One Grave Less

bring it into the modern world. John is of the latter.”
    “What does he do?” asked Patrik.
    “He has a construction company,” said Maria. “He specializes in underwater construction.”
    “Underwater construction?” asked one of the others. “What does he build? Underwater cities? I never heard of that.”
    “He built this great aquarium,” said Rosetta, holding her arms wide. “It has this glass tube that you walk in and look at the fish. It’s like you are the one really in a tank and the fish are visiting you. Really cool.”
    “It sounds like it.” Gabina’s smile reached her eyes for the first time. Maria hoped that meant she was won over.
    “Tell me about your expedition,” said Maria.
    Maria’s new acquaintances spent the remainder of the meal discussing their upcoming trek through the Amazon and what they hoped to accomplish. For Gabina it was collecting flora. Patrik was taking pictures. Hanna was interested in cultural anthropology, she thought—she hadn’t committed to any one career yet. Midway in the tale when Rosetta finished eating, she put her head in Maria’s lap. It looked so normal that Maria thought it further cemented their relationship to each other in Gabina and any other doubter’s mind.
    It was dark when they arrived back at the hotel. No one was at the desk, so Maria and Rosetta hurried up to the room. She stopped at their room door and listened before she opened it. Perhaps she had watched too many movies, but she had a vision of opening the door and seeing the man in the straw fedora sitting on the edge of the bed with his hands and chin resting on a silver snakehead cane.
    She heard nothing, no movement, no breathing, no cane impatiently tapping on the floor. She unlocked the door and entered. No Sidney Greenstreet. No changes in the room that she could see. She searched the bathroom and under the bed. No lurking monsters. Still, she felt uneasy going to sleep. She put a chair under the doorknob, hoping that actually worked to secure the door.
    “You did good,” said Maria.
    “You did too,” said Rosetta.
    “No one was at the desk. I don’t know if that means they are closed for the evening and we can’t use the phone, or they are just away.”
    “Let’s go down and see,” said Rosetta.
    “All right. I need to call John first, because that is how we are going to get home. Is that all right?” said Maria.
    Rosetta nodded, but Maria could see her lower lip tremble. Maria hugged her.
    “I’m going to get you home to your mother. I promised you that, and I will. Don’t worry, okay?” She rubbed Rosetta’s back with her hand. “You’re doing fine.”
    Maria wished she felt safe leaving Rosetta in the room, but she wouldn’t have felt safe doing that in the United States. The man looking for them would probably recognize Rosetta. He wouldn’t recognize Maria. She took Rosetta’s baseball cap and pulled her hair on top of her head and put the cap over it, pulling the bill down to shade her face.
    “If we see him, I’ll give you the keys and you can run up to the room, okay?”
    Rosetta nodded.
    Maria moved the chair and opened the door.

Chapter 49
    The hallway was clear. Maria expected trouble behind every door and around every corner. An uncomfortable feeling, but she supposed it did give her a survival advantage. Maria told Rosetta to walk and act normal and try not to look scared. And Maria would try to take her own advice. Of course, in a dire emergency run like hell. Rosetta giggled. They walked down the hall.
    The stairway was clear until they got down to the second floor. There they encountered several people also on their way to the lobby. They were dressed like they were looking for entertainment. Maria couldn’t imagine any nightlife in Benjamin Constant. But what did she know. She and Rosetta held back, letting the cluster of people proceed ahead of them.
    On the ground floor, she looked through the window at the lobby. People were sitting at the tables talking, some milling around near the desk. No straw fedora. She opened the door and the two of them ventured out into the lobby.
    Maria walked to the desk and asked in her broken Spanish about a phone to call out of the country. She did say telephone in Portuguese. Patrik and Hanna knew that Rosetta could speak Portuguese, but Maria didn’t want anyone else to know, so she didn’t have the little girl translate.
    The clerk, a young male, pointed to a door with a window. Telephone