He opened his large hand to reveal a jewellery box small enough for a ring. He gestured for her to take it.
‘Captain Gutierrez, this is preposterous. I thought you invited me here on an official matter, not a private one.’
‘I invited you here on both. With me as your husband, your school and its secret will be safe. You can be assured of that.’
‘That sounds like blackmail. It certainly isn’t romantic.’
Gutierrez threw his hands into the air. ‘No, it is not romantic. But it is sincere. Will you marry me?’
‘I have never seriously considered marrying anyone. If anything, I am married to my vocation. I hardly know you. You are here on a serious police matter, on which the future of all that I believe in hangs in the balance, and then you–’ She realized she had raised her voice and that the music had stopped.
‘I am sorry. I did not mean to be so loud.’
Gutierrez was unabashed. He leaned forward, confidential. The box had disappeared. He sighed, then shrugged. He leaned back, and gave a rueful smile.
‘I, too, am sorry. I have miss-judged you, Miss Judge.’ He smiled at his pun. And then, in Spanish,
‘Perhaps neither of us is cut out for that.’ He put his big hands together in the shape of a steeple. Both of them looked for a way to end the awkward silence. The atmosphere of conspiratorial intimacy had been violated, and both regretted it.
‘I have a proposition for you, Miss Judge.’ Carolina had sounded so much better, so more exotic, so more… promising.
‘Not,’ he smiled sadly, ‘a proposal. Keep an open mind, yes?’
She nodded. ‘I will.’
‘I have a …nephew I wish to enroll in your school. He lives with his mother in Peruta.’ He paused for effect. Peruta was a notorious slum. ‘His name is Enrique. His mother is not from San Timoteo. He was both conceived and born on the island of his mother’s birth, so his citizenship will not be a problem for you.’
‘How do you know where he was conceived?’
‘I… was there at the time.’
‘Oh. I see.’ She saw, all too clearly. ‘And his father– was he an islander, too?’
Gutierrez sighed. ‘He calls me Papa, but we know he means ‘Tio.’ He misses his father so.’
‘It must be hard for him to have had an absent father.’ Father and uncle, she thought, Jekyll and Hyde.
‘Yes. His father was not a good father. He had many women. But his uncle wishes to make up for this. He is a smart boy, but he has had no discipline. You and your school can give him that. Our schools are chaotic; our kids have no chances. Kids from your school go to Europe or the United States. They go on to become doctors, lawyers, professors, engineers. Enrique Lozada is as intelligent as any of them, but he cannot be one of them. Why should the spoiled son of a playboy like Anderson get to go to M.I.T?’
