Angels in the Wind by Manuel Ramos

Author:Manuel Ramos
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arte Público Press
Published: 2021-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Eleven

No one stood behind the large wooden check-in counter. I heard a telephone ringing. The old-fashioned bell stopped suddenly. An eerie silence settled over the hotel’s entranceway. Jeannie walked past the desk and motioned for me to keep up.

We rode a noisy elevator to the second floor, then walked down a dark hallway decorated with a mangy carpet and stained walls. Before we knocked, the door to room 212 opened, and a short man with buzzed hair, red pants and no shirt waved at us and stepped back into the room. He held a cell phone to his ear and snorted occasionally until he ended the call and focused his attention on me. He looked Central American, like an indigenous refugee from someplace south of Mexico, someone who knew how to cross borders unseen and travel fast and light, a man who knew how to survive.

A dresser, three chairs, a small table and a bed took up most of the space in the small room, and I felt cramped and hemmed in. Steamy air from an open window circulated like heavy cotton.

Jeannie held out her hand, and I gave her the twenty.

“What you got for me today, Jeannie?” the man said while he looked me over. “You’re always with a surprise. Qué chica.”

Jeannie giggled. She moved to Alex’s side and kissed him on the cheek. “This guy’s looking for Mat. He’ll pay you for info. Remember Mat? The smart one.”

“Einstein?” He sounded surprised. “You looking for Einstein?” He asked, his eyes roaming over my jeans, shirt and boots, then finally my face. Sweat glistened across his bare chest. He drank from a can of beer sitting on the table.

“If you mean Mat Montoya, yeah, I’m looking for him,” I said. “His family’s worried. They haven’t heard from him for several weeks. They asked me to help find him.”

He set down the beer and lit a cigarette. “You related? Familia?”

“His father is my cousin. I’m from Denver.”

“¿Primos, eh? And they asked you? Why they do that?”

I didn’t appreciate the interrogation. I wanted to get to the point and then leave the stuffy room, but I played along with his game. One of Corrine’s pieces of advice was to be patient with people. Patience was never one of my strong points, but I held back and worked out how to respond to the short Indian. I figured he wanted to impress Jeannie, although I couldn’t think of a good reason to do that.

“I’m an investigator. Looking for people is one of the things I do. Plus, as I said, Mat’s part of my family. His father is concerned. He just wants to know that Mat is okay.” I paused to let that sink in. “Jeannie told me you’re a man who might help, that you’re the guy in Pueblo who knows what’s going on. Are you that man?”

Jeannie shook her head, but she didn’t say anything about my slight exaggeration of what she’d told me.

“Investigator?” he asked. “Like a cop?”

“No. I’m not police.

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