Where the dead lay

THIRTY-NINE

Are these from the box at Aurelio Santos’s house?” It was Behr’s first question to Flavia when she’d entered, closed the door behind her, and turned to see him sitting there. He watched her struggle with the impulse to run, think better of it, and then walk to a chair across from him, where she sat. There was a slight tremor to her hand as she brushed a piece of hair back behind her ear, but she was doing a fairly impressive job of controlling her nerves considering someone had broken into her apartment. She looked at the Trojan Twist condoms that rested on the coffee table like she’d never seen them, or any other, before in her life.

“No-,” she began.

“Don’t say ‘no,’” Behr said, “I don’t want to hear it.”

She fell silent and it allowed him to take her in for a moment, her tanned legs, shining under a layer of moisturizer, or perhaps their own natural shimmer that spilled out from beneath a brief skirt. She wore a tight tank top that highlighted her toned arms and her breasts. She’d lost a bit of weight since the last time he’d seen her, and it suited her, though he remembered the prior fullness had suited her, too. It looked like she’d been missing some sleep, because she had slight dark circles under her eyes, which made her appear vulnerable and oddly young. He saw her glance at her $3,800 sitting there in a folded pile next to the condoms.

“Whose money-,” she started to ask.

“Come on,” Behr cut her off. “He put you here, Aurelio did, in this apartment, didn’t he?” When she didn’t respond he continued. “Juan Aybar and Max Sanchez moved you in when you split from your old place.”

Something about the details got to her. She looked up at him. He met her gaze and she nodded once.

“Yes, Maxie,” she smiled briefly. “They were so nice.”

“Come on, time to tell,” he urged.

“I used to see Auri at El Coqui,” she began.

“The restaurant?” Behr had heard of the place, which specialized in Latin-prepared seafood.

“Yes. And I recognized him from the shake house.”

“You’re a shake girl,” Behr said, appreciating how much business she must have rung up as hostess at the betting parlors.

“Yes. I served drinks, made conversation, drew the numbers-”

“You got the players to spend more.”

“Okay, yes,” she sighed, “I was working and making nice money for a year, year and a half, but then things changed. There was some kind of fight over the business, and some new owners took over. We were closed for a few days, but then they reopened and they kept me on. Things seemed cool, but then I made a big mistake.”

“You stole?”

She shrugged. “I always took a little, they made so much they never noticed. But it wasn’t that. I started seeing one of the bosses.” Behr looked at her, but checked his questions because she was starting to roll. “He seemed so nice at first. He was the quiet one. He was sweet to me, and handsome. Then things turned to shit and I wanted to leave it, but I couldn’t go.”

“Couldn’t leave the guy or the shake house?”

“Neither.”

“This was the same guy that put the beat-down on old Ezra,” Behr said. She didn’t answer. “Which one of the Schlegels was it?” he asked. He saw blank fear whiten her face.

“Dean,” she said in voice that sounded tiny and far away. “They put him in charge of the house, and I didn’t see the others in the family much for a while, so it wasn’t so bad. I had to keep dating Dean a little to keep everything quiet. After another few months I would’ve had enough to disappear. But then this new asshole with a briefcase, Gary, started coming and checking the books all the time. He was some kind of an accountant, and he wanted to check on how the location was doing. I knew he knew when he started looking at me.”

“Looking at you?”

“He would come out of the back office and just look at me. Not like he wanted to fuck me, but like he knew. It made me cold, like he could count everything I had taken.”

“And then Aurelio started coming in?”

“Yeah, he started coming in. He started asking me out. I really liked him…” She paused and looked into Behr’s eyes. “I did, I really did.”

“Uh-huh,” he said, “go on.”

“Then I found out he was the fighter. Kenny, the youngest brother, used to stay ten feet away from him. He treated Auri like a god, but he was afraid of him. I saw it right away. Even Charlie kept his distance. I figured they couldn’t fuck with Auri, he was so tough, so we started dating.”

Behr nodded, starting to understand the exit plan she’d developed for herself.

“He didn’t know or he never would have done it,” she said quietly.

“Done what?”

“I rigged him for a win. A big one. When he hit he was so excited. We went out to celebrate, and that’s when I told him about the Schlegels and my problem.”

“How’d he react?”

“He was mad. So mad. At first. He wanted to go bust them up. Especially Dean. But I calmed him down… and he gave me the money. The way it worked out, I didn’t have to skim anymore- paying Aurelio on a win was like paying myself, and no one would know it… not even him.”

“So you did it again,” Behr said, now asking questions the way an investigator should the first time: basically knowing the answer already.

“Yes.”

“He was in love with you.”

“I think so. He said he was.”

“And you?”

“It was still early.”

“So you were just playing him.”

“No. He was special. We had good times together.”

Behr stared at her, trying his best to read what was going on behind her eyes. They might as well have been the Dead Sea Scrolls for all he could make of them. “Then what? He moved you here so they couldn’t find you?”

“Yes.”

“And what, the Schlegels figured it out, caught up with him, and killed him?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“What do you mean you don’t know!” Behr shouted, jumping up from the couch and causing her to cower back.

“I don’t, I swear it. I wasn’t there!” she said.

“What did you think when you found out what happened to him?”

“I was afraid. I thought… I knew.” She put her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook. If she was crying, Behr couldn’t hear it.

“You’re going to be a witness,” Behr stated.

“I can’t be a witness,” she said into her palms.

“You can. You’ll see.”

“No,” she said, pointing her chin up at him in defiance, her eyes dry.

“Don’t go anywhere. I have to go take care of some things. I’ll be briefing the police. But I’ll be back and I don’t want to have to go looking for you. But you know I will, and you know I’ll find you.”

She nodded. “Can’t you… let me out of it? I’d do anything to stay out of it.”

Behr looked at her. “Is that right?”

“Yes. I know… how to do things… Give me a chance.”

Behr took her in, sitting there. He found himself feeling for her. She’d gotten herself all jammed up. She only had herself to blame, but she couldn’t have known the kind of animals she was dealing with.

“Like I said, stick around.” This time he said it with less conviction.

She nodded, sadly, and then quietly began to weep. She tried to hold it back, but the tears welled up in those black eyes of hers and spilled down her cheeks. “If it wasn’t for me, Auri wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

Behr felt his throat thicken. They’d both lost Aurelio, they were bonded in that, and he knew how she felt. He had an impulse to reach out for her, to give her some comfort and tell her it would be all right.

He was about to, when he suddenly felt like he was watching the moment from above the room, and in that instant he saw it for what it was. She was gaming him. She’d laid out the sexual suggestion, and when that hadn’t worked, came over the top with the tears. And dupe that he was, he’d almost gone for it.

“Stick around,” Behr said, his voice cold. “I’m not your mark.”

She looked up at him, pushed a strand of hair back, and wiped a cheek. The tears were done.

“I see that,” she said. Her voice was low and quiet, but colder than his nonetheless.