A Corpse for Cuamantla (8 page)

Chapter
18

T
he two women rode in silence over the next stretch of macadam road, their knees still shaking when they reached the dirt road leading to the barrio of Tetla.

"Still nobody behind us," María said, glancing in her rear view mirror. "Even if your friend's arm isn't broken, he won't chance driving without headlights on this rockpile." María laughed nervously.  Anna managed a half-smile; she felt like a basket case.

"I can't believe what you did to that character, Anna. You saved our lives. Where did you learn to fight like that? I wish I could have watched." María's nervous laugh turned into a drawn out giggle.
Some people laugh when they're frightened
, Anna thought, still working to calm her breathing. She wasn't one of them.

"My high school boyfriend." Anna rubbed her arms where the bruises would appear in the morning. "He studied Kali. It's a combat system from the Philippines. At the time, I was taking baton lessons to be a majorette with the high school band. Since Kali uses batons, he talked me into taking lessons with him. I enjoyed it and I was good at it."

"So you gave up your dream of marching in the high school band in order to be with your boyfriend?"

"Not quite. I did both. I was captain of the majorettes. Not much you can do with twirling after high school, unlike Kali, which is useful, though this is the first time I've fought for real despite my ten years of lessons. Thank God the moves came naturally and I didn't have to think. Otherwise, I might have frozen and then where would we be?" Both women laughed again, a sense of relief flooding over them.

"Here we are, Anna
,
the barrio of Tetla," María said, turning onto another narrow dirt and rock road. "It's Nahuatl for stony place as anyone could guess once they visit."

"I've never been to Tetla," Anna said, her brain temporarily on hold. Her body felt weak, drained of energy. How do you resume normal conversation she wondered, after someone tries to kill you?

"You haven't missed a thing," María said, carefully aligning the car with the ruts in the road. "Tetla is one of the poorest sections of Cuamantla. The ground is solid rock and nothing grows in the fields. In fact, when we reach my
niñera's
house, you'll see how the people build their houses right over the rocks using the natural stone for floors. Some people, like my nanny, polish the rock floors until they gleam. You'll like her place, very traditional but comfortable.

María turned the car onto a narrow and more treacherous uphill road, stopping in front of a walled house. Even in the moonlight Anna could see brown fields meandering among the clusters of adobe houses, brick walls protecting their occupants from intruders. María knocked on the courtyard door of the nearest group of houses and a young woman about Anna's age answered. She smiled a shy greeting and invited them inside. Both children ran to María and hugged her legs.

"Can we go shopping now, Mamá, please?" the older girl asked, "we've been very good and you promised."

"We'll shop on the weekend,
hija
," her mother said, "I'm glad to hear you've been good. Now it's time to gather your things for the trip home." The children collected their clothes and workbooks and sat by the TV while their nanny invited the women into the kitchen for a cup of manzanilla tea. At María's request, Anna shared the day's bad news with Sra
.
Barrientos, who hugged and cried with María. Later, as María herded the children into the car for the trip home, Sra
.
Barrientos climbed a ladder to the roof and looked out over the moonlit landscape. Nothing unusual, she reported, certain the assailant hadn't followed the women to Tetla.

"Whoever attacked you wouldn't dare drive up here," she assured them. "This place has a bad reputation, you know. We aren't friendly to outsiders. You'll be safe if you take the back roads to Apizaco."

Inside the car, the children entertained them with a story about chasing down one unlucky brown chicken so Sra
.
Barrientos could wring its neck and cook it for midday dinner. Arriving in Apizaco, María ferreted out a small restaurant where she confided her fears about dealing with the children over Pedro's death.

"They're only five and seven, too young to understand everything that has happened. I'm afraid they'll blame me for Pedro's disappearance. I'm only sorry I ever introduced him into their lives."

Anna wondered again what María ever saw in the man as she stared out the restaurant window at the passing buses spewing their noxious fumes into what should have been clear mountain air. Few people would consider Apizaco a mountain town, but the plateau city clearly qualified with its 8000-foot elevation at the entrance to the Malinche volcano national park.  She turned her attention away from the traffic and gazed at the busy sidewalks, everyone dressed in their fiesta best. Periodic fireworks pierced the air and she wondered how anyone in the city would manage a good night's sleep. She looked forward to the peace and quiet of the house in Belén.

"Who do you think attacked us in Cuamantla?" Anna whispered as María pulled out of the restaurant parking lot.

"I don't know," María said, keeping her voice low and turning up the radio speakers in the back seat so the children wouldn't hear. "I don't think he wanted to kill us, only steal my car and maybe rape us as an added bonus. I got a good look at him, but he wasn't familiar to me even though he seemed to know who I was. We'll find out soon enough. It's a small village and his broken arm will give him away. I still can't believe what you did to him. Who would have guessed?" María shook her head. "Wait until Miguel hears about this."

"Let's not tell anyone yet. I prefer no one knows about my Kali skills. It can bring on challengers and I don't need that right now."

"Whatever you say, Anna. My lips are sealed."

Anna was less convinced than María about the car theft angle. She wondered again if there might be a connection between Pedro's murder and the theft of the Real Cédula. "He might not have been after your car," Anna suggested. "Can you think of other possibilities?"

"After what happened to Pedro today I don't know," María said. "I'm paranoid, it could be anything. My only other guess would be Yolanda and Pedro's son. He's seventeen. Pedro recently changed his will to include me. The will states that if I die within two years of Pedro's death, my share of his estate goes to his son. Of course, Pedro's will also makes me a suspect in his murder," she glanced over at Anna, "but I didn't do it. Please believe me."

"I never thought you did," Anna said, with a touch of guilt. "Maybe he was after me and not you. I filmed Pedro entering the rose garden this morning. Whoever killed him might be interested in my DVD if he believes it contains evidence against him."

María dismissed the idea. "Yolanda killed Pedro, I'm sure of it, even if she didn't pull the trigger personally. More likely she paid someone to do it, one of her boyfriends perhaps. Pedro said she had more boyfriends than she could count."

The idea of Yolanda contracting Pedro's murder seemed unlikely to Anna. If Yolanda hired someone to kill Pedro she'd want to be as far away from the murder scene as possible in order to avoid suspicion. More likely that Yolanda killed Pedro in a fit of anger except that Pedro was shot.

Would Yolanda have arrived in Cuamantla toting a gun? Protection against bandits along the road, maybe, but the more Anna thought about it, the more she felt Pedro's murder was connected to the theft of the Real Cédula. Two criminal acts within hours of each other in a small rural village was too coincidental. Maybe Pedro stole the document, a villager found out and killed him for it. Ideas bounced around Anna's head like steel balls in a pinball machine, few of which seemed plausible to her, but then murder wasn't exactly a plausible act.

"Bottom line," Anna said, resuming their discussion, "we don't know whether our mugger was after you, me, or the car, which complicates matters a lot. Tomorrow, I'm taking my DVD to the State Police. I suppose I should report the attack on us also, if you have no objections."

"I'd think long and hard about that, Anna. The State Police frighten me. I'd rather talk with the Comandante
in
Cuamantla. He's the best person to track down a villager with a broken wrist. He'll find our mugger tomorrow before the day's out."

"What about Pedro's death? Is the Cuamantla Comandante
the best one to investigate that as well?"

"I don't know, Anna. I suspect the matter of Pedro's death will be left up to Pedro's relatives. Cuamantla isn't his home so the pipilitzin in Cuamantla won't want to bother with it."

Everything about Pedro's death troubled Anna, and since the crime now involved her, she preferred to have professionals investigating the matter. Most likely, the murder of Pedro was a crime of passion not of planning, which narrowed the suspect list considerably.

Deep in her heart, she wished she were as certain of María's innocence as she wanted to be. They were good friends. Anna liked her and couldn't believe her capable of killing Pedro, but tonight she'd seen another side of María. Nagging at her nearly numbed brain was her father's assertion that under the right set of circumstances anyone is capable of murder. Even more disturbing was the realization of her own potential to kill. Not a pleasant feeling in an altogether unpleasant day.

Chapter 19

A
s they neared Belén, María confided in Anna about her relationship with Pedro. "Pedro and I often argued about Yolanda. I felt he sent her too much money and she squeezed him regularly no matter how much he sent. His guilty conscience forced him to pay. The woman had a hold on him that I couldn't break. I'd already decided before today that our relationship wouldn't work out, despite Pedro's promises. He was an operator, a con artist. I knew that when I met him, but I allowed myself to believe he'd change and that I could change him. How foolish could I be? I let my emotions rule my head. It's all water over the dam now." María shrugged and changed the subject. "Did Miguel tell you where we're to meet tomorrow and what time? I forgot to ask him at school."

"We meet at eleven in front of the school and we'll travel in caravan. I wondered whether you planned to attend the funeral."

"Of course I'm going. I'm a colleague of Pedro's like the rest of the teachers." María seemed almost offended.

"What about Yolanda and Pedro's family? Surely they resent you. Aren't you worried about trouble from them?"

"Not at all. My behavior will be no different from the rest of Pedro's colleagues. I've had plenty of practice hiding my feelings, Anna. Trust me, things would be worse for me among my colleagues if I chose not to go. Besides, not attending would be an admission of guilt and I have no guilt to hide, only grief."

"Well, for my sake, I'm glad you're going. Your presence will keep Miguel on good behavior."

María laughed. "I hear you, Anna, but is that really what you want? Most women I know would be delighted at the attentions of the Maestro
Director. He is quite handsome and charming and not lacking for admirers, myself included," she added with a smile.

Disconcerted, Anna blurted out a question she preferred María not answer, "you mean you and Miguel dated at some point?"

"I didn't mean to upset you, Anna. I'm teasing you because I think you're more interested in our Miguel more than you admit, even to yourself. And he's obviously interested in you, already the stuff of gossip at school."

This came as news to Anna, leaving her surprised and a little annoyed, though she realized María might be right.  She smiled her response knowing María wasn't easily fooled. The two women rode in silence the last mile or two to Belén. Anna contemplated her relationship with Miguel, curious about the exact nature of the gossip and trying without success to forget the disastrous events of the day.

"Bueno, here we are, Anna." María turned onto the paved section of the Belén road. "Thank you for leaving the fiesta with me and don't worry about us. I'm taking the children to my parent's house. We'll spend the night there. I have enough medicine to get me through the next couple of days. I'll see you tomorrow."

"No problem, María," Anna said, "though you're welcome to stay with me. You and the children can sleep in my bed and I can stay in the room on the roof." She would enjoy the company of María and her children. It might settle her down from a highly unsettling day. Facing the night alone wasn't a pleasant thought even with the promise of Miguel's visit. She wondered again what he wanted to discuss with her.

"Thanks, Anna. I'm stopping home to gather clothes for tomorrow. My mother's house is on the outskirts of Tlaxcala, not far from here. She can watch the children tomorrow while I travel to the funeral. Please don't worry about me. Oh, this cobblestone street of yours is terrible, fit only for burros. Do you mind if I let you out at the top of the hill? There's no need to worry about that goon back in Cuamantla. I'll bet he's sitting in a doctor's house somewhere getting his arm bones re-set." María laughed again.

"You're probably right. The walk to the house will do me good. I need to clear the cobwebs from my brain. I'll see you in Cuamantla in the morning. Sleep well and may God be with you."

"God be with you, also, Anna. Until tomorrow."