Treacherous Intent (16 page)

To drain the excess oil. Elisabeth suddenly remembered her mother doing the same thing, except she had used an electric burner sitting on a cinder block rather than a propane burner. There had been a heavy-duty electrical cord running from the inside of the house, through the crack in the sliding screen door. The images came to her in a flash, along with the remembered smell of frying oil and fish.

“My mom used an electric burner to fry her fish,” she said to Mrs. Torres.

The woman’s eyebrows rose. “Propane is hotter. Did she use a wok?”

“No, a cast-iron pot.”

Mrs. Torres nodded thoughtfully. “That works, too. What kind of fish?”

“Whatever she could get. She liked pompano the best.”

“Pompano is always the best.” Mrs. Torres looked approving. She laid her fried fish in a metal baking sheet lined with paper towels, then turned off her burner. Gathering up her fish and tongs, she rose. “Come inside for coffee.”

Elisabeth let out a low, relieved breath, then followed Mrs. Torres into a side door into the farmhouse.

The interior looked like a classic farmhouse, except that religious pictures of crosses and Jesus dotted the walls and sat on bookshelves. Bright red and green Christmas decorations were hung around the room—wreaths on the walls, garlands over doorways and a Christmas tree in the living room with a worse-for-wear angel at the top that was tilted sideways because it was a little too tall for the ceiling.

Mrs. Torres had them sit at a worn wooden table in the kitchen while she set the fish on the counter to cool. She started the coffeemaker and set out some homemade
paciencia,
Filipino meringue cookies, on a plate in front of Liam and Elisabeth.

Elisabeth hadn’t had
paciencia
in years. The sweet meringue crumbled and melted on her tongue.

“You’re a good cook,” she said to Mrs. Torres.

Mrs. Torres waved a dismissive hand to her, but Elisabeth caught the pleased smile on her face.

“My mom used to make
paciencia
the week before Christmas.”

Mrs. Torres nodded. “I always make for Christmas.”

Elisabeth sat and listened to Mrs. Torres talk about the family parties, which inevitably involved lots of Filipino food. Elisabeth glanced at Liam, who must be bored since he couldn’t understand Tagalog, but he was enjoying his coffee and cookies.

“My daughter drives me down to Los Angeles,” Mrs. Torres said. “All our family is there.”

“Faye lives in San Francisco?”

“Yes, she has a good job working in an insurance company. But she’s lonely. She needs a boyfriend.”

Elisabeth continued smiling, though she wanted to frown. So Faye’s mother didn’t know about her Tumibay boyfriend. Maybe not even her Tumibay connections. Had she known about Joslyn’s Bagsic ex-boyfriend?

“Is Faye close to Joslyn?”

Mrs. Torres hesitated, then said, “Yes, because they’re the closest in age out of all the cousins.”

Elisabeth touched Mrs. Torres’s hand. “I’m sure Joslyn was grateful to you and Faye for helping her run from her ex-boyfriend.”

Mrs. Torres looked torn, as if unsure what to tell Elisabeth. “Faye will always help her cousin. She’s just like that. She calls me every Sunday,” she said in a brighter tone, changing the subject. “She tells me about her day.”

“You talked to her this past Sunday? How is she?”

Mrs. Torres’s eyes faltered and fell. “She...she didn’t call.”

“Maybe she was too busy?”

“She usually calls, although some weeks she doesn’t if she’s too busy. But...”

Elisabeth said gently, “Would you like me to check on her for you?”

Mrs. Torres gave a hesitant nod. “Yes, thank you.” She sat in silence for a long moment, her face lined with worry. Then she whispered, “She was scared. Joslyn. She was afraid of her ex-boyfriend.”

Elisabeth squeezed the woman’s hand comfortingly.

“I lent her my car so she could drive to Faye’s apartment. And then the police came, telling me about Felix’s murder. And now Faye... She always calls me. Always.” Mrs. Torres’s hand trembled beneath Elisabeth’s fingers.

“I’ll do my best to find her and help her,” Elisabeth said.

She had Mrs. Torres write down Faye’s address, and she asked the woman to call Faye’s roommate to let her know Elisabeth and Liam would be coming to look around Faye’s room.

As they left, Mrs. Torres gave Elisabeth a small plastic container with more
paciencia
cookies.

“I’ll call you when I find Faye.”

Mrs. Torres still looked worried, but she clasped Elisabeth’s hand in a strong grip. “Thank you.”

As they drove away, Liam said, “That was a long conversation. What happened?”

Elisabeth took a deep breath. “I think something has happened to Faye.”

* * *

Had the Tumibays or Bagsics done something to Faye? Was she even still alive?

Elisabeth recounted the conversation for Liam, remembering Mrs. Torres’s anxiety for Faye. Mother and daughter were obviously close to each other.

“But Mrs. Torres didn’t know Faye was dating a Tumibay?” Liam asked. “I suppose her mother wouldn’t exactly approve of a gang member boyfriend. So Mrs. Torres sent Joslyn to Faye in San Francisco not knowing that Faye has connections to the Tumibays, which might put Joslyn in more danger. Did Joslyn go to the Tumibays willingly? Or not? Did Faye turn her in to the Tumibays or try to protect her from them?”

“But why would the Tumibays get involved with a woman wanted by the police?” Elisabeth asked. “And how did she get away? The Tumibays don’t know where Joslyn is, which means Faye either doesn’t know, or she didn’t tell them. What if Faye
does
know where Joslyn is, and that’s why she disappeared?”

Liam gave her a side glance and said quietly, “We don’t know yet if she ran away, or if something happened to her.”

Elisabeth didn’t want to think about that grim possibility. “But I’m starting to think she did run away. She also disappeared only recently, but Joslyn’s been gone for weeks. So maybe the gang found out she knew.”

“One thing we do know, Faye might be the one person, besides Joslyn, who knows what’s going on,” Liam said. “But if she ran away, it might take a while to find her. Joslyn disappeared without a trace.”

“But I trained Joslyn,” Elisabeth said. “I didn’t train Faye. And that’s going to make a big difference.”

They stopped at a fast-food restaurant with free Wi-Fi. Elisabeth went online and found out more about Faye’s workplace.

“She trained as a PA,” Elisabeth said, “and she’s well paid at her job. She wouldn’t just throw it away. Let’s check there first.”

They got to San Francisco in a couple hours and headed into downtown, parking a few blocks away from the office building.

They were walking toward the building and Liam was looking casually around when he suddenly stiffened. Then he smoothly guided them into a deli, keeping their backs to the large storefront windows.

Elisabeth ducked her head. “What is it?”

“Tumibay, I think. He’s Filipino and he’s got the same style tattoos.”

“Where?”

“I saw him sitting at the bus stop directly across from the building. Where are you going?”

Elisabeth stepped out of the deli, keeping her back to the bus stop several yards away, and fished a compact out of her purse. She flipped it open and used the mirror to look over her shoulder.

The man lounged on the bus stop bench. He wore a San Francisco Giants sweatshirt, but had pushed up the cuffs to reveal tattoos on his forearms. Elisabeth recognized certain Baybayin letters as the same as the tattoos she’d seen on the other two Tumibay men at the gas station.

She went back inside the deli, where Liam was fuming. “Yup, Tumibay,” she said.

He glared at her. “You’re killing me here.”

She really hadn’t thought first about how her actions would make him worry. She wasn’t used to someone else caring about her. It was a strange feeling. “Sorry,” she murmured.

His eyes softened. “Next time, just tell me before you do it, okay?”

“Okay.” Elisabeth chewed her lip. “If Faye did run away, if she wasn’t taken by the gang, then my guess is they’re waiting for her to show up.”

Liam craned his neck to look out the deli windows. “I think we can backtrack to the crosswalk, cross the street and walk into the building by hiding in a crowd.”

They made an effort to stick close to masses of people, hiding in the midst of them. Liam was a bit tall, but with his baseball cap in place, he looked like any other tourist.

They were directly across the street from the Tumibay now. She didn’t turn to look, her heartbeat as fast as if she’d run a seven-minute mile.

Finally they entered the office building’s large, empty lobby. “Now I know why the gang member is across the street,” she said. “There’s no place to sit here. Just the bus stop.”

“Lucky for us.”

They were on the watch for gang members hanging around, but didn’t see any. Even up on the seventh floor, the elevator bay had no one around. They went straight to the glass double doors for Dutton Investments, which took up most of the office space on this floor.

The entrance to the offices was a square room with couches and tables, and at the far end, across from the glass doors, was a wide reception desk. Elisabeth smiled at the pretty young woman who sat behind the desk. “How can I help you?”

“We’re looking for Faye Torres? We’re friends with her cousin.”

“Oh, she’s on indefinite leave. Her mother’s really sick or was in an accident or something like that.” The receptionist grimaced. “Poor thing.”

“Oh, no, that’s awful,” Elisabeth said. “Did this just happen?”

“Last week. Faye came in to pick up her paycheck on Friday and talk to our boss about it. She looked so worried, she was as white as a sheet. He let her go home right away.”

“I’ll be sure to give her family a call,” Elisabeth said. “Thanks.”

They were alone in the elevator on the way down. “She went on the run,” Elisabeth said. “If she’d been taken by a gang, she wouldn’t have been able to give notice.”

“And the Tumibays are staking out her workplace, so they obviously haven’t found her since she went into hiding,” Liam said. “That’s good news.”

“It also answers the question of who she’s running from. But why would she run from her boyfriend’s gang?”

“She must have done something to upset them.”

“But she seemed to want to join the Tumibays so much,” Elisabeth said. “Why would she turn against them?”

Liam looked at her. “Family.”

Of course, the most obvious answer. Elisabeth realized that since she didn’t understand family loyalty, it was hard for her to get into Faye’s head.

Liam said, “Didn’t you say that Joslyn was close to Faye? What if Faye helped Joslyn escape from the Tumibays or something like that? It would explain why the Tumibays are after both of them.”

Once in the lobby, they waited until they could mix in with a large group of people leaving the building. They made it to their parked car without incident.

“We’ll have to be careful when we go to Faye’s apartment,” Elisabeth said.

“I think they won’t have more than one man watching the apartment, if that.” Liam started the engine. “Faye’s been gone almost a week. I don’t think they really expect her to show up at her work or home.”

“How long would they keep this surveillance up for one woman?”

“It depends what she did to make them want to find her. If it’s important enough, they’ll expend resources to find her like Tomas did for Joslyn.”

And what would they do if they found her? Elisabeth suppressed a shiver.

Faye lived in south San Francisco in a building with shops on the first floor and apartments above. The only point of access to the apartments was the underground parking garage.

They parked in the garage, and Liam had just gotten out of the car when he froze. “Get down,” he hissed.

Elisabeth had been about to stand up, but she huddled back down into the car seat. “Tumibay?”

Liam had folded into a crouch, and he looked toward the elevators through the windows of the car parked next to them. “He’s in a black SUV with a clear view of the elevators.”

Elisabeth raised her head to look and saw the truck. Unlike the other SUV at the gas station, this one had no detail work and blended in with the other cars. She didn’t recognize the driver, but his arm hanging out the open window exposed his tattoos up his arm to the sleeve of his T-shirt. They were definitely Tumibay tattoos.

Incredibly, he was asleep, with his eyes closed, his head leaning back against the headrest and his mouth hanging open. In the quiet of the garage, they could hear his snores.

“Let’s make a run for it,” Liam said.

They got out of the car, quietly easing the car doors closed. Liam gave her a quick look, then hurried across the garage toward the elevators. The stairwell was right next to the elevators, so he opened the door and they slipped inside. Elisabeth heaved a quick breath as the door closed behind them.

When they knocked on the door to Faye’s apartment, it was immediately opened by her roommate, a petite girl with incredibly curly black hair and large eyes.

“Gina?” Elisabeth asked. “I’m Elisabeth Aday, and this is Liam O’Neill.”

“Mrs. Torres said you’d be stopping by. Come on in.”

“Thanks.” They stepped into the small living room, dominated by a floral couch across from a large-screen television.

“I hope you can find Faye.” Gina led them through the apartment. “I’m really worried about her. I feel so guilty—I’ve been on the night shift at work for two weeks, so I didn’t even know she was missing until Mrs. Torres called today.”

“Did you know anything about her social life?” Elisabeth asked carefully. “Something she might not have told her mom?”

“Well...” Gina’s dark eyes slipped away. “She was dating this one guy, Daniel, but to be honest, he kind of scared me. He was one of those tough guys with tattoos all over his arms.”

“Do you know anything else about him?”

“Not really. He and Faye have been going out for only a few weeks, and he came to our apartment only once or twice.” Gina frowned. “As far as I know, he hasn’t come by looking for her. He might know what happened to Faye. Or else he’s such a scumbag that he doesn’t care she’s been missing.”