Celendín
In the market of Celendín, straw hats fly, cocoa beans bounce across the cobblestones, and suddenly Franz is gone.
Perusina realizes: There's more than craftsmanship in the fine folds of the hats. Someone wants to steal an old pattern, and Franz has seen too much.
The Vanished Franz and the Hat with the Wrong Fold
A Celendín mystery about Paja Toquilla hats, chocolate, a missing pattern, a mototaxi escape attempt, and why you have to look very closely in real craft places.
Franz disappeared at the exact moment Perusino said: "In Celendín, even the air smells of chocolate."
That wasn't entirely wrong. Warm scents wafted from the market: cocoa, roasted corn, dust, leather, fresh fibers. Straw hats were everywhere. On tables. On walls. In baskets. On heads. Some were wide as plates, others fine as paper.
Franz stood with his eyes closed in front of a stall, sniffing a bar of chocolate.
"Just smell," said Perusina.
"Of course," said Franz.
Then there was a crash.
A tower of hats fell over. A hat maker cried out. A mototaxi honked. A sack of cocoa beans burst open, and brown beans bounced across the cobblestones like marbles.
Perusino laughed at first.
Then he stopped.
"Where's Franz?"
Perusina spun around. Next to the chocolate stand, only Franz's red scarf remained. It was stuck between two light Paja Toquilla fibers hanging from an unfinished hat.
Perusina slowly picked it up.
"That wasn't an accident."
Perusino swallowed. "He was kidnapped?"
A dull thumping came from a side alley.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Then a quiet, angry "Mmph!"
Perusino ran off.
"Franz!"
Perusina grabbed his sleeve. "Wait. Don't just chase after him."
"Yes. Exactly! Just chase after him!"
