“Looks that way. Something got her spooked, and she took off. We’ll put out a call for her, now that I know about her illegal status and the possibility she killed Ms. Parker and the guy in Birmingham. We’ll hope she hasn’t made it too far yet.”
Dylan shook his head. “I don’t get it. If Richie left the Flamingo in May, why take the chance and stay in Raceda when he knew what Sissy would do if she found out? And if he really was involved with Andrea, why was he keeping that a secret and living at Maria’s house? It makes no sense.”
“I have a theory,” Casey said.
Everyone looked at her.
“When Richie was first working at the Flamingo he got to know Maria. Maria trusted him, and told him her green card has expired. From everything I’ve heard, Richie is a nice guy, and would do anything for anybody.”
“Super nice,” Dylan said. “Even to guys.”
“The note to Andrea was asking her to be patient. I’m guessing Richie had promised Maria he would help her with her citizenship, maybe even by marrying her and getting her a green card, I don’t know. But after he’d already promised to help Maria, Andrea moved into the building, and he fell in love with her. He didn’t want to break his promise to Maria, so he stayed with her while she worked at getting her citizenship.”
Binns didn’t look convinced. “He was still going to marry her, even after falling in love with Andrea?”
Casey shook her head. “I don’t think so. You saw the bedrooms. They were obviously sleeping separately.”
“That could’ve been a show for the kids.”
“I don’t think so. I think the marriage was all just paperwork. At least on his side. But maybe it wasn’t to her, and when she found out about him and Andrea she freaked out because it meant their green card wedding was off.”
Binns looked hard at the house, thinking. “Right. When Maria found out about Andrea she wouldn’t necessarily have been angry about him having a girlfriend, at least from a romantic perspective. But she would have been losing her way to stay in the States if he married Andrea instead of her.”
“What I don’t understand,” Casey said, “is why Richie took off with her now. How could he possibly want to stay with the woman who killed Andrea?”
“Unless she has him believing she didn’t do it. Or unless she’s killed him, too.”
Casey shivered, realizing that Death was gone. Was Death off delivering Richie to the next life?
“Who knows?” Binns said. “Love—or sex, anyway—can make people do the strangest things, and threats to your family’s life are just as bad, if not worse. We’ll find her, and once we do, we’ll have a lot of questions to ask about Ms. Parker and the guy in Birmingham.”
“But why did Maria kill Brandon? Or Wayne. Or whatever his name is?” Dylan asked. “I mean, I know he’d been blackmailing her, but he’s gone. How did she even know where he was?”
“He might have still been blackmailing her,” Casey said. “Once Andrea was dead Maria probably figured her future was secure with Richie. He would marry her and they would be set. Maybe she set up a time to pay off Brandon, but really went to try to change his mind. And when he wouldn’t…”
“She killed him.” Dylan’s voice was hoarse.
Casey shrugged. “Brandon could still prove the marriage was done just for a green card, especially since he knew about Richie and Andrea’s engagement. That’s as good as sending both Maria and Richie to jail. Maria wouldn’t leave her kids parentless, so she did what she had to do to keep her family safe.”
Dylan’s face went a shade paler, and he sat hard on the curb, his head between his knees. Casey patted his hair.
“Now, you two,” Binns said. “Back home. We’ll talk tomorrow. Tonight I need to take care of things here, and get in touch with law enforcement in Birmingham. If Ms. Mendez killed both of these people, we’ll want to work together. I’ll send someone over in a little while to pick up Mr. Greer’s folders, Ms. Gray. Do not go anywhere.”
“Can I have my phone?” Dylan asked.
“We’ll return it to you as soon as we can.”
“How about my car?”
“Gomez,” Binns said. “Transfer Ms. Rosa to our car, please, and back up so they can get out.”
Gomez said something to Rosa, and helped her out of that car and back toward his. He hesitated beside