False Prophet. Faye Kellerman

I see the door open—”

      “The bedroom door?”

      “Jes, the bedroom door. I go to close it, I see Missy Lilah—”

      Covering her face, she burst into sudden tears, sobbing for a full minute, Decker waiting until the crying subsided. Mercedes reached inside her purse, found wrinkled tissue and wiped her eyes. “She be okay, Missy Lilah?”

      “I think so.”

      “I pray to Dios—to Jesús—she be okay. I go to church today to pray for Missy Lilah.”

      “It’s good to pray,” Decker said.

      “Jes.”

      “Makes you feel better?”

      Mercedes nodded. “Everyone need ayuda—help.”

      Ain’t that the truth. Decker patted her hand. “Mercedes, do you clean Missy Lilah’s room every day?”

      “Jes.”

      “You clean inside her closet?”

      “Jes, I vacuum every day there. She don’ like the dust.”

      “In the closet, there’s a big safe.”

      “Jes.”

      “You dust the safe?”

      “Jes, every day.”

      “Did you dust the safe yesterday?”

      “Jes, every day.”

      “Do you wear gloves when you dust the safe?”

      “I don’ wear gloves, only when I clean the toilet.”

      “So it’s possible that your hands touched the safe. Es posible que su mano ha tacado la puerta de la caja de seguridad?”

      “Sí, es posible.”

      Benny had pulled some latents from the safe. The maid was going to have to be inked for print comparison. But there was a good side to her compulsive cleaning; the safe had been wiped clean every day. If some of the latents belonged to Lilah, she had to have opened the safe after Mercedes cleaned it yesterday. Had she been forced to open it? Or maybe she put something valuable inside yesterday and someone had known about it.

      Decker scribbled a few notes—questions he’d bring up with Lilah. Hopefully, she’d be completely conscious by late afternoon, in good-enough shape to be interviewed briefly. “We’re just about done, Mercedes. Just a few more questions. I want to talk about the man who works with the horses.”

      “Señor Carl?”

      “Yes. He says he lives in the stables. Is that true?”

      “Jes.”

      “How long has he lived there?”

      “Four, fife years. He come after me, but he work for Missy Lilah for a long time.”

      “You see him a lot?”

      “No.”

      “If something breaks in the house, who fixes it?”

      Mercedes thought. “Missy Lilah send someone—different peoples. Sometimes people from her work.”

      “From her work? You mean the spa?”

      “Jes.”

      “Which people?”

      “Diferentes. I thin’ sometimes a boy comes to pick the vegetables.”

      “A boy? A muchacho?”

      “No. More old. His name is Mike.”

      “Mike,” Decker repeated. “Do you know his last name?”

      Mercedes shook her head.

      “But he works at Lilah’s spa?”

      “Jes, I thin’.”

      “Okay,” Decker said. “So Señor Carl doesn’t fix things in the house.”

      “No. Jus’ work with the horses, mebbe pick vegetables, también. I don’ know.”

      “Do you ever make breakfast or lunch for Señor Carl?”

      “No.”

      “Do you make him snacks? Give him some juice when the weather gets hot?”

      “No, he stay out of the house, I stay in the house. We don’ talk, mebbe jus’ one or two time a year. He come to the house and ask for Missy Lilah. But he never come in the house.”

      “Does he ever use the bathroom in the house?”

      “No, I thin’ he have a toilet.”

      “You ever wash his clothes?”

      Mercedes shook her head.

      Decker leaned in close and whispered, “Does he scare you?”

      The maid wrinkled her lips and shook her head. “No, he don’ scare me. Missy Lilah say he nice. I thin’ he nice, too. But I thin’, he’s a little …” With her right index finger, she made air circles next to her right temple.

      “A little crazy?”

      “Mebbe. But I thin’ he love Missy Lilah. One time, Missy Lilah and her brother have a bad fight outside. Missy Lilah don’ let her brother in the house and he get mad. Señor Carl hear it and he get real mad.” She demonstrated his anger by wrinkling her nose and balling her fist. “He go in of the stable and get a big shobel. He show it to El Doctor and jell at him, and make him go away.”

      “It was a bad fight?”

      “Jes, very bad.”

      “Does Missy Lilah fight a lot with Doctor Freddy?”

      “Oh, no!” Mercedes was wide-eyed. “Missy Lilah no fight with Doctor Freddy, never. This was el otro doctor, su otro hermano.”

      Decker digested that. “She has two brothers?”

      “Jes.”

      “And both are doctors?”

      “Jes. El otro doctor come here mebbe two or three time since I work here. Missy Lilah don’ like him. He come and dey fight. Señor Carl, he chase him away last time. Jell at him, shake his shobel. Say: ‘Go away. Go away or I kill you.’”

      “What’s el otro doctor’s name?”

      “Missy Lilah don’ tell me. She just call him su otro hermano.”

      “How do you know he’s a doctor?”

      Mercedes was silent. “I don’ remember. I jus’ know he’s a doctor.”

      “When Carl chased him away, how long ago was that?”

      “I thin’ mebbe two years ago.”

      “You haven’t seen su otro hermano in two years?”

      “No.”

      “Okay, let’s go back to Señor Carl. You think he’s a little crazy? Un poco loco?”

      “More estupid.”

      “You ever see him be crazy with Missy Lilah?”

      Mercedes shook her head.

      “Did he ever act crazy with you?”

      Again a shake of the head.

      Decker checked his watch. It was almost noon and his stomach was growling. But before lunch, he wanted to check out Señor Totes himself. Marge should have picked the stable hand’s brain by now. He’d confer with her, then ask Totes about the fight Lilah had with her other doctor brother. Maybe send Marge down to the spa to check out this Mike character. He pocketed his notepad and thanked the maid for her time.