On the Streets for Eva: On the Streets for, #5

By Paul Matos

The fire is out but the neighbors family cat somehow ended up near the back door of their restaurant. Raph and Mac think it was no accident. Then when it is also revealed that the daughter is thought to be missing they are sure. When they find her in an unlikely place they wonder if she unknowingly joined a cult. Will they be able to get her back?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul Matos
• Release date: Mar 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393652892

Book preview

One

I heard my phone ringing someplace distant. For some reason the sound made me feel like I was under water. I shot up gasping for air. Once I realized where I was it all came back to me. It felt like I had just laid down my head from the long week Mac and I shared. We had been in New York City for some time on a protection detail and had only arrived back home just after two in the morning. The ringing was still happening so I looked at the clock I keep on my nightstand. It showed a time of 4:23. It was still dark out so I knew it was early in the morning. I reached over and unplugged the phone. Annabel turned over saying something I didn’t understand.

I finally answered the phone. It was my office alarm company. Sir, we have a report of a fire at your office. The fire department has been dispatched and should be on scene in minutes.

The caller waited for my response, I wasn’t sure I heard it right. I’m sorry ma’am, could you repeat that?

She repeated every word she had said the first time in the exact same tone. This time I sat up in bed. Let them know I will be right there, I said.

I pulled the sheets off and rolled out of bed. Annabel rolled toward me, what’s going on baby?

The alarm company called to let me know there is a fire at the office. I have to make sure everything is alright. I’ll be back to let you know what happened, I said.

You want me to go with you, she asked.

No, but only because I need to make sure it was not a setup. I don’t need a problem there and something to happen to you as well. If you like I can call you once I know it’s safe.

She pulled the sheets off and got out of bed. I’ll take a shower and get ready. You go and call me as soon as you know something.

I was dressed and walked over and gave her a kiss. I’ll see you soon.

Be careful, Love you, she said.

I called Mac as I was walking to my truck. He said he was already on his way and that Toni was coming over to my house to wait with Annabel. It was something we had worked out a long time ago. If we ever got a call in the middle of the night for any reason the ladies would wait at my house in a safe room we had set up. Annabel was going to shower there and wait until I called. As I started my truck I saw Toni pull in. She waved at me as she walked into the house. When she locked the door I got an alert on my phone. Then I got another when the safe room door locked. I pulled out of my driveway and headed to the office.

The fire was fully involved and it had taken over most of the building our office was in. There were several other businesses there besides ours. At one end was a small car rental business we used from time to time. Our office was next to it and then there was a small office that handled investments. And at the other end was a Mexican restaurant. It took two of the units. I don’t know much about fires but I knew just by looking at the building that the fire started at the restaurant. Most of that part of the building was without a roof. It was also scarred with black on the outside. The fire had not reached the investment office next to ours yet but it was next. It looked like the fire department had been there for a while already but since I didn’t know anything about fighting fire I just sat in my truck to watch the show. I had parked at the far end of the parking lot in one of the spots closest to the street. Mac opened my passenger door and got in. We didn’t exchange any small talk. We never needed to.

One of the cops on screen took notice to us sitting there and walked over with his hand on his gun. Mac and I both put our hands up without having to be told. As he got closer he said, you gentlemen want to step out of the vehicle please. We both reached outside the truck window and pulled the handle.

Nice, you guys have done this before. He was about my height, but he had more meat on his frame than I did. Not that he was in any way fat, just slightly beefier. Dark hair, clean shaven. He had left his hat behind and by the time he had reached us there were two more officers following him. I guessed there wasn’t much activity in town at this time of the morning.

I didn’t know all the officers in town but most of them. It was helpful because one of the other officers said, they are alright. They have one of the offices here. Next to the car rental. They are the PI’s.

The dark-haired officer put his gun back in his holster. Sorry guys, I didn’t know.

It’s alright, how could you know. It was me who found some strange guys sitting in a pickup watching a fire I would have reacted the same way, except I might have yanked them out of the truck, I said.

The cop laughed a little. I reached over and shook his hand. I’m Raph, this is Mac.

Cooper sir.

Oh please, I don’t know any sir’s here. Just Raph if you don't mind. How long have you been working for the city Cooper?

Just a couple of months sir… he cut himself off. I looked at Mac. He gave me a slight grin. Sorry, it’s just a habit.

It’s alright, I understand, I was the same way when I was in the Navy and working for the Atlanta PD. It takes some time to get your bearings. You’ll do just fine.

The sergeant that told Cooper about us was someone I had met a few times but did not remember his name. He approached us and I asked, so is there any chance the fire won’t get to our office?

Maybe not the fire but probably the water will do enough damage to close the office for some time. Sergeant Willer was blond, fair skin from what I could see in the light of the parking lot.

Well, there is nothing we can do about that I guess. Is there anything we can do to help here. We can get these guys some water, coffee or some food it that will help.

Well it doesn’t look like the fire will be out anytime soon so maybe some water would be a good idea, Willer said.

Alright, we’ll go pick some up and be right back. It was just after five in the morning, which meant that our coffee shop had just opened. They always keep cold water in a cooler out front.

It was half past the hour when we returned with two cases of super cold water and three dozen bagels with a variety of cream cheese that should cover anyones like. We also bought some coffee just in case they needed it. They had almost got the fire out when we got back. Mac and I parked our trucks next to each other and set up the food and such in our beds like a buffet table. They had the fire out in another half hour. The sun was just coming up and the traffic on the main street was starting to grow. That meant people would start to slow down as they drove by and cause more problems then was needed on the street, but there was nothing we could do about that either so we just enjoyed the company of the cops and firefighters for the next few hours.

Annabel and Toni had joined us right after we got back with the food and helped us serve everyone. It was a Thursday morning and they both had to be at work but both made calls to make sure they were able to stay and help.

Annabel had a couple of businesses so it was pretty easy for her to just let her employees know what she was doing but Toni was a new doctor. I expected it to be more of a problem for her but she didn’t seem affected by asking to take the morning off. I had only known her since she had met Mac and when they did she was just finishing up her studies and residency. She had been an official MD for the last couple of years and had moved up a little since working at the hospital emergency room. And when I say move up I really just mean moving up to day shift from nights. I wasn’t exactly sure how a doctor calls in sick but I’m sure it wasn’t the first time it had happened. Although I don’t ever remember her doing it. And for that matter, I don’t remember Annabel doing it either.

The fire had taken out more than half of the building. It had not reached our office but the cops were right about the water. They were able to get the fire stopped just at the wall of our office and the amount of water used there was amazing. The fire marshall finally came over to us and explained that he was going to close all the offices except for the car rental office. By now all the business owner had arrived and were standing around looking like their lives had just taken a turn for the worse. When the marshal explained that the only business that was going to stay open was the car rental, everyone looked over at Jeff Lewis like he had planned this.

At this time I cannot say how the fire was started but you each will have a report in the next couple of days for your insurance companies. While there are still some spots that are a little hot, you can all go in and see what has happened to each of your businesses. I don’t think you will find anything that survived but you are welcome to take a look. Please do not remove anything since the investigation is not complete but you are welcome to look at anything that is not melted. If you have any questions I will be around for another hour or so. Please don’t hesitate to ask me anything while I am here.

Some of the owners did have questions like why couldn’t they take anything out of there business if the fire didn’t start there. And of course, they still asked if there was a reason for the fire. At that point, I knew it was going to not be so pleasant for him. I was thankful that someone had tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to see the sergeant, can you and Mac come with me for a minute please?

Mac and I looked at each other and followed the sergeant. He walked to the back of the building where there were a few guys standing around talking. One of them wore one of those windbreakers you see on television shows with the letters on it that announced their jobs. This one said Arson Investigator. One of the other gentlemen was the owner of the restaurant. Miguel Sanchez. We had known him as well as you get to know any of your neighbors. His family helped run the restaurant, his wife was the head chef. His son was still in high school and worked there after school and on weekends. He had a daughter who I understood to be in college, but it was sort of a local college. Just over an hour drive, it was one of the major colleges in the country. She had worked hard to get in and it had paid off. She was doing well there and she came home most weekends to help.

As far as I knew they spent all their time there. They would open for lunch and stay open until ten every evening. They had a small bar which never hurt any restaurant, but this place had Mexican food I had never eaten before. And the things I had eaten before these people made so much better than any other place I had been to. The only person who cooked better Mexican food was a lovely lady named Flor who had lived with Mac until about two months ago. We had met them a while back while we were on a case. Her son Julian was a person of interest on a case we were working on. It turned out he was key in solving the case. In the meantime, we had made it almost impossible for them to stay at their home so Mac was kind enough to let them move in while we worked on the case. Once the case was over Flor had given up her job to keep her son safe so Mac decided they could just stay with him. Since his home was just as safe as mine there was pretty much no place safer for them.

It turned out that Flor loved to cook and that the food was not the healthiest. So Mac and Toni had put on a few extra pounds as a result. Flor was also hard to keep down since she really couldn’t go anywhere for the first couple of weeks, she turned to cleaning Mac’s house. I don’t mean just a light dusting, I am talking about scrubbing the floors, corner, ceiling and anything else you could think of and probably even more places you would never think of. Mac told me of a time he got home earlier than usual to find his stove pulled from it’s home. Her on her knees scrubbing the floor with a hand brush. Julian at the table playing a video game on a handheld console.

I tried to get her to let me do that but she got mad at me for treating her like an old lady, Julian said with his hands up knowing Mac would have something to say about him just sitting there while she worked.

Her food was so good I thought it would be a while before any of us would lose weight again, but it turns out that if you work a little extra you can keep weight under control.

With Miguel standing next to the arson investigator I was a little worried that they might think it was Miguel who started the fire. I would never have thought him capable but if I had learned one thing in all my years of working in law enforcement it was that you could never know what someone is capable of. I have seen people who you would just know were pedophiles turn out to be great men. And people you thought were great men turn out to pedophiles.

When we were all together the arson investigator explained that it looked like someone had started the fire and it might be some kind of a message.

What would give you that idea, I asked just as the back door opened again with a fireman carrying a bag with you just knew was a body. I thought it was too small to be human. Or at least I hoped it was. If it was human it was an infant and that might cause a shutdown on my part.

"It seems the family cat was in the restaurant. And Mr. Sanchez says the cat had never been in the