Betrayed

Chapter 7

Shane stepped out of the bathroom, still listening to the Spanish conversation and picking up only a few words here and there. He arrived in the living room to see Elena confronting a dark-haired man who looked to be in his early thirties. His narrow lips were set in a grim line, and his angry, deep-set eyes were focused on her.

When he saw Shane approaching, he turned his attention to him and switched to English that was much more accented than Elena’s.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

“Who are you?” Shane countered.

The guy’s hands went to his hips in an aggressive stance. “I said who are you? And I’d like to know what you’re doing here.”

Elena answered quickly. “This is Shane Gallagher. He works at S&D. My car broke down, and he gave me a ride home—after he tried to see if he could fix the car. He got his hands dirty under the hood, and he came in to wash them.” She looked from the newcomer to Shane and back again. “Shane, this is my brother, Alesandro.”

Neither of them said, “Glad to meet you,” but the brother relaxed a fraction.

“I was just leaving,” Shane said, wishing he had an excuse to stay for a few more minutes. He hadn’t accomplished his main mission in coming here, but it was instructive to observe the relationship between brother and sister. The guy seemed overprotective. Or was “protective” the right word?

Shane didn’t have much experience with cultures where the men ran roughshod over the women, but he had wondered if that was the case with Elena’s family. She’d talked about them a little, but now he had a better idea of where she was coming from, as the phrase went.

The brother stepped out of the way, and Shane exited the apartment, hearing the door close firmly behind him. He had to fight the temptation to stay where he was and press his ear to the door to find out what was going to happen in there now. But he could picture Alesandro pulling the door open again and discovering the Good Samaritan was a snooper.

With a sigh, Shane walked rapidly down the steps and out to his SUV. Too bad he didn’t carry around equipment like a directional mike. Of course, they had probably switched back to Spanish, and the effort would be wasted.

He looked up at the lighted window that he now knew was Elena’s and waited a couple of minutes. Finally, he drove away, wondering why the guy had shown up in the first place. Had he followed them from work? Or was he just making a social call on his sister? It didn’t exactly seem like it. He’d been angry or upset when he came in.

Shane thought about the two people in the apartment as he drove home. Elena spoke almost as if she’d been born here. Her brother, not so much. But he’d been older when his parents emigrated. That could have made the difference, or maybe he hadn’t put as much effort into assimilation.

Elena stood facing her brother. He looked upset. Because of Shane, or was it something else?

“I don’t like coming over and finding a guy in your apartment,” he said, switching back to Spanish.

There were a lot of things she wanted to say. Like—that’s none of your business. Or—are you checking up on me? Or—how dare you decide who I can see. But she pressed her lips together. She’d been taught respect, and she wasn’t going to throw that away because her brother was acting like a jerk.

Instead she said, “You haven’t visited in a while.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she hoped they didn’t sound like an accusation.

“Sorry. I’ve been busy,” he said in an apologetic voice.

“Did you eat dinner yet?”

He turned one hand palm up. “I’m fine.”

Maybe if he was referring to food. But from the tone of his voice, she thought that wasn’t entirely true. Something was wrong.

To give herself a little breathing room, she asked, “Do you mind if I eat something? It’s been a long day.”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

She was glad for the chance to turn away from him as she opened the refrigerator and got out the dinner portion of rice, beans, and chicken she’d barely touched yesterday.

She covered the bowl with wax paper and put it into the microwave.

When she looked up and saw Alesandro watching her, she asked, “Can I get you something to drink?”

“You got any hard stuff?”

“No. Sorry.”

“Wine?”

“I don’t really drink.”

“Yeah, right. Okay, you got soft drinks?”

“Ginger ale.”

He wrinkled his nose but let her put ice in a glass and pour some of the fizzing liquid over the ice.

He fiddled with the glass, then sat down at the table. When the rice dish was heated, she put a mug with water and a tea bag into the microwave.

She sat across from her brother and ate a few bites of her dinner, then glanced up as he shifted in his chair.

She could let this go on for a few minutes, or she could find out what was going on.

“Why did you come over?” she asked.

“I’m in trouble, and I hope you can help me,” he answered, surprising her with his bluntness.

Elena put down her spoon. “What’s wrong, and how can I help?”

He gave her a look that said he wasn’t happy about providing an explanation, but he knew she wasn’t going to cooperate unless he did.

“I’ve gotten into some stuff I can’t handle,” he clipped out.

“Like what, exactly?” she asked, feeling as though she were prying a piece of hardened gum off the bottom of her shoe.

“I was making a delivery.”

“At the rental car agency? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Not the car agency.” He stopped and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “It’s better if you don’t know.”

She waited for more information.

“Someone’s got the goods on me. They can have me arrested big time if they want. But they told me there’s a way out. If you can get me some information from S&D.”

“What are you trying to say?” she asked in a voice that hardly sounded like her own.

He leaned across the table toward her. “There was a guy who died. Arnold Blake.”

There was the name again. She hadn’t thought about Arnold Blake in months, and now both Shane and her brother had brought him up.

“What about him?” she managed to ask.

“He took some information from S&D. He was supposed to turn it over to a guy, but he didn’t do it. That’s how he ended up dead.”

“I don’t understand. What do you want me to do—exactly?”

“Find out where he hid the material, and bring it to me.”