The tooth,Quint translated in his head.
“Where did you find it?” Angélica pressed.
“En un montón…” he started in Spanish, then held up his finger. “A stack,” he said slowly, his expression pained as if speaking English made his face hurt. KuTu held up his hand, chin-level. “Muy alta.Very tall. In front of …” His face scrunched up again. “Una larga pared.No sehow long.”
Angélica rattled off a mouthful of Spanish, speaking too quickly for Quint to pick up more than the words “long wall” and “jungle” and “Maya.”
“KuTu found a long wall up ahead that he believes was built by the ancient people,” Raul explained, leaning near Quint as he quietly translated. “Dr. Angélica is asking him why he doesn’t know how long the wall is that he found. If the jungle was too thick to cut through on his own to find where the wall ends, and if it had any Maya glyphs or other symbols carved into it.”
“Didn’t he say something about finding a tooth in a stack?” Quint whispered back.
“Sí.”
“A stack of what?”
Raul shrugged. “That is not clear yet, and Dr. Angélica is trying to get him to better describe the long wall at the moment.”
Describe the wall?What?
Quint turned to Angélica, interrupting her with, “KuTu says he found a tall stack of teeth and you’re focused on a silly wall?”
“The wall is not silly, Parker. Remember our discussion about the importance of seeing objects in situ regarding the relevance of the find? Not to mention what a wall represents at a site. I mean, is it tall? Does it go on for some length? Is it surrounding a temple, a group of temples, or a whole small city?”
Juan handed the tooth back to his daughter. “Junior Mint does have a good point,gatita.”
She scoffed. “Dad, teeth are a dime a dozen.”
“Even fashionable ones with gemstones?” Quint asked.
“I’ve lost count of how many teeth I’ve come across in the dirtover the years.”
“Yeah, but a bunch of teeth all stacked up to here?” Quint held his hand out to the height of KuTu’s chin.
“I don’t think he means what you’re envisioning, Parker.”
“Sí,muytall.” KuTu cast a worried look in Quint’s direction, holding his hand up to his chin again. “Es no bueno.”
“No entiendo, KuTu,” Angélica said.
Good, at least Quint wasn’t the only one who didn’t fully understand what KuTu was trying to warn them about.
She continued talking to KuTu in Spanish, trying to clarify if the condition of the wall was what KuTu meant by his repeated “no bueno,” according to Raul’s translation.
“The wall was sound, per KuTu,” Raul continued translating. “But he wasn’t able to find an end because it kept going and going, deeper into the jungle.”
Quint turned to Juan. “Your daughter’s lack of concern about a stack of teeth has me wondering if she has some kind of jungle fever.”
Juan took off his reading glasses. “As I’ve said before, her tendencies toward obsession come from her mother’s side of the family.”
“Obsession can lead to trouble,” Bronko said from behind them.
Quint glanced back. He hadn’t even heard Bronko join them, partly because a howler monkey was gutturally growling at the top of its lungs not too far away, trying to drown out Angélica’s questions; but mostly because the ex-hitman was light on his feet. Quint had witnessed Bronko’s stealth mode at breakfast when the killer had snuck up on him and Juan, seeming to appear from out of nowhere.
KuTu turned in the direction of where he’d found the tooth, still shaking his head. “Esto es muy malo, Dr. Angélica.”
Juan pocketed his glasses. “What’s very bad, KuTu?”
Quint wiped away a drip of sweat rolling down his temple. “Probably the mountain of teeth.”
