Elena gave doña Carolita a hug. “I’m sorry for all the trouble. I could find another place, maybe move to a hotel, if you’d like.”
“No, no. It is nothing. No, you stay here. I insist. It is no problem. Now, I have made a nice meal. You two sit, and I will serve.”
She patted Dominic on the arm, and he hugged her. She was round and soft and smelled of fresh tortillas. He was thankful Elena was staying with her.
Elena set the table, and doña Carolita served a meal of plantains, chicken with rice, tortillas and avocado salad. She sat down to eat with them. When they finished, she served coffee and moved a bowl of fresh papaya slices onto the table.
“Ay, I almost forgot,” said doña Carolita, tapping her temple. “Your mother called to see if you had returned and asks that you call her. I think she is worried about you. She is such a nice lady.”
“Thank you, I’ll call her right now.”
Dominic kept doña Carolita company in the kitchen while she washed dishes. All of a sudden, she threw up soapy hands into the air, scattering soap suds as far as his seat at the table.
“Ay, padre, I forgot something else. Dios mío, I don’t know what is wrong with my memory. Those news people have me upset. That little boy who was here yesterday, the one I named Miguel, came by this morning to inquire for Elena.”
Dominic straightened from a hunch over his coffee cup. “What time was that? What did you tell him? Where did he go?”
“He came to the kitchen door. It was after Elena left. I made him a breakfast of scrambled eggs. He has a fine appetite, that boy does. I told him the doctora had gone to the Museum, he could find her there. I asked him to stay, that the doctora would be back later, but he said he could not. That he had to find Elena.”
“We didn’t see him at the Museum nor on the road.”
“He said he has been in hiding. Probably he did not take the main road. He must know other paths to the Park.”
“Thank heaven he’s still alive. I fear for his safety.”
“Yes, this is most unfortunate.”
“What is unfortunate?” asked Elena, returning to the kitchen. She had changed into her field uniform of shorts, tank top and vest. Her field hat was in hand.
Dominic told her of Miguel’s visit.
“That’s great news. I am so relieved he’s still alive,” she said. “Did he say where he’s been?”
“No, he did not. He was not forthcoming with information. But he did eat well, I am happy to say.”
“Good, I’m glad. Poor little guy. He’s been so elusive.”
“If he comes back,” said Dominic, “insist that he stay here so we can help him.”
“Did you talk to your mother?” he asked Elena.
“I did. She is going shopping at the tourist stores in town this afternoon. She invited us to have dinner with her again. I said we’d be in touch since I was going back to the Park.”
“Shall I give you lift?” asked Dominic.
“If it isn’t too much trouble.”
He smiled. “Not at all.”
They thanked doña Carolita and slipped out the back door, Elena carrying her computer under one arm. They hurried to the Jeep and made a quick getaway to the open highway.
On the road to the Park, Dominic said, “Elena, why don’t I stay with you this afternoon? I would feel better knowing that you’re not alone.”
She smiled over at him. “I appreciate your offer, but I know they need you at the clinic. I’ll be okay. I’ll work at the Staircase since no one will be at the Museum.”
His frustration level ratcheted up another notch. What was it going to take to make her see she was in danger? He didn’t like the feeling of fear that had taken up residence in the pit of his stomach. She must be in denial. He relented because short of tying her up, there seemed to be no stopping her. “All right, but I’ll come pick you up this evening after the clinic closes at seven.”
“Thanks,” she said, “I appreciate the lift. That will give me time in the Museum to do a little investigating of my own.”
The guard at the entrance put up his hand to stop them. He nodded a greeting when he saw Elena.
“Are you letting any tourists in?” she asked.
“No,” the guard said. “Our orders are no tourists allowed.”
“Has the new inspector arrived?”
“No. We expect him today.”
“All right,” she said. “I’ll be working at the Staircase and then the Museum, if anyone is looking for me.”
The guard nodded and allowed them to pass. Dominic stopped the Jeep in the visitor parking lot, the closest he could get without driving onto the archaeological site itself. Elena jumped down and came around to his side of the Jeep.
“Thanks,” she said with a smile. “I’ll see you later, and don’t worry, I’ll be all right.”
Dominic watched her walk into the ruins. His fears hadn’t eased up in the least. If anything, they were worse.
Thirteen
After an hour of intense concentration, Elena took a break for water and banana chips. As she sat on one of the hieroglyphic stairs halfway up the pyramid and munched on the chips, she gazed about the huge plaza that formed the north section of the ruins. The stillness of the place took off some of the edge she’d been feeling. A movement caught her attention, a flurry almost, perhaps a bird. She turned her head, focusing on a point near the opening at structure six, one of the many low, step structures around the great plaza. The opening led to the visitor center and Museum.
An image formed and grew into the shape of a lone figure walking across the great plaza. She stood, craning her neck like a bird to see who it was. The figure walked like a female, but a rather small one. Who would it be at this time of day, under these circumstances? It wasn’t Miguel or Gordo. The figure walked too deliberately for a child.
Elena took a sip of water, still watching the figure. It was a female. She was wearing a skirt and taking determined strides in Elena’s direction. She packed up her gear and started down the pyramid. Since she was acting director, she wanted to know who this was since the Park was closed. She hoped the person wasn’t a media type. That would be unfortunate.
Elena waited at the base of the pyramid. The slant of the sun now cast shade across the great plaza. She saw no visible weapon on the person, which was a plus, nor anything shaped like a camera or microphone. Another plus.
The approaching visitor smiled and waved, a big hand-over-head wave, and not wanting to appear unfriendly, Elena gave a finger wave back. Who was this? Curiosity overcame any misgiving she had. She took a few steps forward.
The stranger was a young girl, dressed in simple dark skirt and light colored blouse, open at the throat, flat shoes. Her shiny, black hair was pulled back into a low slung pony tail. She looked like an upscale version of someone’s maid. She stopped about five feet away.
“Hi. You must be doctora Palomares. They told me at the guard house that you’d be at the Hieroglyphic Staircase.”
No, not someone’s maid. She spoke English with only a slight hint of Spanish accent.
“I am Consuela Lascano,” she said with a bright smile, showing perfect white teeth. “Everyone calls me Connie.”
She held out her hand, and Elena shook with her. What a smile. Who was this person? She waited for some explanation, baffled why this young girl was looking for her. Maybe something happened in town, and she was sent to summon Elena. Close up Elena could find not a wrinkle on the girl’s face. She wore no eye makeup or lipstick, standard fare for any fashionable Latina. Large, dark, doe shaped eyes with long lashes and full Mayan lips made her a natural beauty.
Who was she and what did she want?
Correctly reading Elena’s thoughts, Connie said, “I am from the Department of Security. I have been assigned to investigate the mysterious deaths here. I understand you are the person who can shed some light on these events. Do you have time to talk?”
Elena nearly fell over backwa
rd. “You mean you’re the new inspector?”
“Yes, that’s right.” She laughed. “I know I don’t look the part, do I? No. I look very young. I work in the undercover division, you see. We try to keep a very low profile. It helps in our line of work.”
“Department of Security in the government of Honduras?” asked Elena.
“Yes, we are part of the national government but we also do international work. That’s why I speak English. It was a job requirement.”
“You speak it very well.”
“I spent a few years in the States. As a matter of fact I went to school there. Stanford. California. Criminal justice.”
She must have been about two when she entered college. Her youthful appearance didn’t add up to that many years.
“Here,” Connie said and pulled a thin clip of cards out of her skirt pocket. “Here is my ID. I can see you don’t believe a word I say.” She was still smiling as she handed the badge to Elena, like this wasn’t the first time someone didn’t believe who she was.
It was a photo ID of the young woman, a good likeness, properly laminated and with the seal of Honduras. Departamento de Seguridad was lettered across the top, a hologram ran down the side, an ID number was under the photo.
Elena handed the badge back to Connie. “Good photo. Where do we start?”
* * * * *
Dominic couldn’t find Elena when he went by the Archaeological Park after the clinic closed. That sent him into gut twisting panic. Security had become tighter on the road into the Park. A roadblock had been set up after reporters had tried to storm the Park, looking for a story. Dominic had gained entry only because the guard, Edmundo, recognized him. He stood in the parking lot of the closed Museum, wondering where in creation Elena had disappeared to. He had walked to the Hieroglyphic Staircase, expecting to find her working there but she was nowhere to be found.
Edmundo had told him the new inspector had arrived and had interviewed Elena for a long time. The new inspector was a very pretty female according to Edmundo. But she had departed more than an hour ago, and no one seemed to be left on the grounds except half a dozen guards. They hadn’t seen Elena since the new inspector left.
The sun was almost down. His uneasiness grew, thinking how Elena was out there somewhere alone and unprotected. He considered circling the Museum once more to see if maybe she was in the back, or had taken a walk, when he saw her walking toward him from the direction of the wooded area behind the Museum.
He hurried to her. “Thank God, you’re safe.” He checked her over to make sure she didn’t have a scratch. “I had the awful feeling something had happened when I couldn’t find you.”
“I’m sorry, Dominic,” she said. “I spent most of the afternoon with the new inspector. We had to visit the crime sites, and she asked just shy of a million questions. What a steel trap mind that girl has. Every detail I told her she remembered and could recall half an hour later in regards to something else.”
“Is this inspector any friendlier than the previous one?”
“Oh, my yes,” she said. “She has a delightful sense of humor, speaks incredible English, and has traveled all over the world, working as a detective for various international agencies. Isn’t that something? And she looks like she should be in grade school.”
“I’m glad someone assigned a decent investigator this time. Someone who isn’t trying to pin the blame on you. Did she seem suspicious?”
Elena shook her head. “No, she didn’t express an opinion one way or another. She said she’s fact finding. I told her about Miguel. They will form a search party to look for him, if we don’t find him. That’s where I was just now.” She gestured with a wave of the hand, “I was out in the bush looking around, calling for him. But, nothing. The little devil.”
“It’s getting too dark to search any longer,” said Dominic.
“Right. I left my computer inside the Museum. Will you wait here while I get it?”
“No, I’m going with you.”
In the Museum their footsteps rang in the still air.
“I stowed my gear in the director’s office,” she said.
The door to the office stood open, the desk in full view in the center of the doorway. Elena rounded the desk, opened the lower drawer and extracted her computer. She joined Dominic in the courtyard where he stood gazing at the huge, fierce face of a bird god with green feathers and golden talons carved on the side of the temple.
Dominic said, “I’m glad I don’t have to tangle with that guy. He’s looks tough.”
Elena laughed. “You won’t since he’s frozen in stone. Such a beast only existed in the minds of the Mayans.”
They walked to the entrance where the door stood slightly ajar.
Elena stopped and listened. “Do you hear that tapping? I heard it in the office, and I thought it must be a bird. But there it goes again.”
Dominic listened, cocking his head to one side like the right ear might be a little better than the left. Then a noise sounding like cheet, cheet came to Dominic’s ears. “I hear something but I can’t identify where it’s coming from with the size of this place. It’s hard to pinpoint a source.”
A stone rolled across their path, and they both jumped.
“Where did that come from,” said Elena.
“Over here,” said a tiny voice.
They looked around.
“I’m by the door. In the shadows. I don’t want anyone to see me.”
“It’s Miguel,” said Dominic.
He pulled Elena to a stela just behind the door. The boy stood in the shadows.
“Doctora,” said Miguel, “I heard you calling me but I could not answer. You see, the man is looking for me. He has been hanging around the nature trail. It has been difficult to get something to eat. Do you have anything to eat with you?”
Elena fished in her many-pocketed vest and withdrew an unopened pack of banana chips. “Here,” she said, “this should help. And this.” She fished in another pocket and pulled out a stick of beef jerky, vacuum packed.
“Gracias,” said Miguel.
Elena pushed shut the great door of the Museum. “There. Now no one will see you. We can talk.”
The child opened the beef jerky with his teeth and chewed off a chunk, stuffing his thin cheeks with a wad of meat. Elena led him to the stone bench along the wall, placed so that visitors could get a view of the panorama of the great open room. Dominic followed, and the three settled onto the seat.
She produced a small bottle of water and handed it to Miguel, which he opened and drank in gulps. After he had finished the beef jerky and started on the chips, Dominic asked, “How are you getting on, Miguel?”
He shrugged his shoulders.
Dominic said, “Why don’t you stay at my house till this thing blows over. You’ll be safe there. I won’t tell anyone you’re with me.”
“Yes,” said Elena, “And a new inspector arrived. A very nice lady, and she’d like to talk to you. You will be helpful in bringing to justice the people that have done these horrible things.”
Miguel stuffed banana chips into his mouth and looked first to Dominic, then to Elena.
“The big wind is coming,” he said. “The birds are restless.”
Elena and Dominic looked at each other, not sure what that meant and what it had to do with the investigation.
“Sí, the birds and the animals get very upset before the big wind comes. The birds have been jumping and screeching, even the macaws. Little animals have been running back and forth in the forest like they don’t know where they are going.”
Dominic thought he knew what Miguel meant. He had noticed the birds in the central plaza today as he drove by. A huge congregation of them in the trees, more than usual, creating an incredible din.
“You mean there’s a storm coming.”
Miguel nodded his head hard, as a child does to exaggerate, big-eyed with fright. “Sí, there is a very big storm coming. Not just any storm. The one th
at brings big winds and buckets of water from the sky. It can blow a house down, the big wind can. Water runs wild in the rivers, and the banks cannot contain so much water.”
“A hurricane?” said Elena.
“Sí,” said the boy. “Un huracán.”
“Just what we need,” said Elena. She looked at Dominic. “Has there been anything on the news?”
“I haven’t been listening. Maybe hurricane news will take the heat out of the media hype of the murder.”
“Do you remember Hurricane Mitch that came through Honduras?”
“Yes,” said Dominic. “That was awful. We’d better see what news we can get and where the hurricane is. If Miguel is right, this is really bad news.”
“Thanks for warning us, Miguel,” Elena said. “Now how about Dominic’s offer to put you up at his place, so that you’ll be safe?”
Miguel looked from one to the other. “Will you have plenty of food at your house? Sometimes the big wind knocks the power out, and people don’t get food, and the tourists don’t come, and I don’t have food. The tourists have gone away now, and it is hard for me.”
Elena’s eyes glistened. She took Miguel’s hand and squeezed. “C’mon, let’s go back to town. We’ll find you more to eat.”
Miguel got up from the seat. He crushed the empty bag of banana chips in one hand. “Okay, but can you hide me in the car so no one can see me?”
“It’s a deal,” said Dominic.
* * * * *
By the time they got back to town, it was dark and few people walked the streets. The birds were gone from the central plaza, and there were no media trucks in sight. At Dominic’s house, Elena helped serve the food Leyla had fixed, and the three of them sat at the kitchen table to eat. The boy bulldozed his way through beans, rice and fried pork that Elena heaped high on his plate. Dominic made a pot of coffee and poured each a cup.
Exotic #02 - The Hieroglyphic Staircase Page 13