Lex talionis
Chapter 07. Smoke and mirrors

Author's note: Now that Jubal has met with Isobel and Darío, the plot will become a bit slower, sorry. However, it's just that this story is also about what happens between them. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

At the JOC, Maggie for the cup of coffee OA had prepared for her.

She felt livelier than she thought possible at the beginning of the day.

Obviously, the first thing they had checked was Jubal's cell phone. They weren't surprised to find it turned off, but unlike Isobel, he wasn't trying not to be followed. The last time it had pinged was at Newark Airport.

After hours of diving into the passenger lists of the flights, they had found that Jubal had purchased a ticket to San Antonio, Texas.

"Confirmed," Kelly said triumphantly, "It wasn't a diversionary maneuver. He made the flight because once at the destination, as he rented a car using a credit card."

"Great," Maggie said and took a sip of her coffee. OA had known how to prepare it exactly the way she liked it. She couldn't help but smile at him again. "In other words, he is in San Antonio. Can anyone think why he'd want to go there? Or assuming he's been following Isobel, why would she go there?"

None of them knew how to answer that.

"Maybe he didn't stay in San Antonio..." Elise mused.

"Yes, but then where would he have gone?" Ian wondered. "His cell phone is still off or out of range, by the way."

"Well, it's clear that we could sure use an ally in the area," Maggie commented.

She picked up the phone and dialed Kristen's number at the Dallas office.

·~·~·

"I'll call the front desk and see if there's any luck and a room is free for you," Isobel said to Jubal, sitting down near the bedside table and picking up the phone receiver. There's a folklore festival this weekend in Acuña, and it's packed to the rafters. Darío and I had to share this one, but the three of us won't fit.

Halfway through opening his can of soda, Jubal blinked, not knowing how to take that. Had Isobel been sharing a room with Darío those days? That meant... also the bed? Isobel didn't even notice the look of bewilderment on his face, but Darío smiled in a self-sufficient way that Jubal did not like in the least.

He forced himself to put the matter completely out of his mind. Isobel had every right to do as she pleased with her private life. He had no say in the matter. That reasoning did nothing, however, to prevent a leaden heaviness from settling in his chest and his spirits.

"So you are the 'famous' Jubal," said Darío, studying him carefully, while Isobel called on the phone.

"Mmm... Yes."

Famous? Jubal didn't know what to say to that. Replying 'I've never heard of you' seemed rude. There was a long, awkward silence between the two of them. Jubal searched for something to say.

"What's with the heat in this country? It's hellish." What a stupid thing to say.

"It's hotter than usual," Darío conceded, casually.

"It's exactly the same heat as in Texas, Jubal," Isobel said without looking at him, somewhat condescendingly. She glanced briefly at his sweaty forehead. "Besides, it's not that hot, you're just not wearing the right clothes," she pointed vaguely at his long sleeves, his thick cotton shirt, his dark garments.

Suddenly Jubal noticed the light dress Isobel was wearing; until then he had been occupied with more important matters. It showed her shoulders and arms, and left her long legs uncovered to a little above the knee. It was the first time he had seen her in something that revealed so much. He tried not to stare too hard.

It also exposed a tattoo that Isobel had on her right shoulder blade. It was a surprise to him. He didn't know she had any. It was a large, detailed and colorful design of a rose of the winds.

"Go down to reception," said Isobel, hanging up and turning to him. "They've had a last-minute cancellation and now have a spare room. Why don't you go and have a shower later? In the meantime, we'll get you some cooler clothes."

·~·~·

Later, there was a knock at the door and Darío opened it to let Jubal in. He was wearing some of the clothes that they bought for him and left outside his door a while ago.

"Better?" Isobel asked, pretending to be engrossed in what she was reading.

"Well, not even turning off the hot water tap completely, the water came out of the shower as cold as I wanted it to be," Jubal joked, "but I was able to cool off and at least I got the sweat off of the trip. Thanks for the clothes. It is true that these fabrics are cooler. Good eye with the size, by the way."

Too much, perhaps. The clothes -a thin white linen shirt and light pants- suited Jubal just fine. Better than fine. He was stunning. Isobel noticed an unexpected warmth welling up inside her, despite the air conditioning.

She bit her lips and leaned her head on the laptop trying to conceal it. She had always been able to control her occasional reactions towards Jubal of that kind, or she would not have been able to work side by side with him all those years. This time, however, it was being especially intense.

It irritated her to have him there. On the one hand, she felt calmer knowing where he was, that he wasn't out there alone and that, at least there, Darío and she would have his back. On the other hand, she still resented that she had felt compelled to let him stay. A part of her considered it a sign of weakness to have given in. And another was well aware that Jubal could be a valuable resource in the investigation. His mind was very capable and he had a great ability to grasp the overall reality of a situation from unconnected details.

Unfortunately, his mere presence was upsetting her in a way she could not afford.

"I think I've found who the author of the autopsy report might have been," Isobel changed the subject. "Before Dr. Núñez's death, the Piedras Negras Forensic Institute had only one other head medical examiner: Dr. Yáñez. Isidoro Yáñez Carrión."

"How could you find that out?" asked Jubal, coming over and sitting down next to her to look curiously over her shoulder.

" .org keeps a history of the published versions of many web sites," replied Isobel, trying without much success to ignore his proximity; he was freshly shaved and smelled very good. "You can look up what information they had on certain dates. In April 2021, the two of them were still listed on the Forensic Institute website," she showed them on the laptop. "But that's not all." She clicked on another window. "I found in his social media that Dr. Yáñez retired in August last year, even though he was only 47 years old, and went to live in Veracruz. Doesn't that seem too much of a coincidence?"

"Hey, maybe I should recruit you for the JOC," said Jubal, impressed.

Isobel couldn't quite suppress a flattered smile.

"It would be very interesting to have a conversation with Dr. Yáñez," Darío suggested. "I'll try to find a way to get in touch with him."

Meanwhile, Jubal offered to help immediately.

Isobel had already filled Darío in on what Jubal had found out about Juárez. Therefore, they then told Jubal everything they had learned so far, including the strange conversation they had just had with Ernesto Caldera. She lent him her laptop so he could study the case file in depth. Then she turned around, her back to him, using her cell phone to look for more information about Yáñez.

Jubal was unable to concentrate. Isobel's thin strap dress, the smooth, pale but slightly tanned skin it was showing, was a constant distraction. He just couldn't take his eyes off her.

He studied the design of his tattoo. It had a bright star to the north, green waves to the south, a flying swallow to the east, and a blue mountain to the west. He found himself admiring every detail, every stroke, how it was harmoniously framed by the graceful line of her shoulder. Isobel had her hair pinned up with a clip, pushing it away from the nape of her neck and her slender neck...

Jubal blinked. He didn't know what the hell was wrong with him. Maybe it was the heat. He wasn't going to be able to contribute anything like this.

He looked away, embarrassed. And he met Darío's raised eyebrow and the beginnings of a sly smile.

All he could do was pretend he hadn't seen it. He lowered his eyes, forcing himself to start reading the file.

·~·~·

A while later, they took a break and the three of them went out for some dinner.

As they ate, almost unconsciously, Jubal was trying to get a sense of the level of intimacy between Isobel and Darío. He wasn't exactly proud that he couldn't help it.

As far as he could observe, the way they treated each other were natural. Which didn't give him too much information. It could be that it was because there was -and never had been- nothing... Or because they actually were casual lovers for a long time.

Paradoxically, Jubal didn't want to think too much about how he felt about that possibility.

By the time they were finishing their coffee, Jubal was sorely tempted to simply ask. Without beating around the bush. No, he wasn't going to do that. It was not right to pry like that.

"Well, what's the story here? How did you two meet?" his own tongue betrayed him.

Damn.

Darío gave him an evaluating look for a few seconds, as if trying to ascertain his intentions. Jubal managed to hold his gaze with his best poker face.

To his surprise, Darío didn't put up a fight

"We were dealing with a serial killer operating on both sides of the border," he began. "La Federal and the FBI collaborated to catch him. Our bosses paired us up to team up. The story in a nutshell could be: I screwed up, we nearly got killed but Isobel saved my sorry ass, and then she even stood up for me to my bosses. And she's pretty too," he said, looking at her and winking. "Can you ask for more?" Isobel did a poor job of suppressing a smile. "Well, yes. That she would one day decide to pay some attention to me."

Sitting next to Isobel, Darío put his arm around her shoulders and brought his face close to her neck in a way that seemed a little too lewdly to Jubal. Isobel didn't reject him, but she did not look uncomfortable either; she just looked up at the ceiling with a patient face. She turned to him with an enthusiastic expression.

"By the way, Darío, how is Verónica?"

With a growl, he pulled away. "That's a low blow." He took a sip of his drink. "We broke up," he said dryly as a genuinely hurt expression escaped him.

"Again!?" Isobel exclaimed in surprise.

Darío shrugged his shoulders.

"Who is Verónica?" Jubal asked, trying to pick up the pace of the conversation.

"Verónica is Darío's girlfriend, for years," replied Isobel, making an expressive gesture with her eyebrows.

To some embarrassment of his own, a part of Jubal was too much happy to discover that fact.

"Yes, well. She is sometimes," Darío replied with an annoyed face. Other times she's... [my torment]."

"Maybe you should leave her once and for all and look for something else," suggested Isobel as if it were no big deal.

That made Jubal feel a painful and unjustifiable tightness in his chest.

Darío seemed to interpret it in a similar way. He turned to Isobel. This time he did not touch her but trapped her with a look that would have melted more than one girl. "[Is it a proposition? Would you give me some comfort now that I am alone?]" he said in a quiet, seductive voice.

He was not able to speak Spanish, but Jubal could understand almost everything. He had the tremendously unpleasant sensation that he was odd man out... Until Isobel snorted and told Darío to go to hell. Jubal found it very disturbing the fact that this made him so glad.

Darío then turned to Jubal, as if he had not been ignoring him for some time now. "See what I mean?" He sighed dramatically. "What about you guys? How do you met each other?" he asked without warning, point-blank.

Taken by surprise, Jubal nodded his head. "Aaam... Isobel is..." Such a whirlwind formed within him that for a moment he couldn't answer. She's... extraordinary. She's my... He didn't have the courage to grasp what Isobel was to him, "...my boss. We met when she took office," he finally managed to say, shrugging.

Neither man got to see the dark shadow that crossed Isobel's eyes.

"Yes, that's right," she said dryly, trying to end that conversation that was becoming very uncomfortable for her. She got up from her seat and left some bills on the table, enough to pay the bill. "Let's go back to the hotel. We can still seize the day a few more hours."

"But I consider her my friend," Jubal added with a warning glance at Darío. "One of the closest."

Isobel's lips quirked a sad smile, but no one could see it because she was already heading for the door. Jubal followed her. And Darío smiled to himself.

·~·~·

"Maybe we should call it a night," proposed Darío, yawning and rubbing his face. "It's already midnight..."

After dinner, the three of them had returned to Isobel and Darío's room to continue their investigation.

"Yeah," Isobel agreed, struggling to keep her eyes open. "I haven't been getting anything done for a while."

"This doesn't add up," said Jubal, as if he had not even heard them. For hours he had been tearing apart every piece of information from every document in the file. Although he looked tired, he seemed to retain his superhuman focus. His capacity to hard work was certainly one of his strengths. "Carlos's dental record has a higher number than Sofia's."

"So? Maybe they opened his file after hers," Isobel downplayed it. The truth was that she was looking forward to going to bed. Hers seemed increasingly inviting. Moreover, she was already sitting on it; she just had to lie down...

Jubal shook his head. "Nope. Look, the date of Carlos'. And now his mother's record. Kristen taught me to look at this paperwork stuff. His is prior hers."

That managed to clear her up a bit. She and Darío came over to see what Jubal was showing them.

"Do you think these records are tampered with, too?" asked Isobel.

"I'm not sure. I'd have to see the originals to be sure," shrugged Jubal.

"Arteaga Dental Clinic," Darío read on the report's letterhead. "The address is right here in Acuña. It will be closed for hours." He looked at Jubal and Isobel with malevolent eyes. "What are we waiting for?" he proposed resolutely, with one of his cheeky grins.

·~·~·

Darío moved away a little to watch the ends of the deserted street. There were no passers-by or traffic there at that late hour of the night. Meanwhile, Jubal raised his eyebrows, impressed, when he saw Isobel pull out a set of lock picks and begin to manipulate the lock of the dental clinic.

Leaning with his shoulder next to her, Jubal watched her work.

"I didn't know you had these... criminal skills," he needled her quietly.

The door opened with a slight click.

She raised her eyes and smiled mischievously at him in a way that unexpectedly altered Jubal's pulse.

"Hey, I haven't always been behind a desk in an office," Isobel replied.

Jubal had to smile back.

Suddenly, Darío hissed loudly at them. "[The police! ¡Aguas!]" he exclaimed in an urgent whisper.

He quickly ducked down next to the vehicle parked in front of them, as one of the modern local police patrol cars began to turn the corner.

In one fluid motion, Isobel grabbed Jubal and spun around, leaning her back against the clinic window; pulling him against her, she made him bury his face in her neck as she held him by the back of the head. As the patrol car passed, she pretended to let out a spontaneous, playful laugh.

The police passed by slowly, making their rounds. They didn't look twice in their direction. Just a couple getting carried away in the heat of the night.

Meanwhile, Jubal was busy dealing with how his senses had suddenly been overwhelmed by Isobel. All of her. The exquisite curve of her waistline in his palm, the spicy, floral scent coming from her skin, the warm touch of her whole body... He hadn't been able to keep himself from instinctively pressing against her, and all of it was causing a fiery reaction inside him that he was unable to suppress.

Isobel slyly followed the police car with her eyes until they turned again into the next street. And suddenly she was assaulted by the delicious sensations of being held in Jubal's arms like that, of his warm breath against her neck, of the solid contact of his strong body. She could let go now... But she did not.

"Hey! Leave room for the Holy Ghost!" Darío snapped at them jokingly, still in whispers, when the danger passed and they did not separate.

Taking a step back, Jubal pulled away somewhat abruptly, clearing his throat in embarrassment that she might have thought he was taking advantage.

She misinterpreted his reaction, taking it for discomfort. "Excuse me," she said very seriously.

"Not at all. Whenever you want."

Isobel blinked in surprise and Jubal kicked himself internally. 'Whenever you want'? Really!?

"So? Are we going in or not? Darío said half laughing, impatiently slipping between the two of them to enter the clinic.

Without looking at each other again, they immediately followed him and closed the door behind them.

Jubal sat down at the first computer he saw and turned it on. It didn't take long for a password request to appear on the screen.

"Of course," Isobel lamented, frustrated, leaning back. "It couldn't be that easy."

"Let me try a couple of things before you give up," Jubal encouraged her.

He entered a password. Isobel rested a hand on his shoulder and leaned over him. Jubal had to make a great effort to ignore the sensation of her touch and that it brought back the memory that he had held her in his arms only moments ago.

The system rejected the attempt. Jubal thought for a second and did another try. This time, he succeeded.

"Ha. 123456," Jubal declared. "People can be so lazy with their passwords..."

"I didn't know you had these criminal skills," she quoted him.

He turned to look at her.

"Hey, I haven't always been in command of a joint operations center," he replied with a smile, "although I did learn that trick from Ian," he clarified then, with a characteristic sideways tilt of his head.

The way Isobel laughed definitely made his heart race.

Darío cleared his throat and Jubal turned his eyes back to the monitor; he navigated through the system, looking for a way to access the dental records. As soon as he entered the search engine, and having the registration numbers, it was a piece of cake to find them.

He opened the two files. And found that the names did not match. Those record numbers belonged to Jacinta Torres and Elías Valverde.

They double-checked the numbers. "Maybe there's another system where Sofia and Carlos do have those numbers?" Isobel mused.

"Either that or..."... -said Jubal having a flash of inspiration. He asked Isobel for her cell phone for a moment, and consulted the dental records in the case file. He bit out a curse word.

"What is it?" Isobel wanted to know.

Both Darío and she peered over Jubal's shoulder. He held up the cell phone and showed it to them.

"The contents are the same. Identical," he pointed with his finger, comparing the two. "The records in the file are those of Jacinta and Elías, not those of Sofía and Carlos. They were of similar ages..."

"But... then... you're saying that..." Isobel began.

"The bodies that were found might not be those of the Vargas family," Darío finished for her.

"No. They almost certainly weren't," Jubal declared grimly as he printed out some copies. Why manipulate the original clinic records? It wouldn't make any sense. The ones tampered with have to be the ones in the case file. I'll bet you anything that Elías and Jacinta died around the same time.

·~·~·

The professional was not a person who was easily frustrated. He would not have become so good at his job if he were. That his target had disappeared actually made it more interesting. It prolonged the hunt, made it a challenge.

He sipped his coffee quietly as the program slowly, but steadily, cloned the cell phone of the red-haired woman who sat behind him in the diner, taking lunch with her colleagues.

Valentine had two children in common with his ex-wife, and from what the professional had been able to find out, he was an exemplary father. Eventually he would call her.

Then, the professional would only have to call the hacker who worked for him. And he would know his target location to within a hundred meters. As minimum.

~.~.~.~

Author's note: I would love to know what do you guys think about the chapter. Please, R&R.