The Tree of Death

twelve

I woke up around eight, my head still aching. My car was outside, filled with gas. Mama was making pancakes, but I couldn’t eat. She gave me a good hard look and, for once, didn’t lecture me about not eating breakfast. She did manage to force some coffee and orange juice down me and seemed to consider that a sort of victory.

As I was brushing my hair before the bathroom mirror she came in and said, “You’re going straight to the police, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, you can’t go to a police station in that blouse.”

I looked down. The blouse was torn in several places.

“It is an invitation to rape,” my mother added.

I wanted to ask her how she thought I could be raped while surrounded by policemen, but she had left the room. When she returned she was carrying one of her own blouses. “Just until you can go home and change.”

I put it on. It was a couple of sizes too large for me, and the way it fit reminded me of my gym blouse at the Catholic girls’ school. All it needed was my last name embroidered on the pocket.

By eight-forty-five I was on my way. Since volunteers and staff would be lined up at the museum, waiting to get in and set up for the opening, I decided I had better stop there first. Certainly whichever one of them had the extra keys wouldn’t reveal that by producing them and opening up.

Vic, Maria, Isabel, and three volunteers stood by the front door, looking around anxiously. When I approached, they turned and stared at me and my bandages with varying degrees of surprise. I tried to assess each person’s reaction to see if any of.them seemed shocked to see me alive. They were all pretty taken aback, however, so I couldn’t tell.

“Elena, qui pasa?” Maria demanded.

“No questions now. We’ve got a lot to do today. Do you all know what you’re supposed to take care of?”

There were murmurs of affirmation as I turned the key in the alarm switch and opened the carved door.

“Good. I have some things to take care of this morning also, away from the museum, but I’ll be back early this afternoon. We’ll hold a general meeting at four, to go over final preparations for the party. Isabel, will you be in charge while I’m gone?”

She nodded, anxious eyes on my face.

I took a quick trip through the galleries. Our collections were unharmed. Nick was right; the killer was a careful person and evidently had no interest in anything other than the artifacts he’d removed from the cellar. Reassured, but still reluctant to face Dave Kirk and give him my partial story, I went home to change my clothes.

I gathered up yesterday’s mail-bills and a request for money to save the whales-and went to the bedroom. The house had an unlived-in look, with coffee cups piled in the kitchen sink, rust forming from a drip in the old-fashioned tub, and a lumpy, unmade bed. After the opening, I’d have to give the place a thorough cleaning and start spending more time here.

Then I thought, what if the lieutenant remained convinced of my guilt? Could they arrest you on the flimsy kind of evidence he had? Bring you to trial? Convict? I might never get to spend more time at home. I might-Nonsense, Elena, I thought. When he hears about last night’s adventure he’ll realize you’ve been telling the truth all along.

Won’t he?

The immediate-and much more solvable-problem was what to wear. I had to go to the police station. Our board chairman, Carlos Bautista, had said he would drop by the museum at one. But I also was going to help with the food preparations; in a small museum no chore was beneath anybody. Deciding on practicality rather than protocol, I put on a pair of faded jeans and a cotton blouse. I went to the bathroom, took a couple of aspirins, and then removed the bandages and looked at my forehead. The cuts were small, really, and without the bandages wouldn’t attract much attention. And attention-and questions about what had happened-was exactly what I didn’t want. I washed my face, redid my makeup, and then I drove to the police station.

Kirk was in his cubicle, looking as if he hadn’t moved since yesterday evening. If he was surprised to see me, he didn’t show it.

“Good morning, Miss Oliverez. Have a seat.”

I took the chair I’d occupied for all those hours yesterday.

“Have you been in an accident?” He motioned at the cuts on my forehead.

“Not exactly. I’ll get into that in a minute. I have some things to tell you.”

“Go ahead.” He leaned back in his chair, his discounting-the-information pose.

“I found out who Frank De Palma’s girl friend was. It’s Gloria Sanchez, the woman who bought La Galena from him.”

“I see. How did you come by that fact?”

“I went over there to…” I couldn’t go into that without telling him about the embezzlement. “I was passing by and wandered in because she had a couple of Jesus Herrera’s camaleones on display. Frank’s brother Robert was there collecting Frank’s things.”

“Things?” He raised an eyebrow.

“His bathrobe, for one.”

“How do you know what Mr. De Palma’s bathrobe looks like?”

Irritation flashed through me, and I felt it reflected in my eyes. “Robert came out of the living quarters at the back of the gallery holding a bathrobe and asked Gloria Sanchez if that was all of Frank’s things.” I spoke slowly, trying not to lose my temper. “And, afterward, he confirmed that Gloria and Frank had been having an affair for five years.”

Kirk nodded. “All right, Miss Oliverez, I’ll check it out.”

I was sick of his standard refrain-check it out.

“What else do you have to tell me?”‘ Kirk asked. “I’m beginning to enjoy these little conversations with you.”

My hostility bubbled over, and I glared at him. “It all started when I went back to the museum last night to look for the murder weapon.”

This time I had succeeded in startling him. “The murder weapon?”

“The tree of death.” I explained how it had been missing and my reasons for thinking it had been used to kill Frank.

“And did you find this tree of death?”

“No. Someone found me first.” I went on with my story.

Kirk nodded, still looking skeptical, but his eyes were somewhat concerned as he glanced again at my forehead. “You were hit on the head about what time?”

“Maybe ten.”

“And came to in this field?”

“After midnight.”

“Good. If your story is true, someone may have given your assailant a ride back to town. Or he may have called a cab. I’ll check it.”

“What do you mean, if my story is true?”

“I also want to check your car for fingerprints and other evidence. I assume it’s still on the highway where it ran out of gas?”

“No, it’s downstairs in the parking lot. A friend of my mother’s got some gas and brought it to me. I drove back to town.”

Kirk straightened his chair. “Now, that, Miss Oliverez, is one reason for my saying if your story is true.” He looked at his watch. “It is eleven in the morning. You say you got to your mother’s around two-thirty. But you did not call us then to report the attack. Instead, you slept, got up, retrieved your car. By letting another person drive it and then driving it yourself, you probably destroyed any evidence that might have been there. You claim you were assaulted and technically kidnapped, yet you slept, changed your clothes, and, for all I know, ate a hearty breakfast before you bothered to inform us of anything.”‘

I looked down at my hands. He had a point.

“Also, Miss Oliverez, you tell me your assailant took your extra set of keys to the museum. Didn’t it occur to you that he might have robbed the place blind? Shouldn’t you have called us immediately and asked us to send a squad car there?”

“But he didn’t take anything. I checked…”Again, he had a point. It didn’t make sense unless I said I knew the person’s reason for taking those keys. And I couldn’t…

I looked at my watch. The opening was seven hours away. Was it worth keeping silent until then? I could tell Kirk right now, ask him not to do anything until after the opening. But, no, he would probably send men over there, arrest Vic and Tony.

I couldn’t do it. I’d worked hard for the museum. For five years I’d struggled to bring it into its own, to give our people and their art the standing they deserved in this community. I was not going to throw that all away by revealing our staff as embezzlers on the day of what should be our greatest triumph.

And, face it, I’d worked hard for me. I’d come out of the university with a lot of flimsy theoretical training and landed myself a better job than most graduates. Sure, it had little prestige. Sure, I’d done everything from making coffee to cleaning the rest room. But it was a damned good job for someone whose grandparents had been migrant field workers, and I’d made something of it. If the museum sank in the wake of a scandal, I would sink with it. Then there might not be a second chance for me.

“Well, Miss Oliverez?”‘ Kirk said.

“All right! I didn’t handle it well. I’ve never been involved in anything like this before, and I didn’t know what to do.”

“Logic should have told you that.”

“Then I’m not logical! Would you give me a break?”

“I have given you all the breaks you have coming.”

What did that mean? “Look, Lieutenant Kirk, I have a museum to run, an opening to prepare for. Are you going to have someone go over my car or what?”

“I’ll have someone go over it right away.” He reached for his desk phone. “You can have it back in an hour. I trust that won’t cause your opening to be delayed.”

I stood up. “I’ll be back for it at noon.”

Kirk sat, still holding the phone. “Miss Oliverez, I sense you’re holding something back.”

“Me? No. Of course I’m not. I’ve tried to help…”

“And that’s another odd thing. You certainly have tried to help. The other people connected with the museum merely answered my questions and then stayed out of it. But you’ve been bringing me these… tidbits of information daily. Why?”

“Because I don’t think you’re doing your job!” The words were out before I could stop them.

Kirk’s jaw hardened. There was a measured silence before he spoke. “After your opening, I’ll show you how I do my job, Miss Oliverez.”

I backed toward the door.

“If your museum weren’t important in this town,” he added, “and if you didn’t have a lot of influential supporters, I’d start doing my job right now-and to hell with your opening.” He paused and seemed to make an effort to regain his professional calm. “The truth is, though, I’m rather looking forward to the party.”

“You’ll be there?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Por Dios, did he plan to arrest me at the opening? Immediately afterward?

I turned tail and fled.

Now you’ve done it, Elena, I thought as I ran down the stairs rather than wait for the elevator. You’re really in trouble now.

If I couldn’t find out who Frank’s murderer was by the end of the Cinco de Mayo party, it would probably spell the ruin of my career. To say nothing of my life.