Chapter Fourteen
“I think I’m going to go back to asking random people on the street,” Josie said, idly shuffling a pack of cards against the table back at La Cocina de Maya in Arelanes. Somehow the clear skies of earlier were long gone. A dark cloud permanently hung over Arenales like it didn’t deserve the light. “I don’t know what was going through my head, really. Like what did I think was going to happen? I would come here, ask a couple of questions and somehow manage to find someone the police couldn’t find, with all their resources. My parents were right. What a joke.” She tossed the pack of cards to one side and slumped on the table.
“Back at the hotel. You said that coming to the last place she was would make you feel closer to her. Has it?”
“You know what, it kind of has. You know how twins say stuff like, ‘oh I feel the other one’s pain,’ and stuff like that. I kind of get it. It’s like a feeling. A sixth sense, maybe. I know that sounds ridiculous.”
“Well, I wouldn’t know. Only child here.”
“You know what they say about only children, right?” Josie’s smile re-emerged.
“No, enlighten me.”
“That they’re weirdos.”
“You got me.” He raised his hands in submission before taking a sip of beer—cold this time. “Today was weird, don’t you think? My brain was like, you are so going to be dumped in the ocean, sleeping with the fishes. Don’t know why. I think you’ve made me paranoid.”
“I had the weirdest dream last night. Tanya was in it. I was wandering through the desert and I swear I could see her in the distance. So I hurried, and hurried, but I could never catch up to her.”
“Strange. Maybe it was a premonition.”
“I doubt it, I then found a Bugatti Chiron and started cruising through the desert.”
“Nice.” Michael considered asking Eduardo for another drink, but got the feeling Josie was keen to go. “Shall we go interrogate some people then? You can be bad cop, I’ll play good cop.”
“Why do I have to be bad cop?”
“You’re better at it then me. I could just see you water-boarding someone.”
“Holy shit. When did we get on to torture?”
“Come on. We should go ask around before it gets dark.” He put some money on the table and they walked out together.
The clouds swirled in the air, coming together into one dark formation as they walked in the opposite direction to the hotel. As always, it was extremely quiet. Quiet enough to make them feel conspicuous. The first person they came across was a local woman hanging up washing out the front of her house. Josie honed straight in like a homing missile, and he was impressed with her confidence to approach anyone. Again Michael stood on the sidelines with nothing to offer. At first the lady looked disinterested, concentrating on her washing, but as Josie continued, the woman put her basket down and got closer. As they stood face-to-face, Michael started paying attention to what they were saying as the woman switched from Spanish to English.
“There is nothing for you here. You should go back home. Don’t think they don’t know you’re here. They know. They know everything that goes on here.”
Michael came up alongside Josie as a man came out of the house carrying a child in his arms, looking them up and down.
“Maria. Vuelve adentro.”
As the lady went to go back inside Josie raised her voice. “Who knows? Who’s they? Quien?” The woman didn’t turn back, and the man looked up and down the street before closing the door behind her.
“Oh my god Michael. Did you hear that? I can’t believe it. I’m on to something.”
He didn’t know what to think. All he knew was his stomach felt like a lead weight. “It could mean anything. Maybe they just don’t want you stirring up trouble. Didn’t that scare you?”
“Scare me? This is what I’ve been waiting for, I’m fucking ecstatic.”
“Okay. Well, where do we go from here?”
“Let’s carry on this way.” She continued down the path, looking back, waiting for him to follow her. Her hair swayed behind her as the wind picked up.
As they got to the outskirts of the village, they stopped at the dirt road lined with dogwood trees, to decide which direction to turn. The trees seemed more full of life than the village, birdsong, the chirps of insects, reminding Michael of the particularly itchy mosquito bite on the side of his arm.
“There’s not much up here. We should probably turn back.”
“It won’t be dark for a couple of hours, might as well make the most of it.”
“If we go left, then do a loop, maybe. I can’t see anything up there,” she said, squinting as she looked up the path to their right. Stony dirt scraped under their shoes as they clung close to the side of the road. A break in the clouds revealed their shadows, which stretched down the road. There was no pavement, not that there were any cars around to make way for. Most of the dilapidated houses looked abandoned, overgrown with plants, graffiti on the walls. Gray concrete against the natural browns and greens. A small store sat, abandoned on the corner on their left-hand side, sun-bleached red paint now orange, bars on the window and a faded Cristal logo on the wall. At the end of the next block, two local teenagers sat slumped against the wall.
“Hola,” she said as she approached them. If anyone was going to talk to them, it would be these two. Flopped out on the pavement, grinning like idiots. Michael tried to recall if he was even carefree at that age. As they turned to look at Josie, they raised themselves up from
