Page 83 of You'll Never Find Me

But Margo? It seemed she was related to half the people in Phoenix. Her family had welcomed him as if he were one of theirs, even invited him and his grams over for Thanksgiving last year. His grams was nervous, wore her Sunday best, but everyone was real cool to her and raved over her peach pie.

Theo didn’t really understand what had happened three years ago when Margo and her mom had it out. He hadn’t known Margo then. All he knew was that it had something to do with her dad going to prison for murder. Margo said he was innocent and Theo made a crack that everyone said they were innocent. She had stared at him so hard his mouth went dry.

Now he knew more about Cooper Angelhart. And he felt for Margo, he really did, but if her dad pled guilty, maybe he was. Maybe it was Margo who needed to accept it. He never said that to her. He liked his job, and he liked Margo. Cooper Angelhart was an off-limits subject.

The pizza place wasn’t open, but he could smell Mexican food and his stomach growled. They were open for breakfast and lunch. The neighborhood went to shit at night, but during the day wasn’t too bad. He’d grab a breakfast burrito and put it on Margo’s tab when he talked to the Orozcos about their security cameras.

Margo had a shit-ton of mail. Did she ever come to her office? There was at least two weeks’ worth of crap here.

He sorted through it. Most of it was junk. He tossed it all, except two envelopes that looked like business (though were probably junk, too) and then checked her messages.

Margo gave clients her business card, which had this number and her cell number. She retrieved messages remotely, but people usually called her cell. There were currently two on the machine. An actual answering machine instead of a digital service. Why she had it, he didn’t know.

He grabbed a pen from the drawer and the sticky pad on the desk and hit Play.

The first was a hang-up a couple seconds after the beep. Whatever. He deleted it. The second call was also a hang-up, but the caller stayed on for several seconds, breathing.

Creepy. Theo saved it because it was unusual and Margo always said to watch for anything out of the ordinary.

He locked the door and walked three stores down to the Mexican diner. His stomach did a flip of excitement. He didn’t think they’d remember him, but the short chubby woman behind the counter smiled. “Theo! I haven’t seen you in weeks.”

“Hi, Miz Orozco.”

“The usual breakfast burrito?”

“You remember?”

“Carne asada, the works, no jalapeños, extra cheese.”

He grinned. He liked Mexican food, just not too spicy. “Perfect.”

She rapidly called his order into the kitchen in Spanish. “I’ll put it on Margo’s tab.”

“Appreciate it, ma’am. Margo wanted me to talk to you about your security camera.”

“That girl,” Mrs. Orozco shook her head, but smiled. “Yes, we listened to her, we make sure it’s working all the time. Tell her not to worry. We’ve had no trouble for months.”

“Would you mind if I look at the recordings for the last couple days?”

Her expression turned to alarm. “Has something happened?”

“Naw, not at all. Margo just wants me to check to see if someone has come by when she wasn’t here.” He was vague and Mrs. Orozco looked at him suspiciously, but he didn’t want to worry her.

“Margo takes so many risks, all the time.” She waved her arms around dramatically, then clutched the small gold crucifix she wore. “We pray for her every night. She nearly died saving Homer and my boy, Michael.” She kissed her cross before stuffing it back under her blouse.

That was before Theo’s time, but he’d heard the story from the Orozcos at least three times, and again from Margo’s grandpa over Thanksgiving. Margo said everyone exaggerated, that she didn’t nearly die. But she saved the Orozcos from an armed robber, and Theo liked hearing the story. At least the first couple of times.

“Margo is one of a kind,” Theo said. “She’s fine, just wanted me to check a few things, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all, not at all. Follow me, I’ll bring your breakfast to you in the back, okay?”

“Great.”

She showed Theo to the computer that ran the security cameras. She didn’t know how to use it, but gave him the login and password; that was all he needed.

The system didn’t have any bells and whistles, but was a good basic package. Two cameras, front and back. Digital video was stored on the computer for seven days, then erased. An alarm system when they were closed, a panic button if there was trouble during the day.

Theo ran through the feed fast, starting with Monday afternoon. If Carillo broke into Margo’s house Monday night, he could have come here right before or after. He looked specifically for the blue minivan.