Page 46 of True Valor
Technically, Eric Cruz was from BeverlyHills.His father was one of the top plastic surgeons to the stars.Joey used to say Hollywood had grown up with a silver carabineer inhis mouth.The image never worked, but it always made Cruz curse ablue streak in Spanish and was good for a laugh.His habit ofslipping into Spanish was the only evidence Cruz was stressed.
When the waitress finally left after takingtheir order, Nic spoke.“How is she?”The question came out in acroak and felt like it was wrenched from his guts.
“She misses you.”
“Did she say that?”Nic couldn’t imaginethat, after what he’d done to her.
“No.”At Nic’s unspoken question, Cruzanswered, “She didn’t kiss me back.”
Again, that loyalty question darted throughNic’s mind.Cruz would never betray him, but the question remained:What the hell was he doing kissing Julie?Like usual, Cruz readNic’s mind.
“I’m posing as her fiancé,” Cruz saidmatter-of-factly leaning back with a cat-swallowed-the-canarylook.
“I hope you have a good reason for that.”
Cruz raised an eyebrow and grinned.“She’s avery beautiful woman.”
“And that’s why you’re posing as her fiancé?Because she’s a beautiful woman?”
Now Cruz laughed.“It was the best I couldthink of on short notice.Sorry, man.”
The waitress came with a tray of food.Shesmiled seductively at Eric and slipped a small piece of paper intohis hand.He smiled back in a friendly manner, slipped the piece ofpaper into his pocket, and picked up his fork.
They ate in silence for a few minutes beforeNic spoke.“So, what did you find out?”
“In general, or from Julie?”
“From Julie.”This game was getting tiresome.Or maybe Nic was just irritated because Cruz had seen Julie morerecently than he had.
Cruz thought for a minute and lay down hisfork.“You didn’t tell me Julie had a black belt.”
“Does she?”
“She managed to defend herself against a manwho pulled a gun on her.Either you didn’t tell me that part, orshe hadn’t remembered yet.”
Nic shook his head.“I don’t know that part.Fill me in.”
“Well, after she walked into her parents’room and saw the man standing with his back to her, he turned andwas apparently surprised to see her.He raised his pistol, andJulie kicked it out of his hand, kicked him in the knee, and ranfor her life.He managed to get off a few shots at the car butdidn’t hit her, thank God.”
This was news to Nic.While Julie had toldhim what she remembered, her memory had stopped after Ski-Mask Dudeturned around.But dead Doug had mentioned the kick that left thebad guy limping.
“Is that all she said?”
“No.I asked her how tall the guy was and shesaid about six inches shorter than me,” Cruz picked up his fork.After a few bites, he continued, “She didn’t see the guy’s eyeswell enough to tell me what color they were.”
Nic had to think.He twirled his fork in whatused to be a stack of pancakes, now mush.Eric was maybe two inchestaller than Nic.The good sheriff was, if Nic remembered correctly,only an inch or so shorter than Nic.Maybe Julie just didn’t havetime to see how tall the murderer was.
Maybe he hadn’t had his cowboy boots on thatnight.
When they got back to the motel, Cruz draggedout his laptop, opened it, and turned it on.
“I brought your cell and charger,” he said,tossing a bag to Nic.
“Thanks.”
Together, they spent the next hour going overthe facts they had.It would take a lot more before they could goto the authorities with anything that remotely resembled proof.Even if Julie had been completely accurate in her description ofSki-Mask Dude, that alone was not enough.They still needed tofigure out a motive for the sheriff of a small town to murder anentire family.
An idea struck Nic.It must have shown on hisface because Cruz looked at him, a sense of foreboding written onhisface.
