landed on Cam’s hard face. “Right now, with what we’ve got, looks like she needs more security at this time instead of investigating the call.”

The other men nodded, but not happily. Each would rather be actively finding the threat instead of waiting to see when it would rear its head once more.

“She staying with you?” Monty asked, looking at Cam.

He nodded, his jaw still tight with anger. “Yeah, gonna keep her at my place. She’s not working right now since she quit the hospital.” Seeing the surprised expressions, he explained, “She needs a change of scenery.”

Chad stated, “That’ll actually be good, man. Easier to keep up with her when she’s not in a hospital.”

Cam looked down at his hands for a moment, then shook his head. “Jesus, this is fucked. Down there, I was doing something. Active. Working toward getting her the hell outta there. But this? This is like waiting to see what’s gonna happen next. We’ve got no fuckin’ thing to work on.”

Monty spoke up, “There’s been no overt threat yet. The words spoken in the phone call were to unsettle her. Make her nervous. That’s where you come in, bro. You take that on.”

“He’s right. We provide security while working the problem the best we can, but you take her emotions. You give her what she needs to feel safe,” Jack agreed.

Cam silently nodded, but wondered if that would be enough.

*

Bethany and Miriam
had just shared cell-phone numbers and arranged a date to visit when the men returned upstairs.

Jack nodded to Bethany before asking Miriam to join them at the large dining room table. Cam sat next to her, pulling her chair close to his. The other men settled around as well.

“Okay, here’s what we have and it’s not much at this time,” Jack started. “We can tell the call did not come from Mexico. In fact, it came from Texas.”

“Texas?” Miriam exclaimed. “I don’t know anyone from Texas.”

Cam squeezed her shoulders and she twisted up to look at his face. “No,
cariña
. It came from somewhere in Texas, but the threat is still from someone in Mexico.”

Her forehead crinkled in thought as she slowly shook her head. “I just have no idea what’s happening.” Looking around the table, she said, “I was just a nurse. No one of importance. I treated whoever came in, but they were mostly workers, farmers, guards, and some others that were dressed nicer, but still…no one.”

“Tell us about that night you were taken to dinner at the main compound,” Jack prodded. “We know you talked to DEA, but their interest was more cartel related. I’d like to hear your version, focusing on the people there.”

“It was…uncomfortable.” She lifted her gaze back to the men as she continued. “You know when you’re in a social situation but you don’t know what role you’re supposed to play and you’re stomach feels hot inside because you get nervous?” At this point, none of the men appeared to recognize what she was talking about at all.

From behind, Bethany spoke, “Yes, I do.” She caught Jack’s eyes and moved toward the table. “I don’t suppose you men experience it, but sometimes women do. You go to a work party and the boss seems flirtatious. You’ve got no idea what to do. Is he being polite? Is he coming on to you? Do you flirt back or is that a big no-no? Sure, some women eat that up but, honestly, there are a lot of us that when we’re in a situation like that, we just get nervous and don’t have a clue how to act.”

Miriam was nodding her head emphatically. “Yes, Bethany, that was exactly it!”

“Okay,” Jack said slowly, “Why don’t you just tell us what happened…and how it made you feel.”

“Once we got there, we were all in awe at the place. It was almost palatial and looked completely out of character for its surroundings. When we sat down to dinner it was Dr. Ernesto Villogas and his wife and then he introduced us to Juaquim Guzman, who seemed to be in charge. Also at the dinner table was his wife.” At this she wrinkled her nose slightly.

Bart chuckled. “I take it you weren’t too impressed?”

Blushing, she admitted, “The women were…um…well kept. They were dressed in what looked to be expensive clothes and there we were, four nurses dressed in drab scrubs. The whole dinner was weird!”

“Describe weird, baby,” Cam gently ordered.

“You don’t already see the weirdness?” Miriam asked, looking up at him.

“Yeah, I can. But we need to hear exactly from you what your impressions were about the people around that table.”

“Oh. Well, Dr. Villogas was always very professional in the infirmary, but kind of flirty, and he continued that at dinner. With his wife sitting there! And Mr. Guzman? He looked like he would like to devour us, and his wife was sitting right there also. The two women talked to each other in Spanish, looked at us like we were bugs to be squashed, and their husbands flirted right in front of them. And even though the women glared at us, they soon left the table and we never saw them again.”

“How did the night end?” Blaise asked.

Sighing, she said, “Sharon definitely had dollar signs in her eyes and she began flirting back. Lorainne was feeling ill and very nervous. I just wanted out of there, and it was Sister Genovia who made that possible. She took charge, hustled us out after dinner and the men didn’t argue with a nun.”

“Anyone else?”

“Um, there were other men around, if that’s what you mean. Men at the compound. Men who guarded us or drove us places. Oh, also, one day, two of Juaquim’s brothers came to the infirmary. I only knew that because Dr. Villogas introduced them.” Wrinkling her nose once more, she added, “They were…kind of…sleazy. I definitely felt as though if I wasn’t wearing nursing scrubs and had Dr. Villogas around, then they would be the type to take what they wanted. Um…if you know what I mean.”

Cam growled once more, giving her another shoulder squeeze.

Luke had been typing while Miriam gave her responses and said, “This is good information.”

“So, any ideas?” she asked tentatively, her eyes darting around the room.

“The caller had a Hispanic accent, you said? But their English was clear?” Bart asked.

She nodded and said, “And it didn’t sound…like they were having trouble speaking.”

“Good to know,” Blaise added. “So it probably wasn’t one of workers or guards, who would have no idea how to get ahold of you and would not be speaking distinct English.”

“Could be Juaquim or someone who works for him. Someone who knows what happened and would like to get in good with him,” Chad added.

“One of his brothers?” Marc asked as they all brainstormed.

Jack would have preferred to brainstorm when Miriam was not with them, but since she was the only one who heard the voice, he needed her input.

“It could have been,” she said, trying to remember exactly how the voice sounded. “The caller spoke in an exaggerated manner, so that makes it hard to tell who it was even if I knew them.”

Her hand nervously twisted on the tabletop and Cam gave Jack a silent signal. Understanding, Jack ended the meeting.

“Miriam, you did good,” Jack said, standing. “I know this is hard. We were conferencing earlier with your brother and Tony Alvarez’s group to keep them in the loop.”

She rose from her seat, Cam’s arm still around her. Twisting her head to look up into his face, she said, “So what now? I refuse to keep living in fear. In fact, Bethany was going to take me this afternoon to visit her grandmother. I’d like to see the facility she lives in.”

“
Cariña
, I’m not sure—” Cam started.

“You can come or send someone with us,” she prodded, her eyes begging.

“Okay, but I’ll go,” he agreed.

Jack nodded, saying, “We’re gonna see what we can find out about Juaquim and his brothers. While the call did not come from Mexico, they will have contacts here in the U.S. and we’ll see about following the trail.”

With that, Bethany and Miriam followed Cam out to his SUV for the trip to the nursing home.

*

Days later, Miriam
was sitting in the administrative office of the Glen Arbor Nursing Home interviewing for a position. Nervously wiping her palms on her skirt, she waited as Tonya Barlow read over her resume.

Ms. Barlow smiled at Miriam, saying, “You are very well qualified for our position. To be honest, my only concern is that you will find this job to be infinitely more boring than your past positions.” She quickly amended, “Not that working here is boring, you understand. But it certainly is not as fast paced as a hospital ER.”

“I understand your concern,” Miriam admitted honestly. “I had the opportunity to provide some home nursing care to a friend’s mom last year and it was wonderful. I also came last week to visit Ann Bridwell, since I now have become friends with her granddaughter.” Miriam was not sure how much to share with the administrator, not wanting to announce her notoriety, so she cautiously said, “I also have had recent events which have left me…no longer comfortable with the loud, busy ER in a large hospital. I…um…need a chance to get to know the patients in a calmer environment.”

“I can appreciate that, Ms. Delaro. I was also concerned about our facility being a memory care facility with patients suffering from Dementia and Alzheimer’s, but I see that you had geriatric nursing in your master’s degree program.”

“Yes,” she said enthusiastically. “It’s really what I love, but I confess that when I graduated, the lure of the money of being an ER nurse in a hospital was hard to resist when I had student loans to pay off.”

“And now?”

Smiling, she said, “Different time in my life. Different experiences under my belt. I’m ready for this change and ready for Glen Arbor, if you’ll have me.”

Returning the smile, Ms. Barlow nodded. “I would like to offer you the position of Floor Nurse here at Glen Arbor. I would surmise with your education and experience that you could easily be promoted to nursing supervisor down the road.”

Grinning, Miriam stood to shake Ms. Barlow’s hand. “Thank you so much! This is just the career change I needed and I cannot wait to begin.”

“Well, take the weekend to celebrate and we’ll see you here on Monday morning.”

Walking out of the office, Miriam looked around. The room was just off the large, well-lit main lobby. To the left was a living area, dark red walls and white wainscoting, with beautiful floral pictures gracing the area. Several sofas and chairs were arranged in a semi-circle facing a gas-powered fireplace. To the right of the main lobby was the dining facility with several of the more lucid patients lined up ready to enter. She knew from her tour with Bethany that two wings held the assisted living apartments and the third wing was specifically for memory care.

Walking out into the sunshine, she saw Cam leaning against his SUV, his large body at ease, with his hands resting on his hips and one leg crossed in front of the other. His closely trimmed hair and beard gave him a dangerous look until his eyes met hers and his expression broke into a wide grin.

She wanted to be sophisticated, but gave into the urge to run down the short sidewalk and jump up into his arms.

He easily took her weight and held her tight as she pressed against him. “I take it you got the job?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed. “I start on Monday! And we need to celebrate this weekend!”

He latched onto her lips and owned the kiss, thrusting his tongue inside her warm mouth, tasting the minty gum she had been nervously chewing before the interview. “You got anything special you want to do?” he murmured against her lips.

“Ummmhmmm,” she moaned.

“I mean after that?” he chuckled.