Chapter 9
The following morning, Cathy Hendricks awakened early.
After showering she dressed and began reading, waiting for her breakfast to be brought to her by Ramon. When she heard the familiar knock on the door she set her book down.
"Come in, Ramon," she said.
Ramon entered the room. Much to Cathy's surprise, however, he was not pushing a tray containing her breakfast.
"Where's my breakfast?" she asked.
"Senor Sanchez wishes for you to breakfast with him out on the terrace."
"When?" she asked.
"Right now."
"Very well."
Immediately Cathy suspected that the imperial potentate Luis Sanchez was preparing to have sex with her. She deeply resented being taken for granted by anyone, and Sanchez always conveyed the same impression-anyone was his for the asking. The other girls might have become what Cathy considered to be programmed robots who would fawn over the confident and elegant Mexican in the most syrupy fashion, but she was not about to allow herself to fall into the same category. All the same, she knew that, if he truly wanted her, there was nothing that she could do to resist his efforts.
Senor Luis Sanchez was sitting at the table wearing a pink sport shirt and light blue sport slacks as Cathy was escorted outside by Ramon, who immediately walked back into the house. Miguel was refilling Sanchez' glass with orange juice as Cathy approached the table.
"Good morning, beautiful lady," he bowed without getting up from the table. "Please sit down. We have plenty of fine fresh fruit, mango, pineapple, papaya. Then when you finish that you might care for some ham and eggs. Maybe some toast. At any rate I offer you a sumptuous Acapulco breakfast fit for a queen."
"Thank you," she replied.
Miguel turned and faced Cathy.
"Good morning, Senorita Cathy," he said.
"Good morning, Miguel."
"Would you care for some fresh orange juice?"
"Thank you very much."
Miguel poured Cathy a full glass of orange juice, then walked back into the house, leaving Cathy alone with Senor Sanchez.
For a few minutes Sanchez concentrated exclusively on the food before him, and all the while the tension built within Cathy as she wondered just what he was going to propose to her and when. She envisioned something along the same order as what had happened to her after she had been his dinner guest. She recalled how he had promptly escorted her to his bedroom, at which point the sexual fireworks promptly commenced without anyone having asked her permission about anything that was happening. Finally Sanchez spoke:
'There is something I must tell you, lovely Cathy. We have a most distinguished guest staying here."
"Who?" she asked.
"His name is Jorge Velasquez and he is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a very handsome and influential man. He arrived yesterday and his stay must be necessarily short. Jose will be driving him to the airport early this evening. He has an important international conference to attend in Caracas in two days and he must leave for there right away to prepare for it. At any rate, I would like for you to meet this most distinguished gentleman."
"When am I supposed to meet him?"
"Early this afternoon. You will be summoned from your room to meet him. Things will be very informal. Just put on your bikini. You will be communicating with him at poolside."
"I'm supposed to have a chat with him or something?"
"You will be communicating with this man. I'm sure you will find the meeting to be very pleasurable. The one thing you'll learn the longer the time that you spend with us, charming Senorita Cathy, is that you will not ever fail to find your life becoming culturally enriched. That is one of the reasons why you find the ladies here so contented. There is good reason for that, and the more you get acquainted with all of us the better you will understand this."
Cathy said nothing. She wondered just what would be expected of her when she met Jorge Velasquez. There was silence at the table for the next few minutes, following which Sanchez once again spoke.
"If you really wand to trace a progress story the way to do it is to analyze the life experience of Dolores," he smiled.
"I'm learning not to ask questions around here, but to be a good listener. I get the feeling you're about to tell me something about Dolores. Am I right?"
"Most definitely," Sanchez laughed. "You have a very quick and alert mind, my dear. I like that very much. I know that Mary told you a good deal about herself yesterday. I encouraged her to do it beforehand, otherwise she would have told you nothing. I knew that you would be curious since she is an American girl, like yourself."
"Yes. She had a fascinating story to tell."
"Well, I helped her a good deal as far as her breeding was concerned. She had a way of acting rather vulgar and coarse when she came here, and she was a very headstrong girl as well, but gradually I was able to give her the proper guidance and the charming girl that you met resulted. Well, there was a good deal done to mold the stunning Dolores into the woman you now see, but her problem was different."
"How did it differ from Mary?"
"Dolores needed her confidence bolstered. She needed to develop a certain independence she lacked. I know you're probably thinking that she doesn't need any independence here because I rule this household with an iron hand. Is that what you're thinking? You don't need to say no on my account if that is what you are actually thinking."
"As a matter-of-fact that is just what I was thinking," she candidly conceded.
"Good. I wanted you to be straightforward. Actually
I demand a certain level of obedience, but if you'll notice everyone here has also developed an individual personality. I wouldn't have it any other way, particularly when a distinguished guest is visiting, and we do entertain a good many distinguished people."
"I believe I see your point."
"With Dolores she was so beautiful that she constantly had people vying for her affections. She came from a poor family from the slums of Mexico City and the first thing she thought of when she became old enough to consider such things was to get a job working at a club in Mexico City dancing. She began working as a stripteaser, and with her face and body you can imagine how successful she was."
"Very successful, I would imagine," Cathy surmised, biting into a piece of pineapple.
"Oh, indeed. So successful that some very wealthy men began visiting the club where she worked, even though it was a small club and otherwise undistinguished. They were wild about this beautiful young woman. Finally they began bidding for her attention. These men were all married, some of the most prestigious men in the community, men who had achieved in business and the professions, and they would pay her either to spend an evening with them or to travel for a day or two to Acapulco or Puerto Vallarta or Cuernavaca. I think you are beginning to get the picture of the confusion that all this attention prompted in the life of this lovely young woman."
"Yes. I can see what happened."
"Finally, after this had been happening for some time, after she had provided these men with favors but never really got to know any of them that well, a beautiful blonde American woman by the name of Ruth Von Gordon appeared in her life. Do you know the name?"
"I've heard of Albert Von Gordon. The late Albert Von Gordon. The multimillionaire who owned so many international airlines. He was always called one of the richest men in the world. I think that some people even thought he was the richest man in the world."
"Yes. I am referring to his widow."
"Oh. I see."
"A very influential woman. At any rate, after Albert Von Gordon died she inherited close to half of what he owned. She has a mansion in the mountains overlooking Acapulco Bay. It is one of many mansions she maintains all over the world."
"And she met Dolores here?"
"No. She met her when she was visiting Mexico City. She happened to pick up a local newspaper and her eyes came across a picture of Dolores. She decided that she would go to the club where she danced to see her in person."
"And she introduced herself to Dolores there?"
"Yes, she did. Dolores, the poor little girl from the slums, was thrilled to be meeting somebody of her stature. You see, even before she married Albert Van Gordon, Ruth had gone to the finest schools in New England and had even studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. With her extensive education and traveling background she had poor little Dolores in virtual awe."
"What was Ruth Von Gordon's objective?"
"You see, at some point after her husband had died, Ruth Von Gordon became suddenly tired of being chased by men, particularly handsome playboys with expensive tastes and magnificent physiques. Naturally they were all after her. Not only was she extraordinarily wealthy, but she was also very beautiful. Her body also rated with the best since she had the finest masseuses to rub her down regularly. Oh, she was very much into the value of massaging the body."
"Ah, I believe I'm beginning to catch onto something," Cathy quickly nodded. "When Dolores met me the first time the thing she wanted to do most in the beginning was to massage my body. Her eyes sparkled like a young schoolgirl's when she began doing it. I could see that it thrilled her, and she was good at it, very good."
"That is right," Senor Sanchez nodded.
A few moments later Miguel surfaced with the hot food, plenty of ham and eggs, with toast and pancakes. He placed liberal portions of the food on separate plates for Sanchez and Cathy. He then proceeded to refill their glasses with orange juice, after which he bowed and disappeared once more into the house. Sanchez watched him depart, upon which he resumed his story.
"One of the first things Ruth Von Gordon introduced Dolores to was refined body culture, but I'm getting ahead of myself in the story. Anyway, as I was saying, Ruth had all these men pursuing her. She also had actors, politicians, lawyers and doctors from countries all over the world pursuing her. She finally grew tired of it all."
"Why do you suppose that happened?"
"I understand that she got the opinion that all of them were really after her for her money and she started distrusting men altogether, regarding them as opportunists. But there was another reason as well, I believe."
"What was that?"
"I think she felt that the challenge had gone as far as men were concerned. She could have the world's finest at the snap of her fingers. It all became so tame for her, wooing and capturing the most interesting men in the world. Or actually they were wooing her. She finally decided she would do something provocative. She would go after women, generally only very beautiful women she thought of as being completely straight with no lesbian backgrounds at all."
"And she wooed Dolores?"
"Yes. Everything fell into place perfectly as far as the timing of everything was concerned."
"How do you mean?" Cathy asked.
"Ruth Von Gordon had just returned to Mexico from the French Riviera two weeks earlier. She had been sharing a rented villa in Cannes with one of the most beautiful women in France, a former Follies Bergere showgirl that Ruth had swept off her feet when they met in a Paris nightclub. Even though everyone seemed to think that the French woman had never had sex with another woman before, Ruth caught her at a vulnerable time since she had just recently obtained a divorce from her wealthy Swiss industrialist husband a short time before. They fought a good deal at the end of their marriage, and Ruth Von Gordon knew just how to appeal to her. So they became lovers and spent most of their time together in some of the most fascinating cities of the world. They were seen one week in London, the next in Paris, maybe the next week in New York. But their affair ended in that Cannes villa and the whole thing left Ruth crushed. So she immediately latched onto beautiful and vulnerable young Dolores as a replacement."
"They became lovers?"
"Eventually Ruth persuaded her to quit working in the club. They shared the Acapulco mansion when they were here and they did a lot of traveling together. For awhile Dolores was in her glory, but finally her attitude changed."
"What caused it to change?"
"The domineering manner of Ruth. Ruth would start telling her that she had picked her up from the gutter, especially after she had been drinking, and Dolores would become very hurt. And whenever Ruth decided that it was time to take a trip she would never consult poor Dolores or give her any advance warning. She would tell her to pack her belongings because they were going somewhere."
"So how did it all finally end?"
"Ah, I saved the best for last," Luis Sanchez laughed. "One afternoon after Ruth Von Gordon had spent most of the day belittling young Dolores she stormed into her room and told her to be packed in fifteen minutes because they were going to New York. She slammed the door and then came back fifteen minutes later, but by then she was gone."
"Where did she go?"
"Dolores snuck out the window and fled to the beach. She decided that she had had enough and she was running away. Well, Jose and Ramon happened to see her on an isolated strip of beach and captured her the same way that they did you."
"But didn't Ruth Von Gordon report her as missing?"
"Oh yes, but we took care of that," Luis smiled slyly.
"How did you take care of it?"
"After we had captured her and had her here, we gave some of her clothing to a young man, a contact of ours, and he miraculously discovered the clothing along the shore. It was all wet. We wanted to give the impression that it had been washed ashore and that Dolores had drowned. The police investigated and concluded that she had drowned."
"Then Dolores is officially dead?"
"Yes. Precisely."
"You are so calculating, Senor Sanchez, that it is chilling," Cathy shook her head. "Please. I told you to call me Luis," he laughed.
"But the other girls, and the men as well, they always call you Senor Sanchez. What makes me so privileged?"
"When I am alone with some of these people I let down my guard as far as formalities are concerned," he smilingly explained. "When you talk to anyone else, of course, or when we are talking and other people are around I naturally expect the formalities to be upheld. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Yes. I never met a man who was more in control of things than you. It is absolutely eerie."
"Thank you," he laughed. "I consider that a great compliment."
"So what happened to Ruth Von Gordon?" Cathy asked. "Did she ever get over the shock of losing Dolores?"
"I really don't know," he shook his head. "She is now living in the Swiss Alps. She wanted to be by herself after it happened. She became convinced that the whole thing was her fault, that she pushed Dolores to the ends she reached. She was right. She actually had pushed her to those lengths, the only problem in her thinking is that they were not the results that she had sought. Now Dolores is doing very well living here."
"But doesn't this whole episode make you feel guilty?"
"But why?" he looked at her dumbfoundedly.
"Making her feel that she actually drove Dolores to her death. Did the police rule it a suicide?"
"A possible suicide," he confirmed.
"That's what I mean. Doesn't that make you feel strange? Don't you feel at least a little bit of remorse for putting Ruth Von Gordon through that kind of strain when Dolores never died at all? She's crushed and is accepting responsibility for something she never did."
"Ah, it never actually happened, that is true," he nodded, "but that is not to say that it would not have happened if she had continued living with her."
"But all that is speculation. Surely you can't prove that."
"Of course not. I cannot prove that something that never occurred would have, but it certainly might have. Poor Dolores was in a thoroughly disrupted state when she came here. Not only that, but her ego would have eventually become so damaged, and she would have eventually become so disturbed that something awful, something calamitous would have occurred. I am sure of it. And my opinion was corroborated by a top German psychiatrist who was my guest here shortly after Dolores joined us, and who helped nurse her back to health. No, I have a strong conviction that one way or another we helped save Dolores' life here."
"So what you seem to be saying is that Ruth Von Gordon deserved to suffer the fate she did."
'That is not for me to decide," he shrugged. "All I am saying is that she deserves no pity. Any pity she receives will have to come from a source other than me."
Miguel surfaced once more.
"Senor Sanchez, Senorita Cathy, do you care for anything more to eat? To drink?" Miguel asked graciously.
"Nothing more for me, thank you," Cathy exclaimed.
"Everything was excellent," Senor Sanchez said, patting his stomach for emphasis. "I am full, Miguel my good man. Thank you, but I need nothing more."
"Very good," Miguel bowed, walking back into the house.
"Go back to your room, my dear, and take it easy for the rest of the morning," Sanchez said as he rose from his chair. "You will be called when your services are needed."