Chapter 19
Don Cristobal announced his arrival in Los Angeles for Wednesday and on Monday Diego rode into the pueblo to talk with the alcalde.
"Don Diego, why are you here today? Are you going to complain to me that Toronado threw you and you want Zorro to take him back?" de Soto mocked him, showing that he hadn't forgotten the incident yet.
"I must disappoint you, Alcalde. Toronado hasn't thrown me. I'm here about the tavern."
"What about the tavern, Don Diego? Gonzalez has a document that proves his ownership. You won't get the tavern back so easily."
"It's the document that I have doubts about. We have reason to believe that the document is forged in part and I demand a court session to prove it. My lawyer will arrive in two days from Santa Paula."
"I'm curious how you will be able to prove your statement, Don Diego. I will inform Señor Gonzalez that there will a court session in two days."
Diego nodded in acquiescence and left the office.
Z Z Z
When they went to the pueblo on Wednesday, it was the first time Diego rode Toronado openly. For some reason he felt the need to ride on him while Ramon and Victoria were riding in the carriage steered by a servant.
A large crowd was gathered in the tavern that served as court room. The tables were arranged in rows divided by an aisle in the middle. Diego, Victoria and Don Cristobal took seats on the front row on the left side while Gonzalez sat down on the front right row. de Soto took over the presidency in his function as judge.
Mendoza sat behind Diego and whispered in his ear. "I have seen that Señora Gonzalez and the children left in the morning with the cart full of luggage. I think they wanted to be prepared if they lose the case and have already taken everything with them." Diego was surprised and informed Don Cristobal about the new situation.
After de Soto had opened the session, Don Cristobal rose from his seat and made his statement. "Six months ago Señor Gonzalez came to Los Angeles and claimed to be the new owner of the tavern that was managed and in her belief, owned by my client, Doña Victoria. As proof of his ownership, Señor Gonzalez presented a document that had the signatures of my client's brothers Francisco and Ramon Escalante. We have evidence now that the document is forged. Thereby, my client requests that the tavern is returned to her, respectively her brothers."
Don Cristobal sat down again and Gonzalez rose from his seat to defend himself. "The tavern belongs to me! The brothers of Señora de la Vega signed over the tavern to me after they lost money to me when we were playing cards. They had the right to do that because women can't own property. It always belongs to their male relatives or husbands. Señora de la Vega wasn't married at the time the document was signed, so it belonged to her brothers. Señora de la Vega agreed that the signature was that of her brothers so the tavern belongs to me."
"Señor Gonzalez is right about that," de Soto stated. "Doña Victoria never owned the tavern, but her brothers did and they had the right to sign it over."
Diego rose from his seat and addressed Gonzalez. "You have played cards with the Escalante brothers and then they signed over the tavern?"
"Si, that's how it was." Gonzalez confirmed.
"To lose so much money takes probably all night and you were playing a long time?"
"Si."
"Ramon Gonzalez, one of the brothers came to Los Angeles recently and is sitting here in the tavern. After playing cards with that man all night, you should be able to point him out. Would you please do that?"
Gonzalez scanned through the crowd and tried to identify Ramon, until he helplessly gave up. "I'm sorry, I don't remember his face so well. It was only one night and we were all drunk."
"I think you're lying Señor," Diego accused him. "You can't identify him because you have never met him."
Ramon rose from his seat two rows behind Victoria and stepped forward. "I have never met Señor Gonzalez before I came to Los Angeles and I have never played cards with him. And I would never give away the tavern, robbing my sister of the only way to provide for herself!"
"That's a lie, Señor Escalante. We played cards all night and then you signed that document. You don't want to admit that to your sister." Gonzalez took the document that had been lying on a table in front of him. "Alcalde, I request Señor Ramon Escalante to give his signature and compare it to the one on this document."
"That's a reasonable request, Señor Gonzalez," de Soto agreed. "Ramon Escalante, please sign your name on this paper."
Ramon stepped forward and signed his name on the blank paper. De Soto took the document and compared the signatures. "They look identical to me." de Soto held up both papers for everyone to see. The signatures were the same by general agreement.
"There is word against word," de Soto stated. "Gonzalez has the document with the signature, so the tavern belongs to him."
Gonzalez smirked at Diego and Victoria, confident that he had won, but Diego rose again. "I believe that Señor Gonzalez forged the signature, maybe copying it from a letter Ramon sent to his brother."
"You can't prove that!" Gonzalez rose, enraged.
"I think I can." Diego stepped forward and held the document against the light. "If you look closely at both signatures, you can see that there is a distinct impression in the paper under Ramon's signature, but not under Francisco's. Why would that be the case?"
Diego turned to Gonzalez. "Let me tell how it was done. You took a letter from Francisco's pocket with Ramon's signature. Putting the letter on top of the document, you copied the signature to the paper below by retracing it until a clear impression was left on the paper underneath. With pen and ink you retraced the impression on the document so the signature was identical to the one on the letter."
De Soto held the letter against the light. "It is indeed as Don Diego has stated. There is a deep impression at Ramon's signature that Francisco's is missing."
"The tavern belongs to me!" Gonzalez shouted. "I won it from Francisco Escalante in a poker game! I want my part of it!"
"The signature of Francisco Escalante is insignificant, Señor Gonzalez," Don Cristobal corrected him. "According to California law property is inherited by the oldest brother, and in this case, Ramon Escalante."
"Don Cristobal is right, only Ramon Escalante is the heir of the tavern," de Soto agreed. "In my opinion it was proved sufficiently that you forged the signature and thereby falsely obtained ownership of the tavern. I declare that the tavern is returned to Ramon Escalante immediately."
Victoria happily embraced Diego. "How did you know that? You'll have to tell me later."
"I read it in a book," Diego declared with a wink.
"I knew that you would use some trick!" Gonzalez shouted at Diego and Victoria. "But I won it rightfully from your brother Francisco. I don't care if the other brother was there or not. I won't give it back to you." Gonzalez sounded like a madman.
"You have lost, Gonzalez," Diego stated. "There is nothing you can do about it! Now pack your things and leave!"
"I can still do something. I hate this rotten pueblo and I'll be happy when I'm away from here. All the constant complaining about the food my wife cooked and that the prices were too high. How can you prefer the cooking of a whore to that to of my wife? This town doesn't deserve a good tavern!"
Gonzalez went over to the window where a candle was burning and dropped it to the floor. He must have prepared the interior of the tavern somehow as everything around him started to burn immediately and the fire spread quickly through the tavern. In panic, everyone fled out of the tavern that was burning in minutes. Diego swooped up Victoria and carried her out, setting her down on the plaza. He noticed with relief that Ramon was right behind them.
In front of the tavern the cart with Gonzalez' wife was standing and Diego could hear Gonzalez shouting at his wife. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be on your way to San Diego."
"It's Manuel. Soon after we were in our way, he said he had forgotten his toy horse in our room. He jumped from the wagon and ran back to Los Angeles. It took me some time until I could turn around the wagon on the narrow road and then the wheel broke..."
"You mean, our son is in the tavern?" Gonzalez looked in horror at the burning tavern.
"There he is!" The woman pointed at the tavern window on the upper floor where the frightened face of a five year old boy could be seen.
Diego was already acting while Gonzalez was thinking what to do. Stepping to the fountain in the center he wet his clothing before he went into the burning house.
"No, Diego," Victoria tried to stop him, but he didn't hear her. With burning eyes she saw him vanish in the smoke and she waited for him to come out again as the flames were engulfing the building.
The moment the roof collapsed Victoria began to scream. " Diego! Diego!" She wanted to run into the burning building, but Ramon held her back forcefully. "Diego!" she continued to scream and she struggled against Ramon's arms that were holding her back. "Let me go, I need to get to him, let me go!"