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Once inside, I understood why. The only light came from those windows and small lamps made to look like candlelight. The ceiling where the windows were was conical-shaped and lined with sandalwood. There was also a similarly shaped altar made of the same wood lining the inside of the steeple.
“It’s so beautiful,” I said, taking it all in. I pointed to a pew. “Can we sit?”
“Absolutely,” Noah said, motioning me into the row. “It’s magical, right?”
“Oh yes. It’s like what I felt when I got off the plane intensified.”
“I feel the same way every time I come here.”
“When we find Luisa, I want to bring her here. To heal.”
Noah leaned back and put his arm around me. “That’s the reason Tryst said he wanted you to come to the ranch. Your mother too. So when we do find her, you can all heal.”
I felt my eyes fill with tears and tried to blink them away.
“Can I ask you something, Sera?”
“Of course.”
“How did you convince your mother to come to the ranch?”
It hadn’t been easy, and eventually, I’d guilted her into it by reminding her if I was in Mexico, I might not be able to communicate what was happening with the search for Luisa.
“My mother wants to find my sister as much or more than I do. Setting aside differences of opinion is easier to do at a time like this.”
“Interesting way of putting it—differences of opinion.”
“I’m not sure what else to call it.”
He nodded. “It’s a mystery to me.”
“Me too.”
Noah said he and the others would soon leave for Yavaros. While he wasn’t sure when he would return, if there was anything to report, he’d be in touch. Tryst, he said, would be staying here with us, in the event we needed anything. He also shared the contact information for each of the guys who’d traveled here with us.
When I returnedto the casita, my mother was napping. I walked into the main room and noticed one wall was lined with shelves of books.
When nothing caught my eye to read, I dug out my laptop and did a search for Los Caballeros.
The majority of what I found led me to a Mexican criminal organization known as Los Caballeros Templarios—or the Knights Templar Cartel—based in the Mexican State of Michoacán. Between feuds with rival gangs and a mass arrest of their leader and several of his associates, the reign of the cartel had lasted fewer than seven years during the twenty-tens decade.
Historically, the first mention of a similarly named organization dated back to the fourteen hundreds.
Then, the Knights Templar defeated the Moors and took control of a town, Jerez, in southwestern Spain. They renamed it Jerez de los Caballeros—direct translation: Jerez of the Knights. Whether the secret society stemmed from there or not was part of the mystery.
Other than Los Caballeros Ranch—a dude ranch in Arizona—and the winery belonging to Brix’s family, the search yielded no further results.
When DA Cooley assigned me to the “task force” to take them down, I’d requested previous case files. I was told to do my job and gather my own evidence. In other words, there weren’t case files because there was no proof.
The question I should’ve asked Noah the morning we’d met for breakfast when I threatened Brix and Los Caballeros, was why William Cooley had it in for them. It made no sense to me. I couldn’t say for certain the county sheriff was in cahoots with them, but based on his interaction with Brix, Noah, and Tryst the night of the Wicked Winemakers’ Ball, he was definitely friendly with the men accused of heading it up.
Now, though, I had direct information indicating a “group of vigilantes” did exist. Within that group, there was an obvious hierarchy, witnessed when all those present at Seahorse Ranch appeared to defer to Noah. The question was, had they broken any laws? Certainly not to my knowledge. And as Noah had said, their search for Varilla was no different than that of a bounty hunter or even that of a private investigator.
Every rumor I’d heard about them indicated their alleged actions were for the greater good, not anything nefarious.
It was almost as though they formed a collective superhero. I laughed at the thought, but if I had to liken them to any one “thing,” that would be it. They were like Superman or Batman, coming to the rescue when they were needed. They took no credit, no payment, wanted no accolades.
So, again, the only thing that made sense was Cooley harbored some kind of grudge against Los Caballeros or Brix Avila.
