Human Sacrifice by Cindy Hull

Author:Cindy Hull [Hull, Cindy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mission Point Press
Published: 2019-10-24T22:00:00+00:00

When Detective Salinas looked at Madge Carmichael, he remembered vaguely the youthful American tourists who crowded the Merida streets when he was young—tall, blonde girls wearing mini-or-maxi-skirts and tie-dye shirts, and lanky men with long hair, grotesque beards, and frayed blue jeans, all laden with beads, floating through the market in a marijuana haze. This woman resembled an older, hopefully wiser, version of this image.

After reintroducing Madge to Sergeant Garza and repeating his request to speak slowly for her benefit, Salinas began. “Doctor Carmichael, can you tell me about the events of the evening, what you saw and heard during the reception?”

Madge recounted the evening as she remembered it. Her version and timeline of Tanya’s behavior and the events surrounding the discovery of her body agreed with Claire’s.

“When did you become aware that Tanya was in the bedchamber?”

“Maybe seven forty-five. I was in the sitting room and Laura—Lorenzo—came in from the bedchamber and spoke to the docent. He followed her back into the bedchamber, then came out and talked to Brad.

“I went into the courtyard, thinking I’d get a fresh drink. I saw Jamal standing in the middle of the courtyard like a zombie, staring toward the parlor. He told me what had happened, and we entered the parlor together. George was there with his students. Laura had settled Tanya in the bedchamber and asked us to let her sleep. Jamal paced for a few minutes but went in to see her.” She paused, thinking. “George and I led the students out of the parlor and as we left, Claire arrived.”

“Did you check on Tanya?”

“George and I went to see her a little after eight. Jamal said he and Claire had checked on her and she was sleeping, so we left.”

“What did you do then?”

“George went outside for fresh air with his friends. I went upstairs to tell Brad about the missing dagger…I didn’t know it was being used to murder our friend.” Madge blinked back tears.

“How did he react?”

“He apologized that he didn’t get my message about the theft but agreed with me that it probably wasn’t important.” Madge sniffled, “How could we be so wrong?”

“And then you met Claire and Laura in the atrium?”

“I used the restroom first, then went down.”

“Was Brad still upstairs when you returned to the atrium?”

“I don’t remember seeing him.”

Salinas looked at his notebook again. “Why didn’t you want to report the missing dagger to the police?”

Madge fingered her wedding ring, the one she received from her third and last husband, the only one who had died before she divorced him. “That was my fault,” she pleaded. “Claire wanted to report it to you, but I couldn’t imagine the police bothering about a missing teaching aid.” Tears welled in her eyes. She rummaged in her bag for her pack of tissues, remembered she had given them to Cody, and sniffled. “Claire was right, of course. I feared she was getting caught up in the drama of the death—Paul’s death—and I didn’t see how it could be important.

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