“I think so. But you told me it couldn’t be much, and you said you can’t pick locks. You’re simply useless.”
“No, I said I’m not much of a lock picker, which means I’d rather avoid it. But if worse comes to worst, I could try. There might be money, there might be traveler’s checks, other useful documents. I’d need time, though. That’s the problem with my lock-picking skills: I’m not that fast, she spends an abominable amount of time in the house, and when she’s out she wants me with her. It’s hard to do anything when she’s right there in her room.”
“What about when she takes her bath? She spends a good hour in the bath.”
He shook his head. “The bath’s connected to the room. Any noise and she might jump out and find me going through her things. Even right now I’m afraid she’s going to come barging through that door.”
They both turned their heads and stared at the closed door. They could hear the noises of the household, the cook singing and the birds in the trees and someone coughing loudly below. They drifted toward each other, both apprehensive.
“She’s always nearby,” he whispered.
“What about during mass?”
“We all go together to mass and walk back together too.”
“Not this Sunday,” Inés whispered back. He looked at her, confused. “The first Sunday of the month, that’s the day when all the women in town pray the rosary. She’ll be out with all the other ladies in Puerco Ahogado.”
For that was the practice and tradition in Puerco Ahogado. Some families prayed even more, prayed a rosary every night, and the Zorrilla sisters prayed to each and every saint whose picture they had in their room, reciting half a dozen rosaries before bedtime. But, at minimum, the women of decent families in town were expected to gather respectfully in one of the rooms of the church, which was normally reserved for the teaching of the catechism, and bow their heads as they prayed that monthly rosary together. Afterward, there was a chance for socializing and gossiping before they dispersed.
Men were not invited to join in this activity and happily hurried in search of food or drinks.
“But you’ll also be praying the rosary.”
“I could be sick,” Inés said. He grinned at her, and she grabbed the bedsheets and rushed down the stairs.
She dumped the dirty bedsheets in the laundry room, grabbed aclean set, then knocked on Nepomuceno’s door. He took his time, but she heard the shuffling of his feet, his low grumblings. Finally, he opened the door and let her in.
“Good morning, Professor,” she said. “Time for fresh laundry.”
“It’s already Tuesday? Are you sure?” he asked.
“As sure as my name.”
Nepomuceno nodded. He shooed away the dog, which had been curled up on the bed, and sat on a grand old burgundy armchair. His white hair was a tangled mess, his eyes were red, and he reeked of booze, but that was normal with Professor Nepomuceno.
The dog barked and barked, eliciting a groan from Nepomuceno, and she let it out of the room.
“It wants you to take it for a walk,” she said.
“How an animal can insist on going around and around the block each day of its life, I do not know,” he said. “And at this hour.”
“It’s late enough.”
“Bah. It’s not as if I need to rise at the crack of dawn to teach lessons. It doesn’t matter much whether it’s noon or dawn for me, does it?” he asked.
She spied his breakfast tray, untouched, upon the desk that was set by the window, and sighed.
“You’re not eating again,” she chided him. “You haven’t touched your food.”
“Estrella cooks too many fatty things for me.”
“It’s eggs and beans, Professor.”
“She’s an awful cook.”
“Let me bring you your tray. You can eat while I make your bed.”
He was cadaverous in his thinness and seemed to live off liquids. She handed him the tray. He sighed but placed it on his lap and began to eat. The room was in disarray. The bed was littered with books. The professor had the bad habit of falling asleep in the armchair rather thanbothering to slip under the bedsheets. He’d also left a couple of bottles on the floor, and a half-empty bowl of rice. Rita hated it when he did that, she said it attracted roaches and mice.
