Dominic smiled. “It’s Flaco, isn’t it?” He looked at the three of them, one after another, asking for confirmation.
“His name is now Miguel,” said doña Carolita. “We have just given him a Christian name. It fits, don’t you think?”
Dominic nodded, still smiling. “It sure does. It’s a great name. Pleased to meet you, Miguel.” He held out his hand which Miguel took solemnly in his and shook.
Dominic sat beside Elena. Doña Carolita served café con leche, placed a plate of pan dulce in the center of the table and then excused herself to dress.
Miguel dunked pan dulce in his coffee, standing in place beside Dominic.
“How is it that Miguel comes here?” Dominic asked, hunched over his coffee. He seemed more relaxed in the cozy kitchen.
“The short explanation,” Elena said, “is that Miguel knew I was looking for him, and he came here because he needs help. He saw the murder.” She paused for dramatic effect. “He saw the murder,” she said again. “A tall man, the murderer, is looking for Miguel, and he’s afraid to go to the police. I said I’d accompany him. And inspector Oliveros and I have some things to discuss.”
Dominic peered at Miguel. “What man?”
Since Miguel was busy with dunking, Elena related what Miguel had told her about the men arguing and the murder.
Dominic whistled through his teeth. “This is a breakthrough. Have you told anyone about these men, Miguel?”
“No, señor. I don’t want to go to the police. They will think I killed the man. I don’t want them to put me in jail.”
“Did you kill him?” asked Dominic.
“No, señor.”
“Did you help those men?”
“No, señor.”
“Then there is nothing to worry about. Do you want me to go with you?”
The boy nodded. “Sí, señor.”
Dominic addressed Elena. “I’ll go along. The inspector might want to push blame in the child’s direction, too. We’ll confront Oliveros with what he said about you.”
“Thanks,” said Elena. “I’ll take you up on it.”
Elena turned to Miguel. “Shall we go? Let’s see if we can catch the inspector early.”
The boy finished his coffee and managed a smile. He now had two friends he could count on, three with doña Carolita.
They walked to the police station, deciding to go before Dominic opened the clinic. The police station was little more than a large open area in a cinder block building. A uniformed officer stood outside, smoking.
“Is the inspector here?” Dominic said.
“He has not arrived but should be here soon.”
Elena knew that soon in a Latin country could stretch into hours. She was reluctant to commit to a long wait since she had to call Dr. Roulade and get her opinion on what to do.
“Dominic, the wait might be awhile, and I need to call my boss. Is there any chance you could take Miguel with you to the clinic while I return to the house to make my call?”
“Not a problem. Miguel, would you like to help me?”
“Sí, señor.” He had taken refuge behind Dominic. But the officer didn’t seem to be interested in the boy.
Dominic said to the officer, “Would you let the inspector know Dominic and Elena came by to see him? He can find us at the medical clinic. We have important information for him. Please tell him.”
The officer nodded. “Sí, cómo no?”
Elena hurried back to her room, brought up Skype, and dialed into her department at the university. An assistant answered.
“Is Dr. Roulade in? This is Elena Palomares calling from Honduras.”
“Hello, Elena. It’s Linda. Dr. Roulade is traveling. She’s gone with some of the other professors to the dig in Northern Peru. I’m not sure when she expects to be back. Where they are communication will be difficult, although she said she would try to check email when she can find an internet café.”
Rats. She remembered Dr. Roulade mentioned such a trip was in the offing but she didn’t think it would be so soon.
“Who’s taking her place? I need some guidance. We’ve got an unfortunate situation here. There’s been a murder at the archaeological site, and I’m caught in a bit of politics. The director of the project has told me to leave, but since I found the body, I’m part of the investigation. I don’t know what kind of a flap this is going to cause.”
Linda said, “No one’s in charge with Dr. Roulade gone, and classes out for the summer. It sounds like you might want to get out of there. Take a break. You can always go back.”
“True. No one thought anything like this would happen. I expected to spend a quiet summer studying hieroglyphics.” She hesitated. “There’s one problem. I’m a suspect.”
“You? How absurd. Will they allow you to leave the country?”
“I don’t know. Can you track down some legal advice for me? I don’t relish getting caught in a foreign legal system.”
“You bet, Elena. I’ll see who’s around that can help. What’s the number where we can reach you?”
Elena gave her the information and closed the connection.
Now to find inspector Oliveros and have a serious talk with him.
Seven
“Estúpido!” said the thief called Emilio. “Why didn’t you kill the kid when you had the chance? Since you killed Jaime, you might as well have added the kid to the list. Estúpido!” He growled and slammed his dirty baseball cap onto the ground.
“Look, boss, the good thing is Jaime is out of the picture. He didn’t come straight on all the loot he was filching and where he was hiding it, so we’re even in my book.”
“We’re thieves, you idiot, not murderers. We smuggle antiquities. Easy to get loot, easy to sell to nice rich people in New York and Hong Kong and Paris. Now you’ve screwed it all up. Don’t you understand? This will make us pariahs.”
“What’s a pariah?” asked Jorge, who stood arms crossed, glaring at his boss.
“Estúpido! It means no one will do business with us now. Do you understand? We’re untouchables.”
“Ay,” said Jorge. “It’s all the fault of that bitch they have working on the Staircase. If she hadn’t started noticing things, snooping around, if they hadn’t brought her in, we’d still be moving stuff out of there. We could have gotten lots more carved stones without anybody noticing.”
Emilio paced back and forth in the sweltering heat of the shed. Sun blazed through cracks in the corrugated walls and roof.
“Boss, why don’t you sit down? You’re making me nervous. It ain’t that bad. We just lay low for a little while till this blows over.”
“Blows over?” He whirled on Jorge and shoved his fist into his chest. “This ain’t gonna blow over. You don’t seem to understand. There’s a dead body involved. A dead body that could be traced back to us.” He muttered more obscenities. “I don’t know why I put up with imbeciles like you.”
“Stop using them big words I don’t understand. If I’m estúpido, then I’m estúpido. Call me something I understand.”
“That’s the problem with you, Jorge. Your head is so thick it would bust a brick wall.” He held up his hands two feet apart to show how wide the wall would be.
“Well, what do you want me to do? Go back and take care of the kid?”