Dead Dogs and Englishmen by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli Page A

shook his head again. “I don’t know. Somebody said he heard a woman was around asking questions. They thought she was from immigration at first but she was Mexican. I mean, she came right from Mexico. She showed one man a badge.”
    â€œBadge? Like a police badge? Government badge?” Dolly asked.
    â€œDon’t know for sure. Just a badge.”
    â€œCan you give me the name of the person who talked to this government woman?”
    â€œYeah. But he left. He went out to where his cousin works, in California.”
    â€œRight after this woman talked to him?”
    â€œSoon after, is what I heard. I asked a friend of mine what he thought was going on. My friend said it’s something pretty bad.”
    â€œCan I talk to your friend?”
    Carlos shook his head. “He’s gone too.”
    Dolly thought a minute. “How many have been threatened, that you know of?”
    He shrugged, looked up at George Sandini, then back down at his shoe tops. “All I heard was six or more. The ones who pulled out. Seems some of them got dead dogs thrown at their houses. Some just got scared because of what’s going on.” He squinted his black eyes at first Dolly then George. “Since we heard about this woman getting shot—with that dog there with her—well, I think more men want to leave.”
    â€œWhat about that Diaz family? You know them pretty good?”
    He shook his head. “I knew of them, but …” Here he spread his hands to show he had nothing more to give.
    â€œAre you afraid? I mean, now that you talked to us?” Dolly asked, voice low. “George here won’t say anything. We’re not going to bring you into it …”
    Carlos shrugged. “I’m a citizen. Where can I go? I don’t have anybody in Mexico any more. I don’t know what this is all about. Maybe my brother, in California. But that would leave George, here, stranded right when he needs me the most.”
    George toed the ground. “If it comes to your safety, Carlos. Nothing is worth putting your life on the line.”
    We all fell silent.
    _____
    On the way home we kept our talk to what we’d just learned and what we didn’t learn. I had a lot more notes and many more questions.
    Dolly said, “I’m gonna call Lieutenant Brent, see if we can get the government to find out who the dead woman is. Maybe immigration, I’m thinking. Or drugs. Those cartels down there are powerful. Could reach all the way back here, I guess. Not like we’re near a border or anything. Only Canada. Drugs don’t usually come in that way. More like down in Florida. But I heard even Atlanta’s got some big drug problems going on.” She talked almost to herself. “Still, I haven’t heard of any new drugs, or even more drugs, up here. A few guys grow their own weed. That’s about it. With the recession, nobody’s got money for crap like that.” She turned to face me. “Wha’d you think? Look like an agent to you? The dead woman?”
    I shrugged. Never having seen a Mexican agent of any kind, I had no idea. “Had on shorts, not a uniform. Maybe she wasn’t here officially.”
    â€œWouldn’t you think somebody in this country would’ve been alerted if a Mexican agent came in? ’Less she was undercover. Something like that.”
    â€œWouldn’t you think she’d have tried to fit in then? I mean, she looked like a middle-class woman. Not the kind of thing she’d wear undercover if her trouble was with the migrant population.”
    She shrugged. “People in different countries do different things. Could’ve been just the cover she needed.”
    I let that one go by me. We could beat it to death, but I had something else on my mind and I couldn’t keep quiet.
    â€œYou going to get in to a doctor or a hospital now?” I asked, circling us back to where we’d been