Double Down by M.B. Austin

Author:M.B. Austin [Austin, M.B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781635554243
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2019-06-18T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Maji sat quietly on the hard wooden pew, enjoying the solitude and the patterns of color from the early morning light through the stained glass windows.

“Company approaching on the plaza side,” came Dave’s voice through her earpiece. “Two photogs and a camera van.”

“Want me to stay put?”

“They can’t get in. What do you see in there?”

Looking around at all the frescoes, the stations of the cross, the stained glass, and the gilt work, Maji could almost imagine being here in the 1700s. Well, minus the sneakers and jeans. She’d probably be in rags, a peasant. “Just a really nice church. Soaring ceilings, aroma of incense and candles, the usual.”

“Way to sell it. You must have grown up with serious Catholic bling if that place doesn’t impress you. No sign of him?”

“Not everybody with a Spanish surname goes to mass, Brown. But, yeah, it’s pretty cool.” Looking at the emblems of the cockerel on the floor tiles, Maji wondered if Arturo Echeverra had discussed those with his daughter as well. It was pretty funny, roosters all over the floor of an otherwise grand and cathedral-like church. Her own Catholic father would have made it seem hilarious. “And spooky quiet. How long do we give him to show?”

“Until staff arrive to open the place to the public. Keep checking out the interior. We’ll make sure the press stay out.”

So Maji wandered to the side chapels, checking out the smaller altars of the saints. None of it spoke to her of a higher power the way the ocean did, or the mountains or desert, for that matter. But the deep silence was soothing.

The massive front door rattled. “The press seem pretty sure Erlea’s in here.”

“Roger that. One of them is going around the side of the building.”

Maji heard movement and faded back into the shadows. A man in work clothes emerged from the sacristy and headed for the rattling door. “Staff’s here already.” Paid off by a news outlet to provide access? “The sexton may be letting them in.”

“Stay out of sight.”

“Roger. Rios out.”

Maji slipped into a shadowed nook. Not a great spot to run from, but…

“We’re closed!” the sexton yelled through the slot in the front door, first in Catalan and then in Spanish. For good measure he did so one more time, in thickly accented English. Maji couldn’t make out the voices on the other side, but the sexton sounded resolute when he replied, “Come back at ten,” and stomped away. Bless his cranky heart.

“Still out front. Setting up video,” Dave said, updating her. “Stay put. Any sign of Echeverra?”

The sexton stopped in the dead center of the church, sweeping his eyes over the side chapels in Maji’s vicinity. “Please tell me you didn’t leave,” he said in a low voice, his Spanish more cultivated than what he’d yelled at the reporters. “It should be safe to talk now.”

Daddy in the house. Maji waited to hear if Dave had caught Echeverra’s entreaty.

“Proceed with caution,” Dave instructed.

Maji stepped out of the shadows.

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