False Prophet

“Which people?”

“Diferentes. I thin’ sometimes a boy comes to pick the vegetables.”

“A boy? A muchacho?”

“No. More old. His name is Mike.”

“Mike,” Decker repeated. “Do you know his last name?”

Mercedes shook her head.

“But he works at Lilah’s spa?”

“Jes, I thin’.”

“Okay,” Decker said. “So Señor Carl doesn’t fix things in the house.”

“No. Jus’ work with the horses, mebbe pick vegetables, también. I don’ know.”

“Do you ever make breakfast or lunch for Señor Carl?”

“No.”

“Do you make him snacks? Give him some juice when the weather gets hot?”

“No, he stay out of the house, I stay in the house. We don’ talk, mebbe jus’ one or two time a year. He come to the house and ask for Missy Lilah. But he never come in the house.”

“Does he ever use the bathroom in the house?”

“No, I thin’ he have a toilet.”

“You ever wash his clothes?”

Mercedes shook her head.

Decker leaned in close and whispered, “Does he scare you?”

The maid wrinkled her lips and shook her head. “No, he don’ scare me. Missy Lilah say he nice. I thin’ he nice, too. But I thin’, he’s a little …” With her right index finger, she made air circles next to her right temple.

“A little crazy?”

“Mebbe. But I thin’ he love Missy Lilah. One time, Missy Lilah and her brother have a bad fight outside. Missy Lilah don’ let her brother in the house and he get mad. Señor Carl hear it and he get real mad.” She demonstrated his anger by wrinkling her nose and balling her fist. “He go in of the stable and get a big shobel. He show it to El Doctor and jell at him, and make him go away.”

“It was a bad fight?”

“Jes, very bad.”

“Does Missy Lilah fight a lot with Doctor Freddy?”

“Oh, no!” Mercedes was wide-eyed. “Missy Lilah no fight with Doctor Freddy, never. This was el otro doctor, su otro hermano.”

Decker digested that. “She has two brothers?”

“Jes.”

“And both are doctors?”

“Jes. El otro doctor come here mebbe two or three time since I work here. Missy Lilah don’ like him. He come and dey fight. Señor Carl, he chase him away last time. Jell at him, shake his shobel. Say: ‘Go away. Go away or I kill you.’”

“What’s el otro doctor’s name?”

“Missy Lilah don’ tell me. She just call him su otro hermano.”

“How do you know he’s a doctor?”

Mercedes was silent. “I don’ remember. I jus’ know he’s a doctor.”

“When Carl chased him away, how long ago was that?”

“I thin’ mebbe two years ago.”

“You haven’t seen su otro hermano in two years?”

“No.”

“Okay, let’s go back to Señor Carl. You think he’s a little crazy? Un poco loco?”

“More estupid.”

“You ever see him be crazy with Missy Lilah?”

Mercedes shook her head.

“Did he ever act crazy with you?”

Again a shake of the head.

Decker checked his watch. It was almost noon and his stomach was growling. But before lunch, he wanted to check out Señor Totes himself. Marge should have picked the stable hand’s brain by now. He’d confer with her, then ask Totes about the fight Lilah had with her other doctor brother. Maybe send Marge down to the spa to check out this Mike character. He pocketed his notepad and thanked the maid for her time.

3

“Be it ever so humble …” Marge smiled. “May not be much, but Totes calls it home. Makes my place look pretty high-end.”

Decker smiled, his eyes examining the horseless stall. The wooden floor was clean, most of it covered by a moth-eaten, hand-loomed rug. An army cot lay in the middle of the area, brown standard-issue blankets folded neatly at its foot. Against the back was a two-burner hot plate plugged into an electrical socket. Jammed into the corners were piles of canned goods, a broom, a mop, and a dustpan. Wooden wall knobs, ordinarily used to hang tack, held dirty denim overalls and dust-covered work shirts on the left side, a bath towel, a circular kitchen towel, and a heavy skillet on the right. Not a lot of living space, but then again, the horses never complained.

“A bit of a contrast from the main house,” Marge said. “Notice all the antiques at her place?”

Decker nodded.