Blood Orchid (Holly Barker 3)

“An airplane?” Marina asked. “I’ve never flown in an airplane.”

“It’s fun,” Holly said. “Ginny is a great pilot. And I want you to meet my father, Ham, and my friend Grant.”

Marina solemnly shook hands with everyone.

Holly and Grant sat in the rear seats with Marina, and Ham sat in the copilot’s seat. Marina seemed nervous at first, but she soon relaxed and watched as the lights of the Sarasota-Bradenton area grew scarce, giving way to the lights of small towns and farms. She said nothing for the remainder of the flight.

Finally back at Grant’s house, they gave Marina some soup.

“Why did Trini do it?” Marina asked.

“Because he’s a mad-dog killer,” Holly replied. “The police and the FBI are looking for him everywhere right now, and they’ll find him soon.”

“I don’t have any clothes,” Marina said.

“We’ll get you some new ones tomorrow,” Holly replied. “You look tired; would you like to go to bed now?”

Marina nodded dumbly.

Holly led her to Grant’s spare bedroom and got her settled, then came back downstairs.

“What a beautiful girl,” Grant said.

“She’s had more than her share of heartbreak in the past week,” Holly said. “I don’t think she’s feeling very beautiful now.” She went to the phone and called the Sarasota police.

“Lieutenant Brower.”

“Lieutenant, it’s Holly Barker.”

“Hello, Chief. We’ve worked our crime scene; two dead, as you reported. Looks like executions; he used a nine-millimeter.”

“Any sightings of Rodriguez?”

“Not a thing. Where’s my witness?”

“Asleep. You can talk to her on the phone tomorrow, unless you’d like to come to Orchid Beach.”

“It’s a woman?”

“The daughter of one of your victims and the niece of the other.”

“You’re satisfied she had nothing to do with their deaths?”

“Yes. They went to Sarasota to hide from Rodriguez. Somehow he found them, but Marina was at the grocery store when the shootings took place.”

“I faxed the FBI in Miami the report, since you said they wanted Rodriguez, too.”

“That was the right thing to do. I’ll call you tomorrow morning, and you can talk to Marina Santos.”

“Thank you. Good night.”

Holly hung up and went to bed, happy to have Grant to sleep next to.

45

Holly took Marina to her office the following morning. She put her in Hurd Wallace’s empty office, called Lieutenant Brower in Sarasota, and put Marina on the phone with him. She gave instructions to check the dead Russian’s prints against the INS database, then faxed the photograph of his tattoo to Harry Crisp. Then she called in a policewoman, who was in civilian clothes, and gave her some money.

“I’ve got a witness in Hurd’s old office; her name is Marina Santos. I want you to take her out to the outlet mall and buy her enough clothes for four or five days.”