False Prophet

“None of the furniture was moved or the vases put on a different table … anything like that?”

“No. Jus’ the door to Missy Lilah’s bedroom is open. She like it closed.”

“But nothing different in the living room, dining room?”

She shook her head.

“The front door was locked?”

“Jes. I use my key to come in.”

“You have a key?”

“Jes.”

“Anyone else in your family know you have a key to her house?”

Mercedes’s face flushed with fear. “Ninguna persona! I keep it in especial place.”

“So you’re positive that no one has the key to Missy Lilah’s house.”

“Ninguna persona en mi familia. Jus’ me.”

Decker told her he believed her, but kept the question open in his mind. “When you came in this morning, did you go straight to the bedroom? Or did you do something else first? Hang up your coat and purse, start the washing machine?”

“I hang up my coat and look around. Everythin’ is okay. Entonces, I see the door open—”

“The bedroom door?”

“Jes, the bedroom door. I go to close it, I see Missy Lilah—”

Covering her face, she burst into sudden tears, sobbing for a full minute, Decker waiting until the crying subsided. Mercedes reached inside her purse, found wrinkled tissue and wiped her eyes. “She be okay, Missy Lilah?”

“I think so.”

“I pray to Dios—to Jesús—she be okay. I go to church today to pray for Missy Lilah.”

“It’s good to pray,” Decker said.

“Jes.”

“Makes you feel better?”

Mercedes nodded. “Everyone need ayuda—help.”

Ain’t that the truth. Decker patted her hand. “Mercedes, do you clean Missy Lilah’s room every day?”

“Jes.”

“You clean inside her closet?”

“Jes, I vacuum every day there. She don’ like the dust.”

“In the closet, there’s a big safe.”

“Jes.”

“You dust the safe?”

“Jes, every day.”

“Did you dust the safe yesterday?”

“Jes, every day.”

“Do you wear gloves when you dust the safe?”

“I don’ wear gloves, only when I clean the toilet.”

“So it’s possible that your hands touched the safe. Es posible que su mano ha tacado la puerta de la caja de seguridad?”

“Sí, es posible.”

Benny had pulled some latents from the safe. The maid was going to have to be inked for print comparison. But there was a good side to her compulsive cleaning; the safe had been wiped clean every day. If some of the latents belonged to Lilah, she had to have opened the safe after Mercedes cleaned it yesterday. Had she been forced to open it? Or maybe she put something valuable inside yesterday and someone had known about it.

Decker scribbled a few notes—questions he’d bring up with Lilah. Hopefully, she’d be completely conscious by late afternoon, in good-enough shape to be interviewed briefly. “We’re just about done, Mercedes. Just a few more questions. I want to talk about the man who works with the horses.”

“Señor Carl?”

“Yes. He says he lives in the stables. Is that true?”

“Jes.”

“How long has he lived there?”

“Four, fife years. He come after me, but he work for Missy Lilah for a long time.”

“You see him a lot?”

“No.”

“If something breaks in the house, who fixes it?”

Mercedes thought. “Missy Lilah send someone—different peoples. Sometimes people from her work.”

“From her work? You mean the spa?”

“Jes.”