Chapter Ten
In the morning, Señora Helena decided to go to the market place to try and pick up any information she could about what had happened last night. Everyone was talking about the commandanté’s death and not surprisingly, no one was sad to see him go. The one thing she could not find out is just what had prompted Zorro to chase Ortega and fight him on the rooftops. And why was he dressed as a civilian? Money was not a factor as Zorro had thrown all of it to the soldiers.
She saw Sergeant Garcia in the plaza. He was looking again at the spot where Ortega had died and he was looking a little lost. She went over to speak to him, but he could shed no more light on what had happened that the others she had spoken to.
To change the subject, she maneuvered the sergeant into speaking about Diego de la Vega. The sergeant had known him a long time and was in a position to tell her quite a lot. They had been speaking for only a little while; however, when Don Domingo Cortez drove up in a carriage with Rosarita beside him.
She called out, “Sergeant Garcia! Thank heaven you are here! Please, I must tell you something very important.”
Sergeant Garcia walked over to her carriage. Señora Helena followed behind. She might as well find out what had the señorita so agitated. “Greetings Don Domingo. And to you Señorita. Now how may I help you?”
“Oh, Sergeant. Last night a man came to my uncle’s house and tried to kill me! If it had not been for Zorro who came to my rescue, he would have succeeded.” Her uncle wholeheartedly agreed.
“You say a man tried to kill you? Do you know who he was, Señorita?”
“Si. He was Señor Sancho Fernandez.”
“Fernandez. Sancho Fernandez. I know of no one in Los Angeles by that name,” mused the sergeant, almost to himself.
“He was the only other passenger on the ship with Capitán Ortega and myself when we sailed down from Monterey. I got off at Santa Barbara and the two of them continued on.”
Suddenly, Señora Helena had a flash of insight. She stepped forward. “Please excuse me, señorita, but I could not help overhearing your story. I would like to ask you a question. What was Señor Fernandez wearing when he came to your hacienda last night?”
Rosarita wondered who this woman was who was asking the question, but saw no harm in answering it. She described his clothing as well as she could. Sergeant Garcia blurted out, “But that is exactly what Capitán Ortega was wearing when he died last night! The coat, the shirt, the trousers, all just as the señorita described them!”
Señora Helena crossed her arms and said, “Then I would say that Capitán Ortega and Señor Fernandez were one and the same man.”
Sergeant Garcia was slow. “The same man? How can that be?”
Rosarita was a little quicker. “But what happened to the real Capitán Ortega?”
“Señorita, I would say that he never made it to Los Angeles and Señor Fernandez took his place,” said Señora Helena.
“You mean the real Capitán Ortega . . . .” she trailed off.
“Yes. He most likely has been killed.”
Rosarita put her hand to her mouth, shocked. She thought for a moment then said, “That would explain why Capitán Ortega was so different from the man I knew on the ship. I just knew that the real Capitán Ortega would not have been such a brute. He was a very kind and honorable man.”
“Fernandez must have seen you here in the pueblo yesterday,” said Señora Helena. “He knew that you could identify him and show him to be an imposter. That is why he tried to kill you.” The pieces of last night’s puzzle were falling into place.
“We must inform the Magistrado at once,” declared Sergeant Garcia. “Señorita, you and your uncle will come with me now and we will make our report.” He helped Rosarita down from the carriage and they went up to Galindo’s office.
Señora Helena watched until they entered, then made her way back to her house. So Zorro’s actions were explained. He had somehow found out that Fernandez was going to kill Rosarita and had managed to stop him. When Fernandez fled back to the pueblo, Zorro had followed. And now Fernandez was dead.
Again, she thought about the conspiracy that Zorro had spoken of back in the winery. She had heard the stories of how the commandanté prior to Ortega had been assassinated and now to find that the real Ortega had been killed and replaced . . . .
Los Angeles was suddenly a much more dangerous place than she had imagined. She had better get on with her mission and get out of here and back to Mexico City as soon as she could. She did not want to get caught up in any conspiracies.
When she returned to her house, she found a packet of letters from Mexico City. Contessa told her that if she had any replies to make that she would have to send them this afternoon as the ship would be leaving tonight. There would not be another one for a week or more. Sighing, because this would keep her from further explorations of last night’s events, Señora Helena sat down and began going over the letters. It was late afternoon before she finished. Rudolfo just had time to make the post before it left for San Pedro.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Early in the same afternoon, while Señora Helena was busy with her correspondence, Diego came to see Rosarita off. She was going by coach to San Juan Capistrano for a visit before going back to Monterey. But before she left, she tried one more time.
“Diego, I do hope that you will take yourself in hand and try to improve yourself,” she said fervently. When he asked innocently, “In what way?” she said with feeling, “In so many ways!”
Diego, trying to humor her, said, “Would it help if I modeled myself after this outlaw, Zorro?”
“Oh,” she crooned. “If you only could!”
“You are quite positive aren’t you?” he asked.
“He is magnificent.” she said with a heartfelt sigh. “Diego if you can possibly meet him, do so. Maybe he could teach you some of the things he knows and lives by. Believe me, as an old friend, it would help you.” She said it with such utter and innocent conviction that Diego had to watch that his amusement did not cause him to laugh. He managed a self depreciating shrug. He helped Rosarita into the carriage, and it pulled out on its way to Capistrano.
He walked over to where Bernardo was holding the horses and said. “Bernardo, were you ever jealous of yourself?” Bernardo shook his head. “I’m afraid this fellow, Zorro, has won my childhood sweetheart,” he said looking after the carriage. Then he and Bernardo laughed at the irony of such a statement.
Sergeant Garcia was coming across the plaza and Diego was feeling in an expansive mood now that Rosarita was on her way. He invited the sergeant into the tavern for some wine. Besides, he had not been able to talk to the sergeant for a few days and he needed to see what things of interest that he could tell him. Fernandez and the Magistrado had been in this thing together and Diego still had the mystery of the eagle feathers to solve. Bernardo signaled that he would stay outside to watch for Señora Helena. Diego nodded. As he primed the pump so to speak, he found out that Señora Helena had been instrumental in helping them to figure out that Fernandez had killed the real Ortega and had taken his place. It did not give him any comfort to know that she was getting involved with the participants in the conspiracy. Even in such a small way as this. She was a very intelligent woman. He had no doubt that if she remained much longer in Los Angeles, that she would be in a position to cause him and by default, Zorro a lot of trouble. She had to be convinced to go back to Mexico City, but how?
His thoughts were interrupted when Sergeant Garcia said, “Don Diego, Señora Del Fuego was asking questions about you this morning.”
He remained outwardly calm as he said, “Oh? What did she want to know?”
“She wanted to know how often you came to the pueblo and what you did while you were here.”
“And what did you tell her?” Diego was apprehensive to say the least. Sergeant Garcia was known to innocently say the wrong things at the right time.
“Oh, I told her that you were the best judge of wine in all of Los Angeles, next to myself of course, and that you came here often to sample the wine at the tavern. I also mentioned that you composed songs that you sing to the señoritas. She said that she was going to make every effort to meet such a talented young man such as yourself. That is when Señorita Cortez came with her story about the false commandanté. The rest you know.”
Sergeant Garcia poured himself another glass of wine while Diego tried not to show his apprehension. This woman was positively becoming a real problem.
Bernardo watched as Rudolfo gave a package to the courier that would be taking the mail to the ship at San Pedro. Rudolfo scanned the plaza and saw Bernardo standing outside of the tavern. He began walking towards Señora Helena’s house, then stopped to look at Bernardo again. When he started towards the house again, it was with a purpose.
Bernardo stepped inside the tavern and attracted Diego’s attention. He made the sign for Señora Helena and then pointed to his watch as Sergeant Garcia had turned to see what was going on.
“Sergeant, Bernardo has just reminded me that I had better return to the hacienda. I have some things I need to do. You will excuse me?”
“Si, Don Diego. Thank you for the wine and the company. Have a pleasant trip home,” said the sergeant. He waved happily at Bernardo who waved back smiling.
Once outside, Bernardo made it clear that he thought the señora would probably be making an attempt to meet Diego if they did not leave quickly. Diego agreed. He knew that the señora had her servant, Rudolfo, set to watch for him and that he had only avoided her by the narrowest of margins in the past. And with her probing the Sergeant this morning about Diego . . . .
They mounted their horses and cantered out of town.
Señor Helena appeared on her doorstep just in time to see the backs of Diego and his servant as they rode out of town. They were riding at a leisurely pace, not like someone who thought they were being stalked. Coincidence again, she thought. Or was it? Well, she’d had enough. She was now very determined to meet the son of Don Alejandro.
“Rudolfo,” she said. “Go and bring the carriage around. We are going to pay an unexpected visit to Don Alejandro de la Vega. If I cannot meet Don Diego here in the pueblo, then I will beard him in his own den. I will go and change, then we will leave.”
As they were riding home, Bernardo began to sign to Diego. Diego said, “I agree. Señora Del Fuego is going to be very frustrated when she misses us again. I would not put it past her to make an unannounced visit this evening, in order that she might make my acquaintance. We cannot let that happen.”
When Bernardo shrugged his shoulders to ask what they would do about it, Diego said, “I tell you what we are going to do. You will ride up to the top of the hill there and watch. If you see the señora coming, you can come and warn me. That should give us about fifteen minutes before she arrives at the house. I will tell my father that we are going to Padre Benedetto’s for a chess rematch. She cannot possibly suspect that we ran out on her, because we will have left well before anyone at the hacienda knew she was coming.”
Bernardo thought it was a good idea and waved as he left the road and went up the hill to watch for the señora.
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Nine
Chapter Eight
Chapter Seven
Chapter Six
Chapter Five
Chapter Four
Chapter Three
Chapter Two
Chapter One
Table of Contents
