Now, gunshots rang out from afar. Despite her limp, Lupita immediately found herself in the epicenter of the action. One of the hit men was pointing his weapon at an old man, who cursed at him in his indigenous tongue. Lupita snuck up behind the criminal and struck him in the back of the neck with her cane. The man keeled over. Lupita grabbed his gun and shot at the rest of the hit men, wounding two and scattering the rest, all of this while hopping on her one good leg. As soon as the attackers left, Lupita collapsed on the dirt, totally drained. She realized that the members of the community were looking at her with gratitude in their eyes. One of Carmela’s daughters approached her and hugged her fondly. Lupita felt very satisfied.
Just as everyone was surprised at her courage and the speed with which she responded to the aggression, she was surprised to observe that the weapon she had taken from the man whose neck she had broken was a Xiuhcóatl rifle. She couldn’t make sense of how these criminals were in possession of weaponry exclusive to the Special Forces of the Mexican Army. The Xiuhcóatl (“fire serpent” in the Náhuatl tongue) was an assault rifle designed by the General Directorate of Military Industry of the Army.
XIUHCÓATL: FIRE SERPENT, SOLAR SERPENT
Xiuhcóatl was the most powerful weapon of the Aztec gods. It was an atlatl—or spear thrower—that belonged to Huitzilopochtli (the sun), who was born to Coatlicue (the earth goddess). According to myth, a ball of feathers impregnated Coatlicue when it fell on her breast while she was sweeping. When she finished sweeping she tried to remove the feathers, but they were gone. She then learned of her pregnancy. Her previous four hundred sons and her daughter, Coyolxauhqui, felt shamed. They did not approve of their mother’s pregnancy and decided to murder her. They set forth under Coyolxauhqui’s orders and as they were about to reach their mother, Huitzilopochtli was born. He dressed himself in fine feathers, took Xiuhcóatl in his hands, and used it to decapitate his sister. Coyolxauhqui rolled down a mountain and was dismembered. Then Huitzilopochtli annihilated his four hundred brothers. When he was done he took his sister’s head and flung it into the sky, and it became the moon, thus symbolizing the eternal struggle between the sun and the moon. Human sacrifices in honor of Huitzilopochtli were carried out in Tenochtitlán with the purpose of giving him vigor so that he could continue his battle against darkness, and thus assuring the sun would again rise every fifty-two years.
Lupita was sure that the man she had killed was not part of the military. His movements did not match those of a man trained in the armed forces. Where could he and his comrades have obtained the rifle? Did they have dealings with nearby military groups? There was no way to know. What she did know was that she urgently needed to call Celia to tell her she was alive, that she had survived once more. Poor Celia. She probably thought Lupita was dead!
On Holy Friday, a day after Celia had checked her friend into rehab and the day of the attack on the rehab facility, Lupita’s apartment had been broken into. The apartment building had been desolate, as everyone was outside watching the Passion procession. There were no witnesses. When Celia returned home she noticed that Lupita’s door was open. At first she assumed Lupita had escaped from rehab and had come back home. But when she entered the apartment and found it trashed, she realized someone had broken in. No electronics had been stolen. It seemed like whoever broke in had been looking for something in particular. Celia immediately headed to the police station to report the break-in, but the officer on duty was so sleep deprived that he gave every sort of excuse to avoid opening a case. First he told her that since she wasn’t the owner of the apartment they couldn’t begin an investigation or even take her statement unless she brought a signed power of attorney, proof of residence, a copy of her official ID, and the most recent energy bill. Fortunately Captain Martinez appeared and took Celia by the arm, gently leading her to his office, where Celia learned about the attack on the rehab facility. The captain gave her a preliminary report regarding fatalities and casualties. Before Celia passed out, he assured her that Lupita wasn’t on either list. She was missing. He asked Celia if she knew where Lupita could be.
“That’s what I want to know!” Celia shouted. “I checked her into that place, and you are the only one who knew she was there. And, and then gunmen immediately shot it up?”
“Are you trying to pin this on me?”
Celia shrugged, dazed and upset.
“Look Celia, I did go try to find Lupita, but I arrived just after the shooting,” Martinez said, staring off into space before returning his gaze to Celia. “I don’t owe you any explanations! I’m the detective, and I ask the questions. Do you or don’t you know where your friend is?”
“I don’t.”
“Thank you. You can leave.”
Celia got up and headed for the door, but before she left, Martinez added, thinking of the relationship that had been sparked at the dance hall, “For your information, I am very invested in finding Lupita.”
The captain and Celia weren’t the only ones looking for Lupita. Apparently a group tied to Mami’s illicit activities was actively searching for her as well. Martinez hoped to find Lupita alive before the people who attacked the rehab facility got to her. He didn’t buy the official version: that the attackers were taking revenge on former addicts who no longer consumed drugs sold by Mami. He was sure that there was something else going on, and Lupita could lead them to capture the perpetrators. There was no doubt that Mami was somehow behind it all, but he needed proof to build a case. Mami, on the other hand, was recovering beautifully.
The Passion procession was over and everything was back to normal, but it had left a bitter aftertaste in the delegación. This festivity had been carried out for over one hundred years with the full cooperation of all eight neighborhoods of Iztapalapa. It was a prime example of true civilian efforts. The authorities only provided protection and support; everything else was handled by the inhabitants of the delegación, and this was the first year that the event had been stained by violence.
LUPITA LIKED TO DEDUCE
To analyze, review, and read reality through her particular method of observation. The conclusions she arrived at were surprising. With very little information—hints that would go by unnoticed by most people—Lupita could solve any kind of mystery. Nothing brought her more joy than tying up loose ends. Putting together a puzzle, placing the last piece, was something she greatly enjoyed. Her favorite puzzles were the ones that had thousands of pieces. She would assemble them on her dining table and her obsessive personality glued her to the chair until she was either finished or had to go to work. She could stay up for several nights if necessary, and if she slept at all, her dreams were about where a particular piece might fit. The delegado’s death had affected her in the same manner. Her mind kept analyzing the event from different vantage points. In her mind, Lupita had seen the delegado die hundreds of times, in slow motion, in fast motion, forward and backward. She could account for everything that had happened, or at least what she thought had happened, second by second. But in the end she really knew nothing.
The arrival of Tenoch to the community gave her an opportunity to communicate with the outside world and to collect the data she lacked to clear her thoughts and get rid of the mental torment she had endured the past weeks. It was a bright day. Lupita felt calm in spite of the previous day’s turmoil that had left one man dead. A car arrived, welcomed by the dogs’ joyous barking. Tenoch was driving. Conchita Ugalde, his mother, rode in the front passenger seat. In the backseat was a man Lupita didn’t know.
Lupita was surprised by the affection and respect that the women of the community showed Conchita. To her Conchita was only the bathroom attendant at the dance hall, and nothing else. She never knew that Conchita was a revered shaman and that Tenoch was her son.
The perception she’d had of Conchita was so far from reality that Lupita took it as further proof that she couldn’t trust what her eyes saw. Conchita greeted her warmly, with her usual deference, as always. Ca
rmela looked at Lupita with admiration upon learning she was a friend of Conchita’s. Tables were set up outside the huts and a breakfast of tamales and coffee was organized for the recently arrived guests. Tenoch spoke words of gratitude for the food and then introduced Salvador Camarena, his friend and collaborator. During breakfast Tenoch and Conchita learned of the previous day’s events. A grave had been dug for the dead hit man, but the community was awaiting instructions before proceeding. Tenoch checked with Conchita and immediately told the community members that the first step was to have a purification ceremony, then a healing session for anyone whose emotions were altered from the recent events.
After breakfast was over and everyone had expressed their gratitude, they all rose from the table and began to prepare for the ceremonies. Lupita asked Carmela how she could be of help. Carmela told her that in her condition the most she could do was help iron the clothing that would be worn during the ritual. Lupita could not think of a more fitting duty.
She set up in the center of the hut to iron the clothing she was given. It was quite complicated because in this community they used a coal iron. Fortunately Lupita knew how to work it. As she lit the fire to heat up the coal she thought that if she had a steam iron she could finish a lot faster, but it was a pointless thought since the community had no electricity. The women here preferred tools that could be used anywhere and under any circumstance. These communities often had to mobilize to avoid attacks from the drug cartels and when they fled they took only the most essential possessions. They had to remain unseen, hidden. That was why they didn’t use cell phones either, to avoid being tracked by satellites. They lived a simple life, very close to nature. Lupita had truly rediscovered the pleasures of sowing, reaping, capturing rainwater, and of recovering her health by using medicinal plants. Herbal medicine was an important tradition filled with ancestral knowledge passed down orally, and it was vital in locations that had no doctors. The women here had shown her how they healed each other using the curative powers of plants, and they had shared the knowledge inherited from generations of wise men and women who heard and saw much more than the senses allow.
Lupita had already seen for herself the importance of such knowledge. She’d assisted a traditional midwife during a birth, and it was an experience she would never forget. Two women from a nearby community had arrived seeking help; a woman in their village was about to give birth. The child was breech, and no one in the village knew about that type of delivery. That morning most women were out tending the fields, so Lupita offered to help the midwife. They immediately left for the neighboring community, traveling by donkey. When Lupita learned that the young woman in labor had blood pressure issues, she thought the worst, but it didn’t even faze the midwife. She took a piece of cloth, tore it, and gave it to Lupita to tie around the woman’s thigh, to be tightened or loosened when she gave the order. That was how they controlled the pregnant woman’s blood pressure. The midwife very skillfully turned the child around so it could be born, and asked if there were any scissors to cut the umbilical cord. She was told there was nothing there but an old beer bottle. The midwife smashed the bottle against the wall, picked up a piece of glass, and ran it over a lit candle, the only means of sterilization at hand. Then she used it to cut the cord. There on that dirt floor, Lupita had witnessed the miracle of life. The great mystery. The approximation to light. The birth of light.
That day a memory crept around the corners of Lupita’s mind, a memory she couldn’t quite place. The sound of the bottle breaking tried to establish a connection in her head but didn’t quite accomplish it. Lupita had to concentrate the totality of her five senses on the task at hand, so she couldn’t dwell on the memory. She didn’t realize it at the time, but that sound was a piece in the puzzle she had to put together to solve the delegado’s death.
It was a sound, a simple sound that would make sense when the time came. Every sound announces movement. A dog barking announces someone’s arrival. The crackle of fire on a stove is the sign of energy in motion. The ringing of a phone is the resonance of a person’s thoughts trying to reach another, to listen to them, to know of them, to do away with distance.
Lupita asked Tenoch to let her charge her phone. He started his car and plugged in the charger. When Lupita’s phone turned back on she saw on the screen several lost calls and messages from Celia and Captain Martinez. Her eyes filled with tears. She called her friend first.
“Celia?”
“Lupita?”
“Yes.”
The moment she heard her friend’s voice, Celia couldn’t hold back the tears. “Oh, mana! I thought you were dead!”
“I know. That’s why I’m calling . . . Don’t cry, Celia, I’m okay. How are you? I’m also worried about you.”
“You had me worried sick! Where are you?”
“In a safe place.”
Lupita was surprised to hear herself use the same phrase that Tenoch had said to her the day he’d delivered her to the community. Now she understood the importance of no one knowing the community’s exact location. Lupita and Celia spoke for quite a while. Celia broke her own record for number of words spoken without stopping to catch her breath. Lupita heard all about how the Passion procession went well in spite of everything, and that Don Neto—the Judas understudy—had handled the insults from the crowd and only lost his temper toward the end, almost coming to blows with some guy. The car washer’s wig stayed on the whole time. The main actors’ makeup withstood the heat, and so on and so forth. Finally Celia told Lupita that her apartment had been broken into and that Mami’s henchmen were staking out her house. Celia also told Lupita that Captain Martinez was looking for her, but she expressed her doubts about the captain’s innocence in the attack on the rehab facility. Lupita immediately defended him. Her desire to be right pushed her to vouch for the man she was so attracted to. As soon as she got off the phone with Celia she called Martinez, and when she heard his voice, her heart skipped a beat. His voice reflected sincerity, and it was plainly evident that the captain was very glad to hear from her.
“Señorita Lupita, I’m so glad to hear from you.”
“Thanks. But are we still on formal terms after the other night?”
“Ha ha, sorry but I’m from the north, and you know that’s how we address each other. How are you?”
“Very well, recovering.”
“I’m happy to hear that. I’ve been thinking of you. You had me worried.”
“Well, thank God I’m all right and getting better.”
“Where are you, if I may ask?”
Lupita thought for a second before she answered. Celia’s doubts about the captain had gotten to her.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Martinez said, sensing her hesitation. “It’s better that you don’t mention it over the phone, just to be safe. What’s important is that you’re okay and getting better. I just wanted to know how you were doing because I was starting to fear the worst. Your call has made my day. You know I’m at your command and ready to help you any way I can.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Call me when you get the chance; we have to go dancing again.”
“Thank you, thank you. I’ll call when I can.”
After ending the call with Martinez, Lupita’s brain kicked into high gear. On one hand it was now clear to her that Martinez hadn’t sold her out to whoever had attacked the rehab facility. If he were an informant, he would have insisted on knowing her location. On the contrary, he wanted to protect her. Her heart was happily pumping blood, and that allowed her to make the right connections and deduce at an incredible speed. If Mami had given the order to break into her apartment, it was because she was after something important, something Lupita had. Something that Mami didn’t want out in the open. Lupita didn’t remember telling Mami that she was in possession of incriminating evidence against her. She had been completely drunk when she’d said that. What could hurt Mami? She was a powerful
person who enjoyed absolute impunity. Every public servant who had occupied an elected position in the delegación government in recent years had gotten most of their votes thanks to her, and they protected her even though they were well aware of her illegal activities. And no matter how much it pained her, Lupita included Larreaga on that list. All evidence indicated that he had made a pact with Mami. But what did Lupita have to do with any of it? What could she know? What could she say that would hurt Mami?
Even Lupita often overlooked when street vendors pretended to sell fake artisan pieces but actually sold drugs. It was pointless to try to arrest them when the highest authorities protected them. She mostly tried to avoid them and barely acknowledged their presence. Though she had to admit that in the past weeks she not only had come in contact with them but she also had bought drugs from them. Of course! If a series of events transpire around a specific person, it means that person is the guiding force behind those events. That meant Lupita was that loose thread in this fabric of corruption that encompassed the public service and the street vendors. If Mami was still looking for her, it meant she hadn’t found what she was looking for. Whatever it was, it was still in Lupita’s possession. What did she have with her? She had escaped the attack on the rehab facility in nothing but a hospital gown. Wait! She had her phone! Lupita had surrendered all her possessions when she checked in to rehab. But once she was in her own room, she’d asked for her phone back. Celia refused, because part of the program required patients to go through a period of isolation. Lupita had begged Celia, saying she would hide it inside her cast and no one would know. Celia agreed and Lupita kept her word. She carefully hid it in her cast and only used it at night. She didn’t really need to talk to anyone, but she was addicted to a farming video game. Thanks to her video-game addiction, Lupita had kept her phone with her. There had to be vital information on it.