The Big Gamble - Michael Mcgarrity [61]
“It’s been no bother,” Deborah said.
“None at all,” Rojas said, giving Clayton a hearty handshake. “Good luck with your investigation.”
Outside, Clayton walked to his unit thinking how convenient it was that the girlfriend had been on hand to confirm Rojas’s story.
Chapter 8
Sally Greer rented a first-floor apartment in a building at the rear of the complex. There was no sign of activity inside, and her assigned parking space with the apartment number stenciled on the curb was empty. Ramona Piño found an inconspicuous spot away from the security night-lights and waited in her vehicle for Greer to make an appearance.
Ramona wasn’t sure how she would play it, if and when Greer showed up. Approaching her directly would raise too many questions. She would hang out for a while to see what developed. Besides, the only thing waiting for her back in Santa Fe was the tiny guest house she rented from a retired cop, whose last tenant had been Chief Kerney.
It was nice enough, but lonely. Moving out on her ex-boyfriend had been the smart thing to do. He’d turned into a channel-surfing couch potato, who spent his evenings at home watching cable sport shows, bitched at her for working late on the job, and never seemed to want to do anything fun.
During their last six months together, he’d treated her like a wife, and that wasn’t going to happen to her again. She needed a close relationship with someone who cared for her as a friend and lover, who accepted her as an equal, who respected her independence, who appreciated the demands of her job.
She wondered about Sgt. Jeff Vialpando. He was good-looking, seemed bright, had a sense of humor, and didn’t put out a macho attitude—all good signs. She put the skids on her thoughts and decided not to dwell on him any further. Lunch tomorrow would give her a better idea if he really had potential as a boyfriend, although dating a cop who lived sixty miles away might be something of a problem.
An hour into Piño’s wait, Greer appeared. Within a short time she was back in her car, after changing from tight-fitting jeans and a turtleneck pullover into a short dress with spiked heels.
Piño followed her downtown to a hotel near the convention center. Inside the crowded hotel bar, Greer joined two middle-aged men and a young woman at a table. Piño recognized the other woman from the photographs she’d seen at Thomas Deacon’s studio. Neither of the men looked to be particularly likely dates for such attractive young women.
She retreated to the lobby and sat behind a placard on an easel that welcomed a trade association to the hotel. When the foursome appeared Greer was paired off with one of the men, walking arm in arm to the main exit, smiling and chatting. She’d covered her facial bruises with makeup. Piño pegged the man with her to be in his fifties. Balding and portly, he had an eager expression on his face as he laughed at something Greer said.
Piño waited until they were outside before taking a side exit. By the time she turned the corner the foursome was gone, the taillights of a car fast disappearing down the street. As she walked to her vehicle Piño called her older sister, Rebecca, who lived in the city.
“Becky, I need a bed for the night, if it’s not an imposition.”
“Come on over,” Becky said.
“Can I use your computer and borrow some clothes?”
“Sure, I’d even throw in Tim, if you wanted him, but he’s out of town on business.”
Ramona laughed. Tim was Becky’s husband, and the two were about the most perfectly married couple imaginable. “Too bad. One night with me, and you’d be history.”
“I’ll tell him that when he calls.”
“Don’t you dare,” Ramona said as she pulled away from the curb. “See you in a few.”
A year apart in age, the two sisters were often taken for twins. Rebecca, a middle-school social-science teacher, was taller by a quarter of an inch, had thicker eyebrows, a slightly wider mouth, and a more oval face. On the phone to each other at least once a week, there wasn’t much catching up to do, so after a cup