Chapter 50 – Chemistry all around

"Don Manuel is here to see you, señor," announced María, the house keeper.

"Don Manuel? That's odd. What does he want?" asked the old don, surprised.

"I don't know, Don Alejandro; he didn't say. Should I tell Don Diego we have a visitor, so he knows he has to play sick?"

All the house servants knew about Diego's predicament and the risk he would face if the killer suspected he could remember anything. All of them had been serving at the hacienda for many years, and were extremely loyal to the De la Vegas. Don Alejandro let them know the situation from the beginning, so Diego could at least relax and be himself at home rather than having to pretend all the time. He was sure they would not tell anybody about Diego's real condition. Of course, they didn't know or suspect he was Zorro, at all.

"Yes, please, María. We don't want him to suddenly walk in and spoil the deception, do we? I'll get to Don Manuel myself, thank you." He walked to the entrance, where Don Manuel was waiting, standing, as he had refused to take a seat.

"Buenos días, Don Manuel. Do you want to see me? What can I do for you?"

"Buenos días, Don Alejandro. I came to say goodbye. I am leaving Los Angeles."

"Where are you going? Are you selling your hacienda?"

"Yes, I am selling my property and I am buying another one further north. As you know, my land is not the most productive around here, and all of a sudden, most of my cattle are sick and dying."

"The doctor told me he suspects the water has been poisoned. At your property and at Don Pedro's. He thinks he and his daughter died because of that poison, but he doesn't know what it can be. Actually, I was going to pay you a visit to ask your permission to collect some water samples."

"Who is going to test them? Diego? Has he recovered his memory?"

"No. He hasn't. But we have his chemistry books. I figured that, with the doctor's help, we could try to read them and use my son's laboratory equipment to find out what is in the water."

"Well, good luck with that. If you want to get the water, you should hurry up. I am leaving the property this afternoon. Don Miguel will be the rightful owner after I go."

"You sold your property to Don Miguel?" asked Don Alejandro, dumbfounded. Don Manuel nodded, uncomfortable. "Why? I am sure he is the one who has poisoned your water!"

"Maybe. But he paid a good price for a piece of dry land with toxic water. I have been thinking about moving for a long time, to be honest, so this is the right thing to do. I don't know what's going on, and I don't want to be involved. It is better to give up before someone burns my house, like it happened to your friend's; or even worse, kills me like that poor bastard Don Pedro. Maybe I should have come back to Spain like Don Esteban did, because I never liked the idea of becoming Mexican. I feel like a traitor. I was very surprised that you stayed in California, Don Alejandro; really surprised, indeed."

"Francisco won't come back to Spain unless he's in chains and dragged all the way there, and my family is now here. Besides, we couldn't move with Diego being so sick, so there is no point to speculate what could or should have happened."

"Yes, that's right. Is Diego improving at all?"

"No, not really. He is stable in his condition, but I don't think he will ever recover his memory."

"Sorry. It is such a shame. He was such a bright, intelligent man. A great lose for everybody at the pueblo. I wonder if we will ever see another issue of "The Guardian." Well, Don Alejandro, it was nice to have enjoyed your friendship all these years. I'll let you know my new address if case you want to visit. As I said, come to my property to get the water samples as soon as possible. Don Miguel may accuse you of trespassing otherwise. Goodbye." He shook hands with Don Alejandro.

"Yes, I'll do that right now. Adiós, Don Manuel. Take care. I hope everything works all right for you."

When Don Manuel left, Don Alejandro went to collect a few clean bottles for the samples while he thought about the situation, and how mistaken he had been about Don Manuel. After all, he wasn't involved at all in the mystery; he was just another victim.

"Felipe, can you please come with me to collect water samples at Don Manuel's and Don Pedro's properties? We need to test them for poisoning."

Felipe signed. The old don wasn't very sure, but it looked like Felipe was asking who was going to test them.

"We are. We will read Diego's books and use his equipment."

Felipe looked at the old man as if he was mad. Don Alejandro didn't know much about Diego's experiments, but Felipe had seen him working on them and it didn't look that simple, not at all. Nonetheless, he went along to collect the samples. Hopefully, maybe Diego could remember something, as he did with horse riding and fencing.

ZZZ

From behind the counter, Victoria looked at the alcalde with dreamy eyes. He was sitting at a table at the back, eating lunch alone, and he looked really handsome in that blue jacket. She didn't want to admit it, but she felt attracted to him like a moth to the light. And he seemed to be attracted to her, as he was spending more and more time at the tavern every day, with a flirtatious attitude that could easily cross the line to formal courting. He was funny and witty, and made her laugh easily, and she loved his attention and compliments.

Victoria was still an emotional mess, unable to sort out her feelings as she had promised to Don Alejandro she was going to do. She was still in love with Diego, but the same as Cristina, with the former Diego, not the current one. The new Diego didn't remember her, and hardly ever talked to her. He was rude, obnoxious and childish, and she didn't like him. She was sorry for him, having to pretend he was sicker than he actually was, and she was worried about the risk he was facing. However, Don Alejandro was right: Diego was taken, and she should not dream of a future with him, even less in his condition. So, the other option for her, Zorro… he had never been a great option, she had to face it; a quite unrealistic one. And the other day, when he had broken the chandelier, he was cold when he addressed her, and she didn't see any love in his eyes. Probably he was still angry she had married Juan. She sighed, bored with that thought.

It looked like the alcalde was the best option at the moment. She would keep an open mind, and an open heart, and follow that road to see where it led her.

ZZZ

Don Alejandro placed all the bottles at the table in the cave. They all had labels to identify them. Some contained water from Don Pedro's well, and others from the brook at his property; other bottles contained samples from the well and the brook at Don Manuel's; and the last one was from the well at the De la Vega hacienda, to be used as a control for comparison, assuming that water was not poisoned as nobody in the house was sick.

"Diego, we need to test these water samples for toxic substances. Do you remember how to do that?" Diego looked at the water bottles, then at the laboratory equipment lying on the table, and lastly to the pile of chemistry books balancing as the leaning tower of Pisa at the further edge of the table.

"No, I don't, Father. Sorry, I have no idea." He didn't have a clue how to use the myriad of instruments and glass tubes of all sizes surrounding him, or the properties of the different chemicals kept in carefully labelled, little brown bottles, which had been alphabetically ordered on the shelves behind him by that meticulous, brilliant scientist his former self was.

"I guess we'll need to read all your chemistry books then," said Don Alejandro, taking the one at the top of the pile.

"Really?" said Diego, looking at the books with apprehension.

"Yes, of course. Come on, Diego, at least you remember how to read. Get on with it. This is going to be a long day. Doctor Hernández promised to visit later to give us a hand." The old man sat down in another chair and started flicking pages, the same as Felipe, looking for a chapter with information on how to test water for chemicals. Diego stood up and grabbed another book, letting out a long sigh when he sat back on his sturdy chair. This was going to be a long afternoon, indeed.

ZZZ

"Victoria. You are so pretty; you are torturing me with your beauty. You have to stop. Grow an ugly wart in your nose or something, please. I can't take this any longer," said the alcalde, lingering by the counter when all the other customers had left the tavern. She laughed at the odd request.

"Do you want me to transform into an ugly witch, then?" she asked, pretending to be upset and surprised.

"If you are going to ignore me forever, yes, please. It will be easier on my heart."

Chuckling, she came out from behind the counter to close the front door. "Alcalde, the tavern is now closed. It is late; you have to leave."

"What if I don't want to go?"

"Then you will have to pay for a room. Ask Pilar if you want to book one. She is attending the rooms tonight. Me, I am going home." She started to walk to the door, but he grabbed her arm when she passed by.

"I am not going anywhere unless I take a kiss with me."

"Alcalde, you are so…" she started to protest, but she couldn't finish because Roberto covered her mouth with his, embracing her to pull her closer. She tried to resist at first, wriggling and pushing his chest away, with a muffled cry, but soon she relaxed and responded to the passionate kiss, enjoying it. She was surprised on how much she was longing for sexual contact of any kind. And he was such a good kisser… even better than Zorro! When they parted, her heart was racing and she was out of breath, flustered.

"That will do for now. As I said, grow a witchy wart, or I will come back for more, my little peach. Much more." With that bittersweet, promising menace, he left the tavern leaving a confused Victoria behind. Feeling hot, she licked her lips slowly, and with the taste of his mouth still lingering in hers, she wondered if she would have been able to resists his advances if he had pushed his luck any further.

ZZZ

"Roberto, when are you going to get that tavern wrench? I heard some of the dons saying she is quite sweet on you," said Don Miguel that night at his hacienda.

"Ah, I don't think it will be long. I told her the other day I am a widow too, and that I lost my dear wife and new born baby at childbirth. Brother, she is about to jump in my bed! She nearly melted in my arms tonight when I kissed her," he laughed, slapping Don Miguel's shoulder. "Just give me a day or two. To be honest, I am refraining myself, because right now I have to behave like a gentleman, at least for the gallery. Otherwise, I would have tasted her tonight right behind the counter." He paused to lick his lips, dreamy. "But the one I really want to get is the tall one, Diego's wife. She is stunning. Such a same she is wasting her fire with that vegetable by her side. But she is playing hard to get, I think. So far, she has ignored me completely."

"Where did you get all that handsomeness from, I wonder? Because we don't look anything alike. Certainly, women don't drop at my feet begging for my attentions as they do with you." Miguel was sort, slightly overweight, and although not totally ugly, he could be considered plain and average.

"I don't want to tell tales about our mother, Miguel, but I don't think we shared the same father," Roberto sniggered.

"Oh, yeah, your story about the Duque de Osuna… Wishful thinking, that is. You'd be nothing but a bastard, then, if that was true. Although, you have been called bastard son of a bitch so many times before, you should be used to it by now," he laughed. Roberto laughed heartedly too. "At least I know who my father was. I look so much like him."

"Unlucky you. Now, I should go back to the pueblo. I have an announcement to make soon. They are going to love it!" said Roberto, laughing once more. He had come to his brother's hacienda on an "official visit" as alcalde, and he shouldn't stay too long to avoid any suspicions.

"What are you up to now? Don't overdo it, please. You don't need to become Alcalde of the Century in only a few weeks."

"I am going to issue a pardon for that criminal that dresses in black, that Zorro. The villagers seem quite fond of him, and to be honest, criminal or not, I don't give a damn about him. Whatever keeps the people happy and distracted."

"You are such a tease," laughed Don Miguel.

"And what about our business? Have they found it yet?" asked Roberto, serious.

"No. The men have combed our land, but they didn't find anything. We suspect it may be at the De la Vega's, or the Blasco's. We have to get rid of them."

"Would that help if the men had access to roam their land too?"

"Of course. But, how?"

"All right. I may have an idea about that, but they are going to hate me!" he laughed again.

ZZZZZ