CHAPTER 32 - THE TOURISTS
The distraught woman continued to stumble along the path in the direction of her village. Her knot of long, dark hair became undone and, combined with the steady flow of tears, obscured her vision. She neither saw nor heard the red car coming up the road behind her.
The small, rented car chugged along as it transported the four American tourists and their many purchases back to Las Naranjas after a happy day of sightseeing. Having spent much of their vacation away from the hotel during the past few days, they'd missed the wedding and had yet to be informed of the funerals. Raven was driving and she and Samantha were in the front seat, happily singing an old, school song at the top of their lungs.
Their off-key yowling was making Robin irritable and all her efforts to shut them the hell up had failed. So Robin did the next best thing. She sought relief by irritating Catherine Elizabeth. "How lucky you are, Cat," Robin purred, turning to her backseat companion.
The hot day, the car’s broken air conditioning, and the bumpy, dirt road had conspired to make Cat sleepy. She innocently nibbled at the bait.
"Lucky? How so?"
"Well," continued Robin in a syrupy voice, "this is such a wonderful opportunity for you to meet new men." Robin paused and smiled at Cat. She waited for her remark to sink in.
Cat stared back, uncomprehending, and then Robin’s veiled barb penetrated her stupor. Robin, in her inimitably irritating style, had just as good as said that Cat couldn’t find a man in her own country and, so, had to resort to combing the male population of an undeveloped country.
Robin continued to smile her sweet smile, remembering how often the six-foot Cat had emphatically stated her preference for very tall men, fondly adding, "So they can defend themselves!"
As Robin’s smile became a smirk, Cat grasped the situation. Robin, no more than five feet tall herself, had just intimated that Cat seek male companionship in a country where the average man was no more than five feet, eight inches. Worse yet, that Cat hadn't been able to find an "appropriate" man elsewhere.
Cat’s gray eyes narrowed. She rose up in her seat, muscles tensing. Her right hand came up like a weapon and her bracelet flashed sunlight into Robin’s eyes.
"Little bird," Cat whispered.
Robin caught her breath. Cat was doing it again, taking on that leonine look, her tawny tresses becoming wild as a lion’s mane. In ancient times, this magical ability to alter one’s appearance was called glamour. It was only an illusion, Robin knew, but she never tired of watching this transformation when Catherine Elizabeth became angry, and Robin was so fond of angering her.
Raven noted the gas gauge was stuck on FULL. She tried tapping it in an effort to coax the needle to move. She frowned, fearful the car would run out of gas, leaving them and their packages stranded on this deserted country road with its jungle growth on all sides. Raven’s head was still down, eyes on the gauge, as their car rounded a tight curve and bounced off the rim of a pothole before leveling off.
Samantha was the first to see the peasant woman and, even then, not until the car was almost on top of her. She shouted a warning to Raven, which was drowned out by Cat’s mighty roar. Samantha grabbed at the wheel. Raven clenched her teeth and hit the brake.
The quick stop slammed Robin’s slight weight forward. Blonde tresses and purse contents flying, the little woman was thrown over the front seat rests and headed, face first, into the windshield. Cat braced and, to everyone’s surprise, snatched Robin out of the air. The contents of the purse scattered all over the floor and Cat’s lap. Raven and Samantha threw open their doors and jumped out to find the peasant woman slumped on the ground. They bent over her.
Back in the car, Cat was still holding Robin aloft, much like a cat with a mouse. Robin stared in blue-eyed amazement. "Doesn’t your damn arm ever get tired? Look, you probably saved my life." When Cat made no response, continuing to clutch her prize, Robin sought to appear contrite. "Thank you, Cat. Thank you very much for saving my life."
Cat stared coldly at Robin, then muttered, "Hummmmph." She gently lowered Robin onto the backseat. Robin began plucking her credit cards, makeup, and passport from Catherine’s lap.
Samantha threw open the back door and glared at them. "Will you two stop squabbling long enough to come here and help us?"
As Cat prepared to exit, Robin’s lipstick and comb fell to the floor. Cat smirked and kicked the lipstick under the front seat. Robin wailed and scrambled after it.
"Robin," Sam snapped, "you’re the healer here. Are you coming to look at this woman?" Robin muttered something unintelligible from under the seat.
"Robin! NOW!" Samantha commanded.
Robin’s hand closed on the lipstick. She withdrew her arm from under the seat and popped the tube in her purse. Then she climbed dutifully out of the car and bent over the peasant woman. After expertly checking for injuries, she announced there didn’t appear to be anything broken. "If we were to clean her up, I’m sure we’ll find she’s just suffered a few scratches and bruises."
"She was crying and staggering before she fell," Samantha said. "Something seems to have happened to her before we arrived." They remained in the road staring down at the woman.
"She just lies there. She didn’t respond when we spoke to her," Raven added.
"Maybe your Español isn’t as good as you think," suggested Robin.
"It’s a long way to the nearest police station," said Cat. "It would be kind of cold to just leave her here."
"Take her with us? We can’t do that!"
"And why not?" Cat bent down and drew the woman to her feet.
"Well, she’s not resisting," said Raven. "Put her in the car."
Cat half-carried the woman to the car and placed her gently in the backseat between herself and Robin. The woman huddled against the seat.
"She’s got something in her hand," said Samantha. The woman pulled away, clutching her hands tightly together.
"Don’t press the matter," advised Robin.
"Do you think we should try to smuggle her into our room without anyone seeing us?" Raven asked. She started the car and set off down the road in the direction of the hotel. During the drive, they coaxed the woman to at least tell them her name. She did. It was Maria.