Page 141 of Don't Say a Word

My mom, perhaps sensing my edginess, said, “Manny, we have made some progress in our investigation for Alina.”

He smiled sadly, put his hand to his heart. “She will be relieved. I invited her tonight, but she declined. I didn’t push. When I lost my wife, I didn’t want to leave the house for months. I can imagine how much worse it is to lose a child.”

Mom said, “We believe there may be someone at the Cactus Stop who is engaging in illegal activity that Elijah uncovered, which may have resulted in his being poisoned with fentanyl.”

Ramos blinked, then his eyes darkened. He was angry.I would be too, I thought.

“Who?” he demanded.

Mom straightened her spine at the tone. “We don’t have confirmation. It’s mostly hearsay.”

I said, “A friend of Elijah’s died of a drug overdose in July. After, he began taking pictures of people going in and out of the store—he did this in the evenings for about two months. I found text exchanges between Elijah and this friend that implies, but doesn’t confirm, that Desiree Jimenez may have been dealing drugs. She may not have been doing it through the store,” I saidquickly, even though I was positive she was, “but based on Elijah’s behavior, he believed she was.”

Ramos was quiet. A vein throbbed in his neck.

Mom said, “We wanted to tell you because there is some evidence that Ms. Jimenez and her assistant manager may be using the EBT system or dealing directly behind the counter. We considered going to the police with the information, but again, we have no hard evidence, and this appears to be an isolated situation at the Hatcher store.”

“I see,” Ramos said. “I’m stunned. Desiree has worked for me for years. Why would she do this?”

“Her brother went to prison for dealing drugs and attempted murder,” I said. “She could have been working with him back then, took over his end of the business. I’m not sure yet because I haven’t been able to track him down.”

I didn’t mention that I thought he was dead. That seemed a bit morbid and not on point with what we were discussing.

“I will have my accountant audit the store immediately, and I’ll send in my own investigator. I have someone on staff who does this, though he’s usually looking for people skimming or stealing, notdealing.” He squeezed his eyes tight with his thumb and forefinger. “Dear Lord, if that poor boy was killed because of this? Why didn’t he come to me?”

“Blame is only on the person who killed him,” Mom said firmly.

“Elijah may have been thinking about it,” I said. “I found evidence on his computer that he visited the Cactus Stop corporate site multiple times. He may have been trying to figure out who to call about what he observed. But going to the owner? That’s jumping over a half dozen people, so he may not have been comfortable.”

“I knew the boy,” Ramos said. “Not well, but I knew him. And Alina works for me as well.”

That was news to me.

“She does?”

“Yes. She started working for my company last year after we terminated the contract with our cleaning company and decided to hire directly. It was more cost-effective to hire two full-time staff than to contract out. She urged Elijah to apply for a clerk position because of my predilection to hire high school students. I remember how hard it was to find a job when I was in high school, and how so many kids turn to petty theft or drugs because they feel they have no future.”

Bill said, “You’ve helped turn things around, Manny. The Sunnyslope youth center is always busy, and with the work programs at the high schools, these kids have options you and I didn’t have forty years ago.”

My phone was vibrating and I finally looked down at the message. It was from Jack.

Hitch just showed up at the office. You need to be here.

It was eight thirty.

I responded:I’ll leave in five minutes.

I listened as the conversation shifted to Ramos’s philanthropic activities, but it was clear his heart wasn’t in it. I’d want to act quickly if I learned one of my managers had abused my trust—and possibly killed one of my employees.

I found an opening in the conversation and said, “I have a very early morning, so I need to go. Uncle Rafe?”

Mom said, “I can take Rafe back.” She got up. “Besides, I should leave as well. Last night’s party is catching up with me.”

Ramos walked the three of us to the door while Bill went to use the bathroom. “It was so good to get to know you better, Margo. I promise, I will get to the bottom of what is going on at my Hatcher store. Thank you so much for letting me know.” He reached for my hand, shook it. “If you find anything else, call me, anytime. It’ll take a few days to get the audit started, but I will make sure nothing like this happens again.” He paused. “Have you told Alina?”

“Not yet,” I said. “What I think and what I can prove are two different things. But I plan to tell her that her son was trying to do the right thing by exposing a drug dealer, and that person may have killed him. I won’t give her details because again, I can’t prove it.”

Mom said, “You’ll want to go to the police, Manny. Tell them what you suspect, and let them investigate. Margo was followed, so there is at least one other person involved, perhaps working with your manager. He could be more dangerous, someone who won’t care if there’s collateral damage.”