With this chapter we have reached the halfway point of the story. Any comments? I would love to hear your opinion.

Chapter 4. Legal Offenses.

The alcalde was in a bad mood. Actually his mood was lousy, probably the worst mood he had ever had in his entire life. His head ached from the hangover of Mendoza's damned herbal liquor. How stupid to listen to Mendoza, damn it. Plus his jaw also ached from the punch, although it looked like the tooth wasn't going to fall out after all.

He tried to concentrate on his work, but it was no use. The pain in his head wouldn't let him understand what those papers were saying. At lunchtime he went to the tavern but found it closed, and decided not to eat anything because it was his turn to cook for Sepulveda and he had already made the mistake of trying his veal stew once.

He was fed up with that village, its inhabitants, its climate, its cattle... there was nothing he liked there, and he did not see how to escape.

"I have the coffee you ordered, señor." said Sergeant Mendoza in a tone of voice excessively loud for de Soto's headache.

"Leave it there, and lower your voice." he said taking a sip of his coffee. It tasted awful, as usual. Soldiers didn't know how to do anything right. He got up to go to the tavern, because there at least the coffee was good. Not as good as the coffee he drank in Madrid, of course, but at least he could drink it. He hoped that it was already open, but where had the damn owner gone?

He went to the other side of the square followed by Mendoza, whom the tavern always attracted like flies to honey, or like a bear to honey, in the alcalde's opinion, because of the volume he occupied. De Soto asked one of the waitresses for a coffee, and then he saw something that spoiled his day. Don Diego de la Vega was there, reading at one of the tables, smiling as if he didn't have a care in the world and lived in a paradise instead of an infectious hole in the middle of nowhere.

On top of that he had the audacity to greet him cheerfully. "Good afternoon, señor alcalde." As if the that particular afternoon, or week, month or year had any good in it. The alcalde responded with a grunt.

A dreadful sound drilled his eardrums, making his headache even worse. Babies seemed to him the most annoying creatures in creation. How anyone could willingly take one on was completely beyond him. He supposed people where stuck with them because they had no choice. Then he remembered something.

"Have you paid the traveler's tax yet?" he said aloud addressing the head of the family.

The recent father heard him and looked at him in terror. "We already paid it again last night, don't you remember?"

Mendoza nodded like a fool. What could be expected of him. "Yes they did, señor. We put the money in the safe." As usual Mendoza giving the reason to others instead of supporting him. Typical.

De Soto looked at the sergeant with a grumpy face. "But there is one more person." he said pointing to the baby.

The tavern keeper had peeked out of the kitchen door and was looking at him with a face of loathing, as was usual for her, but before she could say anything, Don Diego intervened to finish spoiling the situation. "But she doesn't have to pay the traveler's tax because she's not a traveler, she was born here."

The alcalde couldn't figure out how to refute that logical argument. He grunted again as the tavern keeper flashed a huge grin at Don Diego. Why did everyone insist on looking so happy? It was nauseating.

"Was she born last night?" asked de Soto in a moment of lucidity. Then he rubbed his shoulder, he seemed to remember something about being hit there with a broom, but he couldn't manage to remember the details.

Mendoza also smiled for no apparent reason. That seemed like an epidemic of cloying happiness. "Yes, luckily Don Diego was here to help the midwife."

Typical of Don Diego, getting into a mess in order to help. So far so normal. But a gentleman acting as a midwife? What a disgusting thing to do. De Soto had once seen a lamb being born when he was a child and had promised not to go near a parturient female of any species for the rest of his life.

However, it vaguely reminded him of something he had read in the code of laws. He had to think about it more carefully, better yet the next morning, after a good night's sleep. To read those codes you had to have a clear head because they had always seemed to him to be the best remedy for insomnia.

Luckily the waitress brought his coffee and he was able to sit at his table to drink it. When he tasted it he had to hold back a sigh of relief, because it really tasted like coffee, and not like sock-washing water.

Don Diego headed for the kitchen, probably to help the tavern owner with something instead of sitting down to drink something like a normal person. For what it was going to do him good...she only had eyes for her adored Zorro.

Luckily the baby's mother had done something to shut the baby up and it no longer sounded like a cat's tail was being stepped on, so he was able to finish his coffee, and somewhat more relieved he got up to go back to the barracks.

"Mendoza!" he shouted, immediately regretting it because he got a twinge of pain in his head. The very idiot also responded loudly. "Sí, señor."

De Soto gave another wince of pain and said between his teeth. "Let's go back to the barracks."

Mendoza did something surprising, he looked sadly at a girl instead of at the tray of food the waitress was holding in her hand. Funny, he would have to think about it later, or maybe never, because who cared what might be going through Mendoza's head in any case.

He sat back in his armchair and tried to concentrate on the documents in front of him, though with little success.

A few hours later he decided to go to sleep, hoping to feel better the next day.

He got up in a better... no, actually in the same bad mood as the day before, only with less of a headache, so at least he no longer looked like he was sucking on lemons all the time. He remembered that he had heard in the tavern something about a midwife and went to the bookshelf to read the current laws. After looking around for a while he found something interesting and sat down, stroking his beard and looking like he was up to something. This time it had to work. He went to the archive, where the documentation he had collected over the years was kept, and started with the reports of the previous alcalde Luis Ramón.

After two days of work he finally had a list of offenses committed by the gentlemen of the town. Surprisingly, Don Diego was one of those who appeared most often on the list, because practicing medicine without a license was a crime and there was evidence that he had done so on numerous occasions, New Year's Eve among them. Don Diego was second only to his father who was accused of rebellion against authority very frequently. Señorita Escalante also appeared, but being a woman and working class the previous alcalde had not found her dangerous and hardly mentioned her. Nor was she useful to his plans, so the alcalde decided to concentrate on the hacienda owners.

It was time to move on to the next point in his plan.

z...Z...z

Don Alejandro was riding into town on horseback when Don Enrique approached him waving a paper he was holding. "Have you seen this Don Alejandro?"

"See what?" he asked as he dismounted.

"The alcalde has summoned most of the caballeros to an investigation."

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Haven't the soldiers served you with a summons?"

"I've been gone a couple of days, just got back."

Sergeant Mendoza came running up from the barracks with a piece of paper in his hand. "Don Alejandro, this is for you."

"That's what I meant." said Don Enrique.

Don Alejandro read the document and saw that he had to go to a meeting with the alcalde about the offenses committed during the last few years. Without thinking twice he went to the newspaper office where he assumed Diego would be working.

He knocked on the door, but didn't wait for Diego to answer before entering.

"Diego. Have you seen this?" he said indignantly as he approached Diego, who was sitting behind his desk. Then he noticed that Victoria was also there, standing next to him. "Hi Victoria." he greeted her without noticing that she was blushing slightly.

Diego behaved as if his father had not just interrupted them while they were kissing. He tried to distract him from being struck by the appearance of his fiancée, who combed her hair a bit with her hands while Don Alejandro wasn't looking.

"I suppose you're referring to the alcalde's summons." Diego opened one of the table drawers and took out a document. Then he reached out to take the one from his father.

"It seems you have more charges than I do, almost all of them for inciting rebellion."

"And what is he accusing you of?" said Don Alejandro.

"Well, a little of the same, but mainly of treating patients without a medical or midwife's license."

"It's ridiculous, you lend a hand when the doctor is not available, and you have only attended one birth, helping the Indian midwife."

"Luckily it's only been once." muttered Diego recalling the experience. "The thing is that it is a crime included in the code and he wants to charge me, although as I have never received money in return it is difficult for them to sanction me."

"So what are we going to do?"

"Pay a fine, I guess." said Diego with a shrug. "Surely the alcalde will threaten to take us to court, and offer to help us get the charges dropped in exchange for something he wants, like money, influence, or both."

"That sounds like something he would do." his father admitted.

" Yes, the truth is, he's pretty predictable. That's why he hasn't caught me yet."

"And you're not worried that someone will open an investigation about you? What if they do indeed find out something?"

Diego made a skeptical face. "Actually, I don't think so."

"Well, I think you should be worried." said Don Alejandro, annoyed by his son's inaction, although it was a little strange, now that he knew his son did lots of things. Apparently it was hard to kick old habits.

Diego nodded, began to ponder with an expression of concentration, then smiled slightly as he nodded again. "I think you're right, I should worry. I'm going to consult one of the books I have in the office to decide what we're going to do." He got up and left the room to go get the book.

Victoria looked at him suspiciously. "Do you know something, Don Alejandro?"

Don Alejandro for his part seemed a little surprised by Diego's change in attitude. "Tell me."

"That was Zorro's smile. I'm sure he's up to something."

"I think you're right. Now I'm the one who's getting worried."

Victoria smiled proudly. "The one who should be worried is the alcalde, but he has no way of knowing."

Don Alejandro also smiled as he heard her. "True. Whatever it is doesn't look good for him."

Diego re-entered the office from the file room. He turned to his father. "I have to go to Monterrey to make some inquiries, will you come with me?"