"I'm counting on it," he said. "Tell him just to come into the cave and speak loudly. He won't see me, but I will hear him and recognize his voice."
"I can pretty well see everything here," I said, dubiously. The cave was high enough to stand up in and went back fairly far. But there were no other entrances that I could see.
"Long and honorable tradition," Fairweather said, enigmatically. "Rory will understand."
I started to clamber out of the cave. "Lara," he said. "I don't know why you are helping a stranger, but thank you."
"That's okay," I said.
"You haven't asked me if I killed Jasper Robinson," he said.
"No," I replied. "It never occurred to me." He gave me a halfhearted smile and a wave, and I was on my way again.
"Rory will be here soon," I repeated. But it didn't quite turn out that way.
I had a tough time finding the place where Rory and Christian were working, but I finally did. They were a little surprised to see who got out of the truck and positively flabbergasted when I told them about Jasper.
"Murdered!" Rory said. "The guy was positively begging for it, but still!"
"Where are your students?" I said. I wanted as few witnesses to my presence there as possible.
"They've taken the van back to town," Rory said. "We're pretty much finished here for the day."
Then I told them about Gordon, the carabineros at his home, and our flight out the back door to the cave. "Gordon needs some time," I said. "When he doesn't show up at home, the carabineros will be here."
Christian had the hood up within seconds, rummaged around, and then tossed something into the grass. "Too bad the truck has broken down," he said, leaving the hood up. "Gordon went into town to get a part."
Rory smiled slightly. "Parts usually have to come in on the next plane," he said. "I guess it will be a while before Gordon is able to get his vehicle repaired."
"Right," I said. "But how did he get to town?" Nothing like having your story straight before the carabineros arrive.
"I took him," Christian said.
"What about the students? Would they have seen Gordon leave?"
"No," Rory said. "It was getting too hot, so we sent them home early. It was just the three of us up here."
"We should be okay," I said. "I am kind of hoping for a lift to town myself."
"No problem," Christian said, wheeling a motorbike out from behind a rock. "Hop on."
"You rode that thing on these trails?" I said. The idea struck terror into my heart. I was more afraid of going back to Hanga Roa on the back of this thing than I was of Pablo Fuentes.
"Make sure the carabineros don't see Lara with you," Rory said. "It's the least we can do for her."
"Gordon thinks the carabineros won't find him in the cave, but I'm not convinced," I said.
"They won't," Christian said.
"Not a chance," Rory said.
"You all seem so sure," I said.
"Do you know about the kio?”Christian said. I shook my head. "That's the rapanui name for the people who hid out in caves called kionga during the clan wars and also when the slave ships showed up on the horizon. Whole extended families had places to hide until someone came and told them it was safe to come out. Believe me, they will not find Gordon until he wants to be found."
"I think you better get going," Rory said. "There's a fair amount of dust over there. I'd take the long way back if I were you."
Christian had the motorcycle revved up and I was behind him holding on for dear life in seconds, and we headed off in the opposite direction in our own cloud of dust.
"You'll be okay?" was the last thing Christian said to Rory as we pulled away.
"Liar is my middle name," Rory said grimly. "Get out of here."
We were halfway back to Hanga Roa when I realized there was something we'd forgotten. I pressed my mouth to Christian's ear. "Who came up to Poike to tell Gordon to go home?" I said.
Christian slowed down slightly. "I'll take care of it," he said.
But it was too late, and a series of disasters began to un fold. The young man Victoria had sent to get Gordon was Gabriela's brother, Santiago. When questioned by the carabineros, Santiago was very forthcoming, assuming, quite naturally, that this had something to do with whatever had befallen his sister. He told them he'd ridden his motorbike up to Poike to get his uncle and that Gordon had put the bike in the back of the truck and driven him home. Santiago, perhaps thinking he was providing his Uncle Gordon with an alibi, was very specific about the time all this had happened and said that both Rory and Christian could also attest to these facts.
Rory, who'd undoubtedly lied through his teeth as he'd promised, was caught out in the lie, as was Christian. Both were brought in for questioning and then placed under house arrest. By evening, there was also an armed guard front and back at Victoria's home, she too having been caught in the same lie.
The only person whose role in all of this the carabineros did not seem to know about was a certain shopkeeper from Toronto. Fuentes, who was not stupid, was bound to wonder who had taken Gordon's truck—now that everyone knew it had at one point been in Hanga Roa—back to the dig site in Poike. I was almost certain neither Rory nor Christian would reveal my part in it, but I was a little concerned they might both claim to have been the person who drove it back, thereby giving Fuentes cause to wonder if someone else was involved. But no one came calling that first day, so I decided I was safe for the time being.
It took me an hour or two to realize that meant it was up to me to get food and water to Gordon. It was a burden that weighed heavily on me. Just looking around would tell you there was no foraging for berries on this island. If you couldn't eat grass or rocks you'd pretty much be out of luck. As for fresh water, the only source of it I'd seen were the lakes in the craters, and I had trouble imagining climbing down to one of those in the dark. I wasn't too worried about the food. Gordon was not fat by any means, but he was a big man, and he wasn't going to starve overnight. Water was more of a problem. I'd given him my liter bottle, but I'd already had some of it. I couldn't exactly remember how much. That meant I'd have to get up there soon.
No problem, I thought. I'll rent a vehicle, buy some food and water, and be on my way when no one is looking. I knew I wouldn't stand a chance of finding the cave in the dark, and it made more sense for me to be out during daylight hours anyway.
What I hadn't counted on was the San Pedro rongorongo tablet, or more specifically, its absence. The tablet was not immediately listed as stolen, just missing, given that its owner was permanently unable to tell anyone where he'd put it. The dancers who'd wheeled it on to the stage had not wheeled it off. That was left to Jasper, who had then had his fifteen minutes of glee after the dancers left the stage, when he asked Fairweather and Rory up to see it, and then stood by while everyone else oohed and aahed over it. What happened after that was a little vague. The glass case it had been housed in and the trolley it had rested upon both belonged to the hotel, and hotel staff had found both, empty, in the meeting room after everyone else had gone. They assumed that someone had taken care of the tablet. Undoubtedly someone had. The question was, who would that someone have been?
The carabineros, once advised of the evening's proceedings, had taken a good look through Jasper's room and declared definitively it wasn't there. The hotel manager said no arrangements had been made with the hotel for its safekeeping, and the night it had been unveiled was the first he ever heard of it.
Inquiries at the Sebastian Englert Museum in Hanga Roa as to whether or not the tablet had been deposited with them met a similar response, with the additional comment that they had never heard of the San Pedro tablet at all.