Good Deed Bad Deed, Marcia Morgan [summer beach reads TXT] 📗

house. He pulled to the curb, just shy of the property line. It sat back from the sidewalk, square in the middle of a rather large and neglected lot. It seemed very out of place on what had surely been an affluent street. He wondered if at one time it had housed servants, or maybe a groundskeeper. But that wasn’t important. Only what he might find was of any concern.

They sat in the car, saying little. Ben kept his eyes on the house, looking for any sign of life. After about thirty minutes Annunciata managed to explain that she had to get home to her children. He apologized for taking so much of her time and reluctantly started the engine. Once back at the hotel he had a taxi summoned for her. She balked at the idea, knowing she couldn’t afford the fare. He told her not to worry and handed the driver more than enough for the fare and a generous tip.

She saw what he had done and said, “Usted es muy amable, señor Ben.”

Ben smiled and said, “Es a ustedes… muy amables,” that she was the kind one, and the only one who had been interested in helping him. Her expression told him that his Spanish needed work. He asked the driver to wait a moment, and while ushering Annunciata into the back seat, he asked for her contact information. He was surprised to see that she had a business card. She hesitated then pulled a pen out of her bag and wrote something on the back. She asked the driver to translate and said that in case he forgot, she had written the address of the house on the card and would he please let her know what happened. He nodded yes and she got into the taxi. Her last words were that she would pray for his sister and her friend. He thanked her, shut the door and waved as they pulled away.

It seemed as though it had been half a day since he first entered the Comisaria, but in truth it had only been about three hours. He missed Ana and knew that he had probably caused her worry of some kind. There was nothing for it but to deal with the situation. He hoped that there would be an update from his father. In the elevator he decided to return to the little house early the next morning. He would sit in his car and wait again, hoping to see someone coming in or out that would look either suspicious or clearly innocent. He had no time to waste on useless leads. Yet in his gut he felt the cleaning woman was onto something.

Ana heard his key in the lock and jumped up from the chair where she had been reading something on her tablet. When Ben came through the doorway she threw her arms around his neck and looked at him, trying to read his mood. As her relief subsided she backed away a few steps, folded her arms and glared at him.

“You do know how long I’ve been waiting, don’t you?” She waited for a response, but there was nothing from Ben, who seemed not to know where to start. “Where have you been?” Her tone was more questioning than accusatory.

Ben reached for her hand and led her to the small sofa, where he sat down before beginning to speak. “First, I went to the police station across the plaza. No one was of much help until a woman who was listening to me spoke up about why she was there. She heard me trying to get things across to the officers.” He waited a moment for Ana to take in what he had said, then continued. “She had seen something very suspicious at one of her jobs—a filthy old house she was hired to clean. She doesn’t speak a word of English, so it wasn’t easy. I got one of the officers to translate. She described the man who had hired her—said his demeanor was threatening—that to her he looked ‘evil.’ He sounds just like the guy who attacked me twice in London—has to be—the shaved tattooed head, brawny build.” Clearly agitated, Ben got up and began to pace.

“That’s a coincidence worthy of consideration—too much of a coincidence!” Ana said, motioning him to go on.

“It’s what she found while cleaning the place that was the ‘capper.’ There was a duffle in the closet that contained handcuffs, chains, and some sort of tape.” Ana’s jaw dropped. “She offered to show me where the house is located. She had the address, but didn’t really know how to get there from here. I came back to the hotel to get the rental car. I didn’t have time to come up and tell you what was going on. Sorry about that, but I didn’t want to lose her help, and she had a family to get home to.”

Ana said that she understood, but her emotional side was at odds with what she knew was logical. She had to fight the hurt feelings that resulted from being excluded and spending the day waiting by the phone. But he was here now, and she was relieved. Ben told her the rest of the story—how he went to the address and watched the house for a while, but intended to go back early the next day. She told him adamantly that she was going with him. He knew there was no point in arguing with her after the day she’d had. He also knew there would be fallout when she came through to his room in the morning and found him gone. He intended to be up and out before dawn and parked near the little house, watching.

The feeling of Ana’s body against his back interrupted his train of thought. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him close. This small intimacy rekindled the feeling of deprivation he had been fighting since their encounter in the