Curses!

'I can,” Julie said. “The woman is wacko, if you haven't noticed. But let's be fair. As long as we're talking about eccentric characters, what about Worthy?'

'What about him?” Gideon asked.

'Well, what's he doing here anyway? Does he strike you as the type who thinks sweating over a spade in the jungle is fun?'

'He's working on that adventure series about Mayan kids, remember?'

'Oh, that's right.'

'Not to mention,” said Abe, “that this dig is all-expenses-paid. Everything's on Horizon. People will go to the most miserable places in the world if it's free. Not that this is so miserable.'

'That's certainly true,” Julie said with a smile. “All right, what about Harvey, then? Aside from its being free, what draws him here? He's some kind of computer specialist now, isn't he?'

'He has ulcers,” Gideon said. “A nice, stress-free vacation in the jungle was supposed to be good for them.'

'Not only that,” Abe said, “but once anthropology gets into your blood it stays there. And don't forget,” he added with a nod in Gideon's direction, “Harvey learned his anthropology from a wonderful teacher. So who does that leave, as long as we're being fair and casting aspersions equally?'

'It leaves Preston,” Gideon said, “but Preston's presence doesn't need a lot of explanation.'

Abe nodded. “Withersoever Emma goes, Preston goes too.'

'It also leaves Leo,” Julie said slowly. “Now just what is a guy like Leo doing here? What was he doing here last time?'

'Leo,” said Gideon. “Hm.'

'Hm,” Abe said “Leo.'

They walked on silently for a minute or two, while inquisitive birds zipped and swooped around them. From a pendulum-tailed, cinnamon-colored bird in a branch above them came a shy, liquid ch-ch- chwipp. At their feet another iguana shuffled resignedly out of their way, muttering.

Abe was muttering too. “Whoever did it, I can't make it add up. All right, Emma, or Ard, or someone, wants it to look like the curse is coming true. Fine. But where does the threatening note come into it? Tell me what the point of that's supposed to be.'

'What's the point of the whole thing supposed to be?” Gideon asked. “Why try to kill me if it was only my soul that was supposed to get pounded?'

'Pummeled,” Julie said. “And why use something like a pipe wrench if you're trying to make it look like a Mayan curse? It's so, so...'

'Anachronistic,” Abe supplied. “And what about the digging? What's that all about?'

There were plenty of questions. There weren't many answers. They were already on the hotel grounds when Julie thought of one more. “What's next?'

'Next?” Abe echoed, deep in his own reflections again.

'In the curse. Setting our entrails on fire was third. What's fourth.'

'Something about Xecotcavach,” Gideon said grimly. “I don't think it was very pleasant.'

It wasn't. “Fourth,” said the copy they examined in Abe's bungalow, “the one called Xecotcavach will pierce their skulls so that their brains spill onto the earth.'

They stood looking at it for a long time. Julie moved closer to Gideon, her shoulder warm against his chest.

'I think,” Abe said, “I'll give Marmolejo that call right now.'

* * * *

Just before dinner Gideon went down to the hotel gift shop to buy some stamps. Leo was there, browsing among the postcards.

'Leo,” Gideon said forthrightly, “let me ask you something. What are you doing here?'

The question seemed to startle him. He straightened up from the revolving postcard rack. “Doing here?'

'At the dig. Why do you come to these things? To tell the truth, I can't say you really strike me as someone who's that interested in Mayan archaeology.'

'Mayan archaeology?” Leo's happy honk of a laugh bounced off the walls of the little shop. “Who gives a shit about Mayan archaeology? I come to these things, because it's a great way to meet buyers, people who can afford to buy what I sell. What else?'

Gideon blinked. “And do they?'

'You better believe it. Harvey's gonna fly down to the Salton Sea with me next month to have a look-see. Hell, I've been on cruises down the Amazon, I've been turtle-watching in the Galapagos, I've been on a dig in Turkey, and I've never yet failed to make a sale. And it's all tax-deductible. You can't beat it. That's why I come.

'Oh,” Gideon said. “Well, I just wondered.'

* * * *

He lay on his back watching the ceiling fan revolve slowly in the moonglow. Julie was on her side, facing away from him, her warm, naked bottom against his hip. She was breathing steadily and quietly, but he knew she wasn't