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“Yeah,” I said without thinking, “looks more like a dragon wing to me.” Her eyes widened, and she turned to look at me.
“What did you say?”
“Well, it does, doesn’t it?” I shrugged. She tapped her lips while I studied the bruises on her face. I was about to ask about them when she seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in. The puzzled expression faded, and the intense gaze from her photo settled on her face. “Aren’t you going to accuse me of stalking you?” I grinned, and she raised her eyebrow as she recalled our earlier conversation. “Or are you stalking me?” I raised my own brows.
“I’d have to know who you are in order to stalk you.” She seemed at ease with me. “Or at least know your damn name.”
“I’ve stalked people with less information,” I teased, but there was a level of seriousness to my words.
“Good to know.” She shifted her bag over her shoulder. She flinched, and I wondered if she was in pain.
“You take anything for that?”
She looked away with a huff then shifted her bag again, but more gently this time. “If you must know, the last pain pill I had, I gave to a woman who’d been shot in the stomach, then a few minutes later she was dead with a bullet in her head.”
“Guess our worlds aren’t all that different.” I gave her a sad smile.
“Not the first punch I’ve taken and probably won’t be the last. It’s all part of the job.”
Punch? I wanted to dig, but one of the workers I’d been trying to track down appeared, and I didn’t want to lose him. I pulled out my stash of pills in their tin container. She gave it an odd look before she looked up at me again. “This’ll help.” I handed her two. “Take one now and one later.”
“So you say.” She made a face. “The last time I was given a white pill, I ended up in a drug lord’s house in the middle of nowhere. Thank you, but no thanks.” She stepped back.
“Do I look like I’m trying to drug you?”
“Well, you apparently think you know me.”
“Oh, I do.”
She rolled her eyes, and I found myself rather amused that I got under her skin. “You accuse me of stalking you, and now you’re handing out pain meds from your pocket.”
“It’s just a gesture.” I kept my eye on the guy I wanted to talk to. “Take them.”
She shook her head. “Hot coffee and a walk on the beach are more my speed.” She turned to walk away, but something ate at me.
“Nicole?”
“Yeah?” she answered as she turned back.
“You gave away your last pain pill to a woman shot in the gut. She’d never make it anyway. You must have known that.”
Her mouth drooped and her eyes went from sad to vulnerable. “I had to do what I could. She had a ten-year-old son.”
A rush of emotions went through me when I saw how much she cared about the local people. “I’m sorry she died.”
“Me too, but it’s why I’m here.” She looked down then headed for the door.
Before Shadows, I’d met my fair share of war correspondents, and most were detached and more focused on filming everything they saw rather than on what was actually happening to the people around them. I understood it. It hurt less that way, but when we lost our empathy, I thought it made things even more dangerous. That was when tunnel vision presented itself.
“Disculpe.” The man held out his hand. “The front desk told me you wanted to see me?” he finished in English.
“Yes,” I smiled warmly, “I’m looking for my girlfriend. She went missing a while back with our son.” I went with the family angle to pull at the heart strings. “The woman at the desk said you might know her.” I pulled out a photo of Talya and the baby. He leaned down and studied it for a moment, but then his eyes went to slits as he studied me.
“How do I know she isn’t running from you, señor?” His face hardened.
“No, no, she was here for a holiday, then she disappeared. Please, I really love them. I need to find them. I’d never hurt her or our son.”
“Okay, si,” he seemed to accept my story, “she was here for a time, but I have not seen her for a long while. Leonardo, who cares for our pool, he really liked the little one. He will be here,” he glanced at his watch, “at two for work.” He pointed out the French doors toward the ocean. “Pool is that way. You should speak with him.”