Skeleton Justice (28 page)

Manny’s bravery stunned Jake. But the elation he should have felt at her amazing victory over the dog couldn’t take hold. His central nervous system hadn’t yet recovered from the shock of seeing the woman he loved go after that brute with her bare hands and a scrap of fabric.

Manny seemed to have shocked herself. She sat a few feet away from the dog, her head in her hands, breathing in deep, shuddering gasps. Not an uncommon reaction to unbearable stress. But Jake had confidence that she would come out of it soon and start looking for an escape route from her prison.

He hoped that Sam was right about the Fireproof Apparel building, although it was a long shot. Manny and Travis might be anywhere. But at least the pressure was off. With the dog out of the equation, it didn’t matter if the search dragged on for hours.

Jake shifted uneasily as he watched the static scene on his computer screen. Were the Costellos still tuned in? They would be furious at the failure of their torture display. Furious enough to risk returning to the scene to unleash some other horror?

“Get up, Manny,” he urged her through the screen. “Get up and start looking for a way out.”

Manny sat crossed-legged on the floor. The only sound she could hear was the unsteady in and out of her own breathing. The current craze for yoga had passed her by—she preferred Pilates or exercising with her Wii fitness program. Nevertheless, she found herself focusing on her breathing, trying with all her will to bring it back to normal. Maybe then she could get up.

Another sound entered her consciousness—a slight whimper from across the room. Travis. She’d nearly forgotten him.

Manny looked up, to see him pointing limply. She let her gaze follow his finger.

The dog was standing up.

Manny scrambled to stand up, too, but her limbs responded as if they were controlled by some other brain.

Time seemed to be moving in slow motion. The dog, never graceful before, floated through the air, coming closer and closer. She could no longer see her foot because her leg was inside a dog’s mouth. How odd. She thought she was having an out-of-body thinking experience.
Dr. Suzanne Levine will never get me into my stilettos again
.

The pain she felt was real, not the sharp pain of teeth tearing her flesh but, rather, the shocking blow of a hammer swung at full force. That was odd, too.

And here was another strange thing. Travis was running. Running right toward her, screaming. Running straight at the cage, which he picked up and swung at the dog. It didn’t like that. It opened its mouth. She rolled away.

And then there was another crash. The door flew open. The room was full of men. A shot rang out, awfully close to her head.

Manny dragged herself upright and scanned the faces in the room.

“Where’s Jake?”

“How’s your leg? Have another Percocet.”

Manny averted her head from the pill. “Those things make me woozy. Just raise the pillow a little. Couldn’t I have a glass of Veuve Clicquot Rosé instead?”

Jake scurried to the end of the sofa and fluffed the pillow under Manny’s bandaged leg. “How’s tha—” Her ear-to-ear grin stopped him. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“It’s almost worth being eaten by a pit bull to see you doing this Florence Nightingale routine,” Manny said. “And look at this house. You must’ve had Heloise and Mr. Clean here while I was in the hospital.”

“Sam and I did it all,” Jake said, looking around the spotless living room. “I thought the bowl of potpourri was a particularly nice touch for your homecoming.”

“It would be nicer if the dried lavender wasn’t trickling out the eye sockets of the skull.”

Jake took her hand. “I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am to have you here.”

Manny evaded his gaze. “Well, I appreciate your taking me in. But it’s only for a few days. As soon as the doctor says I can walk unassisted, I’ll go back to my place.”

Jake stroked her hair. “There’s no rush.”

Sam entered carrying three mugs of coffee on a tray, followed by Mycroft, who bounded into Manny’s lap.

“You’re serving from a tray now?” Manny asked, glad of the distraction. “What are you, channeling Amy Vanderbilt?”

“Just living up to my surroundings,” Sam said. “You should see how nice my manners are when I’m invited to Buckingham Palace.”

“Speaking of foreign travel, is it true the Costellos were intercepted at Kennedy Airport, waiting for a flight to Buenos Aires? I thought I heard that on the news when I was lying in my hospital bed, but they had me so doped up, I didn’t know if I was dreaming or not.”

“You didn’t dream it,” Jake said. “That’s one upside of terrorism. No one can make a hasty escape from the country anymore. Airport security apprehended them as their carry-on bags were being screened. They’re in federal custody. Bail has been denied. And the government even added animal abuse charges. The killer pit bull survived both your assault and the police, and now he needs to be a ‘kept dog,’ courtesy of the Costellos.”

“Justice. Travis Heaton and the Costellos trade places. Kind of like your shrimp story.” Manny inhaled through her nose, then exhaled though her mouth. “Who’s representing them?”

“Why, do you want the job?”

“No thanks, although I do have some free time now that all the charges against Travis have been dropped.” Manny sipped her coffee. “What about the Sandovals? Has Señora Sandoval had a complete nervous breakdown since she’s learned the truth about her family?”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Sam said. “She called while Jake was picking you up at the hospital. She sounded good to me—asked how you were, said she’d call again later.”

“And the Vampire’s other victims? Were they really all watching Travis and me getting chased by that damn dog?” Manny asked. “Did it have the effect the Costellos were hoping for?”

“They watched,” Jake said. “But I think their reactions are as different as they are as people. Lucinda Bettis is the only one still in denial. The others may have some interest in learning more about their roots, or they may prefer to put it all behind them.”

“That’s what drove Elena Costello crazy: She couldn’t accept that not everyone clung to their anger as she has,” Manny said. “She was right that we should never forget the victims of the Dirty War. But she let her anger destroy her.”

Jake took her coffee cup from her. “That’s enough talking about the investigation. Why don’t you relax and watch a little mindless TV?” He handed Manny the remote control. “No CNN, no Fox News, no MSNBC.”

“Yes, Doctor.” Manny snuggled up with Mycroft and began rolling through the channels. “Sorry, buddy—no Animal Planet, either.” They settled on a home-decorating show. Turn an old chest of drawers into a high-tech entertainment center … paint an Oriental rug on your wood floor. … Manny dozed off just as she was about to learn how to banish the musty smell from an antique armoire.

Her painkiller-induced dreams churned with vivid scenes and choppy transitions, an art-house movie for one. Jungle animals sat on a jury; winding corridors led to rooms full of broken glass; an exam for which she had no answers was interrupted by the ringing of the school bell. The bell rang and rang.

Manny sat up, hot and disoriented. There was no exam; the ringing was real. Looking out through the living room window, she could see daylight fading. Sam and Jake were nowhere around. She stretched to the end table and picked up the phone.

“Hello.”

“Hello, is that Ms. Manfreda?”

“Yes. Who’s this?”

“Monserrat Sandoval. I hope I am not disturbing you, but I wanted to call and thank you.”

“Hi, Señora Sandoval. I was just asking about you earlier. How are
you?
I know Paco has been very worried about you.”

“Ay! I have had a long talk with my son and my husband.” Her voice sounded strong and confident. “I told them they were very foolish to keep secrets from me all these years. So much pain could have been avoided if my husband had told me the truth when Esteban was a baby.”

Manny sat up straighter, fully awake. So, it was true that Ambassador Sandoval had always known Esteban had been taken from an imprisoned woman. “Would you still have adopted him?”

“Ah, that was the problem. You see, at the time, my husband worked part-time for a government ministry while going to school. Jobs were scarce in those days; the economy was terrible. The junta rulers were technically his bosses, but he did not really support their policies. He was just a—a how do you say?—flutie.”

“Flunky,” Manny said, correcting her.

“Exactly. So when the nurse, who was called Anna Herrmann then, but here she called herself Amanda Hogaarth, offered us this baby, we accepted, believing that he was an orphan whose parents had died in an accident. Six months later, my husband learned the terrible truth.

“By that time, I loved Esteban so much, my husband knew I could never have given him up. He told me he was afraid to protest the death of Esteban’s parents, afraid we would have been disappeared ourselves.” Señora Sandoval paused for a moment, evidently thinking back on those dark days. “After the regime fell, that is when he should have told me. I would have tried to find Esteban’s birth family. His grandparents, aunts, and uncles—they deserved to know that he was okay. But my husband thinks he always knows what is best.” She gave a bitter little laugh.

“So that is why I’m calling to thank you. Because of what has happened, Esteban is going to Argentina to meet his birth family. Finally, they will know that he was not raised by killers or torturers. He will tell them he had good parents. He will tell them how sorry we are for hiding the truth. I hope they understand my husband acted out of love for me and for Esteban. I hope they can forgive us.”

“I hope so, too, Señora Sandoval. Seems like forgiveness is the only way to move past what happened during the Dirty War. I guess Amanda Hogaarth was looking for a little forgiveness, too. That must be why she left all her money to a legitimate adoption agency.”

“You sound strong, Ms. Manfreda. You have not been crushed by what the Costellos did to you,” Señora Sandoval said.

“No, my leg’s a little smushed, but my spirit is strong,” Manny agreed.

“Then I hope you, too, will be able to forgive. You know, the story of the Vampire has been all over the news in Argentina. I have been reading the coverage there online every day.”

“Paco told me you didn’t follow the news.”

“That was true in the past. But I have learned my lesson. It’s not good to bury your head in the sand.” Señora Sandoval sighed. “The story of Elena Muniz Costello has been in every newspaper in Argentina. It is very sad. She was adopted by a policeman and his wife, a very brutal man who worked for the secret police during the Dirty War. He was cruel to Elena all through her childhood and her adoptive mother was powerless to stop him. Elena never understood why her father hated her so much. Then, as a young woman, she discovered the truth about her birth. But by then, her birth grandparents and aunts were dead. She never got to know them. She couldn’t believe that all of Argentina was not up in arms about the terrible injustice she and the other adopted children suffered. After that, Elena made it her mission to make sure every adopted child of the Desaparecidos knew about their birth families.”

“Even the ones who didn’t want to know,” Manny said. “I guess that explains why she did what she did, but it doesn’t justify it. And what about Frederic Costello? Was he mistreated as a child, as well?”

“No. It seems he was adopted as a toddler by friends of his birth parents after they disappeared. They never hid the truth about his past—just the opposite. They were activists in the cause. It is through them that Frederic met Elena.”

Manny shifted on the sofa. Her leg had begun to throb. “But I don’t understand. Why did he allow himself to go along with his wife’s cruel and crazy scheme?”

“I suppose we will never truly understand. But me, I think it was a case of the student surpassing the teacher. He got her involved in the cause; then she became more impassioned than he.”

“Maybe if they’d never met… if they had each married someone else …” Manny said.

“None of this would have happened,” said Señora Sandoval, completing the thought. “You would not have had to suffer.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m not one to carry a grudge. I’ll have to testify at Elena’s trial, but I’ll make sure she has adequate representation. She deserves a fair trial.”

“You are a very brave woman,” Señora Sandoval said. “You have inspired me to be brave, too. You know that charity, Home Again, that you got me to write the check to? I have become one of their rescue volunteers. Tomorrow, I fly to Gulfport, Mississippi, to work for a week in the shelter.”

“Good for you! I know you’ll do a great job.”

Manny hung up just as Jake came through the front door. “There you are. I thought maybe you and Sam were upstairs scrubbing tile grout with a toothbrush.”

“Ah, you’re awake. I just went out to get us some dinner. Your favorite.”

Mycroft sprang off the sofa and began to sniff the bags. “None for you, mister. You have dog food in your bowl in the kitchen.” Mycroft continued to stare. “Do you know what they do to guys like you in the joint? Can you say rottweiler?” Jake pretended to growl.

Offended, Mycroft jumped back into the protection of Manny’s arms. “Ignore his petulance, Mycroft. But I am afraid he’s right, Mikey. We can’t take any chances with your stomach. Remember, you’re currently without a vet,” she said.

As Jake arranged the carryout dinner, Manny told him about her conversation with Monserrat Sandoval. She still was troubled by Dr. Costello’s involvement, and she came back to that point with Jake. “So, I can understand why Elena was so crazy, but why did Dr. Costello go along? He seemed a genuinely kind vet. How could he have helped Elena torture and kill?”

Jake gave Manny a fork but did not release her hand. “Sometimes, when two people get together, they can assume different personalities. One without the other would have never committed crimes. Put them together and he becomes Jack the Ripper, and she, Elizabeth Báthory. It’s a phenomena we have seen in the past.”

“Really?”

“Love for a beautiful, passionate woman made the man lose his good judgment and his mind a little. I can relate.”

Manny pulled her hand away and tapped Jake’s forehead. “Your mind’s right where you left it.”

“You should have seen me when I was watching you on that Web cam, powerless to help you. It wasn’t one of my more scientifically impassive moments.”

“But you still managed to help the police figure out who the Vampire was and where we were being held.”

“Based on
your
hunch about Nixon’s coffee mug being bought on eBay.”

Manny grinned and dug into her comfort food. “Forensic pathology, law, shopping, and Mycroft. It’s an unbeatable combination!”