Death in the Valencian Dust: Hope and heartache trapped beneath Spain's fiery surface of calm and chaos (Secrets of Spain Book 3) by Caroline Angus Baker

Author:Caroline Angus Baker [Baker, Caroline Angus]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-05-06T23:00:00+00:00

21

Mayo 2014 – Valencia, España

Painkillers had numbed the headache before Cayetano rushed into Sofía’s apartment. Luna sat on the long soft couch, covered in sunlight, with a carajillo, espresso laced with brandy. The café at the bottom of the building let Sofía take coffees upstairs for her patient. It would be typical that Cayetano would turn up the one time Luna slipped a shot of alcohol into her day.

‘Dios mío! ¿Qué han hecho los cabrones?’ Cayetano said as he flew into the living room, leaving his sister at the front door at the other end of the apartment. He fell to his knees in front of Luna, his dry, cracked hands on her lap.

‘What have those assholes done?’ Luna repeated. ‘This injury a good old-fashioned fuck-up and it looks worse than it is, I promise.’

‘No, it looks as bad as it is,’ Sofía said as she came into the room.

‘Go and say hello to the children, they are in the Giacomo and Enzo’s room,’ Luna instructed her husband, her voice croaky.

Cayetano obeyed and did his fatherly duties down the hallway while Luna knocked back the carajillo. ‘Here take this,’ Luna said with a smile and handed the cup to Sofía, who was happy to comply with a wink in reply. ‘I don’t need Caya complaining about headache pills and alcohol.’

‘The drink had one shot, and if anyone deserved it, Luna, it was you.’

‘Yeah, but you know how picky he can be,’ Luna whispered as Cayetano reappeared.

‘I won’t interrupt their game, the four of them barely even acknowledged my presence!’ Cayetano joked as sat down next to Luna. He took her face in his hands, a cringe tied into his expression. ‘Oh, la chispa, why do these things happen? I almost had a heart attack when I saw the video.’

‘Sofía gave you a colourful version over the phone, I’m sure.’ Luna glanced over at Sofía, out of earshot in the kitchen. ‘The children and I got caught up in the crowd, a policeman took a swing at the guy who tried to bottle him, and I somehow got in the way. I’m sorry; I know I shouldn’t have put the children in that position. I’m the worst parent alive.’

‘Bullshit,’ Cayetano spat. ‘Policemen shouldn’t be pulling weapons in a place where children are in possible danger. There is no way a member of the police can do this and not receive punishment. All the papers this morning…’

‘Yeah, I know, have the story blown out of proportion.’

‘Hector is handling all that. At least here, at Sofía’s, we have our privacy. I leave for the south for a few days, and this happens…’

Luna smiled and took Cayetano’s hands from her face. ‘I’m all right, my mouth and eyes hurt, but the bruising will subside, and once I have the stitches out…’

‘Then I can kiss you.’

‘Don’t worry, you still can, just carefully for the next week.’

‘Has the neurologist seen you?’

‘Yes, Papá,’ she teased.

‘Hey, I’ll fuss all I want. Who is taking care of finding out which officer did this?’

‘The media,’ Luna scoffed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.