Part 31 (1/2)
I put my hand over the mouthpiece. ”Carlos Sanchez.”
Susan whispered again. ”Did you tell him you know his real name?”
I kept my hand over the phone. ”h.e.l.l, no.” Susan laughed, and I realized that Sanchez had been saying something. ”I'm sorry Carlos, someone just came in. What were you saying?”
”I was asking about your young client.”
”Carli's doing about as well as I guess anyone could under the circ.u.mstances.”
”Yes. It is very sad.”
As far as I was concerned, Carlos Sanchez was a pretty good guy. I formed this opinion after he rescued me from being kicked to death in the swamp by a bunch of tattooed, redneck smugglers. But I did not believe he had called my home to check on my friends' health and well-being. He wanted something.
”Why'd you call?”
”Ah, we have a problem, and it could turn out to be your problem too.” He had my attention. ”Someone is missing.”
”Who?”
”The Carpenter. With what happened to Leroy Purcell, well, I don't need to tell you what kind of attention such a psychopath could focus on my organization.”
”Then I take it Carpintero's done this before.”
Sanchez hesitated before answering. ”Yes. I am afraid 'the Hammer,' 'the Carpenter,' whatever name you want to use, is quite famous among former political interrogators in Central America.”
”I didn't think that kind of thing went on down there anymore.”
”Well, with the spread of democracy, it is certainly not accepted practice anymore, which is one reason El Carpintero was looking for a new, ah, venue.”
”And you were going to supply one?”
”What? No. No, seor.”
I decided I had jerked him around enough. ”Carpintero is dead.”
”You have seen the body?”
”Sure. He crashed into a building out there in the compound. He was trying to make a run for it in an old Mercedes and one of the young Bodines, a guy named Willie Teeter, either shot him or just shot at him and made him crash. Whichever, he was dead.”
Sanchez was silent long enough for me to wonder if we had lost the connection. Finally, he said, ”You said Seor Carpintero died in a crash?”
”That's right.”