Second Chance Hero (12 page)

Oh dear God, she hadn’t even thought of that. “That’s true.” She bet David had thought of it. Detective Ortiz too.

“Ms. Valdez is out today. Can you help her sub get settled?”

Nancy was out? She didn’t like that. Not at all. Not with that strange conversation about the barrio and Degas.

Mr. Miller was looking at her strangely and she realized he was waiting for an answer. “Sure. I mean, I’ll definitely help how I can.”

She stopped by Stan’s office on the way to her room. But he didn’t realize Nancy was out either. Odd.

Once she’d organized her desk and checked on the sub, she grabbed her cell, punched in Nancy’s number.

It rang and rang. No machine.
 

She tried again just in case she’d hit the wrong number.

Still no answer.

Not good. She remembered the stretch of silence when she’d thought Nancy was going to tell her something about Degas, about Miguel.

No more guessing games. She punched in David’s cell. Told him what was going on.”

“Lil, she’s probably home sick.”

Well that would stand to reason. “She’s not picking up. Can you just check for me?”

He wasn’t worried at all. She still had thirty minutes before school started but she couldn’t concentrate on work. Minutes seemed to take hours. What if Nancy was missing now too? What if she’d known something and Degas had taken her away?

Her cell phone rang and she grabbed it. “Yes.”

“She’s home sick with a cold Miss Worst-Case Scenario Brain.”

She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Waved at Mr. Pipes when he walked by with his broom and dustpan. “Did you talk to her?”

“Saw her with my own two eyes. She said to tell you she’s touched you were worried.”

Lil felt silly. But still. “You didn’t see her yesterday, David. There was something off. She wanted to tell me something.”

“She probably wanted to give you the safe sex talk.”

He refused to take her seriously. And that was fine. Because obviously in this case he was right and she was way, way wrong.

“You’re such a guy.”

His sexy laugh nearly melted her knees. “Yeah, I know. I left you a message on the fridge.”

“Let me guess. More poetry?”

He laughed again. “It’s a secret. You’ll see after school. Be careful today. Okay.”

She closed the phone and smiled. Be careful. He cared.

What a mess.

Chapter Seven

Attendance was easy. Half the students in her class were absent. The police were everywhere. It was surreal in a way watching Anna and the other cheerleaders decorating for homecoming while armed officers patrolled the halls and asked questions.

At lunch Detective Ortiz stopped by to drop off her bag.
 

His eyes bore into hers when he told her they’d found it in a dumpster near the apartment. No papers.

She didn’t know what to say other than thank you.

He started to walk away but stopped suddenly and turned back toward her. “You wouldn’t happen to know why they’d want the papers?”

She met his eyes and shook her head. “No. Nothing there but a bunch of high school student thoughts on
Heart of Darkness
.”

His brown eyes didn’t buy it. She could tell. He knew she was hiding something. At least it felt like he knew. It felt like he was the great and mighty Oz to her Dorothy.

She didn’t figure he wanted to discuss literature but then he surprised her again. “Evil is in all of us. Right, Ms. Palmer?”

Her heart nearly fell to her toes and she thought she might throw up. He wasn’t on Degas’s payroll. She was sure of it. But Ryan and David said no one could know.

So she pasted a smile on her face and answered him as best she could. “That’s one of my discussion questions, Detective. Perhaps you’d like to sit in today?”

Thankfully he believed her. At least it looked like he did. He smiled, and shook his head. “Not today Ms. Palmer. Maybe I can catch it tomorrow.”

When he left the room taking all his Superman energy with him, she nearly collapsed at her desk.

She left a message for David letting him know the bag had been found without the papers, then tried to focus on her lesson plans.

No good. Not with the police everywhere, talking to everyone. Even Mr. Miller and Stan.

Not with teachers stopping by to see if she was okay. Everyone knew about the break in.

When Anna and her friends stopped by to see what she thought about the Tejano concert across the border she nearly snapped Anna’s head off.

“You are not going across the border right now.”

Anna laughed off her concern. “Are you kidding me? It’s probably never been safer. The police are everywhere.”

Her friend agreed. “It’s perfectly safe.”

Lil closed her eyes. “Your brother will kill you.”

She laughed. “Not if you don’t tell him.” And she walked away with her friends.
 

This day sucked on so many levels. She felt exposed. Afraid. She just wanted to hide.

And that ticked her off.

So when David showed up in her classroom after work she was ready to collapse or fight. Maybe both.

But then he wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug and she surprised herself by nearly falling into him instead of pushing him away.

He brushed the hair out of her face and frowned down at her. “I thought you might need this,” he said about the hug.

When she didn’t back away David knew for sure he’d done the right thing. Lil did not take hugs easily.

No, not his Lil. She couldn’t be his. He needed to remember that.

“You okay?”

She nodded into his chest. Her voice muffled as she spoke. “This day sucked.”

He forced a laugh. He didn’t feel like laughing at all. “That’s what Anna said too. Want to tell me about it?”

She shook her head but then started talking. Starting with Nancy being absent, going through how she felt like such a sneak lying to Detective Ortiz, ending with how half the class was absent today and the others wouldn’t stop talking about a concert across the border. And how the concert proceeds were to help feed homeless children so she couldn’t very well tell the kids not to go, but she couldn’t believe their parents would even let them think about it.

Once she was done, he smiled. “Good job. You’re venting.”

She sat at her desk and sighed and he tried not to watch the way her flowerdy skirt slow danced around her legs, soft, close, enticing.

Somehow she missed his lecherous look. “Does it help us figure anything out?”

Lil and her work ethic. “Nah, not really. But I’m glad you got your cute teacher bag back. And for what it’s worth you look pretty hot sitting there at your desk. Makes me think all sorts of inappropriate thoughts.”

She covered her face in her hands and shook her head. “You’re impossible.”

“Yeah, I know. Let’s go see Mr. Miller.”

“Why?”

“See if he has any strange questions. While we’re at it we can stop by good ol’ Stan’s office too.”

She followed him through the halls. Stan was busy with a group of boys in no zero’s detention.

David just shook his head. He’d have lived in detention if they’d had no zero’s detention in his day. He’d rarely turned homework in, but he’d always aced the tests. Drove his teachers crazy.

He smiled as he remembered those days.

When they reached Miller’s office the man was looking a little rough around the edges. David wondered why.

But then the principal waved them in and David saw the photo the man was holding. His little girls.
 

He sighed and put the photo down. “Sad day. You know they had a younger brother.”

David was confused, so was Lil. “They?” she asked.

Miller nodded. “The Hernandez kids. There’s a little brother. Rafe. We don’t know where he is either. The entire family just disappeared.”

“Two dead so far.” David watched Miller’s face but all he looked was concerned. And sad.

“So far.”

“I heard the police say it might be a drug thing.” David was fishing, but if Miller was involved, he wasn’t biting.

“I’d be surprised. The Hernandez parents were actively involved in their children’s education. They took our after school English classes. They weren’t the type to get involved in drugs.”

He ended that line of conversation when he turned to Lil. “I hear the police found your bag but no papers.”

She nodded. “They probably trashed the papers.” David could tell she felt sorry for Miller. And she was probably right.
 

“They probably did,” Miller said. “The police are very interested though. It’s all upsetting to the students. Especially the younger ones.”

“Yes it is,” Lil said.

Miller picked up the photo of his daughters again. “Makes you appreciate what matters.”
 

And didn’t that just make him feel like crap? The principal might be high on David’s list of potential Degas connections but he was damn sure working his way off it now.

Lil stood, told her boss she’d let him know if anything changed then she and David walked out of the office.

“I told you he was a good man.” Lil whispered the words.

David didn’t bother telling her how looks could be deceiving. Not when she could very well be right.

When they passed by Stan’s office, he stopped them. “Have you talked to Nancy? I haven’t been able to reach her.”

The worry on Stan’s face made Lil smile. Stan might be creepy counselor in her book, but he cared for Nancy.

“I sent David over this morning. You know me and my worst-case scenario brain. She just has a cold. No big deal.”

The relief on Stan’s face made her smile even more. They said goodbye to both Stan and Mr. Pipes who was standing by the front door, a frown on his face.

This mess probably got to him too. He lived for these kids.

She nearly tripped on a piece of gravel, grabbed David’s arm at the same time he grabbed her.

It would be easy to lean into him. It would be easy to forget all about her dreams of a family, of commitment, of forever.

She pulled away as his hand dropped. “Maybe we should drop by Nancy’s again. Just to be on the safe side.”

“I could stop by the apartment. Whip her up some homemade chicken noodle soup. I have some stock in the freezer.”

Of course he did. His homemade soups were to die for. But that would take time. “Or we could just go by the grocery store and pick up some of the canned stuff.”

“Condensed soup for a cold. You’re evil.”

She laughed and told him about the conversation she’d had with Detective Ortiz.

And he told her about how Ortiz had been valedictorian of his class. Didn’t surprise her a bit.

But why had he come home? Maybe he was drawn to San Mario for the same reasons she was. Or maybe he was a Degas pawn. She thought about the man she’d spoken to, his intensity, his almost ferociousness. No, she couldn’t see him on the bad side of the law. Not ever.

Thirty minutes later armed with David’s homemade soup and a loaf of bread from the grocery store, they pulled into Nancy’s driveway.

Her house was dark, her garage closed.
 

But then she did have a cold. Surely she was just sleeping.
 

Lil slid out of the truck and started toward the house, but David stopped her. “Hold on, Lil.”

She did as he asked and heard Nancy’s blue toy poodle Max barking like crazy in the house. His little head bounced up and down in the living room window.

They knocked on the door, but no one answered.

Lil didn’t like the feeling of dread weighing on her shoulders.

“Maybe she just stepped out. She could’ve gone shopping. Or to the grocery store. Or to the church.”

David backed away from the door, but he didn’t let go of her arm. “Maybe,” he agreed. But she could see he didn’t really believe it. “Just to be on the safe side, I think we’ll call the police.”

Sure. “And they’ll laugh at us for calling them. She’s a grown woman. She’s allowed to leave her house.”

She slid back into the truck with him as he dialed the non-emergency number.

Who knew the non-emergency number by heart anyway?

Max’s little head still bounced up and down in the window. He’d lost the bow on his right ear. She listened as David explained the situation.

His yes, yes, no took little interpretation. The dispatcher obviously thought the call was bogus. Which it was. It had to be.

But David finally made his point, and a few seconds later a police cruiser pulled into the drive behind them.

The police told them to stay in the truck and then they disappeared inside the house.

A few seconds later they were back outside. Only they weren’t smiling and they weren’t saying everything was fine. They were calling for Detective Ortiz and asking Lil to step inside.

No way was Lil going in that house without him. Dammit. He’d known the minute he’d seen the dog something was wrong. Way wrong.

He followed Lil and the officers inside Nancy’s house. The answering machine was blinking like crazy. The demented dog barking in perfect time to the machine’s red light.

Lil gulped and let the dog jump into her arms. “Max is afraid of the beeps. He takes Prozac.”

Great. The dog was psycho.

Nancy’s car was in the garage. He could see it through the window in the kitchen door. Her purse was on the table. Along with her keys. Suddenly this was looking bad. Real bad.

Detective Ortiz walked in, and David knew Lil was right. Ortiz knew something. But what?
 

“Hello again, Ms. Palmer.” He nodded at David. “Martinez.”

Then he turned back to Lil. “You seem to be the common denominator in my cases lately.”

David could tell she wanted to blurt out the truth.

“We were just worried when Nancy didn’t answer her door,” he said.

Ortiz didn’t smile. He didn’t try to put Lil at ease. He simply said someone would be by later to speak with them.

Later. So how come they’d had Lil walk in the house now?

He didn’t like it. But there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

David grabbed Lil and practically pulled her out of Nancy’s house before she said something to Ortiz that put him on alert, or more of alert than he already was.