Shadows Across America

by Guillermo Valcarcel

  4

  Caribbean

  At the breakfast table, silence reigned. Doña Maria steamed the tamales she’d made for their guest but said nothing. Leidy and Beto, who’d decided to join the others this morning, were still staring, transfixed by the light coming from under the bathroom door, where Michelle had led Ethan to treat the cuts, which had reopened when he’d tried to drink coffee. A trace of blood could still be seen on the tablecloth while three drops rested intact on the floor leading into the bathroom. When the door opened, the couple had already finished half their plates, and Doña Maria, who hadn’t touched her food, got up to serve them more.

  Ethan smiled and sat down, but nothing about the silence changed. It was as though bad news hung in the air. Doña Maria said something about the chili sauce and invited him to try it. He tried to thank her for the special dish, which was usually reserved for Christmas, but everything he said sounded so forced that it just made things worse. Finally, the young couple got up and found an excuse to go back into Beto’s room. Doña Maria pouted.

  “Does . . . does it hurt?”

  Ethan had bandages wrapped around his head to cover three deep gashes and another over a shallower one, which had opened up a few times already.

  “No, with the painkiller I can barely feel it.”

  “And . . . how does it look?”

  “The nurse told me that there’ll be some scarring, but it’ll just make me look more handsome. Do you remember, Michelle?” Ethan laughed a little, stretching the wounds on his cheeks.

  “Yes. She was so shameless, Mom. She was coming on to him so obviously.”

  “Fortunately, I have health insurance, and there wasn’t any trouble. Also, the new thing they used means no stitches.”

  “Cutaneous glue.”

  “That’s it. It’ll just fall off on its own.”

  But Doña Maria was having none of their casual attitude. She cleared her throat, and her voice began to crack. “My boy, I know that you’ve come to help us—and God protect you and bless you in all you do—but what happened last night had nothing to do with God. I don’t know if it’s because of my daughter, because of something she’s done to offend the Almighty—”

  “Mom, I—”

  “Don’t answer back. We’ll discuss this later, Michelle. I don’t know what happened last night, but it wasn’t Catholic, and—Don Ethan, forgive me, but you weren’t talking to a little girl. I don’t know what it was, but the fright almost killed me. Beto is here and his girlfriend. They’re both innocent; I can’t let them witness such things. Not in my house.”

  “Don’t worry, señora. We thought you might feel that way. While I was at the hospital, we called Andrés, and he’s coming to pick me up in a little while. He’s found me somewhere to stay, and I’ll continue the work there. I’ll come to see you every day to tell you how things are going. I think we should have done it this way from the start.”

  “I’m so sorry, m’hijo. I wish things didn’t have to be like this but . . .”

  “Don’t worry. This is best for everyone.”

  Michelle had swapped shifts so she could take care of Ethan and now stood next to him as he packed his bag, stroking his cheek to alleviate the pain. Ethan, who was still under the effects of the painkiller, let her do what she liked. She made small talk, and neither of them brought up the big issues hovering over them like a dark cloud.

  By lunchtime, Andrés was able to get away from work for long enough to come pick up Ethan. Michelle had to go to work.

  “I’ll get back late tonight, honey, but I’d love to see you tomorrow so we can talk properly. I owe you dinner, remember.” She finished with a gentle kiss on what little free space remained on Ethan’s cheek.

  Once they were underway in the car, Andrés told Ethan that he’d found an apartment that could be rented by the week in one of the city’s newly built areas, far away from Mara territory. Ethan was pleased to hear it. To his surprise, however, they stopped in front of a luxury hotel in the middle of the city. Andrés asked him to be patient and without saying another word led him into the lobby, where they picked up a key for a room that had already been booked. Ethan was confused.

  “What’s going on?”

  “This is what I always thought we should have done, but they insisted that you stay with them.”

  “What are we doing in a hotel? I thought you were taking me to an apartment?”

  “I’ve arranged that, too, but I paid for four days here. Then there’s this,” Andrés said, handing over a set of car keys. “It’s downstairs in the parking lot. The boy knows which it is.”

  “Have you gone crazy? I can’t accept any of this. I won’t let you pay for everything. I’m not your guest.”

  “It’s less than you think, and I’m not paying for everything.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “You know how much I respect you, Ethan, so if you just listen, I’ll explain. Then you can decide for yourself.”

  Ethan nodded, and the two men started walking to the room.

  “I know a man. He knows more than us—he’s very smart and well educated. He was a police inspector before he retired, and we’ve been friends since childhood. I trust him completely. He’s fully informed, and I’ve told him all about it, and he can help us, thanks be to God. But no one can know, he says. Not even Michelle.”

  “You still don’t trust her.”

  “It’s not her. It’s the people around her. The Lord gives us the freedom to choose, and people make bad choices, either out of evil or ignorance. But that doesn’t matter; my friend has agreed to help us.”

  “And you don’t trust the detective either?”

  “I do, but there’s more than one way to do this. I know—I’ve seen my friend in action. Calvo will do his own investigation. Everyone knows him, and everyone knows he’s on the case, but my friend will go his own way. I’m grateful that he’s with us, and you will be too. I’m sure of it. But only you must know about it, not even me.”

  They arrived at the room, and Andrés unlocked the door. Once inside he held up another basic new phone and put it and the room key on the bed.

  “If you agree, you can use this one to talk to him. It has a number saved on it that he uses, just as he instructed. He says not to talk to anyone else on it, not even me. When you go back to my mother’s house, you mustn’t take it out of your pocket or show it to anyone. Keep it with you at all times, even if you think it’s safe, and don’t leave it alone if Michelle visits you here.”

  “She wouldn’t go through my things.”

  Andrés raised his eyebrows skeptically. “He told me to bring you to this hotel and give you the car. You’ll spend the first few days here, and then you can move into the apartment. After that the two of you can decide how best to move ahead.”

  “Why?”

  “He knows what he’s doing.”

  “So you’re not going to be a part of this?”

  “That’s how he wants it, and I trust him.”

  “Who am I to argue?”

  They said goodbye, and Ethan spent some time unpacking and thinking. He didn’t understand Andrés’s friendship with this enigmatic character. He was mulling over his doubts when he heard the muffled ring of the new phone. It was vibrating on the mattress. The name on the screen just said cell phone. It continued to bounce around the duvet cover for a while before Ethan decided to answer.

  “Hello?”

  “Good afternoon, Don Ethan.”

  “Who is this?”

  “You can call me Suarez.”

  “So what are we doing? I don’t like all this mystery.”

  “Number one is never to call this number or any other from this phone. I’ll call you. Anything you want to tell me: send me a message. I’ll read them all, but don’t call me. That will be our code. If you call, I’ll know you’ve been compromised and someone is forcing you to make the call. Neither should you answer any calls from a different number.”

&nbs
p; “What if you’re compromised? How will I know?”

  Suarez ignored the question. “If you want to meet, you should leave in twenty minutes. Pick up the car that was left for you, and I’ll call in fifteen minutes.”

  “Why all the secrecy? We’re looking for a girl, not—”

  “I think you’re being tailed. Will you let me find out?”

  The news hit Ethan like a bucket of cold water. He didn’t like the man’s condescension, but he had to listen to him.

  “Fine, I’ll wait.”

  In the garage, he found a pearl-gray RAV4, a large but discreet 4x4, and sat in it waiting for the phone call.

  “Ready to go?”

  “The engine’s running.”

  “Good. Put it on speakerphone, and I’ll give you directions. It’s important that they think you’re on your own and not talking to anyone. When you get to where I tell you, make sure that you leave the back doors open but without them seeing. That’s the most important thing.”

  “So they can steal it?”

  “You should have left by now.”

  Ethan put the phone between his legs, drove up the ramp, and went down a crowded avenue until he got to a large, busy traffic circle. As he hesitated, he was overtaken by a pair of taxis and assaulted by a barrage of horn blowing. He finally got around it and made a left onto a smaller street with even more traffic where the different vehicles’ conversations with each other amounted to a kind of symphony: people honked their horns to attract attention (briefly if they wanted to be polite), to ask to be allowed in or to say thank you for having been let in, to salute women pedestrians in lieu of an obscene comment, or, in the case of the angrier drivers, to express their displeasure at anything they deemed to have gotten in their way, including pedestrians. The mood was constantly shifting between a lively tableau and sheer brutality.

  “What the hell is going on? Why is everyone honking like that?”

  “Many of my compatriots appear to be compensating for inadequacies elsewhere,” said Suarez through the phone.

  Ethan drove around an enormous mall with little stores running along its facade like remoras feeding on scraps. Large speakers were turned outdoors, blaring strident music or advertising Wonderful Offers! while a sea of people coming and going only added to the chaos. As he followed Suarez’s instructions, he realized that he was going around the entire building again.

  “Once again for luck?”

  “This makes things easier.”

  “Fine, I get it. How many times do you want me to do the circle?”

  “I’ll let you know when I need you to do something.”

  Ethan thought for sure he’d hit another vehicle or a pedestrian as he circled. Finally, Suarez told him to enter a parking garage and which floor to park on.

  “Now head for a very large mobile phone accessories store on the opposite corner, and buy a charger for your phone. Then come back, and I’ll give you more instructions. Don’t forget to leave the car unlocked.”

  “You don’t need to remind me.”

  Ethan crossed the mall, which was filled with advertisements louder than the street outside. Hordes of students and schoolchildren saw it as their home away from home, especially the food court. Eventually, he completed his stupid mission. When he got back to the car, he saw that it had been locked from the inside and quickly checked the back seat, where he saw a crouching shape. He sat down and pulled out without saying a word.

  “You can go back to the hotel now,” said the voice in the back seat.

  “I hope that our little trip was worth the effort.”

  “You had a tail. Not a very good one.”

  When they’d parked in a place far from prying eyes, Suarez sat up and introduced himself. Ethan was surprised to see that he recognized him: an elderly man with a good head of gray hair and what had clearly once been an athletic body. He was fairly pale for these parts and had a kindly gaze that was a long way from the hard-bitten stare Ethan had been expecting. He was one of the chess players from the night before. He looked far more like a retired professor or wizened elder than a detective. He’d beaten his friends in game after game with a certain measure of condescension, barely saying a word as he concentrated on his next move. But of course he had been using this as a front so he could study Ethan.

  “A pleasure to see you again, Don Ethan.”

  “Oh . . . the pleasure is mine. I wasn’t expecting it to be you.”

  “That’s good. What happened to your face?”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “It shouldn’t concern us?”

  “No, it shouldn’t. So?”

  “So.”

  They both eyed each other warily.

  “I was expecting you to start,” Ethan said. “I wanted to hear your thoughts.”

  “I don’t have much to tell you, and you should be going up to your room. I’m familiar with the case and have all the details. Andrés has explained everything. He asked me for help.”

  “He told me. Also that you used to be a cop, but to be honest you don’t look like one.”

  “That’s true, and no bad thing.”

  “OK. Why are you doing this? Is he paying you?”

  “No. And he’s not paying you either. Why are you doing this?”

  “For personal reasons.”

  “Likewise.”

  “You don’t have a relationship with the girl.”

  “Neither do you. We’re both helping Andrés, her relative. If you’re interested in my help, I’ll continue. If not, this is where we part ways. You’re looking for a girl, and I came to observe you. Sometimes you learn more from watching someone doing something than from doing the thing yourself. That’s how children learn.”

  In spite of the man’s measured tone and immaculate appearance, or maybe precisely because of them, Ethan felt uncomfortable. “Fine, go on.”

  “You’ve hired that detective. He’s good; I know him. But he’ll always be looking ahead of you. He has to show you the way. I, in contrast, can follow behind, watching out for what you leave in your wake. I thought that given all the fuss over your arrival, if you’re right and the girl is still alive, it was quite likely that someone was keeping an eye on you. Hence the hotel and the car.”

  “You’ve made me the bait in my own investigation.”

  Suarez shrugged. “I did what your expensive detective couldn’t do. Watching you rather than the rest of the city. It’s cheaper and produces better results. I thought you do this for a living.”

  “I’m more used to being the one doing the following.”

  “Well, be careful. The rules are different here.”

  His advice wasn’t so different from what Calvo had told him, but it was much more infuriating. “And what have you found out? Who’s tailing me?”

  “I don’t know yet. I don’t have our detective’s resources, but I’ve seen a car and a license plate. I need you to be visible over the next few days, to move around. That will help.”

  “You want to keep using me as bait.”

  “You continue with your investigation, and I’ll go on with mine. We’ll each come to our own conclusions.”

  “So I can go on without waiting to hear from you.”

  “I’ll report to you and Andrés if I find something. If not, it’s not as though you have anything to lose.”

  “Andrés said that he wasn’t going to be involved.”

  “That’s right. If I need help, I’ll call you, not him. But I still have to report to him. He’s my friend and the girl’s uncle.”

  “You can count on me. So long as you don’t mind that I have a tail, that is,” Ethan said sardonically.

  “I’ll take care of that.”

  “Fine. Will you be dealing with the Mara too?”

  “If the Mara are involved, Calvo’s the only one who can help you. He’s the only one who can negotiate with them. But I don’t think so. What makes you think they’re involved? They wouldn’t be having you follo
wed like this.” Suarez held out his hand. “That’s all for now.”

  Ethan shook Suarez’s hand but was still dubious. “I’m not sure . . .”

  “About what?”

  “About anything you’ve told me.”

  “Of course. As I said, if you don’t want me, we’ll say goodbye, and you’ll never see me again.”

  “But that doesn’t mean that you won’t be working for Andrés.”

  For the first time, Suarez allowed himself a little smile. “And if I do?”

  “Then I’d rather keep you close by. To know what you know.”

  “Shall I take that as a yes?”

  “It’s a necessary evil.”

  “I’ve never known an agreement that wasn’t.”

  Ethan could see the man assessing him, analyzing his weaknesses as though he were preparing for a potential confrontation. They went their separate ways. The painkillers had him dozing until dinnertime, when he forced himself to leave the hotel, allowing himself to be seen—and followed, if he were to believe Suarez. He felt ridiculous. During dinner, Calvo confirmed their appointment for the next day and offered to pick him up. Ethan accepted politely. Then he got an unexpected message that almost gave him a heart attack: it was from Ari. At that precise moment, thousands of miles away, she was writing to him. He envisaged an almost magical connection between them: she was looking at her screen, wondering how he was. Ethan was filled with innocent, almost childish happiness and answered immediately. She told him that she was going out but wouldn’t be long. Then she suggested they talk in about three hours, if that was OK. She felt like talking. Suddenly the day lit up, and everything that had happened, beginning with his conversation with Suarez, seemed important news.

  That night, he managed to keep his drooping eyes open until Ari wrote. She started out telling him about her research. Ethan saw this as an intimate connection, like a wonderful declaration. He knew it was a fantasy, but it made him happy all the same. Halfway through their chat, he received a loving message from Michelle wishing him good night and lamenting the fact that he wasn’t with her at that moment so he could put his hand on her heart and feel how it beat for him. It made him shudder. For the next few minutes, he switched between the two conversations, his feelings growing ever more confused. Ari wasn’t tender or intimate; it wasn’t her style, but her involvement made him feel a sense of deep communion. Michelle didn’t stray from romantic clichés, but she knew how to use them. She topped off their conversation with a photo of herself blowing him a kiss from bed. The photo revealed nothing but invited his imagination to run wild. After Michelle signed off, his messages became more and more flirtatious until Ari put an abrupt stop to it: Really? You’re trying to get it on with me now? Ethan didn’t answer, and she signed off. After that it took him a long time to get to sleep.