Turned to Stone by Jorge Magano

investigation into art thefts. We saw you speaking to Vicente Amatriaín and—”
    “Who is Vicente Amatriaín?”
    A shadow of disbelief fell over Sandra’s eyes.
    “You don’t know?”
    “I know who he told me he was. Now I want you to tell me.”
    Sandra swallowed. Her features softened a little and Jaime detected a hint of relief in her expression. “He’s a thief. An art trafficker who’s stolen much of my family’s property. When we saw you together, we figured you were mixed up with him.”
    “And where does the Medusa come into it?”
    “The Medusa’s ours. He stole it.”
    “Right. So if he stole the Medusa, why did he ask me to help him find it? Is he so stupid that he lost it?”
    “He didn’t want you to find it, idiot! He wanted to know what you knew about it, in case you were a threat to his plans.”
    Jaime thought for a moment. It was true that Amatriaín had shown more interest in the university study than he had in recruiting Jaime to search for the piece itself. But what about the statue would make a thief compromise himself? Sandra might be right about Amatriaín, but something still did not add up.
    “Let’s assume you’re telling the truth,” he said, “and you belong to a family organization searching for missing works of art. Then why kill me? How would that have made the sculpture reappear? Please, Sandra—or whatever your name is—tell me something I can actually believe, or the finger on my right hand is going to start to shake.”
    The woman’s black eyes flashed in the first rays of sunlight that crept over the horizon. “We didn’t want to kill you. We wanted to catch Amatriaín. It was a mistake, okay? We got it wrong.”
    “No shit. And now you apologize, and we shake hands and act like nothing’s happened?”
    “Please. I just follow orders. Don’t . . .”
    Sandra fell to her knees and held her face in her hands. Jaime thought she looked like she might throw up at any moment. She appeared genuinely distressed by her circumstances, but he already knew her to be a convincing actor.
    Suddenly, she looked up and threw a stone that she’d picked up from the ground. Jaime dodged it, but by the time he’d turned back toward her, Sandra was already sprinting out of the ruins and back downhill. Jaime followed, hot on her heels.
    Her luck ran out when her foot found a hole, and she lost her balance, her flawless body getting bruised, cut, and scraped as she rolled down the hillside. From his vantage point above her on the hill, Jaime didn’t think she would get up, but Sandra quickly leapt to her feet and continued to run toward the van. Jaime felt in his pocket for the keys and then slowed his pace, reassured that she couldn’t go far.
    Unfortunately, he stepped in the same hole and also fell to the ground. He was unhurt, but by the time he got to his feet Sandra was in the middle of the road, flagging down an approaching motorcyclist.
    Jaime cursed and broke into a run. Was this yet another accomplice of hers? He couldn’t let her get away, or he’d never know what this whole thing was about. By the time he’d reached the bottom of the hill, the motorcyclist had stopped and Sandra was screaming. “Please, help me! This man kidnapped me!”
    The motorcyclist pulled off his helmet, revealing a large, melon-shaped head and bulging eyes. He was tall and broad shouldered; his gloved hands looked powerful enough to crush walnuts.
    Jaime swallowed hard. This was no associate of Sandra’s, but that didn’t make him feel any better. “Don’t listen to her,” he said. “She’s the one who attacked me!”
    “He has a gun!” Sandra cried.
    “The gun was hers!”
    “Shut up!” bellowed the motorcyclist with some difficulty. It was clear he’d been drinking, and not mineral water. “Get away from her right now.”
    “But I didn’t—”
    Before Jaime could finish, the motorcyclist leapt on him with fists flying, and the pistol flew from his hands. The biker