Vistaria Has Fallen (The Vistaria Affair/Vistaria Has Fallen #1)(6)

When Josh reemerged from the bedroom, he went straight to the silver tray and decanters on the sideboard and poured them both the promised stiff belt of scotch. He gave her a glass, then dropped onto the sofa opposite Calli’s with a heavy sigh. In the quiet room, she could still hear distant music from the streets.

The apartment had white adobe walls, hung with Vistarian art and interesting textiles in the same jewel colors the women had been wearing tonight. Bedrooms and utility rooms all connected with this central room, with no corridors. The big kitchen was part of the central room, separated only by a huge chopping-block island.

Terracotta tiles covered the floor throughout, including the big balcony beyond the sliding doors. The balcony featured carved wood curlicues at each corner, dark with age. Blue Wisteria-like flowers hung in big clusters from the tangle of vines that climbed up the adobe walls arching over the balcony.

“What are those flowers?” Calli asked as Josh gulped half his drink in two big swallows. “They look like Wisteria. I’ve seen them everywhere.”

“Yes, they’re Wisteria,” he said, without looking.

“They’re blue, though.”

He nodded. “It’s a tropical variant that grows wild here. It’s the national flower of Vistaria, of course.”

That would be why so many women had been wearing it. “Why ‘of course’?” she asked.

He rubbed his eyes with a thumb and forefinger, then let his arm drop across the back of the sofa. “Vistaria is Spanish for Wisteria. That’s what this country is called. La Vistaria de Escobedo. The Wisteria of Escobedo. Escobedo’s Wisteria. Escobedo’s country, for all the difference it makes.”

Calli frowned and shook her head. “I thought it was just called Vistaria. What’s Escobedo?”

“Vistaria de la República de Escobedo,” Josh intoned. “The Republic of Escobedo’s Vistaria,” he added when Calli didn’t react. Then, “I have thrown you in the deep end, haven’t I? The Escobedo family has been the virtual royal family here since forever. José Escobedo y Casta?os is the current president and supreme commander of the Vistarian Army.”

“The military junta,” Calli murmured.

“A damn benign one, too. It’s thanks to Escobedo’s moderate policies that we—the mining company—are here.”

“Is that who you called to get me out of jail? Someone high in the government?”

“Nothing so impressive. I phoned the government liaison assigned to work with us while we open the silver mine. I asked him who I should call. He never got back. I must have sounded upset, though, because he did do something. I’m sorry we didn’t get to the airport to pick you up, Calli. We were on our way. I hadn’t planned on traffic grinding to a halt because of the fiesta. By the time we got there, you had disappeared. People remembered seeing you, though Customs wouldn’t tell me a damn thing. That’s when I phoned the government liaison. What happened?”

“I waited for a while. I even tried phoning the apartment. When I got no answer, I figured something had happened to you. I thought I’d find a cab, point to your address on the email you sent me and get him to take me there. The information desk at the airport told me there were no taxis, although if I walked up the street I could hail one. So I walked and watched for a cab. That’s when the five men came around.”

She explained what had happened. The jostling and the grope that had caused her to react. “The man at the jail told me I broke at least one nose and handed out a few bruises. If the soldier police had been feeling less generous they might have charged me with assault. The man, though…he understood why I reacted that way.”

“What man?”

“I don’t know who he is. I do know he carries a lot of weight.” She thought of the way the roomful of Vistarians had snapped to attention. “I’ve never seen people scramble the way the men did when he walked into the room. We talked, then he said I’d be released shortly and you’d be waiting for me.”

“They phoned me and said to come and get you.”

“Who did?”

“The police station.” He frowned. “You explained what happened to you?”

“I didn’t get to explain much. He knew all about me.”

“A general?”

“He wasn’t wearing a uniform. He had red hair and they called him Roger.”

“Red hair?” Josh paused from rubbing his eyes again, startled. “Roger?” He thought about it. “For a minute I thought...but no, if they called him Roger...” He shook his head. “I have no idea who it is.”

She frowned. “Who did you think it might have been?”

“No one. A passing idea, too ridiculous to consider seriously.”

Minnie emerged from her bedroom carrying an armful of clothes. She dumped them on the coffee table. “I don’t have much you can wear, Calli. You’ve got six inches on me. All the pants will be high-waters. There’s a skirt and some tee-shirts and something for bed, if you wear anything to bed.” She held up diaphanous pink baby-doll nightdress and winked at Calli, her pixie-like features filled with mischief.

“Minnie, do you have to talk that way?” Josh asked.

“Dad, it’s Calli. She knows me.” She dropped the pajamas on the pile and patted the collection. “Tomorrow, I’m taking you shopping. I know exactly where to go.”