I could see the hand of Anakena everywhere now. Was it Anakena who had suggested the idea of the group in the first place? Kent had said that there was no good idea that Jasper wasn't prepared to steal. Had the killer suggested the Internet group, then later suggested the congress? Was that person close to Jasper, trusted by him, whispering ideas in his ear like some scheming Iago? Did Anakena know Jasper so well as to be able to predict what he would do? His overweening vanity? His blindness to anything that didn't further his theories, enhance his reputation?
Physically, Anakena had to be strong enough to drag unconscious bodies to their resting places—Dave to the tomb, Jasper to Ahu Akivi, or at least to some kind of vehicle that would carry him there. Did that mean it had to be a man? Could I have dragged the rather rotund Dave Maddox from his room, say, to Tepano's tomb? I thought it would be difficult, but possible if sufficiently motivated.
Anakena had to be bold, as well, to carry out these murders on the grounds of a hotel. I also knew, thanks to Eroria, that Anakena was very probably left-handed.
As for the vehicle, assuming that Jasper hadn't gone to Ahu Akivi in the middle of the night of his own volition, almost all of us at some point had rented a car of some sort. Enrique, I know, had done so and squired Yvonne around the island. Lewis and his wife Judith had, too. Jasper had died before the keys had been taken away from all of us.
Who was left from that fateful time in 1975? I went back to the Internet cafe and checked on Professor Pedersen. I couldn't find him listed on the college faculty, but I did find a scholarship in his name—a memorial scholarship. Professor Pedersen, who had been at least fifty, I'd say, in 1975, was now deceased. He'd been dead for five years.
Flora's mother, however, could be very much alive. She had been considerably younger, early thirties, I'd say, at that time. She would have remarried, perhaps, and changed her name, and she would now be in her sixties. I asked Andrew if he thought he would recognize her thirty years later, and he said he thought he would, and he didn't think she was there. Even so, it was a possibility. Yvonne was way too young, as was Kent. Brenda Butters was the right age, and Susie Scace was close. Edwina Rasmussen certainly had a bitterness of outlook that might be attributed to personal tragedy, but she was too short to be Flora's mother unless the camera had done something strange to perspective. Brenda and Susie, however, were about the right height. Susie was also blonde, but when I really looked at the photograph, I couldn't see any resemblance. On the fringes of the group there was Judith, doctor and wife of the muffin. She was about the right age, seemed very strong to me, the right height, and while not a member of the Internet group, she was related by marriage. If Anakena was not a second alias, then she was a definite possibility. Were any of them left-handed? I tried to picture them eating, but I couldn't recall.
I picked up my email, the usual spam, the daily question from Clive and one from Rob. Something has been bothering me about those photos of the ground where that fellow Dave was found, the message said. / had them enlarged and a couple of us have had a look. I think I told you that horseshoes are unique, made to fit an individual horse. You can see quite distinct shapes and also maybe markings. All of the prints that I can see well enough to comment on are made by exactly the same horseshoe. There's a little notch on the right side of it. If you look at your photos, you'll see. I don't think you're looking for a horse. I think you're looking for a horseshoe. Be careful.
What on earth did that mean? That somebody, a left-handed somebody at that, had a horseshoe and was making marks on the ground around Dave to make it look as if a horse had trampled him? Wasn't that a little bizarre? It had been very effective, though, now that I thought about it. Fuentes had maintained for days that Dave had had an unfortunate encounter with a horse. The appearance of an accident would also have the benefit of not overly alarming the next victims. After Jasper's death, the implications must have been clear to the others, but by then it didn't matter. We were all here for the duration. Horseshoes and tattoos: Anakena possessed a creative mind as well.
How important was the San Pedro rongorongo tablet to the plan? It tied the person, whoever it was, to that summer of 1975, most certainly. The staff of the museum in town, who should know these things, said they had never heard of the San Pedro tablet. Therefore, one of the people associated with its original find most likely had had it in their possession all this time until it was planted for Jasper to find. It was too much to expect that it had turned up in the window of an antique shop like mine, somewhere where Anakena just happened to be wandering by.
Seth and Andrew considered it to be a sign, a shot across the bow, as it were. Was it a necessary one? It was, insofar as it was instrumental in luring all of them to Rapa Nui. It was to release it on an unsuspecting world that the Moai Congress had been set up. If Anakena was trying to convince Jasper to hold the conference, then the tablet would be an incentive. Who was in Chile when the tablet was discovered? Kent Clarke Films, Albert Morris, and Edwina Rasmussen. That was unless the tablet was a mere frill.
Who was doing this? Who was this frighteningly intelligent, endlessly patient and creative person carrying out this plan? I emailed the college and asked if they might have an email address for the former Mrs. Pedersen. I didn't expect a quick response, but at this point, anything was worth a try.
Who else had been devastated by the death of little Flora? Felipe Tepano, it seemed to me, most certainly qualified. Had he predicted the death on the mound of dirt in order to divert suspicion from himself? Surely that wouldn't work. Was it rather not more likely to point to him as a potential killer? Was it a coincidence, then? Did he really foresee a death? And if he wasn't involved in the deaths, did Anakena view the prediction as a serendipitous event that added an element of almost supernatural intensity to what was to follow? If so, then Anakena was adaptable and responsive to a changing situation.
I drove to the Tepano's guest house. Felipe wasn't at home, but Maria was. "Thank you for the photograph," I said. "I now know about Flora Pedersen."
"That didn't take long," she said. "You won't tell my husband, will you?"
"No, and I've brought it back. I made a copy."
"How did you find out?"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that," I said. "I just did."
"There aren't many people anymore that could tell you," she said. I hoped I hadn't betrayed Andrew's confidence.
"She was the loveliest little girl, our Tavake," she said. "So pale and pretty, and very sweet. We all adored her. All of the people working at the dig site helped to look for her, all of us. We searched into the night. I remember the Pedersen's sat on the beach all night and well into the next day. Everyone's first thought was that she had drowned, of course. I guess after a while they thought the tide might bring her body in. But Felipe had one of his visions, you know. He said she was in a cave. We all searched the caves, but we missed her. She had climbed into a very small lava tube and perhaps had fallen. She may have been unconscious, because we called and called her name."
"Did you ever hear from the Pedersens after that?" I said.
"Sometimes," she said. "At first there was a letter maybe once a year, but then they stopped. One of the archaeologists working here later told us that the Pedersens had divorced and that she had moved away. She never recovered, though. She was—I'm not sure how to put this—she was very nervous all the time. She was not strong, you know, in the way she dealt with things that happened. I remember a dish was stolen from our house, and there was much crying. It was a dish and nothing special. She seemed to feel everything much more deeply than the rest of us. She was also much younger than her husband. They seemed to be in love. I think she was not strong enough, in her head, I mean, to deal with what happened to little Tavake."