Gordito looked scandalized. “Pitón, man, she’s a nun. If you want to search her, you do it. I’m not going to touch her.”
Pitón swore, reached over, ripped off Gabriela’s veil and coif, her hair spilling around her face. He shook the fabric, threw it aside. “Where did you hide it?”
Tim stood and might have tried to stop Pitón had Gabriela not shaken her head.
“I am hiding nothing.” She fought to stay calm. “All of you were standing right there, Eduardo. How could I possibly take anything? What would I do with it?”
If he got her naked, she was sure he wouldn’t stop there.
Pitón untied her scapular, jerked it over her head, then started to untie the rope at her waist.
“Man, he wore that key around his neck.” Gordito glared at Pitón with disgust. “Did you check the body before you threw him in the fucking river,pendejo?”
Pitón turned on Gordito. “Of course, they checked the body!”
Then he turned to a younger man whose name Gabriela didn’t know. “You checked his body, right,güevón?”
The man’s gaze dropped to his feet. “We searched his pockets.”
“You searched his pockets?” Pitón let loose a string of profanity. “When I asked if you’d gotten his key, all you’d done is search his pockets?”
“Sí, Pitón. I’m sorry. I didn’t know to check around his neck.”
“Fucking idiot!”
Gordito seemed amused by all of this. “Relax, Pitón, you stupid fucker. That key is now in the river with poor Topo. We have others. Besides, how is this little nun going to get past me? Even if she had a key, she couldn’t do anything with it. You’d better start worrying about what you’re going to tell the Boss. Topo was his wife’s nephew.”
That was useful information.
“Shut the fuck up!” Pitón turned and stomped up the stairs, leaving stunned silence behind him, El Cebo and the othersicariofollowing.
Gabriela let out a silent breath of relief.
She had gotten lucky this time.
Gordito shut the door, motioned toward Gabriela’s veil, coif, and scapular. “You can put them on. Is it true that you prayed over Topo?”
“Yes.” Gabriela slipped the scapular over her head, tied it in place. “He said he was sorry. I prayed to God to forgive him of his sins.”
“You did that?” Gordito stared at her as if seeing her for the first time.
“Yes. I could not absolve him, but there was no one else. Pitón refused to call a priest, and Topo was so afraid. I didn’t want him to die in fear. God will understand.”
If she could feed the tension between Gordito and Pitón…
Some of the anger left Gordito’s face. “Thank you,Hermana. Can I get you anything?”
Gabriela slipped the coif into place then reached for her veil. “A deck of cards? Something for the gringos to read? You know how dull things are down here, Gordito, because you are here with us.”
“Sí, Hermana. I’ll make it happen.”
* * *
“I never played soccer.”Jones tossed the soccer ball to Dylan. “I only played football.”
“I’ll help you out.” Segal settled in behind the camera. “You kick theballwith yourfoot. Got that? That’s why the entire world, except for the US, calls itfootball.”
“You think you’re funny, don’t you, man?”