Beware The Fury
Page 6
I will return when I have achieved that goal. I will be gone for as long as it takes me to come to terms with my sinful desires. I hope that Federico finds it in his heart to forgive me and accept me as his bride when I return. Please forgive me, Mother.
All my love,
Yasmin.”
“I’m sorry, Federico,” Mendoza said, grasping the young man’s shoulder and moving away. “May I have the letter?” Mendoza asked Jose, looking to Narcisa for approval.
“It belongs to her family,” Jose answered, handing it back to Narcisa.
“Take it,” Narcisa told Mendoza, refusing to touch the letter again.
Noting Federico’s distress at the news, his father draped his arm around his son’s shoulders, attempting to comfort him.
Federico felt his stomach twist and drop, even as he felt the tears push hard against his eyes. Wanting to believe that Yasmin was still alive and lost somewhere, dreading the possibility of her being in the hands of a murderer. With the sketchy details he’d managed to obtain from the police, he concentrated on the fact that there was no actual proof that Yasmin was harmed in the accident. The only link to Yasmin being in the taxi was a charred blanket with her name on it and a few clothes.
It occurred to Federico that Yasmin might have run away in shock after the initial accident with the Mercedes. Possibly, she was kidnapped against her will, dropping her clothes during a possible scuffle.
“She might be in shock and lost in the woods,” he told the detectives. “It’s possible she’s reached the mysterious convent, and that is where she is.”
Lt. Sosa said, “We are open to all possible scenarios at this time, Federico, and we won’t rule anything out. There is a search already underway. As I told Eva, I also promise you that I will dedicate all my time to determining what happened last night.”
“A brutal accident, Mr. Montenegro,” Detective Mendoza told Don Jose. “There is no reason for conjecture at this point. The investigation has only begun.”
Federico nodded. Inside, the young man felt something harden and grow, pressing against his rib cage, making it difficult to breathe. The image of his beautiful Yasmin lying next to him on the grass by the pond flashed before him. How passionately they had kissed that day. He wanted to focus on her face and her warm body next to him. Now Yasmin might be gone, possibly forever.
“Son,” Jose said as everyone stared at Federico, who looked as if his legs would buckle under him at any moment.
All Federico could do was stare out the window, as reality began to take hold. “I’d like to go home,” he told his father. “You stay here with Narcisa and Eva.” It was his father’s duty to stay with the possibly bereaved family.
Narcisa stood up and held Federico in a tight embrace when he approached her. The woman’s tears flowed, accompanied by shuddering sobs.
Federico had to let her go and turned to look at Eva.
Eva said, “Federico, in the depths of my heart, I feel she’s still alive.” She reached for his hands.
“I do too, Eva, but something bad happened to her. You will be my strength.” He disengaged his hands from his childhood friend.
“Don’t leave,” Eva pleaded, afraid of him being alone in such a state of mind.
“I’ll be fine,” he said. “Right now, I need to be alone.”
“Alright,” Eva said. “If you need your father or me, call anytime. We’ll be up all night.”
“Thanks, I will.”
“I’ve called Dr. Felipe,” Don Jose said. “He’s on his way with sedatives for Narcisa.”
“Good idea.”
“Would you like him to stop by our house?”
“No, Father, I just need some time alone.”
Federico stopped at the door before leaving, turned to look at Narcisa and Eva one more time, and then turned again and was gone without saying another word.
Officer Sosa stood next to Mendoza, who was also ready to leave. “We’ll be back tomorrow to let you know of any new developments in the case.”
Mendoza said, “We need to ask Ofelia and Eva some questions if you wouldn’t mind.” The detective told Don Jose they would talk to him and his son as soon as possible.
“We need to find Yasmin,” Don Jose said and agreed that they would be available for any questioning. Don Jose stayed with the two women for the night, knowing there would be little sleep until the doctor arrived with the sedatives.
*
The walk between the two houses filled Federico’s lungs with much needed fresh air, clearing away some of the fog in his head.
When Federico reached his house, he closed all the doors and the windows so he couldn’t smell the scent of the flowers that reminded him so much of Yasmin. Nothing would be the same ever again. Of the many feelings flowing through him, the most dominant was despair.
He walked to his father’s desk, pulled out the small velvet-covered box from the drawer, took a deep breath, and opened it. In it were the rings he was to give Yasmin at their engagement party. He stared at the beautiful rings his father had been so proud to present his own bride once, and now he longed to see the look in Yasmin’s eyes when she saw them.
She would have loved them and thrown her arms around him, covering his face with kisses. The thought made him smile for a moment. They would have been married in a big ceremony at his father’s ranch, but someone had taken all that away.
“Why?” he asked an empty room.
PART TWO
Chapter 1
A Night in Shining Armor
“My name is Tomas Chacon,” the man said, offering his hand.
The shy girl who sat next to him in his luxurious new 1993 Mercedes Benz, felt like a girl who’d just been rescued by a chivalrous knight.
Yasmin grabbed the offered hand, responding, “Yasmin Samudio. I appreciate what you are doing for me.” She smiled broadly.
Tomas returned to his driving, occasionally glancing at the pretty girl.
In the faint light within the car, Yasmin gazed at Tomas’ face. Upon taking a closer look, she noticed that he could easily be as old as her father would be—if he were still alive. However, this man’s clothes looked expensive and a tailored fit. The young girl also noticed he wore flashy diamond cufflinks, which she suspected were real gems. It made her smile to see that he wore a large stone on a ring on his pinkie finger. The only ring she had ever seen on a man was a wedding band.
Tomas’ hair was styled, and his nails were manicured, although his hand had felt rough to the touch. Such men often frequented Yasmin’s town. Some were politicians who showed up at election time, making promises they never intended to keep. Many were the wealthy plantation owners, and others were the owners of the cattle ranches. They stopped long enough to give their orders and collect their money, but they never lingered in the valley. They lived in mansions in the city, far from the coffee plantations and ranches, while the men in her village performed the hard labor.
Yasmin was impressed that Tomas had one of the new car telephones popular with men who were often on the road. The car-phones had been introduced earlier in the 1990s for general use, but she’d never seen one before.
Underneath all the trimmings, she perceived a roughness about this man. It reminded her of the ordinary men of her village. He didn’t have the genteel look of old wealth, or ‘rabiblancos’, as they were commonly called in her country, the old oligarchy who had ruled since her country was a Spanish colony. Tomas told Yasmin he was headed toward the capital, and would gladly drop her off at her destination.
“My friend is waiting for me. You can drop me off at the bus terminal where I can take a bus to her house,” Yasmin said, glad that she would not be taking the man out of his way and still be able to arrive at Sofia’s house on time.
As she sat in the stranger’s car, watching the road disappear behind her, Yasmin was struck by the stark reality of her situation. She was running away from home, pregnant with a child she was going to give up to her former
nanny’s sister, Sofia, to raise as her very own. Yasmin wondered whether she had thought her plan through well enough. There was an urgency to leave the house before anyone noticed her pregnancy.
It bothered the young girl that she’d left her home only hours before. She was already dependent on a stranger to help her accomplish her objective. Her hasty departure could have serious consequences possibly resulting in her losing her betrothed and beloved Federico. He must never suspect that she was no longer a virgin, and especially that she was pregnant with someone else’s child. But, how could she explain what had happened to her? She loved Federico so much, yet knew he could never know about this child. Her reverie was abruptly interrupted by Tomas’ voice in the eerie light of the early hour.
“How’s that bump on your head?” he asked, much friendlier now than he had been in the beginning. His relaxed, smiling demeanor, making him appear much younger than his age.
Yasmin grinned and said, “It hurts, but I would feel much better if you’d let me pay for the damage to your car before you take me to the capital where my friend is expecting me tonight.”
Tomas smiled slowly as his eyes scanned the pretty face while the girl talked. He decided that he wanted Yasmin Samudio, and Tomas Chacon always got what he wanted. “I think that can be arranged,” he said, reaching across the seat to give her hand a gentle squeeze.
“Thank you,” she said with a deep sigh of relief. “Please promise me you will never tell anyone my name or how you picked me up on the road.”
“You can count on that,” the man said with a Cheshire Cat smile. Tomas told the young girl not to be concerned about the damaged headlight, as he knew where to get it fixed. “It’ll be repaired quickly, and then you and I can talk about how you plan to pay me for it.” He was hinting at something far more intimate than money.
Yasmin again insisted she’d pay him back for the headlight.
Tomas acknowledged her when she promised to pay him in full. He smiled, patted her hand, and said, “I know you will, baby.”
No one had ever called Yasmin, baby before, and she didn’t like it. Much to Yasmin’s relief, Tomas drove on in silence.
Ahead, Yasmin saw the bright lights of one of the local casinos in the country. When Tomas turned the car into the parking lot, it worried the girl who thought they would be driving through. She knew that a stop at a casino was seldom a quick one.
“Why are we stopping?” she asked with some trepidation.
“I need to go inside for just a moment. I’ll be right back and bring ice for your head. Would you like to come in?”
“No, thank you. I don’t think I’m dressed for the place. How long will you be?”
“Not long,” Tomas reassured the girl, and he was gone, shutting the door with her inside the car in the darkness of the parking lot. The keys were still in the ignition with the motor and the air-conditioning running.
Doubt began to creep in for Yasmin about her decision to accept the man’s ride into the city, but those doubts vanished when, true to his word, he was back with a glass full of ice. The glass was accompanied by a white cloth napkin to wrap the ice and place it on her wound. He also brought a sandwich for her to eat and a cold coke.
She was grateful for the cold, sweet drink and devoured the sandwich, ignoring her nausea. While Tomas was in the club, Yasmin had fallen asleep until she heard him open the car door. The color of the sky indicated it must be close to noon. It surprised Yasmin to smell alcohol on Tomas’ breath at that time of the day, making her wonder how much he might have consumed. Yet, he seemed to be capable of driving, acting no less sober than before.
After they’d been driving for a while, a sudden and unexpected summer storm blew in with heavy pouring rain. Thunder boomed and lightning sliced through the atmosphere. These changes in weather were frequent this time of the year, and Yasmin was used to them. She took advantage of the weather to sleep in the plush comfort of Tomas’ car, while the tires hummed on the road. Holding the ice pack on her open wound and listening to the soft music playing on the car radio felt very comforting.
*
Not aware of how long she had slept, Yasmin felt Tomas shaking her arm to wake her. He suggested that they don’t drive into the city because of the severe weather. Looking around through the heavy rain and seeing how impaired the visibility would be, she agreed that it would be dangerous to continue driving in those conditions. The darkness of the sky made it difficult to know how long she’d slept. It was difficult to distinguish the approaching night from the stormy sky.
“I live near here,” Tomas said. “We could spend the night at my house and avoid another accident trying to drive in these conditions.”
Yasmin’s initial uneasiness was calmed when she looked around her to see the neighborhood through which they drove boasted what appeared to be million-dollar homes with gated entrances. Tomas approached the driveway of a stately mansion. It was secured by a six-foot security fence, crowned by razor-sharp concertina wire and included a substantial wrought iron gate with a small guardhouse.
It reminded Yasmin of an enormous spaceship she’d seen in a movie. Although the house would have made any student of architecture squint in disbelief, the place felt like a haven for the night. At the entrance to the gate, a guard with a magazine in his hand, stepped from the small gatehouse to push a button, which opened two huge portals with an electric whirring sound.
“Mr. Chacon, welcome home. Drive forward please, we have been worried about you out in this storm. It’s not often you go out without your chauffeur. I’ll see that headlight gets fixed right away.”
“Was the request I called for, dispatched?” Tomas asked the guard, without feeling any need to explain that he enjoyed going for a drive alone once in a while.
“It was done within minutes of the accident, Sir.” The guard replied. “It’s all taken care of.”
The spacious lawns on each side of the long driveway were lined by enormous trees that seemed to form a canopy over their heads. The sound of the rain was hushed by the protection of the trees. Having wound their way through this lush scenery, they arrived at a large modern structure of mortar, stone, steel, and plate glass windows.
Dazzled by the mere size of the place, Yasmin hadn’t paid any attention to the men’s conversation. A bright smile lit up her young face as she agreed to wait out the storm here, feeling that Tomas must be a respected man.
What could it hurt to spend one night here? She convinced herself that it would be safer than driving in the storm. Sofia would understand the delay, especially after Manuel, the taxi driver, explained the situation.
The massive double doors into the house were opened by a young black woman dressed in a housekeeper outfit consisting of a short black dress and a white apron. “Welcome home, Mr. Chacon. May I take your jacket?”
“Thank you, Miss Belky,” Tomas said, handing her his coat, and telling her that Yasmin would be spending the night in the guest room.
“The room is ready, Mr. Chacon,” Miss Belky responded. Taking a look at Yasmin, the maid smiled and asked the shy girl if she had any luggage.
Embarrassed by her simple clothes in such luxurious surroundings, Yasmin shook her head to indicate she didn’t have any luggage. She shrugged her shoulders to cover up her discomfort. She was now happy to have discretely dropped the simple bundle of her clothes wrapped in a blanket, before boarding Tomas’ car.
The woman glided away with Tomas’ coat so swiftly that Yasmin thought the lovely maid’s bare feet never touched the white carpet in front of her. Yasmin was awestruck by the opulence of the grand house. Looking up, she admired the massive chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. As the stared at it, Yasmin became fascinated by the light made with the shimmering crystal prisms. They changed colors as they moved with the slight breeze created by the air conditioning.
“Would you like to tour the house, Yasmin?” Tomas asked the girl, noticing the look of wonder at the place. The young girl just nodde
d her head, staring at the luxurious furnishings of the house. She carefully took off her sandals to leave them at the foyer where she was standing. Tomas smiled and told her that it wasn’t necessary, but she had been trained to do so at home.
Tomas walked on the white carpet with his shoes on, taking Yasmin into the main rooms. The tour took them to a variety of rooms filled with gold-gilded furniture and large portraits hanging high on the walls depicting important men wearing military uniforms.
The whole place was fitted with white carpet deep enough to make Yasmin’s bare feet disappear in it. She knew that it was known as shag carpet, a new fashion for carpets that year. Everything was in order, including ornaments as beautiful as those she’d seen in the magazines and in TV soap operas, she was fond of watching. The only sound in the house was the gentle humming of the air conditioning.
In the knowledge that it was cold in the mountains where she lived, Yasmin wondered how far they had traveled since she’d lost track of time while sleeping in the car. “Your house is beautiful, Tomas, but can you tell me where we are? We must be close to the capital if the weather is so warm.”
“What makes you think the weather is warm here, Yasmin?” Tomas avoided the question regarding their location.
“You have air conditioning in every room, so it must be because of the weather.”
“I keep the air conditioning running all the time because it keeps the dust and humidity from getting in. It’s a pet peeve of mine.”
Secretly, Yasmin thought that it must cost a small fortune to keep so many air conditioners running in every room of such a huge house. Her curiosity about what Tomas did for a living was growing. Yasmin thought to try flattery. “Are you a movie star, Tomas? Maybe I haven’t recognized you because we don’t have a movie theater in our village. We only watch the stars of the soap operas on the television.”
“Really?” Tomas wanted to know where she lived. “And what is the name of your village?”
“It’s not important.” Yasmin wanted to retain the anonymity of her home. “You wouldn’t know it.”