Read Online Call Of The Witch by Dana Donovan - Free Book Online Page B

She trailed off
without finishing.
    “ Your son would
what?”
    Her eyes fell away. “He takes my money and
leaves me with none. I tell him to get a job, but he does not
listen.”
    “ Does your son lives here
with you?”
    She cast her gaze to an open door off the
kitchen. “He has a room in the basement.”
    Carlos gestured toward a framed picture on
top of the TV console. “Is that him?”
    Karina’s eyes followed. “Sí.”
    “ You said his name is
Raul?”
    “ It is.”
    “ May we talk to
him?”
    “ No. He is not at home. He
takes my money and he goes drinking.”
    “ Where?”
    Her expression grew suspicious.
    “ Señora, Martinez,
where?”
    “ Why do you want to know
this?”
    “ Please. Tell us where we
can find him.”
    I could see she was obviously hesitant, but
Carlos has a way with woman. Perhaps it’s those big brown Cuban
eyes of his. He needs only to smile and his eyes twinkle like
silver moon dust. Karina Martinez had no chance.
    “ He drinks at a bar called
Mike’s Pub,” she said. “Him and his friend, Hector.”
    “ Mike’s Pub?” Carlos gave
me a look. I returned it with a subtle nod. I knew exactly what he
was thinking. To Karina he said, “Mrs. Martinez, does Raul own a
black or blue van?”
    She shook her head. “No.”
    “ This friend, Hector. Do
you know his last name?”
    “ No.”
    “ I see.” Carlos was still
holding her hand. He raised it to his lips and kissed it softly.
“Señora. Garcias por su tiempo.”
    She smiled bashfully. “De nada,
Detective.”
    I took my cue from Carlos, stood and offered
my hand. “Yes, Ms. Martinez. Thank you for your time. We’ll see
ourselves out.”
    Back in the car, I asked Carlos what he
thought about Raul Martinez. His answer came sharply. “He’s a
prick.”
    “ What?”
    “ Well he is, Tony. The
poor woman works her fingers to the bone all day scrubbing other
people’s toilets, and this punk robs her of her hard-earned money
and spends it on booze, drugs and whatever.”
    “ I suppose, but I meant,
what you thought about him being a regular at Mike’s Pub. Is that
just a coincident?”
    “ I don’t know. You heard
the neighbor kid.”
    “ Brian.”
    “ He said the man in the
van that stopped Kelly yesterday had an accent.”
    “ He didn’t say it was a
Spanish accent. Besides, Karina Martinez said her son doesn’t own a
van.”
    “ Maybe not, but I still
want to talk to him.”
    “ All right. You’re
driving. Guess we have nothing to lose. You should get
that?”
    “ Get what?”
    “ The phone. It’s Detective
Olson.”
    “ I didn’t
hear––”
    Carlos’ phone rang, nearly scaring him out of
his seat. I looked at him and smiled. “Told you.”
    He drew a bead on me and scowled. “I hate
when you do that.”
    “ Better get it quick. It’s
important.”
    He answered after the third ring. I could
tell from his side of the conversation that it was big. He didn’t
repeat what he heard, but his questions were relevant to the case.
He ended with, ‘thanks’, assuring the caller he would tell me. As
he tucked the phone back into his pocket, he said, “You were
right.”
    “ Olson?”
    “ She said the kidnapper
called back with a ransom demand. You’re not going to believe
this.”
    “ What?”
    “ They only want ten
thousand dollars. Brewbaker’s got that much in his safe at
home.”
    “ Did they say when they
want to make the drop?”
    “ No. Lionel told the
caller he wanted to talk to Kelly first. Make sure she was all
right. The caller got angry and hung up.”
    “ Damnit! Was Dominic able
to trace the call?”
    “ Negative.”
    “ Huh. Ten thousand dollars
you say?”
    “ Yup.”
    “ That doesn’t seem like a
lot of money for a ransom. I think we’re dealing with amateurs.
Surely whoever it is must not know how much Lionel Brewbaker is
worth.”
    “ Ten thousand dollars is a
lot of money to a punk like Raul Martinez.”
    “ It sure is.” I flipped my
hand in a forward gesture.