“That doesn’t make sense,” Hector said.
Which D.D. couldn’t really argue with; she was reaching for straws and she knew it. Hector’s primary question rang true: Five years ago this family had been a mess, five years ago maybe Roxy had had reason to act out against at least Juanita and Hector. But both had sobered up. Juanita had gotten her children back and, so far, still appeared to have her life on track. So again, what had happened in the past few weeks to raise Roxy’s agitation to the level she’d sought help from Flora’s group, let alone trigger this morning’s murderous rampage?
“One last question.” Phil spoke up. “You said Lola was behaving erratically. Any chance she was on drugs?”
Hector sighed miserably. “I want to say no. Such behavior would break Juanita’s heart. But after that incident with the teacher . . . When it comes to Lola, anything is possible.”
“How far would Roxanna go to protect her younger sister?” D.D. asked.
Hector shrugged, repeated, “Anything is possible.”
Chapter 19
WHERE ARE YOU?” I ASKED Sarah over the phone.
“Behind the high school,” she whispered back. “Followed the target here. Have eyes on him now.”
“Is Mike with anyone?”
“Not yet. But he seems to be waiting.”
“Maybe a rendezvous point,” I considered out loud. “Are there others around?”
“You kidding? Soccer practice. Field hockey. Football. I don’t know. There are kids, coaches, parents everywhere.”
I’d forgotten that. High schools had sports, clubs, extracurriculars that also took place on the weekend. Making the grounds a good place for Roxanna to hide in plain sight? Or at least catch up with her best friend and probable accessory, Mike Davis?
“Hey,” I thought out loud, “any chance you see a gaggle of Hispanic girls hanging around?”
“Umm, lots of girls loitering around. Hard to differentiate the groups without approaching more directly. I don’t want to spook the target.”
I understood. Odds were, Mike had spotted Sarah here and there while he was making his way to the high school. While a woman out walking on a sunny day wasn’t suspicious on its own, the same woman suddenly appearing on the school grounds would catch his attention.
“Okay,” I said at last. “Hang tight. Let me know if Roxanna appears. And if you spy anything that resembles gang activity or drug deals, that would be good to know, as well.”
“Gee, at a high school?”
“Knew I could count on you.”
I ended the call just as D.D. and Phil exited St. Elizabeth’s and my next job began.
? ? ?
“SO SOON?” D.D. STARTED, THEN glanced at her watch and frowned. “Has it really been two hours?”
“Time flies when you’re having fun,” I assured her. I held out my hand to Phil. “Flora Dane. BPD’s newest CI. Nice to meet you.”
Phil rolled his eyes at me. “Seriously?” he asked D.D.
“Sorry. These things happen.”
“How’s Hector?” I asked.
D.D. shrugged. “Gonna live. Swears Roxanna didn’t do it. She has no reason to hurt him. More pertinently, she wouldn’t risk injury to the dogs by opening fire so close to them.”
“So he didn’t see the shooter? Or won’t admit it might be Roxy?”
“Claims he didn’t see the shooter.”
I heard the skepticism in D.D.’s voice. Heaven help me, I was beginning to copy that tone myself.
“But the blue thread in the empty office space, it came from Roxanna’s backpack?” I pressed.
D.D. flashed me a droll smile. Held up her watch again. “Here’s your investigative lesson for the day: Evidence processing doesn’t happen in two hours or less. More like, ask me in the morning, and even then it’s only because the high-profile nature of this case will have the lab techs working overnight.”
“For the record, vigilantes don’t have those kinds of issues.”
“You’d process it yourself?” Phil asked.
“Nah. But a blue thread that matches the same shade as Roxy’s backpack is good enough. We’d just check that box yes and carry on.”
Fresh eye roll. He was good at that.
“Did you learn anything useful?” D.D. prodded impatiently.
“I think so. I met with Mike Davis, Roxanna’s friend from the high school. Turns out, he also lived in the same foster home as Roxanna and Lola.”
This earned me immediate attention from both detectives.
“What did he have to say?” D.D. demanded.
“More what he didn’t say. In a murder investigation, you’re looking for recent changes in the victim’s life, right? For example, we know Roxanna has been running around, all stressed out, requesting help for a friend.”
“I don’t need a tutorial.”
“We also know that Lola, the younger sister, was acting out, and the mom was starting to ask questions about the time the girls had spent in foster care.”
D.D. rolled her hand to hurry me along. Phil was openly scowling. Apparently, the older detective didn’t approve of my new role as CI. Which made me wink at him as I delivered my findings.
“I think they’re all the same thing. Five years ago, when Juanita lost custody of the kids, the girls were placed in a home here in Brighton—a.k.a. Mother Del’s. Which, according to Roxanna’s friend Mike Davis, was filled with some pretty mean kids. Dickensian mean. Sounds like two of them, Roberto and Anya, ruled the roost and beat up weaker kids for sport.”
D.D. exchanged a look with Phil. So far, my report didn’t surprise them, which burst some of my bubble. I continued on.
“I’m told Roxanna and Lola fought back by slipping such things as Ex-lax and ipecac syrup into the bigger kids’ food, in order to incapacitate them. Didn’t always work, though.”
The detectives nodded for me to continue.
“It’s the location that matters,” I pressed on, earnest now. “When Juanita sobered up, she didn’t just get the girls back, she took them away. She couldn’t afford Brighton as a single mom.”
D.D. tilted her head.
“But then she met Charlie the contractor in the ER. And last December . . .”
“She moved in with him,” D.D. filled in. “Returning the kids to Brighton.” She and Phil exchanged a glance again.
“Where at least Roxanna attends the same high school as her former nemeses, Roberto and Anya,” I finished triumphantly.
“What about Lola?” Phil asked.
“I’m told that mean kids have mean younger friends. So most likely she had her own encounters in the middle school. But essentially, whether Juanita understood it or not, she returned her girls into enemy territory. And they were scared. At the high school, Roxanna aligned herself with her former ally, Mike Davis, who’d tried to help her at Mother Del’s. According to him, she looked out for Lola, he looked out for Roxy. But for Lola that wasn’t enough. Hence, according to Mike, Lola joined a gang.”
“From the frying pan into the fire,” Phil murmured.
“Was Lola doing drugs?” D.D. asked with a frown.
“Roxy couldn’t find any evidence her sister was using. But Lola might have been dealing. Lola had told Roxanna that as long as she was so pretty, she might as well use her looks to her advantage. From the sound of it, Lola was tired of feeling helpless. Joining a gang gave her protection. Rising up the ranks to run a gang—power.”
“She wanted revenge,” D.D. said.
I shrugged.
“What about the two other kids from the foster home,” Phil asked. “Roberto? Anya? Where are they now?”
“Roberto’s dead. Shot himself a few months back. Which I’m sure Anya must blame on anyone but him. Maybe he got into it with Lola and her gang? Or had some kind of showdown with Roxy? I don’t know. But Lola and Roxy return and within months Roberto’s dead? Isn’t part of policing never believing in coincidences?”
D.D. arched a brow. “You think Lola and Roxy might have had something to do with a kid’s suicide?”
“Why not? Timing is suspicious.”