Chapter 100: Generous
I had not liked Don Eugenio Suarez, even with his generous gestures during my time in town.
I could not forget how he had let Pedro and his men sleep in a storehouse filled with drying copra. For all the displays of hospitality he extended toward me, he hadn’t even bothered to have the copra cleared out—or at the very least, to provide them with simple mats and a few proper meals.
And, of course, it was not lost on me how coldly he treated his own family. Despite the circumstances, a proper human being would have shown at least a hint of sorrow over his father’s death, and some measure of compassion for his grieving half-sister. Yet according to the housemaid, he had tried to evict her from the very house she had grown up in—just a few days before I arrived.
I wouldn’t even be surprised if he had been one of the reasons why the principalia in the town had initially resisted me. For all I knew, he had been undermining me from the start. Perhaps he was even personally opposed to the martial law. That tale about his failure to acquire the fields in Biga—maybe that was a lie, too.
In short, he was not what I would call a pleasant man. A two-faced coward, who bowed with respect and heaped praise upon me in person, only to work against me once my back was turned.
Now... I suspected him of stealing the rifles, with his younger brother Adan as his accomplice. For what purpose, I still did not know. But if he thought I would simply let the matter slide, he was gravely mistaken.
I arrived at his residence flanked by a small armed force, rifles in hand, torches in the other. The rhythmic pounding of boots on the dirt road echoed into the night, waking more than a few neighbors. Some peeked from their windows, while others stepped warily onto their doorsteps to see what was happening.
I ordered Capitan Sadiwa to knock.
It was late in the night, so we didn’t expect a ready welcome. After a few tense minutes, a maid finally opened the door. Her eyes immediately went wide as they took in the line of riflemen behind me.
"The gobernadorcillo is asleep..." she said in a voice barely above a whisper, her eyes darting nervously. "But I can wake him up for you."
I stepped forward onto the landing, causing the maid to retreat into the doorway as if burned.