Pinoy historical romance: Intramuros

Pinoy historical romance: Intramuros Part 4

Corporal Manuel stared at his bottle, wearing a dark frown. He spent two hours convincing his friend Pedrito to help him question the people around Donia Victoriana's house. He knew he'd get nowhere if he was the one doing the questioning, seeing that most of the natives will only be honest with other natives.

"It's just one day, Pedrito," pleaded the corporal. "It won't be such a bother, I promise." But Pedrito just smiled and took a gulp of his cerveza.

"You want me to beg? Fine, I'll--"

"No, you don't have to beg," Pedrito finally responded. "However, it would be fun to see someone such as you begging someone such as me. But you are my friend."'

"Thank you for stopping me. I value our friendship, too. It's one of the few important things in my life since my mother died."'

"You are being melodramatic, Baste," Pedrito remarked, calling the corporal by his nickname since they were friends since childhood. "Why would I want to help these rich Spaniards again?"

"You are helping me, not them," Corporal Manuel clarified. "I might get promoted when I solve this case. And you, my friend, might stop driving that horse-drawn karetela for the Civil Guard officers."

"But I like driving that karetela."

"They might give you a higher-paying job. Don't you like that?"

"Alright, alright. You have convinced me. I'll ask another friend of mine to walk around the part of the city where that Spaniard's house is."

"Thanks very much. Now. Do I have to finish this? Asked the corporal, pointing at the bottle of cervesa in front of him.

It was afternoon of the next day and Corporal Manuel was looking at the doorway of a building a couple of blocks away from Donia Victoriana's house. His friend Pedrito was able to get some useful information from vendors working around the big house. Although Corporal Manuel was sure it would work, he was amazed that Pedrito got the information by asking around for less than an hour.

According to the vendors, three well-dressed people were always going around the place about three weeks ago, around the time of Foo-Foo's disappearance. The three were especially memorable because they keep craning their necks and standing on tip-toes to watch inside the gates of Donia Victoriana's house. They did this so much and were not looking around them, they upset many sidewalk vendors and bumped into passers-by. The three didn't even look where they were going when they were driving their carriage since twice they almost ran over somebody crossing the street.

Now, Corporal Manuel was looking at the carriage. He, with the help of Pedrito, traced the well-dressed trio to this house. He's not sure that they had anything to do with Foo-Foo's disappearance but he was determined to find out.