The Pot Thief Who Studied Billy the Kid (31 page)

“My
great
grandmother made me memorize them. Those are the eight
apellidos
of the families on the original land grant.”

“And everyone here is descended from those families?”

“Some married in from outside, but they got the
old
names when they married. Except for a white guy named Brad
d
ock. I don’t know when he came here. He’s married to
one of my aunts
.”

“Is there anyone else I could talk to?”

“My
great
great
grandmother is here, but she doesn’t speak English.”

“I speak Spanish. I’d like to meet her.”

He shrugged and passed through a curtain in a doorframe. When he came back he said, “She wants to know what you want to talk to her about.”

“I want to ask her about someone from La Reina who may be missing.”

After another consultation, he motioned me to follow him to the back. When Su
sannah rose, he said, “
Please wait out
here, Miss.”

The young man introduced his great grandmother
, who called him Ernesto,
as Se
ñ
ora
Celerina Gomez Maestas
. He didn’t give her my name since he didn’t know it. I introduced myself and thanked her for agreeing to speak to me.

After a bit of polite conversation, Erne
s
to brough
t
us coffee. After we had finished the coffee,
I told her a scientist who was studying the Rio Doloroso had found an unmarked grave, at which news she crossed herself and kissed her rosary.

I ask
ed
her if she had heard tales of people being buried in unmar
ked graves either in the past or
recently.
She said all the villagers were s
trictly traditional with regard
to buri
als, and she was sure no one
in the area
had been
buried anywhere other than the cemetery by the church.
I asked her if there had ever been runaways or disappearances. She said some people left, of course, mostly young people. They went to the big cities like Taos or Tierra Amarilla for the excitement.

I managed to keep a straight face.

I asked her if she knew anyone named Nu
ñ
ez. She did not. Then, on a lark, I asked if
there might be someone who could contact the spirit of the person in the unmarked grave.

Her eyes seemed to withdraw under her
wizened
brow. She crossed herself again and said, “
Claro que sí, la curandera
.”

33

“So we’re going to wait around until the
curandera
shows up, and then what? Have a seance?”

“Maybe. Or maybe just get some information.
Curanderas
know a lot about their villages
.”

We had moved from the bar to one of the booths.
The
lamp
over the table – an inverted T with a metal
cylinder
on each end
–
cast
a
yellow cone of light
over each of us.
I felt like I was
sitting
in a comic book frame.

“Hubie, I need to start learning a few words in Spanish. I’m going to the bar for a fresh Pepsi. This one is warm.”

I turned to look at Ernesto’s replacement. He was a handsome young man with deep-set dark eyes.

“How do you say ‘eyes’ in Spanish,
” she asked me.

Just as I suspected. She
wanted to flirt with the new bartender, tell him he had beautiful eyes.

“
Ojos
,” I answered.

She went to the bar, got a fresh glass of Pepsi, chatted up the young man and returned to the booth.

“I saw you flirting with the bartender.”

“He does have great eyes, but I wasn’t flirting with him.
W
hile he fixed my refill
, I
ask
ed
if he knew anyone named
Nuñez
.”

“Does he?”

“He says he doesn’t.
Do you
think
Nu
ñ
ez
really doesn’t live here or
are the villagers
just protecting him?”

“I don’t think Ernesto could lie so convincingly. Same for his great grandmother.”

“What address was on his drivers license?
”

“I looked at
his license to
verify his name. I didn’t look at the address.”

“Why would he tell you he lives here?”

“I have no idea.” I thought for a moment. “Do you think it might have something to do with why
Se
ñ
ora Gomez
didn’t want you to
be there when she and I talked?
”

A wLinotypeide smile spread across her face. “I don’t think
Se
ñ
ora Gomez
knows I’m here. It was Ernesto
who wanted me to stay ou
t
here.
”

“Why?”

“So he could hit on me.”

“You have got to be kidding. He’s only about
fifteen
.”

“He says he’s
eighteen
. He asked me if I was married. When I told him I wasn’t, he asked me for a date.”

“And where does on
e
go on a date in La Reina?”

“Right here. We’re having dinner and then
we’ll
do some dancing.”

“Have you lost your mind?”

“Lighten up, Hubert. He’s a nice kid. Innocent. He probably just wants to have hi
s friends see him with a woman.
Plus, there will be a chaperone.”

“His great grandmother?”

“No, you.”

My mouth opened, but it evidently had nothing to say
,
so it closed
.

“And you won’t be alone
,” she said
.
“
He’s arranged for you to have a date as well.”

“Oh, no. I appreciate you driving me up here, and I’ll go along with boosting Ernesto’s ego, but I am not going on a blind date
i
n La Reina
, and that is final.”

While I was talkie I was ng
,
Susannah was watching something behind me.
I hear
d
footsteps.
A
woman
about Susannah’s age
appeared
at our table.

“Hubert, I’
d like you to meet Ernest
o
’
s sister,
S
irena
.”

Her name was well-deserved, a
femme fatale
who
could lure
sailor
s
– or pot th
ieve
s
–
with her
enchanting voice
.

“
Hola, Huberto. Ernesto
m
e dijo que habla español
,
”
s
he
said
in a throaty voice. She
sounded like an Hispanic Hepburn.

“
Un poco
,
”
I said, stupidly. I probably sp
eak
Spanish better than she did, but her appearance flustered me. She was
like
a
tamale
,
delicious but not good for you,
a burgeoning young woman in a sheaf of a dress that couldn’t quite hold her assets. This is why men behave like idiots, I said to myself.

The bar had begun to fill as the day ended and people gathered to unwind. We sat in the booth – Susannah and her precocious boy toy
on one side,
me and my fellow chaperone
cum
temptress
on the other
.

A plate of
car
nitas
appeared. B
eers s
howed up on the table. The juke
box played. Susannah and Ernesto danced, he holding her
like a life raft.

What the hell. I took
S
irena
’s hand and we waltzed to the strains of Freddy Fender.

Si te qui
e
re de verdad

Y te da felicidad

Te deseo lo mas bueno p
or
los dos

Pero si te hace llorar

A mi
me
puedes hablar

Y estar
é
contigo cuando tr
i
ste estas