“…it will definitely swing the election our way….”
“…I don’t know, it seems extreme….”
“And you’re sure they’ll think it was the Arzobispo boys who did it?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll tell them!” It was Julian’s voice, low and hushed. “Everyone knows we have a rivalry going on. They’ll just think Arzobispo took it too far and sympathise with us, especially if they think some of us could have died. And we’ll do it all the night before the election, so it’s fresh on everyone’s mind when they go to vote.”
“Where did you even get that? Are you sure it will work?”
“It will work, don’t worry. I’m certain.”
“Does it have to be the whole building?”
“No, just a piece of it. My father can have it fixed easily enough. More importantly, Vergara will have won that chair, and he’ll remind this school every day why San Bartolomé will always be the best colegio mayor in all the Spanish kingdoms. Kings for Bartolome, Bartolome for Kings!”
The boys immediately joined in with Julian’s chant, leaving Lucas with more questions than answers. First, he needed to figure out what “it” was. The boys were all huddled around something. If he could just get a glance at it….
Lucas leaned a bit further over to peek round the edge of the window, then suddenly felt the shutter give way in his hand. Lucas instinctively grabbed the sill of the window to keep from falling, making a loud clatter in the process.
The boys came running over.
“What are you doing out here?”
“He’s spying on us!”
“Get in here, you rat!”
Lucas felt hands grab his clothing and he was violently pulled inside and thrown on the floor. The boys then surrounded him, glaring down at him with looks that meant a beating would soon follow.
But Lucas’s efforts had paid off. For he’d been thrown on the floor right next to “it,” which he could now see was a small barrel of gunpowder, complete with a homemade fuse made of cloth tied to the top.
“For your own sake, you better start talking, joven,” Julian said. “Why were you listening in on us? Are you with Arzobispo, is that what this is about? Were you planning to tell them all about us?”
“No, nothing like that. I swear,” Lucas said. “I just…I figured it was something for the election, that’s all. And if it was, I…I wanted to help. I really want to win that chair for San Bartolomé. Please…let me help….”
The boys stared down at him, wondering if what Lucas had said could be true.
Lucas wondered that, as well.
Chapter Seventeen
Armada returned to the gate at Villamayor around midday and wasted little time manoeuvring his cart through the city. Both he and the mule were both tired and quite hungry. The stable boy would take care of the mule, but Armada’s rumbling stomach would have to wait. He had a killer to apprehend.
“He’s been arrested.”
“What?” Armada asked.
The landlady scrunched her brow again, incensed at having to repeat herself as she planted a hand against the doorway. She was not about to let Armada in again.
“They arrested the filthy perro. First thing this morning. Frightened me half to death. And one of them stepped on one of my hams, which I’ll be charging them for.”
“Who? Who arrested him?”
“City constables. There were two of them. Teo squealed like a pig when they pulled him out. Woke everyone in the street up. It was quite a scene.”
No! Armada thought. If only he’d been a little quicker to put the pieces together. He should have not wasted so much time. How had the city officers found him out so fast?
Or perhaps, they didn’t….
“What did they arrest him for?”
“Apparently, that bellaco had a stash of serpentine he’d been hiding in the back of an old church. They’ll hang him for that for sure.”
Armada thanked the landlady and raced off. If the constables were indeed city officials, then Teo would right now be in custody in the basement of the ayuntamiento. There might still be time. The procedure for jailing someone involved seizing all of their worldly possessions, and seizing possessions meant reports, and reports took time. Especially when there were so many clerks, notaries, and other administrative officials that needed to sign off on it and be paid for their service as well, of course. He might yet have time to fix this.
Armada raced to ayuntamiento only to be stopped by the jail clerk and informed that there was no way he was going to get to see the prisoner. From there, the usual procedure ensued—after a bit of sweet-talking and bribery, Armada was finally told he might be able to see the prisoner if the magistrate in charge of the case signed a letter stating it was all right to do so. The magistrate, of course, was off on business and would probably not return that day.
A bit more sweet-talking and bribery, and then a lot more bribery, and Armada managed to convince the clerk that the promise of such a letter was enough and that it would definitely be forthcoming. The clerk was still unsure, and Armada was told to wait while the clerk went to lunch. Two hours later, the clerk returned with the smell of ale on his breath and in a much better mood. It was agreed Armada could return the next day with the letter from the magistrate, stamped and signed, but only if Armada paid a few more maravedís to show his good faith.
Armada was finally granted access to the cells below to find Teo sitting in the back of his cell, staring up at the little window that granted him the only light.
It was so quiet in the cell there was little doubt Teo had heard Armada arrive, though he made no acknowledgement of it.
“I was sorry to hear what happened his morning,” Armada said.
“No, you’re not. You’re glad. Means I won’t be running off any time soon.”
“I spoke to your friend, Commander Carasco.”
This finally elicited a response from Teo, who looked at Armada, surprised.
“He seemed to have no idea what you were up to.”
Teo only smiled and went back to gazing at the window.
“Tell me, did Gregorio know you were skimming from the shipments? Or from his payments? Is that why you killed him?”
Teo leaped to his feet and rushed to the bars, planting his face against them to make his point.
“I didn’t kill him. I told you.”
“You certainly had reason to. He must have figured out what you were doing. He would have threatened to tell Carasco. That would have ruined your business for good. And threatened your life, as Carasco is not a man who lets go of grudges either.”
Teo smiled, then broke into a laugh. “Is that what you think this is about? Oh, constable, you have it all wrong.”
“Then help me get it right.”
“Gregorio never knew, either. Him and Carasco never got along. They were so busy bickering with each other, neither one of them ever considered it was me. Why would I kill him? I was making a fortune off him. And if those raton constables hadn’t followed me last night and discovered my stash, I would be in Madrid right now, living like a king!”
“So, what happened to the money Gregorio was paid for his last batch? His family certainly didn’t receive it. Which means you were the only person who could have taken it.”
“If I had known someone would stick a dagger in him, I would have! What I could do with three hundred ducats! No, you have to talk to that assistant of his. That’s your man.”
“Assistant?” Armada asked, shocked. There was another player in this drama. How had he not heard of this assistant before now?
Teo smiled. “Oh…you didn’t know, did you? Not doing your job very well then, constable. Mixing powder is too much work for just one man. You need help. And Gregorio had it.”
“Who was it?”
“Don’t know. Gregorio mentioned him a few times but never told me his name. He just said he had the boy do all the heavy lifting, as he was getting too old for it.”
Someone young, Armada thought. Like a student.
“Where did he do this mixing?”
“Don’t know. He made sure of that. Nobody knew except that assistant.”
Armada grumbled to himself. Where to start with tracking down the mysterious assistant without a name or anything to go by? Why did the clues sometimes have to be so hard to follow?
“Augh! It’s not like it matters now. They’ve taken everything. And they’re going to hang me, aren’t they?”
Teo’s eyes softened as he stared through the window, as if what little sunlight filtered on to his face through the bars was the only thing keeping him alive now.
“Most likely,” Armada said trying to turn away from his own problems now, which seemed so petty compared with what Teo was faced with. He found himself feeling bad for the man. It was obvious he’d gotten it wrong. Teo was no killer. And despite this, he was going to suffer a killer’s fate. His past seemed a chain around his neck every bit as much as Armada’s. He could see it, now that the prospect of death hung over Teo’s head. The tough personality he exuded of the criminal capable of anything was but a mask, meant to cover the face of the frightened man Armada was gazing upon now.
“Well…don’t cry too hard for me,” Teo said with a smug grin. “I’ve done things in my life that…well…I probably deserve my fate. I’m not afraid. I haven’t been afraid of dying since I was in the army. I was injured once, you know. Stabbed by a Frenchman, right through the chest. It was during a battle, so no one could stop fighting to help me. There was a lot of blood. I remember thinking of my mother, of my pueblo, of everyone back home who loved me who would mourn my death. I even tried to picture my own funeral. Can you imagine? What a tonto, I was. What a conceited tonto.”
“But you survived,” Armada said.
“By some miracle of God, yes. I was unconscious for a while, though. A few hours maybe. It was getting dark when I woke up on that battlefield. The fighting was over. My company had already fled. I never saw them again. I just got up and walked away. All thoughts of my mother, my family, my pueblo…they just seemed to fade away with the sun that evening. I couldn’t face returning to them. I wasn’t that man anymore.”
Teo broke away from the window for a moment to face Armada.
“Since then, I’ve done a lot of things no one should be proud of. I’ve stolen, I’ve cheated, I’ve lied. But despite my sins, there is someone who will miss me when I’m gone. My mule, Lucia. She has been with me through it all. She’s helped me run from trouble countless times. I owe her my life. And there is no one to take care of her now. Please…look after her….”
“Of course,” Armada said, not sure what he was agreeing to. He hated mules. They had only ever shown him contempt and rarely had any interest in doing what was asked of them. He hadn’t thought it possible for a someone to feel real affection for one. Especially someone like Teo.
“Buenas tardes, Teo,” Armada said, standing up. Teo had a lot of reckoning with his life to do, and he didn’t want to waste what little time the man had left to do so.
Teo didn’t acknowledge him but instead returned to gazing out the window, soaking in as much sun as he could before it disappeared from his cell later in the afternoon.
As Armada turned to go, he found one last detail sticking in his mind.
“Out of curiosity, where were you hiding this serpentine you stole?”
“Under the Roman Bridge. There are bits under the arches where bricks are missing. It’s easy to hide things there.”
“How did you learn of those?”
“Gregorio. He told me about them.”
Chapter Eighteen
The smell made Armada realise how long it had been since he’d eaten. It was cooked meat and a floury odour, hinting at some kind of dough or pastry to go with it. Armada hadn’t eaten anything except a bit of bread loaf for breakfast, which had been so many hours ago. It was a bad habit of his, not eating when his mind was working. There were times when he resented his body’s constant need to consume food. It was a distraction from the real work he was here to do.
But resenting it didn’t make the emptiness in the pit of his stomach go away. He needed food, and there would be no way for him not turn down an offer to join the family for supper should he receive one.
There was no other way. Armada knocked on the door and it was answered by a startled Elvira.
“Constable….”
“I apologise for interrupting. I had a few more questions about your husband’s death that I wanted to ask you. I hope I haven’t come at a bad time.”
“Well…no. Please come in. Join us for supper, we’re just about to eat.”
Armada came in and felt bad for interrupting what had been a family meal. The wide eyes of three young girls looked up at him, the oldest somewhere around ten years old. They had been playing in the corner of the house with a bit of paper, attempting to draw flowers and crowns with a small bit of coal they’d been given.
In the kitchen, an older woman in maid’s clothes was sweating over a fire pit, which was the source of the smell of cooking meat. Next to her was a large metal pan where pastry was being heated.
“We were going to have some hornazo, if you’d like to join us.”
Armada knew what he was there to do. This was hardly a social call. But he was just too damn hungry to turn it down.
“Thank you.”
Armada felt it rude to jump into his interrogation. He was joining this family for supper, so he could hardly begin by reminding them of the horrific death of their father. As such, he joined the girls in their drawing and helped them to get the jewels of the crown just right before cutting out the paper and folding it into some kind of crown.
It felt odd, playing with children like this. He hoped they didn’t think he was intruding upon territory their father used to inhabit. Did Gregorio ever play with his children like this? Or was he perpetually focused on his work, shouting at them to be quiet?
Despite his reservations, Armada found himself able to relax with the girls after a while. He was attempting to trace out a tiara fit for a queen when they were told supper was ready.
Armada then joined the family at the large wooden table as the maid laid out the food, along with the dishes and everything else they would need.
For the first ten minutes or so, as everyone dove into the food, nothing was said. It was strange. Armada hadn’t come here looking for a taste of Gregorio’s family life, but here he was, living it for a little while. He wondered how it was Gregorio had justified in his mind the danger he had put everyone with the work he’d been doing. It would have been so easy for this family to have been punished much more harshly if his secret had come out while he was alive.
Finally, his hunger satiated and a bit of wine having been drunk, Armada realised he needed to get to the point of his visit.
“I wanted to ask if your husband ever went anywhere without telling you. Did he ever disappear off unexpectedly? Or return from work late on a regular basis?”
“I’m sorry, Constable. My husband was very punctual,” Elvira said, trying to keep her voice composed. The death of her husband was still raw, and she seemed nervous at showing it to him. She wore the traditional black dress of a woman in mourning, although it wasn’t strictly a rule. But Armada could sense that appearances were important to Elvira, so these sorts of codes of conducts were strictly followed in this house.
“Did anyone ever spot him in a strange place? Perhaps a neighbour saw him in a part of the city they didn’t expect?”
“I get the sense you aren’t asking what you came to ask me, Constable. Now, I have a long night of helping these children to bed, so I’d appreciate if you got to the point.”
Elvira’s stern tone startled everyone, and the room suddenly went very quiet.
Armada realised she was right. He needed to come out and ask his real question. He just wished he didn’t have to do it in front of the victim’s three daughters, most of
whom were too young to understand what was happening, anyway.
Armada sighed, then reached into a pocket inside his waistcoat and produced the key he’d gotten from Enrique.
He placed it on the table.
“What does this key go to?” Armada asked.
“I don’t know,” Elvira said confidently. “Why do you think I would know?”
“Because it was your husband’s. And I have a feeling I know what it opens. I just need to know where it is.”
“You’re being vague again, Constable. Please, just say what you mean.”
Another glance to the three girls, who had gotten distracted by tugging at each other’s dresses, eager to return to the games of crowns and tiaras they’d been playing before.
Elvira made no move to shield them from what could be revealed. Armada didn’t feel right about it, but ultimately, they were Elvira’s children, not his own. She had to be the one to make such decisions.
“Señora Cordoba, I have evidence your husband was mixing serpentine and selling it to Portuguese independence fighters just north of the city. Now, I’m guessing he didn’t do this mixing here in the house. He would have needed a workshop. Somewhere secure that isn’t easily found. I have no doubt that this key unlocks your husband’s workshop, but I don’t know where it is. And I think it would be better if I found it before the city authorities did, if either of us hold any hope of finding his killer.”
Elvira stared at him for a long, tense moment. Armada was grateful the children had already stopped listening and filled the tense silence with the sound of their perpetual giggling and arguing over who got to use the scissors next.
Elvira seemed unmoved by them, however. She stared down at the key with an angry glare.
“So that’s what it’s for…,” she whispered. She picked up the key and studied it. “He kept this in his pocket for years. Never let it out of his sight. Not for a moment. He once yelled at me for asking him what it was for. He told me it was a good luck charm, nothing else, and that I wasn’t to ever touch it again. I’ve never seen him so protective of anything, not even his own daughters.”
The Domingo Armada Mysteries Box Set Page 64