Chapter 12 - THE DEALERSHIP
Lone Star Premier Auto had closed eighteen months earlier.
The building still stood behind a chain-link fence on the south side of Austin.
Faded banners flapped above an empty lot.
A row of cracked showroom windows reflected the afternoon sun.
I had visited Santiago there dozens of times when he was alive the first time.
Camila had learned to walk between the finance offices and the vending machines.
Now weeds grew through the pavement.
Ranger Shaw fitted a tiny microphone beneath my blouse.
"If they search you, don't fight."
"Comforting."
"If they tell you to move somewhere else, stall."
"How?"
"Ask questions."
"I'm good at that."
He almost smiled.
Monroe handed me a small flash drive.
"This contains harmless copies of several files and one tracking program."
"Will they notice?"
"Eventually."
"That sounds useful."
"We need eventually."
Two Rangers were positioned in an abandoned warehouse across the road.
Monroe had officers farther back to avoid being spotted.
Bell knew nothing about the operation.
At least that was the plan.
I drove through the open gate at 2:57.
The showroom doors were unlocked.
Inside, dust covered the tile.
Old sales posters still hung crookedly on the walls.
One said DRIVE YOUR DREAM.
I wanted to tear it down.
"I'm here," I called.
My voice echoed.
A man stepped out of the finance hallway.
I recognized him from the old photograph.
Tomas Cruz.
He was older now, with gray at his temples and a scar running from his ear to his jaw.
"Mrs. Morales."
"Lopez."
He smiled.
"Names are complicated in your family."
"Where is Teresa?"
"Safe."
"Show me."
"Drive first."
"Mother first."
His smile thinned.
"You sound like Santiago."
"I married him twice."
"That's one way to describe it."
He held out his hand.
"The drive."
"Teresa."
A slow clap came from the hallway behind him.
Charles Vale stepped into view.
He looked exactly like the photograph from the courthouse.
Silver hair.
Expensive suit.
Calm face.
Nothing about him looked like a criminal mastermind.
He looked like the kind of man banks invited to charity dinners.
"Mrs. Lopez," he said.
"I have wanted to meet you."
"I can't say the same."
"Understandable."
"Where is Teresa?"
"Nearby."
"Alive?"
"For now."
My pulse pounded.
"You killed Sebastian."
Vale's expression barely changed.
"No."
"Your man rammed their car."
Cruz's smile disappeared.
Vale looked at him, then back at me.
"A reckless allegation."
"Santiago saw the truck."
"Santiago remembers what guilt allows him to remember."
The sentence landed strangely.
"What does that mean?"
Vale gestured toward an old sales desk.
"Sit."
"No."
"Then stand."
I hated how much he sounded like Kessler.
"You have something I want," he said.
"And I have something you want."
"Teresa."
"Truth."
I stared at him.
"I've had enough truth from liars."
"Then perhaps one more won't hurt."
He removed a small digital recorder from his pocket.
"This is a copy of an emergency call made after the crash."
"By who?"
"Your husband."
My chest tightened.
"Play it."
"The drive."
I held it up.
"Show me Teresa first."
Vale nodded at Cruz.
Cruz opened a side door.
Teresa sat inside the old manager's office.
Her hands were zip-tied in front of her.
A bruise darkened her cheek.
She saw me and shook her head violently.
"Mariana, don't give them anything!"
Cruz closed the door.
"She's alive," Vale said.
"Now the drive."
I placed it on the desk but kept my finger on it.
"Recording."
Vale pressed play.
Static.
Then a younger Santiago's voice.
Panicked.
Breathing hard.
My brother is trapped.
Send someone.
Please.
A dispatcher asked for the location.
Santiago gave it.
Then the dispatcher asked whether the vehicle was burning.
Yes.
Another voice could be heard in the background.
Sebastian.
Weak.
Shouting something.
The recording crackled.
Then Santiago shouted, No, I can't.
Sebastian's voice again.
Do it!
Then a sharp metallic sound.
Santiago screamed his brother's name.
The recording ended.
I stared at Vale.
"What is that supposed to prove?"
"That your husband had time to save his brother."
"He tried."
"Did he?"
"You weren't there."
Vale's eyes moved toward Cruz.
"Someone was."
I looked at Cruz.
His expression had become unreadable.
"You saw the crash."
He said nothing.
"You hit them."
"Careful."
"Did you throw the flare?"
Vale interrupted.
"The important question is what Santiago did after the fire started."
"He tried to pull Sebastian out."
"And then?"
"Price arrived."
Vale smiled.
"Eventually."
My stomach tightened.
"What are you saying?"
"Ask Santiago why his brother stopped screaming before Price reached the scene."
I hated him for making the question enter my mind.
"You're trying to turn me against him."
"He did that himself."
"You don't know anything about us."
"I know he stole a dead man's life."
"You helped create the reason."
"Perhaps."
The calmness of that word made me want to hit him.
"The drive," he said again.
I pushed it across the desk.
Cruz picked it up and inserted it into a laptop.
The tracking program needed time.
I needed to stall.
"Why insure Santiago for two million dollars?"
Vale's gaze sharpened.
"You found that quickly."
"Why?"
"Insurance is a practical business."
"Under Sebastian's identity."
"Legally, Sebastian Morales is alive."
"Not for long, if you get your way."
Vale smiled faintly.
"Imagine the story."
My skin crawled.
"A widow marries her dead husband's twin."
"Days later, the twin disappears."
"She inherits two million dollars."
He tilted his head.
"People would understand motive without knowing anything about old federal files."
"You're framing me."
"I prefer contingency planning."
I heard Monroe's voice faintly through the hidden earpiece.
Keep him talking.
I said, "Why not just kill us?"
Vale looked almost offended.
"Because violence attracts attention."
I glanced toward Cruz.
"Your employee disagrees."
Cruz shut the laptop.
"The files are incomplete."
Vale's expression hardened.
"Where is the real drive?"
"That's what I was given."
"By whom?"
"Police."
His eyes went cold.
"You brought police into this."
I heard a vehicle outside.
Too early.
Vale heard it too.
Cruz moved toward the window.
"We have company."
My heart jumped.
I expected Rangers.
Instead, a black SUV rolled into the lot.
Agent Aaron Bell stepped out.
Alone.
Monroe's voice hissed in my ear.
We did not call him.
Vale smiled.
"Right on time."
Every suspicion became real at once.
Bell entered the showroom with his badge visible.
He looked at me.
"Mariana, step away from them."
I stared at him.
"How did you know I was here?"
"We tracked your phone."
"No, you didn't."
I had left my normal phone with Monroe.
Bell's face changed by barely a degree.
Vale laughed softly.
"She learns quickly."
Bell drew his weapon.
"Charles, this is over."
Vale did not move.
"Is it?"
"Hands where I can see them."
Cruz reached beneath his jacket.
Bell fired.
The shot shattered a glass display behind Cruz.
I dropped behind the desk.
Teresa screamed from the office.
More shots exploded through the showroom.
I heard Monroe shouting through the earpiece.
Down!
Stay down!
The front windows burst inward as Rangers moved from outside.
Cruz ran toward the finance hallway.
Vale grabbed my arm and dragged me upright.
Cold metal pressed against my ribs.
"Move," he said.
Bell aimed at him.
"Let her go."
Vale pulled me closer.
"Tell her, Aaron."
Bell's face tightened.
"Tell me what?" I shouted.
Vale smiled against my ear.
"Tell her who gave me Santiago's witness file three years ago."
Bell said nothing.
The silence was answer enough.
Then a second man appeared behind Bell.
Baseball cap.
Dark jacket.
Nolan Price.
He raised a gun toward his former colleague.
"Go ahead, Aaron," Price said.
May you like
"Tell her why her husband had to die."
