BooksBarbecue
Back Passage West
Chapters (59)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. Cast of Characters
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. Letters
  14. Part Two
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. Letters
  26. Part Three
  27. 18
  28. 19
  29. 20
  30. 21
  31. 22
  32. 23
  33. Letters
  34. Part Four
  35. 24
  36. 25
  37. 26
  38. 27
  39. 28
  40. Letters
  41. Part Five
  42. 29
  43. 30
  44. 31
  45. 32
  46. 33
  47. 34
  48. 35
  49. 36
  50. 37
  51. 38
  52. 39
  53. 40
  54. 41
  55. Epilogue
  56. Acknowledgments
  57. About the Author
  58. Also by Rishi Reddi
  59. About the Publisher

40

TWO AFTERNOONS LATER, AFTER THE LAST OF THE WITNESSES HAD SPOKEN, after Clarence Simms had delivered an argument in Karak’s defense, Ram entered the barrio and knocked on Esperanza and Alejandro’s door. It was Rosa who answered. There was despair in her eyes. It seemed as if she had not spoken for days. She turned away, leaving the door open.

“What is it?” Esperanza said, coming to the threshold. “Oh!” she said, after seeing Ram.

“Esperanza?” Alejandro’s voice boomed in the background.

“It is Ram Singh,” Esperanza said.

Alejandro came to the door. “What do you want?” he said. His tone was not kind.

“I am looking for Adela,” Ram said in Spanish.

“She is not here.”

“Where is she?”

“We do not know,” Esperanza said. “She left without telling us.”

Ram thought it was a lie. “Just . . . I want to talk with her.”

“We told you,” Alejandro said, “she is not here.”

A knot was forming in Ram’s stomach. “Where has she gone?”

“We are telling the truth,” Esperanza said, without anger.

For a moment Ram wanted to force the door open, to see if Adela was standing there, just listening on the other side. “I don’t want to hurt her—I just want to thank her. She did something brave. She—”

“She has no need of your thanks,” Esperanza said, suddenly irritated. “She did it for Rosa’s children. Now she is in danger and men threaten to kill her.”

Ram wondered how much Esperanza knew about the two of them. He put his hand on the doorframe. “Please, tell me where she’s gone.”

Esperanza stepped backward. “I’m telling you, we don’t know,” she said.

Alejandro wedged his body between them. “If we did, we wouldn’t tell you.” The men locked eyes. “Adiós, Ram,” Alejandro said calmly. For a long time, he had been the worker, and Ram had been the boss. There was no pretense now. “Please go without a fuss.”

The door shut. Ram turned around slowly. The truth hovered like the desert heat, ever-present, suffocating, immutable. He believed them.

He drove to the seamstress shop. The bell chimed as he opened the door. Sitting behind a sewing machine, a gray-haired woman gazed at him without blinking. Mrs. Belvidere did not recognize him; she had met him only once before, a dark-skinned man who spoke strangely, who came from a place that she did not know. He needed to be charming, mild. Certainly she would have known about the trial and Adela’s role in it.

Ram clasped his hands behind his back. “I am looking for a woman who works here, Señora Adela Rey Vasquez.”

“Does she know you?” Her voice was tremulous. “What do you want with her?”

“I have an urgent message to give her. She knows me well. My name is Ram. I am related by marriage to her cousin Rosa.” The woman did not seem impressed by this information.