Free Kissing Arizona by Elizabeth Gunn Page A

Phyllis Waverly, ‘just the paid help’, had said, ‘I didn’t want to do it, so I refused.’
    She was beginning to be glad it was Leo Tobin’s case. She turned to her last report, the interview with the Coopers’ housekeeper.
    Rosa Torres had come to the station late Monday afternoon, clinging to her husband’s arm. He walked her into the lobby, stayed with her until Sarah came down to fetch her, and told Sarah he would wait right there till she returned. His look implied, ‘And when I see her again she had better not be crying’. His wife was only a few hours out of the hospital and he was deeply worried about her, he said, because Rosa Torres was not in the habit of giving way to hysterics.
    Upstairs, in Sarah’s little workspace, Rosa said he was right about her. ‘I never cried like that before in my life. Even in those tough times when I was a widow with two little kids, I never lost my nerve like that.’
    Looking at her plain brown face, her straight dark hair gone mostly to gray and pulled back in a bun, Sarah believed her.
    â€˜But coming into that nice house the way I always did on Monday morning . . . and finding them there in the hall – so much blood. I’m sure I screamed, but you know how far apart the houses are there . . . nobody came. I wanted to run but at first I was too scared to move. When I found enough nerve I ran outside as fast as I could go.’
    â€˜That was very brave of you.’
    â€˜I sure didn’t feel brave. I ran screaming to the house next door and got the neighbors to call the police. Good thing they knew who I was. Strangers wouldn’t have let me in – I must have looked crazy by then. That Mrs Cramer was so good to me, put a blanket around me and held my hand till the police came. She was shaking too. I mean, we didn’t know if maybe the people that did this were still in there.’
    â€˜I spoke to the officers who took the call. They came as fast as they could.’
    â€˜I’m sure they did, but . . . no offense, it felt like an hour to me. Even so, I was pretty well calmed down by the time those detectives came to question me. But then telling them about going in there . . . something about going over it again made it more real to me and I just couldn’t stand it, you know? Those two hard-working people that have been good to me so many years . . . and somebody to just come along and . . .’ Her face twisted. ‘It was so ugly.’
    â€˜I know.’ Sarah waited a couple of ticks. ‘Are you all right now?’
    â€˜Yes. I want to go right ahead with this, OK? Don’t want to keep him waiting down there.’
    â€˜I’ll try to be quick. First tell me, did you always come to work that early?’
    â€˜Just on Monday. Last year when Enrique got put on four-day weeks, he said, how about you take Mondays off too and we’ll work in the yard that day? He had an idea for a container garden he wanted to try. He’s so good to me I don’t like to refuse him anything, but then Lois, when I told her, was very unhappy. Monday’s the day we clean up after the weekend, she said, I like the house squared away on Monday. And what Lois likes, you know . . .’ She stopped, took a deep breath and shook her head.
    â€˜I keep saying it that way. Likes. I still can’t believe she’s gone. Such a strong woman, you know, and stubborn, never quit talking till she got her way. That sounds like somebody you wouldn’t like, doesn’t it? But Lois and I got along fine. She valued my work, she always gave me my due.’
    â€˜So you worked it out about Mondays?’
    â€˜Yes. She said, “We go to work at five on Monday so why can’t you?” I wouldn’t do it for anybody else but . . . all these years, you know, and they pay me good. So I been going to work a few