It was early on Thursday morning. I had not slept a wink during the night. It wasn't a new thing. For as long as I could remember, I had been dealing with insomnia. During the course of the night, though, I kept myself busy once again by watching the security feed I had installed in Alice's new room. It had been my favorite pastime since she moved in as my kids' nanny. I had been waiting patiently and watching for the mask to slip, even though it was still too early. Little Rabbit was too quiet, too perfect, and in my world, perfection was usually the first sign of a lie.
I stood up from my desk and went to look out the window. It was raining lightly outside. One of my Jeeps was parked in the open field. As I continued watching, three black umbrellas exited the house and approached the Jeep. My parents were in town, and since they weren't available the last Thursday when I had my weekly party, they had requested that I send the kids earlier to make it up.
Alice was escorting them to the Jeep that would take them straight to my parents' place. I had instructed Doña Esperanza to go in place of Alice. If Alice was a spy, I had no intention of letting her find the vulnerabilities she was looking for. She could be the nanny, but she would never be the one holding the keys.
I kept watching until they said their goodbyes and the Jeep drove off. Slowly, Alice walked back into the house. Ever since I had asked Lucy to keep a close eye on Alice, I had refrained from asking Lucy what Alice's views of me were. I turned from the window and approached the laptop I had set up in the corner of my study for the sole purpose of keeping my eyes on Alice.
As predicted, Alice walked into her room and sat on the bed. I watched her take off her shoes. Then she just looked blankly into space, probably contemplating what she should do with the free time available. Because of her status as the nanny, she was free to wear any clothes of her choice. She had on a pair of jeans and a simple white T-shirt that had "Run This City" inscribed on it. She stood up to pace a bit before she took out her cell phone to make a call.
"Hey, Cynthia, what's up?" she said into her phone. This was the first time since she had moved into her place that she had made a call. She listened for a while before she spoke. "All is good here. The kids are off to their grandparents' house, and I was left behind. I don't understand the reason for it because I'm their nanny. I should have tagged along, right?"
Could she be giving updated information to the person she works for? I should have had her cell bugged. Or better still, present her with a new bugged one. I immediately sent a message to Lucy telling her I needed her to get a new phone and to also have it wired.
Alice gave a hearty laugh.
"Yeah, okay. How's my Tía, by the way?" she asked and kept quiet as she listened to the report from Cynthia on the other side.
"Oh, thank you so much, love. I don't know what I'd have done without you. And for what you did for my Tía? I really appreciate it, I swear. Did you receive the money I sent yesterday?... Okay, that's good... I know, I know..." As she said this, her face fell.
Oh, I needed her phone bugged so badly. I hated being out of control.
"Anyways, I'm working on it... How's Leo and everyone at home? ...Oh no, he did not!" she giggled after that. She listened intently to the voice on the other side, and I assumed she was either receiving instructions or listening to gossip.
My phone rang with an incoming call. I didn't take my eyes off the pacing Alice while I took the call.
"Hello," I said into the receiver.
"Yeah, so I got your text, Boss. I'll get it. I have news for you, though. One of your warehouses was torched. The one where the snuffs are kept. Sergio just called me to update me on this. He said it was staged to look like an accident. I have my suspicions, and I'm sure you're thinking along the same lines. Sadly, the heat was so intense that we couldn't catch the perpetrators, and all the guards were killed," Lucy reported.
"Is that so?" I asked calmly.
"It is, big gun. Not to be forward, but I suggest we take action before it's too late. Have him brought in, tortured, and executed. I mean, he's just one guy, and I promise to do a fine job. You let him get away with Meteo's death; he can't get away with this too. Just give your word," she said.
I thought about all that was at stake for a moment. Even though I had predicted he would make another move sooner or later, I had not intercepted it. Being without a right-hand man was causing decision-making to be slow.
"I know exactly whose hand held the match, Lucy, but I'm not in the business of playing tag with a coward. He's a cockroach hiding behind a wall of men, and if I strike now, he'll just burrow deeper into the shadows. I don't want his proxies. I need Meteo's replacement to find the crack in his armor. Then we won't just execute him; we'll dismantle everything he's ever built. Men like him always trip over their own feet when they think they've finally outsmarted a Montoya," I explained.
"So, in the meantime, we keep taking losses? Seriously, Big Gun?" Lucy asked.
"Patience, Lucy," I told her.
"If you say so, Big Gun. The scouts are standing by for instructions," she told me. As I watched the feed, Alice ended her phone call and exited her room.
"I'll talk to you later today before tonight's party," I said.
"Sure, Big Gun. I'll need to ask you for something. How about you consider me being your right hand?"
"It's not happening, Lucy, so forget about it. Later," I told her and ended the call.
Lucy would have been a nice candidate to fill Meteo's shoes, but she was too young and unstable. I remembered when I had first met her.
Juárez was a sleazy guy who cheated and scammed people during casino games. When I heard about it, I instructed him to refund all the people he had scammed on a particular date. On the scheduled date, he had yet to do as instructed. So, I armed myself and went to his rundown apartment with Meteo. His front door was not locked, so we entered without knocking.
An unexpected sight greeted us. We found Juárez lying on the floor, unmoving, and a young girl who knelt by his side, holding a knife covered in blood.
She was in her school uniform, and it was stained in a way no wash would ever fix. She was Juárez's daughter, and for whatever reason, she had already balanced the ledger. She had just killed a man who should have been her protector. She didn't scream, nor did she flinch when my shadow hit the wall.
"He had wanted to use me for collateral," she said as a means of explanation. Then she looked at the knife in her hand and then at the dead man by her side.
"He can't pay you now. Too bad for him, though," she said.
I had instructed Meteo to call Doña Esperanza instead of the police. We let the Ministerio Público process her. She sat in a cold cell for forty eight hours to see if the pressure would make her point a finger at me. She never broke.
By the time we stood in that Juvenile Court, the judge was already on our payroll. The "self-defense" script was written, the evidence was burned, and the state handed her over to Doña Esperanza like a gift. She left that courtroom a weapon polished to a killing edge, not as a ward of the state.
For the safety of other kids, I couldn't risk putting her in a school, so she was homeschooled for a couple of years.
"Books are for people who need a map to find their way. I don't need a freaking map. Unless the teacher is going to show me different ways to hide a body, I'm done with this homeschooling bullshit," was what she told me when she wanted to quit.
A small knock stuttered against the heavy oak of my study door, so faint it could have been negligible. I didn't need a camera to know who it was.