The Evening News (89 page)

He fe
lt a hand touch his arm as Ferna
ndez's heavyset figure moved
forward. With his mouth close to the opening, Fern
a
n
d
ez spoke equally fast, but in reasonable, soothing tones. As he continued, the voice from inside faltered and stopped, then the chain was released and the door opened
.
The woman standing before them was probably around age sixty. Long ago she
might have been beautiful, but time and hard living had made her blowsy and
coarse, her skin blotchy, her hair a mixture of colors and unkempt. Beneath
plucked, penciled eyebrows her eyes were red and swollen from crying and
he
r heavy makeup was a mess. Ferna
ndez walked in past her and the others
followed. After a moment she closed the door, apparently reassured
.
Partridge glanced around quickly. The room they had entered was small and
simply furnished with some wooden chairs, a sofa with worn upholstery, a
plain, cluttered table and a bookcase roughly fashioned out of bricks and
planks. Surprisingly, the bookcase was full, mainly with heavy volumes
.
Fern
a
ndez turned to Partridge
.”
It seems that just a few hours ago the man
she lived with here was killed-murdered. She was out and came back to find
him dead; the police have taken the body. She thought we were the people
who killed him, come back to finish her too. I convinced her we are
friends
.”

He spoke to the woman again and her eyes moved to Partridge
.
Partridge assured her, "We are truly sorry to hear of your friend's death
.
Have you any idea who killed him
?
”

The woman shook her head and
murmured something. Ferna
ndez said, "She
speaks very little English
,”
and translated for her
.”
Lo sentimos mucho la
muerte de su amigo. Sabello. quio
n lo maffi
?
”

The woman nodded energetically, mouthing a stream of words ending with
"Sendero Luminoso
.”
It confirmed what Partridge had feared. The person they had hoped to
see-whoever he was-had connections to Sendero, but was now beyond reach
.
The question remained: Did this woman know anything about the kidnap
victims? It seemed unlikely
.
She spoke again in Spanish, less rapidly, and this time Partridge
understood
.”
Yes
,”
he said to Ferna
ndez, "we would like
to sit down, and tell her I would be grateful if she will answer some questions
.”

Ferna
ndez repeated the request and the woman replied, after which he
translated
.”
She says yes, if she can. I have told her who you are and, by
the way, her name is Dolores. She also asks if you would like a drink
.”

"No, gracias,
“
Partridge said, at which Dolores nodded and went to a
shelf, clearly intending to get a drink for herself But when she lifted a
gin bottle she saw that it was empty. She seemed about to cry again, then
murmured something before sitting down
.
Fern
a
ndez reported, "She says she doesn't know how she will live. She has
no money
.”

Partridge said direct
ly to Dolores, "Le daro
dinero si Ud. tiene la
informaci
o
n que estoy buscando
.”
The mention of money produced another fast exchange between Dolores and
Fernandez
who reported, "She says ask your questions
.”

Partridge decided not to rely on his own limited Spanish and continued with
Fern
a
ndez translating. Questions and answers went back and forth
.”
Your man friend who was killed-what kind of work did he do
?
”

"He was a doctor. A special doctor
.”

"You mean a specialist
?
”

"He put people to sleep
.”

"An anesthesiologist
?
”

Dolores shook her head, not understanding. Then she went to a cupboard
,
groped inside and produced a small, battered suitcase. Opening the case
,
she removed a file containing papers and leafed through them. Selecting
two, she passed them to Partridge. He saw they were medical diplomas
.
The first declared that Hartley Harold Gossage, a graduate of Boston
University Medical School, was entitled to practice medicine. The second
diploma certified that the same Hartley Harold Gossage was "a properly
qualified specialist in Anesthesiology
.”

W
ith a gesture, Partridge asked if he could look at the other papers
.
Dolores nodded her approval
.
Several documents appeared to concern routine medical matters and were of
no interest. The third he picked up was a letter on stationery of the
Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine. Addressed to "H. H
.
Gossage, M.D.
,”
it began, "You are hereby notified that your license to
practice medicine has been revoked for life . .
.”

Partridge put the letter down. A picture was becoming clearer. The man who
had lived here, reported to have just been murdered, was presumably
Gossage, a disgraced, disbarred American anesthesiologist who had some
connection with Sendero Luminoso. As to that connection, Partridge
reasoned, the kidnap victims had been spirited out of the United States
,
presumably drugged or otherwise sedated at the time. In fact when he
thought about it, yesterday's discoveries at the Hackensack house
,
described by Don Kettering, confirmed that. It seemed likely, therefore
,
that the former doctor, Gossage, had done the sedating. Partridge's face
tightened. He wished he had been able to confront the man while he was
alive
.
The oth
ers were watching him. With Ferna
ndez's help he resumed the
questioning of Dolores
.”
You told us Sendero Luminoso murdered your doctor friend. Why do you
believe that
?
”

"Because he worked for those bastardos
.”
A pause, then a recollection
.”
Sendero had a name for him-Baudelio
.”

"How did you know this
?
”

"He told me
.”

"Did he tell you other things he did for Sendero
?
”

"Some
.”

A wan smile which quickly disappeared
.”
When we got drunk
together
.”

"Did you know about a kidnapping? It was in all the newspapers
.”

Dolores shook her head
.”
I do not read newspapers. All they print is lies
.”

"Was Baudelio away from Lima recently
?
”

A vigorous series of nods
.”
For a long time. I missed him
.”

A pause, then
,
"He phoned me from America
.”

"Yes, we know
.”

Everything was fitting together, Partridge thought
.
Baudelio had to have been on the kidnap scene. He asked through
Fern
a
ndez, "When did he come back here
?
”

Dolores considered before answering
.”
A week ago. He was glad to be back
.
He was also afraid he would be killed
.”

"Did he say why
?
”

Dolores considered
.”
I think he overheard something. About him knowing
too much
.”

She began to cry
.”
We had been together a long time. What
shall I do
?
”

There was one important question left. Partridge deliberately hadn't
asked it yet and was almost afraid to
.”
After Baudelio was in America and
before returning here, was he somewhere in Peru
?
”

Dolores nodded affirmatively
.”
Did he tell you where that was
?
”

"Yes. Nueva Esperanza
.”

Partridge could scarcely believe what so suddenly and unexpectedly had
come his way. His hands were shaking as he turned back pages in his
notebook-to the interview with Cesar Acevedo and the list of places where
Sendero Luminoso had ordered the Catholic medical teams to stay out. A
name leapt out at him: Nueva Esperanza
.
He had it! He knew at last where Jessica, Nicky and Angus Sloane were
being held.

He was still first and foremost a TV news correspondent, Partridge
reminded himself as he discussed with Rita, Minh and O'Hara the video
shots they needed--of Dolores, the apartment, and the building's
exterior. They were all in the tenth-floor apartment, Tomis having been
sent down to bring the other three from the station wagon
.
Partridge wanted close-ups too of the medical diplomas and the
Massachusetts letter consigning Gossage-cum-Baudelio to the medical
profession's garbage heap. The American ex-doctor might have gone to his
grave, but Partridge would make sure the vileness he had done the Sloane
family was forever on record
.
However, even though Baud
elio's apparent role in the kid
napping was important to the full news story, Partridge knew that releasing it now would be a mistake, leading others to the information that his CBA group possessed exclusively. But he wanted the Baudelio segment pre
-
packaged, ready for use at a moment's notice when the proper time came
.
Dolores was videotaped in close
-
up, the sound recording of her voice in
Spanish later to be faded out and a translation dubbed in. At the
conclusion of her taping Ferna
ndez told Partridge, "She is reminding you
that you promised her money
.”

Partridge conferred with Rita who produced a thousand dollars in U.S
.
fifty-dollar bills. In the circumstances the payment was generous, but
Dolores had provided an important break; also Partridge and Rita felt
sorry for her and believed her statement that she knew nothing of the
kidnap, despite her association with Baudelio
.
Rita instructed
Fernandez
, "Please explain it is against CBA policy to
pay for a news appearance; therefore the money is for the use of her
apartment and the information she gave us
.”

It was a semantic
distinction, often used by networks to do exactly what they said they
didn't, but New York liked producers to go through the motions
.
Judging by Dolores's gratitude, she neither understood nor cared about
the explanation. Partridge was sure that as soon as they had gone the
empty gin bottle would be quickly replaced
.
Now his mind was free to move on to essentials-planning a rescue
expedition to Nueva Esperanza as quickly as he could. At the thought of
it his excitement rose, the old addiction to danger, guns and battle
stirring within him.

Crawford Sloane's instinct during every day of waiting was to
telephone Harry Partridge in Peru and ask, "Is there anything
new
?
”