Chapter 8
The church door was open. Will stepped out of the late afternoon light into the cool dimness inside and stood still a moment while his eyes adjusted.
The church was small and plain, whitewashed walls, a wooden floor worn smooth by years of boots and knees, six rows of pews on each side.
At the far end, a simple altar with two candles burning and a painted wooden cross above it.
The place smelled of candle wax and old wood and something else Will couldn't name, some accumulation of incense and time.
A man came through a side door near the altar.
He was about sixty, compact and white-haired, with the unhurried deliberate movements of someone who had learned long ago that most things could wait.
He wore a plain black cassock and carried a small book which he set on the altar rail when he saw Will.
"Can I help you, Se?or?" he asked, in Spanish.
Will took off his hat. "I'm looking for Padre Morales."
"You have found him." The priest's eyes went to Will's face. "You have come a long way?"
"From Texas. My name is Asa Smith, Padre."
"Sit down, Se?or Smith."
They sat in the front pew. Morales folded his hands in his lap and waited with the patience of a man who has learned that there's no substitute for it.
"I'm looking for a friend of mine and his family.
His name is Del Cole and his wife is Elena Hidalgo Cole.
They have a boy named Carlos, who is six years old.
The family came down so that Elena could visit her dying father, but they're long overdue to return to Texas, and I'm here to find out what happened to them and escort them home. "
Morales listened without changing expression. When Will finished the priest was quiet for a moment, looking at the candles on the altar.
"Elena Hidalgo," he said. "I knew her as a girl. Her father, Ernesto, was a good man. He died over a month ago."
Will absorbed this. "Did Elena get to attend the funeral?"
"Oh yes," Morales said. "She was there. Fuentes came with his Rurales three nights later and arrested Elena's husband." Morales paused. "You want to know what happened?"
"If you know, I'd appreciate you telling me."
The priest nodded slowly. "Don Rodrigo Vega is the largest landowner in this district. He has been for thirty years, since his father's time. His power here is older than the Rurales, older than most of the people in this town. He does not usually use it carelessly."
"But he used it here."
"He did, yes," Morales agreed. "Elena Hidalgo was promised to him years ago, when she was seventeen.
Her father made an agreement with the Vega family.
It was the kind of agreement that was made in those days between a small farmer and a powerful neighbor, the kind where the farmer believes he has no choice and the neighbor believes he is being generous. "
"But Elena left."
"Elena left," Morales said. "She came to me first, actually.
She came to this church and told me she would not marry Don Rodrigo and asked me what I thought.
I told her that a promise made for her without her consent was not a promise she was bound to keep.
She left for the north three days later.
" He paused. "Don Rodrigo was not pleased.
No, that's not it, he was humiliated, shamed, and ultimately vengeful.
It's a burden that he's carried ever since, and for that reason, I suppose, he never married. "
"For eighteen years."
"Something like that," Morales said. "Don Rodrigo has a long memory and a particular pride about matters of obligation. In his mind, she owes him a debt that has never been settled."
"So when she came back..."
"He moved quickly. Through Raul Fuentes, who commands the Rurales in this district and has for six years, Vega had Elena's husband charged with horse theft.
Fuentes does what Vega requires because Vega is the reason Fuentes has his position.
The husband was put in the jail. The wife and child were taken to the hacienda, officially for their protection, while the husband's case is resolved. "
"Resolved, meaning what?"
"Meaning the husband is convicted and hanged, or the husband dies in the jail of what they will call jail fever, and then the wife is a widow in a strange country with a small child and no one to help her. Vega is patient. He can wait for either outcome."
Will sat with that. Outside, somewhere across the plaza, a woman called a child's name twice and then was quiet.
"Are they well? Elena and the boy."
"As far as I know. Vega is not a man who uses violence against women. His pride would not permit it. She is a guest in his house and he treats her as one. He is waiting for her to understand her situation and accept it."
Will chortled, "I know Elena. She can wait until he's dead and gone."
Morales looked at Will. "Oh well," he said. "I knew that about Elena when she was seventeen. I know it now."
"Elena has a younger sister. Lupita Hidalgo. Is she in the district?"
"Lupita went with Elena and the boy when they were taken, but Vega sent her away, so she went home. Later he changed his mind and invited Lupita to return to keep Elena company."
"So she's there now?"
"I think so, and Lupita is resourceful. She has found ways to get word out before.
" He looked at the candles again. "She left a message with a woman in town two weeks ago.
She said Elena and the boy were well. She said Elena told her to watch for two men from Texas.
" He paused. "I assume those men are you. "
"Me and my friend. He's across the street."
Morales nodded. He stood and went to the altar and stood before it a moment, his back to Will. Then he turned.
"The jail at Ciénega del Norte is adobe, four cells, a guardroom at the front.
Fuentes keeps three guards during the day and one at night.
The night guard is a young man named Pacheco who sleeps in his chair by ten o'clock unless someone pays him not to.
" He said this without apparent embarrassment, as a man states a practical fact.
"The back of the jail faces an alley that runs to a dry arroyo.
At the north end of the arroyo there is a road that goes west toward the hills. "
Will looked at the priest. "You've thought about this before."
"I have watched Vega operate in this district for twenty-two years," Morales said. "One develops contingency plans."
Will reached into his coat and took out a gold double eagle and set it on the altar rail.
"For the church," he said.
Morales looked at the coin and nodded. "You are welcome to stay here tonight. Both of you. I have a bedroom in the rectory that is not being used."
"We'll take it," Will said. "And we may need to come back. More than once, before this is done."
"The door is always open," Morales said. "That is not merely a figure of speech. I have kept it open for twenty-two years. I do not intend to close it now."
Will put on his hat and went to get Isum.