Obviously this was not a girl who was worried about her brother, so I felt that Odelia’s mission might prove successful.
“This is Odelia Kingsley, sweetie,” said Rosa. “I’ve asked her to look for Todd.”
“Oh, Mom, I told you, Todd is probably staying with a friend, and he can’t be bothered to answer your calls.”
“What friend would that be?” asked Odelia.
The girl hesitated, and her fervor to caress Dooley and me quickly lessened and a cautious look came over her face.“I don’t know. Todd has many friends.”
“So you don’t think he’s run off to go look for his dad in Mexico?” asked Odelia.
“Oh, please. Of course not. He doesn’t even speak Spanish.”
“Your mom seems to feel that Todd has been talking a lot about his dad lately.”
“So? That doesn’t mean he’s crazy enough to go look for him.”
“So he didn’t tell you where he was planning to go?”
Aisha shook her head.“He never tells me anything. He just goes off and does whatever he likes. Doesn’t talk to me, or anyone.”
“But you’re his sister.”
“So?” scoffed Aisha. “It’s not as if he tells me his secrets.”
“Secrets?” asked Rosa, panic clear in her voice. “Todd has secrets?”
“God, Mom, we all have secrets. It’s no big deal.”
“But what secrets?”
“How should I know? I just told you he never tells me anything.”
“I understand he didn’t go to school yesterday or today?” asked Odelia.
“So?” said Aisha evasively, clearly not eager to talk about her big brother’s surprise departure.
“So why did he play hooky?”
Aisha shrugged.
“Has he done this before?”
Another shrug.
“Aisha, if you know something, you have got to tell us!” said Rosa.
“Look, I don’t know anything, all right? And even if I did, he wouldn’t want me to tell you. Now can you please get off my back!” And with these words, she stomped back up the stairs. Moments later, loud music made the ceiling vibrate. I think it may have been Bruno Mars, though since I’mnot well-versed with the music choices of the current generation I wasn’t entirely sure.
Rosa gave Odelia a look of apology.“I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s been a lot of this lately.”
“Does Aisha get along with your husband?” asked Odelia.
“More or less. She accepts him, and respects him, but Aisha and her brother have told me from the beginning that they’ll never call him Dad, or see him as their dad.”
“And how does Tilton feel about that?”
“He’s fine with it. He knows they’ll never see him as their dad, and that’s okay for him.”
Suddenly a loud wailing sound came from a nanny cam located on the living room table, and Rosa said,“Looks like all this shouting has woken up the baby.” And with a murmured apology, she disappeared upstairs, then moments later came down again, holding said baby, and gently rocking her in her arms.
“And who is this?” asked Odelia with a smile.
“Alisa,” said Rosa, tenderness clear in both her voice and her expression.
“How old is she?”
“Eighteen months. The doctor told me I couldn’t have another baby, and we’d already accepted that, until suddenly I discovered I was pregnant again. We call her our miracle baby.” She addressed the infant. “You didn’t care what the doctors said, did you? No, you decided to prove them all wrong.” She turned to Odelia. “Do you have kids?”
“No, not yet,” said Odelia. “We just got married a couple of months ago.”
“Plans to have a family?”
Odelia nodded.“Yeah, absolutely.”
Dooley and I shared a look of alarm.
“Max!” Dooley whispered. “Oh, no!”
Chapter 15
“There’s one other thing we need to talk about, Rosa,” said Odelia.
Rosa looked up at this, a questioning look in her eyes.
“The blackmail,” said Odelia.
“You mean… there’s news?”
Odelia smiled.“We caught him.”
“You did?!”
“Yes. And we also recuperated the money. Unfortunately I won’t be able to return it to you just yet, since it’s now part of the investigation, and evidence in a murder inquiry.”
“A murder inquiry!”
“Unfortunately, the man who was blackmailing you was found dead this morning. Apparently he’d gotten into a fight with his partner, and as far as we can ascertain the partner killed him and took the money. The man has been arrested, and we found the money in his possession.”
“Oh, my God—who was he?”
“Well, the man who was blackmailing you was a local handyman named Willie Dornhauser, and his partner Edwardo Yuhas. Do any of these names ring a bell?”
Rosa thought for a moment, then shook her head, even as she was gently rocking her baby in her arms.
Odelia had taken out her phone, and now showed pictures of both men to Rosa.
“Oh, wait. I think I’ve seen this man before.” She was pointing to the picture of Willie. “I think he did some work on our bathroom last summer. Is he…”
“Yes, he’s the man who contacted you and arranged the pickup last night.”
“But how did he know about…”
“Your ex-husband? I’m afraid we don’t know yet. But his partner is being interrogated by my husband as we speak, and I’m sure he’ll be able to tell us.” She frowned. “Is it possible that when Mr. Dornhauser worked on your bathroom he happened to find some documents relating to your ex-husband, Rosa?”
“I don’t think so. I got rid of all that years ago, when Clive ran off with his secretary. For a while I waited for him to get in touch, but months passed and finally I decided I needed to move on. When I did, I got rid of everything that reminded me of my old life.”
“Maybe he overheard you and Tilton discussing your past?”
But Rosa shook her head adamantly.“Impossible.”
“But I thought you said Tilton knows about your past?”
“He does, but when we got married I made him promise never to bring it up again. You see, before the wedding, I had a long conversation with Tilton, and told him who I was, and all that had happened with Clive and the money. I didn’t want to move forward and build a marriage based on lies and deceit. But I also told him that we were going to have this conversation once and then we were going to let it rest.”
“And he was okay with that?”
“Yes, and I’m still grateful to him to this day. He told me that I wasn’t to blame for the things my ex-husband had done. And so we never discussed Clive or that dreadful business again.” She gave Odelia a weak smile. “It’s very rare to get a second chance, and I still thank my lucky stars that I was offered the opportunity to start over—and this time do it right.”
“It wasn’t your fault that your husband turned out to be a liar and a thief, Rosa.”
“I know, but you can’t help wonder, you know—wonder if somehow you’re to blame for what happened. But Tilton was so wonderful about it. He said that our relationship was a way for me start over, and frankly I never looked back—until that phone call.”
“Well, that’s all over now,” said Odelia, taking Rosa’s hand and pressing it gently. “The man is dead, and his partner arrested. And as soon as the investigation is concluded, you will get that money back.”
“It’s not so much the money I’m worried about than the scandal that might follow if people in this town found out about Clive. And I’m not even concerned about myself,” said Rosa, tenderly stroking a lock of angel hair on her baby’s head. “I really don’t care what happens to me. It’s my children’s future that would be jeopardized. And Todd and Aisha already went through so much. Even though they were young, they remember, you know.”
“They still remember their dad?”
“Oh, yes, they do. You’d be surprised how much kids pick up, even when they’re as young as Todd and Aisha were at the time.” She gave Odelia a grateful look. “I can’t thank you enough, Odelia.”