CHAPTER TEN

Johnny lays out eight photos on the coffee table one-by-one. Alicia sits back in her chair and turns her face away.

As if she was embarrassed.

Jane immediately recognizes Alicia’s dad, Wenceslao Benegas, but it is Arnold and Annie who recognize two others.

“Those are the two guys who came to our house asking questions,” Arnold says. But before anyone can say anything more, Jeremy also identifies one of the photos.

“Dad,” he says “This is the guy that Mr. Benegas was talking to in the church right before they came after me.”

Arnold picks up the photo that Jeremy has indicated. “You´re right. We have his voice and his picture on Jeremy’s camera,” he says to Johnny, “but the police can’t seem to find him.”

“They are all holed up in a house near the Brazilian border, hiding from the authorities,” Johnny says. “The house has been raided by the police two times but each time they seem to disappear into the jungle without a trace.”

Johnny turns to look at Lujan. “You know the place,” he says. “In fact, both of you do.” He indicates Lujan with his head. “It’s your family home where you went to hide in Bella Vista Norte.”

“But it burned down,” Lujan says. “I was told that Colonel Oveido burned the house to the ground. I’ve never been back there.”

“Only partially burnt,” Johnny says. “I was there for the second raid about two weeks ago. There is a good portion of the back of the house and the garage which were largely untouched by the fire.”

“Lujan couldn’t claim any of the inheritance from her parents,” Juan Carlos says. “She was in hiding and nobody knew that she was a Stroessner.”

“Well, nobody knew,” says Johnny, “but, then again, everybody knew.”

“Everybody in Bella Vista Norte anyway,” Lujan says. “They were protecting me.”

“Maybe,” Johnny says. “But the government knew. They just didn’t care. You weren’t a threat to them.”

“Then why was I under surveillance?” Lujan asks.

“Not by the government,” Johnny says. “Just by China and Moises. Mostly China. Moises was undercover.”

“I don’t understand that part,” Jeremy says. “It’s like there’s a big, fat hole in the middle of this whole thing that doesn’t make sense.”

“It’s about the money,” Jane says.

“What money?” Jeremy says.

But Miguel Angel interrupts them both. “Let’s talk about that another time, ok?” Jane can see his eyes darting toward Alicia.

He still didn’t trust her.

Arnold puts his hand on Jeremy’s arm again and asks Johnny a question. “So who are these two guys that came to our house that day?”

“That’s what I was trying to get to,” Johnny says. “They are all part of a white supremacy group connected to the former Stroessner regime.”

They all look at the photos again, but it is Jeremy who points out the obvious. “All of these guys look like Germans with military background, short hair, muscles. But this lady here is obviously Paraguayan.”

“Yes, she is,” Johnny says. “We aren’t sure of her connection to the group yet. We found her picture at the house when we raided it. But the other seven have been identified.”

“Wenceslao was a neo-Nazi?” Annie asks. “He was a bit of a brute but that is a surprise.” She sees the look on Alicia’s face and immediately apologizes. “I shouldn’t have called him a brute. I’m sorry."

Alicia smiles sadly. There are tears in her eyes. “He was a difficult man although he never laid a hand on me or my mother.”

They all nod.

“His father was in the military, wasn’t he?” Arnold asks softly.

“Yes, but he was never allowed into the military himself. He applied of course. It was expected but he didn’t get accepted even with all of the influence his family had.”

“He wasn’t happy about it, apparently,” Johnny says. “That may be why he gravitated towards this group. Not so much because of their beliefs but just because they accepted him as one of their own.”

“Makes sense,” Juan Carlos says.

“And what about these two guys who came to our house?” Arnold picks up the two pictures and holds them in his hands. “What do we know about them?”

“This one is Frank Salinas,” Johnny says. “American, actually. Born in the Bronx. Spanish mother. German father.”

“The big one,” Annie whispers to Arnold.

“But this other guy is a mystery. No information on him at all. He’s a ghost.”

“A ghost?” Jeremy asks, eyes wide.

“That’s what we call people with no official identification, no photos in the system, nothing.”

“A spy, then,” says Juan Carlos.

“Yes,” says Johnny. “But for whom?”

“And this Frank Salinas character?” Arnold asks. “They said that they were from the government. That’s why I let them in. They showed badges that said Secret Service on them.”

“Easy enough to fake,” Johnny says. “They wanted information, apparently.”

“Yes, they were fishing for information about Lujan actually,” Arnold says.

“Really?” Lujan says. “What did they want to know?”

Arnold frowns, looking at the floor, trying to remember the conversation. Annie helps him out. “I remember you evaded a couple of questions that had to do with Lujan,” she says.

“Yes, one had to do with whether or not I was alone when I found the treasure,” Arnold says.

“And the other one had to do with what happened to the treasure when it went missing after Maria hid it,” Annie says. “I remember that one.”

“So you kept Lujan out of it,” Juan Carlos says. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” Arnold says. “That was our secret to keep.”

“But I thought they heard all our secrets in the Montoya house with the listening bugs,” Jeremy says.

“Well, I was listening,” Alicia says. “But that doesn’t mean that I told my Dad everything.”

“Well, what did you tell him?” Annie asks. “You didn’t tell him about the tunnel and the treasure you said.”

“I only told him that you had a terribly boring dinner table conversation, trying to get to know each other better,” Alicia says. “Talking about books and writing and travel experiences.”

“Yes, but then we went to the living room and talked about the rest of it,” Lujan says.

“And I heard all of it,” Alicia says.

“So, you told your Dad the truth,” Johnny says. “Just not the whole truth.”

“Because of your mother,” Jane says slowly. “That was lucky.”

Everyone is quiet.

“So, you knew that Miguel Angel and I were brother and sister,” Jane says, looking at Alicia intently. “But you didn’t say anything.”

Alicia looks up at Miguel Angel standing behind the sofa, leaning against the wall. “It was obvious that he didn’t want me and after what I heard, I realized that it was time for me to grow up. I talked to my mother, as I told you, but when I heard that China was killed, that’s when I decided to do something about it.”

“I contacted her to try and understand the Banegas side of things and she opened up to me,” Johnny says.

I bet, Jane thinks.

“So, Frank and his mysterious friend didn’t know the whole story,” Johnny says. “They were fishing for more information.”

“They knew enough,” Arnold says. “They talked about tax fraud and financial manipulation by the Foundation.”

“They also talked about your mother, China,” Annie says. “Don’t you remember? They accused her of murdering General Stroessner.”

That gets everyone’s attention.

“I remember,” Arnold says. “It was so crazy; I didn’t think about it much. They said they were not supporters of her. I offered to wake her up so that they could say thank you properly. I was only kidding, but still.”

“If they were from the government,” Jane says, “wouldn’t they be pro-revolution and anti-Stroessner?”

“But we know they weren’t from the government,” Johnny says. “So it makes sense now.”

“But still, why accuse her of killing General Stroessner?” Juan Carlos says. “I thought he just disappeared and lived out the rest of his life on a beach somewhere.”

“No one seems to know,” Johnny says. “Or they aren’t telling. Even the secret service claimed that he just disappeared. They were worried he might try to stage a come-back. But that was twenty years ago.”

“Did China kill the dictator?” Jeremy asks. “Cool.”

“These things are not cool, Jeremy,” Annie says sternly. “This isn’t a movie or a comic book. It’s real life.”

“But grandma was a spy,” Jeremy insists. “She probably had a gun and killed people all the time.”

“Jeremy,” Arnold and Annie say sharply, at the same time.

“Just saying,” Jeremy mumbles.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Jane says. “China is gone.”

They are all quiet for a long moment. Then Johnny clears his throat nervously.

“About that,” he says. “That may not be entirely true, either.”