Chapter Twenty-Eight
Gabriel
Sandra had gone off the deep end when she figured out the police were there for her baby boy and not me. I’d hoped that Luna and her friend would stay at the vineyard until it was over, but the police, as usual, had taken their sweet time.
As they left with Harbor, I had to hold Sandra back. I waited until I saw them drive away before I turned her loose. The alcohol on her breath wouldn’t do her any favors if she tried to go after them, and I’d been around her long enough to know that she’d try.
As soon as I loosened my grip, she elbowed me and darted away, bumping into the sofa table. A vase was knocked off balance and the top-heavy thing decided to crash to the tile floor a moment later.
The kitchen door flew open and Luna, with Kim tight on her heels, came out wide-eyed and clutching her chest. Before I could tell her to get back in the other room, they stepped around me to go upstairs.
Judy retreated to the kitchen and left the Sandra and I glowering at each other.
“What did they want with him?” She pointed to the door as if Harbor and the police were still standing there.
“It’s about the murders. They have reason to believe that Harbor was in Las Vegas during the time they happened.” I stood on guard, waiting for her to make another irrational move.
“How dare you involve my son in your bullshit!” She came at me, her arms swinging like a boxer’s, and made contact as I blocked her. “You know that’s a damned lie. He was here with me the whole time. No one can say otherwise.”
Her protective instincts were outweighing her common sense, and I wondered if I should spare the breath to try and explain. I’d have to be careful not to let her know I was the one who tipped them off. She didn’t need to know that.
“They wouldn’t have come and picked him up if they didn’t have proof. You said yourself that he’d been missing for days, so don’t pretend to know where he was.”
She stepped away, her hands still bunched tight, and seemed to catch her breath. “Promise me you won’t let them lock him up, Gabe.” Her rage subsided as tears ran down her cheeks and she held herself up against the sofa. Her knees were weak, and I stepped closer to offer her support, seeing them try to buckle beneath her.
“I will do everything within my power to help him. I promise.” I hoped the rage was over, but then as another wave of energy hit, it returned.
“This is your fault. All of it!” She glared over my shoulder, and her piercing eyes narrowed. “You’re trying to replace us with that gold-digging bitch!”
I glanced around and found Luna at the bottom of the stairs, concern in her eyes glistened with tears, but she wasn’t about to fall apart; no, that softness was only on the surface. From what I knew of her and from what I could see boiling underneath, she was on the verge of lashing out, too.
“Luna, please go back upstairs.” I held Sandra at arm’s length, gripping her shoulder.
Sandra regarded her mockingly, “Yes, Luna, go back upstairs and count his money. Nothing to see down here, just the remnants of the last lives he destroyed.” She postured around me to scream the vile words directly at her.
“That’s enough. Stop this drunken rant or I’ll-”
“Or you’ll what? Kill me? Like you did those women? Like you did your brother, my husband? I don’t care. I want to be dead. Then your little bitch can have it all.” The words got her attention as she uttered them, but then her eyes widened. “It should have been you. It should have been you instead of him. You sent him down there to that job. You knew the kind of place it was. I wish it had been you.”
I hadn’t known that Robert would be a victim that day, but I had known the crime in that particular area had been horrible, which was why the company needed help. He’d walked right in on the robbery and didn’t have a chance. They shot him in the doorway and stepped over his body to make their getaway.
I’d lived with that, trying my damnedest to make it up to her and Harbor, but I was tired. My brother was long dead and I’d been putting up with her drunken tirades ever since.
“I bet you do. Then you’d have had all my money to squander like you did my brother’s.
“Don’t you dare criticize Luna when all these years you’ve been living off of my money. You’re not my responsibility, Sandra. You never were, and everything I’ve done for you is solely out of charity to honor my brother. Harbor is part of Robert, so I intend to take care of him, but you better pick yourself up and get sober, because no one is going to hire a useless drunk. And you’re going to need to find a job, because I’m cutting you off.”
She glared deep into my eyes as laughter filled my ears. “You won’t do it. You’ve threatened before, and here I am.” She kicked the glass at her feet and I turned to see Judy had come back into the room with a broom and dustpan sometime during our rant.
When I turned to look at Sandra, she was walking away toward her room. Luna crossed the room and stood beside me as Judy swept up the glass. “I’m sorry, Judy.” The woman had endured too much of our drama. I sometimes wondered if she wished she’d never met any of us.
“You think no more of it, Gabe.” She kept her head down and swept the floor as she continued. “You’ve done more than your fair share for that ungrateful woman.” The last words were mumbled, but I heard them loud and clear.
No matter the outcome with Harbor, I was done with Sandra. I’d enabled her for far too long, and it was time to cut the cord and make her responsible for herself.
Luna’s fingers stroked my back. “I’m sorry, Gabriel.”
Her apology caught me off-guard. “What for? You haven’t done anything.”
“I’m sure my being here hasn’t made things easier, and I guess I should have stayed upstairs.”
I shook my head and gave her a swift peck on the cheek. “This has been a long time coming, so don’t think you could have done anything to prevent it. It would have happened sooner or later for one reason or another. They’ve blamed me for my brother’s death since day one, and for a long time, I let them make me think it was my fault. I drowned myself in work and provided for them like they were my own.”
Judy walked to the kitchen door where she stopped and met my eyes. “You’re a good man.” Then she left, taking the shards of my antique vase with her. It had been my mother’s, and I chalked it up to one more thing Sandra had taken. No more.
“My father goes through the same thing, you know, about feeling responsible. In his case, it’s a little worse because he actually was responsible, but he had to learn long ago that it was never his intention and my mother didn’t die by his hand in some malicious way. There’s a difference. He felt guilty that it wasn’t him.”
She straightened my collar and brushed her hands down my arms until we were holding hands. “You’ve beat yourself up long enough, and you’ve done all you can for Sandra. You need to take some time and heal.”
“I think I used Sandra as a way of coping, but she’s only been a bandage on an open wound. I hope once I let her fend for herself, I’ll start to heal.” I shrugged, unsure of what the future held in that regard. “I guess the same way your father found the church, I found you.” The words surprised her, and she fell into my embrace.
“I’m glad you did.” She tucked her face toward my sleeve, and I took her around to the couch.
We lowered ourselves to the soft leather and held each other. It seemed so casual, like a husband and wife should be. “I’m glad I hired you two years ago. That was when I really hit the jackpot.” I kissed her hair and adjusted my arm behind her head. “It’s been a hell of a year. This time last year, I was wrapped up in the lawsuit. Then as soon as that was behind me, we had those layoffs. I’m surprised you didn’t walk out.”
“I love my job.” She met my eyes, and I wondered if she thought I’d let her go.
“And I meant what I said, the job is yours.” I sat in silence a moment more as she told me about her day, until my phone rang.
I sat up and dug my phone from my pocket, and after confirming it was Mason, I answered it. “Tell me something I want to hear.”
“They aren’t keeping him, but the questions are going to take a while. The good detectives here at the LAPD are no faster than our friends at LVPD.” Big surprise there. I didn’t doubt that they were as efficient in other areas, too.
Someone pulled his attention away and I heard him speak to someone in the room with him. “Are we going to have any problems with Sandra?”
“I’ve made her aware that they had a good reason to bring him in and I think she knows better than to start any trouble. After she threw a hissy fit and broke a vase, I told her I’m cutting her off.” Silenced followed that declaration and Mason whistled.
“I bet that went over well. Glad I missed it.” He’d always hated Sandra, and I had a feeling the news had made him smile. “I’d expect him home late, or early, depending on your lifestyle, but I wanted to warn you that the press is already stirring again. I’m sure they’re crowded around your gate now.”
“Thanks for the head’s up. I’ll make sure Joe’s on it.” I hung up the phone and dialed Joe. It would be a long night, and as I looked out the window, I realized I hadn’t eaten.
“Call your friend down, and I’ll get Judy to serve us on the patio. We may as well salvage the rest of the day while we can. Harbor will be a while, and if I know Sandra, she’s not coming out of the room anytime soon.”
“Kim and I already started without you. Sorry, but we couldn’t wait.” I smiled and kissed her hand before I stood and pulled her to her feet.
“I don’t blame you. We’ll have some wine and you can both finish telling me about your tour.” I needed a shot of normal, and Luna and Kim were just the right dose.