Desert Rose Part 12

Alejandra turns the portable air tank on. The air from the tank flows to the built-in jacks to lift the dune buggy up off the ground. Once the buggy was off the ground, she secures the jacks. They would hold the buggy off the ground, while she locates where the vibration had been coming from. So, that she wouldn’t get her new clothes dirty, she slipped on a pair of work coveralls she had stored in the buggy.

Alejandra shakes each wheel as she checks for the vibration. After checking the rear end, she moves towards the front and on the passenger side, she locates the problem. There was a bolt poking through the thread of the tire.

She grabs her pliers and the tire plugging kit. She manages to pull the bolt out and insert the probe to ream the hole and twist the metal wires in the steel belting. While the probe plugs the hole, she takes the tires plug and applies a little bit of rubber cement to it. The rubber cement would help seal the hole with the rubber strip in it.

She quickly removes the probe and pushes the plug into the hole. The plug was fighting her, as she pushed it into the hole. She pushes harder and finally, it starts squeezing into the hole. She keeps pushing the plug until there is only a fingernail width sticking out of the tire.

She pulls the plugger out and uses a box opener to cut the excess off. Since she was finished with the tire, she pulled the tire off and refills the tire with air from the air tank. She also checks the braking system and suspension while she was at it.

While Alejandra is looking over her buggy, she wonders what detective Branston was going to do about those crooked State Troopers. After all the things they have done, they belong in jail. She puts the wheel back on and cleans up the mess she made.

Once everything was cleaned, she pulls the pins and let the jacks lower the buggy down to the ground. She wipes her hand on a clean rag she keeps in the dune buggy. Alejandra walks back inside the house and doesn’t see Detective Branston anywhere. Which meant to her that he must be in his home office. She grabs a cold bottled water from the refrigerator and takes a sip from it, as she heads towards his office.

She notices the door was shut as she approaches it. She knocks on it softly. The last time she barged into her uncle’s office. He had one of the other women that had been smuggled into the country with her, bent over his desk and was fucking her ass. After he was done with that woman, he made her clean his cock off.

“Enter!”

Alejandra enters Branston’s office and noticed he was looking at the thumb drive he had been given. She walks over and plop’s down in the spare chair in front of his desk.

“Any luck?” Alejandra takes a sip of water from her bottle.

“No, unfortunately.” Branston looks at Alejandra.

He was getting frustrated with this case. He also didn’t like the fact that whoever came after him, tried to kill him. A thought entered his mind, as he looks at Alejandra.

“Alejandra, how did your uncle get a hold of the State Troopers that worked with him?” Branston was creating a plan.

“He just called them on a cellphone he keeps on him. It’s not the same one he uses all the time, but a different one.” Alejandra remembered seeing it a couple of days ago.

“Do you happen to know the number of it?”

“No sir, he always kept it on him. However, there might be a way to get in touch with them. They have a favorite diner that they like to stop at, because of one of the waitresses that works there. They both are trying to get into her panties.” Alejandra saw them down there one day when she went with one of the yard workers to pick-up lunch.

“Do you remember her name?” Branston had an idea in mind.

“I think her name was Tammy. She has short brown hair and a nice figure. Her uniform hugs her body.”

“What’s the name of the diner?”

“It’s called the Silver Bullet. Its only ten miles north of the junkyard.”

“I think it might be a good idea to pay it a visit.” Sebastian figures he could learn more about the two State troopers.

“Just be careful. Rumor has it, that the last person that came after them, ended up buried out in the desert.” Alejandra had been threatened by her uncle that he would have them do the same to her.

“You’re coming with me, to act as my lookout.”

“Are you sure that is wise?” Alejandra was a little concerned about that.

“Don’t worry, no one is going to see you. I know where we can get a conversion van.” Sebastian knew the police compound had a conversion van with tinted windows. Alejandra could watch him in safety with a camera.

“Okay.” Alejandra wonders what Sebastian had planned.

“Trust me, this will work. Now, let's go and get some lunch and pick the van up.” Sebastian grabs his car keys and heads towards his car with Alejandra following behind him.

Crystal Palace:

“You seem to have an interest in our little Belka.” Isa had noticed that their new guest, Maria has been watching Belka.

Maria turns around when she hears Isa’s voice coming from behind her. She was startled that someone has caught her watching Belka.

“She’s an interesting girl. How did she end up here?” Maria was curious.

“Someone left her out in the desert to die.”

“Doesn’t she have a family?” Maria looks into Isa’s eyes.

“Yes, but we suspect they are behind what happened to her. The question I have, why are you so curious about her?” Isa raises an eyebrow.

“Is there somewhere we can talk in private?” Maria didn’t feel comfortable talking about her problem in public.

“There is. If you’ll follow me.” Isa turns around and heads for the downstairs manager's office.Maria follows behind Isa. She notices that Isa was very pale as if she didn’t go out in the sun much. They stop in front of a door that had manager on a plaque that had manager engraved on it.

“So, this is where you hide from customers?” As Maria enters the office behind Isa. She shuts the door behind her.

Isa sits down in an old antique armchair in the office. A smile appears on her face “actually, I like my customers and learning where they came from.”

“Oh, I’m sorry if I sounded insulting.” Maria didn’t know Isa felt that way towards her customers.

“It’s alright, now why don’t you tell me why you're interested in Belka?” Isa was curious why this woman kept watching Belka.

Members of her staff and herself had observed how Maria watched Belka whenever she could. They didn’t know if it was because the woman was interested in her because Belka was cute. Or, there were other things the woman had planned for Belka.

Maria takes a deep breath and started explaining things to Isa about why she was so interested in Belka. She explained to her, how her husband had taken their young son away from her because she wanted to divorce him. He didn’t want her to get custody of their child and managed to place him in foster care. She hired detectives to locate him, but every time they got close to his location. They would transfer her son to another couple.

Now that she has found her son/daughter, she doesn’t know how to approach Belka and tell her. That’s why she has been following Belka and wondering how to explain everything to her.

“Belka doesn’t know about any of this?” Isa was curious.

“No, Belka doesn’t know any of this and I don’t know what lies she had been told.”

Isa just looks at Maria and wonders what she could do to help. After a few minutes “I think it might be best if you explain things to Belka. She would really appreciate knowing that people love her. The family she had been staying with, abandoned her.”

“When do you think it might be a good time to speak to her?” Maria really wanted her baby back.

“Let me set-up a little tea for the two of you, later this afternoon. You can use one of the parlor’s at the Desert Rose.”

“You own that as well?” Maria was surprised.

A smile appears on Isa’s face “yes, I’m the owner of that as well.”

“Thank you.” Tears were leaking out of Maria’s eyes.

Isa hands some tissue to Maria.

“Thank you.” Maria takes a few.

Maria and Isa spend some time in the office afterward. Isa showed Maria upon how they found her and what they had learned so far.