“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Laura said, her hands on hips in tough pose.
“I guess I’ll see if I can’t find the sofa and take myself a nap.” He looked at a pile of clothes on the sofa. “Where do you want me to put these things, Maggie?”
“Just dump them on the floor. I don’t care.” With that, she and the child were gone into the kitchen.
Dinner was special. Maggie prepared ham, black-eyed peas, wild rice, a spinach salad and a sweet potato pie. Lewis sat back and put his hands on his belly.
“Ladies, that was the best meal I think I’ve eaten.”
“It wasn’t bad,” Maggie said.
Lewis got up and started clearing the table. While Laura ate a second small wedge of pie, Maggie carried some things into the kitchen after Lewis.
“That was really something, Maggie. Thank you.”
She stood close to him. “I love you, Lewis.”
He smiled. “I love you, too. I have for some time. I don’t know what’s taken me so long to realize it.”
“Age,” Maggie said. “It’s made you stupid.”
Lewis kissed her.
“Is it going to be dangerous tonight?” she asked.
“No, not at all. I think Salvador and Ignacio Nunez are going to take me to their morada. I’m going to look at the body and I’m going to leave. That’s all.”
“I’m scared.”
Lewis felt badly for worrying her. He thought that if he had held off on this involvement of theirs, this stuff would be easier. But he had denied this woman and his feelings for as long as he could and perhaps it was this business that allowed him to take the step.
“I’ll be back before you know it.”
Chapter Fifteen
Lewis drove into town wondering what he would see and what might happen. He turned into the lot of the Best Western and saw that the blue Camaro was not there. He found Ernesto in the office.
“Did Taylor say anything about when he’d be back?” Lewis asked before he was completely through the door.
Ernesto looked him over closely, then swung his feet off the desk to the floor and stood. “Checked out.”
“When?”
“Couple of hours ago.” Ernesto turned to the key boxes and grabbed an envelope. “He told me to give you this.”
Lewis opened it and unfolded the note. It said:
Dear Mr. Mason,
Please don’t get me wrong. I really appreciate how much you must have cared about my grandfather. I can’t do this stuff. I’m just a truck driver. I’m going back to Seattle. The sheriff talked to me. I believe he died in the river. He was an old man. I’m sorry you lost a friend. I’ve got to get back to my job. I hope you find what you ‘re looking for.
Joseph Taylor
“Everything okay?” Ernesto asked.
Lewis balled up the note and stuffed it into his jacket pocket. “Yeah, fine.” He waved goodbye to Ernesto and stepped out into the night air. He looked up and tried to make out a couple of constellations. He found Cassiopeia low in the sky, then just the cap of Cepheus.
He got into his car. He looked back into the office as he waited to pull into the street and saw Ernesto using the phone. He drove downtown and parked in front of De la Peña’s Restaurant, a few blocks from Salvador’s shop. He walked past the ice cream parlor, crossed the street and went down the alley to the back of the House of Boots. Ignacio and Salvador were waiting beside a pickup.
“I thought somebody was coming with you,” Ignacio said.
“No, it’s just me.”
Lewis didn’t think these men would hurt him, but he was glad he’d planted the suspicion that someone else knew with whom he was taking a ride. Salvador looked more nervous than the younger man.
“Turn around,” Ignacio said, letting a scarf fall to its length from his hand. When Lewis complied, he wrapped it over his eyes and pulled it snug, as if to state again his disdain. Ignacio was a good five inches shorter than Lewis and so tied the scarf awkwardly low on the back of his head.
“Can’t see a thing,” Lewis said.
“Let’s go,” Salvador said.
Lewis was helped into the truck. He sat between the two men. Lewis wondered if anyone would see and find interesting the sight of a blindfolded, black man seated between two Mexicans in a pickup in the middle of the night.
Lewis caught himself instinctively trying to follow their route by noting turns and speed, but he stopped because he couldn’t keep it up and because he didn’t want to know where they were taking him. It was their secret and he didn’t want it. They made many turns, he thought, to confuse him. Once the sounds of other traffic were gone, the path was direct.
They ended up on a washboard road. Dust floated freely through the cab. The truck skidded to a stop and Lewis was helped out. Someone was singing somewhere. Salvador talked to him, a hand on his shoulder.
“Lewis, this is a velorio de difunto and it is very important to us.”
Lewis nodded, still blindfolded.
“Many of our members will not like it that you are here. Many of them will not notice. You will see things that are sacred, private. Please see as little as you can.” The old man sighed. “Promise me you say nothing to anyone.”
“You have my word, Salvador. I have no wish to compromise you or your beliefs.”
Ignacio pulled the scarf away from Lewis’ head.
Lewis tried to aid his eyes in adjusting by opening them wide. He was standing in front of a one level adobe. A flame torch burned on either side of the doorway. There were several trucks and cars parked around in no particular order. The singing was coming from inside the building.
“Do not look at anyone’s eyes, especially the rezador,” Ignacio said.
Lewis didn’t understand.
“The singer.”
Lewis nodded, frightened by Ignacio’s hostility.
“It would be best if you tried not to look at anyone at all,” Salvador said.
“Okay.”
Salvador and Ignacio looked at each other. Then Salvador led the way. Ignacio took Lewis’ arm. The room was lighted by more torches and the smell of incense was thick and sickly sweet. Figures moved about and Lewis tried not to see them or recognize them. He looked at Salvador’s back. He glanced ahead and saw the coffin, a simple, lidless box, but he couldn’t see the contents. The rezador was to the left of the coffin. Lewis caught his eyes drifting toward the chanting and pulled them back. Ignacio must have also detected the slip for he squeezed Lewis’ arm. Then, Lewis couldn’t help seeing the procession. Men marched in a wide circle around the body beating themselves. The beating kept time with the chanting. Most men used leather, one a chain. In the glow of the firelight Lewis saw two lacerated and bloody backs. The blood and the incense and strange light made him feel ill, dizzy and then he was standing over Martin.
Salvador and Ignacio stood on either side of him and turned away from what he was doing. Lewis took a deep breath and this turned out to be a mistake for he took in a smell of death. He tasted bile and swallowed. The body was bloated, but Lewis thought not badly and then he wondered to what he was comparing it. The face was strange and lifeless, but it was Martin’s and he tried to avoid it. The body was naked and for this Lewis was thankful, for he did not have to touch it. On the dead man’s legs were several places where the flesh was raw, like burns, but the water had done things. Maybe he had even been nibbled at by fish.
“Let’s go,” Ignacio said.
Lewis was ready. “I’ll close my eyes and you lead me out,” he said.
Salvador and Ignacio took either arm and walked him through the sick-sweet cloud and outside. Lewis felt faint when the clear air hit him, but the men held him up.