Chapter 15
"No, Victoria." Alejandro untied Zorro after he had placed a bandage around the waist of the man. And he noticed how Victoria tried to remove the mask.
"He will be more comfortable..." The woman uttered.
"No, Victoria. The less we know, the better. What you not know, you can not tell. I believe Zorro thinks it is bad enough we found his cave. I want you to return to the pueblo and stay in the tavern."
"But..." Victoria tried again.
Alejandro sighed, understanding it was difficult for the woman.
The secret needed protection. "No buts. You can count on that snake, as you like to call señorita Annabella, to tell the alcalde she shot Zorro. And by what you told me, the alcalde will start a search party and wants to know why you disappeared. Señorita Annabella saw you, so she can tell you helped Zorro."
Victoria, holding back on her famous temper for the respect she felt for the old don. Don Alejandro forgot one thing. She would do anything to help and save Zorro. At the same time, there was this little voice in her head, assuming the man might be right. "I didn't think of that." Victoria had to admit.
"Well, I did. Listen. If anyone asks, you came to visit me. We lost track of time, and I invited you to stay for dinner. That is why you were not in the tavern this evening. You stick to that story at all cause. It will be her word against ours. And the alcalde can't prove we didn't dine together. Just as señorita Annabella can't prove you were in that shed and saw Zorro get shot.
I go back to the hacienda and wait for Felipe to return." Alejandro glared at Zorro, his eyes were watery. "It is too bad, I send Diego to Santa Barbara to meet with our attorney for some business affairs. He should be back in a few days." Again the don sighed. "This time it is my fault Diego isn't here. We could use his medical knowledge." There was a hint of regret in Alejandro's voice. "Victoria, you can count on the alcalde coming to search the hacienda, as he has done before. That shed you mentioned is close by, so he would be stupid if he didn't come to search for Zorro in my hacienda. When he is on his way, I will return to the cave and take care of Zorro."
Again, Victoria tried to object.
"Victoria, do as I say. If you want to save Zorro, you return to the tavern this instant. Be prepared for de Soto to come and also search the tavern. There is a chance he suspects you helped him." After the last check on Zorro, Alejandro folded his arms around Victoria, her shoulders. "Come, I'll saddle you a horse. I sent Felipe to the pueblo when it is safe for you to come."
"How do you want to do that without telling Felipe?" Victoria pointed at Zorro.
For a short moment, the man seemed confused when he remembered what they were talking about. "That is easy. Felipe goes over to the pueblo almost daily. I send him on a simple errand, and I am sure he stops in the tavern to drink something. That will be your signal it is safe to come. Be alert, you are not followed. If that is the case, don't come to the cave but go to the hacienda."
Alejandro saw how the woman was fighting against bursting out in tears.
"Come, Victoria, we have to hurry. And don't you forget. You came to visit me. We lost track of time, and I invited you to stay for dinner. We had a simple but lovely stew, and that is what we stick by."
Fifteen minutes later, Alejandro had a concerned look on his face as he saw how the woman disappeared in the distance. He shook his head, made a small prey he had done right and entered the hacienda.
He walked straight for the fireplace and pulled a hidden lever.
First, he checked whether the man dressed in black had moved and was still as comfortable as possible.
"You stupid fool." The don murmured, taking the mask off. He was not the slightest bit surprised to see who was hiding under it. Alejandro started to take care of Toronado, filling a bucket with water, taking the gear off.
He went on until he heard someone is knocking so hard on his front door, it sounds like the person wants to break it.
The don rushes up the stairs opens the hidden door while he shouts, "Patience, I am coming. Can't a man fall asleep while reading a book!"
Alejandro ruffles his hand through his hair, messing it up a bit, and opens the door. Blink his eyes to see who is standing there.
"Alcalde, what are you doing here at this time of day. Why are you banging so loud on my door? Are you trying to wake the death or something!?"
"Zorro, where is he!?"
"Zorro?" Alejandro sounds genuinely surprised. "Alcalde, I don't know what you are talking about. What about Zorro?"
De Soto pushes the man aside, Alejandro falls to the ground. Mendoza coming in and tried to help Alejandro back to his feet.
"I have reason to believe you are hiding the outlaw, Zorro. I have an eyewitness. Zorro was shot in the back in a shed nearby. We have already found the innocent man he killed. Your hacienda is nearby. Zorro is injured, and you support him. Now, tell me where you hide him before I order this house to get burned to the ground!"
Mendoza is apologizing as Alejandro finally can get back to his feet.
Alejandro his face is red. De Soto feels the need to take a step back, seeing the anger in the don's eyes. "Alcalde, how many times have you accused me of helping or hiding Zorro? How many times have you turned my hacienda upside down? Twenty, thirty times? And let me ask you, of all these times, how many have you ever found the slightest piece of evidence that is true!?"
De Soto hesitantly tries to say something. Alejandro not giving him to opportunity.
"Non! Not once. I am not hiding Zorro. Feel free to search the hacienda and take your time. You won't find anything. And all your efforts will do is help Zorro to stay out of your reach if he is in trouble!"
De Soto waved his hands, and four lancers spread through the hacienda in search of the outlaw. "Then you won't mind my man searching the hacienda and terrain? Just to make sure."
Alejandro clenched his teeth. "Not a bit, señor Alcalde. Can I offer you some refreshment in the meantime?" Alejandro walked over to a small table and filled a glass with his finest Madeira. "We both know Zorro is not a murderer. Your witness must be mistaken Zorro for someone else. A bandit perhaps Zorro is already trying to capture. Doing the work of you and your lancers.
I have not left the hacienda all day. I had señorita Escalante over for a visit. She stayed to dine with me. You can ask her."
De Soto seemed to doubt or it was Zorro he was chasing at the moment after what the don said. To stubborn to admit he might be wrong. "Ah, yes, señorita Escalante, the other accomplisher. She disappeared from the pueblo. According to my witness, she was there in the shed helping Zorro."
Alejandro lifted his shoulders as if what de Soto was saying did not have his interest. "Then your witness is lying. Victoria was here all afternoon."
Sipping from the glass the alcalde had refused, he asked. "Who is this witness you are talking about anyway? He is wrong and tries to deceive you. Maybe he is the one who murdered that man you mentioned. And tries to blaim Zorro for it."
De Soto, his eyes, glared through the library like he was looking for something and not knowing what it was. "That is strictly confidential. And do you have anyone who can affirm this story? Your son, perhaps, or that deaf boy?"
"Felipe went to the pueblo. Diego is on his way to Santa Barbara."
"Santa Barbara?" the alcalde wanted to know, sounding suspicious. "Why?"
Patiently, Alejandro explains, "I don't think I have to tell you how I run my rancho. If you must know, Diego is on his way to visit my attorney to talk about business affairs."
"And you trust that dimwit to do that?"
Like a stroke of lighting, the anger Alejandro was holding inside spit out. "Alcalde, that is my son you are talking about."
De Soto got frighted by the spirit the old don was expressing. He wanted his lancers to order and arrest the old fool, when one of the lancers returned to the library and said they had not found anything.
De Soto felt much braver now he had six lancers to get his back and stepped forward. Only standing one foot from the don, he threatened.
"We will leave now. Give me one reason to make me suspect you are lying, and you hang."
"Mi alcalde, Don Alejandro is highly respected in the pueblo. I don't think it is wise..." Mendoza, who also was in the library now, tried to interfere between the men.
"Stay out of this, sergeant." De Soto silenced his sergeant.
Mendoza scared for what de Soto next order was to be. He liked the old don and his son. "I just mean, do you remember the last time you tried to hang someone. Zorro came, and it was very uncomfortable what he did."
De Soto, now paying all this attention to Mendoza. The voice of the sergeant getting softer as he continued telling.
"It took us hours before we had washed all the honey and feathers of our weapons, uniforms and... ourselves." The last three words were barely to get heard.
Alejandro, grinning as he remembered what Mendoza was talking about, it had been a sight to see.
Agitated, de Soto inhaled through his nose. "Not another word, Mendoza. Unless you want latrine duty for a month!"
After these words, the alcalde stormed out of the hacienda, followed by his men.
Mendoza, leaving the hacienda as last. "Excuse the alcalde, don Alejandro. He is just a bit angry, Zorro seems to outsmart him again."
Rushing out the door when a yell entered the hacienda.
"Mendoza!"
Victoria made her way to the tavern, apologizing to her helpers for returning that late. "I am sorry. I went to visit don Alejandro, and he invited me to stay for dinner. It was stupid of me, I know."
"Don't you worry, Victoria. We were perfectly able to handle it with the two of us."
Victoria had arrived back in the tavern just before the closing time, and she had to give her helpers an explanation for why she had not told Pilar and Maria she was taking the afternoon off.
Her helpers giggled and said they told each other their employer perhaps had been kidnapped by a certain handsome black outlaw for a romantic afternoon.
Victoria hoped she had regretfully smiled when she again explained it was don Alejandro who had invited her for dinner. And she had forgotten to mention she had planned to go to the hacienda.
Maria had left as soon as her hours were past. Pilar had stayed and helped Victoria clean the tavern and kitchen, where the dishes had piled up all evening.
"Don't feel guilty, Victoria. You work hard, and we all forget something sometimes. It is just too bad it was for a dinner with don Alejandro, and not you know who." Pilar winked at her employer.
And now, close to midnight, Victoria went up the stairs to go to bed. She prayed for Zorro to recover. From a corner of her eye, Victoria spotted the cash register, she had placed in her bedroom so long ago.
Too restless to sleep anyway, Victoria heightened the lamp for some more light and opened the register.
Soon she found the pages she had been searching for. Out of the small box in her draw, she got a random poem and laid it next to the page.
It was one of the first she had received.
If I had the words to describe my feelings for you,
I would be the happiest man ever lived.
But no word is right to express why my heart beats for you.
So I have to settle for this verse.
Your smile
Your touch
Your presence
And your soul.
Mesmerize and entangle me completely.
If I had but one ambition, one utter goal.
It would be to hold you in my arms for eternity.
Victoria held her breath. The handwriting.
It matched perfectly. Tears began to fill her eyes. She had found her mystery writer.
And knowing his name, she instantly felt who the woman was these poems was for. She had felt the tension sometimes. Countless times he had come to her, staring at her and taking her breath away. Diego had wanted to tell her something that was on the tip of his tongue for some reason holding back. And every time it happened she had closed her eyes and refused to let the moment enter her mind or heart.
Somewhere in the night, Victoria had fallen asleep. She woke up to the noise of someone trying to tear her door down. She was still wearing the clothes from last night, opening the window. Victoria saw corporal Sulpevelda and de Soto hammering on her door, accompanied by most of the lancers.
Hanging out of the window, she shouted. "Alcalde? What is this? I open in an hour, can't you wait?!"
"Señorita Escalante, I demand you open the door. I want to search your tavern. I have reason to believe you are hiding a dangerous criminal."
Victoria remembered don Alejandro had warned her this to happen."Let me get dressed, and I will be there."
"Now, señorita! My men surrounded your tavern. There is no way out for that bastard. Open the door, or I smoke the two of you out!"
Five minutes later, Victoria opened the main door of the tavern. She planned to help de Soto in his search. He could strip the tavern, even put it on fire. He was not going to find Zorro.
De Soto came in, grinned wickedly. "Señorita Escalante, you are under arrest."
Placing her hands on her waist. Victoria tried to make herself as tall as possible. "And for what is it this time, don't mind me asking?"
"For helping Zorro. And I will get the truth out of you. I have an eyewitness, you helped him escape yesterday."
"That is very impressive, alcalde." Victoria, her blood felt icy. De Soto was not to see she was lying. Stick with what don Alejandro told you, and do not let him guess you know more. "Since I haven't even seen Zorro in days. And who is this eyewitness? Let me assure you he is lying."
"I doubt that, señorita. I think you are the one lying. Lancers take her to prison!"
Before she could decide what to do, try to make a run for it, or accept that she to get arrested. Two lancers had grabbed her arms, and Victoria got dragged across the plaza.
.
.