The Replacement Child - By Christine Barber Page 0,63
dance floor. He had noticed her following him as soon as they had left Denny’s. She hadn’t even denied it when he asked her. She’d just sworn and said, “You caught me,” with one of her laughs. She had agreed to leave as soon as she finished her soda.
“So is it Gilbert or Gil?” she asked him over the music. He must have looked confused, so she added, “I have to call you something. I think calling you Detective Montoya seems kinda weird.” He told her, then they sat quietly for a few minutes, with Gil watching Hector Morales across the bar.
Morales was wearing a silver shirt with black jeans and black boots. He was standing at the bar with four men who seemed to be acting as unofficial bodyguards. Gil had arrested one of the men—Jesse Kurt—for heroin trafficking less than a year ago. Gil wondered what Kurt was doing out. He had been given a seven-year sentence.
Gil had gone to high school with one of the other men. They had been in an English class together, but he couldn’t remember his name. Robert something.
“Why are you so interested in that guy at the bar? He doesn’t look like your type,” Lucy said. She was trying to get a rise out of him, as she had been since she’d first met him. He didn’t answer her.
She didn’t give up. “Okay, Detective. You don’t have to say anything. I’ll figure it out myself. The guy at the bar must be connected with the Baca case somehow. I know Melissa Baca’s boyfriend is a teacher at the school and a white guy, not Mexican like this guy here. So, this isn’t her boyfriend. Is this a guy she was doing on the side?”
She waited for his response. He ignored her and kept watching Morales. She saw something in his expression and said, “Okay, so she wasn’t having an affair. But she was doing drugs. With that outfit, that guy has to be a drug dealer. I interviewed a million guys like that back in Orlando. So I guess he was Melissa’s dealer, right?”
Now Gil looked at her and said, “I think it’s time for you to go.”
Then she did something completely unexpected—she laughed out loud and said, “You know, Gil, that cop face of yours was perfect and the monotone voice was right on. Beautiful.”
She chuckled for a few more seconds before saying, “So, are you going to beat this guy up when you question him?” She was smiling.
He had never known someone who smiled so much. It was hard to stay annoyed with her. “I’ll try to restrain myself,” he said.
“If you feel any violence coming on, just let me know so I can pretend I didn’t see it.”
“Will do.”
“So, how can I help?” she asked, finishing her soda.
“You can go home. I’ll go find Morales tomorrow at some point when there are fewer people around, and he doesn’t have any buddies nearby.”
“Oh, okay. No problem. Let me just go to the bathroom.” She flashed him a smile as she got up.
She was about five feet from Morales before Gil realized that she wasn’t heading to the bathroom. She was too close to Morales for Gil to stop her. A couple of Morales’s friends were already checking her out.
He watched her brush her elbow against Morales’s back. Gil heard her laugh and then apologize. They turned back to the bar together, but not before Gil caught sight of Morales’s face—a man who’d just gotten lucky.
Gil didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what her game was. He had done everything he could to keep her out of this. Should he go up there and get her? But that might put Lucy in danger. Maybe he should take the chance. But maybe not. Gil was not used to being so uncertain. In the end, logic won. They were all in a public place and safe because of that. He would wait it out. For a little while.
He felt wooden, solid. He knew he looked too much like a cop. He got up and walked to the pool tables, making a show of watching a game between two rough-looking white men. He studied them closely for a second to make sure he hadn’t arrested them before, then went back to his surveillance.
He saw Lucy and Morales walk out onto the dance floor before he lost them in the crowd. They popped back up again near the stage, where the band was