Sounds of Silence (5 page)

Isabel sniffed and swallowed a fresh wad of tears.

Eli must have heard the tremor in her voice. He was quiet for a moment, then said gently, “I’ll come over this afternoon and help you with the heavy stuff. I have to talk to you about something anyway.”

Anxiety clutched her stomach. “What’s the matter?”

He answered her question with one of his own. “Where’s your houseguest?”

“She and Danilo are playing dolls.” Isabel caught her son’s outraged look and grinned. “Well, she’s playing dolls.
He’s
actually saving the planet.”

“Good. Keep them both indoors until I get there.”

“Eli, what’s going—”

The dial tone buzzed in her ear. She pushed the “cancel” button and gave Danilo a distracted frown. What on earth had happened now?

Isabel barely had time to brush the cobwebs out of her hair and wash her hands before Eli arrived. In uniform and as usual neat as a pin, he removed his hat as he stepped into the foyer. The sober line of his mouth sent the butterflies in Isabel’s stomach chasing one another.

“Let’s go in the kitchen so we can talk,” she suggested, looking around to make sure Danilo was out of earshot.

Eli followed her into the kitchen. “What have you been doing today?”

Isabel pulled out a chair for Eli, then seated herself across from him. “I’ve been sewing all morning, then once Danilo got home…Eli, what’s the matter?”

He laid his hat carefully on the table, avoiding her eyes as if he didn’t know how to start. “We’re going to have to be a lot more careful with Mercedes.”

Isabel took a sharp breath. “If you don’t tell me
right now
what’s going on, I’m going to have to hurt you.”

A smile cracked Eli’s grim expression, then instantly disappeared. “Benny Malone called me in the middle of the night to tell me somebody broke into the orphanage and smothered Dulce Garcia with a pillow.”

Isabel clapped her hand over her mouth to muffle a shriek.

Eli leaned across the table to grab her other hand. “Hold on. Yeah, it’s bad. And I’m afraid it means somebody knows Mercedes saw something dangerous.”

Isabel fought to get her breath back. “Why do you say that?”

“Benny said the Mexican police were back asking more questions about her. Word has gotten out that she was there.” Eli’s big shoulders shifted uncomfortably. “And we can’t overlook the fact that Dulce was the same age and size as Mercedes.”

“I just—I can’t believe it.” Isabel crushed Eli’s hand. She wanted to get up and grab the little girl into her arms. She wanted to take her son away from this violent place.

Eli gazed at Isabel with bloodshot blue eyes underscored by dark shadows. “I spent the wee hours of the morning with the Acuña police. The officer who questioned Benny wasn’t on the force. The guy’s disappeared.” His jaw shifted. “I’m sure glad Mercedes is with you.”

Isabel closed her eyes to shut out his obvious meaning. “So am I, but—”

Old fears clamored for space in her brain. The night Rico died replayed in glaring detail: Border Patrol personnel banging on the door, waking her from a profound sleep. Danilo crying out at the noise, clinging to her. The hideous ride to the hospital in a patrol car. Rico’s partner, covered in bloodstains, trying to hold her.

The sight of her husband’s still face and broken body.

Isabel shuddered. If she continued to harbor this little girl, her son could be in danger.

Dear Father, please don’t put me through this again.

“Isabel.” Eli’s voice drew her back from the darkness. She opened her eyes to his compassionate gaze. “I’ll watch over you. We’ll catch this guy.”

Isabel snatched her hand away from Eli. Every instinct of self-preservation told her to send Mercedes away and follow through with her plans to leave Del Rio. In her circumstances, nobody would blame her. Eli might be disappointed in her, but he’d figure something out. It was his job.

But just then she felt a small hand on her forearm and looked around to see button-bright dark eyes sparkling behind her shoulder. Mercedes stood there dressed in a pair of Danilo’s shorts and a top Isabel had pieced together out of scraps from somebody’s yellow bridesmaid dress. The little girl gave Isabel a shy smile and thrust a fistful of dandelion blossoms under her chin.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Isabel breathed, “how beautiful. Thank you.” She signed the words and kissed Mercedes’s cheek. How could she possibly turn this child away? Drawing Mercedes into her lap and snuggling her close, Isabel ruefully met Eli’s eyes. “What exactly do you want us to do?”

“Have any of your neighbors seen Mercedes? Made comments about her?”

She shook her head. “I have a niece about her age, and we’re sticking close to the house.”

“Good. Then Mercedes should be safe, because we’re letting it out that she was the victim last night.” Eli took a deep breath. “The sad fact is that nobody will miss one little Mexican street kid. We’ll just bury Dulce quietly and keep watch.”

All kinds of objections came to Isabel’s mind. “How much longer do you think it will take? Danilo won’t be out of school for another two weeks. So far he understands we’re playing the ‘keep a secret’ game—but sooner or later he’s bound to slip.”

Eli frowned. “I think you’d better pull him out of school.”

“But that would cause even more comment!”

“He’s only in kindergarten, right? Two weeks won’t hurt anything. You can say he’s sick.”

“But that would be a lie!”

“Isabel. We’re talking about this child’s
life.
I’ve already l-lost one—”

The slight crack in Eli’s voice wrecked Isabel’s tenuous grip on her composure. She stared at him, tears pouring down her cheeks and dripping onto the top of Mercedes’s head. “I’ll do whatever I have to do, you know I will. But Eli, I’m so scared. This is way over my head.”

Eli’s boyish face hardened. “I’d give anything to change what’s happened. But I can’t. I don’t know why God’s allowed this, but I told you I’m not leaving you alone. When I’m not on duty I’ll be here, and when I’m working I’ll have somebody watching you.”

Isabel found herself drawing strength from those steady eyes. “Can I call my friend Pam and ask her to pray for me?”

He hesitated, then shook his head. “Not a good idea. But we could pray together right now, if you want to.”

The idea was somehow startling, but Isabel didn’t have the heart to refuse. When she nodded, Eli came around the table and knelt beside Isabel’s chair. He clasped both his big warm hands around hers, smiled at Mercedes, and bowed his head.

“Father, Isabel and I come to You and bring You our worry and fear. I pray You’ll work in this bad situation for Your glory. Please help me and the other guys find Bryan’s killer, and protect Mercedes until we do. Give Isabel the wisdom she needs to communicate with Mercedes and keep out of sight. You know what’s best, and You can meet our needs. We love You and thank You in Jesus’s name. Amen.”

Isabel had no words to pray, so she just whispered “Amen.”

No turning back now.

Mercedes could tell Isabel was upset without looking at her face. The dandelions had been crushed in her hands, releasing a bitter smell into the room, and the soft arms around her were tight and almost uncomfortable. Eli’s blue eyes were focused on Isabel, but Mercedes could tell he was worried about something.

He had mentioned Mercedes’s name twice as he prayed, though she couldn’t understand much of the rest of it. By now she and Danilo understood each other pretty well, but the adults tended to use big words she didn’t know.

She knew both Isabel and Eli wanted to know about the knife. She still wasn’t sure why she’d taken it. Knowing Pablo wanted it back terrified her, and she’d nearly flung it into a pile of garbage on the way to the mission.

But giving it to Eli had been the right thing to do. Something had whispered it would be all right when he’d held out his hand for it and smiled at her with those kind eyes.

Mercedes looked up at Isabel and flinched at the sight of her tears. She should never had drawn that picture. It made Isabel worry more than she already did.

And there was no way she was going to say anything more about it. Pablo would squash her like a bug if she ever did. Look what he’d done to Lupe.

Chapter Four

“L
ooks like the motion sensor sent us out here chasing cows again.” Eli lowered his binoculars, his stomach lurching as the chopper suddenly swooped so close to the ground that he could see an armadillo waddling into the brush.

Owen brought the helicopter into flamboyant hover, then lifted his own glasses to scan the scraggly landscape. “Your tax dollars at work.” He blew out such a loud breath that Eli winced. “So how’s Artemio coming with finding your getaway car?”

“I think it’s a lost cause. Do you know how many brown Ford LTDs are parked on the side of the road in Mexico?”

Owen grinned. “Everybody knows they migrate south for the summer. What about the autopsy report? Is it in yet?”

“Suffocation. Nothing we didn’t know. But the coroner says the tests were inconclusive and we can’t be certain there was foul play.” Eli forestalled his brother’s outraged response. “Callous, I know. Look, I’m disgusted, too. We’re just going to have to do our own legwork.”

“You know I’ll help however I can.” Owen turned the chopper and headed back to the station. “Especially now that Benny’s involved.”

“Speaking of lost causes.”

Owen shook his blond head. “She’s choosy. I like that in a woman.”

“I hate to rain on your parade, but Benny’s made it perfectly clear she has no intention of dating anybody. Especially cowboy helicopter jockeys.”

“Faint heart never won fair lady.”

Eli chuckled. “Storm the walls and fall into the moat. The story of your life.”

“Like yours is going so well.” Owen threw Eli a sidelong look. “How’re you doing with the lovely Isabel?”

“I’m making progress.”

Owen gave Eli a “yeah, right” look. “You haven’t even asked her out, have you?”

“Not yet.”

“Why not?”

Eli shrugged. “She’s still in love with her husband.” He hadn’t even been able to bring himself to open the Eisenhower book. Lying on his nightstand, it taunted him with the awareness of that inscription on the title page.
To Isabel, my one and only.

Did a woman ever get over that kind of love?

Owen took the helicopter into another breath-stealing dive. “You are such a chicken.”

“Shut up, Owen, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not the Casanova you
think
you are.” Eli folded his arms. “I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“Well, to begin with you could do something a little more romantic than cut her grass. She probably thinks of you as her yard boy.”

“She
needs
me to cut her grass. Danilo’s not big enough yet.”

Owen made a rude noise. “Okay, so you keep cutting the grass, but you take her flowers or something, too.”

The idea of paying a florist good money for something that would die within forty-eight hours pained Eli’s soul. But he remembered the expression on Isabel’s face when Mercedes had handed her a handful of weeds. “I’ll think about it,” he mumbled.

At this major concession, Owen grinned. “Good. Class dismissed. There will be a test.”

“All right, professor.” Eli sighed. “Now see if you can set this bird down without making me lose my breakfast.”

“Mommy, I’m tired of making
Ws
. Can I write a letter?”

Isabel snipped a thread on the gown she had been hemming. “Let me see your work, sweetie.”

Danilo shoved his tablet across the kitchen table and began a rhythmic tap with his chunky pencil and a ruler. Isabel knew she’d have to find an outlet for all his pent-up energy soon, or he was going to drive her crazy. Maybe drum lessons.

Isabel glanced at Mercedes, who was tackling a page full of subtraction problems, tongue between her teeth. As much as she was growing to love the little girl, Isabel’s nerves were fraying. They hadn’t been to church in three weeks, and she missed the fellowship.

She had called Pamela Hatcher, offering the excuse of a sick child for missing Bryan’s funeral. No matter what Eli said, the lie made her uncomfortable, and Pamela’s understanding had made Isabel feel even worse. She’d prayed over the phone with Benny Malone, too, after little Dulce’s death. Benny had promised to come for a visit soon, but volunteer relief for orphanage housemothers was hard to come by. In fact, Isabel herself had been the only person to sub for Benny in quite some time.

With a sigh, Isabel confiscated Danilo’s ruler and stuck it in her sewing basket. “Your W’s are pretty good, except they need to touch bottom.” She demonstrated.

“You mean like in Josh’s swimming pool?” Danilo gave Isabel one of his patented cajoling looks. “Would you write my letter for me? I don’t spell good.”

“I don’t spell
well,
” she corrected. “Who do you want to write to? Your nana?” Isabel hadn’t talked to her mother in over a week. She really should call.

“No, I want to write to Daddy.”

Isabel jabbed herself with the needle. “What?” She quickly put her finger into her mouth.

“I said—”

“I heard you.” She smiled at Mercedes, who had looked up from her drawing. Isabel saw that Danilo’s smooth brow had furrowed at her sharp tone. She took a breath. “Baby, Daddy’s in heaven.”

“I know. But he could look over my shoulder and read my letter.”

Isabel fought to maintain her composure. Explaining death to a five-year-old had its challenges. She laid the dress, needle and thread down in her lap. “Okay. What do you want to say?”

Danilo beamed and handed Isabel his pencil. “‘Dear Daddy, I miss you.’”

Isabel turned to a fresh page in the tablet and wrote.
Oh, Lord Jesus, this is hard.
She looked at her son. “Got it. Now what?”

‘“But Mommy and me are doing great and we even have a new sister.’ I know,” he added when Isabel opened her mouth to object. “My
pretend
sister.”

Isabel wrote the sentence, looking up when Mercedes put a hand on her arm. The little girl’s face was lit like a May sunbeam. Isabel continued to be staggered by how quickly she had learned to read English.

“Mom!” Danilo tapped Isabel’s shoulder. “I’m not finished.”

“Okay, buddy. What else?”

Danilo screwed up his face in thought. “We have to stay in the house a lot, but we get to play ‘Sets’ and Eli comes to see us, so I don’t care.’”

For some reason, this confession was nearly impossible for Isabel to put on paper. A vivid mental image of his sky blue eyes had her bearing down on the pencil to keep it from trembling in her hand.

“One more thing.” Danilo bounced on his knees. “‘I’m gonna play T-ball this summer, and Eli said he’d teach me how to hit a home run. Love, Nilo.’”

Isabel bit her lip. “Wouldn’t you like to sign it yourself?”

“No thanks. Can I go play in the sandbox?”

A little while later, having sent the children outside, Isabel looked up at a tap on the back door. She laid down her sewing and walked into the laundry room.

“Eli!” She caught herself just short of flinging her arms around him. Isabel backed toward the kitchen, and he came in, wearing jeans and a T-shirt that said “Two lefts don’t make a right, but three do.” She laughed. “Are you moving in?”

He looked down as if he’d forgotten the overflowing grocery sacks in both hands. “Oh. I went by the HEB and picked up a few things for you.”

“Did you leave anything in the store?” she teased. “Come in. Let’s see.”

He clunked his load down on a counter and backed away. “You said you needed the basics….”

Isabel pulled out a half-gallon container of peanut butter and smiled. “This ought to last us a while.”

“I always liked peanut butter when I was a kid.”

“Danilo does, too. I’ll make some cookies this afternoon.”

Eli grinned. “I knew this was a good idea.”

Isabel unloaded a huge can of baked beans, a six-pound package of ground beef, three boxes of Cap’n Crunch—“It was on sale,” Eli said sheepishly—and a towering stack of frozen pizzas.

Isabel hid a smile. “I hope I have room for all those in my freezer.”

“I’ll eat three of them tonight, myself.” Eli opened Isabel’s pantry and looked over his shoulder. “I thought I’d stay with the kids and let you go shopping or whatever. You must be getting tired of staying home.”

Isabel sighed. “You have no idea. I know it’s silly, but I’ve felt like I’ve been in prison.”

Eli folded his arms. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t think it would take this long.” He hesitated. “Owen and I did some surveillance in his chopper yesterday.”

“Really? Any news?”

He shook his head. “Just routine illegal crossings, which of course we had to follow up on.”

“What about the orphanage? Is Benny safe there?”

“Acuña PD is still keeping an eye on her. They did find somebody in the neighborhood who saw a brown LTD speeding away about 1:00 a.m. the night Dulce died. And no—” he anticipated her question “—they haven’t nailed a good suspect. The car was stolen, but they’re checking on every possibility.”

“Eli, you know I’m glad to help, but the longer Mercedes stays here the harder it’s going to be for her to leave when the time comes.”

Truth be told, Isabel knew
she
was the one who’d have a hard time. She looked out the window. The children were taking turns on the swing Rico had hung on one end of the clothesline. Right now Danilo was pushing Mercedes, who hung backward with her long, black hair trailing in the dust. Isabel smiled. Time to wash heads tonight.

Eli was silent for such a long time that Isabel turned to make sure she hadn’t offended him. She found him standing beside the table, holding the letter she and Danilo had written to Rico.

He looked stricken.

He met her eyes. “Isabel, I’m sorry. I have no intention of taking Rico’s place.”

There were so many implications to that statement that Isabel hardly knew where to begin. “I know that. And I don’t think Danilo feels that way, either.” She looked away. “He’s only five, Eli. He enjoys having an adult male to play with.”

“Maybe that’s all it is.” Eli didn’t sound convinced.

“Listen, if you’re worried that he’s getting too attached to you, I’ll explain you’re busy and—”

“No! Don’t do that.” Eli laid the tablet on the table and approached Isabel. “I get a kick out of the superhero stuff, and I
offered
to teach him to hit a baseball off a tee.” He stopped close to her, resting a hand above her head on the pantry door. “It just didn’t occur to me that it might upset you.”

Isabel looked up at him, and something stung her heart, something sweet and caring in those blue eyes. “I’m not upset.”

But she was. Upset and confused and wishing for her mother to talk to. Rico had never towered over her this way, had never worried about upsetting her, had never been to the grocery store for her.

As if sensing her discomfort, Eli stepped back and sighed. “I bought Danilo a T-ball set. It’s out in the car.”

“What do you mean, you offed the wrong kid?” Pablo snarled into the phone.

He’d stepped outside the back door of Universidad Autónoma’s new administration building auditorium, where the governor was officiating at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Pablo’s phone had buzzed against his hip as he stood guard backstage, and the caller ID told him he’d better take the call.

Now he wished he could use the muscles he worked so hard to maintain, in order to smash the already broken nose of José Camino. Instead he was stuck here in Ciudad Juarez, listening to his boss drone on about education, while Camino fouled up his business back in Acuña.

He gripped the cell phone so hard he heard it crack. “How do you know this?”

“Last night I had a beer with my friend in the Acuña police. The American Border Patrol came asking questions, and he thought it strange they were interested in a worthless little girl named Dulce Garcia.” Camino sounded offended. “If you’d given me better information—”

“I told you she’s deaf, I told you exactly what she looks like!” Pablo cursed Camino to relieve his feelings. “I cannot believe you were so stupid.”

“I can’t snatch a kid during the day, when they’re all guarded like that. And how can I tell which skinny little girl with long black hair is deaf, when they’re all sound asleep?” Camino’s voice had risen to a defensive shout.

Pablo glanced at his watch. He had to get back to the ceremony before the governor looked around and found his head of security missing. “Did you at least search the room for the knife?”

“Yeah. It’s not there. At least I don’t think so. I had to leave because one of the other kids started to wake up.”

Pablo crunched his knuckles. “All right. Keep your ears open and see if somebody will tell you what happened to the other girl. The one we’re actually looking for.”

Sarcasm apparently rolled right off Camino’s back. “Will do.”

The connection ended, and Pablo reentered the auditorium’s dark backstage area, not a moment too soon. Applause rippled as the governor smiled and waved before exiting the stage.

As Pablo followed his boss into the limo, he mulled over his problem. If the Americans were interested in the child’s death, maybe they had something to do with Mercedes’s disappearance. Pablo settled back in his seat. He could suck up to his boss in his sleep, so he had no trouble glibly praising the governor’s enlightening speech while formulating his own plan of action.

Mentally he began to review his contacts across the border.

Consulting her list, Isabel turned her shopping cart down the pet supplies aisle. The discount store on Saturday afternoon was a zoo, but Fonzie was in desperate need of flea shampoo. Maybe Eli wouldn’t mind—

She halted the thought right there. She had gotten way too dependent on Eli lately. It was time Danilo learned to bathe the dog.

And it won’t kill you to get wet and soapy, either,
she told herself.

She found the shampoo and wandered down a couple more aisles until she located the cosmetics. What a luxury to stand here and look to her heart’s content, without having to worry about her little sidekick knocking over endcaps, hang gliding on the buggy or initiating conversations with strangers.