A Dead Nephew by Anna Celeste Burke

Author:Anna Celeste Burke [Burke, Anna Celeste]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-10T22:00:00+00:00

16 A Growing List of Oddities

Minutes later, I was on my way to the Coachella Valley. I decided to cut through Joshua Tree National Park to get back to the Coachella Valley. The back exit isn’t far from I-10 and, although the speed limit in the park is slow, the route is shorter. There isn’t much traffic, either.

As I drove through the amazing sights in the park, I had time to stew about my meeting with Sammy. Sammy and I parted on good terms. He gave me another of those big bear hugs and made me promise to tell Louie that he had a job for him once his troubles were behind him.

He’d finally told me that the man Billy Castro was referring to was Lenny Morgan and that the “lady friend” wasn’t his wife. The “tittle-tattle” Sammy had hesitated to share was that Lenny Morgan didn’t always handle his problems with women well. Supposedly, on at least one occasion, the girlfriend had to get dental work after he mishandled a problem with her.

I could understand why passing along information like that made Sammy uncomfortable. I’m not sure about “blood brothers,” but Lenny Morgan and John Lugo were close. Apparently, close enough to share the same philosophy about fidelity. Even repeating something negative someone else had said about Lenny Morgan might not go over so well with Sammy’s boss, John Lugo. When Sammy said he had no idea who Lenny Morgan’s girlfriends were, I didn’t believe him. He was more convincing when he told me he hadn’t told Sacramento anything about el hombre limpio.

“Are you kidding, Sistah? I’m trying to learn a little Spanish, but I don’t know enough to spit out Spanish words like that. I read that Auntie Agnes told the police some guy she called the Cleaner Man killed Sacramento. The only person I ever heard mention the Cleaner Man besides Auntie Agnes was Sacramento’s pal, Manny Ortiz. That was after Manny had a few drinks, so I didn’t pay much attention to what he said. Later, I heard he got into trouble after helping himself to a stack of gambling chips. Manny works for a different band of Indians now.”

*****

“You made it in time!” Amy exclaimed when I walked into my office just as she was leaving for lunch. “I’ll be back from lunch to welcome your first client. Jerry wants you to call him when you can. It’s nothing urgent, so anytime this afternoon will be fine. Ellen’s taken her client to lunch, which will probably take most of the afternoon. Phil says thanks for the help with the contract, and he’s going to sit in on the closing. Meg has a custody hearing, so Kim’s the only one here. She’s excited about some information she has for you. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this before you get to your office. It’s all in the note I left on your desk.”

“I’m glad to hear Kim has news for me. My morning interview with Sammy Keanu left me with more questions than answers.

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