The Death Relic Read Online Free PDF

hitting it off so well after such a short time. ‘OK! Be that way. But keep something in mind: you invited me here for my expertise. Over the next few days, I’ll have plenty of opportunities to get even.’
    ‘That, my dear, is a very good point. Perhaps you’ve waited long enough.’
    ‘Perhaps I have.’
    Hamilton glanced over her shoulder and frowned. ‘Unfortunately, it looks like you’ll have to wait a few more seconds.’
    ‘Why’s that?’
    ‘We have company.’
    As if on cue, the waiter returned with Maria’s daiquiri, plus a basket of tortilla chips and a dish of
pico de gallo
. Known locally as
salsa fresca
, the uncooked condiment was made from chopped tomatoes, onions and serrano peppers. The aroma was so strong, Maria’s nose and eyes started to run even though it had been placed in the middle of the table.
    ‘
Santa Maria!
’ she said, coughing. ‘I’m glad I’m sitting upwind from that concoction. The smell alone is giving me heartburn.’
    ‘I’ll gladly eat your share,’ said Hamilton, who dipped one of the tortilla chips into the salsa before shoving it in his mouth. ‘I’ve been here so long I’ve fallen in love with spicy food. Now I put hot sauce on everything, from eggs in the morning to steaks at night. Believe it or not, I sometimes top off my dinner with jalapeño ice cream. It’s a local favourite.’
    Maria scrunched up her face at the thought. In her mind, a meal wasn’t complete unless it ended with something sweet. Preferably something chocolate. ‘How long have you been here?’
    ‘In Cancún? Less than an hour.’
    ‘Really? I thought your crew was based here.’
    ‘Heavens no! Not a lot of research to do in these parts. This is a tourist city, not an historical one.’ Hamilton pointed at all the hotels that lined the beach. ‘Right now, there are approximately seven hundred thousand people living in Cancún, plus tens of thousands of tourists that visit on a daily basis. That being said, do you know what the local population was in 1970?’
    She took a wild guess. ‘Fifty thousand.’
    He signalled lower. ‘Try again.’
    ‘Twenty thousand.’
    He shook his head. ‘Would you believe,
three
?’
    ‘Wow! Three thousand is pretty small.’
    ‘Not three thousand,’ he said, laughing. ‘I’m talking
three
– as in one, two, three.’
    The number shocked her. ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’
    ‘I assure you, my dear, I’m completely serious. I can’t tell you how much money I’ve won over the years with that bit of trivia.’
    ‘Three people? How is that possible?’
    He explained. ‘Back then, this entire stretch of land was part of a coconut plantation owned by Don José Gutiérrez. The only full-time residents of Cancún were the three caretakers of the plantation. I jokingly call them the Three Amigos.’
    Maria shook her head in amazement. Based on everything she’d seen from the air, she had assumed Cancún had been around for centuries. ‘What happened in 1970?’
    ‘Well,’ he said as he stuffed another tortilla chip in his mouth, ‘the Mexican government realized how important tourism could be for the local economy, so they financed the first nine hotels in the region and poured money into the infrastructure. Their goal was to build the best resort city in the Caribbean. Amazingly, they pulled it off in less than twenty years.’
    ‘That is amazing.’
    ‘Granted, there have been some bumps in the road over the past four decades – most notably Hurricane Gilbert and Hurricane Wilma – but that hasn’t hurt the population growth in the city. It’s practically doubled in size in the last ten years.’
    Maria sipped her daiquiri, trying to remember how they had started on the topic. Mentally she traced the line of questioning back to when she had asked about Hamilton’s time in the city. She had assumed he was based locally since they were meeting at the Fiesta Americana, but he said he had been in Cancún for less than an