A Corpse for Cuamantla (17 page)

Chapter 45

A
s the Commander's car disappeared from view, Anna crossed the dirt road to the zócalo feeling alone and a little lost. Entering the square
she struggled to understand her own feelings. She hardly knew the Commander, how could his presence or absence impact her emotions so strongly?

Halfway to the school she solved the riddle and created a new one for herself. The answer was simple and to her scientific mind eminently comprehensible. Her feelings resulted from losing the safety and protection of a State Police officer, which led to a more unsettling realization. She was afraid to travel to Pedro García's funeral in the company of her friends. Acknowledging her fear was easy, understanding it was not. Miguel would be with her, and María, and the other teachers from the two schools. She wouldn't be alone, nothing would happen. Nevertheless, her apprehension intensified as she neared the schoolyard gate.

Three cars, including María's, were parked in front of the school. Anna checked her watch. Nearly eleven and no one around. Déjà vu all over again. She walked to the school office listening for familiar voices, but only the sound of her shoes echoed along the concrete walk. The office door was closed and locked. She sat on the chair outside the office debating about wandering over to Rosa's for a beer where she expected to find everyone. A beer, even a warm one, might settle her nerves.

A noise across the courtyard caught her attention and she strained to identify it. She heard the sound again, a muffled cough. Someone was in or near one of the classrooms along the north side of the courtyard. If she moved quietly she could limp quickly out the gate before the cougher knew she was there. She nearly made it.

"¡Maestra!"

Anna turned around, weak in the knees. She was entirely too jumpy. "María, you startled me. How are you? I had no idea anyone was here." Still shaky from the adrenaline rush, she called out, "I was heading to Rosa's for a beer."

María stood in the doorway of her classroom motioning Anna over. Anna cut across the courtyard kicking the sand out of her sandals. "I know, you think I'm crazy," she said as she embraced María, "but you'll never know how glad I am to see you. How are you? I've been worried about you."

"Better than expected," María said, "come in and sit down. We're the only ones here so we have a chance to talk before everyone returns from Rosa's. I got here early this morning and stopped in the Municipal President's office to report last night's attack on us. He asked a lot of questions, which made me wonder whether my nanny already talked to him."

"What kind of questions?"

"Mostly about motives and did I think the attacker was after you or me or the car. I told him I couldn't be certain. He assured me he would get to the bottom of the matter and called in the village Comandante inquiring about a man with a broken arm. By the way, I'm taking my car to Zocatlo, and I hope you'll ride with me. Juan will be driving and there's room for one other person, perhaps Miguel?" She asked the question mischievously, glancing at Anna with a broad grin.

Anna ignored the inference turning over in her mind María's conversation with the Municipal President, who like her, may have assumed last night's incident was related to the
Real Cédula
theft. More likely their attacker was the man who murdered Pedro. If so, he wasn't after the car but the contents of her backpack, maybe hoping to silence her as well. It would be a relief to leave Cuamantla and Belén for two days of safety in the company of her friends in some unknown town more than two hours away.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" she asked María.

"Not much. Do I look that bad?"

"No, you look good. I'm surprised to see you smiling, are you sure you're okay?"

"The truth? I'm not doing well at all," María said, "but no one will know that today but you. I'm relying on medication and mind control. I knew when I saw you at the gate that if I could behave normally with you and not break down, then I could do the same thing when we're in Zocatlo. I practiced on you and it worked. I think I can do it, Anna."

"Don't worry," Anna soothed, putting her arms around María and giving her a hug, "you'll do fine. I may need your help, too. I'm glad no one's here because I have an unsettling story to tell you."

Anna paced the room, relating the events of the last sixteen hours. Near the end of her account, she moved over to the window side of María's classroom, leaning on the ledge and describing her morning with Commander Cortez, purposely neglecting to mention his good looks. To her surprise, María said she knew the Commander although the circumstances were not the best.

"I think it had something to with Pedro's parking tickets," María said. "He's very handsome, or hadn't you noticed?"

"Yes, I did notice and under different circumstances I might have paid attention." Anna smiled as if they shared a secret. "But, to bring a long story to a close, someone seems to think I know who killed Pedro, or at least that I have incriminating evidence. And that makes me a target, which is why I was so jumpy when you called out to me just now."

"I'm so sorry to hear about all this, Anna. You don't deserve to be mixed up in these problems."

"Perhaps we can look out for each other over the next two days."

"I agree."

Shouts from outside the courtyard interrupted their conversation and María stepped out of the classroom to investigate.

"¡Hola, Maestras!
Are you there? Are you ready to leave?" The men's shouts accompanied the clanking of the school gate.

"We're over here," María said, "waiting for you."

Moving away from the window Anna scuffed up a coin-sized disk. A quick glance suggested the shiny metal object was some type of silver jewelry. She tucked the piece in her pocket intending to place it in the school's lost and found box. As she stood from picking up the disk, her gaze fell on the stained, irregular circle of trampled ground not more than five feet from María's classroom window, the spot where Pedro died.

Her heart pounded as she tried the window. It opened easily and quietly and she noticed something else.  A person could stand where Pedro died and never really notice a potential killer inside the classroom, that is, if the killer stood to the right behind three tangled climbing rose bushes covering the corner window.

Alarming possibilities raced through Anna's brain. Should she pass along this information to the Commander? Pedro's murderer might have been inside the school rather than outside in the rose garden and maybe this piece of jewelry belonged to him or her. If so, maybe a witness existed who perhaps feared coming forward.

A second troubling thought occurred to her. María was inside the school throughout the parade. What if Francisco and his friends weren't guilty? What if Anna told the Commander about her new knowledge and he began to suspect María? She would think long and hard about what she told Commander Cortez when she saw him again.

Chapter 46

A
nna?" María's voice filtered into Anna's consciousness. She needed to think quickly or María might think she was snooping, might wonder if she was conducting her own independent investigation of Pedro's murder, not that she hadn't thought about it. "Is someone out there?"

"No," Anna said. "I was about to pick one of the roses. Would anyone mind?"

"Of course not," María said as Juan and Miguel entered the classroom. "Pick one for me, too, will you? A white one that I'll take to Pedro. Red roses for love, white for good-bye." Anna felt rather than saw María's tears through the dark glasses.

Anna picked two roses and latched the window. What was María doing when Pedro died, she wondered, and would others wonder the same thing? She believed in María's innocence but others might not be so generous especially in Cuamantla. For the time being she would share this information with no one, not even Miguel, and especially not with Commander Cortez who, if their morning conversation provided any indication would arrest his own mother if the evidence warranted. Anna wanted a chance to talk privately with María, perhaps later tonight in the hotel in Zocatlo. She turned around and handed the white rose to María, then stooped to pick up her backpack when Miguel approached.

"For me, Maestra?" he asked.

"Maybe," she said, "if you wear it between your teeth and dance a tango."

"I will,
Señorita
,
if I can dance that tango with you." Miguel took her in his arms as if her were about to dance her around the classroom.

Anna raised an eyebrow and reached over his shoulder to hand the rose to María. "For you, Maestra," she said, "to remind you on our trip that you are surrounded by people who love you."

María began to cry, hardly the effect Anna intended.

Juan stepped over and put his arms around her. "The Maestra is correct," he soothed. "You're with your friends. Now, let's head out, shall we? Is everyone ready?"

"
Sí, Maestro
." Miguel saluted, trying to lighten the atmosphere. "Tomás Bello is driving his car and three teachers are traveling with him. They're waiting to follow us. Two cars left earlier, so you and I, Juan, are left to ride with the pretty Maestras."

"We're glad you're joining us," María said, wiping her eyes.

"Two women alone shouldn't travel the roads between here and Zocatlo. Pedro told me many times about the banditos. We're counting on you for protection."

The men responded predictably as the four straggled across the courtyard to María's car. Miguel hung back slightly and touched Anna's arm. "How did everything go with the Commander?" he whispered.

"Fine. What do you want to know?"

"What were his conclusions?"

"That Francisco Sanchez and his friends murdered Pedro. I know you disagree, but frankly, I'm inclined to think the Commander is right. He's on his way to Francisco's house right now to place him under arrest."

"Maybe that's the way matters would proceed in your country, Maestra," Miguel said somberly, "but I don't think it's what will happen here."

"We're leaving without you two." María called from the passenger seat of her red Volkswagon where Juan was comfortably ensconced behind the wheel.
He doesn't waste any time
, Anna thought, climbing into the back seat with Miguel.

"Not much room back here, Maestra," Miguel teased quietly. "I believe I'll enjoy this trip. Which reminds me, there is a matter I want to discuss with you later. When we have more time. Perhaps tonight in Zocatlo?"

"Of course, Miguel. How long is our trip today?"

"We'll be traveling through some mountainous regions. Zocatlo is in the northern part of the State of Vera Cruz. Pedro's village is just outside the city of Perote about a half hour this side of Xalapa, a beautiful city with much culture and learning. The Athens of Mexico, but it's also very romantic like Paris or Rome. Have you been to Xalapa, Maestra?"

"Not yet," Anna said, "but it's on my list."

"No? Well, good. Perhaps some weekend in the near future I can take you there and show you the sights. We can catch a bus directly from Apizaco and leave on a Friday after school. In addition to seeing the beautiful city, we can visit a majestic waterfall a short trip away, the Texolo waterfall. Not Niagara Falls but splendid in its own right. You'd enjoy seeing it."

"I would, Miguel."
Two waterfall invitations in one day
, she thought,
this must be some kind of record.

"You're starting to sound like a tour guide," Anna teased, "but I'm enjoying your commentary."

"Thank you, Maestra. I was beginning to worry I might be boring you."

"You're only boring us," Juan said.

María turned around and smiled at Miguel. "Speak for yourself, Juan. I'm happy for the distraction."

"Not a problem
,
Maestra,"
Miguel grinned into Juan's rearview mirror. "We'll be traveling by another large volcano, Anna, the Cofre de Perote
.
It's a broad shield volcano unlike our Malinche, which is an eroded stratovolcano with its pointed peak and canyons. I know all this you see, because I teach sixth grade." The three teachers laughed, touching off a discussion over the knowledge they've acquired as a result of teaching grade level material.

"I can't compete with you two," María said, "I've never taught anything beyond first grade, but at some point I may challenge you both to a handwriting match."

Anna was happy to see María loosening up. Juan seemed to bring her out of herself with his nurturing manner. She hoped María would wake up and realize how much Juan loved her. He would make a far better husband than Pedro ever could, but love was funny, who could predict it? 

Thinking about the Commander's trip to Cuamantla, Anna realized that if Francisco and his friends weren't guilty, Juan might become a suspect. He certainly had motive and her video placed him inside the school before the parade, near the time of Pedro's death. She liked Juan and felt he wasn't capable of killing Pedro or ransacking her house, no matter how strong his feelings for María, but love drove people to all kinds of crazy acts. She remembered the Commander's words about the right circumstances. Perhaps she should stop ruling out everyone she liked, although she was certain Juan hadn't broken into her house. She noticed his cologne when she got into the car. It wasn't familiar.

"You look troubled, Anna. Is anything wrong?" Miguel reached over and took her hand.

"I'm not sure, Miguel. I can't stop thinking about my video. I hope the Commander is correct. I know you disagree with his conclusions and I trust your judgment, but I'm experiencing a lot of anxiety about the day ahead."

"Trust me, Maestra
,"
Miguel said, "you've nothing to worry about. You're with friends."