Suzie’s House 239: Maria

When Drew said, “Maria’s waiting. You’ll be staying with us,” Vin’s heart sank. It sounded like Drew had done the very thing Suzie had feared – found a new love. Vin didn’t want that. Suzie and Drew were too good a match. In Vin’s mind, the future was about himself and Miranda hanging out with Drew and Suzie. How could there be any other way? He stepped out of the airport in Drew’s wake and found at least part of the answer.

She was gorgeous. Sure, the tight little knit dress in hot red with matching heels and lipstick turned her into a sex bomb, but under the dramatic makeup was good bone structure, and her dark, Hispanic locks were naturally beautiful. She leaned up against a sports car, her arms folded across her chest and her legs crossed at the ankle; passive but alert while waiting. She could have been a car advertisement.

“A beautiful Spanish hussy,” Vin muttered, thinking of something he’d once overheard Suzie say on the phone. It was her fear that Drew would meet one. Had Suzie picked up on some red flag in their conversations?

“Huh?” Drew turned around and asked. Then he waved at the hussy. “This is Maria. She and Toby are working the case with me. Maria, this is Marvin Sutter. My best friend.”

She straightened, extending her hand with a wide smile. “A pleasure to meet you. A real pleasure.” She shook hands as vigorously as a man.

Vin nodded, since he couldn’t very well say he saw anything pleasurable about the situation.

She quickly got them settled in the car and on their way.

“We’re all staying with Toby right now. It has to do with the case.”

She gave Vin a clear-eyed look, as if willing him to understand, then glanced at Drew with something like pity. Since she was driving, the whole thing happened in a flash,. Vin might well have missed it if he weren’t sitting behind Drew. She gripped the steering wheel tightly.

“The case is almost closed now, gracias a Dios.” She kissed two of her fingertips, then rolled her eyes toward heaven, fingers extended up.

“I’ll see it through,” Drew said doggedly. He was slumped into the shotgun seat, and tended to look out the window moodily.

“We’ll see,” she muttered.

Vin wasn’t sure what this China Black drug that Drew was on was supposed to do, but it was clear from the way Drew acted that something was wrong with him. Vin hoped it would pass, but Drew didn’t act the way Vin would expect. He didn’t have the “Wow, it’s so beautiful” effect of LSD or the blown pupils of THC or the hyped up feel of amphetamines. He acted depressed. And sometimes he flinched like he’d been spooked.

They pulled into a single-story house that looked like it was made of sandstone but was probably adobe, or whatever they called that stuff. All the houses in the neighborhood were like that, except the ones painted pink or purple, or some other odd color. The yards were mostly made of gravel and cactus, and this was no exception. For the beginning of winter, it was balmy.

She came around the car and helped Drew out the way a solicitous niece would help her uncle. That gave Vin some hope, though he couldn’t shake the feeling he’d stumbled into a huge mess.

They walked in the door of the house, and a cowboy stepped forward and gave Maria a thoroughly possessive kiss that Drew didn’t even notice.

Vin breathed a sigh of relief. At least Drew hadn’t been swept away by the thing Suzie had feared most. The hussy belonged to someone else.

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