I collected Lola and Carla. “C’mon,” I said, “let’s get out of here.”
Lola hesitated. “What about—”
“Bogen’s leaving someone on guard. Let’s go somewhere and take our minds off things for a while.”
Later that night, after parting company with Carla and Lola (who had accepted Carla’s invitation to spend the night at her place), I went back to my hotel and was letting myself into my room when a shadow detached itself from near the fire exit down the hall.
“Sorry I startled you,” Gunnar said after I climbed down from the ceiling. “Got a minute?”
“Sure, mano,” I said. “Come in.” I pushed the door open and Gunnar followed me in. “Drink?” I asked.
Gunnar just shook his head and jerked his thumb back toward the door as he walked over to the curtained windows. I shut the door and turned to see him carefully opening a tiny gap in the curtains to peer down toward the street.
“You’re very secret agent tonight,” I said with a laugh.
Gunnar turned toward me and said, “I heard about what happened.”
“Yeah?” I sat down on the edge of the bed and kicked off my shoes. The tie came off next and was tossed somewhere on the sheets behind me. “What have you heard?”
Gunnar moved over to the small table near the door and leaned back against it, folding his arms. “A sprout was left at your construction site. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything, but there are rumors.”
I sighed. “I’ve had a long day, mano, so…”
“Sometimes cats from El Marrow make the scene,” Gunnar said. “Some hear things there about a rogue DOD agent making trouble in Rubacava.” That was interesting. “The stories aren’t very specific,” Gunnar said with a shrug, “other than to say that the Man isn’t very happy. Could be he’s unhappy enough to send the troublemaker a message.”
“Or maybe,” I said, “bad things just happen and shit has to land somewhere.”
Gunnar nodded slowly. “You can’t escape gravity.” He stood away from the table. “Like you said, it’s been a long day and it’s time for me to scat.”
“Thanks for dropping by,” I said as Gunnar went out and shut the door behind him. It wasn’t until he was gone that I realized his gravity remark wasn’t really meant as agreement.
The next morning I went to the morgue with Lola. Carla had already gone on her own. Lola was still pretty upset and wasn’t looking forward to having to take a closer look at the sprouted soul. Neither was I, truth be told. Seeing it in near darkness was enough for me and Membrillo’s digging around in the foliage had given me nightmares.
When we got to police headquarters we met Maximino coming out of the corridor we were directed to go down. “What are you doing here?” I asked in surprise.
“Same thing you are, Calavera,” he growled. “Takin’ a look at that corsage they found on your property.”
“Yeah? Anyone you know?”
Max shook his head. “No. And I didn’t recognize the last five either.”
“Five more sproutings?!” I exclaimed.
“Yeah. All in the last three months, ta boot. I’m tellin’ ya, Calavera—if this keeps up, business ain’t gonna be so hot. People’ll stay away from here if they get it in their heads they’ll be sprouted, I’ll tell ya that twice.”
“This isn’t good,” I said, but was perversely relieved. All those sproutings punched a giant hole in Gunnar’s theory that someone was sending me a message. Then I noticed Max staring at Lola. “Oops,” I said. “Manners. Max, this is my friend Lola. She’s the one who found the body.”
“Pleased ta meet ya, Lola,” Max said. He took her hand and kissed it. “Not the kind of thing a nice girl like you should hafta see.”
“Even worse for the guy that got shot,” Lola said weakly.
“She’s got heart,” Max said to me. He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out a little card. He handed it to Lola and said, “Here ya go. A temporary pass to the High Rollers’ Lounge at the track. Come see the kitties, knock back a few, forget about your troubles for a while, OK?”
“Sure… Max,” Lola said, taking the card.
“Hey, Max,” I cut in, “just why is Bogen dragging you down here to see these sproutings? I can’t imagine you being connected to something like this.”
“You’re smart, Calavera. I already told ya that, right? Bogen, he’s not that smart. He sees a hit, he thinks of me, the rat.” Max put his hand over his sternum. “Me, I’m a legitimate businessman. I don’t have time for the rough stuff and I make sure my boys don’t, either.”
“Then maybe some new outfit is moving into town,” I said, suddenly thinking of Hector and Domino.
Max gave me a surprised look. “You might have something there. I hadn’t thought of that. It’s a cinch Bogen won’t.” I sensed his frown. “I’ll hafta look into this.” He started to walk away. “If someone is muscling in on my territory, I’ll give ’em what for!”
I took Lola’s elbow and steered her down the corridor to the morgue. “C’mon, let’s get this over with.”
“He doesn’t seem all that bad,” Lola said.
“Max?” I shrugged. “I guess not. But you heard what he said. He’s a ‘legitimate businessman’ and you know what that means.”
Lola did her own shrug. “We’re all stuck in the Land of the Dead. You know what that means.”
“Not a bad point, actually,” I said. We came to the morgue. “You ready?”
“Are you?” she asked.
“You kidding?”
We went in. Membrillo was waiting for us. “I’ll make this quick,” he said. “Look at this face and tell me if you recognize it.”
Membrillo had cleared the vegetation from the skull. It was covered by green stubble, but the face was clear enough.
“I’ve never seen him before,” Lola said. “Manny…” she ran out.
I took a step toward the door.
“She’ll be all right,” Membrillo said. “First things first.”
I sighed and made myself look closely at the sprouted man’s face. “No,” I said. “Never saw him before.”
“No one ever does,” Membrillo said, “but thank you for your time.” He turned back to the body and started feeling among the leaves and flowers.
I was glad I no longer had a gag reflex. “What exactly are you looking for?” I asked.
He glanced back at me. “I’m digging for a treasure part of me does not wish to find. When I uncover that sad doubloon that tells me who this poor soul is, my reward is not riches, but the chance to make a phone call and break someone’s heart.”
“Doesn’t anyone ever come to claim them?” I asked. Membrillo shook his head. “What a sad story.”
“Death makes sad stories of us all.”
I wondered if he was always this cheerful. “How do you do this job?”
“Without becoming jaded, you mean? My secret to happiness is that I have the heart of a twelve-year-old boy.” He pointed toward a counter. “I keep it over here in a jar. Would you like to see it?”
“No!”
“Sorry.” He sounded amused rather than sorry. “Old coroner joke.”
“Well,” I said, turning to go, “don’t let me bother you.”
“Always nice to have visitors,” Membrillo said as I left.
I found Lola out in the lobby. She was sitting hunched over with her face in her hands. I patted her shoulders. “You OK?”