A Corpse for Cuamantla (7 page)

Chapter
16

A
nna joined the group of teachers who gathered their belongings from the office and with Miguel in the lead, formed a solemn group making their way up the cobblestone hill to the house of the fiesta queen. Hardly a ‘fiesta spirit,' Anna noted, wondering whether María would join them at the queen's house. She wouldn't be surprised either way.

Halfway up the hill, María called out to the group. Everyone turned and waited for her to join them. "I'm so sorry," María apologized, catching her breath as she reached her colleagues. "The students were slow cleaning up as usual or I would have joined you sooner. Thanks for waiting."

"Not a problem," someone replied.

Anna noticed no one extending sympathy to María over the death of Pedro.

"Where are your children, Maestra?" Anna whispered.

"I took them to their nanny earlier," María said. "They were upset about missing the fiesta, but I told them there's always another fiesta. Besides, I promised to take them shopping this weekend and buy them each a favorite toy if they would be good and spend the day at their nanny's house. I know I shouldn't bribe them and usually I don't, but today is different, to put it mildly. How did you like the fiesta?" María changed the subject more brightly than usual, causing Anna to wonder what drugs were seeing her through the day. Unlike the U.S., almost anything could be bought over the counter and the teachers frequently exchanged medications with each other.

"I loved the fiesta," Anna said, reaching for a level of normalcy in their conversation. "The students did a great job. You trained them well."

"Bueno, but as you know everyone had a hand." Underlining that thought, María turned her attention to the teacher walking beside her. "Juan, the dances were superb. You must be very proud of your students."

Juan Córdova smiled and put his arm around María's waist. Anna knew the two were good friends, but now she wondered if there might be more to their friendship than she realized.

"Gracias, Maestra," Juan said. "Yes, I agree, if I can say so with all humility. My students love the native dances, which they prefer to mathematics. So I promise them that if they do their mathematics, they can go outside and practice their dances. Now that the fiesta is over, I'm not sure how I'll entice them to concentrate on their studies."

María laughed. "Yes, I know what you mean. My first graders are no different. Fortunately, my own children love numbers. I can barely keep them supplied with activity books."

Anna wondered why María prevented her children from attending the fiesta since she wouldn't have known of Pedro's death when she made the decision. Pedro was still alive when she dropped them off with their nanny. Maybe she didn't want the responsibility of the children interfering with her fiesta duties? What was the nature of the children's relationship with Pedro, Anna wondered, and ho
w would his death affect them?

She had so many questions—
about the villagers and their hatred of Pedro, about Yolanda, even about María and her relationship with Juan Córdova, which seemed awfully cozy at the moment. She hated suspecting her friends and tried to dismiss the idea from her mind. When she talked with Miguel later, she would ask for his ideas on who murdered Pedro. She hoped he would be sober enough to answer.

The aroma of fried onions and smoky mesquite signaled the group's arrival at the queen's adobe style casa, large by Cuamantla standards. Miguel led the teachers to the back of the house where a large crowd gathered. The expansive walled backyard adjoined the family's cornfields where a wooden gate stood open. Anna could see a knot of men standing over an enormous smoking pit. Miguel caught her eye and explained they would be feasting on
barbequed goat. Anna never tasted the
barbacoa
dish that was a specialty of the area, although she'd sampled a version made with rabbit at one of the restaurants in the city of Tlaxcala.

"Barbequed goat is a real treat," Miguel assured her, "especially when prepared in the traditional manner, roasted in a pit in the ground. The procedure is an elaborate one taking about six hours so the men will have begun early this morning."

Anna was struck by the simple elegance of the setting. Three plywood tabletops rested on wooden sawhorses, each makeshift table capable of seating twenty people. White bed sheets served as tablecloths and canopies, shielding guests from the hot afternoon sun.  The scene resembled a suave cocktail party with everyone including small children chatting with a drink in their hands.

María and Juan sat beside Anna at the dignitaries' table, while the education officials, including union member Tomás Bello, surrounded Miguel. Anna remembered seeing Bello chatting briefly with Pedro before he entered the rose garden. She wondered if their exchange had anything to do with Pedro's murder. She tried without success to shake off thoughts of the murder.  Everyone was a suspect in her mind.

The dinner proceeded normally, adding to the dreamlike quality of the setting.
Surely someone must be concerned about Pedro's murder
. She noticed María pop more pills during the after-dinner speeches. Emotionally exhausted herself, Anna decided against staying in Cuamantla with Miguel for the evening fireworks display, which turned out to be a good decision since María asked if they might leave together.

"Yes, thank you, Maestra," Anna told her. "I'm too tired to stay any longer. Give me a minute to tell Miguel I'm leaving and to thank Señor Gomez and I'll join you." Anna made her way to the head table. Her host seemed pleased to hear she enjoyed herself and asked if she might send him copies of the video and the photos. Anna assured him she would, fully intending to do so if her budget could afford it. "María and I are leaving now," she told Miguel, who tried to persuade her to stay for the fireworks. "I can't, I'm too tired."

"Is it okay if I stop by your house later so we can talk?" Miguel seemed intent on meeting with her tonight.

"That's fine, Miguel," she said, wondering if she could stay awake that long.

"It might be late," he warned. "After ten, and I might be a little drunk."

"As long as you're sufficiently sober to answer my questions and make plans for the morning, I can handle it. If I don't answer, keep knocking in case I've fallen asleep."

"No problem, Anna. Until later." He gave her another mischievous wink, but she pretended not to notice.

Chapter
17

D
usk had fallen by the time Anna left the party in search of María. She found María standing near the corner of the queen's house talking with Juan. María motioned Anna over as she reached out to shake hands with Juan who hugged her instead.

"Thanks for waiting for me Anna. I didn't want to leave the party alone and I didn't want people to see me leaving with Maestro Juan as kind as he is."

"Ah, I wondered about that. He seemed insistent about something."

"No, not really, only a little overprotective. Juan's a nice man, very considerate, and if Pedro hadn't come along, who knows? I might be married to Juan today. In retrospect, few people would disagree about the wisdom of my choices."

"Were you seeing Juan before Pedro?" Anna hoped María wouldn't tell her to mind her own business even though she wouldn't blame her.

"Yes, we dated for nearly a year when Pedro began his campaign for my heart. I'm afraid Pedro's persistence won out over Juan's good-natured patience. So much for my judgement."

"Sounds like Juan was seriously outgunned." Anna could have bitten her tongue over the poor choice of words but María appeared not to notice.

"What's done is done," María said. "Time to move on."

"Maybe moving on will include Juan?"

"Between you and me, Maestra?"

"Of course."

"And not for Miguel's ears?"

"I promise."

"Yes. Juan and I have been seeing each other recently. Today was my day to end my relationship with Pedro. I told Pedro this morning that he was to move out by the weekend. I had no idea someone else would end our relationship even sooner. And certainly not in this way, leaving me with conflicted feelings. I did love Pedro once and I'm grief-stricken over his death, keeping myself together with pills."

"I understand, Maestra. Let me know if I can help in any way."

"Lend me your shoes, maybe." María wrinkled her face in pain. "These are the wrong shoes for hiking the back roads of Cuamantla, particularly when it's too dark to see the rocks."

Anna slowed her pace. She'd been feeling dowdy all day in her jeans and sensible shoes compared to the stylish slacks and heels worn by María and the other female teachers, but at least her outfit kept her feet from killing her at the end of the day.  The two women walked in silence until they were long out of earshot of the house, when María let loose venting her anger with the townspeople, the school officials, Pedro, and eventually, Pedro's wife.

"You think Yolanda killed him?" Anna asked, surprised at María's outburst.

"Of course she did, who else? I warned him about her, but he wouldn't listen. He never listened to anyone. I truly hate him. I hate this village, the school, Mexico. I hate Mexico. Anna, can I return to the States with you? Do you think I could make a good life for myself there and for my children?"

"I think you can make a better life for your children right here in Mexico where you have a job and status. If you come to the States, you'll be cleaning bathrooms for a living. You don't want that, María. Maybe a new town might help? What about Tlaxcala or maybe Puebla, beautiful cities full of culture, places where you could start over."

"Yes, Puebla. I like that idea, but a good teaching job there might cost me more money than I can afford, though I like the idea. I love city life and I could enroll my children in private school. I'll explore that idea as soon as this mess is over. Ah, my car's over there, let's go home. I'm exhausted."

Anna could barely make out the form of María's red car parked where she noticed it earlier, behind a partial wall covered with bright bougainvillea blossoms.

"It's my hiding place," María said. "When I park by the school, the village children climb all over my car and mar the finish. Fortunately, this location is as near to the queen's house as to the school, our lucky day." The irony wasn't lost on Anna.

"María, stop," Anna whispered. "I saw someone move near your car."

The two women stood rigid in the cobblestone street. María edged closer to Anna. "Maybe it's one of the school children," she whispered.

"Let's not take the chance." Anna's heart pounded. She wished she'd brought along one of her Kali batons. Her backpack contained an outer pocket especially made to hold the batons. The few times she ventured out at night she carried one with her. In her rush to leave this morning she never thought of packing them.

"What are we going to do?" María asked, distress in her voice. "I can't run in these shoes."

"We're close enough to the car that you won't need to run. If this is only one guy let me handle him. You get in the car, start it up and open the passenger door. First," she breathed the words into María's ear, "let's try the house across the street, see if someone there can help us." Anna placed her body between María and the unidentifiable moving shadow as the two women crept toward the house.

Anna heard her attacker before she felt him, a split second advantage that allowed her to establish her balance.  He grabbed her from behind, his arm around her neck. She could feel his hot breath in her left ear. He was strong and he was hurting her. She felt something hard poking into her back, which she assumed to be a gun.  Her best weapon would be surprise. Her height also worked to her advantage and right now she needed all the help she could get.

"I have a gun and I'll kill you both if you make one sound," the man warned, breathing heavily. Anna recognized his fear as another advantage. "Come with me quietly and I won't hurt you. Maestra, get out your keys. We're going for a ride in your car."

Her father's childhood warnings rang in Anna's ears. "Never go with someone no matter what they threaten to do. Let them shoot you on the spot because what they do later will be worse." She wasn't going anywhere with this creep and neither was María.

"Do as he says," Anna said. María walked to the car and Anna felt the man's grip relax slightly as he led her forward, enough leeway to allow her to move against him if she moved quickly. She swiveled and swung upward, her right arm catching and releasing his arm from around her neck. As his arm flicked free she spun, nailing him in the chest with her left arm. She grabbed and twisted the wrist holding the gun.  The weapon spun away and skipped along the cobblestones, landing near the car. Still spinning and hitting, Anna yelled to María. "Grab the gun and get in the car."

Her assailant tried to regain his balance, but Anna was on him using every Kali move she ever learned, glad for the ten years of lessons. Worth every penny, she thought as she ducked under his next attack.

"Don't shoot him," she shouted at María, who stood by the car pointing the gun in their direction, "get in the car!"

The man came at her again. She twisted his right arm hard hoping the popping sound meant a broken wrist. The mugger cried out and fell to the ground writhing in pain. María started the car engine and opened the passenger door. Anna jumped in and they took off. bouncing wildly along the rocky road. María drove like a mad woman, never slowing down even when they hit the paved Apizaco road. It was the ride of Anna's life.

"Where are we headed, Maestra?" Anna asked, trying to slow her breathing.

"Tetla. No one knows the roads in Tetla better than I do. We can outrun anyone and so far I don't see any cars behind us. Here's the turn, hang on. We're headed for the house of my children's nanny. I've got the gun. If that dickhead follows us anywhere, I'll shoot him. That is, if my nanny doesn't kill him first."

"I don't believe he'll follow us,
Maestra
," Anna said in a voice so calm even she failed to recognize it. "I believe I broke his arm."

María laughed and pounded her hand on the steering wheel. "Good for you, Anna. I was trying to shoot him, but the way you whirled around him, I was afraid I'd shoot you instead."

"I know," Anna said. "That was my worry, too."