Prolonged Exposure

Chapter 19

Estelle Reyes-Guzman saw us as we walked toward the house, and she sat down on the bench by the back door. She was wearing a tan suit, and from a distance, she blended in with the adobe behind her.

As we approached within speaking distance, she stood up, a smile brightening some of the fatigue on her dark face. Camille gave her a small hug around the waist with the one arm, keeping the other linked through mine.

“Sam Preston told me you were out here,” Estelle said, and her gaze swept the property. I could see the mental gears working.

“Anything new on the youngster?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Eddie told me about the folks in the RV.”

I laughed. “We made their day, I’m sure.”

“Holman doesn’t want to pull the search teams for a while yet,” Estelle said. She examined the corner of the old house where the stucco was badly cracked.

“That’s probably just as well,” I said.

She ran her hand down the rough finish. “Are you buying this place?” She turned to look at Camille, and I walked over to the bench and sat down, leaning back against the wall, feeling the warmth of the old adobe filter through my flannel shirt.

“She’s not. I thought I might.”

“I see,” Estelle said. I grinned, amused at this accomplished detective’s complete lack of nosiness.

“I’d like to own some horses,” I said. “This place is on the market, and it’s cheap.” I reached around and patted the thick adobe wall. “The house is basically sound.”

“You mean you’re going to live here?” She didn’t try to conceal the incredulity in her voice.

“Yes. That’s what I was thinking.”

“Oh.” Estelle walked a step or two closer to the back door and stopped. “Well, it’s farther from the interstate,” she said.

“That’s one plus.”

She gazed at me, and I felt as if I were being CAT-scanned. I took a deep breath and said, “I’ve been thinking about offering the hacienda to you.”

“Me?”

“To you and Francis.” Up to then, I hadn’t been able to imagine how I was going to broach this subject with Estelle. I’d thought about it for months, playing various conversations through my mind. But now that I’d started, the words tumbled out in a rush.

“You’ve said several times that your place on Twelfth Street isn’t anywhere big enough. Hell, my place is big enough for three families. And I don’t know what you’ve decided about your mother, but if you wanted her to stay with you, there’s enough room for her to have her own apartment there, and you’d never know it.”

Estelle looked down at the ground and made her way to the bench. She sat down with her hands clasped between her knees.

“How is she, by the way?” I added.

“Francis has her scheduled for hip-replacement surgery on December second.”

“Ouch. That’s a long time to wait.”

Estelle nodded. “There are still some heart irregularities that they’re trying to get under control first, so they postponed the hip. Nothing life-threatening, Francis says. But worrisome. She’s reasonably comfortable.”

The dark circles under Estelle’s eyes were worrisome as well, and I said, “Maybe this isn’t a good time to talk about the house. But I’d sure rather know you guys were living there than a bunch of strangers who didn’t understand the place.”

“Complete with cemetery in the backyard.” Estelle chuckled.

“That’s going to be resolved. The old lady’s going to be moved, whether Florencio Apodaca likes it or not.”

Estelle reached over and put her hand on top of mine. “It’s a beautiful home, sir. And I’m touched that you’d even consider such a thing.” She hesitated and glanced at Camille. “But I don’t think we’re in a position to take on something like that.”

“If you’re talking about price, that’s not a problem,” I said. I indicated my daughter. “None of the kids want the place, as Camille will tell you. They’ve all got their own complicated lives at the far corners of the country. And I don’t need the money. Hell, you can have the hacienda for a dollar, if you want it. Just say the word. It would make me feel good, knowing that you and Francis and los ninos were enjoying the place. It would keep it in the family.”

Estelle looked down at her hands, and her forehead was wrinkled in a frown. She blinked once or twice and I thought I saw her swallow hard.

“But it’s nothing that needs to be decided overnight,” I added quickly.

She looked at me, and, as usual, I couldn’t read what was deep in those inscrutable dark eyes. “You’ve got horses coming?”

“Well,” I said, waving a hand, “I’ve made a tentative deal. Let me put it that way. It’s not like they’re arriving tomorrow. Probably in the spring, after I’ve had a chance to get this place shipshape.”

“Saddle horses?”

“No.” I shook my head. “It’d take a derrick to get me up on a horse now. Workhorses-Percherons.”

“You never mentioned them,” Estelle said, not as a rebuke, but just as a statement of fact.

“It was one of those love-at-first-sight things,” Camille said. “We made the mistake of taking him to a county fair-type October-fest when he was visiting us.”

“You used to drive horses when you were younger, didn’t you?”

I nodded. “Much, much, much younger.”

Estelle shook her head slowly, gazing out into the paddock. “That will be a lot of work.”

“It’ll be good for me,” I said. “And when he’s a few years older, I can hire the kid to do all the hard stuff.” By the time little Francis was old enough to do the hard stuff, I reflected, I’d be pushing eighty years old-or perhaps daisies. But it was a nice thought.

Estelle patted my hand again. “I’ll talk with Francis,” she said. “I know he loves your place as much as I do. But I don’t think he’ll change his mind.”

“Change his mind? About what?”

Estelle hesitated for a long moment. “He’s accepted a position at another hospital.”

“You’re kidding,” I said. “What, Cruces?” Dr. Guzman had spent a good deal of time driving between Posadas and Las Cruces, doing whatever it was doctors did when sharing hospitals.

“No.” Estelle took a deep breath. “He’s accepted a position at the Mayo Clinic.”

“Mayo? As in Tucson?”

“Rochester, Minnesota.” A heavy silence settled on our little patch of sunshine and adobe.

I didn’t know what to say, so finally I settled for “That’s a hell of an opportunity.”

“Yes, it is. There’s some teaching involved, too. And research.”

I smiled with a great deal more enthusiasm than I felt. In fact, a great black hole was growing in my gut. “It snows up there, you know. Except during the two days of summer.”

“Yes, I know. Francis and Carlos are going to go crazy.”

“They can learn things like ice skating,” I said. “All kinds of cold, bleak, soggy pastimes. Your kitchen floor will always be covered with boots and wet socks.”

Estelle grinned at that.

“When?” I asked, and I didn’t mean it to come out so bleakly.

“His appointment begins June first.”

“Ouch,” I said. “And your mama?”

Estelle shook her head. “Assuming everything goes well, there are dozens of extended- or acute-care facilities in that area.”

“Of course there are, but that’s not what I meant. She’s going to hate it, you know. You’re going to have to be your persuasive best.”

“I’ve got seven months to work on her,” Estelle said. “Who knows. Maybe she’s like you. Maybe she’s ready for an adventure.”

“Maybe,” I said. I stood up and brushed off the seat of my pants. I felt Camille looking at me, but I couldn’t meet her gaze. “We’d better get back,” I said. “Camille, would you go through the house and make sure the front door is locked?” I walked around the side of the house, hands in my pockets, looking like I was examining the structure of the walls.

The truth was that I didn’t want to see the inside of that dreary place.