“I’m fine, don’t worry,” Rosa said, smiling. “Look, Pastor Ian is waiting for you,” she added, waving to him over Cam’s shoulder.
Cam’s face immediately went from concern to excitement, and she turned a brilliant smile on Ian as he joined them.
“Good morning, ladies.”
Rosa offered him a distracted hello, checking her watch. It was already quarter past eight. While nothing in this town was far from anything else, if she was going to get there without being seen, she’d need a good half hour at least.
“Camelia, Mrs. Goodwin is waiting for you,” he said, giving her a warm smile, then glancing back at Rosa.
“Okay, no problem. See you later, Rosa!”
Rosa felt her small pang of guilt at lying to her sister vanish. Since their family tragedy, only Camelia had any real emotions. If allowing her to be happy meant continuing the family tradition of secrets within secrets, then so be it.
“Pastor Ian,” she said, as he made to take his leave. “I may be held up a little today.”
He raised an eyebrow, looking at her closely as if he could sense a secret. “Aren’t you taking some vacation time right now?”
Rosa nodded. “Yes, but with Lucia away, there’s stock and such to take care of,” she said, wondering why he always had to be so astute. She guessed it was a result of his upbringing. Trained from youth to be a pastor, it was no wonder he was hardwired to notice people’s difficulties; how else was he meant to help them?
“I see.”
Rosa looked away from his scrutiny. “So, well, if I am not here on time, would you please drive Cam home? She has her key.”
Pastor Ian watched her a while longer. “No problem. But don’t work too hard, okay?”
Rosa chuckled. “Sure.”
She left and walked the expected route home, collected a folder with the logo from her father’s store on it, and left, taking a busy street on purpose. She greeted people and knew that they would now tell anyone who asked after her that she had been heading to the store looking happy and unconcerned. That paired with Cam’s no doubt gushing account of how they’d been silly and merely overlooked Lucia’s note would settle the town again and stop the gossip.
That done, Rosa turned and began a winding route that would take her back towards Camp Naco and let her approach it from the north. She made her way cautiously, knowing that while people here most often stuck to their routines like glue, that did not in any way prevent them from falling ill or merely having a late start. She reached the deserted army base stood and found a broken down car and a clump of bushes that would be a decent place to wait without being observed from the road.
Rosa glanced at her watch. Five to nine. Now that she was no longer concentrating on playing a role or dodging her fellow townees, she felt her chest constrict with anxiety. She knew that Lucia would not deliberately put her life in danger, but she couldn’t quite get rid of the fear that came with waiting to meet an unknown person, to get unknown information. She did not even know if she was waiting for a man or a woman.
She turned her head at the sound of someone walking towards her. It was a man, the very last person she would have expected to be her sister’s contact. His hair was a greying auburn and fell in waves to his shoulders, flashes of red and silver catching the sunlight as he moved. She knew that if he took off his sunglasses, his eyes would be a strange turquoise blue.
Rosa straightened, trying to figure out what she could tell him if he wasn’t here to meet her. She only knew him about as well as everyone else did. He was a wealthy big shot who had swaggered into town twenty-five years or so ago. He’d bought a massive plot of land on the eastern outskirts of town and built a grand house where he lived alone, if you didn’t count his small army of servants.
“Ms. Kay,” he said, something about his voice seemed to pull on a memory, but Rosa didn’t pursue it , concentrating on deciphering the situation.
“Mr. Melbourne,” she said, dipping her head politely and taking in his loose-fitting clothes that looked like vintage hippie chic. Not what one would expect a rich man to wear..
He took his sunglasses off, openly eyed her, then smiled, flashing a row of perfect, brilliantly white teeth. “You’ll be pleased to know that Pedro’s son found a good house.”
Rosa started then had to hold back a chuckle. She gave him another nod and removed her own sunglasses, letting her face shift from the cautiously polite look it had held to one full of questions.
Diego Melbourne smiled again, but it seemed shaded by sadness. “Let’s go.”
He replaced his sunglasses on his face and walked at a fast pace. Rosa followed suit, wondering where they were going, but hoped that it would be somewhere in the shade, as the day was already heating into another scorcher.
Her anxiety returned full force when they rounded an abandoned house, and he pulled open the back door of his Jeep.
“Stay down. I’ll be taking the back
