Read When the Women Come out to Dance (2002) for Free Online Page A

or it would cause him to hit me. He wa s strong, too, for a guy his age. He was fifty-eight."
    "When you married?"
    "When he died."
    "I believe Viviana said he was killed?" The woman sounding like she was trying to recall whatever it was Viviana had told her. "An accident on the job?"
    Lourdes believed the woman already knew about it, bu t said, "He was disappeared for a few days until they find hi s mix truck out by Hialeah, a pile of concrete by it but no reason for the truck to be here since there's no job he was pouring. So the police have the concrete broken open and find Mr.
    Zimmer."
    "Murdered," the redheaded woman said.
    "They believe so, yes, his hands tied behind him."
    "The police talk to you?"
    "Of course. He was my husband."
    "I mean did they think you had anything to do with it."
    She knew. Lourdes was sure of it.
    "There was a suspicion that friends of mine here fro m Colombia could be the ones did it. Someone who was their enemy told this to the police."
    "It have anything to do with drugs?"
    The woman seeing all Colombians as drug dealers.
    "My husband drove a cement truck."
    "But why would anyone want to kill him?"
    "Who knows?" Lourdes said. "This person who finked, h e told the police I got the Colombian guys to do it because m y husband was always beating me. One time he hit me so hard,"
    Lourdes said, touching the strap of her blue sundress that wa s faded almost white from washing, "it separated my shoulder , the bones in here, so I couldn't work."
    "Did you tell the Colombian guys he was beating you?"
    "Everyone knew. Sometime Mr. Zimmer was brutal to m e in public, when he was drinking."
    "So maybe the Colombian guys did do it." The woma n sounding like she wanted to believe it.
    "I don't know," Lourdes said, and waited to see if this wa s the end of it. Her gaze moved out to the sunlight, to the water in the swimming pool lying still, and beyond to red bougainvillea growing against white walls. Gardeners wer e weeding and trimming, three of them Lourdes thought at firs t were Latino. No, the color of their skin was different. Sh e said, "Those men . . ."
    "Pakistanis," Mrs. Mahmood said.
    "They don't seem to work too hard," Lourdes said. "I always have a garden at home, grow things to eat. Here, when I was married, I worked for Miss Olympia. She call her servic e 'Cleaning with Biblical Integrity.' I wasn't sure what i t means, but she would say things to us from the Holy Bible. We cleaned offices in buildings in Miami. What I do here Viviana said would be different, personal to you. See to your things, keep your clothes nice?"
    Straighten her dresser drawers. Clean her jewelry. Mrs.
    Mahmood said she kicked her shoes off in the closet, so Lourdes would see they were paired and hung in the shoe racks.
    Check to see what needed to be dry-cleaned. Lourdes waite d as the woman stopped to think of other tasks. See to he r makeup drawers in the bathroom. Lourdes would live here , have Sundays off, a half day during the week. Technically sh e would be an employee of Dr. Mahmood's.
    Oh? Lourdes wasn't sure what that meant. Before she coul d ask, Mrs. Mahmood wanted to know if she was a naturalize d citizen. Lourdes told her she was a permanent resident, bu t now had to get the papers to become a citizen.
    "I say who I work for I put Dr. Wasim Mahmood?"
    The redheaded wife said, "It's easier that way. You know, t o handle what's taken out. But I'll see that you clear at leas t three-fifty a week."
    Lourdes said that was very generous. "But will I be doin g things also for Dr. Mahmood?"
    The redheaded woman smoking her cigarette said, "Wha t did Viviana tell you about him?"
    "She say only that he didn't speak to her much."
    "Viviana's a size twelve. Woz likes them young and as lea n as snakes. How much do you weigh?"
    "Less than one hundred twenty-five pounds."
    "But not much--you may be safe. You cook?"
    "Yes, of course."
    "I mean for yourself. We go out or order in from restaurants. I won't go near that