THE VILLAGE ON THE EDGE OF THE SEA
Louis Barba
The Village on the Edge of the Sea
Copyright 2111 by Louis Barba Smashwords Edition
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BOOK ONE
Murder in the Village on the Edge of the Sea
BOOK TWO
The Caddy Murders
BOOK THREE
Mrs. Realto’s Lesson Plans
BOOK FOUR
You Don’t Have To Be an Angel
BOOK FIVE
The Priest…The Prophet…and the Pariah
BOOK SIX
A Mother’s Dilemma
BOOK SEVEN
Angel…Lady “Dowdy”…and Daddy
BOOK ONE
MURDER IN THE VILLAGE ON THE EDGE OF THE SEA
The village existed on the edge of the sea. Fishing, tourism, and the related support trades were the main activities. There were churches, a small school, a post office, and a police department consisting of one full time and one part time officer. One would think that the idyllic setting would lend to a wholesome community lifestyle. Beneath the beautiful exterior lay a seamy and unfriendly group of people who comprised no small part of the populace.
Carlos Realto and his assistant, Armando Garcia, were kept busy answering domestic violence calls, settling barroom brawls, and keeping drunks off the street, but never had anything like this happened before. Early Sunday morning, Carlos received a frantic call from Frances Valdez, summoning Carlos to his home in the “bad” section of the waterfront district.
When he arrived, he was shown into the Valdez home by an incoherent Frances. The scene inside immediately sickened and infuriated Carlos. Blood and bodies were throughout the house. Frances’ wife Salena and their three children lay dead, each stabbed many times. Carlos called Armando and told him to get there as soon as possible.
Angel, the barmaid, who worked across the street from the Valdez home and lived in an apartment upstairs, heard Armando’s sirens blaring across the street and looked out of her window. There were two police cars parked there and she thought, “What is going on over there? Are those two fighting again? On a Sunday morning?”
MURDER IN THE VILLAGE ON THE EDGE OF THE SEA Part 2
ANGEL’S STORY
Angel could remember being a little girl, living with her widowed father. He hadn’t taken her mother’s death very well, and spent most of his time in varying stages of drunkenness. The farm was about five miles outside of the Village, and many nights, he would take Angel with him when he made the rounds of the Village bars. Angel learned things no pre-teen should ever know about, and she grew used to barrooms. Brawls, tobacco stench, and lewdness were just some
of the things she was exposed to. So, when she was old enough to work, she got a job in a bar across the street from the Valdez home.
She could remember visits to her aunt’s home. Aunt Maria was a special person. She radiated goodness wherever she went. She was a regular church goer at the Village Roman Catholic Church and everybody loved her. Angel wished she could be more like Aunt Maria, but didn’t think it was meant for her to be a good person.
Angel knew Carlos and his deputy Armando because they occasionally socialized in the barroom. Something about Carlos made her feel things she couldn’t put a name to. But, she could only play her hard little games with him when he came by. So, when she saw his car parked across the street, she fought with her impulse to walk over and start a conversation.
After making as thorough an investigation as they could with the limited resources at their disposal, Carlos and Armando made sure the yellow crime scene tape was stretched around the entire property. Carlos tacked a “NO TRESPASSING-CRIME SCENE” notice on the door and locked the house. Their plan was to canvass the neighborhood for information while they were waiting for
the provincial forensics team to arrive. Then they could release the bodies to the coroner for autopsies. Carlos saw Angel coming across the street, so he thought she would be a good person to start questioning.
“Hello, Angel, Would you mind talking to me for a few minutes?”
Angel’s mind raced with confusing thoughts. “No problem.” she replied. “What’s going on? Were Frances and Salena fighting again?”
“Did they fight a lot, Angel?”
Angel thought about how to answer. “It went in waves, Carlos, but when they were fighting, they didn’t hold much back. Sometimes it was about money, sometimes about drinking. I never heard them fight about fooling around with anybody.”
Carlos paused and then asked, “Was he fooling around? We have to ask. Something terrible has happened. Salena and the kids were murdered last night.”
“Oh my, Oh my, Oh my” was all Angel could say. Her legs felt like they were going to give way and the color drained from her face. “I don’t think so. I never saw him with anyone.”
“Did you see anything unusual last night, Angel?”
“Not really, except I did see Frances talking to some guys I’ve never seen around before.” Angel could not imagine that Frances would ever have been able to commit such a crime.
“Stick around Angel, would you please? I’ll need to ask you some more questions.” Carlos turned and walked away to continue questioning the neighbors.
MURDER IN THE VILLAGE ON THE EDGE OF THE SEA PART 3
CARLOS’ STORY
Carlos grew up in a quiet hamlet about fifty miles from the Village. His mom was a schoolteacher and his dad was the sheriff in the local province. They treated Carlos with a great deal of love, giving him many hugs and other gestures of affection. He could remember the smells of his mother’s kitchen when he came home from home from school. Aromas from fresh baked bread, tomato sauce,
fried chicken, and different kinds of pastries always made his mouth water.
Carlos’ dad, besides being sheriff, was an outdoorsman and frequently took him fishing. Sometimes, they went to local farm ponds, and sometimes they would even travel the fifty miles to the Village and rent a boat from the marina there. It was only natural that Carlos should follow in his dad’s footsteps and become a law officer. After graduating from high school, Carlos went to the police academy. His first job was to be in charge of the Village’s police department. Being such a small village, they couldn’t afford to hire someone with a lot of experience, but it worked out well for Carlos.
This particular Sunday morning was probably the worst day in Carlos’ young life. When he was in the academy, he knew that he would someday have to deal with bad crimes, but it always seemed like it would be somewhere else, some other time. Now he was filled with memories of a brutal crime scene. He felt disgust, but more anger than any other emotion.
Carlos knew he would have to subdue his anger, or he would be unable to have any part in catching the killer or killers. The initial investigation showed that it probably was more than one killer. Was Frances working with someone else to commit this crime? It looked like someone familiar was involved, since there was no sign of forced entry, nor was there any sign of a struggle. Or was Frances not involved, and someone else they both knew was the perpetrator? One thing was clear to Carlos, there would be plenty of questions for Frances to answer, and Angel seemed to have more information.
He had already canvassed the neighbors, and Angel had been the only one who had what could even remotely be considered a lead. He would begin the second round of questioning with her.
Carlos walked across the street, went up the stairs, and knocked at the door of Angel’s apartment. When she opened the door, he said, “Angel, I need to ask you some more questions. Okay if I come in?”
“Sure thing, Carlos. Come on in and take a load off your feet. You look terrible.”
Carlos looked like he was riding a motorcycle about 100 mph and ran over a woodchuck. His face was pale and his eyes were darting from side to side.
“Angel, I need to know more details about the fights Frances and Salena were having. And I especially need to know about those unfamiliar guys you were mentioning.”
Angel searched her memory for details that she thought might help Carlos. “As I said before, Carlos, they would fight in waves. Maybe it was the full moon or something. When they fought, it was usually a real battle. I never saw Frances hit her, but I only saw the ones that happened in the tavern.”
“Did you ever hear him threaten to kill her?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Come on, Carlos, they weren’t my only customers. I couldn’t listen to all that!”
“OK, Angel. You mentioned they fought about Frances’ drinking and over money.”
“Yes, that’s true”
Carlos didn’t want to upset her because he felt that Angel had information that might be the key to the investigation. “The strange guys you mentioned seeing Frances with, do you think that Salena knew them, too?”
Angel thought for a minute and replied, “Yes, I think she did. They were all in the tavern a couple of times. These guys were not from around here, Carlos. And they were dressed really fancy. Not suits and ties, but they wore clothes that could have been designer clothes.”
“That’s really good information, Angel. I don’t have any more questions for now.”
Carlos got up to leave and said, “I hope to see you around.”
Angel was surprised by Carlos’ last comment, but she indeed hoped he would see her around. She had noticed him in church a couple of times when she went with Aunt Maria, but didn’t think she was good enough for anybody in that church.
The Investigation Continues
The next morning, Carlos woke up with a headache. He put on a pot of coffee and got on the phone to Armando.
“Armando, did you hear anything from your sources yet? Any more leads?”
“You better wait for me to come over, Carlos. I don’t want to talk on the phone about what I’m hearing. Okay?”
Carlos was glad for the extra time . He wasn’t looking forward to going through this with a tension headache. “Sure thing, Armando. I’ll get some breakfast and coffee while I’m waiting.” He took two extra strength aspirin and poured himself a huge mug of coffee. The steaming hot liquid smelled a lot better than it tasted, so he added three teaspoons of sugar. Then, he made some toaster waffles, covering them with syrup and jelly.
There was a knock at the door, and Armando let himself in. “Carlos, there seems to be a whole lot going on in that district that is possibly involved with these murders. And I don’t know if we’ve got enough help to deal with it.” he said breathlessly.
Carlos knew it was just the two of them. Carlos was just out of the police academy, and Armando was a stocky sort, older and more experienced, but only worked part time. The rest of the time he spent trying to keep a little farm outside the Village going. Armando had his sources because he had lived near the Village his whole life, but Carlos had his doubts that he and Armando would be able to capture the killers by themselves. The provincial deputies were involved with the investigation, but they had a large area to cover and were stretched pretty thin. So, their help would be limited. “Fill me in, Armando, and I’m letting you know, so that you can call your wife and make some arrangements. We will be working as many hours as it takes to get these guys.”
“I agree, Carlos. Here’s what I’ve got. We have to consider Frances our prime suspect at this point. My sources say that he was constantly fighting with Salena, more than Angel thought. They argued about money a lot, because Frances was spending a lot of money in the bars. She was concerned there wouldn’t be enough for the kids to be able to eat. And some people thought a lot of his money was going up his nose. I questioned him, and he had no real alibi. He said he was out on the boat fishing that night, but nobody could verify that. So, I put him in a cell for more questioning.”
Carlos wasn’t sure about holding Frances, but he thought it would be better to be safe than sorry. “Okay, Armando, we’ve probably got the right man. You and I both know that these kinds of crimes are almost always committed by someone the victim knows. What did your sources tell you about the strangers that were hanging around with the Valdez’?”
Armando’s demeanor changed and when he spoke, he gripped the table until his knuckles turned white. “This is where we have big trouble, Carlos. That’s why I didn’t want to talk on the phone. These guys are from the mob. They work for one of the big families, world players. They are here to plow the fields for their future activities in the Village. We don’t stand a chance against their organization.”
“That may well be true, Armando, but we are going ahead with this murder investigation. Did any of your sources know why they were connecting with the Valdez’?”
Armando shrugged his shoulders. “Nobody I’ve talked to so far knows anything about that. Might be a good idea to sweat that information out of Frances.”
“That’s a great idea, Armando.” Carlos got up and headed for the door. “I will head for the jail and question Frances. You keep checking your sources. We have to find out what the connection was between the Valdez’ and those punks.”
The Unraveling of Frances
Carlos eyed the sweating Frances sitting on the other side of the table. His left hand was cuffed to the rail on the wall.
Armando wasn’t taking any chances on Frances escaping. “It’s time for the truth, Frances. I’m going to ask you questions, and I want answers. Right now, you’re the person we are most interested in, and if there is anything you can say for yourself, now is the time.”
Frances knew that if he was found guilty, he would hang for this crime…if he lasted that long in prison. “Carlos, I’m telling you, I did not do this thing. I would not hurt Salena, and I surely would not hurt the children this way.”
Carlos wished he could believe what Frances said, but his instincts said that Frances was up to his neck in it. “Frances, we have a number of witnesses to the fights that you and Salena were having. That makes it look bad for you. But, there is another thing. What is your involvement with the mobsters you’ve been seen with? We know they are from a major crime family.”
Frances’ eyes started to go from side to side, betraying the fear that was rising. “Those guys are mobsters? I didn’t know that. They are just some guys I met in a bar and I was drinking with. At least, that’s all I knew about them. You have to believe me, Carlos. I wasn’t even in town when it happened. I was out on the boat.”
A knock sounded and Armando appeared at the door. “Carlos, come on out. I have something to tell you.”
Carlos went out to the outer office. “What did you find out?”
Armando coughed and began to speak in a low voice so that Frances would not hear him. “I didn’t find out any more about the strange guys. But Frances is lying about being out on the boat that night. Four people I talked to saw his boat in the marina.”
Carlos could feel the anger flush his cheeks. He clenched his fists and pounded the wall. He could not imagine how anyone could do this to his own wife and kids. “Give me a minute, Armando. I’m going back in there and I want you to come with me.”
They walked into the interrogation room and Frances was face down on the table, covering his head with his hands. Carlos kicked the table, so that it slipped out from under Frances. “You lied to me, you worthless excuse for a man! We know you weren’t out on the boat when Salena and the kids were killed. The boat was in the marina all night. Now talk to me, or I’ll let you go and let the townspeople deal with you their own way!”
A strange look came over Frances, and tears began to form. His body shook with sobs. Finally he began to speak. “I always drink too much and spend most of our money in the bars. Salena would argue with me about it all the time. She thought there wouldn’t be enough to even feed the kids. I couldn’t stand living like that, Carlos. So, when I met those guys, they offered me a lot of money to smuggle drugs, all kinds of drugs, into the Village on my fishing boat. I agreed, thinking that if I did that, I would have plenty of money and Salena would be happy. It would have worked, but Salena found out about it. She got mad, madder than I ever saw her before. She wanted me to tell them I wouldn’t do it any more, but I was too afraid.”
“What happened then?”
“When I wouldn’t say anything, Salena told them to stay away from us and that she was going to tell the police what they were doing in the Village. That night, they came over to our house and told me to go somewhere else. I was afraid. They must have killed her and the kids to keep her quiet.”
Carlos turned away and stared out the window. “Frances, if all that is true, you still are a worthless piece of…you’re under arrest for drug smuggling, and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you get the maximum sentence.”
He motioned Armando to the outer office. “We’ve got to capture these guys. I’m calling my dad and see if he can help. I’m also calling the provincial office and asking for as many men as they can spare. You tap your sources and see if you can find out where they spend their time.” Armando turned and left without a word.
THE CAPTURE
A few hours later, there was the sound of a vehicle door closing. Carlos looked out, and saw his father’s SUV in the driveway. He made his way toward the patrol unit. It wasn’t much for a high speed pursuit, but it had some weight to it for up close maneuvers. “I am so glad to see you, dad. I think I’m in over my head and I want to make sure we get these guys.”
Carlos’ dad got up from his seat, carrying a package in a brown paper bag. Carlos noticed a few high powered weapons in the back along with several boxes of ammunition. “Carlos, you would be okay with this. You’re more of an officer than you give yourself credit for. I came because I really want to get these guys, too.”
“What’s in the bag, dad?”
Carlos’ dad grinned sheepishly, “Well, I didn’t exactly tell your mother why I was coming. I just said that I going to ride to the Village. So she sent this fresh baked pie and said to make sure that you got it. I guess she knows how much I like her pies.”
Carlos laughed for the first time since that horrible morning. “I guess she knows you pretty well.”
Two more police vehicles pulled into the driveway, and four provincial deputies came in and greeted Carlos and his dad. “Sorry it took us so long to get here, but we’re here now. Let’s get these guys.”, one of them said.
Carlos looked at each one of them. “Okay, here’s the plan…and I’m open to suggestion. Dad, you and the deputies head down to the waterfront district. That’s probably where they are. Armando is checking with his sources, hoping to find out exactly where they are. I’ll wait here for Armando’s report. Then I’ll radio you on Tach 4 channel with his information.”
“Sounds like a plan, Carlos” his dad said. They all turned and got into their vehicles.
“Be careful, guys. These are some real bad ones.” Carlos watched them head out toward the waterfront district, hoping that the capture would go without any violence.
About ten minutes later, Armando flew up the driveway and dashed inside. “Carlos, they’re in the bar across the street from the Valdez home. Talk about a dog returning to its own vomit!”
Carlos remembered that Angel worked at that bar. He hoped she wasn’t working today. He got on the radio to his dad. “Dad, they’re in the bar across from the Valdez place. The deputies know where it is. We’ll meet you there.”
Carlos and Armando jumped into Carlos’ car and headed toward the Valdez home. The radio crackled with an urgent voice . “Carlos, we surprised them, but they started shooting. We captured two of them, but three of them got away. They’re heading your way in a blue minivan, license number 204313.”
Carlos knew they were heading for the marina to make their escape, and he wasn’t going to let that happen. If they got out on a boat, they probably would never be found. He positioned his car on the only road leading to the marina and waited. It didn’t take long before the van sped past them. Carlos gave pursuit, pulling up on the back bumper of their vehicle. He saw a glint of steel coming out of the passenger window, and then heard the sound of an automatic weapon firing. The windshield shattered and Armando cried in pain. “I’m hit, Carlos”
“How bad is it?”
“It’s through and through…left shoulder…I’ll be okay…keep going.”
Carlos backed away from the speeding van and got on the radio. “Dad, we’ll meet you all at the marina. Call for an ambulance. Armando’s hit.” He followed the criminals to the dock area and pulled up behind their vehicle. They were running toward a medium sized speedboat. Carlos grabbed the 30 ought 6 that his father had given him on his sixteenth birthday. “Halt…police…halt…police.” They continued across the dock, got on the boat, started the motors, and began to pull away.
One thing Carlos could do was to shoot straight. His father had taught him from the time he could hold a gun. Crack…Crack… Two shots. Crack…Crack…Crack… Three more shots. The first two shots hit the boat’s fuel tank. The next three hit the boat’s two large outboard motors, causing damage that sent out sparks, igniting the leaking fuel in a fiery explosion.
Carlos backed away from the inferno. He saw two men jumping from the boat covered with flames. He heard sirens and knew that it was over.
The next day, Carlos and his dad stood in Armando’s hospital room. “Armando, tell me what I can do to help at the farm while you heal up.”
“It’s okay, Carlos. My four boys will take turns taking off from school to pick up the slack. Tell me about the case.”
Carlos’ dad replied, “We took two right away. One of them on the boat didn’t make it. The other two probably won’t. Even if they do, I’ve been hearing that the mob is going to let them hang. They have to fool as many people as they can into thinking that they’re a bunch of nice guys, and not too many people think that nice guys butcher women and children.”
Later, at Mass, Carlos gained a sense of peace about the recent events. He realized that he was only a small part of everything that happened. When they left, he saw Angel and her Aunt Maria greeting the priest.
“Carlos, I have great news. I quit my job at the bar and Aunt Maria is letting me move in with her while I find a regular job.”
“That’s great, Angel. I hope we can talk about it sometime.”
“I hope so too.” As Carlos and his dad walked away, Angel knew that she indeed would talk about it sometime.
BOOK TWO
THE CADDY MURDERS
The day couldn’t have been nicer. The usually strong winds coming from the sea were a five mile an hour whisper. The sun was shining with a few puffy clouds here and there. Chico Rodriguez picked up his two bags in front of the caddy shack and made his way to the first tee, where he waited for the arrival of the golfers he was assigned to. He looked out over the first hole, with sand dunes and ocean on the right, and a few trees on the left. A sand trap and a steep bank guarded the heavily contoured green. Chico glanced toward his caddying partner for the day, Dominic Perez. “Hey Dom, how about this weather? I’ll take 80 degrees and sunny any day.”
Dominic set his bags next to the tee markers. “Hey, me too, Chico! Who’s your loop for today?”
“I’ve got Doc Fortunato and George Lopez. How about you?”
Dominic pulled out two drivers and put the head covers in his pouch. “Doc Hernandez and Hernando Zapatta. Looks like we’ll both get good tips today. Which would you rather do today, forecaddie or flag?”
Chico didn’t like to be too close while the golfers were putting. “I’ll forecaddie, Dom. I like that better than flagging. How’s your mom doing?”
“She’s recovering, but it’ll be about six weeks before she is back to normal.” Dominic’s mother had broken her arm when she fell from a ladder while harvesting olives. He put every spare cent into her medical bills. “She’s pretty tough, but it was a bad break.”
The four golfers arrived together, and each one went to their bags to get their gloves, balls, and gadgets, and deposited their watches and wallets into the large side pouches. They did some stretches and decided on the bet for the day. “How does $100 a hole, $500 for each nine, and $1000 for total sound? Best ball and summer rules.”, Leon Fortunato proposed. The others enthusiastically agreed and the match began.
The first hole was matched with pars, as was the second. Hernandez and Zapatta won the third with a birdie scored by Hernandez. They came to the fourth hole, a heavily wooded par five, when they heard loud shouting coming from Chico. He was stationed in the woods on the right about two hundred yards out, waving his arms for them to come. They loped up the fairway to the spot where Chico was.
“Doc Fortunato, you’ve got to hurry! Come over here.” Chico led him to a spot in some thick brush. There laid two bodies, both shot, one in the chest and the other in the head. “It’s Branco and Sandival. Can you help them?”
Doc Fortunato checked for a pulse or breath sounds. There were none. “Sorry, Chico. They’ve been dead for a while. Were they your friends?”
“We’re all friends here, Doctor. What are we going to do?”
Doc Fortunato pulled out his phone and motioned for everyone to move away from the bodies. “We’re going to call the police, and move away from the bodies so we don’t upset any evidence they might find.” He dialed his phone and when someone picked up he said, “Carlos? This is Leon Fortunato. I’m on the fourth hole at the Village Dunes. You have to come out here.”