No Rest for the Wicked - Chapter 10
Max had gotten the maid’s name from Audrey the next morning. Elena Marín. Late forties. Quiet. Professional. Had worked for the Davenports for over a decade. Audrey said Mia trusted her, and when she disappeared shortly after things started to get strange at the estate, Mia was convinced it wasn’t a coincidence.
Max hadn’t needed much more to go on. A few calls to friends at the DMV, a small bribe to a contact in the property records office, and he had an address.
Now he stood outside a small but tidy duplex in Spring Valley, a working-class neighborhood west of the Strip. The grass was trimmed. Wind chimes hung near the porch. There were potted flowers by the door, though they looked like they hadn’t been watered in a while. Still, everything about the place said quiet pride.
No answer when he knocked.
A few minutes later, he found the neighbor…an older man in a baseball cap…watering his hedges next door.
“Elena Marín?” Max asked, flashing his PI license.
The man turned off the hose. “She don’t live there anymore.”
“Did she move?”
The neighbor hesitated. “Don’t know. Disappeared about a month ago or so. One day she just… stopped showing up. Place sat empty a couple days. Then some guy came by, said he was a friend. My wife and I know the property owner and he said the same guy paid him cash to keep the place covered for the rest of the lease.”
“Did the man give a name?”
“Nope. Just said she’d left the country. That was the story.”
“Do you think that could be true?”
The neighbor shook his head. “No way, not Elena. She was so proud to be a citizen and to have a good-paying job to take care of her and her son.”
“Elena has a son? Where is he?”
“You sure are asking a lot of questions. You a cop or somethin?”
“No sir, I was hired to look into where she might be, someone who is worried about her.”
“Hmph, well, he’s gone, too. Went missing a few days before Elena. She was a wreck about it. Understandably.”
“Did she file a missing person’s report?”
“Oh yeah, but you know how the cops around here are when it comes to folks like Elena. It didn’t go anywhere.”
Max furrowed his brow. “This man who came by, what’d he look like?”
“Older. White. Expensive watch, expensive shoes. Drove a black Mercedes with no plates. Didn’t seem like a friend, if you ask me.”
Max stood there in silence for a long moment, watching a kid ride by on a bike.
“Elena ever talk about what she thought happened to her son?”
“She thought he was taken. She told my wife she thought maybe her employer would help her find him, but he wouldn’t. She worked for the Davenports, you know, not surprised. Rich bastards barely lift a finger for anybody I bet.”
Max nodded slowly and handed the neighbor his card. “Thanks for your help. If you remember anything else or if anyone, to include the man, come by again, let me know, please.”
Back in the car, he opened his notebook and jotted down two new questions:
What happened to Elena Marín’s son?
Why would someone with money and power want a loyal maid to disappear?
He stared at the quiet street, letting the stillness settle like a warning.
Then he started the engine.
But as he checked his rear view mirror, he saw it.
Half a block down…parked at the curb…was a black Mercedes.
No plates. Windows tinted dark.
Engine running.
Max watched it for a beat.
It didn’t move.
Neither did the silhouette behind the wheel.
He shut the engine off, stepped out of the car, and walked toward it, slow and deliberate, like he had every right to be there.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
He was halfway there when the driver’s window cracked open just enough to show a sliver of shadow behind it.
“Can I help you?” Max asked.
No answer.
He took another step.
That’s when the car peeled off, tires screaming against pavement, disappearing around the corner without looking back.
Max stood in the settling dust, jaw tight, eyes narrowed.
Now he knew for sure…
Someone didn’t want Elena Marín to be found.
And they knew he was looking.
