Read Online Most Wanted by Michele Martinez - Free Book Online

with salmon pink carpeting, pink and green upholstery, and blond wood furniture. It smelled stale, a combination of old cigarette smoke and room deodorizer. A petite, middle-aged Filipino woman with short hair and steel-rimmed eyeglasses sat on the bed staring blankly at the television resting on the bureau. She turned, and Melanie’s jaw dropped.
Abuelita
. The woman was the spitting image of her grandmother, who’d lived with her family when Melanie was young. But the left side of the housekeeper’s face was darkly mottled, angry bruises punctuated by the black railroad tracks of a stitched gash. Something stiff in her posture suggested she was in pain.
    Rosario Sangrador stared at Melanie morosely. In the hostile blankness of her gaze, Melanie read fear.
    “Rosario, I want you to meet somebody,” Dan said. “This is Miss Vargas. She’s the prosecutor. She’s gonna put Jed Benson’s killers in jail.”
    Rosario glared at Melanie. “I not testify. No way. Send me home now,” she said, ignoring Melanie’s extended hand.
    Melanie walked over and snapped off the television. She moved a small armchair from the desk to the foot of the bed and sat down facing Rosario. Dan pulled up another chair nearby.
    “It’s Mrs. Sangrador, right, ma’am?” Melanie kept her tone deferential, sympathetic.
    “Yeah, that’s me.” Rosario deliberately looked away toward the window, though the blinds were drawn and there was nothing to see. Melanie shifted the chair to place herself directly in the housekeeper’s line of sight.
    “Look, Mrs. Sangrador, I can see how scared you are. Believe me, I understand what you’re feeling.”
    Rosario made eye contact, her face full of fury, the fury of someone who’s been attacked. “How you understand? These men, they gonna kill me! He tell me if I talk to you, he come back and hack me in little pieces.”
    “Who told you that?”
    “The man who kill Mr. Jed!” Rosario dropped her head to her hands, shoulders heaving. “You not care about me! I testify and they kill me!” she choked out between sobs.
    Melanie got up and fetched her a tissue and a glass of water. Rosario took them, sipping the water, dabbing at her eyes carefully to avoid the stitches that snaked down her cheek. After a few moments, she quieted and looked up.
    “I have a plan to keep you safe,” Melanie said gently. “We can get you away from here, far away, where this man can’t reach you.”
    “You pay my ticket? Because I don’t got too much money.”
    “Yes. Not only will we transport you, but we’ll pay your living expenses until the trial.”
    Rosario looked at her suspiciously. “What I got to do to get that?”
    Melanie met her eyes. “I’m not gonna lie to you, Mrs. Sangrador. You have to testify. Now in the grand jury. And later at trial.”
    “No. No way.” Rosario shook her head emphatically.
    “Look, it’s a free country. If you tell us to leave you alone, we will. But then we can’t pay for the hotel and twenty-four-hour guard. That kind of protection is only for people who testify. If that’s your decision, my case might be weaker, but at night I go home in one piece. For you it’s a death sentence.”
    Rosario gasped, eyes wide with shock, but Melanie was only telling her the truth. She’d be doing her a disservice if she didn’t. They stared at each other, Rosario’s mind obviously racing behind her glasses. In the silence Dan’s pager went off with a piercing wail. He jumped up and excused himself, stepping out into the corridor to return the beep.
    When he came back a few minutes later, Rosario drew a breath and said, “Okay. I testify. But you promise me, missus, you promise me, right? You promise me I be safe?”
    “Yes!” Melanie leaned forward and clasped Rosario’s two hands in her own. “You’ll be guarded at all times. You’ll be completely safe. You have my word.”
     
     
    MELANIE CALLED THE GRAND JURY CLERK’S office from the hotel and booked the next