“Yes.” His voice was bitter. “And you see where it got me. I should have left it alone. Not taken that extra step. They would never have heard of me.”
“I know Delores and Santos came to see you in Argentina. They’d heard about your work?”
“I’d thought I’d kept it secret, but they knew. They visited me in my uncle’s lab in the hills. They told me that I was the man they’d been looking for and started asking me questions. No, she asked me questions. Santos sat back and smiled and acted as if he’d bought her a present by bringing her to me.”
“She was the one who was the most interested?”
“She acted … hungry. Beautiful, so beautiful, but she was excited and flushed and was drinking in everything I said. I admit I was flattered, but then I became uneasy. She made me tell her everything, then she turned to Santos, and said, ‘He’s the one. Get him for me.’”
“Threats or money?”
“Principally money. He offered me more money than I could make in twenty years. But the threat was there, too. He was going to give his Delores what she wanted no matter what it took.”
“And exactly what did she want?”
“Forever.”
“Eternal life? She couldn’t have expected that.”
“Why not?” he said scornfully. “She thought everything belonged to her, that she could reach out and take. Being frozen would only have been a stopgap. If they were eventually able to heal and bring her back to life, then she’d go for the next step, then the next. She was fascinated by Eva Peron. Every child in South America had heard tales about Eva. Eva is a folk heroine even after all these decades. Delores had read every biography, even devoured that Madonna movie they made about her life. She told me she could have handled Eva’s career with Juan Peron better than Eva had done, but she admired her boldness. Eva’s power over everyone around her was what led Delores to study her complete life … and death. She even tried to visit Eva’s final resting place in Buenos Aires but couldn’t get permission. Eva lies five meters underground in a crypt built like a nuclear bunker. The government wanted to be sure that no one would ever disturb her remains again. But that didn’t stop Delores. It only led her to Pedro Ara, then to every distant branch of his family, and, eventually, to me.” His voice was bitter. “I was to be her Dr. Frankenstein, but I mustn’t make her look like the monster she was. She had to remain beautiful.”
“Why was she so obsessed with it? She was still in the prime of life and supposedly in good health. She couldn’t have known that I’d kill her a short time later.”
“I asked her the same question. She said only fools didn’t prepare for the worst-case scenarios and she wouldn’t be defeated if a ten-ton truck happened to careen around the corner and hit her. She laughed and reached over and touched Santos’s hand and said that whatever preparations she made for herself must also be done for him. They had to go on together.”
Catherine felt a chill. Delores meant they had to go on together forever. What evil would they be able to spawn if their time was extended indefinitely? “How kind of her to include him.” She moistened her lips. “So you took the deal.”
“I took it. She was young. I thought she’d live for years and years. By that time, anything could happen that might change my obligation to him. He was a criminal. So was Delores. They might both end up dead or in prison.”
“And then you’d be rich and free. What did you have to do for his money?”
“I gave them several vials of serum to be injected within four hours of death. I sold them the prototype of the cryogenic container that I’d built in my lab and instructions what to do with it.”
“But that wasn’t all.”
“No, they made me promise to do the final preparations and come immediately when needed.”
“And Dorgal called you when Delores was killed, and you kept your word.”
“Of course I did. There wasn’t anything else I could do. Santos would have ordered me butchered.”
“No doubt about it.” She paused. “But where did you go? Where was that container?”
“Not in her final resting place, if that’s what you’re hoping. I told you the truth, I don’t know where Santos set up his new compound. I did the work in a climate-controlled warehouse outside Bogota. It took me three days, but I did a job that would have made Ara green with envy. I did everything right. In the end, she was as beautiful as a goddess and has every chance to wake when the time is right for her. I was as proud as if I’d resurrected Mother Teresa. It was only later when I started to question myself and my work that I realized what I’d really done.” He added hoarsely, “I’d become the Frankenstein Delores had wanted me to be.”
She could hear the horror and agony in his voice. “And that’s why you wanted to opt out.”
“I had to opt out. Dorgal wanted me to stay with her, make sure that nothing would go wrong, spend my life attending that Plexiglas coffin. I took off and ran back to my home in Guatemala City.”
“But Santos sent one of his contract killers after you.”
“I’d already gathered my belongings and taken off for the hills by the time he got there. So he sent me a warning instead. He killed my brother and said it would only be the first death if I didn’t come back when I was needed.”
“In case there was a problem with the cryogenic unit.”
“Yes.”
“And you don’t know where Delores’s body was taken?”
“The last time I saw her was that warehouse in Bogotá.” He paused. “I assume she’s with Santos. He was very protective.”
“Then help me to find him. He’ll never stop searching for you, Montez. You know how this has to end. Help me to end it for all of us.”
“If you hadn’t killed Delores, it might have worked out without my having to be involved with them again.”