Exotic #02 - The Hieroglyphic Staircase (20 page)

“She was with a very interesting man, Jack something. He’s in bananas.”

Elena laughed.

“That sounded funny, didn’t it,” Susanna said, laughing along. “He’s with one of the big fruit companies and comes here all the time. He’s some big wig. He seemed quite attached to her, and she to him, if you know what I mean.”

Elena changed the subject, not interested in pursuing that topic any further. “There’s a new police inspector, much more competent than Oliveros, so I’m hoping the murder gets resolved soon. Meanwhile, I’m not supposed to work at the ruins or at the Museum. The police have closed the entire Archeological Park, so I’m going to help Dominic at the clinic for the rest of the day. They need help with this storm coming in.”

“Yes, dear. Do help Dominic. Such a nice man.”

Elena kissed her mother. “Please stay put in the hotel today. Lounge by the pool. I know you won’t be at loss for someone to talk to. Just stay out of trouble, okay?”

“I should say the same thing for you.”

Fifteen

The clinic was a madhouse. People dropped in to discuss preparations for the storm. More than the usual number of ailments overwhelmed Corazón. The murder had taken a back burner with the new threat that affected everyone. Dominic prayed that the hurricane would weaken before it hit Copan Ruinas. He breathed a sigh of relief when Elena came waltzing into the clinic looking like she didn’t have a care in the world, hair flying in the breeze.

“Need help?” she said by way of greeting.

“I sure do. Nice to see you,” he said, smiling. “Could you keep an eye on Miguel for me? I think he’s getting bored. He’s sitting against the wall trying to work that Game Boy. We had a few donated for the kids that come in.”

“Sure, though Game Boy is not my strong suit. What will you do with the storm coming?”

“I’m afraid I’ll be working straight through. Do you think you can keep Miguel with you?”

“Sure. I might stay with my mother at the hotel. It’s supposed to be a fortress. I think I’ll take
doña
Carolita there, too.”

“Good idea.”

“How about you?”

“I’ll be fine at my house, or here at the clinic. We have cots to set up. I want to be available to help. Dr. Hidalgo said the Red Cross arrived this morning. They are setting up shop at schools that will be used for shelters. The bad part will be flooding. Fortunately, most of the villages are on high ground in the surrounding mountains. The town is on enough of a rise, and it drains pretty well, so if we all don’t get blown away, we should be fine.”

A small man, a
campesino,
in white shirt and pants, came up while they were talking and stood humbly to the side of Dominic, who turned to see what he wanted. The man spoke in a low voice, and they exchanged a few words.

Dominic turned back to Elena. “I’ve got to help with someone who’s been hurt by flying debris. Will you wait here for me?”

“I’m going to take Miguel and walk to the police station. I need to talk to Connie. I’ll meet you back here.”

“Right. Take care of yourself.” He squeezed her shoulder, hesitant about leaving her. But the man called to him again, and he hurried out the door into the gusty wind.

* * * * *

Elena walked to where Miguel sat. “Hi there. What’re you doing?”

He shrugged, putting the Game Boy on the floor beside him.

“Let’s take a walk.” She held out her hand, and Miguel took it. One stop on their walk would be the little shop around the corner to buy some extra clothes for him.

Solid gray clouds plastered the sky, and drops of rain rode the wind. They hugged the buildings, trying to keep out of the wind and avoid other people doing the same. Shopkeepers were nailing plywood onto the doors of their establishments. The clothes shop was still doing business. Elena selected several pair of shorts, long pants, T-shirts and briefs that she held up to Miguel to see if they fit. He picked out colors he liked, blue being the favorite. The toy section caught Miguel’s attention, and he touched every toy on the shelf.

“What would you like?” Elena asked him.

He pointed to a soccer ball. “This one.”

“So you like soccer?”

He nodded enthusiastically.

“You shall have it.”

Elena paid for the purchases and handed the soccer ball to Miguel. The shopkeeper, an older woman with a salt and pepper braid, asked, “Is this your son?”

The question took Elena unawares. She looked down at Miguel, and he gazed back at her. Something in his eyes hoped for a mother.

“No,” Elena said, unable to give what was not hers to give, “this little man is my friend.”

Miguel turned away but not before Elena saw the letdown in his eyes. A wave of guilt swept over her that she had not at least pretended to be his mother.

“Where are we going?” asked Miguel, as he held tight to his new purchase. They walked in the direction of the police station, heads bent against the wind. Dark, ugly clouds hugged the lush, green mountains to the east of town.

“We’re going to see my friend, Connie. I need to talk to her.”

Miguel seemed okay with that, and he walked along holding her hand, hugging his soccer ball.

Outside the police station was a crowd of people, most in uniform. The
Guardia Civil
had been sent in. She circumvented the soldiers and asked a policeman if inspector Lascano was there.

“No,
señorita
, she is not. I do not know when she will return. She is helping organize security at the school shelters. Maybe you can find her there.” He gave directions to the nearest school, which was a walk of about four blocks.

“I know a shortcut to the school,” said Miguel.

“Okay, show me.”

They turned into an alleyway but not before Elena caught site of the man she had met at breakfast with her mother. He was standing on the corner of the street behind them, looking in their direction. He stepped into a store when she looked his way. She was sure it was the same man. Tall, thin. Though, she could be mistaken. She shook off an apprehensive feeling she chalked up to storm nerves and followed Miguel into the alley that led to the school. A rain squall pelted them, and they ran the rest of the way.

Some men stood in front of the school under the eaves, smoking. They waved Elena and Miguel inside to a registration desk. Two women with Red Cross arm bands sat behind a table.

“May we help you?” said the younger of the two.

“I’m looking for inspector Connie Lascano. Is she here?”

“I’m not sure,” said the older woman wearing 1950s-style rhinestone eyewear. “Pass inside, she might be there.”

Elena tugged Miguel along and walked into the auditorium. It was an elementary school, and the room was not large. She searched, craning her neck, walking back and forth.

A pleasant looking gentleman with an armband, who was stacking cartons of canned goods, asked if he could be of assistance.

“I’m looking for inspector Lascano. Is she here?”

The man looked around, doubtful. “I don’t think so.”

“I was told she was at a shelter working.”

“There is one other shelter. Maybe she is there.”

Elena was beginning to doubt the wisdom of trying to track down Connie. She wanted to tell her about Rolando and his motorcycle buddies and find out if they had identified the boy found in the river. She still had the St. Jude medal which probably wasn’t anything important, certainly not as important as a hurricane. Nothing was going to go forward until they all got through Hurricane Bob.

“I know where is the other school,” said Miguel.

“How far?”

“It is on the other side of the central plaza near the church.”

“That’s quite a hike in this weather. Maybe we better go back to the clinic.”

“I think so, too. It is raining harder.”

They stood at the entrance to the school under cover, watching rain pour straight down. Elena debated their options. They could go back to the clinic, they could go to the hotel to stay with her mother, or they could try to find Connie. If she decided to stay with her mother, she needed to go by
doña
Carolita’s house, pick up her computer and a few other things, and talk her into coming with them.

She should go by the clinic and tell Dominic what she was doing if she went to the hotel. But the thought of riding out a hurricane in the lap of luxury with her mother, somehow didn’t fit with the plight of the average person in this town. She could be of some use to Dominic. Maybe she could leave Miguel with her mother. But what if he took off?

The outer bands of Hurricane Bob swirled around Copan Ruinas and as quickly as the rain came, it eased off.

Elena made her decision. “Let’s run for it. We’ll go to the clinic. C’mon.”

They took off, holding hands, running down the middle of the street to avoid the streams of water rushing down the gutters by the side of the road. The wind buffeted them, spraying water into their faces, and a cardboard box bounced down the street with them.

A car, coming up from behind, tooted, and they ran single file to let it pass. The vehicle drew alongside, and the driver wound down the window. It was Jorge, the man from breakfast.

“Can I give you a ride? This is a bad day to be out for a run.”

Elena stopped for an instance. Miguel kept running, and she called to him to wait up.

Jorge smiled from behind the wheel of an early model, yellow Toyota eyesore, one headlight smashed in, which didn’t fit an art dealer image. Something about how he spoke, how he seemed to leer at her, made Elena uneasy.

“No thanks. We don’t have far to go, but thanks.” She waved and started running, caught up to Miguel and grabbed his hand. The car kept coming behind them, its one head light flickering. Elena pulled Miguel over to the side walk and kept running.

“Know any other short cuts?” she shouted as they ran.

He veered toward another alley that led up to the street where the clinic was located. Elena could hear the car behind them, but she didn’t look back to see where it was going. She ran harder. Something about that guy was creepy. She’d have to warn her mother about him. She held tight to Miguel’s hand and ran for the safety of the clinic.

* * * * *

Dominic breathed another great sigh of relief, the second of the day, when he saw Elena and Miguel.

“You look like drowned cats,” he said. “Are you okay? Don’t you know when to get in out of the rain?” He said it with a smile, but he was half serious. People already were suffering injuries from flying objects and falling debris. Like the middle-aged lady before him whose kitchen ceiling had fallen on her. He was carefully cleaning the cuts on her face.

Elena and Miguel looked at each other and giggled.

“I guess we do look a sight, but we’re fine,” she said. “The storm is moving in fast though.”

“Towels are over there.” He indicated with his head a shelf with small white towels. Elena grabbed two and helped Miguel rub his face and hair.

“How are things going?” she asked, patting her face and arms with the towel.

“Getting worse. The land line phone service is out. We still have electricity.”

“I forgot about water and flash lights and all that stuff. I’m going to
doña
Carolita’s to take her to the Marina Copan. That is if I can pry her out of her house.”

“Elena.” He looked over at her as he cleaned and applied medication to cuts on the woman’s arm. “I’ve been thinking. Why don’t you stay with Miguel and me at my place? Bring
doña
Carolita there, too. We’ll at least be able to prepare food on the gas stove. I have water and flashlights and batteries and blankets and all those things that you don’t have right now.”

She studied him, like she was considering the offer. She looked down at Miguel who stood in a puddle of water.

“I think you should come with us,” said Miguel.

“Okay, it’s a deal,” she finally said. “I’ll go for
doña
Carolita and get my stuff before it gets any worse.”

“Let me finish with this lady, and I’ll drive you.”

When Elena started to protest, he held up his hand. “No, I insist. You aren’t running around on foot in this storm.”

He helped the lady down from the table and gave her instructions and tablets in a bottle that he placed in her hand.

“
Un million de gracias,
” said the woman, and she shuffled out.

Dominic told Corazón where he was going and hustled his charges into the Jeep. Rain was blowing sideways as they crept down the street toward
doña
Carolita’s.

“Ever been in a hurricane before?” Dominic asked Elena.

“No, have you?”

“Yes, I got caught in Hurricane Andrew down in south Florida. That’s the first and last one I ever want to be in.”

“I guess you’re not going to get your wish. This one looks bad. I have great respect for Mother Nature so I never want to tempt her. But circumstances have dictated otherwise for both of us, hasn’t it?”

“You can say that again.”

Elena looked in the back seat to make sure Miguel was okay. “How you doing?” she asked him, smiling. But the smile died on her face.

“Oh, no,” she said and turned around and slid down in the seat.

“Do you see that yellow car following us with only one headlight?” she asked Dominic.

He looked in the rear view mirror. “Yes, he’s been behind us since the clinic. Why?”

“That’s this weird guy that I met this morning at breakfast with my mother. She picked him up at the hotel, and he says that he’s an art dealer. He wanted to give us a ride. Something about him I don’t like.”

Dominic looked in the mirror again. “I could try to lose him but I hesitate to go any faster in this rain. I’ll go by the Marina Copan and stop out front. Maybe he’ll think you’re visiting your mother.”

He whipped up the next street until they were in front of the Hotel Marina Copan, off the central plaza. Their pursuer turned off to the left before the hotel.

“He turned off,” said Dominic.

“That’s a relief. While we’re here, I’ll run in and tell my mother where I’ll be.”