A Sorority of Angels (11 page)

Wednesday and Thursday, the two longest days in Pilar’s life, filled with tense expectation. Then Friday arrived. Tomayo promised to have the volleyball ready by noon. Pilar left the presidential retreat at eleven-thirty for Tomayo’s plant facility after telling her uncle she planned to shop before having lunch with Tomayo.

Her deadly scheme coming to reality frightened. She regained courage by what the results would yield.

Then thoughts of Tomayo dominated. Tuesday night lingered gloriously in her senses and mind. Tomayo brought a smile. She wanted to spend the night with him that night to slumber in his arms. Wisdom beckoned over emotion, needless to arouse suspicion or concern by absence at the retreat. The adults would have missed the ball in their morning routine. She could have claimed Roberto lost it but why take the chance? Tomayo would buy a new one, same brand.

She reached the retreat that night without remembering the route taken. The impact of her lovemaking lingered strong and fresh in her senses.

Nostalgia returned when she drove unto Tomayo’s company parking area. Half the company once belonged to her and Carlos. The company housed in a wide two-story structure in an industrial park. The employees parking zone filled to near capacity. The landscaped grounds remained the same. Tomayo’s secretary came to the reception area and escorted Pilar to Tomayo’s office.

“Please have a seat, Mrs. deLorenzo. His meeting is running over.”

Pilar noticed her attractiveness and grinned realizing her jealous moment. She browsed the office after the secretary left. A metal framed photograph of her and the children, sent from New York, displayed on his desk and brought a smile. The probe continued until her eye caught a photo of Tomayo on a yacht holding high the four-foot fish he caught. A woman had her arms around him kissing his cheek, and to the photo’s left a smiling photo of the same woman. Pilar looked at the photo when he walked in.

“Pilar.”

He shut the door and hastened to kiss her. In his arms, she shifted her eyes to the photos of his mistress.

“Is that 9 de Julio?”

Grinning he replied, “Used to be. It was!”

“Oh, that’s what I thought,” she mocked. She placed both photos in the waste basket then returned to his arms.

“I missed you,” she said.

“I missed you more.”

“Where’s the volleyball? Is it ready?”

The purpose of her visit reached out to him. He turned somber and tried to conceal his mood.

“How were the past two days?” he asked.

“Nothing unusual.”

He locked the door, knelt before the safe behind his desk, and dialed the combination hesitating as if something persuaded him to change his mind. Although indecisive, he withdrew then offered the ball to her. Its potential danger alarmed and she recoiled.

“Is it safe?”

“Yes. Nothing will happen even if dropped.”

She accepted the ball gingerly and placed it on the desk.

“It feels normal.”

“I compensated for the extra weight by adding helium. The minor weight imbalance will be obvious to anyone if held for too long.”

“I didn’t feel anything.” She picked the ball up again and felt the imbalance.

Tomayo opened the bottom left drawer for a woman’s compact and opened it. Inside were two switches and a transistor cluster.

“Clever,” Pilar said raising eyebrows.

“I’ll show you the procedure. To detonate, both switches have to activate. The left one, as you can see by the arrow, you push upwards, the right one downward. With this procedure the device can’t be triggered accidentally…and gives you time to change your mind before pressing the second.”

Pilar studied the compact. “What happens if one is pushed accidentally?”

“Nothing. Push it back in place. Okay? Both switches have to be activated.”

“How long does it take after the two switches are on?”

He snapped his fingers. “Instantly.”

She studied further. “How powerful?”

“The impact will decimate the pool, a chance windows may shatter. The pool should contain the explosion if detonated in the deep end.”

She checked the seams rolling the ball delicately in her hands.

“You’re sure it’s safe?”

“Yes. The seals are perfect and tested.”

Tomayo sat in the maroon leather chair behind his desk and swiveled back and forth. Pilar closed the compact and placed it in her purse.

He probed. “Are you determined to go ahead?”

“Yes.”

“Pilar, planning is one thing, doing another. I hope you freeze before you push those switches.”

“I won’t freeze,” Pilar said with a confident tone.

“Don’t bet on it. You’re incapable of committing murder.”

“It’s not murder.”

“It sure as hell is.”

“Call it anything else but that.”

“You’ve been gentle all your life. It takes a violent person to do what you plan. And you’re not a terrorist.”

“In that one instant I’ll convince myself I’ve been violent all my life. I have causes. Women are strong although deemed gentle by men. Anyone who can go through the rigors of childbearing can do anything, is capable of anything if motivated.”

“You’ll freeze.”

“I won’t.”

His elbows rested on the chair’s arms, his fingertips touching in a triangular pattern.

“Nothing I say will make you turn back?”

“Nothing.”

“The other night I had the same attitude about refusing to help you. I regret changing my mind. I did because of my love for you. And for the same reason I say – If you love me at all, you won’t proceed.”

Pilar lowered her head.

“I must. I love you, but if my going ahead with my plans means I must lose you then I must lose you. How can I live with myself if I do nothing? If I can’t live with myself, it will be impossible to live with anyone else. Please understand, I–must–do–this!” Underscoring the four words added a tremor to her voice.

He mimicked her, louder. “No–you–don’t! When do you plan to do it?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning,” he repeated in acceptance and finality. “How are you going to switch balls?”

“Roberto will bring the pool ball up to the room then I’ll return this one to the pool.”

“How are you going to get rid of the old ball?”

“I’ll dispose it somehow.”

“You’d better come up with something quick.”

“I will. The ball will disappear.”

“You’ll switch balls at the end of the day, right?”

“Sure. No one has gone swimming at night yet. I don’t expect they will tonight. The weather for tomorrow is nice so they should go swimming as usual.”

“Looks like you covered the loopholes.”

“I gave it thought.”

“Insufficient to change your mind.”

“Enough to know I must go on! They murdered Carlos. I may lose my son, they’re about to cause Uncle Rafael’s death, and they plan a war with Chile! That’s more than ample justification to act. I’m in a position to stop them. And I will.”

Tomayo decided to try a more sensitive approach to veer her course headed for failure and imprisonment, a greater tragedy.

“You haven’t thought of everything. What of the unexpected? What if the unexpected happens and something happens to you, caught, and placed before a firing squad? Let’s say you’re killed…”

“What a pessimist!”

“…what shall I do with the children? No mother. No father. Orphans.”

“Damn it!” She pounded the desk. “I don’t want to hear that!”

“What do I do with the children? Shall I give them to Marisa? Uncle Rafael? Shall I keep them? Maybe you should sign a paper authorizing power of attorney to dispose of them as I choose. Or do you make the decision?” Pilar was silent, shattered. “Come on, Pilar. Speak to me. What do I do with the leftovers?”

Leftovers!

“It won’t work!” she screeched..

He grinned at targeting her vulnerability, her weakness, her Achilles heel.

“Answer the question.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

She wrung her hands. “The thought is unbearable.”

“Nothing is worth the sacrifice.”

“You know the subject is sensitive. Don’t bring the children up again. You’re making me insanely nervous. I cannot afford nervousness now.”

“I’ll change the subject. But plan ahead should something happen to you.” He rubbed and salted the wound.

“You sound like an insurance agent.” Her eyes veered to the ball. “Do you have something to wrap the ball in?”

Tomayo threw up his hands in feigned resignation knowing the children would gnaw away until the mad scheme fled her mind or forced her to freeze and abort. The children were his weapon, the road to sanity.

“I have a large shopping bag. Put other things on top for disguise.”

“I’ll shop after I leave you.”

He headed towards the closet for the bag. She intercepted and hugged him tight.

“Everything’s going to be all right, Tomayo. Everything.”

She reassured herself.

Pilar arrived at the gate at five o’clock.

Thirteen hours to go.

From her room, Pilar peeked out the sliding door for life. Seeing no one, she stepped out to the balcony for a better look then went downstairs, same there. A cook buttered toast in the kitchen.

“Christina, where is everyone?”

“Hello, Mrs. deLorenzo. They all went horse riding. They should be back by six. Anything I can do for you?”

“No. I just wondered where they were.”

Pilar entered the pool area to assure no one was there. The volleyball bobbed near the edge. She lifted the ball shaking the water off and carried it inside. Christina, busy, missed her return.

Pilar hastened up the stair feeling as a thief. Closing the door to her room, she leaned against it with relief and success with that phase. Her heart throbbed.

If it did that at this stage, what will happen later?

She was on the runway, idling, and tried to think positive. She had scissors in the bureau. She placed the ball between her feet as both hands pushed the scissors and penetrated. It required ten minutes to cut the ball into small pieces. She stuffed the pieces in a stocking and hid it at the bottom of a large suitcase in an emptied package of personal napkins. She added clothing to the suitcase.

No longer nervous, she would return the replacement ball to the pool as if Roberto carried it to the room.

The ball cradled in her embrace as she descended the stair, hearing Christina’s noises in the kitchen. Strolling to the pool’s edge, she placed the killer ball in approximately the same place where the old one floated. Pilar looked up at her balcony. It seemed far enough away. She looked around again. No one. She checked the balcony again to quiet doubts of danger to Uncle Rafael at that distance, convinced he’d be safe.

Pilar walked to the far end by the diving board and tables. The weather forecast proved accurate. Warm wind increased with a snap. She picked up the newspaper from the table, sat in a lounge chair, and awaited her family and enemies.

Pilar looked at her balcony again and again, visually measuring the distance from the deep end. The distance was safer from there, where they entered each morning – diving in at the deep end.

Six o’clock.

Twelve hours to go.

At six-thirty, from the distance Roberto and Sorel’s voices announced their return. They ran to their mother and raved how good they rode the horses. Steinerman and Marichal waved to her and went inside. Uncle Rafael and Andres remained absent.

“Esmeralda, where’s Andres?”

“The President and Andres were inseparable today. They came in with us then the President challenged Andres to a race to the nearest clump of trees. They should return soon. Andres is a good rider.”

Esmeralda, Sorel, and Roberto disappeared inside. Waiting for Andres, Pilar watched the ball pushed by the wind as it bobbed on the wind-scalloped surface. In ten minutes, Uncle Rafael and Andres appeared. The President had his arm around Andres.

“Quite a man you’ve got here, Pilar. He rides a horse like a gaucho. I’m proud of my godson.”

Andres beamed. He sat by his mother.

“Did you get your shopping done, Mother?”

She hugged him. “Where’s my kiss?” He kissed her cheek. “That’s my big boy. Yes, I shopped and bought you a sweater. Did you have a fun day?”

“Uncle Rafael is fun. And I beat him in a horse race.”

“That you did,” Uncle Rafael concurred winking to Pilar.

“Listen, Andres, it’s getting windy and you’re sweating. Go upstairs. I’ll be right up. Try the sweater. Let me know if it fits. Don’t forget to shower.”

“Okay. Bye.” He ran off.

Uncle Rafael sat. “Did you have lunch with Tomayo?”

“He made me pay for it that Gigolo.” Uncle Rafael laughed. “He also said to tell you he’s been asked to bid on a large contract.”

“There you see. How simple. Come, let’s go inside. Andres beat me up today. I guess I
am
getting old. Siesta time.”

“You go ahead. I love this time of day. I want to sit here to finish the paper.” He left.

Her thoughts worked in a triangle: from her to the ball, from the ball to the balcony, from the balcony to her.

She wondered – What could possibly happen to prevent it? What could go wrong?

What?

She headed upstairs after a lasting look at the ball as if expecting it to give the answer.