“Old school.” She glanced at the paper and slipped it into her jacket pocket as she studied him, “Where are you from? You don’t have an accent.”
“Benavides, Texas.”
“And you’re working for the Cartel?”
“I’m not working for the Cartel, I’m working for a man, Solomon Chapa. I’m not the only one who does this. But what I do has nothing in common with drugs or smuggling. I protect people.”
“I guess you weren’t with Anita when she was taken, then.”
“I wasn’t.”
Hunter pulled out the slip of paper and studied it. “Just your phone number, that’s not much.”
Ike half-smiled, “What’d you want, a biography?”
“That would be nice.” Hunter tore off the bottom half and wrote her cell number on it, then handed that part to Ike.
Ike held his hand to his ear in a call me motion and said, “When you’re ready to do this.” He gave her a small nod and walked in the direction of several vehicles.
Norma arrived to stand beside her, “That who I think it was?”
“Uh-huh. Name’s Ike. He said Ramona Chapa wants to talk and give me
information on some kidnappers or something like that.”
“Huh. If you decide to do it, pick a public place on this side of the river. I’ll go with you.”
“It won’t be on this side, but thanks.”
“I’ll go with you anyway.”
Norma continued to watch Ike until he drove off in a black Ford 250, then said, “I know he’s one of the bad guys, but he sure looks fine, both coming and going. You see his butt?”
Hunter play-socked her on the shoulder and Norma, grinning, rubbed where she was hit. Hunter said, “I’m not blind.”
The next morning as they again boated on the lake and fished for several hours in several spots without luck, Norma said, “Ready to call it a day? Nothing’s biting.”
“I didn’t even see a minnow when I tossed out some bread. It’s time for lunch anyway.”
“Done.” Norma powered the boat to the loading ramp at the marina and they loaded up the boat on the trailer, then towed it to the storage facility and put it in the rental shed before driving into Del Rio to find something to eat. Norma said, “I think that tomorrow we’ll go out and just cruise around the lake, get some sun, do some swimming.”
“Works for me. I even brought an extra bathing suit.”
Hunter’s phone rang as they entered the Del Rio city limits. She looked at the ID and said, “It’s Ike.”
She answered, “What’s up?”
“We need to meet in Acuña. Ramona says it needs to be soon.”
“What happened?”
“Solomon’s keeping her close.”
Something’s going on. Hunter sat up straighter, “Why?”
“Because he said so,” Ike let Hunter think about the implications of that.
“Because he’s her husband?”