four of them found an empty table in the motel’s cantina.
After the waitress brought their drinks, Cliff started the conversation by asking Emily if she was Myles Perry’s granddaughter. Emily answered, “Yes.”
“Well, I bet it shocked Ethan to find you weren’t the old maid he thought you were.” The men laughed knowingly at Cliff’s statement. It was genuine laughter that made Emily laugh with them.
“Oh yeah, he was shocked alright.” Emily smiled at the memory of Ethan stammering on her front porch when he learned who she was. It seemed like ages ago, even though it had only been a few days.
The laughter died down and the conversation took a more serious turn, as Russ began to share what happened to their friend Will.
“We’d been here in the Amazon jungle working with a remote tribe for about eighteen months. Will was our anthropologist, and he’d made great strides in getting to know the native customs and language. We’d finally found a tribe familiar with the cliffs and the cave we were looking for. Reportedly, the Spaniards discovered the cave while raiding the Inca tribes of Peru in the sixteenth century. This tribe has been settled on the outskirts of the Amazon near the Peruvian border for hundreds of years.
We knew we had the right tribe when they showed us some ancient artifacts the Spaniards left behind, sixteenth century artifacts. Then one day soon after that the tribe stopped talking to us. No explanation. The chief finally told Will we would have to leave. Something spooked them when we started asking about the location of the cave. Ethan was about to pack us all up to go home when Will got a call from a friend. He told Will he’d tracked the rumored Spaniard’s journals to New York. Someone brought them into the United States back in the nineteen-fifties, but the trail went cold there. Ethan sent Will to New York to find the journals while we stayed here and moved our base camp away from the tribe. Will sent Ethan daily email reports. Then one day, the reports just stopped coming. After about a week with no word we were all getting a little worried, and Ethan went to New York himself to find Will.”
Russ paused and took a long pull on his drink. His expression, along with that of the others, was somber. Emily remained quiet. It was evident that these men had cared deeply for their friend Will.
“Ethan searched for Will for two weeks with no leads, and then his body was found in a Bronx warehouse. He’d been murdered. The police thought it looked like a mugging gone bad.” Russ got choked up and Cliff picked up the story where he left off.
“Ethan stayed in New York, notified Will’s family and sent for Phoebe to join him. It was an awful time for all of us. We almost disbanded and gave up, but Ethan and Phoebe gathered Will’s things from the hotel and found a note with the name Myles Perry on it. Ethan checked with some of our colleagues in the States and the name Myles Perry kept coming up in connection with the Spaniard’s journals. Ethan brought Phoebe back and we took a vote. We all decided to stay and keep searching, and that’s when Ethan started talking to you.” When Cliff paused, Emily started with some questions of her own.
“So how does that man, Lazar, play into all of this? Ethan told me he suspected Lazar had something to do with Will’s death.” The men stayed silent but looked at each other.
After a long pause, Gary spoke. “Dr. Lazar was seen coming and going from Will’s hotel room. The police questioned him, but he had an alibi. Besides, Will and Lazar had known each other for years, even if they weren’t the best of friends. The police had no reason to question Lazar’s story. But Ethan did and still does. Lazar has proven himself to be an untrustworthy enemy.”
Emily started to ask just what the nature of the
After the waitress brought their drinks, Cliff started the conversation by asking Emily if she was Myles Perry’s granddaughter. Emily answered, “Yes.”
“Well, I bet it shocked Ethan to find you weren’t the old maid he thought you were.” The men laughed knowingly at Cliff’s statement. It was genuine laughter that made Emily laugh with them.
“Oh yeah, he was shocked alright.” Emily smiled at the memory of Ethan stammering on her front porch when he learned who she was. It seemed like ages ago, even though it had only been a few days.
The laughter died down and the conversation took a more serious turn, as Russ began to share what happened to their friend Will.
“We’d been here in the Amazon jungle working with a remote tribe for about eighteen months. Will was our anthropologist, and he’d made great strides in getting to know the native customs and language. We’d finally found a tribe familiar with the cliffs and the cave we were looking for. Reportedly, the Spaniards discovered the cave while raiding the Inca tribes of Peru in the sixteenth century. This tribe has been settled on the outskirts of the Amazon near the Peruvian border for hundreds of years.
We knew we had the right tribe when they showed us some ancient artifacts the Spaniards left behind, sixteenth century artifacts. Then one day soon after that the tribe stopped talking to us. No explanation. The chief finally told Will we would have to leave. Something spooked them when we started asking about the location of the cave. Ethan was about to pack us all up to go home when Will got a call from a friend. He told Will he’d tracked the rumored Spaniard’s journals to New York. Someone brought them into the United States back in the nineteen-fifties, but the trail went cold there. Ethan sent Will to New York to find the journals while we stayed here and moved our base camp away from the tribe. Will sent Ethan daily email reports. Then one day, the reports just stopped coming. After about a week with no word we were all getting a little worried, and Ethan went to New York himself to find Will.”
Russ paused and took a long pull on his drink. His expression, along with that of the others, was somber. Emily remained quiet. It was evident that these men had cared deeply for their friend Will.
“Ethan searched for Will for two weeks with no leads, and then his body was found in a Bronx warehouse. He’d been murdered. The police thought it looked like a mugging gone bad.” Russ got choked up and Cliff picked up the story where he left off.
“Ethan stayed in New York, notified Will’s family and sent for Phoebe to join him. It was an awful time for all of us. We almost disbanded and gave up, but Ethan and Phoebe gathered Will’s things from the hotel and found a note with the name Myles Perry on it. Ethan checked with some of our colleagues in the States and the name Myles Perry kept coming up in connection with the Spaniard’s journals. Ethan brought Phoebe back and we took a vote. We all decided to stay and keep searching, and that’s when Ethan started talking to you.” When Cliff paused, Emily started with some questions of her own.
“So how does that man, Lazar, play into all of this? Ethan told me he suspected Lazar had something to do with Will’s death.” The men stayed silent but looked at each other.
After a long pause, Gary spoke. “Dr. Lazar was seen coming and going from Will’s hotel room. The police questioned him, but he had an alibi. Besides, Will and Lazar had known each other for years, even if they weren’t the best of friends. The police had no reason to question Lazar’s story. But Ethan did and still does. Lazar has proven himself to be an untrustworthy enemy.”
Emily started to ask just what the nature of the
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