Cliff Diver (Detective Emilia Cruz Book 1) Read Online Free

college. Studied
hotel and restaurant management so I’d never have to go back to that farm. Sent
my parents a couple of tickets last year to come visit. But they’d rather stay
with the cows.”
    They looked at
each other. An awkward silence was broken by the sound of footsteps and
rattling pans overhead.
    Rucker gestured at
the dismantled Suburban. “Well, Detective, the bank will be open in about an
hour. How do we want to get there?”
    “I think that you
could call me Emilia,” she said.
    “Kurt,” he said in
return.
     
    ☼
     
    They took an
anonymous green and white libre taxi to the bank. Kurt Rucker’s friend
was the manager, a polished Spaniard who swallowed a comment about Rucker’s
appearance when Emilia displayed her detective badge.
    Ten minutes later,
the currency scanner confirmed Kurt’s theory. The money was counterfeit.
    “Excellent fakes,”
the bank manager said. “And given that there are just a handful of currency
scanners in Acapulco for this high a denomination of American bill, quite a
clever scheme.”
    “You never saw
us,” Emilia said. “You never saw these bills.”
     
    ☼
     
    By the time the libre taxi brought them back to the garage, Emilia had made up her mind. She didn’t
tell Kurt until they were alone in Tía Lourdes’s kitchen. She could tell he
didn’t like the idea. But he didn’t have anything better to suggest.
    “If we don’t let
them find the car and the money,” Emilia insisted. “They’re never going to
leave you alone.”
    “How are you going
to explain losing a car?”
    Emilia rubbed her
eyes. Last night’s adrenaline had ebbed, leaving her tired and shaky. “We won’t
lose it. They want the money, not the car. We can pull a spark plug to make
sure they leave it and pick it up later.”
    “We’re letting
them win,” Kurt said.
    “We’re making sure
you stay alive.” Emilia opened her shoulder bag and pulled out her notebook and
cell phone. “We’ll copy the serial numbers from the bills to trace the money.
That way we might even catch who’s passing it.”
    Kurt slumped in
his chair and nodded. “All right.”
    She dialed Rico.
    “You sure you
trust him?” Kurt tossed out.
    Emilia heard
Rico’s voice grunt “ Bueno? ” For a wild moment she wondered if Kurt was
right. But if she couldn’t trust Rico there was no one to trust at all. Kurt
Rucker looked away as she told Rico what had happened and what they needed him
to do.
     
    ☼
     
    They reassembled
the Suburban and its counterfeit load and abandoned it on a little rocky
outcropping along the Carretera Escénica about two miles past the gate to the
Palacio Réal. Kurt broke the spark plug just as Rico drove up at the wheel of
an old libre taxi. Emilia and Kurt jumped in the back and then they were
gone.
    The taxi was one
of thousands and attracted no attention as it puttered up to the privada gate. The army checkpoint was in place. The sergeant studied Emilia’s badge
before gesturing to his corporal to open the gate. Rico chafed in the small
vehicle but maintained his taxi driver cover.
    The brakes on the
old taxi strained against the steep pitch of the road as they passed the
carefully manicured foliage of the luxury villas. All of the villas cost tens
of millions of pesos, Emilia knew. Several Hollywood stars had homes there, as
did many of Mexico’s entertainment and business elite. Every meter down the
road was another light year away from Kurt Rucker.
    His arrival at the
Palacio Réal confirmed the distance. As Kurt climbed out of the taxi in his
stained khakis and rumpled shirt the uniformed doorman and bellhops swarmed
around him. More staff materialized, all smartly dressed, the women in blue
print dresses, the men in stone-colored slacks and coordinating print shirts. Señor
Rooker, we were so worried . . . Señor Rooker, we had a problem with . . . Señor
Rooker, you need to call . . .
    Kurt stepped away
from the throng for a moment and met Emilia’s eyes. She smiled