EMILIA IN CHILOE

JACQUELINE BALCELLS/ ANA MARÍA GÜIRALDES

Summary

Emilia and Diego travel to Castro on the island of Chiloé to visit

Diego's godmother, Aunt Matilde, who was much loved and
respected in the village for her wisdom in curing illnesses with
natural herbs.
In Chiloé there are many myths and legends and the people there
believe faithfully in those things a little magical and mysterious and
those in Santiago find it hard to believe in those things.

Aunt Matilde gathers her friends at the Hostal Lucerna on Tranqui

Island for a welcome dinner for her nephew and Diego and his
girlfriend Emilia.

On the first night one of the guests, Aparicio, who was a wealthy
fishing businessman, a little stingy, married to Vilma and who also
had a son with Pola, an orphan who was the protégée of Sara, the
owner of the Lucerna, died in strange circumstances.

Inspector Santelices arrives at the hotel to interview the witnesses

and realizes that it seems to have been a murder. On the second
night Pola dies in the same way as Aparicio.

Emilia had helped the inspector solve cases in the past, so this
time she let her participate in the investigation in secret from the
others.

Finally, after questioning everyone, there were only 3 people who

did not benefit from both deaths: Emilia, Diego and Matilde. Emilia,
who is very observant, was tying up some loose ends and in the
end it turned out to be Vilma, the sculptor and Aparicio's wife, who
committed both murders. He killed Aparicio to keep his inheritance
so he could set up an art gallery for his works. He killed Pola to
make it look as if she had killed Aparicio because he did not give
her enough money to support their sick son. This left Pola as the
murderer, who later committed suicide and would have been the
perfect crime had it not been for Emilia who discovered her.

THE CHARACTERS

Main
Emilia was a young, cheerful and very observant girl, always
taking mental note of the things going on around her. She was also
very perceptive with people, noticing small details that others
would overlook. These things made her a very good investigator
Diego, Emilia's boyfriend, was cheerful and cheerful, he laughed at
the things his aunt said because he didn't believe in evil or magic.
He was very affectionate with his girlfriend and aunt even though
he teased them. Inspector Santelices was a dark, solid man who
belonged to the homicide squad. He was known to Emilia and
Diego from before and arrives on Tranqui Island following the
mysterious death of Aparicio to investigate.

He was a man of few words, he liked to get straight to the point, he

was also very observant which made him a good detective.

Secondary
Juaco and his son Poroto.

Juaco was a short, broad-shouldered man, he was very good and

was always trying to protect his son. El Poroto was lazy, and
nothing seemed to matter much to him. Aparicio, who was his
boss, had fired him for being a thief.

Adrian was a somewhat conflictive anthropologist, Aunt Matilde

said he could become violent when angry, he was secretly in love
with Vilma.

Aparicio was a wealthy fishing industrialist, husband of Vilma and

father of Pola's son. He was a stingy man who kept things locked
up, he quarreled with Pola because she asked him for money.
Matilde, Diego's aunt, was charming, affectionate with everyone,
especially with her nephew and his girlfriend, she was also
mysterious, she knew a lot about plants to heal illnesses and
believed in the myths and legends of Chiloé.

Vilma was a pretty young blonde sculptor who looked fragile but
had a lot of strength, was muscular and used heavy sculpting
tools. She was Mrs. Aparicio's wife, she was much younger.
that it.
The owner of the inn, Sara, a friend of Matilde's, was affectionate
with her friends and protected Pola, who was an orphan and lived
with her and Aparicio's son. Pola was orderly and meticulous and
spoke very little to people because her life had been so sad.

-This crime novel shows how important it is to be a good observer

of the things that happen and the details of people's behavior.
Sometimes people say more with their attitudes than they say with
words. It also shows how in the same country there are so many
different beliefs, in Chiloé natural medicine is widely used and
some people believe in distant evils and witches. Diversity must be
accepted and different beliefs must be respected.

Summary by chapters

Chapter One "BETWEEN BLUE AND GREEN".

Diego and Emilia travel to the island of Chiloé, to the city of Castro,
one of the oldest cities in Chile, to visit Diego's aunt. Emilia was a
little nervous because they told many stories about Chiloé. To
cross to Chiloé they had to board a ferry in the Chacao Channel.

There they met a man named Adrian who helped Emilia when she
was about to fall.

Chapter Two "WELCOME TO CHILOÉ".

Travelers arrive in Castro, on the way they see the famous church
of Castro, a world heritage site. When the bus stops they see Aunt
Matilde who welcomes them warmly and asks them to go to her
house in her neighbor Juaco's truck and wait for her there.
Juaco meets his son El Poroto and they leave Diego and Emilia to
move into Aunt Matilde's house.

Chapter Three "FRIENDS WHO ARE NOT".

Diego and Emilia waited for Matilde's arrival sunk between the
cushions. Emilia wanted to visit many places on the island, the
Cucao National Park, the churches, eat curanto and chapaleles.
Then the aunt arrived accompanied by another neighbor, Aparicio,
to whom she introduced him. The man said that his wife, Vilma,
was a bit ill and strange things were happening to her.

There they learned that their aunt had organized a dinner for them
at the Lucerna restaurant on Tranqui Island with several people to
celebrate the arrival of her nephew Diego and his girlfriend Emilia.
Juaco and his son El Porto, Aparicio and his wife Vilma, Adrián the
anthropologist, Sara the owner of the restaurant and her protégée
Pola, mother of Aparicio's only son, would be attending the dinner.
Interestingly, the guests did not get along very well with each other
but were friends of Matilde.

Chapter Four "MARKET DAY".

That day Emilia slept late and when she woke up there was a note
for her to meet Diego and Matilde at Juaco's place. They went to
the Castro handicraft market and Emilia was enchanted by the
shawls, hats, colorful socks and scarves, wooden carved pots and
salad bowls, herbs of all kinds. There he met Vilma, Aparicio's
wife, who invited them to have an aperitif at her house and told
them that he was feeling bad, as if someone was hurting him.

Chapter Five "DAMNED DIUCONS".

Aunt Matilde was talking with Diego and Emilia about the evils that
existed in Chiloé, the "mal del susto", the "duende" disease,
"sajaduras", the "cueva de los brujos" etc.. As they laughed,
Matilde told them that when they left the big island they would
have a different look and many questions.

They went to have an aperitif at Aparicio and Vilma's house and

they saw dozens of birds called diucons, which according to Aunt
Matilde were a harbinger of misfortune.

Chapter Six "THREATS AND DISCUSSIONS".

Aparicio told them that he had fired the bean because he had
stolen from him. Vilma suddenly felt very ill and fainted and the
doctor had to be called.

Emilia was left feeling that something was escaping her, details
that she could not remember.

Chapter Seven "TOURISM AND SOMETHING ELSE".

Diego and Emilia went to visit the Castro Cathedral and found
Vilma and Adrián whispering in the church, which seemed very
strange to them. Later they met with Aunt Matilde to take a boat
and cross to Tranqui Island.

Chapter Eight "ISLA TRANQUI" (TRANQUI ISLAND)

When they arrived at Tranqui Island, they spotted a house on the

hill that looked like a boat, it was Sara's Lucerna restaurant. Little
by little the guests arrived.

Chapter Nine

They ate chupe de marisco and toasted. Again Vilma fainted and
was taken to her room in the hotel. As it was raining heavily no one
could go back to the Big Island, most of them went to sleep except
for Aparicio who was already with several drinks in his body and
went alone to the terrace.

Chapter Ten "WHERE IS APPARICIO".

Everyone went to sleep and Emilia woke up thirsty in the middle of

the night and went to the kitchen in search of something. On their
way back to their room they heard a cry that they thought was from
a bird.

From the room he heard some whispering and a cough in the

hallway, he went to look and there was no one there and he
noticed that Adrian's shoes were out of place. The next day it was
raining furiously and some commented that they had slept badly.
Vilma asked if they had seen her husband, she was worried. No
one had seen him and they started looking for him.

Diego and Emilia went out to the terrace and noticed something
red like Aparicio's shirt down on the rocks.

Chapter Eleven "LET NO ONE MOVE".

The rain did not stop and they decided to go down to look and see
what the stain was. red that to I
could see.
Emilia, Diego and Adrián went down the wooden staircase, walked
until they finally realized it was the body. from
Aparicio dead.
Diego alerted the police and they sent a helicopter to take the body
away, as they had to investigate. The police ordered them to stay
at the Lucerne as they were to question them all.

Chapter Twelve "WELCOME, INSPECTOR SANTELICES".

Santelices arrives to prove or rule out an accident, suicide or

homicide, so he must inspect the scene and question witnesses.
The inspector determined that it was difficult for him to have fallen
or been thrown as the railing was high and the dead man was
short and still had part of the wine glass in one of his hands.
Before going to sleep, many came to the kitchen and suddenly an
owl appeared at the window, which frightened them very much.

Chapter Thirteen "A WITCH AT THE WINDOW".

Matilde managed to get the Owl to move away and said he was a
witch. Everyone, including the inspector, was confused about the
subject of birds of ill omen, witches and distant evils that Aunt
Matilda was talking about.

Emilia was scared and had a hard time falling asleep that night.

Chapter Fourteen "CRIES AT DAWN".

At dawn with a scream from Sara they learned that Pola had also
died in the same way as Aparicio. The guests were dismayed and
while Emilia studied them in silence.

Chapter Fifteen "NOW I'M DOING IT FOR ME".

The inspector searched Pola's room and found a piece of paper

that read:
"I did it for my son first. Now I do it for me. Already no.....". Emilia
tells the inspector that the night Aparicio died they heard a scream
and thought it was a bird, she also told him about the door ajar in
Juaco and Poroto's room, the messy shoes outside Diego and
Adrián's door, and the figure of Aparicio on the balcony drunk and
babbling tender words.She also told him about the door ajar in
Juaco and Poroto's room, the messy shoes outside Diego and
Adrián's door and the figure of Aparicio on the balcony drunk and
babbling tender words, and finally the whispering of two people in
the hallway.

Chapter Sixteen "THE INTERROGATION".

Emilia and Diego hid in order to listen to the inspector's

interrogations. All were questioned but it was too difficult to draw
any conclusions yet.

Chapter Seventeen" THE INTERROGATION FOLLOWS".

The inspector realizes that only Emilia, Diego and his aunt are not
favored by the death of Aparicio and Pola. Emilia and Diego were
very tired and sat in an armchair and Emilia came across a small
glass tube that intrigued her.

Chapter Eighteen "ONE BY ONE THE CLOUDS DISSIPATE".

Emilia and Diego met with the inspector and told him their
impressions and he gave her the possibility to gather the people
and try to unravel this case.

The inspector, after bringing them together, told him that the
murderer was among them and that he had had help in solving the
case. One by one he told them how they benefited from the two
deaths.

Chapter Nineteen "FINAL ACT".

The inspector gives the floor to Emilia and she gives her reasons
for thinking that Vilma was the guilty party. She furious jumps on
Emilia and to hang her and had to be helped by Diego, the
inspector and the bean because Vilma had a lot of strength.

Chapter Twenty "FAREWELL, CHILOÉ".

Emilia tells Diego that she is not a genius, she is just very
observant and pays attention to details.

Diego asks Emilia how she spent her time in Chiloé and she tells
him that she would have preferred not to have to see the murders,
but that on the other hand it allowed her to get to know a place
where everything is magic and no one can be sure that it is not
true. They are leaving this magical place where they had such
incredible adventures.