They heard the pock-pock of high heels striking the polished stone floor as Sarah Allersby crossed the foyer. She entered the room at a fast walk, smiling. “Why, it really is Sam and Remi Fargo. I think I can honestly say that I never expected to see either of you again, and certainly not in Guatemala.” She wore a black skirt from a suit but without the jacket, black shoes, and a white silk blouse with a ruffle at the neck, an outfit that conveyed the impression that she had been occupied with business in another part of the house. She looked at her watch as though starting a timer and then back at them.

Sam and Remi stood. “Hello, Miss Allersby.”

Sarah Allersby stood where she was, making no attempt to shake hands.

“Enjoying your stay in our country?”

“Since we met you in San Diego, we’ve been exploring in Alta Verapaz,” said Remi. “I suppose the codex raised our consciousness of Mayan country and we decided to take a closer look.”

“How adventurous of you. It must be wonderful to be able to drop everything and go off to satisfy your curiosity on a whim. I envy you.”

“It comes with retirement,” said Sam. “You should take more time away from acquiring things.”

“Not just yet,” said Sarah. “I’m still in the building phase. So you came down here and the first one you decided to visit was me. I’m flattered.”

“Yes,” said Sam. “The reason we’re here is that our trek took us close to an estate that you own—the Estancia Guerrero.”

“How interesting.” Her expression was guarded, alert but emotionless.

“The reason we had to pass that way was that a contingent of heavily armed men were chasing us. They opened fire as soon as they saw us, so we had to run and we took a shortcut through your property. What we saw when we crossed your land was a very large marijuana plantation with about a hundred workers, harvesting the crop, drying, packing, and shipping.”

“What a wild day you had,” she said. “How, pray tell, did you escape from all these armed men?”

“Don’t you think what you should be asking is what are all these criminals doing on my ranch?” said Remi.