Color of Danger Read online

  Her stomach churned. Good thing she didn’t have her dinner, or she’d have returned it. “Leda’s sister is also my close friend. It doesn’t make sense. Is it another friendly reminder about what Tony did?”

  “May I?” He took a napkin, walked to the refrigerator, opened the door holding the napkin, and studied the object. “Looks human. But I don’t think it was cut off from a corpse. Most likely, it was artificially made.”

  Her heartbeat slowed down a bit. Somehow, an artificial head didn’t sound as scary as a real one.

  “I’d still advise to call the police.” He closed the small door and turned to her.

  “Of course.” She called Aidan, her childhood friend who thankfully happened to be a good cop as well. She explained the situation.

  “I’ll be right there,” Aidan said.

  “I don’t want anybody to know about this. So come through the back door. Look hungry.”

  “I am hungry. Hang in there, Mar.”

  After disconnecting, she rubbed her forehead. “The police will be here soon. They’ll add it to a large collection from a year ago. They could open a museum at this point.”

  “It was that bad?” Luke’s eyes softened, and he took a step forward. “Are you okay?”

  Was he going to offer her a hug? Would she accept it if he did?

  His concern touched something deep inside her heart, and her breathing became shallow from his close proximity. “No. Yes. I’m trying to be.”

  “To be honest, I came to your office because I needed to talk to you. Do you have some time?”

  Her heart screamed for her to say yes. But as attractive as Goodman was, The Café had to be on the top of her list. And she was too close to losing her business. “Not right now. I’ll have to deal with the police, and then I have a business to run. Tomorrow?”

  “It might be too late by then.” He looked her straight in the eye. “What if I told you that rumors about your brother’s death were greatly exaggerated?

  Mari stared at him. Bitterness filled her mouth. A year ago, some people hadn’t believed in Tony’s death. The police and she had received calls from strangers claiming to have seen Tony. The world was full of crazy people. She hadn’t expected Goodman to be one of them.

  Her eyes burning, she retreated. “Are you a cop?”

  “No, but…”

  And to think she’d almost liked this man. “Listen to me. Tony died. I don’t know what your agenda is. Maybe you saw somebody who resembled Tony. Maybe you want to write a story about the Smiling Killer and this would be a great angle. But we’re real people. My friends and I went through a nightmare. Don’t try to drag us into it again.”

  Goodman captured her hand. “Did you consider the threats might be from your brother?”

  A shudder went through her body at his suggestion. Her hand fisted. Should she hit him? He was tall and muscular, but she could do some damage. Strangely, his touch still sent a wave of awareness through her.

  Inexplicable.

  “It’s just hate mail,” she said. “It was much worse before.”

  “Why did it stop?” He let go of her hand.

  “Rios Azules rallied around me and staked out around the house and the Café. My childhood friend Aidan is a policeman. He arrested those who’d vandalized my home. Another friend, Lydia, fired some shots. She probably needed to release some anger anyway after her sister Leda was killed.”

  “You have great friends.”

  “They are my family. My only family. Anyway, I thought it was behind me. I was wrong. It didn’t matter that I apologized to the victims’ families. I was genuinely sorry for their loss. I don’t blame them. Nothing I say can bring their loved ones back.”

  “Aren’t you afraid of the threats?” he asked.

  Tony’s cold eyes before he’d hit her flashed in front of her. Her fears were of a different nature. She lifted her chin. “They didn’t result in any physical harm to me before. I don’t expect these to be any different.”

  “I hate it that you went through harassment. But this might be worse.” He stepped closer to her. “You need to listen to me.”

  Holding her ground, she didn’t move an inch. “No, all I need, all I want, is to have a truthful, peaceful life. Now, I have a business to save. Today I’m working as a manager, waitress, busgirl, cashier, and dishwasher. Tomorrow doesn’t look any better.”

  “I understand you’re shorthanded and overworked. But this is important.” His expression became grim.

  “The Café is important. I don’t have time for whatever fantasies you cooked up.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “They are not fantasies.”

  “Good-bye, Mr. Goodman.” She gestured to the door.

  He shook his head, but a minute later he closed the door quietly behind him.

  She hit the wall with her fist. Her knuckles screamed in pain, and a small dent appeared in the white surface of the wall. Her brother alive? How dare Goodman invent such lies? She’d been drawn to this man like a needle to a magnet. Sure enough, he’d turned out to be a fraud. Just like Tony had.

  Mari dropped into the chair and slammed her palm against the desk. The desk shook but survived. Frankly, it wasn’t so much about taking time to listen to him. She didn’t want to listen to him. She didn’t want to remember the horror.

  Pulling herself together, she locked her office, went to a restroom, and got stopped by Nina on her way back.

  “Thank you for paying my son’s medical bills, but…” Nina averted her look.

  “You won’t be able to pay me anytime soon.” Mari touched the older woman’s wrinkled hand. “I know. I’m not asking you to do it.”

  To pay for her employees’ medical bills, Mari had dipped into the money meant for repaying the business loan. Now she was behind on her loan.

  “But with the robbery last month… The Café…” Nina hesitated.

  “I’ll find the way to pay the loan. Nothing is going to happen to The Café,” Mari said with conviction she didn’t quite feel.

  Back in her office, she snapped on rubber gloves, made a beeline to the fridge, and pulled the door. She froze, but not from the cold air coming from it.

  The female head had disappeared.

  Mari collapsed into a chair and took off the gloves.

  How was this possible?

  The knock on her door startled her. Legs trembling, she went to open it.

  “Hi, Aidan.” She gave her friend a quick hug. “Come on in. Fair warning, though. The head is missing.”

  “What?” Aidan’s eyes widened.

  Mari looked away. “I was out for several minutes. I locked the office door. I know I shouldn’t have left the office at all.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up.” With his left hand, Aidan dusted the refrigerator’s handle, as well as that of the office door, for fingerprints, and bagged the photo with crimson ink and her phone. “We’ll try to track down the phones the texts came from. You could probably pick up your phone from the police station later this afternoon.”

  “Thanks.”

  He took her statement, and then Mari grabbed a take-out meal for Aidan from the kitchen.

  “I’ll ask for police protection for you,” he said, ready to leave.

  She shook her head. “The Rios Azules police department is stretched thin as it is.”

  “Then I’ll take a leave of absence. I’ll protect you.”

  “And you’ll be off the case. No, thanks. I’ll be fine. You know me. I always land on my feet. Besides, I’d rather you watch out for Lydia. The head in the fridge resembled her sister. Down to the heart-shaped birthmark. It bothers me.”

  “I’ll try.”

  Her office phone rang. Aidan gave her a nod and left.

  For the next hour, Mari took business calls on the office landline, posted the new menu on The Café’s website, and answered customers’ questions. The information that The Café might be changing hands had leaked through, and she needed to nip those rumors in t
he bud.

  Of course she wasn’t avoiding going to the dining room. She was taking care of pressing matters. Her stomach pangs turned too painful to ignore, so she phoned Nina. Minutes later, Mari was devouring fried shrimp and fish with a generous side of fries.

  Stomach full and content, she dropped the tray in the kitchen and dove headfirst into going through designs for pamphlets and approving the final draft. When her legs went numb and it grew dark outside, she called Aidan from the office phone.

  Yay, she could pick up her cell phone. She dashed to the dining room and waved for Nina.

  The head waitress walked to her. “What happened?”

  “I need to leave for a little bit. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Mari took off for the police station.

  She passed Goodman at his table on the way out. How long could one drink a glass of tea?

  “I need your help.” He rose from his chair and stepped in her direction.

  She hesitated, drawn to him again against all logic. Could his words have some merit? Then the image of Tony’s face when she’d hit him and left him for dead appeared in her mind. Tony had been the past she wanted to forget, but The Café was her present. The present, the gift she could easily lose. The jobs of Nina, Tara, and others were on the line, too. Besides, she had the issue of the missing dead head to deal with.

  “I can’t.” She rushed away.

  When Mari left the police station an hour later, she dragged her feet. The picture didn’t have fingerprints on it, the text messages came from throwaway phones, and there was nothing the police could do about a missing female head.

  She swung by her place and checked on Nowa. Judging by the dog’s enthusiastic bark, her beloved German shepherd felt much better than she had in the morning.

  While Mari was driving back to The Café, her instincts went on high alert. She was… watched? Was someone following her? She checked the rearview mirror. A silver-colored van stayed behind her awhile, but then turned to the right.

  Mari released a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. She was getting paranoid.

  * * *

  Her body aching, Mari glanced at her watch. It was eleven o’clock, and the last patron had finally left. She’d dismissed her small crew and was so ready to close up. Every cell in her body begged for rest.

  She locked the front door and the backdoor exit and checked a sharp dagger taped to her ankle in her boot. Her love for cowboy boots, even in the heat of a Texas summer, provided a hiding place for a makeshift weapon. Even after her tumultuous teenage years, her habits didn’t change. But then, one couldn’t be too careful.

  She hadn’t seen Goodman after returning from the police station. She should be relieved. A little twinge in her heart told her she wasn’t.

  Her mind foggy from sleep deprivation, Mari dropped the keys in her purse at one of the tables. She made a quick walk-through, checking on supplies.

  Corn, butter, and condiments for tomorrow’s booth were stored and ready to go. As for the booth with fish on the stick, her cook had said she’d already breaded and fried tilapia fillets and had put them in the walk-in freezer.

  Longing for a long sleep in a soft bed, Mari instead entered the freezer to make sure they had enough for tomorrow’s crowd. She was met with a gust of cold air and left the door open, while she counted fillets on the trays.

  She was on the fifth tray when a loud click behind her made her wince. She whirled around. The heavy door was closed, and steps quieted in the distance.

  Somebody had been in The Café. How could that be? She’d locked both doors.

  No, no, no.

  She’d left her cell phone in her purse in the dining room. Together with her keys. Goosebumps erupted over her skin.

  The light went out, and she screamed.

  Nobody answered her.

  Taking a moment, she let her eyes adjust to the darkness. Then, probing with her hands, Mari reached for the smooth handle of the knife in her boot. She made an earnest attempt at picking the lock with the knife. But she’d installed good locks, so she didn’t succeed.

  Cold air enveloped her. Her thoughts were as dark as her surroundings. She shivered, both from the freezing temperature and the horrible situation.

  She was alone in a locked freezer in an empty restaurant, and all she had on were a T-shirt, jeans, socks, and boots. She had no way to call for help, and nobody was going to come to the restaurant until early morning. It was useless to scream. Who’d hear her?

  If there was time to start praying, that was it.

  But after leaving her brother for dead, was she worth saving? Did she deserve forgiveness? She had a long night in front of her when she’d be alone with her thoughts, her memories, and her fears while her body temperature was slowly dropping.

  Trembling, Mari rubbed her palms over her shoulders and arms, trying to get the blood flowing. For a moment, she considered exercising. No, she’d lose too much body heat. She had to stay still. She couldn’t stand all night, but sitting on the cold metal floor didn’t appeal much, either. Frozen food was no better than the steel surfaces.

  There’d been a cardboard box left on one of the shelves. But where? She groped in the darkness and winced at the coldness of the steel shelves. Finally she felt the rough texture of the cardboard under her fingertips. She threw it on the floor.

  Now she needed to find something to make a small tent with. The plastic curtains near the entrance? Minutes trickled as she cut them off with the knife. The edges of the plastic were rugged under her fingertips, but it didn’t matter. She dragged it to the place where she’d left the cardboard. The exercise made blood flow faster through her veins, but she was still shivering.

  She needed something to cover her head and her hands with. But there was no fabric in the freezer. It would be nice if somebody had forgotten a towel here. Mari sighed. But it looked like she’d have to cut some fabric out of her own clothing. She untucked her T-shirt and considered the hem. Then she ripped a ribbon of fabric with her knife and wrapped it around her hands.

  She slid underneath the plastic curtain, a makeshift tent above her head.

  Still, cold seeped to her bones.

  There was no reason to panic, of course. But how long would it take a person to die from hypothermia?

  * * *

  Determined to talk to Antonio’s sister and persuade her to help him, Luke headed back to The Café. In the past hour, he’d checked out the spacious hacienda where the Smiling Killer had grown up. Luke had found the shortcut to the premises and watched one of the entrances for some time. Could Antonio’s father be secretly covering for him?

  Luke pressed on the accelerator. If Mari was guilty and was meeting with her monster brother, there was a good chance the latter would visit tonight. If she was innocent, she might provide him with the information to catch the Smiling Killer.

  He did his best to ignore the twinge inside him at disrupting her finally peaceful life. Somebody had been sending her threats, so maybe it was a good thing he’d come to Rios Azules.

  Luke turned the corner. As he got closer, he frowned.

  The Café looked dark. The parking lot was empty, except for the motorcycle. His chest tightened. Unless somebody had given her a ride home, she had to be inside. But what on earth was she doing in the darkness?

  He slammed the car into park and jumped out. He rushed to her motorcycle to check for a flat tire or any other reason why she’d ask for a ride. It looked fine, except for…

  One word was spray painted on its side in white.

  Die.

  He took a picture with his phone. The message was obviously meant to intimidate her. Maybe the guy in the black hoodie Luke had spooked off earlier hadn’t been trying to steal the motorcycle but leave a message on it.

  Luke tried to figure out if the height and build of the Hoodie Man resembled those of Antonio. But Luke had never met the Smiling Killer in person, and it was difficult to judge from the pictures. Luke’s gut twist
ed. Had he been this close to catching Antonio?

  Luke returned to his car, grabbed a flashlight from the glove compartment, and put it in his pocket. Then he pulled out his gun and rushed to the front door.

  On the way, he made a 911 call. “I need someone to check The Café. Oak Street, ten. It’s closed down, but I believe the owner, Mari Del Lobo, is inside. Probably unconscious. I have reasons to think she might be a target of a perpetrator.”

  “Okay, we’ll send somebody to check it out,” the dispatcher said.

  He couldn’t wait for the police. What if she needed immediate help? What if the perpetrator was inside? Could the Smiling Killer be back?

  Luke’s protective instincts kicked into high gear. He approached The Café with as much stealth as he could and carefully looked through the window. Nothing was moving inside the restaurant. He winced at the sound of music that seemed to be coming from a distance. It was the song by Juanes, a familiar melody he’d heard several times that evening in The Café. Mari’s cell phone ringer. And it was coming from inside the restaurant.

  He tried the door handle, and it gave in.

  Pointing the gun in front of him, he stepped inside. The Café smelled of bread and lemon, and nobody moved in the shadows. He ran his free hand along the wall and found the light switch underneath his fingers.

  He clicked the switch. Nothing happened. Looked like somebody had messed with the breaker.

  He took the flashlight from his pocket and let the beam sweep across the dining room.

  The room looked empty. Where was she?

  He checked the kitchen, Mari’s office, and the restrooms. There was nobody at the restaurant.

  Could she have been kidnapped? Just like Cynthia? Chills ran down his spine.

  Luke found the breaker. He was right. After several minutes of work, the lights flooded the restaurant. He turned off the flash light, placed it in his pocket, and looked for signs of struggle. Thankfully there were none.

  Thank You, Lord.

  “Miss Del Lobo? Are you here?” he called out, but only silence responded to him.