Jumping clear of the oncoming cab, Vargas ran, chasing after the Jaguar with everything he had, bringing the Tomcat up again, ready to fire But it wasn’t enough.
And as Ortiz came to a screeching halt behind him, the Jaguar careened around a corner and disappeared from sight.
Gone.
With Beth tied up in the backseat.
Vargas stopped in the middle of the street, his chest heaving, his shoulder aching, his head throbbing…
And a cold, dark tide washed through him.
82
“ You must have many questions,” Rafael said.
They were driving along the coast road, several miles out of the city. Beth lay in back with her head against the armrest, staring out at a black ocean lit only by the moon.
She had no idea where he was taking her, but she had managed to quell her panic for the moment. She just wished he’d had the decency to cover her with a blanket. The last thing she should be worried about was being naked in front of him, but she felt embarrassed and humiliated.
And the thought of his blood drying on her body made her sick to her stomach.
“Do not worry, my love. I meant what I said back there. I will not harm you.” He paused. “And if you promise to be good, I will remove the tape from your mouth. You would like that, si?”
Beth nodded but wasn’t sure if he saw her.
“Come closer,” he said.
Beth hesitated, then readjusted her body, doing as she was told, and he reached back, ripping the tape away. She let out a long breath, then immediately backed away from him, returning her head to the armrest.
“What about my wrists?”
She was lying on top of them and her hands were starting to go numb.
“Not yet,” he said. “But soon.”
“Can’t you at least cover me?”
“I wasn’t expecting you to be like this, so I am afraid I have no way of granting such a request. You can thank La Santisima for the heat.”
“Don’t you have a blanket in the trunk or something?”
“No,” he said. “But there is no reason to be ashamed of your body, Beth. As I’ve said many times, you are a beautiful woman.”
“You disgust me.”
“There is little I can do about that at the moment. But it will change. I promise.”
They drove in silence for a while, Beth quietly working on the rope around her wrists, trying desperately to loosen it. But he’d tied it too tight, and she wasn’t having much success.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked.
“Back home, of course. Where you belong.”
“What do you mean? I’ve been there before?”
“Ahhh, yes. We have many memories together.” He paused. Shrugged. “Well… I have many memories. What happened to you is unfortunate. But those who sin against La Santisima rarely go unpunished.”
“What do I have to do with La Santisima?”
“Much more than you know. You are a child of the Holy Mother.”
“Oh? And what about Jen? Is she a child of the Holy Mother, too?”
“We all are,” Rafael said.
“Where is she? What did you do to her?”
He paused again. “We’ll save that question for another time.”
He was silent for a moment, and Beth stared at his face in the rearview mirror. The entire right side was a mess of mottled, blistery flesh.
He caught her looking at him.
“You must be wondering how this happened. The last you remember of me is our encounter in Playa Azul.”
“How do you know that? How could you possibly know what I remember?”
He smiled. “There is someone in your life, Beth, who is not who he seems to be. He has been apprising us of your progress-although not quite as faithfully as I had hoped.”
“Who? Dr. Stanley?”
He laughed softly. “Your doctor knows nothing about us. No one at the hospital does.”
“Then who?”
Rafael said nothing, letting her turn the question in her mind.
Then it hit her. There was only other person she’d had contact with since the shooting, besides the police.
“Oh my God,” she said. “Peter?”
“He has been working with us for quite some time now. Long before you and I met. He has managed to facilitate many of our business transactions, while diverting attention away from us. At a price, of course. He is a valuable asset.”
“I don’t believe you,” Beth said. “Peter may be a lot of things, but he’d never get involved with people like you.”
“You think you know him, do you?”
“I was married to him for nearly four years.”
“Then you must know that he was sleeping with your sister.”
83
It took beth several moments and a considerable amount of effort to recover from Rafael’s bombshell. What helped her was to allow herself to slip into a state of complete denial.
“Bullshit,” she said. “Jen would never do that to me.”
“Jen is a creature of impulse, Beth. You know that better than anyone.”
He was right, but Beth refused to believe that her sister would betray her like that. It was true that Jen didn’t seem to care much about who she slept with, as long as she got the rewards, but there’s no way she would have taken on Peter. He was off-limits.
But then, the concept of off-limits wasn’t one that Jen truly understood, was it? She’d proven that more than once, like the night she’d flirted shamelessly with the newlywed, right in front of his wife.
Could Rafael be telling the truth?
Was Jen the woman Peter had been cheating with? The reason for their divorce?
As if he were reading her mind, Rafael said, “It’s a sad, unfortunate tale, Beth. But it goes well beyond an unfaithful husband and a sister’s betrayal.”
“I don’t understand.”
“How do you think Marta and I met you? Do you think it was an accident?”
“No,” Beth said. “I think you and your little fuck buddy were on board that ship trolling for victims. You saw us in the restaurant and liked what you saw.”
“Yes,” Rafael told her. “We did like what we saw. But we met Jennifer long before that cruise.”
That didn’t make any sense.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I told you, Beth. Your ex-husband and La Santa Muerte have long had a business relationship. A little over a year ago, Marta and I were visiting Los Angeles and we held a private party for our friends. A way to say thank you for their service to La Santisima.”
“What does this have to do with Jen?”
“Your sister was Peter’s guest at the party, and quite a popular one at that-with both the men and the women.”
“Shut up, you disgusting pig.”
“I know this is painful for you, but I think it is important that you know the truth.”
Yes, Beth thought. The truth. Not these horrible lies.
She tried again to work the rope free but still couldn’t get it to budge.
“Marta took quite a liking to your sister that night. But Jennifer was so high on alcohol and drugs, I doubt if she remembered either of us. Marta, however, did not forget. And when Peter later found himself in a bit of…difficulty…Marta offered him a tempting solution.”
“What kind of difficulty?”
“He fathered your sister’s child.”
Beth felt her skin go cold; her mind was suddenly crowded by the image of the baby smiling up at her.
Jen’s baby.
Peter’s baby?
“Andy,” she said, almost involuntarily.
“Yes,” Rafael said, sounding surprised. “You remember him?”
“Only a face. A face and the name.”
“Unfortunately for Jennifer, Peter had no interest in being a father. Especially out of wedlock. Especially when he was trying to win back his ex-wife.”
Beth remembered all the phone calls from Peter in the wake of the divorce, begging for her to take him back. The excuses to see her at the office. But she had rebuffed his advances every time. She’d been hurt enough, and she wasn’t interested in giving him a chance to hurt her again.