“Some say it’s the ghost of my daughter.”
“And what do you say? Are you responsible for the attacks on Tinkie, Jovan, Joey, and me?” I walked up to him, and it took me a moment to realize he was in a wheelchair.
“And your question has been answered,” he said with only a hint of bitterness. “I’ve been in this chair for the past eight months. I’m not capable of frolicking through the secret passages for mischief or spying.”
If he hadn’t been such an old roach, I might have felt sorry for him. “But you are capable of hiring someone to do so.”
He nodded. “A smart man would pay someone to do his dirty deeds.” He paused a beat. “Though I’m innocent, of course.”
“Where is Estelle?” I pressed.
“She refuses to see me because I told her the truth. That her father wanted her mother gone so he could live his profligate life. I told her about the affairs and the way Carlita came home from Los Angeles to cry and berate herself that she wasn’t beautiful enough to keep her husband.” His forearms rested on the wheelchair, but he couldn’t keep his fingers from dancing in the air.
“Why did you do that?” I asked. “Why would you hurt your own granddaughter like that? Federico is her father.”
“The Gonzalez family always faces the facts, Ms. Delaney. We look life in the eye and spit.”
“And you may have cost your granddaughter her happiness.” Tinkie leaned forward into his face. “You are a vile, unhappy old man and you want everyone around you to be the same. You stole Estelle’s chance at a relationship with her father and filled her head full of anger and suspicion.”
“I tried to protect her.”
There was a terrible second when I thought Tinkie was going to punch him. She controlled herself and stepped back. “Your soul is rotted. You’ll die alone and that’s what you deserve. Let’s go, Sarah Booth.”
I was almost out the door when he called out to me.
“Ms. Delaney, you won’t last a year in Hollywood. The cannibals will eat you alive. They’re already nibbling.”
I didn’t bother to respond. He was still hurling bile when we walked out the front door and into the sun.
“We didn’t learn anything new,” I pointed out. My head had begun to throb.
“Not true. We learned a lot about the family dysfunction, and that the old bastard has access to the Marquez house and money to hire someone to do dirty deeds. He’s capable of anything.”
I sighed. “Poor Carlita and Estelle.”
“Do you think he was trying to set us up when he mentioned seeing someone in a red gown? That sounds like your ghost.”
“Unless he’s manipulating all of this. He didn’t exactly say he’d seen her ghost.”
Tinkie opened the wooden gate that led to the street. “Maybe she’s haunting the place, waiting to kill him.”
“Always the eternal optimist, Tinkie. Let’s get our things out of the house. We aren’t going to find an answer and I don’t want to be there after dark.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Tinkie was in a funk as she drove back to the mansion. She gripped the steering wheel, drummed her fingers, sighed, and generally showed her discontent. When we pulled up to the gate, I was glad to see three security guards still there.
Federico had insisted that Promise Security Agency remain on the premises until Tinkie and I were completely clear of the house. The interview with Estoban Gonzalez had disturbed both Tinkie and me. It was difficult to look into the abyss and not be affected. He was unhinged, and in a way that I would never understand. How had his love for Carlita and Estelle become so twisted that he’d deliberately destroyed them trying to make them hate Federico?
And why hadn’t Federico told us that the old man was alive? That nagged at me. Even if he thought Estoban was in Venezuela, surely it was worth a mention that he was still breathing and meddling.
As we stopped at the entrance, I recognized Daniel. He and two additional guards were checking a horse trailer that had come to pick up Nugget and Flicker and return them to their home. Seeing the horses gave me a pang, because I’d grown fond of them, but it also reminded me that I missed Reveler and Miss Scrapiron. It seemed like a million years since I’d ridden my wonderful gelding through the vast expanse of the cotton fields.
The horse trailer pulled through, and Daniel turned to us. “Did you forget something? I thought everyone had left.”
“We’re getting our things,” Tinkie explained.
He looked at Sweetie in the backseat and gave her ears a rub. “Federico was explicit that I remain here until you leave, so I and these men will stay.” He frowned. “I’ve sent all my men to other jobs but I can call them back.”
I hesitated. It was true that the security guards hadn’t been able to protect us, but it was nice to know someone with a weapon was on the premises. “We’ll be fine with you watching the gate. If we need something, we can call.”
“Senor Marquez made it plain that your safety was my first priority.”
“It’s okay, Daniel. We won’t be all that long.” My emotions were mixed. Tinkie and I had a perfect success record with our cases. We’d solved every one. It went against the grain to simply walk away without knowing who was behind all the problems at Casa Marquez.
Daniel shook his head. “So many unfortunate things have happened here.” He looked at the mansion, beautiful and elegant in the distance. “I never thought it before, but perhaps this place is really cursed. Thank goodness no one died here, but you came very close, Ms. Delaney. I just can’t imagine who would do such a thing.”
I could imagine, but I wasn’t going to say it out loud. It could be Grandpa Psychopath or Estelle the Demented. “Have you heard anything from Estelle?” I asked.
He shook his head, a furrow deepening between his brows. “I’m very worried. I know she’s been… difficult about her father and the film crew being in the house. She’s not like that really. You don’t know her. Estelle is a kind person. It’s only her family that makes her act crazy.”
“I’m concerned about her, too,” I said, and I was sincere. Even if she had tried to kill me, I was apprehensive that something untoward had happened to her. She literally had disappeared, and while her father and grandfather could dismiss that fact, I found it unsettling.
“Were you aware that Estelle’s grandfather was in town?” I asked Daniel.
I could tell by the look on his face that this news came as a shock to him.
“I never asked Estelle, but I assumed he was dead. In all the time I’ve known her, she never mentioned him once.”
“He’s very much alive,” Tinkie said. “And let’s just say that his obsession with Estelle isn’t exactly healthy.”
Daniel checked to be sure his employees were out of earshot. “Estelle never talked about her grandparents. She didn’t want anything to do with her family. She can’t speak of her father without getting furious. She hates them, except Ricardo. She speaks of him as if she really loves him.”
“Do you think Estelle is behind all of this because she’s trying to ruin her father’s film?” Tinkie asked.
“Estelle would attempt to frighten you out of the house, and she would damage property like the cameras. I have no doubt of that. Would she push a woman down a flight of stairs? Would she try to drown you, Ms. Delaney? No. I can’t believe she would go that far.”
“Did Estelle ever talk about the house?” I asked. “Like there were special rooms or secrets here?”
He thought about it. “It’s strange because she seemed to seek out the ghost stories, but I also had the sense she was afraid of the place. I tried to get her to take me here one night for some wine and…” He had the grace to flush. “But she refused. All of those empty bedrooms, and she wouldn’t even walk through the front door.”
“You honestly think she was afraid?”