Page 13 of So Silent

“I’m down for that,” Michael said. “It’s been a while since we had an open and shut case.”

He pulled out of the parking lot of Bethel Records and began the drive to Tacoma. As they headed toward the home of Maria Gonzalez’s brother, Faith thought of Zeke’s sympathies for Rebecca. A good kid who really deserved to succeed. Instead, her voice was cut off from the world before she ever had a chance to use it.

Faith, like any law enforcement officer, tried hard to make sure that her work was never personal. But thinking of Rebecca finally trying to pursue a dream that her gift would have made almost impossible and getting cut down before she could stirred up her sympathies.

We’ll find this guy Rebecca, she promised silently. We’ll be your voice.

Chapter Six

Hector Gonzalez was fifteen years older than his sister and bore little resemblance to the images Faith had found of Maria online. Still, when the agents mentioned her, his eyes welled with tears, and he had to take a moment to gather himself before motioning them inside.

“You guys want a beer?” he asked.

“I’m fine, thank you,” Faith declined.

He looked at Michael, who shook his head. “Just me then,” he said, “if that’s okay.”

“Go ahead,” Faith said. “Thank you for speaking to us.”

“Yeah, of course. I’m glad you guys are finally picking the case up. I’ve been trying for months to get them to keep looking, but it’s like they gave up. What happened? Did he get someone else?”

Faith nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

Hector sighed and shook his head. “I fucking knew it. Pardon my French.” He opened his refrigerator and pulled out a beer, then popped the top and joined them at the kitchen table. “I told them the killer would do it again if they stopped looking. Who was it this time?”

“Rebecca Wells.”

“Who?”

“A former sound engineer from Bethel Records.”

He shook his head. “Doesn’t sound familiar. Not one of Maria’s friends?”

“No.”

He nodded and sipped his beer. “Maria was a good girl. I loved her, man. She was a lot younger than me, but I loved her even though she was only my half-sister. She always had the biggest smile.” A sizable smile spread across his own face as he reminisced. “I remember when I first came over to see her. She was… five months, I think? I lived with my mom at the time, but she and my dad were finally trying to be cool with each other for my sake, so she let me go visit him and his new wife. I remember Julie came out with this little, tiny baby, and when that baby saw me, her face lit up in a huge grin, and I was in love. Man, she was a cool kid sister. I used to take her out on my bike. We’d go to the park over on Howard, the one with the duck pond. We’d ride around, and she’d stare at the ducks and the geese and babble her little baby talk. When she got older, she’d ride her own bike, and we’d just talk about whatever was on her mind.”

“I bet she loved that.”

Hector’s eyes grew a bit wistful, but the smile never left his face. “She really loved it. She used to shout things, like being on my bike was the same as being on a roller coaster. She’d holler and yell and…”

He shook his head and stood abruptly. “I’m being rude. Can I get you something to drink?”

He’d already offered them beers but standing had nothing to do with wanting to be a better host. Faith could see a few of the tears Hector tried to stifle escape in spite of his efforts to contain them. Faith’s heart went out to him. He still mourned Maria like she had been taken from him only yesterday.

“No, thanks,” Michael said, “but we really appreciate it.”

“You can have one if you like,” Faith said. “We don’t mind.”

He sat back down. “No. No, you’re not here for that. I guess I’ll have more than one after you leave. But now, just… do you have any new leads?”

Faith didn’t want to point out that the death of Rebecca Wells constituted the only real lead. Knowing that the man who had killed his sister was still out there terrorizing people wouldn’t do anything to improve his mood.

“Mr. Gonzales,” she said, “did your sister have any unique skills or traits? You know, abilities that some people don’t have or maybe something she was better at than most people?”

“You mean like superpowers?” he asked with a laugh. “Yeah. Her hearing. She had super-hearing. Like Superman. She could hear things other people couldn’t. Not like voices, though. I mean, she could hear conversations from like, fifty feet away, but she didn’t ‘hear things. ‘She would sometimes stop what she was doing because she heard something from a car radio or something that was clear across the parking lot. Stuff like that. I don’t know if it helped her as a violinist or not. She still had to work her ass off to get any good at that, but I know she could hear every single mistake she made. She pushed through it, though.” He chuckled. “One time, I blew a dog whistle once to see if she could hear that. She got so mad at me!” he laughed again. “It’s the only time she ever swore at me. Needless to say, I didn’t try that again.”

Dog whistles. It gave credence to Faith’s theory. “That’s exactly what we wanted to confirm.”

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