CHAPTER 18 - THE INVESTIGATION
On that fateful day, Jim Hammond had been in no hurry for his angry wife to return, but as the hours passed, he began to worry. As daylight waned, he decided to check the open-air market. He found the place deserted, the vendors having long since packed up and left for their homes and dinner.
Expecting to find Amanda had returned to their room or was, by now, in the dining room ordering dinner, the somewhat tipsy American strolled back to the hotel. When she didn't turn up in either place, he was puzzled. Once again, he checked the garden and still no sign of Amanda.
Jim returned to the veranda and stared into the night. The surrounding landscape was, by now, swallowed in darkness as, beyond the hotel's lights, many homes lacked electricity and there were no streetlights.
Where could she have gone?
Stepping back inside, Jim approached the desk. "Have you seen my wife?" he asked Goldie.
"Oh, yes," Goldie smiled, "at the market, but that was hours ago."
"Mrs. Tannenbaum, I'm worried. My wife had no money or car. The market is deserted. All the stalls are closed. It's dark out. And she still hasn't returned."
Goldie spotted Jose crossing the lobby and caught him on his way home for supper. "Jose! Before you leave, help this gentleman locate his wife."
And the two men set off to search for Amanda Hammond. The search, of course, proved fruitless and Jim telephoned the authorities. By ten o'clock that evening, Amanda Hammond was officially declared missing.
The police didn't appear at Las Naranjas until noon the following day.
"A young woman has been found," they announced, "in the river."
Jim insisted upon viewing the body and hurried off with the men. One look told him it wasn't Amanda. "No! No!" he exclaimed with relief. My wife is American. She's blonde! She has blue eyes!"
"Rubia!" noted the investigators.
"Did you and your wife argue before she disappeared?" they asked.
"Well, we did have a few words," Jim admitted. "She was put out because my wallet with all our money, credit cards, and plane tickets was missing."
"You put her out? And she left with the money and plane tickets?"
"No! No!" Jim insisted. "First, my wallet was missing. This made her angry because we had to wait for more credit and contact the airline. Then she went to the market," he said, gesturing in that direction, "to browse around. But she never came back."
"Perhaps she took the money and went with another man," the investigator suggested.
"There was no other man!" Jim shouted.
"We shall see," murmured the policeman. "What was she wearing?"
The police returned Jim to the hotel, then left to question the market vendors.
"Si! There was such a woman," several vendors agreed, insisting the rubia had looked at their wares and spoken to them, but they didn't see her leave the market. Then the elderly man who sold seashell bracelets remembered seeing the rubia with a tall, handsome man. A Haitian.
"He spoke to her and she was very happy. She walked with him. A nice-looking couple. They went there, past those trees. Then I had a customer. I didn't look anymore."
The investigators returned to the hotel and Jacob ushered them to Jim's room.
"There is a witness who tells of your wife meeting a man at the market. She was happy to see him. She went off with him. Perhaps she took the wallet because she didn't plan to return."
Jacob interrupted. "Excuse me, gentlemen, but this, I think, you will want to hear," he said, waving three ten-dollar bills. "Someone has used these ink-stained bills from Mr. Hammond's missing wallet to pay at the desk."
"This still doesn't tell us whether the wallet was lost or stolen," mused the investigators. "It only tells us that someone had it after you, Seńor Hammond."
"Well, it wasn't my wife because neither of us had any money since just before breakfast. Then she left immediately for the market."
The investigators looked at Jacob.
"Who it was that paid with these bills, I cannot think," Jacob said. "I was at the desk. Both our wives had left for the market."
"Is there an American Embassy?" Jim asked Jacob as he reached for the phone.
Further checking proved Amanda hadn't left the country by official carrier. The investigators nodded to themselves. "Ha! This Mrs. Amanda Hammond has simply gone off with a secret lover," they concluded. They dutifully recorded this and left.
Two days later, the Hammond's plane reservations and credit had been sorted out, and still no sign of Amanda. By the end of the week, even her husband began to entertain the notion of his beautiful, blonde wife and a handsome, dark-skinned lover. By the end of the second week, feeling angry and betrayed, Jim Hammond gave up waiting for her to return and flew home.
A month later, those in Cristo no longer recalled the missing rubia or the drowning.
"It is time," Joseph whispered to his master, "to go to a village. A different village this time, where we will choose a most promising woman." Ramon's eyes glittered at the thought and the two men sat down to dinner and discussed their plans.