Grave Secrets (17 page)

Like me, Molly had been drawn into medical examiner work by cops and coroners oblivious to the distinction between physical and forensic anthropology. Like me, she donated time to the investigation of human rights abuses.

Unlike me, Molly had never abandoned her study of the ancient dead. Though she did some coroner cases, archaeology remained her main focus. She had yet to achieve certification by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology.

But you will, Molly. You will.

Mateo and I wound through the miles in silence. Traffic lightened when we drew away from Guatemala City, increased as we approached Sololá. We raced past deep green valleys, yellow pastures with scruffy brown cows grazing in clumps, villages thick with roadside vendors laying out that morning’s stock.

We were ninety minutes into the drive when Mateo spoke.

“The doctor said she was agitated.”

“Open your eyes to a two-week hole in your life, you’d be agitated, too.”

We flew around a curve. A pair of vehicles rushed by in the opposite direction, blasting air through our open windows.

“Maybe that’s it.”

“Maybe?” I looked at him.

“I don’t know. There was something in that doctor’s voice.”

He crawled up the bumper of a slow-moving truck, shifted hard, passed.

“What?”

He shrugged. “It was more the tone.”

“What else did he tell you?”

“Not much.”

“Is there permanent damage?”

“He doesn’t know. Or won’t say.”

“Has anyone come down from Minnesota?”

“Her father. Isn’t she married?”

“Divorced. Her kids are in high school.”

Mateo drove the remaining distance in silence, wind puffing his denim shirt, reflected yellow lines clicking up the front of his dark glasses.

The Sololá hospital was a six-story maze of red brick and grimy glass. Mateo parked in one of several small lots, and we walked up a tree-shaded lane to the front entrance. In the forecourt, a cement Jesus welcomed us with outstretched arms.

People filled the lobby, wandering, praying, drinking soda, slumping or fidgeting on wooden benches. Some wore housedresses, others suits or jeans. Most were dressed in Sololá Mayan. Women swathed in striped red cloth, with burrito-wrapped babies on their bellies or backs. Men in woolen aprons, gaucho hats, and wildly embroidered trousers and shirts. Now and then a hospital worker in crisp white cut through the kaleidoscope assemblage.

I looked around, familiar with the atmosphere, but unfamiliar with the layout. Signs routed patrons to the cafeteria, the gift shop, the business office, and to a dozen medical departments.
Radiografía. Urología. Pediatría.

Ignoring posted instructions to check-in, Mateo led me directly to a bank of elevators. We got off on the fifth floor and headed left, our heels clicking on polished tile. As we moved up the corridor, I saw myself reflected in the small rectangular windows of a dozen closed doors.

“¡Alto!”
Hurled from behind.

We turned. A fire-breathing nurse was bearing down, hospital chart pressed to her spotless white chest. Winged cap. Hair pulled back tight enough to cause a fault line down the center of her face.

Nurse Dragon extended her arm and the chart and circled us, the crossing guard of the fifth floor.

Mateo and I smiled winningly.

The dragon asked the reason for our presence.

Mateo told her.

She drew in the chart, eyed us as though we were Leopold and Loeb.

“¿Familia?”

Mateo gestured at me.
“Americana.”

More appraisal.

“Numero treinta y cinco.”

“Gracias.”

“Veinte minutos. Nada mas.”
Twenty minutes. No more.

“Gracias.”

Molly looked like a still life of cheated death. Her thin cotton gown was colorless from a million washings and clung to her body like a feathery shroud. One tube ran from her nose, another from an arm bearing little more flesh than the skeletons at the morgue.

Mateo inhaled sharply.
“Jesucristo.”

I placed a hand on his shoulder.

Molly’s eyes were lavender caverns. She opened them, recognized us, and struggled to raise herself higher on the pillows. I hurried to her side.

“¿Qué hay de nuevo?”
Slurry.

“What’s new with
you
?” I replied.

“Had one dandy siesta.”

“I knew we were working you too hard.” Though his words were light, Mateo’s voice was not.

Molly smiled weakly, pointed to a water glass on the bedside table.

“Do you mind?”

I swung the table in front of her and tipped the straw. She closed dry lips around it, drank, and leaned back.

“Have you met my father?” One hand rose, dropped back to the gray wool blanket.

Mateo and I swiveled around.

An old man occupied a chair in the corner of the room. He had white hair, and deep lines chiseled down his cheeks and across his chin and forehead. Though the whites of his eyes had yellowed with age, the blues were as clear as a mountain lake.

Mateo went to him and held out a hand. “Mateo Reyes. I guess you’d say I’m Molly’s boss down here.”

“Jack Dayton.”

They shook.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Dayton,” I said from beside the bed.

He nodded.

“Sorry it’s under these circumstances.”

“Those bein’?”

“Excuse me?”

“What happened to my girl?”

“Daddy. Be nice.”

I placed a hand on Molly’s shoulder.

“The police are investigating.”

“Been two weeks.”

“These things take time,” Mateo said.

“Yeah.”

“Are they keeping you informed?” I asked.

“Nothin’ to inform.”

“I’m sure they’re working on it.” I wasn’t certain I believed that but wanted to soothe him.

“Been two weeks.” His eyes dropped to the gnarled fingers laced in his lap.

True, Jack Dayton. Very true.

I took Molly’s hand in mine.

“How are you?”

“With a little time, I’ll be right as rain.” Another weak smile. “I’ve never understood that expression. Must have been coined by farmers.” She rolled her head to look at her father. “Like Daddy.”

The old man didn’t move a muscle.

“I’m forty-two, but my parents still think I’m their little girl.” Molly turned back to me. “They were against my coming to Guatemala.”

The ice-blue eyes in the corner flicked up.

“Look what happened.”

She gave me a conspiratorial smile.

“I could have been mugged in Mankato, Daddy.”

“At home we catch lawbreakers and lock ’em up.”

“You know that’s not always true.”

“Least the cops’d be talking a language I know.”

Dayton pushed to his feet and tugged his belt upward.

“I’ll be back.”

He shuffled from the room, Nike Cross-Trainers squeaking on the tile.

“You’ll have to excuse Daddy. He can be ornery.”

“He loves you, and he’s frightened and angry. It’s his job to be ornery. What are your doctors saying?”

“Physical therapy, then right as rain. No need to bore you with the details.”

“I’m so glad. We’ve all been crazy worrying. Someone’s been here almost every day.”

“I know. How goes Chupan Ya?”

“We’re moving full-tilt boogey on the skeletal analyses,” Mateo said. “Should have everyone ID’d in a couple of weeks.”

“Is it as bad as the eyewitness accounts suggest?”

I nodded. “Lots of gunshot and machete wounds. Mostly women and kids.”

Molly said nothing.

I looked at Mateo. He nodded. I swallowed.

“Carlos—”

“The cops told me.”

“Have they questioned you?”

“Yesterday.”

She sighed.

“I couldn’t tell them much. I only remember fragments, like freeze-frames. Headlights in the rear window. A car forcing us off the road. Two men walking on the shoulder. Arguing. Gunshots. A figure circling to my side of the truck. Then nothing.”

“Do you remember phoning me?”

She shook her head.

“Would you recognize the men?”

“It was dark. I never saw their faces.”

“Do you remember anything that was said?”

“Not much. Carlos said something like
‘mota, mota.
’”

I looked at Mateo.

“Bribe.”

She crooked an arm across her forehead, pushed back her hair. Her underarm looked pale as a fish belly

“One man kept telling the other to hurry.”

“Anything else?” I asked.

Down the hall, the elevator bonged.

Molly’s eyes flicked toward the door, back to me. When she resumed speaking, her voice was lower.

“My Spanish isn’t great, but I think one said something about an inspector. Do you suppose they were cops?”

Again, she checked the door. I thought of Galiano in the Gucumatz.

“Or soldiers involved in the Chupan Ya massacre?”

At that moment Nurse Dragon swept in and locked Mateo in an authoritative stare.

“This patient must rest.”

Mateo raised a hand to his mouth and whispered theatrically,

“Abort mission. We’ve been discovered.”

The dragon did not look amused.

“Five minutes?” I asked, smiling.

She looked at her watch.

“Five minutes. I will return.” Her face said she was ready to call in backup.

Molly watched the dragon leave, then lowered her arm and raised up on her elbows.

“There was one other thing. I didn’t mention it to the police. I don’t know why. I just didn’t.”

She looked from Mateo to me.

“I—” She swallowed. “A name.”

We waited.

“I could swear I heard one of the men say Brennan.”

I felt like I’d been thrown against a wall. Across the room I heard Mateo curse.

“Are you certain?” I stared at Molly, stunned.

“Yes. No. Yes. Oh, God, Tempe, I think so. Everything is such a jumble.” She dropped onto the pillows. The arm went back to her forehead, and tears filled her eyes.

I squeezed her hand.

“It’s O.K., Molly.” My mouth felt dry, the room suddenly smaller.

“What if they go after
you
now?” She was becoming agitated. “What if
you’re
their next target?”

I reached out with my free hand and stroked her head.

“It was dark. You were frightened. Everything was happening so fast. You probably misunderstood.”

“I couldn’t stand it if anyone else got hurt. Promise me you’ll be careful, Tempe!”

“Of course I’ll be careful.”

I smiled, but a sense of trepidation was settling over me.

After leaving the hospital, Mateo and I lunched at a
comedor
in the Hotel Paisaje, a block uphill from Sololá’s central plaza. We discussed Molly’s story, decided it warranted a report.

Before heading back to Guatemala City, we dropped in at the police station. The detective in charge of the investigation had nothing new to tell us. He took down our statement, but it was clear he gave little credence to Molly’s recollection of hearing my name. We did not mention her suspicion about the reference to an inspector.

Throughout our return to Guatemala City, mist fell from a soft gray sky. The fog was so thick in the valleys it swallowed the world outside our Jeep. On the hilltops, it drifted across the road like sea spray.

As on the drive out, Mateo and I spoke little. Thoughts swirled in my brain, each ending with a question mark.

Who shot Carlos and Molly? Why? Surely the police were wrong in assuming that robbery was the motive. An American passport is as good as gold. Why wasn’t Molly’s taken? Did the police not want to look beyond robbery? What were
their
motives?

Could Molly be correct? Was the shooting intended to hinder the Chupan Ya investigation? Did someone feel threatened by potential revelations about the massacre?

Molly was fairly certain her attackers had spoken the name Brennan. I could only think of one Brennan. What was their interest in me? Was I to be their next prey?

Who was the inspector? Were the police simply reluctant investigators, or participants in the crime?

Again and again I found myself checking the rearview mirror.

An hour into the trip, I laid my head against the seat and closed my eyes. I’d been up since five. My brain felt sluggish, my lids weighted.

The rocking of the Jeep. The wind on my face.

Despite my anxiety, I began to drift.

Inspector. What sort of inspector?

Building inspector. Agricultural inspector. Highway. Automobile emissions. Water. Sewage.

Sewage.

Septic system.

Paraíso.

I shot upright.

“What if it wasn’t an inspector at all?”

Mateo glanced at me, back at the road.

“What if Molly heard more than one name?”

“Señor Inspector?”

It took Mateo a nanosecond.

“Señor Specter.”

“Exactly.” I was glad Galiano had told Mateo about Chantale Specter.

“You think they were talking about André Specter?”

“Maybe the assault had something to do with the ambassador’s daughter?”

“Why shoot Carlos and Molly?”

“Maybe they mistook Molly for me. We’re both Americans, we’re about the same size, we both have brown hair.”

Jesus. This was sounding all too plausible.

“Maybe that’s why my name was spoken.”

“Galiano didn’t bring you into the Paraíso case until a week after Carlos and Molly were shot.”

“Maybe someone learned his intentions and decided to take me out of the loop.”

“Who would have that information?”

Another flash of Galiano in the alcove at the Gucumatz restaurant. I felt a chill.

Minutes later,
“¡Maldición!”
Damn!

Mateo’s eyes were on the rearview mirror. I checked the glass on my side.

Red pulsated in the mist to our rear. A siren, faint but unmistakable.