Skull Duggery

NINE

“Actually, a lot better than I anticipated,” Gideon said, in answer to Julie’s asking about how the session at the Procuraduria General de Justicia had gone. “It was a little rocky at first-these Oaxaca cops are a scary bunch-but once their colonel got into the act it all smoothed over. Sandoval practically fell in love with the guy.” He smiled. “You know, on the way there, all he could talk about was what thugs and crooks and brutes they all are. But you should have heard him raving on the way back: ‘A fine man, the colonel, a real gentleman. I can see things will really be different now.’ Suddenly, he’s the policia ministerial ’s number one fan.”

He stretched comfortably out in the wooden lawn chair. They were sipping white wine on the Hacienda’s brick-paved interior patio, shielded from the late-afternoon sun by the wispy but sufficient shade of what Julie had informed him was a casuarina tree. “And what about your day?”

“Oh, Uncle Tony showed up with Jamie a couple of hours ago; that was the big event of the day. It’s amazing, Uncle Tony’s hardly changed at all-well, a little grayer, a little heavier-a lot heavier-but the same guy’s still inside, only even more so: cocky, loud, overbearing, self-centered, pretty nasty sometimes-”

“A real charmer, huh? I can hardly wait.”

“Well, it’s true, he can be a little hard to take, but he’s funny too. And generous, in his own way.”

“ ‘In his own way.’ Now there’s a phrase I’ve never understood. ‘He loved her in his own way.’ ‘He was grateful in his own way.’ What does it mean?”

“Oh, you’ll like him, you’ll see. It’s never boring around Tony. He’s unfailingly entertaining. In his own way, of course.”

“I see. And what about Jamie? How did he strike you?”

“Jamie? He’s gotten more than ever like Jamie-mousy, fussy, persnickety-”

“Well, he is a bookkeeper.”

“Gideon, I’m surprised at you!” She cried, but she was laughing. “That is hardly the kind of hackneyed, stereotypical remark that I expect from a respectable professor of anthropology.”

Abjectly, he bowed his head. “You’re right. I don’t know what came over me. Strike it from the record.”

“Consider it done. But Jamie-I’m making him sound worse than he is. He’s really nice, very likeable. Well, they all are, really. You’ll see…” She sipped her wine pensively.

“But?”

“But-I don’t know, I used to envy them all so much, living this romantic, exotic life in Mexico. Now I find myself feeling a little sorry for them all. What a strange kind of existence they have down here, when you think about it. Carl, Annie, Jamie-Tony for that matter-they’ve lived here all or most of their lives, but they’re not Mexican and won’t ever be Mexican. They’re not really American anymore either, for that matter, except technically. They’re foreigners wherever they are.”

“That’s true. Like the Man in the Iron Mask. Must be tough. The ones I’ve met so far, Annie and Carl, I noticed they both speak with a slight accent now, a kind of Mexican lilt. And my guess is that the Mexicans find their Spanish not quite right. It’s almost as if they don’t have a native language.”

“And yet they do seem happy enough when you look at them. Or at least not un happy.”

“Well, different people have different reactions. Me, I’m the way you are. I’d have a hard time living between two cultures like that.” He got out of his chair and stepped over to a nearby hammock hanging between two posts. “I think I’m going to give this thing a try.”

It was easier said than done, especially while holding a wine glass, but eventually he managed to get all his appendages safely in, while spilling no more than a couple of drops. “Mm, comfortable,” he said. “So tell me about what the work is like. Not too overwhelming, I hope.”

“Couldn’t have been easier. One departure-a nice, quiet German family that’s been here a week-and no arrivals, so all I have to worry about are the feminist professors. So mostly I just ‘supervised.’ And with Jamie here now, I can stop worrying about receipts, or check stubs, or reconciling the bank statement, knock on wood. Those professors, whatever else you might say about them, are very easy guests, nothing high-maintenance about them. No special requests, no complaints. Mostly they keep to themselves, but they’ve signed on for several of the hikes and horseback rides that Carl leads.

Seeing them around Carl, they don’t seem to be the man-haters you might think.”

Gideon laughed. “I think Carl qualifies as an alpha male. I understand they make allowances for alpha males. Look, if there isn’t that much to do, do you think you’ll be able to take a day off and go see Oaxaca with me? And maybe one or two of the archaeological sites? Couldn’t Jamie cover for you for one day?”

“Oh, I think I could, in a day or two. One archaeological site will be plenty for me, thank you, but the Oaxaca part sounds good. I’d like to see the city.” She thought for a moment. “Maybe even tomorrow, in the afternoon?”

“Ah, no, not tomorrow. I told the colonel I’d look at another skeleton for him. But maybe the day after?”

“ Another skeleton. I’m shocked. shocked.”

“Well, he asked me. By the way, I have another shock for you, or a surprise, anyway. That colonel I’ve been talking about-who do you think he turned out to be? Three guesses.”

“Mm, let’s see…” Julie sipped her wine and concentrated, looking up into the pale green, gently stirring branches of the tree. “Javier Marmolejo,” she said.

Gideon almost choked on his wine. “How the heck did you come up with that?”

“It wasn’t hard. I just mentally went over my list of all the Mexican policemen I know, and the total was one, and that one was Javier. So I took a wild guess. But how did he get to be a colonel in Oaxaca?”

It took five minutes to explain, by which time they had finished their wine. “Another?” Gideon asked, trying to sit up in the soft, moving hammock. “Assuming I can actually get out of this thing.”

Julie glanced at her watch. “No, it’s almost six. We’re all having dinner in Uncle Tony’s apartment. He likes to eat with everybody when he’s here. He’s read all about you, by the way, and he’s really anxious to meet you. Really, I think you’re going to like him.”

“Oh, I’m sure I will. Cocky, loud, overbearing, self-centered, nasty… What’s not to like?”