Roberto walked along the side of the tavern toward the cuartel. He couldn't believe the people in this pueblo. All they ever talk about are cows and farms, and farms and cows. Nothing interesting, and they were so, so infuriating. He couldn't put his finger on why, but they, oh!,they just made his blood boil. He knew they were all laughing at him, talking about him behind his back. Saying what a coward he was and how he let a servant girl stand up to him. They thought he was weak. That must be it. Weak! How dare they! And it was all her fault. That girl. Anna.
He stepped off of the long porch onto the dirt of the street. A flash of movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He glanced down the alley and saw Anna wringing out one of his sister's shirtwaists. Looking about to see that no one was watching he ducked down the alley into the darkness between the two buildings. Yes, there was his problem. That girl just didn't know her
place. Roberto watched as she put down the wringing sticks, wrung the blouse
by hand and walked to the line. He leaned back a bit so that she wouldn't see him standing so near. Anna reached up to the line and threw the top of the blouse over. She reached into her pocket and withdrew two pins to secure it in place. Anna held the blouse with her left hand and reached up to pin it with the right. Roberto's eyes were drawn to the curve of her breast and the arch of her hips. Disgusting. She's a harlot. Satan himself has possessed her, he thought. Yet his eyes lingered, he could not look away. He could bear it no more.
Roberto stepped into the light. Anna jumped with a start. She had not noticed anyone in the shadows. "Si, Roberto?" she asked, thinking he had an assignment for her. Roberto continued to walk deliberately toward her. He stopped in front of her. She looked up at him, waiting for his response. How dare she raise her eyes to me! Roberto exclaimed to himself.
Then he snapped. He raised his arm and struck his palm across her face. The girl gasped at the sting and staggered back a few feet, her eyes wide with fear. Gathering her wits, Anna began to move toward the kitchen, but Roberto lunged toward her, quickly closing the distance. He grabbed her around the waist and arms and drug her back toward the alley. Anna inhaled deeply to scream, but Roberto freed her arms and clapped his hand over her mouth. The girl struggled fiercely and tried to pry his hand away from her mouth with her fingers.
Roberto
held her off the ground, so she kicked at him with her hanging feet. He drug her into the alley. In desperation, Anna bit him. Roberto grunted and threw her against the wall. The impact stunned the girl and the stucco abraded the back of her neck. The insane man pinned her against the wall. The sheer weight of his body held her tight; his left hand covered her mouth and nose, it was hard for her to breathe. With his right hand he gripped her shoulder.
"Silencio!" he hissed. His eyes were wild, his black hair mussed, and his breath stank of alcohol and onions. Anna felt his rough hand run down the curve of her neck. Roberto shifted; the weight suddenly lessened and she slid quickly to her right, away from him. Roberto attempted to grasp her again, but his fingers only tore the shoulder of her dress and his nails dug into her skin. The girl cried out in
fear and pain and struggled toward the street. Roberto flung her out onto the road, and she fell in the dirt. He stalked forward, his pistol drawn and ready. He was breathing heavily, but his arm held the weapon securely.
A waitress on the tavern porch screamed at the sight. Anna lay in the dust before Roberto as he pointed the gun at her. The girl did not dare move. The air seemed to shimmer in place as she waited for the pistol to fire.
"Roberto!" Matthew yelled from across the street. Roberto looked up, his arm followed. It took only a split second for the thought to register in the men's minds that one of them was going to die.
Shots fired almost simultaneously.
Women throughout the market screamed and grabbed their children. Anna saw Roberto fall back, a red spider growing on his shoulder. Rising up on her arms, she saw the de la Vegas, Felipe, and Miguel run out from the tavern. Roberto reached for the porch railing gasping and holding his chest. Two men helped him into a chair.
Anna stumbled to her feet to go to Matthew. Looking for her brother she brushed past Victoria.
"Anna—" Victoria warned, but to no avail.
"Matthew!" Anna screamed and fell to her knees beside where his body lay. "Matthew! Matthew!" she continued to call his name. Lifting his head into her lap, Anna stroked his hair and kissed his forehead, her tears washing the dirt from his skin. "Please, God, no!" she sobbed.
Diego knelt across from her and reached his hand to Matthew's neck to
feel for a pulse.
"Anna…"
"No! Matthew, no!"
"…I'm sorry." He said.
The girl was racked with sobs as she leaned over the body of her brother. Diego sat back on his heal and looked up at his father, Felipe, and Miguel. Others were gathering around to see what had happened. Anna did not hear their whispers or the shuffling feet. She only saw Matthew, her dear sweet Matthew, lying so still and silent. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think, she couldn't move. She
didn't even want to be-- not without him.
Lancers swarmed into the square, searching for the cause of the gunshots. Martinez and De Soto hurried out of the cuartel and toward the crowd.
"What happened? What's going on?" demanded De Soto pushing through the crowd. He stopped and looked down at the girl and her brother. The man was obviously dead, his chest was awash in blood and it pooled underneath him. "Tell me what happened!" He yelled again.
The blacksmith stepped forward.
"I saw it all, senor."
"Well, go on, man!"
"Matthew and I stood at my shop talking. We heard her scream and saw
Roberto—"
"Roberto?" Martinez interrupted. "What about Roberto? Where is he?"
"Roberto pushed her into the street and pulled his pistol." The blacksmith continued. "Matthew was running across the street by then. When he saw Roberto's gun, he drew his own. They fired. Roberto was hit, and Matthew, Matthew is here." The man put his filthy hands in his pockets and stepped back into the crowd. Martinez left the crowd quickly, running toward the tavern.
"I see." De Soto said. "Lancers! Seize this girl!" Two soldiers moved in from the crowd.
"What?! No! Stop!" Alejandro cried. The lancers stopped and looked to De Soto.
"You heard me, you idiots! Arrest her!" the commandante ordered. Diego stood angrily. "What do you think you are doing?!" The lancers hesitated.
"This girl," De Soto explained, "is under arrest as an accessory in the attempted murder of a King's officer."
"Attempted murder? King's officer?" sputtered Alejandro. "Have you lost your mind?!"
"Was she, or was she not, involved in the situation that resulted in Roberto Martinez being shot?" De Soto countered.
"He attacked her! Matthew was defending his sister!" Alejandro yelled.
"He shot a soldier in the King's army. Besides, Anna belonged to Roberto and we don't know what instigated the attack in the first place. Perhaps it was deserved. Seize her!" De Soto yelled to his men.
The two lancers stepped forward and bent to take the girl into custody. Anna was wrenched from her grief by strong hands taking her arms and pulling her roughly to her feet and away from Matthew.
"No!" she cried hysterically. "Let me go! Let me go!"
"You can't do this!" Alejandro warned.
"Watch me." De Soto sneered and marched back to his office.
Anna continued to fight and twist to work her way free from the soldiers. "Let me go!" she protested over and over.
"Ow!" yelled one of the soldiers and he stepped away from the brawl holding his wrist. Anna clawed at the other lancer, but he wrapped his arm around her neck, choking her. The girl gasped and struggled for breath.
Felipe could watch no longer. He started forward angrily; Alejandro caught his arm. "Felipe, no!" The young man tried to pull his arm away, but Diego took the other.
As the English girl's movements slowed, the soldier placed his arm around her waist and drug her toward the jail. She continued to struggle, but he managed to get her inside the building. He carried the girl into the darkness. Another soldier unlocked the cell and the lancer set her down inside. She collapsed in a heap, sobbing. With the spectacle over, people began to disperse from the square. Felipe's jaw set, he shrugged off the arms that held him back.
"Come, let's move Matthew to Dr. Hernandez'." Diego said to Miguel and Felipe. The men knelt, picked up the Englishman, and gently carried him to the doctor's office, Alejandro following behind. Inside the building, they laid the dead man on a table and stood around him.
"This is wrong. This is absolutely wrong." Said Miguel, shaking his head.
"I suppose we should go back and speak to De Soto." Diego said.
"You suppose?" Alejandro said, "Why, what else would you do? Go back and read your books. Of course, we will go `speak' to him. Miguel, go back to the hacienda and carry on with what we spoke about this afternoon."
"Si, senor." Miguel said and left to return to his work. The three other men followed him through the door, into the street, where they parted ways; Miguel to the hacienda and the others to De Soto's office.
In the tavern, Eduardo Martinez and Dr. Hernandez carried Roberto up the stairs and put him into his bed. Victoria followed behind them with a rag in her hand, wiping up the little drops of blood that landed on her floor. Reaching the top of the stairs, she turned and went back down and out of the front door. She was furious and was going to give De Soto a piece of her mind.
Dr. Hernandez cut Roberto's shirt off and examined the wound. Blood oozed from the wound, down his chest, and onto the bed. The doctor placed a towel underneath him to soak up the blood. He began to prod the wound with his fingers.
"Ow! That hurts!" yelled Roberto.
The doctor looked up at Eduardo, "Get the brandy." He turned back to Roberto.
"You're lucky, young man, I can extract the bullet and place a dressing on the wound. You must keep it clean, but I think that with a little bed rest, you should be fine."
Eduardo returned with the bottle of liquor.
"Gracias, senor. Now pour a little over the wound and give the rest of it to him to drink." The doctor directed as he searched through his bag. The man did as he was told, then stood back and watched the doctor work. As the doctor began his task, the door creaked open and Rosa rushed in.
"What has happened?" she exclaimed, then stopped in her tracks, swaying slightly. "Oh, my. That's, that's blood, isn't it?" Her face turned white and Eduardo had only a moment to slide a chair and catch her falling figure. Her father patted her hand as she lay unconscious in the chair, then returned to his son's beside.
Dr. Hernandez grasped the forceps with the precision and expertise that only comes from years of experience and the removal of myriad bullets from young men. Roberto grimaced as he worked, but he did not yell or protest as the doctor thought he would. Inside, the doctor sighed. He wished that he was removing this bullet from Matthew and not Roberto. However, he was a man of healing. Ethically, he helped whoever needed it, no matter who it was. It didn't make it any
easier, though.
When the bullet was removed, the wound cleaned as best as possible, and a dressing applied, the doctor stood back and said, "Now, I want
you to stay in bed, drink plenty of juice and wine, and absolutely no
physical activity."
"Si." Roberto said sitting up slightly in bed and gritting his teeth with pain.
"And no female visitors," the doctor added, giving him a knowing look, "any physical activity could cause serious damage." Roberto rolled his eyes.
"He will obey your orders." Eduardo said.
"Good. I'll check back later." Dr. Hernandez packed his bag and left the room, closing the door behind him.
De Soto sat at his desk pretending to look over some paperwork. Actually, he wondered how long it would take before Senorita Escalante and the de la Vegas barged in. He gave them fifteen minutes, if that. He knew he had the upper hand, and he intended to exploit it.
The door swung open with a bang.
"What do you think you are doing?!"
11 minutes. They're early.
"Whatever do you mean, Alejandro?" De Soto said, so smoothly it was sickening.
"You know full well." Victoria said, crossing her arms and rocking on her toes in anger. Diego and Felipe followed them through the door.
"The murderess? Why, she is in a cell as we speak. I thought you all would be happy that I had removed a criminal from the street."
"She is not a criminal, and you know it. I didn't think that even you
would sink this low." Alejandro steamed. Diego leaned on the door
post; Felipe walked around unnoticed to the hall that lead to the
jail cells.
De Soto stood and walked around his desk. "You cannot deny the evidence. The girl was undoubtedly involved in an attempted murder of a soldier for the King. She will hang as soon as gallows are built."
"Hang?!" exclaimed Victoria.
"De Soto, you know as well as I and everyone else in this pueblo, that Roberto attacked Anna. This was an act of self-defense, not murder."
"Diego, you know the law, explain this to your father. Anna is Roberto's property. He can do with her as he likes. Whatever began this outburst has no bearing on this case." De Soto said. Diego remained silent and impassive.
"You must have a trial to prove murder, though, before she is hanged." Victoria argued.
"My dear," De Soto said, "Anna is not a citizen and does not receive citizenship protection. Therefore," the man sat on the edge of his desk, "no trial."
"Diego?" Alejandro asked, turning to his son.
"Technically, he is right, father." Diego said. De Soto smiled. "However, this obviously follows the letter of the law and not the spirit."
"I think that in this case it is necessary." De Soto said, "Or what is to say that all servants wouldn't attack their masters and kill them saying that it was self-defense."
"Hardly a correlation." Alejandro muttered. Felipe craning his neck as afar as he could, could not see the cell where Anna was without walking down the hallway. He returned to the group.
"You must let someone tend to her wounds." Victoria pleaded.
"The doctor is busy right now." De Soto said. "Besides, why fix her if she's just going to hang?"
Felipe stepped forward and began signing angrily. De Soto threw back his head and laughed.
"What is it? Speak up, boy!" he chortled.
"He's a deaf-mute." Said Victoria.
"I know!" De Soto said, "It's just so hilarious to watch him flail like that."
Victoria's jaw dropped at the rudeness of his statement. Felipe turned away, his face red both with anger and shame.
"What he was saying was," Diego translated, "Why does it matter to you if she has healed before her hanging?"
"Oh, I don't care either way," De Soto said, "Fine. You may see her and do whatever you like, but she will hang. I assure you, she will hang." The commandante walked to his hat rack, placed his hat on his head, nodded to the group, and walked out into the sun.
