The Hidden Light of Mexico City

by Carmen Amato

  Chapter 69

  In San Miguel, Eddo had been open about his past relationships. But he hadn’t mentioned last names. Neither had Luz when she talked about her old boyfriends. It hadn’t seemed important then.

  But it felt important now. And a little sickening.

  Carmelita was the only person Luz told about Eddo and Elsa Caso. Her eyebrows went up and she agreed to come over on Sunday with her girls to watch the show.

  It had been six weeks since Lupe’s miscarriage and she was going up and down the stairs again. She helped Luz make an elaborate meal of huachinango in tomato sauce with olives and capers in the traditional Veracruz style. The fish was full of tangy flavor, perfectly complimented by potatoes and jalapeño slices. Luz was too edgy to eat much but watched with satisfaction as the food disappeared rapidly.

  There was coffee and arroz con leche with canela and raisins for dessert. Everyone finished in time for the show. The four girls went upstairs to play with dolls. Carmelita, Lupe, Juan Pablo, and Luz settled in front of the television.

  Carmelita squeezed Luz’s hand as the show came on. Luz was as nervous as if she was going on the show, instead of Eddo.

  A wildly applauding studio audience flashed on the screen, the announcer said “Live! It’s Elsa CAAAAAASO!!” and Mexico’s famous talk show siren walked onto the stage, tossing her head so that her blonde hair bounced. She wore a black leather halter dress that skimmed her knees and showed a lot of cleavage. Spike-heeled alligator boots and an armful of glittery bracelets completed the outfit. The camera zoomed in as Elsa smiled and waved to the audience. She sat on a yellow loveseat with her hem hiked up to show white thighs. Her skin looked like milk.

  “Isn’t she gorgeous?” Lupe sighed.

  “Nice,” smirked Juan Pablo.

  Luz felt like old leather.

  Elsa Caso did her usual opening gush about the evening’s guests. There was a soap opera star, a fashion show, Eddo, and then a musical group. Elsa rolled her eyes suggestively as she said, “We have a politician tonight, Eduardo Cortez Castillo. But ladies, he’s really a treat for you.”

  The audience howled. Elsa frequently interacted with the audience during the hour; it was a trademark of her show, like the one serious guest and the yellow loveseat.

  Elsa flipped her hair and said they’d be right back, live from the Televisa studios in Mexico City. Commercials rolled.

  “More coffee anyone?” Luz asked brightly.

  Lupe enjoyed the soap star and the fashion show. Carmelita looked pensive. Juan Pablo was bored. Luz drank coffee and got steadily more nervous.

  Eddo finally walked onstage as Elsa stood up and applauded with the audience. Luz’s heart leaped. Eddo looked like a movie star in a gray suit, white shirt, and blue silk tie.

  “Que lindo,” murmured Carmelita.

  “This is your friend, Luz?” Lupe asked fearfully.

  “Yes,” Luz said, bursting with pride and thrilled that Carmelita thought he was handsome.

  Eddo made a courtly gesture to acknowledge the cheering audience and crossed to the yellow loveseat. Elsa greeted him effusively, pressing her breasts against him during the obligatory kiss.

  Luz snapped the handle off her cup.

  “It’s been so long,” Elsa Caso trilled as she and Eddo sat down on the yellow loveseat. Elsa turned to the studio audience and twitched up her skirt at the same time, making it appear an accident. “Eduardo and I are old friends.” Elsa wiggled her finger at Eddo. “We’ve got a lot of catching up.”

  Luz held her breath as Eddo talked about how lucky he was to be involved in the Romero campaign and plans for legal reform. Elsa made reference to the PEMEX scandal, and introduced a film clip of an old press conference--a younger Eddo talking from a podium about illicit finance. When the view shifted back to the live show Elsa asked him some obviously scripted questions.

  It’s going well, Luz thought and relaxed a little. Eddo was handling it perfectly, smoothly saying what he’d come to say and sounding brilliant. Elsa flirted outrageously, as she often did with attractive male guests, but Eddo deflected everything with humorous comments and appeals to the audience that brought more applause.

  At the next commercial break, Luz leaned back against the sofa. “What do you think?” she asked.

  “A pretty smart guy, Luz,” Juan Pablo said, impressed.

  “I can’t believe you know him,” Lupe said.

  “Elsa Caso’s falling out of her dress,” Carmelita observed and Luz laughed.

  Cleanliness is Healthy faded and the show came back on. Eddo was giving some statistics on the link between rising education rates and falling crime rates when Elsa leaned forward and touched the line of silver hair.

  “This is new, isn’t it?” she warbled. “Can everyone see this?”

  The camera zoomed in on Eddo’s temple and the television screen filled with brown and silver hair. The view held for a second, then the camera panned over Elsa’s straining bosom. When it widened to normal view Elsa still had her hand on Eddo’s head.

  “Stop that,” Luz said indignantly to the television. Those were her silver hairs. She’d seen the scar underneath. She’d held the cold pack to Eddo’s head.

  “I think she wants him back, Luz,” Carmelita said.

  “What?” Lupe asked.

  “She’s his old girlfriend,” Luz growled, eyes glued to the screen.

  Lupe gasped.

  “No shit?” Juan Pablo grinned.

  On the yellow loveseat, Elsa Caso edged closer to Eddo. “It’s very distinguished,” she caroled.

  “Now as I was saying about the key to education,” Eddo said and eased his head away.

  Luz watched Eddo get the interview back on track. Although he kept smiling and talking and joking, Luz knew he was seriously annoyed.

  But Elsa seemed oblivious. She turned to the audience and fluffed her hair. “Well, we’re almost out of time. Thank you, Eduardo, for coming on the show. Wasn’t I right, ladies? Smart and gorgeous.” She looked straight at the camera. “Don’t we think Eduardo should be one of our bachelors in the charity auction next week?”

  The audience roared its approval. Luz clapped a hand to her mouth.

  The Elsa Caso Show had been advertising an upcoming episode that was to feature a live charity auction of Mexico City’s most eligible bachelors. Wealthy women could bid to win 24 hours with the bachelor, to include dinner and dancing and whatever else happened. Most of the men being auctioned were telenovela stars or sports figures.

  Eddo gestured to quiet the audience. His smile was rigid. “It’s a great cause, Elsa. But I’m not a bachelor.”

  Luz dropped her hand.

  “Now, Eduardo, we know you’re not married,” Elsa said.

  “But I am committed,” Eddo said.

  Luz glowed. Committed. He’d said that right on live television.

  “That doesn’t count,” Elsa trilled happily and turned to the audience. “Don’t we think he’d be perfect?” The audience applauded.

  “No, I really can’t, Elsa,” Eddo said.

  She tossed her blonde curls. “It’ll be worth your while,” she said archly. The audience caught on and roared its approval. Luz wanted to reach into the television and tear out Elsa’s hair by the roots.

  “I’d bid on this one,” Elsa shouted provocatively.

  Eddo pulled out his cell phone. “You know, Elsa, Luz and I make all the big decisions together.”

  Luz gaped at the television.

  “Who’s he calling?” Lupe asked.

  Luz’s brain coughed and shifted into gear. “Me. Me.” She shot off the sofa and grabbed her cell phone off the bedside table just as it started to ring. She ran back into the living room and hit the talk button. “Bueno?”

  “Corazón?”

  “I can’t believe you called me.” Luz heard him in her ear and from the television at the same time. It was very unreal.

  “So do you think I should get auctioned off next week?” />
  Luz covered the phone with her hand. “Am I coming through on the television?” she hissed.

  Carmelita shook her head.

  “No,” Luz said, uncovering the phone. “I don’t think you should get sold off like a bull in a market.”

  Eddo disguised a laugh with a cough.

  “Just tell her,” Luz thought hard for a good excuse he could use. “Just say . . . um.”

  “It’s your anniversary,” Carmelita supplied.

  “It’s our anniversary,” Luz said into the phone, thanking Carmelita with her eyes.

  “Our anniversary,” Eddo repeated, sounding as if he’d known all along. “Of course Elsa will understand that’s important.”

  The audience made sympathetic sounds.

  Luz stared at his image on the television. His shoulders suddenly weren’t quite so bunched.

  “I think next weekend will be a lifetime since I fell in love with you,” Luz said softly.

  Lupe made a hiccupping sound.

  On the television, Eddo’s free hand rolled into a fist. “For me, too,” he said.

  Elsa Caso fidgeted on the loveseat next to Eddo. “Stand by,” Eddo said to Luz. He turned to the talk show host. “Sorry, Elsa. Our answer is no. But we’ll match the highest bid you receive as our way of helping out.”

  The audience applauded. Luz heard it coming through the phone and grinned. As she watched the television, Carmelita made an I’m impressed face.

  “Oh, but you didn’t really explain,” Elsa said expansively. “Let me.” She held out her hand for Eddo’s cell phone.

  The crowd got rowdy again and Elsa played to it, pressuring Eddo to hand over the phone, saying maybe there wasn’t anybody on the line after all.

  “Her name is Luz de Maria and she’s an artist,” Eddo said.

  “She won’t mind talking girl-to-girl,” Elsa said to the shouting audience.

  “Maybe we should wrap this up,” Eddo said.

  “What’s he hiding?” Elsa caroled to the audience, whipping them up further.

  Luz watched in horror as Eddo reluctantly surrendered the phone before the audience rioted. She thought of just breaking the connection, but then Elsa would be proven right and Eddo would be embarrassed.

  “Dios mio, Luz,” Lupe said, her eyes wide with fright.

  “Hey, I’ll talk to her if you don’t want to,” Juan Pablo said.

  There was a new voice in Luz’s ear. “Hello, this is Elsa Caso.” On television Elsa sat on the edge of the loveseat, her knee pressed against Eddo’s. His face was expressionless but Luz knew he was furious at being manipulated this way.

  “Hello, Elsa.” Luz’s voice came out surprisingly even.

  “Eduardo tells me you’re not going to let him be in my auction,” Elsa pouted. She sounded as if she was talking to a not-too-smart pet. “This is for a good cause.”

  “You’re going to have to say okay, Luz,” Lupe urged.

  Luz and Carmelita stared at each other until Carmelita gave a well what are you going to do about it shrug.

  “I’m sorry,” Luz said into the phone. “But it’s our anniversary.”

  She watched as Elsa smiled hungrily at Eddo. It didn’t seem possible that he had dated Elsa Caso for a year, they seemed so ill-suited.

  “I’m sure he’ll raise a fortune,” Elsa said and gestured at the audience. The cheering swelled again. The camera zoomed in on Elsa’s smiling face, cutting out Eddo. “You can’t keep him all to yourself.”

  Luz tried to think of something clever and failed. “As he said, he’s not a bachelor.”

  “If there isn’t a ring, it doesn’t count,” Elsa twittered. The audience laughed uproariously.

  Carmelita raised her eyebrows.

  “He asked,” Luz heard herself say icily. “Don’t hold your breath for an invitation.”

  “He did what?” On the television, Elsa Caso abruptly stood up and walked to the edge of the stage. The camera followed. Her expression lost a little of its exuberance.

  “Eddo made his decision, Elsa,” Luz said, out of patience with the absurdity of the situation. She stood up, looming over the woman on the screen. “Probably the night he told me that I knew him better after one day than you ever did after a whole year. And he was right. You have no idea who he really is and you’re not bright enough to ever figure it out.”

  Carmelita snorted. On the television, Elsa Caso froze where she stood on the edge of the stage, the phone to her ear, her face curved into a limp smile. The audience was quiet.

  Luz heard her own heart pounding in her ears. She’d yelled at Elsa Caso.

  The connection was still live. “As Eddo said,” Luz murmured into her phone. “We’d be glad to make a donation. After all, it’s really about those handicapped children, isn’t it?”

  Elsa suddenly unfroze. “Well, I certainly understand,” she said, the phone still clapped to her ear. “Lovely meeting you. Mucho gusto.”

  The connection cut off.

  Luz watched Elsa Caso click across the stage and hand Eddo’s cell phone to him. “Well, I tried,” Elsa said to the audience. She didn’t look at Eddo or sit down. “But she insisted her man wasn’t free. It must be love.”

  “It is,” Eddo said. He smiled directly into the camera as he put the cell phone back in his pocket. A big electric smile.

  A detergent ad came on.

  “Too bad you’re not going to marry this guy,” Carmelita said.

  Chapter 70

  “Kind of ironic,” Vasco said. “I mean, this is what Miguel had wanted to do in the first place.”

  “Shut up,” Tomás said. “Let the man think.”

  “After his stellar performance on Elsa’s show last night, you really think we should trust his judgment?” Sitting on the sofa, Vasco opened a couple of bottles of beer. “I’m not sure we should even let him cross the street by himself anymore.”

  “He was smart enough to get Luz to bail him out,” Tomás noted.

  “True,” Vasco conceded. “We can’t ever let him live that down.”

  Vasco’s playboy apartment had turned into their command post. Big sheets of paper were taped to the living room walls to display the profiles they’d made of each userid and the action at each of the marinas where Los Hierros officers were prowling.

  Hugo’s Hh23051955 userid had posted again the previous day, another complaint that the expected shipment had not been received. They had folks keeping an eye on Hugo, but as far as they could tell he was barricaded in his house in Monterrey and keeping a low profile. The Sheba was still at large; neither the boat nor Gomez Mazzo had been seen in Panama or at any of the large marinas closest to Panama.

  Eddo puffed on his cigar, feeling time tick away. Luz would come to Mexico City in just 12 days and he was damned if she was coming to see a man the El Toro cartel considered one of their own. “Okay,” he said finally, coming to stand in front of the paper profiles of 1612colcol and CH5299xyz9, the two userids which used the same password as Sonia. “What are the chances that both of these userids are Gomez Mazzo’s lieutenants?”

  Vasco hauled himself off the sofa and came to stand by Eddo, head cocked to one side as if he was in the Danish embassy and studying a new receptionist. “My guess is that they’re both El Toro sicarios. Always talking about Site 2 or Site 3. Shipments.”

  “Or one of them is connected to Hermanos Hospitality,” Tomás countered, tapping the profile of CH5299xyz. “But not posting anymore because they’re dead. Caught skimming or snuffed in a fight over the bank.”

  “Either of them could be dead.” Eddo walked backwards to stick his cigar in the ashtray on Vasco’s coffee table.

  “Or one of them is actually Gomez Mazzo himself,” Tomás continued. “If we use his userid he’s going to know he didn’t call for a meeting.”

  “You’re like a fucking ray of sunshine sometimes,” Vasco said.

  Eddo turned to Tomás, hands spread wide, his eyebrows raised.

  “I don’t have
anything better.” Tomás shook his head and slumped onto the sofa. “I just want to catch this cabrón so bad I can taste it. And his skinny friend who dumped my phone.”

  Eddo nodded and turned back to the wall to study the profile of CH5299xyz9. “This one hasn’t posted as much as the others.

  “All just a few words,” Vasco said. “Stiff. Not comfortable with online communications.”

  “But this guy posted more and sounds sort of shrill.” Eddo indicated 1612colcol. “If he posted a call for a meeting it might be more in keeping with the personality.”

  “I agree,” Vasco said. “Let’s pretend to be a shrill nervous sicario.”

  Eddo looked at both of his friends. “Okay, then. This one?”

  Tomás looked grimmer than before. “Do it.”

  Sonia’s laptop was on the coffee table and they gathered around as if it was fire and they needed to warm their hands. Vasco logged onto the posting site as 1612colcol, using the shared password, then slid the laptop across the coffee table to Eddo. “It’s your message.”

  Eddo took a breath and worked the keyboard. He created a posting with the attachment then typed: “New developments. Discussion required.” The enter key sent the posting into the ether. A moment later the page blinked and updated, showing the posting by 1612colcol as the most recent. “Fuck,” Eddo said and swallowed hard. “It worked.”

  “Keep going,” Vasco said.

  Eddo created another posting. This time he copied the wording from 44Gg449M11: “Meeting @ Site 4 3pm in 5 days.” He felt his scalp sweat and the scar itch as he hit the enter key.

  Tomás muttered under his breath as the page blinked and 1612colcol’s meeting announcement appeared at the top of the postings list. “Five days. He’d better turn up in one of those damned marinas.”

  Eddo felt as if he’d just run a marathon.

  Vasco logged off the site. “How about we go find some dinner?”

  “Not Vips,” Eddo said.

  '

  It was still relatively early when they got back to Vasco’s apartment. Dinner had been subdued, each of them a little queasy about what the next five days would bring and perpetually checking cell phones for messages from the scouts at the marinas. Vasco logged on again to check the site while Eddo and Tomás took another look at the information taped to the wall.