When I Knew You (23 page)

"Okay, okay, calm down." Eliah took out his phone. "No reason for everyone to get all worked up. She's right, like I told you earlier. Kati, I'll call and we'll have Antonia here in a few minutes. Now where are the documents?"

I sat back down. "Nearby."

"So you didn't bring them in here either." He mocked tipping his hat to me. "All right then. When Antonia arrives in a few minutes, then we can head out to get the documents and do the exchange."
 

Eliah dialed a long series of numbers on the phone. "Get over here," he said briskly, then hung up.
 

"There you have it. It's done but, as I said, it'll take a bit for them to get here." His grin was wide as a shark and he tucked the phone back in his pocket. "Relax you two. All this will be over in a few minutes. Let's try to be civil and have one meal together. You can manage that, can't you, brother—I mean, Mr. Bonita?"

Trent grimaced and checked his watch. "Absolutely."

We sat in uneasy silence for a few minutes until the food arrived. As I picked through the almost untouched enchiladas on my plate, I thought through my sketchy plan. I knew the Bonitas would continue to hound us after they had the documents, but once I had Antonia we could disappear until I could reach this Detective Mora. I'd uploaded a few of the files I'd researched to an online drive, but the library's scanner was down, so I didn't have a full backup of Antonia's notes. I had to hope I could, if I had to, re-create most of it. Combined with Eliah's DNA, it would have to be enough. What I really needed was to get Antonia safe. For me, it was the only thing that mattered.
 

There were a million holes in the plan, but I couldn't think of another option. Not unless I had more time.

Eliah and Trent were mid-way through their meal when Eliah's phone vibrated like an angry bee on the table. He glanced at the number, then took a long drink of coke. It buzzed twice more before he answered it. He held the phone to his ear for a second, then disconnected.
 

"She's here. Let's go outside, Kati. My brother will pay the bill."

Trent smiled slyly and nodded, pulling out his wallet and checking his watch again. Something about that smile bothered me. And what was up with his checking the time? Did he have another kidnapping to attend to?

Eliah and I walked out together, but I kept my distance from him. When we hit the sidewalk outside, he pointed at the blue sedan in the far end of the parking lot. He gave a thumbs up toward the car and the driver's side door opened. A short dark haired woman in a navy suit and heels stepped out, opened the back door, then got back in the car.

Antonia stepped out and walked toward us. She had dark sunglasses on, but otherwise was wearing the same clothes as when I saw her last. I couldn't see her eyes, but she was looking in my general direction.

"Your turn, Kati." Eliah gestured to the truck a few cars away.
 

I tossed him the keys. "It's on the passenger seat. I'm waiting here for her."

Eliah caught them deftly and headed to the truck. "Ah. Guess I'll miss the reunion."

"Fuck you," I said between gritted teeth.
 

I started toward Antonia. She also took a few more steps, then stopped suddenly and I heard a shout from around the building.

"Get out of my way!" a woman's voice yelled. Was it Willie? There was a crashing sound, like dishes clattering to the ground, and I turned to look back toward Eliah. He had gotten in the truck and was sitting behind the steering wheel. I could see him reaching down, and it looked like he was going to start the truck. Seriously? He was going to steal the truck?

"Hey!" I shouted at him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Kati! Run!" Willie yelled again, her voice a high pitch shriek.

I whirled around and saw Willie rounding the corner of the building in those crazy heels. I looked around frantically. Run? Where? I saw Antonia looking confused, still standing just steps away from the sedan in the parking lot.

"Antonia!" I shouted and starting running to her.
 

Behind me, I heard the brief sound of Pilar's truck starting with a rev followed by a huge explosion. I felt a wave of heat at my back for an instant. Then everything happened in a series of horrible snap shots. When I opened my eyes, I saw asphalt in front of me and I realized was lying on the ground. The world was strangely quiet and things went black for a second. I shook my head and tried to get up, looking across the parking lot, trying to focus. I could see the woman from the blue sedan forcing Antonia back into the back seat of the car.
 

I tried to shout, tried to scream, but couldn't catch my breath. Things went black again, then Willie was kneeling next to me, her voice barely penetrating the silence, sounding like she was talking underwater. My mind was racing, we had to stop them, stop the car. I pointed to the parking lot, trying to send her there, trying to tell her to run, to catch them before they left with Antonia.
 

In another snap shot, I watched as the blue sedan fishtailed out of the lot, the dark windows reflecting a bright orange sun behind me. In another, I looked back to the restaurant parking lot, and there was the dark shape of Pilar's truck, completely engulfed in flames, black smoke rising into the pale blue sky like a writhing genie still trapped by its lamp.

Chapter 26

When I woke up, I found myself slumped over in the back seat of a moving car. We were driving along the highway from what I could see of the signs and concrete overpasses. As I sat up I could see Willie's huge corona of blonde hair on the driver's side. A flowery scent filled the air, making me dizzy and nauseous.

"Wait, where are we going?" I reached up to rub my head, which was throbbing.

The car swerved nearly out of the lane.
 

"Shit," Willie said. "You freaked me out. I thought you were still asleep."
 

Our eyes met through the rear view mirror.
 

"I ran out there to warn you. A buddy of mine in the parking lot spotted someone messing with your truck. I was afraid you were going to be in it."

In my mind I could see Eliah catching the truck keys in mid-air, his smirk flashing across his face. I hadn't wanted to take my eyes off Antonia. She was walking toward me and I was rushing toward her. And then everything broke into pieces.

"Eliah?" I asked.

Willie sighed. "If that was him in your truck, then they'll be scraping bits of him off the asphalt for weeks."

"How about Antonia?" I knew the answer but still had to hear it.

"They grabbed her."

"Who?" I straightened in my seat. We were getting close to the Yarborough exit. I had a feeling I knew where we were headed.

Willie's voice tightened. "Not sure. But when you got in the car you said we needed to get your grandmother." She clicked on her turn signal. "That was before you passed out. Sounded like a good idea to me."

 
I thought about everything I had in the truck. The envelopes of evidence, the file from Willie's father, and the tapes from my mother. Tears welled up in my eyes and I rubbed my face to brush them away before they spilled over. I lost all of it. And I'd lost Antonia. All I had left was what was on my shoulder when I walked out of the restaurant. My backpack. All I'd carried in there was the note from Abuela, some money, the bottle with Eliah's DNA, and the cell phone.
 

What were the chances that I could get Antonia back now? All the other evidence was destroyed, I had nothing left to negotiate with. The only thing I had was what I'd figured out about the Bonitas, none of which would do me much good if I had no way to prove it. I stared at the wide streets, looking at the way the yuccas in the median had grown straight through the gravel.
 

We pulled in front of the neighbor's house. Abuela's car was parked in the circle driveway. Willie drove forward and blocked one end of the driveway.
 

"Wait here," I said, opening the car door. "I'm sure she's inside."

Willie got out of the car. "Not a chance."

I pulled my backpack over my shoulder. The curtains were drawn across the living room window. The door was locked. Willie and I looked at each other, and I knocked on the door. No answer. My throat went dry. She had to be all right. Eliah was gone. He wouldn't have hurt her, would he?
 

I reached up to the top of the porch light and checked for the key. The metal box was cool between my fingers, a fine a layer of dust along the top. I slide opened the box and used the key to unlock the door. When I looked back at Willie, she had a gun drawn, her eyes sweeping the room from side to side. I realized I had Pilar's gun in the backpack where it was practically useless. Rookie move. Maybe I could swing it at somebody.

"Abuela?" I called out as I opened the door. "Abuela?"

There was no answer. I walked through the house, checking each room. Every room was empty. My room was exactly as I'd left it a year ago. The painting I bought at the student art show still hung on the wall, the stack of rock climbing magazines were still on my nightstand. I sat down on my old bed, feeling lost.

"Maybe she went to the store," Willie said, leaning on the door frame and holstering her gun.

"Without her car?" I rubbed my head. The throbbing in my head was getting worse and my stomach flipped. Signs of a concussion. Rock climbers had to know the signs. Part of our backcountry first aid training. Came in handy in self-defense class too.

I looked around the room. Something felt off. I walked over to my old desk where the cork message board hung. There were a scattering of photos, notes from Antonia, and my ribbon from my first rock climbing competition. Third place. I sprained my wrist that day and still brought home third.

The whiteboard. We'd used it to talk the last time I was here, to avoid having someone listen in on us. It was always on my desk. I scanned the room again and spotted the new pillow on my bed, a big blue one with a sunflower. That was from Abuela's room.
 

I smiled and jumped on the bed and grabbed the pillow.
 

"Are you feeling okay, girl?" Willie asked, her hands on her hip.

"I'm good," I said, showing her the whiteboard. Written in Abuela's delicate script was her note:
Chicago with Gustav.

I erased the board with my shirt sleeve, sighing with relief, then tossed it on my desk. "She's safe," I said.
 

I headed to Abuela's room and opened her bottom drawer on her dresser. Inside was a pile of folders, and I flipped through them until I found the police report on Mom's accident. I'd looked at this folder hundreds of times over the years, at first with the fascination of a kid, flipping over a dead mouse. Then with the pain of an adolescent, hoping to find a way to reverse the curse of the accident, to find a loophole.
 

It was the only folder I had left, but if I was right, it might be the most important one of all. I tucked it in the backpack.
 

We walked over to the kitchen and I grabbed the extra set of keys to the car. I locked up the house and pocketed the spare key. Then I turned to the driveway. There was Abuela's car. White. Gray interior. Rosary beads hanging from the rearview mirror. It looked completely menacing.
 

We both stared at the car for a minute. I walked over to the passenger side and got down on my hands and knees, staring underneath.
 

"So, what am I looking for?" I asked Willie.

"Usually a box or something out of place. But Trent's guy's are pretty good."

"Great." I felt the need to look more closely, and flipped over on my back, scrambling under the car for a better look. "So you're pretty sure it was Trent?"
 

"If it was Eliah, he was the biggest moron in Texas."
 

"Good point." Of course, since I was crawling under a car looking for a car bomb I wasn't feeling like the next Einstein myself. I stared at the undercarriage. I'd never looked under a car before and as far as I could tell, everything was out of place. But nothing was blinking, there didn't seem to be any loose wires or a label that said "car bomb."

I got back up, brushed off my jeans, and clicked the remote to unlock the car. It chirped cheerfully. I took a deep breath, then reached into the backpack, pulling out the water bottle and the note I'd written.
 

"Can you get this to your Dad?" I said, handing the evidence to her. "I'm not sure it'll do us any good, but hopefully he'll know what to do with it."
 

Willie nodded wordlessly. "So, you going to start it?" She cast a quick glance at the car as if by looking at it too long she might set it off.

"Why don't you get in your car, Willie?" I said as I opened the door of Abuela's car. "Just in case."

Willie didn't say anything, but stepped back. "If something happens..." her voice trailed off.

The scent of Abuela's favorite perfume drifted out into the desert air. White Shoulders. I took another deep breath. Tossing the backpack on the passenger seat, I slid in.

"If something happens, find Antonia," I said.

I waited until she shut her car door, then put the key in the ignition of Abuela's car. I closed my eyes and turned the key. The car purred to life and the radio began playing a Tejano song. I looked around and verified I wasn't on fire or dreaming.
 

Willie rolled down the passenger window of her car and leaned through it. She peered over her sunglasses at me. "Well, that's a relief. I hate explosions. So, where are you going?"

"To the beginning," I said. We both pulled away, heading in different directions.

The intersection where my mother was hit by the truck hadn't changed much in the last twelve years. The gray poles of the traffic lights seemed darker since I'd seen them last, and new bits of shattered glass on the sidewalk had a green tint to them; last time I was here the glass shards had been brown and looked more like beer bottle glass.