CHAPTER 14 - THE THEFT
Goldie had fallen into a fitful sleep that night only to be awakened by what she thought was a scream. She bolted to a sitting position and listened. Jacob, apparently, heard nothing as he continued to snore beside her, so she returned to her pillow and fell back to sleep. The next morning Goldie questioned Jacob.
"Didn't you hear it last night?" Jacob shook his balding head. "A scream, maybe?" she persisted. Jacob shook his head again and began to dress.
"Time for breakfast," he said, preparing to leave their suite.
His wife, determined he would not walk away from her so easily, dressed with equal swiftness. Still buttoning the front of her dress, she moved to block his passage.
"Today! Today, Jacob!" She screwed up her face in determination. "You will ask those men to leave today."
She was prepared to follow him to the dining room, if necessary, to make sure he did as she asked. Jacob paused as if to consider the matter, then nodded slowly. "Maybe it is time," he murmured. "Maybe it is time."
The lobby phone was ringing as Goldie reached it. To her great surprise, it was the guests in Room 107. "We wish to check out," they said. "Prepare our bill."
Goldie replaced the receiver in shock. The horror of having these men remain as guests was equally balanced in her mind by the horror of having to deal with them during the checking-out process. Deciding this experience should fall to Jacob, Goldie rapped on his office door. When Jacob answered her knock, she instructed him in a no-nonsense tone as to what was expected. She meant to distance herself by shopping in the outdoor market.
The old fellow dutifully took over the desk while his wife merrily dipped into the register. She withdrew some bills and waved goodbye as she started across the lobby. He watched her step out onto the sunlit veranda.
Ramon and Joseph exited their room bright and early, carrying shopping bags containing new purchases. They headed for the dining room to order breakfast before leaving for Ramon's secret place in the woods. The dining room was almost empty and they seated themselves, tucking the bags under their table by their feet. Intrigued by Las Naranjas' international cuisine, the men decided to try the eggs Benedict.
Jacob, meanwhile, prepared their statement and was holding it in his hand when the guests from Room 107 exited the dining room and headed for the reception desk. They were halfway across the lobby when the waiter called them back. The men froze in their tracks. Ramon's mind raced in terror, thinking, The Baka cannot have failed me.
He composed himself and turned. The waiter was pointing to their bags, forgotten under the table. Ramon and Joseph looked at one another in relief. Joseph hurried back, thanking the waiter profusely. "It would not do to forget our new purchases," he smiled. The waiter nodded and moved to the next table.
To Joseph's surprise, he saw the women tourists, the ones Ramon had found so promising the day before, seated with their husbands at the next table. The couples appeared oblivious to his stare and began placing their breakfast orders with the waiter. The woman was speaking now, the tall, slim one that Ramon liked so well. Her voice was like music to Joseph's ears. It was too bad she had run from them the day before. He shook his head and bent down for the bags.
This was a day for surprises! The woman's husband had hung his jacket on the back of his chair and his well-stuffed wallet stuck out of his inside jacket pocket. In fact, Joseph was nose-to-nose with the billfold and the wallet couldn't be seen by anyone unless they, too, were bending under the table.
"The wallet was waiting to be taken, sir," Joseph would later relate to Ramon.
Satisfied that no one was looking, Joseph deftly plucked the wallet from the jacket and dropped it into the nearest shopping bag. Then he grasped the bags by their handles, stood erect, and trotted quickly to the reception desk.
Ramon had counted his bankroll three times and, even with his recent winnings, still found himself painfully short of the amount needed to satisfy the charges presented to him. While Jacob waited patiently for payment, Ramon became more desperate with each passing moment. He was staring down at the bills in his hand when Joseph arrived. The tall man dipped into one of the shopping bags and withdrew part of the tourist's funds. He presented a handful of bills to Ramon.
"May I pay my share of our costs, sir?"
Ramon stared at the money Joseph held. He reached out gingerly and took the wad of bills, then turned back to the desk and counted off enough to cover their expenses.
Jacob accepted the money, recounted it, and placed it in the cash register without a word. Then he stamped the statement PAID and the men gathered up their shopping bags and exited the lobby. Jacob sighed contentedly and settled back behind the desk for what he hoped would be an otherwise uneventful day.
From the lobby window he caught sight of Ramon's dusty, battered, little Chevy moving up the dirt road. Framed by the window, the car drove into the distance until it was lost from sight.
Goldie looked up from her shopping expedition as the men drove past the open-air vending stands. Good riddance, she thought with relief. It was safe to return to the hotel now, but Goldie wanted to make her little holiday last as long as possible. So she picked up a wooden carving and pretended to look it over carefully. She would go back when she was ready and not before.
Ramon drove a few miles down the road and pulled off beside a small shop. It was no more than an unpainted shack with an open side and a counter. Ramon said he had decided to pick up some fresh supplies and explained to Joseph where they were going.
"To the hidden place, sir?" Joseph asked.
"Yes," Ramon assured him, "we go to the hidden place."
While Ramon pointed out his choices to the vendor, Joseph picked up a length of rope. He tested the rope, then placed it beside the growing pile of purchases. Ramon looked at him questioningly and Joseph smiled. "We cannot always depend upon having a spare sheet," he said.
Ramon nodded in agreement. Peeling off a few bills from the remaining bankroll, Ramon paid the vendor. Joseph began moving the items to their car. Satisfied with their purchases, the men climbed back into the car and resumed their journey.
As they continued along the road, Joseph turned to Ramon. "Sir," he asked seriously, "if you could have any promising woman you wanted, which woman would it be?" Ramon snarled angrily, but Joseph soothed him, smiling, persisting.
"Truly, which woman should it be?"
The smaller man, to his surprise, found himself admitting with regret, "The stupid, foreign woman, Joseph." He sighed at the very thought.
Joseph smiled, "The tall, slim, blonde woman in the blue dress?"
Ramon sighed again, "Yes, that one." When Joseph grinned again. Ramon snapped, "What is so funny?"
Joseph laughed, "This may be possible, sir."
"What are you talking about?"
"The woman and her husband were to leave for the airport this afternoon," Joseph said, "but they will not be flying today, sir."
Ramon shot him a questioning look. "How do you know this, my friend?" The Haitian grinned as he reached into the nearest shopping bag and produced a slim packet of paper. "Because I have their tickets."
Ramon howled with glee at the unexpected sight of the tickets and lost control of the car. They sailed off the road and bumped crazily through the brush, just missing a tree. Realizing they were headed for an even larger tree, Ramon struggled mightily and brought the vehicle to a screeching halt in a muddy depression, bumping lightly into yet another tree in the process. Then he sat there, gripping the wheel, apparently in shock.
"Are you all right, sir?"
Ramon turned to stare at his companion. At first, he couldn't find words to express his thoughts and simply sat there with his mouth open. A hoarse laugh finally escaped his lips. Tears came to his eyes and ran down his cheeks.
Joseph realized his friend was laughing and began to laugh, too.
"But Americans are very rich," Ramon protested. "They can simply buy more tickets!" Joseph grinned and shoo
k his head. "No?" asked Ramon. Joseph shook his head again. His grin was contagious and Ramon found himself grinning, too. "Well, why not?"
Joseph took another object from the shopping bag and held it out for Ramon's inspection. "Because I have his wallet, sir, and all his money!"
"Do you mean to say the stupid, foreign bitch's man has paid for our stay at Las Naranjas?" Ramon asked in amazement.
"Yes, sir!" replied Joseph and withdrew the purloined wallet from the shopping bag.
Ramon grabbed the wallet from Joseph's hand and tore it open. He pawed greedily through the compartments, tearing at the plastic insets. Credit cards, receipts, and photographs came tumbling out. Ramon worried at the lining of the largest compartment and felt a strange thickness. Something was hidden there. Ripping away the lining revealed ten American $100 bills. Ramon thumbed the bills, counting quickly. All expenses paid at the hotel, fresh supplies for the shack, a wad of smaller bills, and a $1,000 bonus.
The Baka had been good to him! It was a pity he hadn't thought to ask for women as part of the bargain. He sighed again, then brightened. "Ah, Joseph," he smiled, "they will not be able to leave the hotel until arrangements have been made for more credit and a new flight."
"Yes, sir," agreed Joseph, "and that ensures time to find that most promising woman and take her to a hidden place."
"A place where she cannot run away," Ramon breathed heavily.
"And we can make her aware of our needs," said the Haitian and he began grinning again. "Time for us to return to the hotel, sir."
"Returning discreetly, so that none realize we have done so," nodded Ramon.
"Returning just long enough to convince this most promising woman to be our guest," added Joseph.
Ramon tossed the wallet into the nearest shopping bag and slammed the car into reverse in an effort to regain the road. The engine roared and, although the wheels spun, they were stuck in the mud. Joseph jumped out and put dead branches under the wheels for traction, then tried to push the front of the car out of the rut. The Haitian was strong and the vehicle moved backwards so abruptly that he was unable to let go in time. Joseph lost his footing and fell on his knees in the mud. Angrily, he climbed back into the Chevy, muttering curses.
Ramon laughed and headed, once again, for the shack. He drove with purpose and, in a short time, they came to the hidden place. Ramon parked the car off the road, where it would not be seen by curious eyes. Then he led his friend along until they came to an area dense with foliage. The little man pushed some branches aside, revealing the door to a small hut. Joseph would never have guessed the hovel was there if Ramon hadn't revealed the secret.
Ramon gestured to Joseph to enter and the taller man did, bending to pass through the low doorway. Coming out of the blinding, tropical sun and into the semi-darkness of the hut clouded Joseph's vision. Unable to see ahead, Joseph stepped to one side to permit Ramon to enter, and found himself stumbling over something on the floor. Ramon grabbed at his friend and yanked him upright. Joseph stood still, embarrassed at having lost his balance twice that afternoon, and looked down at his feet. He found himself standing amidst an array of dishes filled with different-colored foods.
Ramon's offerings to the invisible ones.
Joseph's heart raced as he glanced around the hut, his eyes coming to rest on the altar on the far side with its array of small jars, seashells, herbals, burned-out candles, and cigars. Ramon was a magician. Of this the Haitian had no doubt. Then Joseph saw the bones, human remains used in Ramon's ceremonies, and drew his breath in sharply, humbled in the small man's presence.
"Bocor," he whispered in reverence. "I'm in presence of a Bocor!"
"I do not know this word!" snapped Ramon. "Tell me in Spanish!"
"A powerful magician, sir. An evil one. A witch."
Ramon became infuriated and lashed out at the taller man with his fists.
"I am a Santero, you fool!" he insisted, striking Joseph again.
Joseph suffered the blows with a strange delight, which further enraged Ramon. Beating Joseph proved futile since he seemed to enjoy being in Ramon's service no matter what was required of him. Finally, Ramon gave up and went off alone to bury the book.
"I will address you as you wish, sir," Joseph assured him upon his return, "and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to serve you here in this houmfor." The Haitian lowered his gaze respectfully, quickly adding, "This temple, sir."
Ramon nodded curtly, annoyed at what he took to be Joseph's foolishness, then resigned himself to the situation. The Baka had sent Joseph to assist him and there was nothing he could do to change that. Besides, Ramon reminded himself, Joseph had served him faithfully and well since their meeting in the cane field.
Joseph broke, gently, into his master's thoughts, reminding him that they had best return to find the "stupid, foreign woman" before her husband obtained new flight tickets. "Yes," Ramon smiled. The men set about putting away the supplies. Ramon picked up the dishes and showed Joseph how to set out fresh offerings to the orishas, explaining that even though they had bargained with the Baka, dead ancestors must always be honored before honoring the saints or other gods.
This accomplished, they refreshed themselves with mango juice and spoke of how they would take the woman. Then the men climbed into the little Chevy and headed back to Cristo.
In the hotel lobby, it was late afternoon and Hammonds' new credit line had not yet been established. "It will take a while, madam," Jacob assured the impatient wife. She was making it quite clear to her husband that she had no intention of being stuck in this jungle another day.
"It is because we are in a rural area," Jacob added. "Now, if we were in a city, such as Santa Domingo, I assure you that …"
The woman interrupted Jacob, asking her husband, for the fifth time, was he sure he hadn't left the wallet in their room.
"It could have been stolen from there, Jim," she insisted, suspiciously eyeing Jose.
But Jim remained adamant that he had touched the wallet in his inside breast pocket as they’d walked across the lobby that morning on their way to the dining room.
"I know I had it when we were seated, Amanda. I just didn't have it when it came time to pay our bill," Jim insisted.
Amanda stepped away from her husband in annoyance. She placed her purse on the reception desk and pawed through its contents, finding only a few American dollars. She snapped the purse shut and announced she'd be strolling about in the open-air market until they were pronounced solvent again.
"Browsing, Jim, browsing!" Amanda stated emphatically and turned on her heel. She strode purposefully across the lobby in white, high-heeled sandals and down the front steps. Her husband and the hotel owner stared after her retreating figure and, as soon as she was out of sight, Jacob cleared his throat.
"It is only a question of time until the matter is set right, Mr. Hammond," he assured his guest. "My prescription, sir," he continued, "is to go to the garden and relax. I will have Jose bring you something cool to drink." A look of pain crossed Jim Hammond's face. "Oh, no, Mr. Hammond," assured Jacob, "in this time of trouble, there is no charge beyond the bill Goldie prepared this morning."
The little man smiled and adjusted his glasses. "Should your monetary problems and lost tickets not be resolved in time for the next flight, you and your lovely wife must do me a favor. You will dine with me and my Goldie in the garden this evening." The American was about to protest, but Jacob cut him short. "And your same room we will hold, again, at no charge, so you will feel comfortable." Jacob stepped out from behind the reception desk and led the man into the garden.
"I can't understand how the damn thing disappeared," Jim muttered. "It was there when I entered the dining room, but it was gone when the check came. I searched the floor, the whole dining room, in fact," he said, shaking his head in disbelief. He took the seat Jacob offered him. "The waiter never came on that side of me and there were no other diners nearby."
Jacob patted the man's
shoulder. "We have a very honest staff here and they are on the lookout for the wallet. If it is in the hotel, we will find it." The little man thought for a moment. "Mr. Hammond, was there any special identification? Were your initials or an insignia on the wallet?"
"Nothing outside of the usual, but, of course, there was the ink," Hammond responded. "Just before we left The States, I got hold of a leaky pen. Before I realized it, ink had smeared on the backs of several $10 bills in the upper-right corners. Is that any help?"
Jacob shook his head. "Not really, except that an eye I'll keep for any ink-smeared bills coming across the desk."
The little man in the rumpled, white suit shuffled back to the lobby just as Jose came into the garden carrying the promised something cool on a tray. Jose placed the drink on the table and whispered, "If you require anything else, sir, I'll be just inside the lobby door. Your room is ready should you wish to return to it, but," he smiled, "it is much nicer to wait in this lovely garden."
Hammond took a sip of what appeared to be a simple fruit drink and realized Jose had added a healthy dash of rum before serving it. He chuckled with delight as the ice cubes tinkled merrily in the glass. "This is very kind of you," Hammond said, "and your employer is a guardian angel."
Jose smiled in delight. "Yes, sir," he agreed, hastening to add, "and he is training me!"
Jose hurried back to the lobby leaving Hammond sipping the drink thinking that if his wallet had to be lost, he couldn't have chosen a better setting. At best, he and Amanda would be on an evening flight. At worst, they would spend another 24 hours in this paradise, and at no cost, thanks to Jacob's kindly nature.
He'd give wifey a little while to calm down while he leisurely finished his drink. Then he'd wander down to the market and tell her they were the fortunate guests of a funny, little, guardian angel who had a strong accent and wore a rumpled, white, summer suit. The thought tickled him, or was it the rum, and Hammond chuckled again.
As with those who find it difficult to relax, when he finally did mellow, with the help of three of Jose's special rum drinks, Jim Hammond had difficulty getting started again.
Spellbound: a Tale of Magic, Mystery & Murder Page 16