The North Face of the Heart - Dolores Redondo Page 0,183
bet they did! I think you both were very brave, because men like that are really scary. I saw one who was older, and another who was blond and kind of fat. And a bald man and a really tall one. Four in all. Were there any others?”
“No.”
“Did you see any other girls?”
Jacob’s sisters looked at one another. Diana started to nod, but Bella said, “No, there wasn’t any others.”
Amaia had noticed immediately upon seeing them that the girls’ abundant hair was clean and glossy, as if recently brushed. Their heads were crowned with elaborate plaits that gave way to cascading shoulder-length hair.
“Did you comb your own hair?”
They leaned forward to whisper directly to her. “No.”
Amaia huddled with them, trying to think who could have done their hair, for she couldn’t imagine that any of those thugs would have bothered—or been able—to fashion such intricate knots.
“It was the lutins,” Bella whispered. “They combed us while we were asleep.”
Diana solemnly confirmed it. “Lutins like to braid people’s hair.”
Amaia chose her words carefully. “The lutins were there? Did you see them?”
They shook their heads. Diana ran her fingers through her hair. “We too old. Only really little kids can see them. But we heard them laugh. And they did our hair.”
Amaia was careful to keep her voice casual. “And did they talk to you?”
“They don’t talk. They just laugh and play. You don’t know about lutins?” Bella seemed surprised by Amaia’s ignorance.
“Sure, I know what they are. It’s just that back where I come from, they’re called mairuak. They’re the ghosts of babies who died before they were baptized.”
Bella was interested. “Did you ever see one when you were little?”
Charbou, seated on one side of the boat, was following every word.
“Well, I don’t really know,” Amaia replied. “When I was really tiny, what I liked most of all was to go to my grandmother Juanita’s house, a really big place, where she used only the ground floor and the upstairs. I remember there was usually another little girl there who looked just like me. She used to wait for me at the very top of the stairs to the attic, and that’s where we played. Later on, I forgot about it. But when I grew up a bit, I remembered, and I told my aunt about the little girl who was always waiting to play with me at my grandmother’s house. But my aunt said there’d never been any children there except for me and my sisters.”
“Did she talk to you?”
“I don’t remember her talking, but she loved to laugh.” Amaia smiled at that recollection. “She just wanted to play.”
“She was a lutin!”
Amaia smiled at Charbou’s astonished expression. He reached out and brushed a bit of damp leaf from her face. His touch lasted only an instant, but they both reacted so strongly that the girls sniggered.
“You had something on your cheek,” he explained to cover his embarrassment.
Amaia dropped her gaze, and suddenly the girls were all over her, whispering in her ear. “Is that your boyfriend?”
“No!” she told them, making sure that he could hear as well.
The smaller girl peered at Charbou and smiled. “Well, he wants to be your boyfriend!”
Charbou grinned.
Johnson saw that Dupree was amused and gave him a thumbs-up. Johnson hadn’t agreed with Salazar’s handling of the Andrews boy, but he had to admit the woman had a natural empathy with victims. It was a rare gift. The ferocious beast that was Salazar had a gentle side. He was deeply impressed by the discovery and by her persuasive use of her talent.
67
CHARIZARD
The swamp
Amaia hopped out of the captured Zodiac as soon as they got to the Cajun camp. Diana called her back and held out the little orange dragon. “Jacob wanted you to have him. He’s your good luck charm!”
Amaia didn’t argue. She took her Charizard toy and hugged the girls. It was one fifteen in the afternoon when they tossed the mooring cable to the men waiting to tie them up to the floating pier. They left the girls with the traiteur. He’d been silent throughout their voyage, holding vigil over Médora’s motionless, shrouded figure.
Amaia got ahead of the others and hopped from one boat to another until she reached Annabel’s. She hoped that Landis of the AIA was as interested in helping her as he’d sounded the previous day.
“I thought you said you going to talk to him before noon!” Annabel exclaimed without greeting her. “Paula been standing by for two hours now.”