Robert J. Randisi (ed) by Most Wanted

Author:Most Wanted [Wanted, Most]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

It turned out to be a nice starter home there, maybe ten blocks from the Taste of China’s strip mall but set back into a residential neighborhood. Basketball hoops on the carports and bicycles in the drives, a perfect spot for prospective. . . newlyweds.

I parked the convertible on the street and walked up to the front door. Knocking, I heard an immediate “Coming” from a male voice, and moments later the man with reddish, curly hair in the Ballantine family candid opened the door.

“Can I help you?” he said.

I held up my license and the photo his wife had given me.

“Oh, no.”

“If you let me in, this might be easier.”

“Who is it?” called a female voice from the rear of the house.

Ballantine called back. “Just someone to see me about a. . . job reference.”

I thought that was pretty cute.

Then he said, “Please, don’t say anything to Azura.”

“She’s going to find out sooner or later.”

“Maybe not,” said Ballantine, though without even a hint of threat in the way he said it.

We went toward the other voice, now asking, ‘Teddy, maybe I should meet him?”

Ballantine ushered me into the Florida room, a glass-walled area that in cooler weather would give way to screens and a pleasant view of a gardened backyard.

A view that Azura Delgado couldn’t appreciate.

The sunglasses were wraparounds, but just the way she stood from the swinging sofa and slightly misdirected her face told me the eyes behind them didn’t know quite where I was. She extended a hand, also off-kilter. I stepped forward and took it, Delgado angling fifteen degrees to now face me squarely.

“Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?” she said.

“Sorry. My name’s Rory, Rory. . . Calvert. Pleasure to meet you.”

“Believe this: it’s a pleasure for me to meet anyone.” Then a bright, musical laugh, and I noticed a pair of Walkman headphones down around her collared blouse, almost like a necklace.

Ballantine said, “Mr. Calvert wants to talk with me alone.”

“That’s fine, Teddy. But, please, Mr. Calvert, stop by to say good-bye before you leave, okay?”

“I will.”

Ballantine led me back into the living room. I let him sit first.

He waited, then said, “I’m pretty sure shell have the headphones back on now.”

I eased into a chair. “How bad is it?”

“The blindness? Permanent.”

“Nothing the doctors can do?”

“Mr. Calhoun, it’s not just her vision that’s gone.” Ballantine looked at his hands. “The dust storm took Azura’s eyes themselves.”

Jesus Christ.

He glanced over to me. “As an insurance broker, I used to be pretty good at making pitches. Let me try to make you understand.”

“That might not be any of my business.”

He began to wring his hands now. “Indulge me. Please?”

After a moment, I leaned back in my chair.

Ballantine canted his head toward the Florida room. I hooked up with Azura last year, through a friend of mine from the trade named José Acosta.”

“I’ve met his wife.”

“You have?”

“Through yours.”

Ballantine blanched, but drove on. “I was nuts about Azura from the get-go. Well, José didn’t know her that well—she’d just interned with his office down here for a few months.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.