Clint Faraday Collection C: Murder in Motion Collector's Edition (36 page)

Did he contact his killer? Was there someone
else following that bus who was close on the other side of the
mudslide? Could someone have actually simply climbed over the slide
and come here to kill him? Then why Sucha?

Same reason. He had seen something. The
Whiteface monkeys were disturbed when he was going back or
something.

It didn’t quite fit. There was more that he
didn’t know then that he did. These side-trips did bring things
back, like that satellite phone. He knew better than to begin to
believe they were more than speculation

He went on to the bus. That phone could have
been anywhere and would have probably not been noticed to any
extent. He had lists of what was found in the luggage still on the
bus, though it wasn’t at all likely it was there.

He had lists of what was in the luggage at
the culverts. It would be there and he probably would have noticed
it at that time. The problem was that it could be put in a pocket
or stuck behind a rock or put in a bush until that search was done.
That was an item too easy to hide.

He went through the things from the initial
search that were still on the bus. Cecilio said only three people
had come to get their things and he had stayed right with all of
them while they got whatever it was, mostly toothpaste and shaving
things and fresh underwear. Two were the gringo and his wife and
the third was Robertson for underwear and his notebook.

A search of the bus didn’t turn up anything
new. He did find a short list of telephone numbers, international,
in the Santamaria papers. It had his satellite phone’s number on
top. If he had another he could call it and see whose pack it rang
in.

Yeah! Right! They wouldn’t have turned it off
first thing!

He went back to the culvert and said he was
going to walk to where they were fixing the road to see how long it
would be before they could pass. Several people decided to walk
with him so they made a little parade. Salvador walked beside him
on the left and Estevez on the right. They chatted about various
things. The weather was really unusual this year and getting worse
every year.

Clint had his celular in his pocket. When
they walked over a little bridge over a stream it made a slight
noise. It was the alert that there was a signal. He took out the
cel and called Dave, his nutty musician friend. Dave was in
Chiriqui Grande and would be in Bocas in the afternoon. He’d water
and care for Judi’s and Clint’s flowers. Clint told him about what
was going on.

He then called the national police and
reported the murders and some of what he’d found.

His celular was Movistar. Two others got the
signal and called out. Mas Movil didn’t get a signal and Claro
didn’t at that spot.

They went on to watch the equipment moving
the mud, putting it into large haulers to dump where there was
another serious washout about to happen. It would be used to shore
up the cut below the road and a concrete retainer built to hold it
there. This mudslide would be used to stop a washout. Very
efficient. It would be about ten hours before the road was
passable.

Clint had surreptitiously inspected above the
mud. He had no way to be certain, but it didn’t look like a way
across was likely up there. Someone could have gone onto the ridge
or other side of the mountain, but that wouldn’t leave enough time
to get to the bus – unless there was a path someone knew about that
they didn’t.

They returned to the culverts with the news.
They stopped to make a call or two at the one small spot there was
a signal. The signal died while they were talking. That could have
been for any number of reasons.

Salvador was actually a better
conversationalist than Estevez, who had dropped back Penny
Goodson’s Spanish wasn’t good, but she managed to talk with him,
Clint filling in the spaces both ways.

They got back to the culverts and told
everyone the road would be open in about ten hours. They had called
back and forth to the workers on the road crew and a bus would be
there to take them back to Chitre as soon as they could get a path
that was reasonably safe to walk across. They could bring their
things to this side and be ready to cross when the path was open.
It would be crossable in five to six hours. They couldn’t make it
faster because the wet mud kept sliding down as they dug for the
path.

There wasn’t much else to do. The fact that
they might be able to make calls at the spot on the way added to
the desire to get there and be ready.

Clint drove the car to the bus where everyone
got their luggage and packed it in. The surfboards were on top,
wrapped in a blanket. The car was packed tight. He drove to the
spot on this side of the mud and waited for them to walk up an hour
later to each claim what was theirs. He then went back with the
Indios to get their produce, what was left. Clint noticed that
Salvador did as much as any of them, carrying heavy sacks of yuca
and onions that very few gringo kids his age would even consider.
They had everything there and covered with the tarp from the
culverts when the light drizzle got a bit heavier. There was enough
room for them to crowd under the tarp with Judi, Clint, Silvestre,
Salvador and Ana Ricardo inside the car. It wasn’t very
comfortable, but wasn’t uncomfortable. The close togetherness
suited the Indios very well, but the Sandros family started
complaining about everything. Soon they were by themselves. No one
would even speak to them. It wasn’t Panamanian to start complaining
about things when everyone was in the same fix. You tried to make
things better, not worse.

Clint got out and went to them when Robinson
came to say there was going to be trouble if they didn’t stop
acting like the world owed them more than the others. He told them
to stop acting like they were from Colón. If they looked around
they could see that everyone was in the same situation and it
wasn’t pleasant for anyone – though everyone but them were trying
to make the best of it. They got sullen and gave him hard looks. He
gave them as hard looks back. He went back to the car.

He thought a lot about the murders and
couldn’t figure it unless someone came from outside. He was sure no
one had. He wanted to solve this thing before these people could
cross that mudslide and go. He had about two and a half more hours.
It wasn’t looking like he could pull it off.

Salvador was asleep. He hadn’t slept last
night and things were under control so he could relax a bit. That
Silvestre was proud of the way his son was acting was as obvious as
anything could be.

Judi gave Clint a look and slightly tossed
her head. She wanted to talk to him privately so they got out and
went a little way from the car.

“
Clint,
you have to tell me who the real suspects are. I can figure who
aren’t on the list definitely, but have to know who is. I know you
won’t let your personal opinion enter into it. I’ll treat it as
confidential.

“
You went
up above that mud bank so you were looking for a way for someone to
come across. That means you were serious when you said it could be
someone from outside. It was also obvious you didn’t find a way
across. What’s going on now?”

“
Santamaria carried a satellite phone that’s missing. He
called someone so I felt it might have been someone following us
who didn’t get to the mud until it was already across the road. I
have to find who has that phone. That one’s the killer. It could
only be two people.”

“
Santamaria’s dead, but so is Sucha. Why?”

“
He
either saw or heard something that would give the killer away, I
suppose.”

“
Like
that satellite phone in someone else’s hand after Santamaria was
killed?”

“
Uh-huh.”

“
So. You
won’t tell me who because it would put me in a bad spot. I’ll try
to find if anyone saw a very expensive phone in anyone else’s
hands.”

“
That’s
about it. I have to find some way to identify the killer in less
than two hours. I won’t be getting anything more than I have right
now. That, as the saying goes, ain’t good!”

“
That’s
part of being in hell. I want out of here for a nice long shower
and some good sound sleep. If anyone breathes too heavy or snores
or just turns over in their sleep I’m suddenly wide
awake.”

“
Welcome
to the club.”

The
Key

Clint couldn’t help but feel that satellite
phone was the key to solving this mess. He had an idea there was a
number or two in storage on it that would tell him what was going
on. His problem was that he had no effective way to find it.

He did have one idea. He said a few quick
words to Judi, then started walking up the road toward the
culverts. He held his breath as he approached the spot he found a
signal before. There was a signal, but it was weak. The legend said
emergency calls only.

That might do! He punched 999 and waited.
There was no response. He punched 103 and the fire department came
on. He identified himself and said he had reported a murder to the
police, but the signal was too weak to get an answer. This one
worked. All he wanted was for a call to be made. It was to a
roaming satellite phone. The phone was missing. The murderer might
have it. There were people where they could hear if it rang. Please
call the number.

There was a weak reply he couldn’t quite make
out so he said the signal was fading and gave the number again.

Then he headed back. There had been no
ringing from any of the packs or anywhere else.

He thought for a minute, then headed back to
the bus in the car – with passengers.

Cecilio had heard a phone ringing in the bus.
It stopped by the time he got there. Clint had him place as closely
as he could the area of the call. About mid-bus.

He searched carefully, but found nothing. He
was thinking literally of taking the bus apart screw by screw when
it rang again from above his head. He checked and found it was
coming from a speaker. (The buses have speaker systems that they
used to play music on the trips.) Clint pushed up on the speaker
and it moved aside just enough for him to see the phone. He twisted
the speaker around enough to reach it and took it to slip into his
pocket, then put the speaker back in place. He then went to the car
and was getting in as the phone buzzed again. He answered. It was
the fire department. He said they found the phone. Thanks more than
it was possible to say. It might mean a killer would be caught
before he could get away. The Indios were chattering and Judy was
grinning.

Clint went through the stored numbers, noting
the ones that had been called since the last erase. There were only
four. One had been called three times. The last three calls.

Clint called it. When it was answered with,
“Habla Licenciada Maria Castillo, como se ... oh, alo Guillermo.
Que pasa?” he hung up.

So. The killer was Guillermo Robinson.
Cecilio reported that he came to get his shaving kit and some
underwear. He had hidden the phone then. He left it there when they
got the rest of their stuff because he was never in the bus alone
then. He probably figured that it would be found eventually, but he
could be long gone and there wouldn’t be a way to connect him to
it.

“
Know who
it is?” Judy asked.

“
Oh,
yeah!”

“
One of
the three?”

“
Oh,
yeah!”

Clint looked at his wristwatch. It would cut
it awfully close. He hoped to get back before the path was
opened.

He didn’t make it. The path was opened and
most of the people had left on the waiting bus to go back to
Chitre. It would be another hour or more before he could get his
car through.

He used the satellite phone to call the
police and identify himself. He said to stop that bus and get
Guillermo Robinson off. He was prime suspect in two murders and
must not be allowed to escape.

Now Clint could wonder what it was about, but
he had an idea. Guillermo was selling a large property. He had been
caught in some kind of fraud or other and was trying to get some
kind of deal done that he could use to get away with a lot of
money. Santamaria had found out about it, but had let Robinson know
he knew. Robinson had killed him, then Sucha had seen him somewhere
or with something, probably the satellite phone. He had confronted
him, probably demanding to know why he didn’t let the others know
he had the thing.

That wasn’t right, but it might not be too
far wrong. All Clint could do now was wait and hope the police got
Robinson off the bus. If he reached Chitre he could disappear for a
short while. They had his ID and information so there was little
doubt he would be found before long, even if he went into
hiding.

The road was open in slightly less that an
hour and they headed for Chitre. The Indios were delivered to the
bus station to get their stuff. The murder bus and Sucha’s body
would be taken directly to the police impound and searched
minutely. Clint went by there and gave them the downloaded photos.
He’d taken more than fifty more with his own camera when he was
alone where the others wouldn’t know.

Robinson had gotten off the bus before it was
stopped. He was close to the secondary road that went to Divisa.
Either he was heading for his property or he was trying to make
them think he was. Clint decided to give it a day or two to cool
down, then he would go after Robinson if the local police hadn’t
rounded him up by then. They were efficient so would probably bring
him in soon.

He and Judi took the main road this time and
headed for Santiago. She would go to Bocas Town from there, Clint
would try to find that lawyer. Maria Castillo. Santiago was as
likely a place as any, but she was listed as being in Chitre.