by Cullen, Ciar
She nodded and started pushing clothes and toiletries into her suitcase. He pointed to items he recognized must be hers and she numbly, methodically scooped them up. Ramirez circled the room, opening drawers and the closet, satisfying himself that she had left nothing behind.
Tam desperately tried to pull herself together, fearing for SinJin as much as herself. Think, Tam, think. Her heart was breaking. It was impossible. I just found the man of my dreams and my life is going to end. And perhaps SinJin’s?
“Now, paper and a pen.” She opened the desk, drew out a fresh notebook, and flattened it open.
“Sit. Write a note to your beloved Professor. A love letter, my dear. I had the great honor to witness a bit of your little night of passion. So fill it with heartfelt regret. You can’t go on; you aren’t ready, blah, blah, blah.”
He squatted next to her and hissed into her ear as he held the gun to the back of her head. “No tricks, I’ll spot them. And you’ll both die.”
Tam began crying, not able to write a word, not able to lift the pen. How could she warn SinJin? Tam heard Ramirez release the gun’s safety, and sucking in a tearful breath, picked up the pen. For him, she thought. I’ll hurt his feelings but save his life. At least she hoped was saving him. She wrote as her tears plopped onto the page with each sentence.
* * *
Rosa smiled at SinJin as he whistled happily.
“So, you and Tamara?”
“Hmm.”
“Oh, come on, son. Talk to Rosa.”
He laughed. “Mamacita, I’m going to ask her to marry me. Maybe not right away, but soon. I’m going to get hitched.”
“Hitched? Married!” She erupted into a flood of excited Spanish. “Are you sure? Is she sure? Oh, SinJin, no, it’s too soon! What are you thinking?”
He looked at her seriously, seeing how stunned she was.
“Who is this man before me? The handsome loner I think of as a son? What have you done with that man?”
SinJin laughed lightly. He did feel reborn.
“I’ve watched you work your fingers to the bone, watched you bury your parents, your wife, the baby. SinJin, I’ve watched you bury yourself. How has this girl changed that dead man?”
“Dead?” A flare of anger rose up, but the ring of truth in her words made him bite back a retort. Dead. You did bury something, SinJin.
“Well, I’ve haven’t asked her yet. Don’t worry, Rosa, I know what I’m doing. In a month or two, maybe.”
“Dios mio! You mean to ask her right away, it’s written across that handsome face! Well, all I can do is wish you luck.”
“Do you like her, Rosa? Be truthful.”
“I like her. I like her very much. But that does not matter. It matters only that you love one another. Only time will tell, eh? You are putting the cart before the horse, as they say. But sometimes the horse manages to move the cart from behind anyway.”
Rosa squirmed close to plant a big kiss on his cheek.
“You’re going to help me pick out an engagement ring today. But keep it a secret—I don’t know how this is going to turn out. I’m getting prepared, you understand?”
She clapped her hands in excitement. “I do love to shop! How about the work? Who will go to the site today?”
“Oh, I’ll go later. Orlando can handle things until I arrive. I knew I was going to take her to the resort yesterday. I told Orlando’s brother to let him know we might be rather late.”
“You took her to Villa del Mar? How will you ever top that for your honeymoon?”
“I’ll have a lot of fun trying.”
They reached Playa del Carmen too early for the shops to be open, and SinJin treated Rosa to a luxurious breakfast at one of the resorts. He had trouble keeping up a conversation. His mind wandered back to the night, to Tam, to the next time he would be with her.
“Oh my, boss, you are with her in your head.”
“It shows? God, how embarrassing.”
“It’s a good sign.” She sighed. “Ah, I remember a time when I was so in love. Look, the shops are opening. Where will you buy the ring?”
They entered the most exclusive shop in the town. The jeweler, an older man in a perfectly tailored suit, greeted SinJin cordially. SinJin saw him glance at his watch, a high-end piece, and knew the man probably had him pegged as the eccentric billionaire from Cozmano in an instant.
“And what kind of ring were you considering?”
“Only one. It’s in the window.” SinJin saw the hopeful gleam in the salesman’s eye and followed him to the window, where he pointed to the treasure. The salesman was nearly salivating. Rosa gasped.
“What do you think?” SinJin turned to the matron.
“I think that Tamara Martin is the luckiest woman in the world, for more reasons than one. And I think if you can afford that ring, I need to ask for a raise.”
“Done,” he leaned down and kissed her. She giggled and clapped her hands. “This is all too fantastic!”
It wasn’t that the diamond was big, which it was. And not that it was set in an exquisite platinum band littered with smaller stones. But it was pure, perfect, and radiant.
“Rare, sir. I do not just talk the pitch now, you understand? You see the pink, no?” He handed SinJin a loop.
“It doesn’t matter. She stared at it the other day as if it were a gorgeous sunset.”
The salesman took a deep breath. “Three hundred thousand, American.”
SinJin reached into his backpack and pulled out his banker’s business card, his checkbook, and his passport, handing all three to the salesman, who looked at him reverently. He returned moments later from speaking with SinJin’s banker and smiled.
Rosa and SinJin glanced at the cases while the salesman wrapped the ring.
“And these for you, Rosa.” He pointed to ruby earrings, kissing Rosa’s cheek as she squealed. The salesman rushed over and pulled the earrings from the case. He handed them to Rosa, who put them on immediately.
Then he held up the necklace that had caught SinJin’s attention. Several gold strands laced with exquisite emeralds. SinJin nodded and the salesman looked as if he would faint.
“She’s supposed to get a wedding gift, right?” SinJin asked Rosa.
Rosa shook her head in amazement. “SinJin,” she spoke softly, not wanting the jeweler to hear, “Don’t you think you need to propose to her before you buy her a wedding gift? Have you considered, well, you know?”
“Don’t even say it. She’ll accept. She has to.”
After Rosa’s run through the grocery store, they made their way back to Cozmano. Today he had to pay attention to his other mistress, Pacal. He had neglected the site, and it was calling his name, whispering to him. Ramirez would be either at the site or waiting for him at Cozmano. Perhaps he had met Tam. But he wanted Tam with him when he broke through the inner wall of Shield Jaguar’s tomb. Today, today they would have their prize. God willing, the tomb would be intact, untouched by grave robbers, ancient or modern.
SinJin had hoped Tam would be on the porch, waiting for him. He had missed her after only a few hours, he thought in wonder. She must be still asleep. He pushed open her door.
“All right, Dr. Sleepyhead.” He froze. Rosa joined him and gasped.
Gone.
Not a single piece of clothing. Not a shoe, piece of jewelry, bottle of suntan lotion.
And on the desk, a notebook, opened. A pen lay across the page. SinJin walked to the desk as if in a dream. There would be an explanation. She had gone shopping, checked into Vista del Mar as a surprise, hitched a ride to the site.
He looked at the perfect writing, smeared in places from what must have been her tears.
“Dear Beast,
I don’t know how to say this, and I know you’ll never forgive me. I don’t expect you to. I have to leave. I care very much about you, and last night was wonderful—you are wonderful. But I’ve thought it over. I can’t stay with you. I’m so sorry. I’ve gone to stay with my bro
ther in Europe, so don’t come looking for me at Princeton, you won’t find me there. I know you won’t believe this, but I do care for you, and I wish I were a different sort of person, one who could be happy at Cozmano, at Pacal. There’s someone else I need to work things out with. I pray you’ll understand.
Tam
PS. Regards to Shield Jaguar.”
Impossible. The bag of gifts fell from his hand to the floor. Rosa moved to the notebook. She brought her hand to her mouth as she read it, and tears filled her eyes. She looked at SinJin, who brushed away a single tear in embarrassment.
“Go after, her, SinJin, find her. She can’t have gone far. She has to leave from Cancun. Go, hurry.”
He walked from the room, and the house, wondering where to go. He had to escape the pain in his chest. SinJin tore down the road, not thinking, not feeling. He reached the deserted beach and strode to the water. He kicked off his flip-flops, pulled off his shirt, and dove in. If he closed his eyes and floated, he couldn’t really feel his body, which was a good thing. The sky was cloudless, as it usually was on a Mayan morning, he thought. The workmen would be at the site, and Ramirez would be looking for him. He would show up soon. Pacal was his, and Shield Jaguar’s tomb would be his as well. It was all he needed.
The salt water stung his back a bit and he wondered what he had done to himself. Don’t think about it. You dreamt her. But the living proof was there. She had scratched his back raw in places, moaning her desire for him, screaming for him, begging him to be hers. You stupid son of a bitch, he thought. It didn’t matter. He had Pacal, he repeated to himself again and again. He didn’t need anything else. But the lie hurt as badly as the loss of her. She had even taken Pacal away from him. It meant next to nothing now. The mistress of Pacal was gone.
* * *
It was getting worse by the minute. Tam didn’t know where Ramirez was taking her, but it was close to the site and far from the resort areas. Tam thought of trying to get the car door open and running for it, but with her hands tied, he’d be on her in a second. SinJin, where are you? She had to find out what was going on, reason with him. Reason with a madman.
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this. What has he done to you? What do you want?”
He ignored her, maneuvering down the bumpy back road and speaking softly to himself.
Then she saw the hut and knew they had reached her prison. She prayed it would be a prison rather than a tomb. He pulled her roughly into the dark, long-abandoned thatched-roof hut, once a shelter from the sun for local laborers. It smelled foul.
“Please, Professor, I’ll do whatever you want. Please don’t hurt me, don’t hurt him.”
“My dear, I need you alive, as insurance, you understand. But only for a few days. If Twaine doesn’t operate as I expect him to, then, you will both have to die.” He was completely matter-of-fact, and Tam knew he had lost all sense of conscience. He would kill them if he had to. But why?
“Have you been warning us away from the site? Whispering to us while we work?”
“Don’t be ridiculous! Why would I stoop to childish pranks?”
“And the blood? Was that you?”
“Blood! What is going on at Pacal! I received an odd message from Twaine about vandalism, but there was no mention of blood!”
“Someone poured blood, gallons of it, on the pyramid.”
He swore in Spanish, and she was convinced it was the first he had heard of it. He was tying her to a post that supported the roof and was about to gag her.
“Please. I have the right to know why I’m going to die. What do you want?”
He slapped her and she nearly fainted from the pain. “Is that enough of an answer?” She was terrified and furious. She spat out the blood from her cut inner cheek.
“Now, you have one chance to live through this day, do you understand me?” Tam nodded. “Tell me everything you know about the tomb. The location of the entrance, why he is convinced it is Shield Jaguar, everything.”
“The tomb? I don’t understand. SinJin was going to show you the tomb as soon as you arrived.”
“Finders-keepers you Americans say, no? SinJin opens the tomb in front of many witnesses; does it not become SinJin’s great achievement? I have allowed Twaine to do my work for a number of years, knowing he has the talent, well, gift actually, for sniffing out the most important finds. But nothing has been this important, this priceless. Coupled with a few recent indiscretions, shall we say, at the university, I will need this discovery to keep my position. This will mark me in the annals of archaeology for all time. Understand?”
“Why not just fire SinJin, or take the site from him? Kick him out—aren’t you in charge of all antiquities?”
“Politics, my dear. American universities, American funds, much of it SinJin’s funds. Do you think that all of this work can be done by my institution? We are hanging on by a thread. And the Government will not allow us to offend our rich northern neighbors, of course.” He spat. “And I know SinJin. I saw it. He will brood over you, lose himself for days, in drink perhaps. He will lose his love of Pacal, perhaps even pack up. If that doesn’t work,” he shrugged, “I’ll kill him. I wouldn’t mind having him here now, actually.” Tam saw a dark look cross his face. “Your Professor Twaine, so handsome, no?” He touched her cheek with the gun barrel and a chill ran through her. “Am I not as handsome?” He laughed as he saw her revulsion. “Don’t worry, dear, you aren’t my type. Now SinJin, that’s another story.” Tam gasped, and he laughed. “It wasn’t you I was looking at last night on that grand balcony, Dr. Martin, trust me. But alas, our dear Professor has made it perfectly clear to me on several occasions that I am most definitely not his type. So you see, you are safe with me. Well, of course I’ll kill you, but I won’t rape you.” He leaned in, and she smelled his expensive cologne. “Tell me, Dr. Martin. What was it like? What did he do to you? Describe it, describe him, in detail, my dear. I want the dirty little secrets. What does my friend like to do in the dark of the night? Who was in charge? He likes to be in charge, doesn’t he? Doesn’t he?” Ramirez pushed the gun under her chin.
Tears flowed down Tam’s face. How could she do this? She wouldn’t recount the truth. That was all she had of SinJin, her memories of their few days together, of their passion. She would lie. Tam began an erotic tale she thought this man would like, full of sexual darkness and brutality. It was not close to the truth, but she saw his eyes burn. She nearly vomited when she saw him unclasp his belt.
* * *
Rosa paced, desperately seeking an answer. It was not right, she knew it. Tam had been ecstatic today, falling in love. Impossible that she had changed her mind in a few hours. Rosa had seen into her heart, the heart of a woman who was so happy she could barely think. Something, or someone, had convinced her to leave. The curse of Pacal? No, a Mayan ghost hadn’t written that letter. She rifled through SinJin’s room, searching desperately for the notebook of contacts he kept. What was his name, that boy that Tam knew? Come on, Rosa, think! Peders! There it was. She picked up SinJin’s phone from the desk and dialed. It was a long shot, but perhaps he would know something.
“Hello?”
“Señor Peders?”
“What’s happened? Is it about Tam Martin? Who is this?”
“Jack, listen. It is Rosa, the Professor Twaine’s housekeeper. Do you remember me? Tamara is not hurt, everything is fine. Well, not really fine.” She began to cry and tried to explain what had happened. It sounded unreal to her as she tried to convince him that Tamara was in love with SinJin.
“Look, Rosa, I can’t understand why you’d lie to me about something like this, but it doesn’t make sense. She’s only been there a few days!”
“I know, I know, Jack. Listen, all I want to know is whether she called. You are good friends, correct? She might ask you to pick her up at the airport, something like that? She wrote that she was going to stay with her brother in Europe, but I thought she would have to return to Princeton
first?”
“Her brother in Europe? She doesn’t have a brother, Rosa.” Now Jack sounded worried. “Are you sure that’s what she wrote?” Rosa read the letter to him.
“Listen, Jack, I know that this sounds ridiculous to you, but I believe someone convinced her to leave SinJin. It is the only way she would have gone. She was very, very happy hours before. You must trust me on this. Now I am very worried someone might have taken her.”
“Taken her! But why?”
“Because of the site? There have been vandals, and then, of course, the site has the problem.”
“Oh, don’t start that curse talk. Listen, I want you to call the police right away, do you hear me? I’m going to get a hold of her parents, and then I’ll fly down as soon as I can. Tonight if I can make it. Tell the police that you think she left a note giving false information as a clue that she has been taken. Do you understand me Rosa? Repeat everything I said.” Rosa had it nailed down.
“And Rosa? Where is the Professor? Is he looking for her?”
“No, you see Jack that is the problem. He has gone away for a while, because, well, his heart is broken, you understand?”
“The Beast is off nursing a broken heart?”
“Oh yes, he most certainly is.”
Chapter Ten
“Come to me. Hurry.”
SinJin woke in a sweat from another nightmare of death at Pacal to hear the urgent whisperings on the breeze. It must have been part of the dream, and the dream was from the tequila, he thought, disgusted with himself. He couldn’t even get drunk. His plan to climb into a bottle for a few days had fizzled out. SinJin had lost interest halfway through the bender and plunged headfirst into indulgent grief and self-pity, rehearsing every moment he had spent with Tam. The way she arched her back on the beach, teasing him. Their flirting. Talking about the site, working side by side. Her hair brushing her cheek. Holding her. Kissing her.
“No, Professor, we have not cleaned it yet!” The concierge protested as SinJin had headed back to the room at Vista del Mar. He wanted it as they had left it. Exactly as they had left it. An inch of flat champagne in the glasses. Roses fully opened now, chocolates melting in the morning sun. He crawled into the bed and felt her presence. It was still there, still with him. Her scent on the pillow, on the sheet, on his soul. A towel on the floor from her shower. A blonde hair caught in the brush. He pulled it out gently and let it flutter on the breeze blowing in from the balcony. He hadn’t imagined the night. He gripped the tiny statue she had given him, and threw it against the wall, where it crumbled into tiny bits of clay.