Shadows (28 page)

Two were enough to flush him out, coughing, choking, and weeping.

 

“I couldn't believe it when that naked woman came flying out the front door,” Burch said. “Should a seen the look on Pete's face.”

“Where is she?” Riley said.

“Gave her the blanket from the trunk a the car. Rescue is checking 'er out. She's got a few bumps and bruises, a nasty cut on her head, but she'll be okay.”

“Plummer spilled the whole thing,” Riley said. “Go take him away from SWAT, wash out his eyes, and make nice. Count his goddamned strawberries if you have to. He said he'd give us a full statement.”

“How'd you pull that off?”

“I lied.”

As R.J. Plummer was led out of court in handcuffs after being denied bond, a reporter asked him if he planned a funeral for the infant son he'd sought for so long.

“No,” he said. “Why should I?”

DNA confirmed Plummer was the father. The other six infants, two boys and four girls, remained unidentified.

Moved by the news stories, Miamians adopted the unclaimed infants, collecting funds to pay for decent burials. Donations poured in to save them from a mass, unmarked grave dug by jail prisoners in potter's field. Instead there were seven small satin-lined white caskets, an overflow crowd at the church, and seven small white crosses beneath a live oak tree in a local cemetery.

“Did you see all the flowers and teddy bears?” Burch said as they met in Riley's office after the funeral. “Have to tell you, I shed a tear or two myself. The public really came through.”

“They always do,” Nazario said. “Miami is good that way.”

“It was nice,” Riley said, “really moving, that after all these years total strangers came to pay their respects. There wasn't a dry eye in the place.”

The chief medical examiner had left a message confirming that the infants' deaths were due to carbon monoxide poisoning. The death toll during that gas company conversion that summer of 1961 was not three—but ten.

“What's the matter, Pete?” Riley frowned at his expression. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing, Lieutenant,” he said.

As the others left her office, he stepped back inside.

“Lieutenant, are you aware…I hate to say anything. But look behind you….”

She turned and stared. “Oh my God! I've been watering it.”

The crime scene unit conducted a station-wide search. They found one each in the shift commander's office, the records bureau, in the lobby, in the PIO office, and on the chief's desk—a total of six.

“Six.
Dios mío,”
Nazario confided to Burch. “Remember that pervert Stokoe, the Peeping Tom? I went out there with Corso to pick him up. We confiscated his little garden. There were six….”

Riley summoned them all to her office later.

“Every time I've ever asked you to tell me the truth, you always did. That's why this job is aging me fast.” She looked furious. “Who,” she demanded, “planted marijuana in my office and all over the station?”

No one replied.

“Did you, Sergeant?”

“No.”

“Did you have any knowledge of it?”

“Not until Nazario spotted it in your planter today.”

“Everybody kept saying they wanted more green things in the station,” Corso protested.

“What if a reporter had seen it?” Riley demanded. “There was one in the PIO office, for God's sake! This department gets enough bad press as it is. I don't want to believe that anyone on my squad is stupid enough to play such a juvenile prank. That's not something I want to hear.”

“Then don't ask me,” Corso said.

 

Fleur was waiting for Nazario at Casa de Luna. “I've got something to tell you.”

He held his breath.

“It's good-bye.”

“You've got a place?”

“Yes.” Her eyes danced and she was smiling. “I'm going back to Seattle. My mom called. She needs me. She was crying. Ricardo left her—for another client, a younger woman with more money. She sent me a ticket, one-way.”

She literally danced with excitement. “I'll miss you, Pete. But I can't wait to see her!”

“Great news,
mi amor.”
Nazario opened his arms.
“Buena suerte”
—good luck—“and stay in touch. You know how I worry about you.”

“I know.” She hugged him tight.

He drove her to the airport and went with her all the way to security. Being needed by someone had truly lifted her spirits, he thought. He hoped her mother would not disappoint her.

He called Kiki later from his empty room.

“Saw you at the funeral today,” he said.
“Lucias muy bonita.
Sorry it was so crowded we had no chance to talk.”

He invited her to dinner.

“No.”

He frowned. “What is this? It's still my turn.”

She sighed. “Pete, you are such a neat guy, but I think you suffer from self-esteem issues.”

“¿Qué?”
What?

“You don't think you deserve the better things in life. You should really get some help.”

“How can you make such a diagnosis,” he protested, pacing the floor as he talked, “when we hardly know each other?”

She didn't answer.

“What about Fergie and Di? Does this mean I'll never see them again? How can you do that to me?”

“Well…. Maybe we could arrange visitation. I'm taking them to the Dog Brunch on Lincoln Road Sunday. They serve a special dog menu. And the humans who accompany them get a free drink. Fergie and Di love to socialize.”

“Dog Brunch?” He rolled his eyes.
“Cuenta conmigo.”
Count me in! “We can drive over with the top down.”

“Okay,” she said. He heard the smile in her voice. “See you then.”

 

A federal magistrate set bond at two million dollars each for Ron John Cooper, Ernest Lee Evans, and his son, Wesley Evans.

Sam Stone was spending more time than ever at his grandmother's house. Ashton Banks was occupying his old room, being fussed over by Gran as she recuperated from her injuries.

Stone held Ash's hand after the bond hearing and explained that he was driving across the state to take another woman out to dinner.

“You're welcome to come along,” he said. “You'll like her. Her name is Katie. Just don't let her kid sneak up behind you with a baseball bat.”

 

“It looks smaller than I remember.” Sky Nolan had arrived in Miami the night before, his first trip back since age nine. Burch and Riley accompanied him to the Shadows.

“Childhood homes always do when you go back,” Riley said.

“I used to dream about this place,” he said. “A shame it's so neglected and overgrown. You should have seen it in all its glory. My mother would give garden parties out here with chamber music and tables set out all over the lawn. It was spectacular.

“I went to San Francisco for Brooke's funeral,” he told them. “It was interesting to see them all. I've even talked to Summer a few times since. We're so grateful to know at last what happened to my father.”

Burch and Riley wandered out back to look at the water, leaving Sky alone to reminisce.

“This case is a perfect example of how life could be so simple if people just told the truth in the first place,” she said.

“Look how peaceful it is here.” Burch took a deep breath and drank in the view.

As they watched, a sudden squall blew toward them, materializing like a gray ghost across the bay.

“Let's go before it hits,” Burch said.

“No. It's just liquid sunshine,” Riley said, her hair whipping like a banner in the wind. “Rain always makes me appreciate the sun.”