De Soto spent the morning in bed, having first ordered his men not to disturb him unless it was an emergency or the Governor needed to see him.
Mendoza, instead, decided he needed a coffee and headed for the canteen. As he entered, he noticed that the men who were there were all talking quietly, in small groups, an empty table in between each group. He decided that was because they had noticed he was hungover and were being considerate, so he headed for the table where Sepulveda and Gomez were quietly having brekfast.
The three men spent a few minutes in silence and the Lieutenant was grateful for that.
"Why did you take him? Did he find out anything?" Sepulveda eventually whispered to him, unable to hold his curiosity in check any longer.
"He just stumbled upon us taking Don Diego and decided to come. But he doesn't know anything. We only talked about the weather on the way and then Felipe made him inhale ether and he fell asleep. We were lucky the young man was there. He's just as clever as his father." Mendoza answered.
"So? What did you do?"
"Got very drunk and asked questions." Mendoza answered. He then looked around and, sure they were not being overheard. "He really didn't push the former Alcalde. It was just an accident. I think he would have saved him if he could."
"So he never killed anyone?" Gomez asked.
"Zaragoza was an accident and Luis Ramone was also an accident…" Mendoza replied.
"That is good to know!" Sepulveda decided. "But, if he never killed anyone, why have we been trying to catch him for so long?"
Mendoza looked at him, struggling to understand how he had ever been able to put together the clues leading to the conclusion that Don Diego was Zorro. His Corporal clearly seemed less bright that morning, so he wondered whether his intelligence diminished any time De Soto was close by.
"Because he opposed the Alcaldes and attacked us when we were trying to kill him." Gomez explained.
"I see…But the Alcaldes were wrong and he was right…And I would also attack those trying to kill me…or, at least, run from them. I would not like them, that's for sure." Sepulveda reasoned.
"He seems to like us, though…" Gomez stated.
"Because he considers me his best friend! He said so when he was drunk, and we all know drunken men are always honest!" Mendoza bragged and the other two had to agree with him.
ZZZ
De Soto woke up about four hours later, as one of his men came in with a glass sent by Diego. He stared at him, trying to remember the name of the lancer he was going to have transferred to the Amazon Campaign.
"What do you want...Sanz?" He asked, eyes half-opened and a frown on his face.
"Don Diego sent this for you. He said you need to drink it all and you'll be feeling much better in a few minutes." His man answered.
De Soto eyed the glass and reached to take it but hesitated to drink it because of the smell.
"I just saw Don Rafael and the Escalante brothers. They also drank that and they seem perfectly fine." The lancer encouraged him.
De Soto held his breath, so as block the smell, and drank the foul liquid it in two gulps. Five minutes later, the lancer's transfer orders had been forgotten and he was up and ready for a new day, just in time to receive a visit from the Governor and the King's Emissary.
ZZZ
By the time Diego, his family and the other guests had arrived in the pueblo, Victoria was busy tending to her patrons, most of which were wedding guests. He looked at her, hoping she would not want to work in the tavern after the wedding, but sensing that might only be wishful thinking, then gestured to her brothers who headed for the kitchen.
"Come!" Diego asked Victoria, as she had just finished leaving a pitcher of lemonade on a table. Taking her by the hand, he led his fiancée away from the very busy tavern and into the plaza. "You have the right to enjoy yourself for a little while."
"Diego…the guests!" She protested.
"They are well taken care of. I made a deal with Francisco and Ramon. I am to convince you to give them their rooms back, in exchange for them taking over serving in the tavern for a few days. I think they are rather worried due to all that talk about them sleeping in the stables."
"That's what they deserve! They promised they would be there for us and only a few hours later they deliberately put you in danger. I'm being generous by letting them use the stables!" Victoria retorted.
"Perhaps…But I doubt you will want them smelling like manure when they walk you down the aisle, tomorrow." Her fiancé pointed out.
She thought about it for a few moments and had to agree to the validity of his argument. "They will have to sleep in the stables afterward, then!" She conceded as they started looking at the merchandise on sale.
"Here, Don Diego!" one of the vendors offered the caballero a dark-blue sash and a matching cravat, while they were admiring the things displayed on his stand.
Diego smiled at the man whom he knew rather well. He had even helped him a couple of times, once as himself, by lending him some money in order to start his tailor business, and once, as Zorro, by saving his daughter after she had been taken hostage by three bank robbers.
"They would go wonderful with one of your light blue suits!" Victoria encouraged him.
"How much, senor Sotomayor?" He asked.
"Nothing, Don Diego! And this" the man took out a blue women's sash matching the one the caballero was intended on buying "is for the senorita!" he said, offering it to Victoria.
"We appreciate the thought, senor, but I'd rather you'd allow me to pay for them." Diego tried to convince him.
"I wouldn't dream of taking your money, Don Diego! I was hoping to offer them to you as a wedding gift." The man answered. "It would be my honor if you would wear them."
Diego looked at Victoria, who just shrugged her shoulders, and, thanking the man for the present, they headed for the following stand, where the taverness started looking at some platters on display.
As soon as he saw the pair, the vendor took out a beautifully engraved wooden platter from under the table, handing it to them.
"It's very beautifully crafted." Victoria noticed.
"I made it especially for the two of you!" The man told them. "Please, accept it as a wedding gift from me and my wife!"
Diego looked carefully at the man, as if trying to read his thoughts, then at Victoria, who was just as surprised as he was by the gesture. He was flattered by the man's offering but he was also wondering what was the reason behind it. Zorro had, indeed, once saved the man's wife from a fire. Yet, it was also him who was, at least in part, responsible for having placed her in danger, by seeking refuge in the family's stables while he was suffering the effects of a rattlesnake's bite. As Diego, on the other hand, the only thing he had done for them was to solve, as Alcalde, the problem Don Alcide was about to cause by deviating the stream they were using. He had no idea that one of Don Alcides' vaqueros had made advances on Magdalena, nor that her 'affections' were the requested price to give them access to water for their farm.
"Thank you, senor Turron." Diego replied, reaching for his coins. "We very much appreciate you thinking of us…But…just let me pay for it…"
"No…Don Diego. I couldn't take your money. It's a gift."
The couple again exchanged a rather confused look and graciously accepted the platter.
The scene repeated with the other stands, all vendors having prepared wedding gifts for them. After the fourth one, they briefly considered leaving the plaza but the next vendor sent his little daughter to bring them back and they were unable to refuse the sweet child. When they tried again, about ten minutes later, an old woman stopped them by taking Victoria's hand and having the taverness follow her to her stand, Diego on their heels. At that point, they realized they were not going to be able to make an escape until they gracefully accepted all the wedding gifts prepared for them.
As for the vendors, they each had a different reason for his or her present, but none of them had anything to do with Diego being Zorro, as the caballero had started to suspect. Truth be told, it was only the lancers who had been around him long enough to notice the changes in his personality, which enabled them to discover the true identity of the legendary outlaw.
In fact, the vendors' motives had everything to do with what Diego had done for them as himself: small gestures and kind words, financial aid, help with curing an animal or patching up a wound, some gifted seeds or advice on how to tend to the crops, teaching their youngsters how to read and write, fixing some simple mechanical devices, exposing various bureaucratic or taxation errors, giving them legal advice and, most recently, establishing the fairest taxation system they had ever had in Los Angeles. The idea of the fair itself, which Diego had come up with, was also contributing to them making enough money to get by for a while, even start a new business, in some cases, and only added to their reasons to be grateful to him.
Furthermore, they also had to do with Victoria, whom they all loved. She had provided shelter to several of them, when their landowner had asked them to vacate their homes; some she had defended from the Alcaldes' oppression – she had not been very successful, but she stood up for them and they remembered that -; finally, some others she had helped with donations of food, money, blankets and clothes.
As things stood, even disregarding all that Zorro had been doing to help the Los Angelinos, between the two of them, Diego and Victoria had, in one way or another, improved the lives of all those people gathered in the plaza, and many more. Now that they were getting married, those whom they had helped decided to show them their gratitude in the only way they knew how: by using the talents God had given them.
ZZZ
"What on Earth did you two do? Bought the entire market?" Don Alejandro asked with some amusement at seeing them entering the tavern carrying all the gifts they had received.
"Actually…we didn't buy anything." Diego pointed out as the two Escalante brothers silently took over the presents, carrying them to Victoria's room.
"What? You stole them?" Don Rodrigo, who was enjoying his drink while discussing with Don Alejandro and a few other dons, asked them, more or less seriously.
"Of course they didn't steal them!" Don Leopoldo retorted as if the other don tried to offend them and ended up offending him as well.
"No…" Diego answered, wondering at Don Leopoldo's attitude. "They were all for free…Apparently, everybody in the plaza had prepared wedding gifts for Victoria and me…"
"Really?" Don Rodrigo questioned, unable to believe his ears, just as the Governor and the Emissary entered the taproom. "That must be the most extraordinary thing I've ever heard! Merchants offering their things for free? You two must be exceptionally popular around here!"
"Of course, they are!" Don Leopoldo hurried to confirm, then hesitated for a few moments, sensing how every pair of current and future De la Vega eyes there was directed towards him. "Senorita Escalante has always done her best to help this community and Diego was the best Alcalde we ever had! I, for one, am truly indebted to him…for solving the whole conundrum with Don Alcides." He clarified.
"I just did what needed to be done." Diego replied, as his eyes started surveying the rest of the room. He had the strangest feeling in his gut, especially after what had happened in the plaza, and he was wondering if he hadn't, perhaps, underestimated the number of people aware of his secret. His eyes stopped scanning the surroundings as they rested on the two officials.
"He's right!" The Governor confirmed, a little amused, indicating towards Don Rodrigo. "I, myself, have never heard of a couple so popular as to elicit such reaction from the people. Don't you agree, Emissary?"
"I do, Your Excellency! But it doesn't seem at all surprising, considering it's Don Diego and Senorita Escalante we're talking about. Remarkable people tend to have a remarkable effect on those around them." He agreed.
ZZZ
"Get me Lieutenant Mendoza, private!" De Soto asked one of his lancers, as soon as the two high-ranking officials left his office.
"You called for me, Alcalde?" Mendoza asked, a few minutes later, as he was already stepping inside the room.
"Yes, Lieutenant! I'd like the combination to the safe. I need to check if the Zorro reward is still intact."
"The…reward on Zorro, Alcalde?" Mendoza asked after swallowing hard, feeling a lump in his throat.
"Yes, Lieutenant. The 6,000 pesos." He confirmed, annoyed at his man. "Or should I ask Don Diego for the combination?"
Mendoza froze at that question, realizing he had never given Diego the combination, nor had he asked for it. He was also fully aware that Zorro had always been able to open the safe, and, thus, concluded that, by stating that Diego knew it as well, the Alcalde had drawn the conclusion that the two were the same person.
"Wh…Why would…Why would you think Don Diego knows it?" The lancer questioned.
"Because he said he had left some money there." De Soto clarified. "I assumed you gave it to him, after the last time you changed it…Did you not?"
"Of course I did, Alcalde!" Mendoza rapidly confirmed, gaining a suspicious frown from his superior, as he hurried to open the safe. "I just didn't know you knew…I hope you are not upset I told Don Diego the combination…"
"He was Alcalde in my absence. It was only natural for him to have it." De Soto replied, making Mendoza wonder at his sudden change in behavior. That reply had nothing to do with the anger he had anticipated.
The lancer opened the safe and they found that the reward money was still intact.
"I was wise not to use it!" De Soto congratulated himself.
"But…Why, Alcalde? Surely, now that Zorro is dead…"
"Who says he's dead, Lieutenant?"
Mendoza swallowed hard again. "I…I thought you decided to declare him dead…"
"True, but, he might still be out there. As Don Diego pointed out the night your men found the bloodied clothes, as long as there isn't a body, he might still be alive." The Alcalde shared his hope with his lancer. "What's with you, Mendoza?" He then asked, as his man was showing clear signs of panic. "Why are you looking at me like that? Do you know something about Zorro? Something you are not telling me? Have you found a body?"
"No…No Alcalde…" The Lieutenant answered, doing his best to sound convincing.
De Soto eyed him suspiciously again. "Are you sure you're not hiding anything from me?"
"No, Alcalde…I couldn't hide anything from you…I'm not good with secrets. You know that!"
"No, you aren't." De Soto agreed, deciding there was no way his man could keep a secret about Zorro, especially since he had no apparent reason to. "As I was saying, I was wise to keep the money, since we seem to be needing it, after all."
"You mean for…for Zorro?" Mendoza asked.
"No, Lieutenant! For the new reward on Don Alcides. Since Senor de Molinas proved to be a King's Emissary, the Governor has instructed me to increase the bounty on his head. He wants him, dead or alive, as soon as possible and, for 6,000 pesos, I have no doubt he will be found. The man is certainly no Zorro…Or, at least, I'd be truly disappointed if he'd turned out to be him…"
"Of course it's not him, Alcalde!" Mendoza confirmed, then realized his mistake as De Soto was again eying him suspiciously. "I mean…Don Alcides is evil! He shot one of his men and also tried to kidnap Senorita Pollo and Senorita Escalante. Zorro would never do such things…"
"Well…Abduct Senorita Escalante…maybe...but you are right, he would have never kidnaped Senorita Pollo and he was certainly not a murderer." De Soto conceded, not noticing his Lieutenant had started sweating at double his normal speed. "I want private Gala to make the drawings and I want the bounty posters on the cuartel's wall by tomorrow morning. Messengers should also be dispatched as soon as possible."
"Si, Alcalde!" Mendoza answered.
"You are dismissed, Lieutenant!" De Soto ordered his man out.
Mendoza let out a sigh of relief as he exited the office, taking a few minutes to pull himself together, then headed towards the tavern for a refreshment.