AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He crossed his fingers and logged onto the reverse directory.
Cellphones have made that a lot less useful. This time it paid off, listing a Ventura County landline.
The auxiliary of St. Jerome’s Catholic Church in San Pietro.
He said, “Confessing her sins?”
I said, “Last I heard that had to be in person. You know different?”
“Not since I consulted to the Vatican. Don’t know what an auxiliary is, either. Maybe something they put in place after I lapsed.”
I said, “Could be a charity group the church runs.”
“She wanted to donate?”
“There are plenty of good causes locally, why pick a place fifty miles away? To me an eight-minute call says some sort of personal connection.”
He tried the number. Got multiple-choice voicemail presented by a cheerful female voice. First decision: English or Español. Following that, Option 1 was the church’s main office. That triggered a new list.
If this is in regard to the schedule of Mass and services, press 1.
If this is in regard to a christening…
He said, “How long before God installs a system?” and listened.
Nothing about an auxiliary.
He hung up. “San Pietro isn’t big on day spas, it’s mostly aggie and oil wells. I was there coupla years ago, some farm dinner fundraiser Rick had to go to. Tables set up in an avocado ranch. I learned that avocado trees don’t die. They look like they’ve had it, then you hack ’em to stumps and they rebloom. I remember thinking if humans could do that, I’d be out of a job.”
He looked at me. “You, on the other hand, would be raking it in, helping late bloomers adjust. So what do you think about her calling there? Seeing as it’s a church, Angry Ex is looking less likely.”
I said, “Maybe she has family there.”
“One call in seven months?” he said. “Not exactly a big happy clan.”
“Maybe she left the clan and tried reconnecting.”
“Midwestern girl packs out to Vegas for excitement that ain’t San Pietro?”
“Who knows if that’s even true?” I said. “If whoever she called in San Pietro is kin, her roots could be in California. Maybe Vegas attracted her because she’d heard for years how good-looking she was and figured that would carry her a long way. But once she got there, she discovered plenty of competition and at some point she got into escorting. That led her to Rikki Montel and the others and eventually, the four of them decided to try L.A.”
He said, “Homecoming.”
“Spending serious time in Vegas could mean the older guys she complained about were what you said: big spenders or shady types who got too aggressive. That led her to Doug, at first glance shy and nonthreatening. But he also turned out to be a Mega Type A, so she found herself an easygoing younger lover. With a history of his own that directed him to older women.”
“Living ultra-luxe and having a nice dip in the pool at Gio’s,” hesaid. “She probably felt she’d won the lottery. But still, why risk it all by cheating?”
“Rikki told us she liked to take risks.”
“Skydiving.” He sighed. “Bad judgment, bad luck. The kind of person I usually get to meet.”
—
Alicia called. She’d talked to a dozen agencies. No record of either woman being placed. She said, “Want me to keep looking?”
“If you’ve got time.”
“Nothing but, Loo. Until dinner, Al’s taking me to Spago.”
