BLACK MONEY LOVE

Chapter 7

Acapulco wasn't the Mexico Roma understood and loved. It wasn't the Mexico she'd fled to a decade before,nor where she'd made her home. Still she had to admit there was something awesome about the city, cupped in the mountains and kissed by a magnificent bay. The streets were crowded and noisy, exciting in their own way. It occurred to her that she'd seen more people in the hour since they'd landed at the airport than she might in a week on Cozumel. Roma stepped out of the cab and wondered if she'd have time to check out any of the dive shops.
Zack's had chosen the hotel methodically. It was luxurious expensive--- just Jerry's style. The villas overlooked the Pacific and were built directly into the mountainside. Zack took a suite, pocketed the key and left the luggage to the bell man.
" Well go to the bank now." It had taken him two days to match the key with a name. He wasn't going to waste any more time.
Roma followed him out onto the street. She'd hadn't come to enjoy herself, but a look at their rooms and a bite of lunch didn't seem much to ask. Zack was already climbing into a cab." I don't suppose you'd considered making a request."
He gave her a brief look as she slammed the cab door." No." After giving the driver their direction, Zack settled back.
He couldn't understand Jerry drifting to Acapulco, with its jet-set flavor, frantic nightlife and touches of luxury. When Jerry landed in a place for more than a day,it was a city that had the atmosphere of New York, London, Chicago. Jerry had never been interested in rustic,serene atmosphere of a spot like Cozumel. So since he'd gone there, stayed there, he'd had a purpose. In Acapulco, Zack would find out what it was.
As the woman beside him,he didn't give a clue. She sat beside him, silent and a little sulky.  Probably thinking about her shop, Zack decided, and wished he could send her safely back to it. He wished he could turn around,go back to the villa and make love to her until they both sated. He'd wanted her, wanted to fully explore the taste of passion she'd given him. He wanted to arouse her until she couldn't think of accounts or customers or schedules. Perhaps it was a matter of winding power he could no longer be sure. But mostly inexplicably,he wanted to erase the memory of how shed looked when he'd entered her daughter's room and found her crying.
When the cab rolled in front of the bank,Roma stepped out on the curb without a word. The bank, was as banks should be, quite and sedate. Clerks wore neat suits and polite smiles. What conversation there was carried in murmurs. Without hesitation Zack strolled over to the most attractive teller." Good afternoon."
She glanced up. It only took a second for her polite smiles to brighten. " Mr. Alpha. It's nice to see you again."
Besides him, Roma stiffened. He's been here before, she thought. Why hadn't he told her? She sent a long, probing look his way. Just what game was he playing?
" It's nice to see you." He leaned against the counter, urban and, she noted, flirtatious. The little tug of jealousy was as unexpected as it was unwanted.
" I wondered if you'd remember me"
The teller blushed before she glanced cautiously towards her supervisor." Of course. How can I help you today?"
Zack took the key out of his pocket." I'd like to get into my box." He simply turned and stopped Roma with a look when she started to speak.
" I'll arrange that for you right away." The teller took a for,dated it and passed it to Zack." If you'll just sign here."
Zack took her pen casually dashed off a signature. Roma read:. Jeremiah C. Alpha. Though she looked up quickly, Zack was smiling at the teller. Because her supervisor was hovering nearby, the teller stuck to procedure and checked the signature against the card in the files. They matched perfectly.
" This way,Mr. Alpha."
" Isn't that illegal?" Roma murmured as the teller led them from main lobby.
" You can use this booth, just ring when you are done."
" Thanks." Zack nudged Roma inside,shut,then locked the door.
" How did you know that?"
" Know what?" Zack set the box on the table.
" To get to that clerk? When she first spoke to you,I thought you'd been here before."
" There were three men and two women. The other woman was into her fifties. As far as Jerry would've been concerned, there would have been only one clerk there."
" You signed the name perfectly."
Key in hand, Zack looked at her. "He was part of me. If we were in the same room,I could have told you what he was thinking. Writing his name is as easy as writing my own."
" And was it the same to him?"
It could still hurt, quickly and expectedly." Yes, it was the same for him."
But Roma remembered Jerry's good-natured description of his brother as a stuffed Shirt. The man Roma was beginning to know didn't fit." I wonder if you understand each other as well as both of you thought. She looked down at the box again. None of her business, she thought and wished it were as true as she'd once believed." I guess you'd better open it."
He slipped the key into the lock,then it soundlessly. When he drew back the lid,Roma could only stare. She'd never seen so much money in her life.
" Do you think he stole it?" She murmured, to overwhelmed to notice Zack's hands tightened on the money. " This must be the money the man who broke into my house wanted."
" I'm sure it is, but he didn't steal it." He forced his emotions to freeze." I'm afraid he earned it." Zack reached under the stack of money and pulled out I small plastic bag, dipped in a finger and tasted. But he'd already know.
" What's that?"
His face expressionless, Zack sealed the bag. He couldn't allow himself anymore grief." Cocaine."
Horrified,Roma stared at the bag ." I don't understand. He lived in my house. I'd never know if he was using drugs."
"Maybe, maybe not. In any case, Jerry wasn't into this sort of thing. At least not for himself."
" Roma sat down slowly." You mean he sold it?"
" Dealt drugs?" Zack nearly smiled. No, that wouldn't have been exciting enough." In the corner of the box was a small black address book. Zack took it out to lead through it." But smuggling," he murmured." Jerry could have justified smuggling. Action,intrigue and fast money."
Roma thought she'd understood him, categorized him, but he was more of a stranger now than when he'd been alive. It didn't seem to matter anymore who or what Jerry Alpha had been. But the man infront of her mattered.
" And you?" She asked. " Can you justify it?"
He glanced down at her, over the book in his hands. His eyes were cold, so cold that she could read nothing in them at all. Without answering, Zack went back to the book. He took out his own book and copied down the pages from his brother's.
" What are we going to do with this?"
" Nothing."
" Nothing?"Roma rose again, certain she'd stepped into a dream." Do you mean just leave it here? Just leave it here in the box and walk away?"
With the last of the numbers copied, Zack replaced his brother's book." Exactly."
" Why did we come if we're not going to do anything with it?"
He slipped his own book into his jacket." To find it."
" Zack. You have to take it to the police. To captain Morales."
" You want to take this on the plane,Roma. Any idea what penalty is in Mexico for carrying illegal substances?"
" No."
" And you want don't want to." He closed the lid, locked it.
" For now, just forget you saw anything. I'll handle this my own way."
" No."
His emotions were raw and tangled, his patience thin." Don't push me,Roma."
" Push you?" Infuriated, she grabbed his shirtfront and planted her feet." You've pushed me for days. Pushed me right into the middle of something that's so opposed to the way I've lived I can't even take it all in. You tell me to forget it. What do you expect to do,go back quietly into renting equipments? Maybe you've finished using me now, Zack, but am not ready to be brushed aside. There's a murderer out there who thinks I know where the money is." She stopped as her skin iced over.
" And now I do."
" That's just it," Zack said silently. The best thing for you to do now is stay out of it, let them focus on me."
" Just how am I supposed to do that?"
The anger was bubbling closer, the anger he'd wanted to lock in the box with what had caused it.
" Go to Houston, visit your daughter."
" How can I? She demanded in a whisper that vibrated the little room." They might follow me." She looked down at the long, shiny box ." They would follow me. I won't risk my daughter's safety."
She was right, and because he knew it, Zack wanted to rage. He was boxed in, trapped between love and loyalty and right and wrong. Justice and the law." We'll talk to Morales when we get back." He picked up the box again hating it.
" Where are we going now."
Zack unlocked the door. "To get a drink."
" I can't, I go back to the villa to get some rest."