Raj went instantly icy. His smarmy grin frosted over. Behind him, his sister covered her delighted mouth.
“What?” he asked.
“You heard me,” Maggie said with steel in her voice.
He laughed. “You must be crazy.”
“Quite a triangle you got yourself into, Raj. Did Adela catch you in bed with her mother? Or maybe Hector found out about you. I can't imagine his surprise, finding out that not only were you deflowering his precious daughter, but you were also poking his wife.”
He was nervous now. His face was flushed, and he sputtered out the words, “You can't prove that.”
I checked out the sister. She was loving every minute of it. She was giggling, her hands clamped over her mouth.
Maggie decided to push him. “Maybe you're the one that killed them, Raj. Maybe Hector found out about you, and he was going to fire you. There goes your dream of working in front of a camera. It's not like there are any other news agencies on this planet. Lagarto Libre's the only game in town.”
He shook his head no.
“You had to kill him, didn't you? He was going to ruin your life. And you had to kill Margarita, too. If you hadn't, she would've told on you.”
Raj kept shaking his head, and now he was biting his lip. I sat on the edge of my seat, reading the signals he was giving off-hand wringing, foot tapping. He kept reaching up to scratch a nonexistent itch on his cheek. He was close to tipping. Keep pushing, Maggie.
Maggie switched to a motherly voice. “Just tell us the truth, Raj.”
“No,” he said. “I'm not going to talk to you anymore.” He was shutting down.
Maggie is screwing this up. Stop fucking around with the nice tone and push him, hard.
“C'mon, Raj, just tell us the truth,” she said lamely.
I looked at Raj. He had his arms crossed. He was clamming up tight. “I'm not saying another word,” he said.
Son of a bitch. I'll do it myself. I tried to put my finger in his face, forgetting my fingers were all wrapped up tight. I had my whole shaky karate-chop hand pointing at his nose. “You better start talking, you little shit. Adela's going to get gassed, and I don't have time for your bullshit-”
“Mom! Dad! They're harassing me!”
“Be quiet you little-”
“Mom! Dad!”
Shit.
The sister disappeared an instant before Mr. and Mrs. Gupta came rushing in. “What's going on here?”
“They're harassing me,” Raj griped.
Maggie was glaring at me. Fuck me.
“Call our lawyer,” said the father.
“No need to do that,” I said. “We were just leaving.”
I followed Maggie to the door, utterly defeated. I took one last peek back-mother and father standing together, behind their son, and way over, in the corner, was the sister, making very deliberate eye contact with me.
Maggie laid into me the instant the door closed. “Dammit, Juno. I had it under control. What were you thinking?” I circled around to the side of the house as Maggie kept jawing. “Don't forget that I'm the cop.” I ignored her and picked my way into the overgrown jungle that clung to the side of the house. “Where are you going?”
“I'll be right back.” I got soaked by large drops of water that shook loose from the vines above as I rustled my way alongside the house, breaking through any vines that tried to hold me back. I made it to the back patio and looked at the windows, trying to guess which one was hers. She made it easy by flicking her light on and off. Smart girl. I crept up to her window and attempted a one-handed chin-up, winding up on my ass. I found a patio chair and pulled it over to the window then stepped up, reached my hand through the bars, and rapped lightly on the glass.
Raj's little sister opened the window with the biggest brace-faced smile I'd ever seen. She handed me a vid then put her finger to her mouth and shushed.
My phone rang: Ian.
Maggie paused the vid we got from Raj's sister, and Margarita Juarez's bobbing head stopped in fellating freeze-frame.
“Yeah,” I said.
A holographic Ian overlaid the scene, his appearance blocking the blowing. “Hey, boy-o, it's time for your report.”
My nerves hummed. I'd already planned out what I would tell him, but that didn't stop a surge of doubt from suddenly running through me. Maybe I was forgetting something. Maybe I'd say the wrong thing. “Maggie interviewed Inez Shenko. Remember her?”
“Yeah. Did you go with her?”
“Of course I did. Inez told her about the affair between Adela's boyfriend and her mother.”
He said, “Damn.” He sounded frustrated, yet his holo kept up its brainless grinning. Most of the time these canned phone holos were a real nuisance, always looking happier than you'd ever seen that person look in real life, but with Holo-Ian it was totally eerie, him standing there with that plastered-on smile. “Anything else?” he asked, sounding like he was asking through clenched teeth.
“Yeah. After Shenko, she went to visit Adela's boyfriend, Raj, but Maggie didn't get shit out of him. He denied the affair, and the parents threatened to lawyer up. Still, you might want to talk to him. He looked a little shaky when Maggie started pushing him.”
I waited for his reaction, my ears tuned to his mood, trying to pick up any sign that he was getting suspicious.
“Okay. Is that it?” he said.
There was no hint of suspicion in his voice. I had him. I was getting nervous for nothing. It was time I nudged him. I braced for the worst as I upped the ante. “Yeah, but it might help if you told me why you're covering for the kid. It's hard to steer the questioning down a safe road when I don't know where the cliffs are.”
I held my breath as Holo-Ian took a long time answering. “Not over the phone, boy-o. Come to Roby's.”
“Will do.”
Holo-Ian vanished, leaving us staring at Margarita taking a mouthful of Raj Gupta.
Maggie started the vid again. “Do you thing it's wise to meet with him again?”
“I think so. Nothing's changed since last night.”
“Except we interviewed Inez and, and lover boy.” Maggie threw a disgusted gesture at the vid.
“So?”