Blood Betrayal by Ausma Zehanat Khan

Author:Ausma Zehanat Khan [Khan, Ausma Zehanat]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

A little over an hour later, Cat found herself on the stoop beside Graciela and several of Mateo’s cousins. Someone passed her an ice-cold Coke, and she downed it gratefully.

“Is there something bad about that club?” Graciela asked her.

“Not that I know of.” Cat thought it might be a strip club. With Graciela’s revelations, she moved it up her list of priorities.

“Is any of you over twenty-one?”

A young man with an Edgar haircut gave her a noncommittal look. She asked him to walk her to her car. His name was Vicente and he was related to Mateo on his father’s side, the son of the brother who resembled Antonio. He also looked quite a bit like Mateo, though his features were fuller and more hardened.

“Did you and Mateo hang out at the club?”

Vicente shook his head. “I work the night shift at a tow-truck company. When I do have a night off, I want to be with my girl.”

“Have you ever taken your girl to the club?”

“She’s a good girl,” he replied, confirming Cat’s suspicion that The Black Door was a strip club. “Her parents would kill me if I tried.”

“What can you tell me about the club?”

Vicente’s gaze darted down to Cat’s left hand, then back up to her face. He’d been checking for a wedding ring. When he saw it, he went a little pale.

“Nothing. I don’t go there.”

“So you don’t know what the attraction was for Mateo? Did you ever meet his girl?”

Vicente’s face went hard, and suddenly he looked much older than twenty-one.

“Mateo kept himself private. Maybe he thought we weren’t good enough for him.”

“Chicanos, you mean?”

“Mexicans, Chicanos. He never dated a girl on our block. He spoke English more than Spanish, and he didn’t like to do things with any of us except his sisters.”

Was Vicente trying to tell her that Mateo had worked a little too hard to assimilate? Had he needed to because he was at the School of Mines, and had been trying to fit in? She made a mental note to check out how many Latine kids were registered at the school. But if Vicente was suggesting that Mateo disparaged his own heritage …

“He played the bajo sexto,” she pointed out. “It must have meant something to him.”

Vicente shrugged. “Maybe. But he was into fusion, you know.” A faint contempt underlined the word. Catalina didn’t understand why.

“Was that so bad?”

“You can’t play American pop songs on the sexto, though Teo thought he could.” Vicente made a scoffing gesture. “Our music is just fine the way it is.”

“You and Mateo didn’t get along?”

Vicente gave her a moody look. He was a few inches taller than her, but he looked like he needed a hug. She refrained. She had to see her line of questioning through, even if her maternal instincts had kicked in.

“You have any kids?” Vicente asked.

She couldn’t hide her sadness at the question, and Vicente patted her hand.

“Lo siento. If you do someday, then don’t play favorites. It makes the other kids mad.

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