More than a Maid (9 page)

Shh… it'll pass… it'll pass…

Ramon took one hand from the steering wheel, rubbing his chin as he had an idea.

Think of everything you don't like about her. And then, keep on thinkin' about it…

Her voice? No. He could still hear her moaning his name last night.

Her smell? No. She smelled like flowers and coconuts.

Her attitude? No. He appreciated her snappy comebacks. In fact, he hoped to have a fight with her just to see what she was really made of.

Shit, there had to be something else.

Ramon growled with displeasure.

He'd only known her a couple of days. Give it till the end of the week. Surely he'd hate her by then.

That thought made him breathe a little easier.

He glanced at the clock. Another twenty minutes to go. So, he turned on the stereo to pass the time with music.

Then a song came on that reminded him of his brothers. Secretly, he loved having a full house.

But at the same time, he desperately missed his privacy.

Ever since the day Victor arrived, Ramon felt like he was under a microscope. He knew damn well someone had rifled through the files in his office. Good thing he kept all the important documents locked up in a few safe deposit boxes at a bank they'd never find—a trick he'd learned from Henry. The only thing he hid inside the house were the pictures, and he knew they'd never find those.

Not that Ramon had much to hide. The truth would all come out soon enough. He was sure they'd all thank him later for letting them enjoy the important stuff, like their weddings.
Wait till the honeymoons are all over before they find out what a liar Mama was.

Ramon drew in a deep breath, wincing. Thinking about it always made his chest hurt a little.

Or maybe today it hurt because he worked out so much last night…

With Marcy.

His lips spread to a wide smile. There she was again. Steamrolling into his thoughts.

At promptly two o'clock that afternoon, with Marcy and her mother in tow, Cara walked into the San Antonio bakery where she was set to meet her wedding planner, Jocelyn, in person for the first time. She was referred to Cara by Katie, who had met her a few times when she still had her job at Cortez Inn.

But what Cara didn't expect was the sudden tidal wave of nausea caused by the smell of rich baked goods inside that little building.

A young, pretty Hispanic woman wearing a baby blue suit walked toward them, smiling and extending her hand. Cara immediately recognized her from the website, but instead of shaking her hand she yelled, "I'm sorry!" And with her hand over her mouth, Cara dashed to a door on the left that she hoped was a restroom… and prayed she would make it in time.

After she finished emptying the contents of her stomach, the door opened and Marcy entered.

"You all right?" Marcy asked, wincing.

"Yeah." Cara went to the sink to wash up. "Sorry. Didn't expect that." For the past few days, Cara had felt a little queasy, but this was the first time she had to bolt to the nearest toilet. She was now thankful she'd decided to tell her mother the news that morning, lest her trip to the bathroom add fuel to Patty's speculation.

"It's okay. You feel like tasting cake today?" Marcy gave her a sympathetic look in the mirror.

"I think so." Cara groaned, unsure.

When they left the bathroom, Cara immediately found Jocelyn sitting at a table with Patty. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to—"

Jocelyn shook her head and stood. "It's fine. Your mother filled me in. Congratulations!"

"Thanks."

"Is this a bad time?" Jocelyn said. "I can always wrap up the samples and send them home with you instead?"

"No, no, it's fine." Cara took a deep breath in, making sure the sugary smells weren't going to make her wretch a second time. With a new confidence, she sat down. "I think I'll be fine."

Jocelyn nodded and turned around to signal to someone behind the counter as Marcy took a seat.

Patty held up her hand, waving her phone. "I was just about to show her those pictures from Armando and Katie's wedding. You know, the flower arrangement you liked so much?"

Cara shook her head, her stomach hit with a twinge of queasiness that suddenly made her feel exhausted. "It's okay, Mom. I don't really care. The flowers are the least of my concerns right now."

"No, let me take a look." Jocelyn took the phone from Patty. "Just because we have limited time it doesn't mean we can't make your dream wedding come true. Besides, I wanna see Katie's pictures." As she scrolled through the pictures, she stopped at one, staring at it thoughtfully. "Hmm. Very nice."

Cara smiled and nodded as Jocelyn stopped to interject comments and suggestions based on the pictures. But truthfully, Cara didn't care so much about her own wedding. She was simply ready to be Mrs. Victor Barboza.

* * *

After Victor dropped Isaac off at daycare, he met up with Tom to follow up on some research they'd started a few weeks earlier. By this point in their investigation, they had hit so many brick walls, they had given up finding info on Henry Platt's dealings with Dwayne McCormack.

Every brick wall led them to the same conclusion: find Henry.

The problem was, Henry knew how to stay off the grid. He used disposable, prepaid cell phones, paid cash for everything, and the last vehicle registered in his name was found abandoned almost four hundred miles away, near Lubbock. They had no idea what he was now driving or where he was. Ramon mentioned once that Henry had purchased a used camper, but they couldn't find a record of it.

And also, according to Ramon, Henry hadn't called in weeks.

Victor's phone rang when he and Tom were at the library, examining some old newspaper articles. When he saw Armando's name, he rushed out of the room to take the call.

"Hello?"

"
Hola mi hermano.
¿Cómo estás?
"

Victor laughed. Armando hadn't greeted him in Spanish in years. Reverting to their first language was a sign of endearment between the brothers. A nod to their humble beginnings, and the bond that would always exist between them. That bond felt stronger than ever lately, after everything they had been through. Victor responded, "
Muy bien y tú?
"

"La vida me esta tratando bien."

"Why are you calling from your honeymoon?"

Armando let out a long sigh. "
Ramon didn't tell you I called yesterday, did he?
"

Victor rolled his eyes, huffing. "Hell no. He's definitely hiding something. But you already knew that."

"
Yeah. Well anyway, I called to tell him Katie and I would be in town at the end of next week
."

"Why so soon?"

"
Katie has some family drama goin' on with her parents' divorce. Plus, I told Isaac I'd be there for his birthday party
."

Victor chuckled. "You don't have to do that."

"
I know, I know. But I wanna come back early anyway. This thing with Henry is driving me nuts. Katie and I have plenty of time to honeymoon later
."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Feels like I can't rest till I know what happened. Speaking of which, Tom's helping me track down Elsa's family. We're hoping one of them can get us in touch with her. Maybe we can find Henry that way."

"
You haven't told Ramon, have you?
"

"No."

"
How's he doing, by the way? He sounded a little different yesterday
."

"Different how?"

"
I don't know. Not as grouchy
."

Laughing, Victor said, "I might know why. Remember me telling you about the woman we invited down here from Newark?"

"
Uh-huh. Cara's friend, right?
"

"Yeah. Marcy." Victor paused to take a breath. "Well, guess whose bed she slept in last night?"

"
Huh?
" Armando paused. "
You mean, she and Ramon…?
"

"Yep."

Armando laughed. "
Okay. Well, whatever. At least he's not celibate. I was kinda worried about him. Sounds like he's taking after Henry though. Not sure what to think about that
."

"Yeah, I know."

"
Wonder if he's just lonely or something. Wish he'd stop working so hard.
You ever think maybe we need to just buy him outta those ranches and give him an early retirement?
"

"If I thought that would work, I would've done it a long time ago. He works so hard because he wants to. He'd probably just take our money and buy another ranch."

"
Yeah
," Armando said under his breath. "
Speaking of that, we still don't know why he bought those ranches, do we?
"

"They were in foreclosure. He got a good deal."

Armando paused. "
You really think that's the reason? Why's he so private about 'em?
"

"He's private about everything."

"
Yeah, but he's different about those ranches. Katie noticed it too. At our reception, Dwayne asked Ramon how his new ranches were doing and he got this strange look on his face and changed the subject. Now, when have you ever known our brother to not wanna talk about ranching?
"

"He always acts like that."

"
Has he ever invited you over there to see what was goin' on?
"

"No, but I never asked. It's better to keep the peace than try to get in his business."

"
I asked a couple weeks ago
," Armando said. "
He shut me down. The ranch hands won't talk about it either
."

"Hmm." Victor thought about it. "Well, it's worth looking into." Weeks earlier, Ramon had shown Victor his financial statements from all three ranches, and everything seemed to be in order, and profitable. But his youngest brother was smart and proud. He would certainly know how to hide his financial problems.

Victor tried to stay out of Ramon's business, but he'd spent many sleepless nights worried about him. And after this discussion with Armando, he wondered if it was time to get involved again.

Two hours later, Victor sat beside Tom as they rode to Kernersville to pay Ramon a visit.

"You sure this is the right road?" Victor asked as Tom hung a left turn along a rural highway in Kernersville. "GPS is wrong sometimes."

"I guess we're about to find out." Tom steered with one hand, using his other to straighten his glasses.

They passed a few houses, then Tom said, "There's his truck."

And there it was, parked in front of a tiny house. The sign above the mailbox revealed a name that Victor read aloud. "Perry."

"Sound familiar to you?"

"No." Victor knew from prying into Ramon's property tax records that he had purchased these two adjoining ranches from a company called "Farnsworth Holdings."

As they drove past, they noticed an older, dilapidated house sitting farther back.

Tom clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "The working part of the ranch is up that way, right" He pointed at a closed gate.

"Must be." Victor's eyes followed the road blocked by the gate. It went past the driveway of the old house, then around a curve through a large thicket of trees. He retrieved the property map he had printed, which made more sense now that he saw the land in person. "What now? The gate's locked."

"You think the office is in that house? Is that why he's parked here?" Tom shrugged. "We could call him. Tell him we came up here for lunch."

Victor took a moment to think. "I don't know. I'm curious about why it says 'Perry' on the mailbox. Seems like Ramon would've mentioned that name in passing by now. I feel like he's hiding something."

"Well, we can hide out for a little while and watch him." Tom pointed up the road. "I see a shady little clearing over there."

Victor chuckled and said, "All right. You don't think he'll see us?"

"Nah." Tom hit the accelerator.

Victor hated himself for doing this, but he had been on a stakeout with Tom before, and he had to admit it was kind of exciting.

Nearly an hour passed. Victor hoped to do more research about these ranches online, but his phone barely got a signal. So, they made small talk and theorized about Ramon. Was he living a double life with a second family? Did Henry have something to do with this?

But eventually, Tom gasped and shoved a pair of binoculars at Victor.

"There's a car pulling up," Tom said. "He's got company."

Victor's hands trembled as he held the binoculars to his eyes. "I know it's probably nothing but…"

It seemed to take forever for the person to step out of that car. She was a portly, middle-aged woman with short, dark hair, holding a phone to her ear as she opened the door. She pulled a large duffel bag out of the back seat as she spoke.

Tom said, "She's wearing scrubs. Looks like a nurse."

"Huh." Victor's eyes were glued to the woman, watching her head bob from side to side, then up and down. "Does she look lost to you?"

"Yeah. Like she's on the phone, asking for directions."

Less than a minute later, the front door opened.

Victor gasped. "There he is!"

Tom and Victor watched with bated breath as Ramon, phone to his ear, bounded down the steps to the front yard. When he saw the visitor, he smiled at her, put his phone in his pocket, then shook her hand.

Tom said, "Looks like he's just meeting her for the first time."

Ramon spent a little while in the front yard, talking to the woman, facing the car where Tom and Victor hid.

"You think he sees us?" Victor asked.

Tom laughed. "We'd already know if he did."

Right then, the front door opened again. A tiny woman with chin-length white hair and large, round glasses came outside. She moved slowly, pushing a walker in front of her, letting go of it for a moment to wave at Ramon and the lady in scrubs. They both returned her wave. Ramon ran up to the porch and sweetly placed his hand on the woman's back and shared a smile with her, then he introduced her to their visitor.

"What the…" Victor held his breath, squinting and adjusting his binoculars to get a better view of the elderly woman.

"You know her?" Tom asked.

"She looks familiar, but—" The answer came to him at once, and he almost dropped the binoculars. "Mrs. Perry! She's a teacher. Or at least, she
was
a teacher." His heart raced as information flooded his memory. "She looks so much older now. Sweet lady. She retired the year Ramon graduated." Then Victor stopped talking. Instantly, he found himself choked up at the sight of his brother helping Mrs. Perry into her house. He seemed like a completely different person.