Human Sacrifice

by Cindy L Hull

  The guests became more restive, some women rustling in their bags, others shrugging their shoulders or whispering to their neighbors.

  Salinas turned to Claire’s group. “I would like to talk to Doctor Aguila.”

  Claire stood, self-conscious at being chosen first. As she moved toward the parlor, she heard Sergeant Juarez call the name of an anthropologist she knew from Michigan State University. She felt sure that Detective Salinas would be keeping the Keane College faculty for himself.

  Claire followed Salinas and Sergeant Garza into the parlor. Folding chairs and a small serving table had been moved into the room for his use. The detective sat at the table and Garza sat off to the side, her notebook in her lap.

  Salinas directed Claire to sit across from him. “Good evening, Doctor Aguila.” He smiled, and then turned to his sergeant. “Do you remember Sergeant Garza?”

  “Yes, of course,” Claire said, forcing a smile at the sergeant. Claire wondered if Salinas had told her about their history, but the sergeant’s face remained unreadable.

  Salinas said, “We will conduct the interview in English, but please speak clearly so Sergeant Garza can get it all down.” Garza threw her boss a sharp glance but covered it quickly when he looked at her. Salinas added in appeasement, “Her English is excellent, but note-taking is difficult.”

  Claire nodded and smiled at Garza, whose approval, for some reason, she desired. Claire sat back in her chair, placed her purse on the floor, and folded her shaking hands in her lap.

  Salinas asked Claire to describe the evening and events leading up to the reception. When Claire told him about her dinner with Madge, he asked, “Why didn’t Doctor Petersen go to dinner with you and Doctor Carmichael?”

  “She said she had a headache and wanted to rest before the reception.”

  “When you saw Tanya at the reception, how did she seem?”

  “She looked pale and unsteady. When we talked, she was incoherent, saying things were looking up for her, something about Paul’s death being an accident, and something about how the backpacks didn’t mean anything.”

  Claire realized that her knuckles had turned white from the pressure of her clasped hands. She tried to relax them in her lap. “I offered to take her back to the hotel, but she said she wanted to rest. I thought she might be intoxicated.”

  “Was she drinking?”

  “Jamal gave her a margarita. Other than that, I don’t know.” Claire paused to think. “She also admitted she had been silly to question us about Paul.”

  The detective immediately straightened in his chair. “When did she do this?”

  Claire remembered she hadn’t told him this. “At breakfast after Paul died, Tanya asked us when we had talked to Paul and what we talked about. It was a stupid game of ‘Who saw him last?’”

  Sergeant Garza cleared her throat, and Salinas paused to give her time to catch up. After a moment, he continued. “Was your entire group there?”

  “Yes, but nobody took her seriously.”

  “Did you?” His countenance turned serious. His eyebrows furrowed, and his eyes narrowed.

  “Not at that time. Later…” She paused, not knowing if Salinas had shared their private conversation at El Caracol with his sergeant.

  “Sergeant Garza knows that you have shared the photographs and other pertinent facts with me. You can go on.” He paused, his eyes burrowing into hers. “Later…” he prompted.

  “When I heard about the computer and looked at the photographs,” Claire said, “I began to think that Tanya might have been right. Maybe there was something unusual about Paul’s death.”

  “Yet, you didn’t mention this breakfast interrogation to me earlier?”

  Claire clenched her fists. “I forgot. I’m sorry.” She silently chastised herself for allowing Salinas to flatter and manipulate her with wine and quesadillas. He was clearly only interested in what she could tell him.

  Salinas frowned. “Can you tell me now, please? How did the others react to her so-called game?”

  “Madge played along, Jamal and Brad downplayed their interactions with him and criticized her for insensitivity, and George refused to say. He left in disgust at the whole conversation.”

  “This was before Cody joined you and my officers came to pick him up?”

  “Yes. Jamal and Brad left after hearing Cody’s story of what happened that night. Is this important?”

  “We know that someone from your group went into Cody’s room yesterday morning, looking for something.”

  “That’s impossible,” Claire said. “Everyone was at breakfast.” She clutched her necklace as she thought. “Besides, the computer was stolen Sunday night at Uxmal.”

  “But nobody knew that except Cody and you.”

  “Who was it?” Claire asked.

  “You know I can’t tell you that.” He paused. “I understand that Ms. Lorenzo took Tanya to the bedchamber around seven forty-five. When did you see her?”

  Claire sat back in her chair, concentrating. “I went in just after Laura came out of the bedchamber. Madge and George had left with a group of students. Jamal had gone in to see her and I went in after Jamal.” She paused to remember. “Jamal said Brad had also been there. He must have entered from the sitting room.”

  “Was Brad still there when you entered?”

  “No. I offered to take Tanya to the hotel, but she refused. She said she needed a nap. I covered her up with a blanket—probably worth thousands of pesos—then left her alone.”

  “Tell me about the water glass.”

  “Laura took a water glass into the room. I asked Tanya if she had taken any pills and she said she had taken something for a migraine earlier that evening. Later…after we found her…I realized the glass was gone.”

  “Why did you ask about pills?”

  “It was something someone said to me tonight…that Tanya had acted like she was on drugs. I wondered if that might explain her behavior.”

  “Did you check on Tanya after that?”

  “I peeked in around eight-fifteen. I didn’t want to wake her, so I left, but when I entered, I had a sense that someone had just left through the sitting room door.”

  “But you saw no one?”

  “No, just a sound of the door closing. It might have been my imagination.”

  Salinas jotted in his notebook. “What time did you realize she had died?”

  “About eight-thirty. Laura found me in the atrium. She had called an ambulance and asked me to go with her to the bedchamber. Madge followed us. Jamal had just come out of the bedchamber, so we knew it was bad news.”

  “Can you tell me anything about the dagger? It is not the kind of item that people might carry with them to a reception.”

  Claire explained how she and Madge discovered the dagger missing, and their negligence in reporting to the police.

  Salinas said, “I assume you know the significance of the dagger?”

  “Do you mean that her death was somehow symbolic?” Claire sat back, thinking. “How could someone steal the dagger with the intention of using it tonight, without knowing if there would be an opportunity?”

  Salinas shrugged. “It does seem unlikely, yet…”

  Claire interrupted him, “Both Paul and Tanya’s deaths replicated Mayan sacrifices.”

  Salinas raised his eyebrows and referred to his notes. “Let’s go back to the reception. After you spoke with Tanya, did you see anyone else approach her?”

  “I was socializing, so not paying much attention.”

  “Do the best you can.”

  “Jamal offered her the margarita and I joined them, as I already said. She acted strangely but wanted to stay. I think Laura talked to her. It seems she stood near Tanya at one point and then…¡Mierda!”

  Sergeant Garza looked up quickly, then put her he
ad down to write. Salinas raised his eyebrows and gave her a half-smile.

  “Yes?”

  “Cody talked to her.”

  Salinas’s brow furrowed, and he exchanged a confused expression with his sergeant. “Mr. Detwyler was here?”

  Claire sighed deeply and recounted how he had attended the party uninvited and had spoken with Tanya. “I could hear Tanya’s voice above the surrounding conversations. She yelled that she didn’t believe him, or something like that, then turned pale and swayed like she might fall. Cody just stood there, dazed, then Jamal rushed over to her.”

  Garza raised her hand, and Claire stopped so she could catch up. This gave Claire a few moments to remember the scene.

  Claire continued, “Cody walked away, and then Jamal had a few words with Tanya. She waved Jamal away, then walked toward the bar. Then someone came up to her…a tall man, fifty-ish, with gray hair. They spoke, and then she sent him away too. She said something to him that I didn’t hear.”

  “It seems she was having a terrible time,” Salinas suggested. “I wonder why she stayed.”

  Claire shrugged, her body relaxing as the details came back to her. “After that, Laura approached Tanya as she reached for another margarita from the bar. Laura took the drink from her, asked the bartender for a glass of water, and coaxed Tanya toward the parlor.”

  “Is this man—the one who spoke with her at the bar—still here?”

  “I haven’t seen him since that happened.”

  Salinas looked at his scribbled notes and reviewed them aloud, while Sergeant Garza caught up with her more detailed transcription. “So, between seven-forty-five when you first checked on her and eight-thirty, someone entered the room, stabbed her and re-covered her body.”

  Claire stared at Salinas. “I can’t imagine who would have the dagger and even think of such a thing, let alone be able to take advantage of the opportunity in such a short period of time.”

  “Exactly,” Salinas agreed, sitting back in his chair. “What did you do during the evening?”

  He spoke so softly that it took a few moments to register that he was asking for her alibi.

  “I…I talked to students and friends.” She paused, trying to remember what she did do during this time. “I talked to Cody. He was looking for Brad, so I sent him upstairs. I had seen Brad speaking to Eduardo Ramirez, then go upstairs.” She paused and felt herself blush. “Then I spoke briefly to Eduardo.”

  “What time was this?”

  “About eight-twenty.” Claire’s guilty conscience niggled at her. She wasn’t sure why she shouldn’t tell Roberto about their conversation, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. “We went outside for some fresh air.”

  Salinas waited for an explanation. Getting none, he asked Claire, “Did you see Mr. Detwyler leave the party?”

  Claire thought, “Yes, he left with a group of students as I returned indoors, just before Laura sounded the alarm about Tanya.”

  “One more question—why did Cody enter the party uninvited?”

  Claire looked up at Salinas as she remembered what she had in her possession…like the Ring of Mordor in her purse. “Because of the notebook.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Claire left the parlor feeling like she had undergone a waterboarding ordeal. She feared that any amorous emotions Salinas might have felt toward her had surely been dispelled by her dreadful performance. She rejoined her colleagues in the courtyard. Brad and Jamal spoke quietly together. George had found a glossy hardcover guidebook for the Casa Montejo to read, and Eduardo sat on a metal folding chair, perusing the Merida newspaper. To her relief, no one spoke as she returned to their cluster. She sent Madge into the parlor per the detective’s request and joined George on his bench. The remaining faculty members and Eduardo paused briefly in their activities to watch Madge trudge off toward the parlor.

  “Tough?” George asked, looking up from the book.

  “It’s a good thing I’m innocent because I would make a terrible villain. He made me feel guilty—and I thought he liked me,” she added in a whisper.

  “That’s his job, Claire.”

  “I hope Madge does better than I did.”

  When Detective Salinas looked at Madge Carmichael, he remembered vaguely the youthful American tourists who crowded the Merida streets when he was young—tall, blonde girls wearing mini-or-maxi-skirts and tie-dye shirts, and lanky men with long hair, grotesque beards, and frayed blue jeans, all laden with beads, floating through the market in a marijuana haze. This woman resembled an older, hopefully wiser, version of this image.

  After reintroducing Madge to Sergeant Garza and repeating his request to speak slowly for her benefit, Salinas began. “Doctor Carmichael, can you tell me about the events of the evening, what you saw and heard during the reception?”

  Madge recounted the evening as she remembered it. Her version and timeline of Tanya’s behavior and the events surrounding the discovery of her body agreed with Claire’s.

  “When did you become aware that Tanya was in the bedchamber?”

  “Maybe seven forty-five. I was in the sitting room and Laura—Lorenzo—came in from the bedchamber and spoke to the docent. He followed her back into the bedchamber, then came out and talked to Brad.

  “I went into the courtyard, thinking I’d get a fresh drink. I saw Jamal standing in the middle of the courtyard like a zombie, staring toward the parlor. He told me what had happened, and we entered the parlor together. George was there with his students. Laura had settled Tanya in the bedchamber and asked us to let her sleep. Jamal paced for a few minutes but went in to see her.” She paused, thinking. “George and I led the students out of the parlor and as we left, Claire arrived.”

  “Did you check on Tanya?”

  “George and I went to see her a little after eight. Jamal said he and Claire had checked on her and she was sleeping, so we left.”

  “What did you do then?”

  “George went outside for fresh air with his friends. I went upstairs to tell Brad about the missing dagger…I didn’t know it was being used to murder our friend.” Madge blinked back tears.

  “How did he react?”

  “He apologized that he didn’t get my message about the theft but agreed with me that it probably wasn’t important.” Madge sniffled, “How could we be so wrong?”

  “And then you met Claire and Laura in the atrium?”

  “I used the restroom first, then went down.”

  “Was Brad still upstairs when you returned to the atrium?”

  “I don’t remember seeing him.”

  Salinas looked at his notebook again. “Why didn’t you want to report the missing dagger to the police?”

  Madge fingered her wedding ring, the one she received from her third and last husband, the only one who had died before she divorced him. “That was my fault,” she pleaded. “Claire wanted to report it to you, but I couldn’t imagine the police bothering about a missing teaching aid.” Tears welled in her eyes. She rummaged in her bag for her pack of tissues, remembered she had given them to Cody, and sniffled. “Claire was right, of course. I feared she was getting caught up in the drama of the death—Paul’s death—and I didn’t see how it could be important.”

  Madge wriggled to the front of her chair, thinking Salinas was finished with her, but he said, “And the notebook? Did you and Doctor Aguila decide not to tell me about that as well?”

  “Oh, no.” Madge fumbled anew with her ring. “I’m sure she would have given it to you tomorrow. She didn’t want to take it from him.”

  “Do you have any idea why he might have insisted she take it instead of bringing it to me himself?”

  Madge shook her head, the chaos of her gray natural curls falling out of her leather hair clip. “I think he wanted her to see something…I don’t know what…and decide what to do w
ith it.” She puffed her hair with both hands and pulled it back up, securing it with the clip. “In fact, he seemed conspiratorial.”

  Salinas raised an eyebrow but did not comment. “What did you think about Mr. Detwyler’s journal?” he asked.

  Madge sniffled again. “Not much, really, just random comments about our research sites. I’m not sure why Cody thought they were important.”

  Salinas shifted his position, checked his notes, and said, “Tell me about the drawings.”

  Madge straightened in her chair, regaining composure as the topic shifted away from Tanya. “I saw eight or ten drawings. One was of a replica statue that Eduardo…Doctor Ramirez…had presented to Brad. Do you have the notebook?”

  “Yes, I do, and I may ask you to look at it more carefully later.”

  Madge nodded. “Do you think it’s important?” she asked.

  Salinas gave the senior professor a sympathetic smile. “That is all, Doctor Carmichael. Can you please send in Doctor Banks?”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Salinas invited George to sit as he assessed the senior member of the anthropology department, his staid dark slacks and Mexican guayabera in stark contrast to his colorful colleague, Madge. Salinas re-introduced George to Sergeant Garza.

  “Doctor Banks, I understand you dined with the victim before the reception. Can you tell me who dined with you and describe what happened there?”

  George straightened his black-framed bifocals and directed his full attention to the detective. “I dined at the hotel restaurant with Tanya, Brad Kingsford, and Jamal Kennedy.” He pushed his glasses up his nose. “We had decided to eat early, at five o’clock, and rest up before the reception. Our conversation centered on the upcoming reception.”

  “How did Tanya seem at dinner?”

  “She seemed quiet, but she kept looking at her watch.”

  “Do you know why she chose to eat with the men instead of dining with Claire and Madge?”

  “No. I hadn’t thought about it.”

  “So, everyone ate and left the table together? And went where?”