Chapter 54 – Felipe's plan
To implement Felipe's plan, Don Alejandro had to involve two of his most trusted workers in the perilous situation. Both had worked for the De la Vegas for a long time, and their loyalty was without question. Still, Don Alejandro felt bad about sharing Diego's secret when his son had been so careful to keep the show going while everybody was safe in their ignorance. He considered a disgrace the fact he had known the secret for only a couple of hours and he was already telling, while Diego had been silent for years. However, Don Alejandro could not see another way to keep the men silent and motivated in the task, other than telling them the truth from the start.
"I knew it!" Pedro said when Don Alejandro confessed his son was Zorro, punching the air with his right fist. "Yes! Yes!"
"What do you mean you knew it?" Don Alejandro said, totally flabbergasted. "How could you, when I, his own father, didn't have a clue? I only found out over an hour ago!"
"Pablo, didn't I tell you Don Diego could be Zorro? Didn't I? So many times, but you always laughed that idea off!"
"You did say that a few times, yes; and I didn't believe you. Well, I still can't believe it. This is certainly shocking," Pablo said, shaking his head.
"How did you know, Pedro?" Don Alejandro said. "Come on, tell me. Put me to shame."
"Oh, for a long while, mainly little details, like how he could return home from a long journey and his mare would look fresh as if she had just left the stable. And the opposite, how sometimes he looked so tired after a short ride from the pueblo. And I never, ever, saw the two of them in the same place at the same time. Many things, actually. But, the main clue for me was when Zorro found my little girl when she was lost. Only your son knew she was missing, because he saw me in a state looking for her after dusk. Zorro could not have known so quickly he was needed at that time. I asked your son about it after Carmelita was safe at home, and he said he was flattered anybody could think he was Zorro, because it was a ridiculous notion. In the end, I had to agree with him. But I always kept my suspicions. Didn't you suspect him, ever?"
"I had the odd moment when I contemplated the idea that he could be the one, yes," Don Alejandro said, ashamed of his lack of perception and insight, "but then Diego would immediately do something extremely stupid, and that got the silly idea rushing off my mind. Always."
"How is he? You said he is injured," Pedro said. "Is he all right?"
"He is unconscious in one of the rooms at the tavern. He got poisoned with the dagger that killed Don Luis, stabbed with it in the back."
"Oh, no! I'm sorry. That looks bad. Is he going to make it?" Pablo said, taking a hand to his mouth, in disbelief.
"Nobody knows, but I really hope so."
"All right. How can we help him? What do you want us to do, boss?" Pedro said, eager to help the man who saved his daughter. "Of course, we won't tell anybody about this. The secret is safe with us."
"Thanks. Here is what I want you to do. The plan is…"
ZZZ
Victoria didn't want to leave Diego's side, but Pilar had arrived already and she had to open the tavern to the public. It was going to be a very long day, and she was reluctant to get on with it, holding onto Diego's inert hand as if it was a lifeline, almost as if she would die whenever she let go of it.
"Felipe, how long have you known his secret for?" she asked after Don Alejandro left.
"From the beginning," the youngster signed, but Victoria didn't understand him. Then he held four fingers up, hoping that would be clear enough for her.
"Four… months?"
Felipe shook his head.
"Years?" She huffed then when Felipe nodded. "Four years? Since he returned from Spain?" Felipe nodded again, averting his eyes, unable to look at the mix of jealousy, anger, and guilt in hers. "He created Zorro immediately after returning from Spain then… How come I never realized before?" Of course! That mysterious Zorro appeared the first time in the pueblo to get Don Alejandro and me out of jail only days after Diego's arrival. Right after he looked interested in me, kissing my hand at the tavern, defending me from that obnoxious soldier, and then… never again he showed any real interest in me. How could I be such a fool? How? And you… what the hell were you thinking?! She thought, with her eyes throwing daggers at Diego's inert body. She didn't want to, but she couldn't help but blaming him for the whole fiasco.
"Why you only courted me as Zorro? Why? Why you didn't tell me it was you under that mask, you fool?" she cried then, letting go of his hand. But, who is the greatest fool? The fool, or the other fool who lived in denial for four years, believing the fool? She stood up to leave then, even more upset than before. "I have to go. Do you need anything? More food, more water… anything?"
Felipe shook his head, signing everything was fine.
"Are you sure? I am closing the door now, and you are not to get out of this room until we open it, remember?"
Felipe made the "I'm fine" sign again, and Victoria headed for the connecting door.
"Good luck. Take good care of him, please. Thank you."
ZZZ
"I am proud Don Alejandro trusted me with this secret, and I will do anything in my power to help him," Pedro said at the tavern while clearing the debris upstairs, leaving most of the bulky, broken pieces leaning against one of the bedroom's door, as instructed.
"Me too. We'll not only have the honour of helping the legendary Zorro, but also Don Diego, don't forget," Pablo said.
"How many times I told you he could be the one, and you all laughed at me?"
"Yes, yes, many times. No need to rub it in! Blimey, who would have thought, ah? I could not picture Don Diego behind Zorro's mask, I really couldn't. I always believed there was much more to him than met the eye, but I never gave any serious thought to the fact he could be Zorro. But if fits perfectly well with his odd behaviour, doesn't it?"
"Yes, totally. All that sleeping until late in the mornings, disappearing without a trace for hours only to reappear again at the library as if he had been there all that time, reading in a world of his own, unaware of what was going on… Unbelievable. And his own father didn't have a clue!"
"Well, not only him. Nobody did. Nobody but you, clever clogs."
"Look, the alcalde is coming," Pedro said then, looking down to the ground floor. "Keep quiet now, and follow the cues."
"Yes. We can't screw this up! God help us," Pablo said, making the sign of the cross on himself.
ZZZ
Esteban woke up by the sound of hammering. He could hear some voices arguing over the noise, and one of them was Victoria's. He stood up and approached the connecting door, surprised to see the chest of drawers back in place, blocking the door as it was before. He moved it to a side, resenting his bruised ribs again, and then opened the latch of the connecting door, but he couldn't get through to Diego's room because it was closed on the other side. He considered stepping out of the bedroom to use the front door, but he decided it would be better if nobody saw him up and about before he knew what was going on. He knocked on the connecting door softly then, and soon enough, Felipe opened it.
"Felipe, how's Diego? Is he all right?"
The youngster nodded and let him in. Diego was still in bed, looking exactly the same as before, except for his clothes: at least he wore a nightgown now, no longer naked.
"Is he still unresponsive like before?"
Felipe nodded again, while the arguing continued outside, at the landing of the first floor.
"That is not what I want! You are making a shoddy job here, and you know it!" Victoria cried. Esteban looked at Felipe with a query in his eyes, but the youngster shrugged his shoulders and pointed to his ear, so they kept listening.
"Victoria, these men are working the best they can, and as fast as they can," Don Alejandro said.
"Well, that is not enough! If they carry on like this, I'll make them rip all the badly placed boards and start again from scratch! I am going to serve dinner now, and when I come back, I want to see good progress here. With quality work!"
They heard her furious footsteps going down the stairs, and Don Alejandro's apologetic voice.
"Do it the best you can and don't pay much attention to her attitude. She is quite upset with the whole situation. I'm going to check on my nephew now."
Don Alejandro soon stepped in through the connecting door to Diego's bedroom.
"Why is this door open? The alcalde is still lurking downstairs! That's why we are playing the pantomime up here!"
"Uncle, what's going on?"
"I'll tell you in a moment, but please, go back to your room. Felipe, are you all right here? Do you need anything?"
The young boy shook his head and sat down at the chair by the bed.
"Any changes with him?"
Felipe negated again, with a long face.
"Remember, don't use the doors unless there is an emergency. Specially the front one, which is blocked with the building materials. We'll come to check on you two regularly, whenever we can. Don't forget to latch the door from your side too. Come on, Esteban, go back in there," he said, pointing at the connecting door. He followed his nephew to the adjacent room and closed the door behind him, with the latch. When he heard Felipe doing the same at the other side, he moved the chest of drawers back in place. "I'm so glad to see you awake. How are you?"
"I'm fine. Well, as fine as I can be," he said, taking a hand to his side again, grimacing. "These broken ribs are killing me. What's going on?"
"The alcalde made Victoria open the tavern today. Actually, it is quite full this evening, as if everybody wants to see the mess and get on our way. I told two of my men about the situation, and they are pretending to be fixing the upper floor and the banister rail, as slowly as they can, to give Diego a chance to recover without anybody sneaking around the bedrooms."
"You told your men about Diego's secret? Do you trust them that much?"
"Yes, I do. And I had to tell them, anyway, so they know how important it is to keep him safe. One of them claimed he always suspected Diego could be Zorro, and that was a big surprise for me."
"Is Victoria acting then, shouting to stall the work?"
"Yes. Isn't she great? Considering she is in a state about you two, and so upset with everything, she is giving us some very realistic, dramatic shouting."
"Why worried about me? I'll be fine. As the doctor said, I only need time and rest."
"The alcalde was here before, prodding at you again, but thank God you were so exhausted you didn't even flinch. You have been asleep all day, nearly as unresponsive as Diego." He stopped for a moment, listening to the hammering outside. "They have been at it for a few hours and you only woke up now, despite all that noise. And I know you are a light sleeper."
"So, is it that late now then? No wonder I am so hungry," he said, taking a slice of bread from the tray with breakfast, still at the side table. He munched on it, despite being dry and hard after a few hours sitting on that plate, bothering his broken tooth, and he carried on talking with his mouth full, spitting crumbs. "About the alcalde: what does he want now? Still accusing me of killing Carlos Berlanga?"
"Yes. He wants to take you to his jail, to a cell, but so far the doctor has managed to convince him you could be dying and you should stay here with your family unless you improve or die, whatever comes first. But, the moment you are awake, Ramón wants to take you in, so please, you have to be careful and go back to bed to play dead anytime he comes near you. Don't get out of this room at all."
"I need to relieve myself," he said, embarrassed, looking down at his trousers.
"Use that chamber pot under the bed. We'll figure something out. It is the same for Diego and Felipe. That poor boy will be locked in that room until Diego wakes up."
"Whose plan is this?"
"His. Felipe's."
"Clever boy. Yes, probably the best thing to keep people away from that room is having some clumsy workers brandishing hammers."
"Yes. So far, so good."
"Now, I know I am not supposed to be up and about, demanding food, but… can I have something a little bit more nutritious than dry, hard toasts and honey, please?"
"I'll see how we can sneak something in. Please, go back to bed, and pretend to be unconscious anytime you hear anybody coming upstairs. It could be Ramón coming up again at any time. You'll never know."
"All right, I'll try my best to play dead. But first things first," he said, reaching for the chamber pot.
"Number two?"
"No, you are lucky this time," he said with a cheeky smile, while undoing the front of his trousers. "Please, go and get me some albóndigas or something meaty and rich, before I start chewing my own hand. Go."
ZZZ
"Victoria, Esteban is awake and wants a proper meal. He says he's starving," Don Alejandro said at the kitchen. "How do we do that?"
"How is he? Is he all right?"
"Yes, he seems fine. Sore, as to be expected, but fine."
"Eat your own meal here now, and I'll take a tray upstairs later, as if it is for you. That will do."
"Yes, that's a good plan."
She served him a generous portion of albóndigas con tomate then, and the old don ate them standing by the table.
"That's delicious, thank you."
"What about Diego? Any changes?"
"No. He is the same. Which is not bad, considering he could be deteriorating by now. By the way, you did really well before with all that shouting. I was really impressed by your acting skills."
She laughed then, shaking her head.
"Do you think I am acting? I am so anxious for Diego, shouting like that helps me to release some tension. I get carried away every time. The screams and the frustration are real."
"Well, carry on like that, by all means! Everybody was looking at you. It is a fantastic decoy to distract their attention."
"Thank you. I hope the rest of the evening goes by quickly and I can go upstairs to sit with Diego. Poor Felipe. I feel so sorry for him. I bet he is having second thoughts about his plan by now."
"Yes, probably. But it is a good plan," Don Alejandro said, finishing his meal quickly. "I'll go back upstairs now then. Please, bring Esteban's dinner up as soon as you can or he may try to eat the flowers. Or my arm, if I'm not careful."
"Alright. I'll be there in five minutes," she said, chuckling.
ZZZZZ