A Corpse for Cuamantla

by Harol Marshall

  "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."

  Chapter 18

  The two women rode in silence over the next stretch of macadam road, their knees still shaking when they reached the dirt road leading to the barrio of Tetla.

  "Still nobody behind us," María said, glancing in her rear view mirror. "Even if your friend's arm isn't broken, he won't chance driving without headlights on this rockpile." María laughed nervously. Anna managed a half-smile; she felt like a basket case.

  "I can't believe what you did to that character, Anna. You saved our lives. Where did you learn to fight like that? I wish I could have watched." María's nervous laugh turned into a drawn out giggle. Some people laugh when they're frig
htened, Anna thought, still working to calm her breathing. She wasn't one of them.

  "My high school boyfriend." Anna rubbed her arms where the bruises would appear in the morning. "He studied Kali. It's a combat system from the Philippines. At the time, I was taking baton lessons to be a majorette with the high school band. Since Kali uses batons, he talked me into taking lessons with him. I enjoyed it and I was good at it."

  "So you gave up your dream of marching in the high school band in order to be with your boyfriend?"

  "Not quite. I did both. I was captain of the majorettes. Not much you can do with twirling after high school, unlike Kali, which is useful, though this is the first time I've fought for real despite my ten years of lessons. Thank God the moves came naturally and I didn't have to think. Otherwise, I might have frozen and then where would we be?" Both women laughed again, a sense of relief flooding over them.

  "Here we are, Anna, the barrio of Tetla," María said, turning onto another narrow dirt and rock road. "It's Nahuatl for stony place as anyone could guess once they visit."

  "I've never been to Tetla," Anna said, her brain temporarily on hold. Her body felt weak, drained of energy. How do you resume normal conversation she wondered, after someone tries to kill you?

  "You haven't missed a thing," María said, carefully aligning the car with the ruts in the road. "Tetla is one of the poorest sections of Cuamantla. The ground is solid rock and nothing grows in the fields. In fact, when we reach my niñera's house, you'll see how the people build their houses right over the rocks using the natural stone for floors. Some people, like my nanny, polish the rock floors until they gleam. You'll like her place, very traditional but comfortable.

  María turned the car onto a narrow and more treacherous uphill road, stopping in front of a walled house. Even in the moonlight Anna could see brown fields meandering among the clusters of adobe houses, brick walls protecting their occupants from intruders. María knocked on the courtyard door of the nearest group of houses and a young woman about Anna's age answered. She smiled a shy greeting and invited them inside. Both children ran to María and hugged her legs.

  "Can we go shopping now, Mamá, please?" the older girl asked, "we've been very good and you promised."

  "We'll shop on the weekend, hija," her mother said, "I'm glad to hear you've been good. Now it's time to gather your things for the trip home." The children collected their clothes and workbooks and sat by the TV while their nanny invited the women into the kitchen for a cup of manzanilla tea. At María's request, Anna shared the day's bad news with Sra. Barrientos, who hugged and cried with María. Later, as María herded the children into the car for the trip home, Sra. Barrientos climbed a ladder to the roof and looked out over the moonlit landscape. Nothing unusual, she reported, certain the assailant hadn't followed the women to Tetla.

  "Whoever attacked you wouldn't dare drive up here," she assured them. "This place has a bad reputation, you know. We aren't friendly to outsiders. You'll be safe if you take the back roads to Apizaco."

  Inside the car, the children entertained them with a story about chasing down one unlucky brown chicken so Sra. Barrientos could wring its neck and cook it for midday dinner. Arriving in Apizaco, María ferreted out a small restaurant where she confided her fears about dealing with the children over Pedro's death.

  "They're only five and seven, too young to understand everything that has happened. I'm afraid they'll blame me for Pedro's disappearance. I'm only sorry I ever introduced him into their lives."

  Anna wondered again what María ever saw in the man as she stared out the restaurant window at the passing buses spewing their noxious fumes into what should have been clear mountain air. Few people would consider Apizaco a mountain town, but the plateau city clearly qualified with its 8000-foot elevation at the entrance to the Malinche volcano national park. She turned her attention away from the traffic and gazed at the busy sidewalks, everyone dressed in their fiesta best. Periodic fireworks pierced the air and she wondered how anyone in the city would manage a good night's sleep. She looked forward to the peace and quiet of the house in Belén.

  "Who do you think attacked us in Cuamantla?" Anna whispered as María pulled out of the restaurant parking lot.

  "I don't know," María said, keeping her voice low and turning up the radio speakers in the back seat so the children wouldn't hear. "I don't think he wanted to kill us, only steal my car and maybe rape us as an added bonus. I got a good look at him, but he wasn't familiar to me even though he seemed to know who I was. We'll find out soon enough. It's a small village and his broken arm will give him away. I still can't believe what you did to him. Who would have guessed?" María shook her head. "Wait until Miguel hears about this."

  "Let's not tell anyone yet. I prefer no one knows about my Kali skills. It can bring on challengers and I don't need that right now."

  "Whatever you say, Anna. My lips are sealed."

  Anna was less convinced than María about the car theft angle. She wondered again if there might be a connection between Pedro's murder and the theft of the Real Cédula. "He might not have been after your car," Anna suggested. "Can you think of other possibilities?"

  "After what happened to Pedro today I don't know," María said. "I'm paranoid, it could be anything. My only other guess would be Yolanda and Pedro's son. He's seventeen. Pedro recently changed his will to include me. The will states that if I die within two years of Pedro's death, my share of his estate goes to his son. Of course, Pedro's will also makes me a suspect in his murder," she glanced over at Anna, "but I didn't do it. Please believe me."

  "I never thought you did," Anna said, with a touch of guilt. "Maybe he was after me and not you. I filmed Pedro entering the rose garden this morning. Whoever killed him might be interested in my DVD if he believes it contains evidence against him."

  María dismissed the idea. "Yolanda killed Pedro, I'm sure of it, even if she didn't pull the trigger personally. More likely she paid someone to do it, one of her boyfriends perhaps. Pedro said she had more boyfriends than she could count."

  The idea of Yolanda contracting Pedro's murder seemed unlikely to Anna. If Yolanda hired someone to kill Pedro she'd want to be as far away from the murder scene as possible in order to avoid suspicion. More likely that Yolanda killed Pedro in a fit of anger except that Pedro was shot.

  Would Yolanda have arrived in Cuamantla toting a gun? Protection against bandits along the road, maybe, but the more Anna thought about it, the more she felt Pedro's murder was connected to the theft of the Real Cédula. Two criminal acts within hours of each other in a small rural village was too coincidental. Maybe Pedro stole the document, a villager found out and killed him for it. Ideas bounced around Anna's head like steel balls in a pinball machine, few of which seemed plausible to her, but then murder wasn't exactly a plausible act.

  "Bottom line," Anna said, resuming their discussion, "we don't know whether our mugger was after you, me, or the car, which complicates matters a lot. Tomorrow, I'm taking my DVD to the State Police. I suppose I should report the attack on us also, if you have no objections."

  "I'd think long and hard about that, Anna. The State Police frighten me. I'd rather talk with the Comandante in Cuamantla. He's the best person to track down a villager with a broken wrist. He'll find our mugger tomorrow before the day's out."

  "What about Pedro's death? Is the Cuamantla Comandante the best one to investigate that as well?"

  "I don't know, Anna. I suspect the matter of Pedro's death will be left up to Pedro's relatives. Cuamantla isn't his home so the pipilitzin in Cuamantla won't want to bother with it."

  Everything about Pedro's death troubled Anna, and since the crime now involved her, she preferred to have professionals investigating the matter. Most likely, the murder of Pedro was a crime of passion not of planning, which narrowed the suspect list considerably.

  Deep in her heart, she wished she were as certain of María's innocence as she wanted to be. They were good friends. Anna li
ked her and couldn't believe her capable of killing Pedro, but tonight she'd seen another side of María. Nagging at her nearly numbed brain was her father's assertion that under the right set of circumstances anyone is capable of murder. Even more disturbing was the realization of her own potential to kill. Not a pleasant feeling in an altogether unpleasant day.

  Chapter 19

  As they neared Belén, María confided in Anna about her relationship with Pedro. "Pedro and I often argued about Yolanda. I felt he sent her too much money and she squeezed him regularly no matter how much he sent. His guilty conscience forced him to pay. The woman had a hold on him that I couldn't break. I'd already decided before today that our relationship wouldn't work out, despite Pedro's promises. He was an operator, a con artist. I knew that when I met him, but I allowed myself to believe he'd change and that I could change him. How foolish could I be? I let my emotions rule my head. It's all water over the dam now." María shrugged and changed the subject. "Did Miguel tell you where we're to meet tomorrow and what time? I forgot to ask him at school."

  "We meet at eleven in front of the school and we'll travel in caravan. I wondered whether you planned to attend the funeral."

  "Of course I'm going. I'm a colleague of Pedro's like the rest of the teachers." María seemed almost offended.

  "What about Yolanda and Pedro's family? Surely they resent you. Aren't you worried about trouble from them?"

  "Not at all. My behavior will be no different from the rest of Pedro's colleagues. I've had plenty of practice hiding my feelings, Anna. Trust me, things would be worse for me among my colleagues if I chose not to go. Besides, not attending would be an admission of guilt and I have no guilt to hide, only grief."

  "Well, for my sake, I'm glad you're going. Your presence will keep Miguel on good behavior."

  María laughed. "I hear you, Anna, but is that really what you want? Most women I know would be delighted at the attentions of the Maestro Director. He is quite handsome and charming and not lacking for admirers, myself included," she added with a smile.