Page 39 of Sundowners
She cocked her head. “If I can get in touch with my contacts at Interpol, maybe you could talk with them. They’d likely have some information, especially if this group was involved in a criminal investigation in the past.” She shrugged. “It could help both of us.”
“Thank you. That would be huge. It was difficult to get Policía Nacional to share much information with an American grad student. I’d appreciate the connection.”
“How’s it going in here?”
I turned to find an older bald guy dressed in a suit that fit him like a glove. He was incredibly fit, about my height with light brown skin, and he wore a big smile.
“Captain Rojas, this is my nephew, Roman San Angelo. Roman, this is Captain Jaime Rojas.”
We shook hands, and he looked me up and down. Then he spoke to me in Spanish. He asked whether we’d found any connection between the attacks and the group I’d studied in Spain, and I explained, also in Spanish, that there were a few common details that were not likely to be coincidence. He pounded on my shoulder.
“Excellent work, son. Glad to have you on board.” He turned to Vanessa. “You have him sign the paperwork?”
“Oh, here, Roman.” She slid a packet of papers toward me and smiled. “Your contract for consultant work with the Santa Cruz Police Department. You’ve already passed the thoroughbackground check as part of your volunteer work and the study for the Youth and Family Services project. Read it over and sign, please.”
“Let’s see how this goes and then we’ll talk about whether or not you’re interested in collaborating further.” Captain Rojas nodded at the other officers, told Rey and the others on plainclothes duty to be careful, and then he left.
My tinnitus flared to life as he shut the door. Thankfully I didn’t get dizzy, but I couldn’t hear much over the buzz as I looked down at the paperwork.
All of my hard work was paying off. Not only was I the first person in my family to receive a graduate degree, but I was on track to earn my doctorate in the next year, and now I was officially consulting on my first police case. I was kind of making something of myself, thanks to Lola, Rey, and Vanessa.
“Hey, you have any questions?” Vanessa placed a hand on my shoulder and it startled me.
“Hmm?”
“You okay? I asked if you had any questions?”
“No, no. I’m just about through here.”
“Good. I gotta take off. Bernadette has been texting me for the past hour. Just leave the paperwork with Ross, and then Rey will take you up to get your ID.”
I blinked. “ID?”
“Yeah. You’re legit now. You don’t need an escort anymore. I’ll call you tomorrow after Ross and I go to the biotech firm and we’ll schedule our next meeting. Sound good?”
“Sure. Great.”
I could barely make out that there were actual English letters on the papers, but I signed it anyway. Rey took me up front, they took my picture, gave me a copy of the contract and some employment paperwork to fill out and return, and when I finally left, it was nearing nine-thirty and the sky was dark.
“It happens,” Rey said as I stood there, dazed. “You go in and it’s bright and sunny and when you leave it feels like doom has descended.”
I turned to frown at him and he started to make “dun dun dunnnh” sounds.
“You are disturbed.”
“Thank you. Give Lola a hug for me, would you?”
Rey hugged me and started to walk away.
“Hey,” I said, keeping him close. “Be safe, okay?”
He pulled back and laughed at me. “Right. Because vampires are real and someone might give me a hickey.” He pounded on my back. “Good one.” He waved as he walked toward the other two officers who were going to be downtown that night.
I shook my head and walked toward the visitors’ parking lot. Lolo’s Honda Accord continued to serve me well, but at some point I was going to need to buy a new car.
I thought about how I was going to manage all the things I needed to take care of as I drove over to Puesta Del Sol. I hoped the car would at least make it until I finished my degree in Clinical Forensic Psychology and was either hired on full time by the university or picked up elsewhere. Or I finished my book, landed an agent, and received a decent contract. Or, worse case, I’d go back to bartending. Cousin Ronnie could always use some extra help. I’d been able to pay for my grad school tuition that way.
But then I got to thinking about all the work that Lola’s house needed, about how we were going to afford to keep paying for her to stay at Puesta Del Sol…how I’d pay the property taxes—
