The White River Killer: A Mystery Novel (25 page)

28

S
INS OF THE
F
ATHER

R
AMIREZ’S RECENT THREAT
echoed in Hubbard’s mind;
‘Then you keep your mouth shut and pray no one else comes up with the same uninformed idea that you did, because the effect on your housekeeper will be the same.’

Hubbard’s phone rang. He drew out his cell and saw a number he didn't recognize.

“Hullo.”

“Mr. Hubbard, this is John Steward with Arkansas Radio News. I’d like to interview you about the murder in Hayslip. Why do you think the White River—”

Hubbard clicked off the phone and jammed the accelerator to the floor. It was only a matter of time before the media discovered the truth. Now, thanks to him, Maria would pay the price.

As his truck sped down the road, he tried to concoct some plan. He could spare about a thousand dollars from his meager bank account. He would give it all to her. It wasn’t much, but it would help her relocate. Mr. Carlos had many contacts in the north; he would ask him to give her some names of people who could help her settle into a larger city where she might disappear.

The turn of events was so abrupt Hubbard had trouble processing it as complete thoughts, rather than as emotions.
Maria.
Maria gone.
Maria, what have I done?

The highway was a blur of pavement and cars as he tried to conjure a plan for her escape that contained more practical thought than panicked desperation. When he got to his farm and rounded the line of pines, he was immediately yanked back to reality when he saw the violent altercation taking place on his front porch.

Luis was pulling his sister out of the house by her arm, trying to force her down the porch steps. Luis’s friend, Paco, Pablo, or whoever, was standing by a surprisingly new truck parked on the lawn, waiting for them. If the vehicle was Luis’s, then the recent immigrant’s fortunes had taken a major turn for the better.

On the porch, Maria fought back and connected with a roundhouse punch, giving Luis a good blow to the jaw.
Wow, she’s a natural
. Luis staggered back and Maria kept it up, swinging away while tearfully screaming at him.

Luis’s buddy turned toward Hubbard’s truck as it skidded to a halt. He began to stroll casually toward him, keeping one hand behind his back.

When Hubbard turned off the engine he could hear Maria’s rapid Spanish, colored by what sounded like fiery accusations he didn’t understand. Hubbard flung the truck door open, his heart pounding. Brother or no, no one could treat Maria like that. He started forward, his fists ready, eyes focused on the fresh bruises on Maria’s arms. He was aware of the teenager approaching him from his right, hiding his hand, and the knife he probably held, behind his back.

How
stupid do you think I am?

The two men’s paths would intersect in four steps. Three. Two. One.

The Latino’s knife flashed in the sunlight. Hubbard took a quick step back and swung his hand up to catch the pint-sized thug’s wrist as he reached the tail end of the thrust, when most of its force and speed were spent. Once he captured the young man’s wrist, he locked on, spinning the kid face first into the ground. Hubbard, still holding the arm, dropped and let one knee fall into the center of the Latino’s back. The teenager cursed loudly as Hubbard used the advantage of his superior position to force the boy’s arm upward in a way unanticipated by nature. The bone would have snapped in the next moment, except the kid, now screaming in agony, let go of the knife. Hubbard stood and pulled the Latino up by his shirt collar and booted him away like an angry placekicker. The teen collapsed a few yards away, grabbing his crotch while writhing on the ground.

Hubbard looked up to see Luis hurl Maria down the porch steps to the lawn. Enraged, he charged forward. Luis looked up and saw him closing in. He reached behind his back, and pulled out a .38 from his belt, and pointed it at Hubbard.

Luis cocked his head and smiled tauntingly at Hubbard. “Keep coming and you die.”

Breathing heavily, Maria managed to turn back toward Luis and his gun. “Luis, no!”

Hubbard forced himself to stop his charge. He slowed to a walk, reached Maria, and helped her to her feet.

“Are you all right?” Hubbard asked in French. “How could he do that to you?”

“Stop that goddamn French,” Luis roared from the porch.

“He wants us to leave. He says he’s made enough money . . .”

Luis seemed incensed that his command was ignored. “I said stop!” He came off the porch and down one step. He shook his gun broadly as if he thought Hubbard hadn’t seen it.

Hubbard looked back at the new truck. “Money?”

Tears began to stream down Maria’s cheeks and her face flushed as she pointed at Luis. “It was them. It was Luis and Pablo.”

“What?”

Luis must have recognized his name in Maria’s French. He shrugged his shoulders and lifted his chin. “Go ahead. Tell him. Let’s see what the big man will do.”

“They were the men in the overalls and masks this morning.”

It took a moment for Hubbard to absorb it. “But they were shooting at you too.”

Luis said they weren’t trying to hit us. Just scare you enough that you would stop. He said no one would suspect them if I was here. He was paid by some rich man in town who didn’t want you or Emily hurt.”

Rich man
. It felt like the earth collapsed underneath his boots. So many years of uncertainty, now he knew. He remembered his childish pledge to kill the murderer of his father. He would make good on it today. He felt his chest constrict.

Maria turned quickly around and screamed. “Pablo!”

Hubbard turned around in time to see that Pablo had retrieved his knife and was coming for him. He set his feet, trying to anticipate how Pablo would use the knife on his second try.

Maria blew past Hubbard toward Pablo, her arms raised like she planned to claw him like a grizzly bear.

Luis bounded down the steps and onto the lawn. Both he and Hubbard cried out simultaneously for Maria to stop. “No!”

Pablo seemed stunned by the unexpected counter-attack from Luis’s sister, and he hesitated, knife still pointed forward, frozen in place. At the last possible moment he turned his back on Maria, afraid of the damage that her fingernails, now raised overhead like small knives, could do to him.

Maria leaped on Pablo’s back and locked her arms around his head and began to twist it, making a sharp groan of exertion. Her angry words were too fast for Hubbard to understand. The only thing that he made out was something about a frightened child.

Pablo yelped in pain, dropped his knife, and used both his hands to try and pry her off.

Luis came forward, pointed his gun in the air and pulled the trigger. The .38 was deafening.

As the shot echoed in the countryside, Hubbard realized that Luis was distracted by his own gunshot. He bolted to his right and caught Luis’s arm before he could lower it. Surprised, Luis pulled the trigger again, firing over Hubbard’s shoulder.

Luis couldn’t match Hubbard’s strength and each time he tried to yank his arm away, Hubbard snapped it back. Hubbard’s fist struck the right side of Luis’s head. Again and again, he connected as Luis was unable to block the bigger man’s attack. Finally, the Latino dropped the gun to the ground.

Hubbard’s anger was undiminished by the surrender. His vision narrowed into a dim tunnel that only saw Luis’s face a stand-in for his uncle.

Hubbard released Luis’s arm and took him by the neck and tossed him against the front of his new truck. “I know who paid you. I just want to hear it from you.”

Luis slid to the ground. His front teeth were knocked out and his words were difficult to understand with blood streaming from his mouth. “I
han’t
. I
hook
money.”

Hubbard sank to his knees, grabbed Luis’s neck and held his face directly in front of his. “Look at me. You want to live? ’Cause I’m going to kill you if you don’t tell me.

Luis shifted his eyes, trying to find his sister. “Maria.”

“She can’t save you. No one can.”

“He’ll hire men to
hind
me if I
halk
. He crazy. ”

“He won’t have a chance to hire anyone because I going to kill
him
after I finish with
you
.”

Hubbard smashed his fist against Luis face and heard the crack of more teeth under the blow.

“Mr. Hubbirrd!” It was Maria voice. He couldn’t stop. Nothing would make him stop.

Luis winched, preparing for another blow. “I’ll
hell
. . . I’ll
hell you
.
Flease
.”

“Tell me. If you lie I’ll start again.
I know who it is
.”

“Then why?”

Hubbard brought his fist back.

Luis covered his face with his hand. “It was
Foxcroft.
Dill Foxcroft. He wanted you to stop before you found out
hat
he was the one who
hilled
that kid. He wasn’t afraid of FBI, but he said that you wouldn’t give up.”

“You’re lying.” Hubbard struck him again.

Luis shook his head as tears rolled from his eyes. “No, I’m not. I
wear
on my mother’s
hrave
. The Arab hurt his
haugher
somehow. He said he couldn’t
hand
by and see her destroyed. A father has a right to protect his
haughter
. He paid us big money to dump the body. Then he paid us to torment you.”

Maria ran up to them, crying. “Please, Mr. Hubirrrd.
Stop
. Luis is my brother. I beg you.”

Hubbard studied Luis for a moment, and then he pulled open the Latino’s coat. He reached into an interior pocket and found what he was looking for. He drew out a pack of menthol cigarettes and tossed them away.

Hubbard fought a wave of nausea. He stepped away and picked up Luis’s gun from the ground and pointed it at him. “Get out of here. I’ll give you a ten-minute head start and then I’m calling the police. I’m only doing this because you’re Maria’s brother.

Luis used his sleeve to wipe the blood from his face, rising to one knee. He reached out to his sister. “Maria,” he said. What came after was in thick Spanish. Hubbard caught only parts of it. “Come with us . . . money . . . a better life . . . a servant for this man?”

Maria’s turned to Hubbard.

He could see the uncertainty in her face. Maybe she thought that Luis, despite his brutality, offered a better chance for a good life. He also remembered Ramirez’s threat. If she stayed here, they would come for her and deport her.
She had to flee
. He had to let her go. There was no other way. Unless . . .

He turned to her, switched to French and took a deep breath. “Will you marry me?”
What did you ask her? Where did that come from
?
Are you nuts?
. . .
Wait, no. This is right. As soon as she marries me, immigration can’t touch her
 . . .

Maria seemed as startled by his proposal as he was.

“What? What did you say?” Luis said.

There was a moment of silence, as if they were all waiting for someone to lead them out of this unexpected impasse. Finally, Maria tilted her head and her brow creased. She pointed to the ring finger on her left hand.

“Yes, a ring. Of course.”

“No!” Luis called out, the horror clear in his voice.

She nodded her acceptance with a smile and turned to Luis and dropped the smile. She spoke so rapidly, and with such contempt, he caught little of her Spanish. She pointed to the truck as if she was telling her brother to leave.

Okay. Admittedly, they had ignored a few steps in the courtship dance.
Oh, what the hell. Given more time, I’d just screw it up.
Hubbard grabbed Luis by his coat collar, picked him up and shoved him toward the truck door. “Now, get out of here. Never come back to my farm.”

Luis tried to muster as much dignity as he could while wiping the blood from his mouth with his sleeve. Pablo came around the truck, both hands bracing his neck, and he slowly climbed into the passenger seat.

Luis started the truck and backed up a few feet. He braked, rolled down the door window and leaned out. “You
ho
if you
cuuz
Foxcroft, he’ll deny it. He’ll
hust
say we were
hi-ing
.”

Luis pulled away and drove across the lawn to the driveway. Did he see a bloody smile on Luis’s face?

Hubbard felt a wave of uncertainty crash into the center of his chest. Did Luis con him about Foxcroft? Did he know just enough about the highway man to make it all sound plausible? Did he make up a lie to help him escape
and
protect the
rich man
behind all this —R.J.? Amir was putting the highway deal at risk. That’s why he was killed. Luis worked for R.J.,
not
Foxcroft.

Hubbard rubbed his forehead and paced forward. How could this happen? He was back to
not
knowing . . .
Lies.

He raised Luis’s pistol and fired the remaining bullets into the afternoon shadows stretching toward him. What was the truth? What had he become? He had been prepared to kill his uncle.

“Mr. Hub . . . John Riley!” Maria was behind him.