The Atlas of Forgotten Places by Jenny D. Williams

Author:Jenny D. Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

CHAPTER 16

ROSE

December 30

Patrick Flynn. The words entered Rose’s consciousness like the small hand of a child, reaching out to tug her skirt. She only half-heard Sabine make introductions. Patrick Flynn Lakwali. Not three names: only two. The man; the place.

“Sorry it took me a second to get it,” Patrick was saying. “When you said Lily Bennett I wasn’t sure who you were talking about—and then when you mentioned Ocen, I was like, oh, Lily. Except she told me her last name was Hardt.” He paused. “No wonder I couldn’t find her on Facebook.” When he looked back, his face was grave. “But that’s who you mean, right? Lily from Denver? I saw her just a few weeks ago. She and Ocen came out to the site.”

Rose’s temples tingled.

“They were there?” Sabine asked.

“Right at the beginning of December. They only stayed one night, though. I wish it was longer.”

“I don’t understand. What did they come for? Were they meeting someone?”

“Me.”

“You?”

“I’m not enough?” he joked.

Sabine’s tone was skeptical. “You were helping Lily with her research?”

Patrick frowned. “Research? Nah. We just hung out.”

Rose saw Sabine and Christoph exchange a look. She could almost read their thoughts: Unknowing informant? Romantic fling?

“Was she asking questions about the mine?” Christoph said.

The truck rumbled heavily over a series of potholes—bigger than the ones outside Kitgum, Rose thought; she put her hand on the back of the driver’s seat to keep her balance.

“Actually, we didn’t talk much about the mine,” Patrick said. “Didn’t spark her interest. She was really curious about the community development project I’m working on, though. It was good to hear her thoughts, since she’d been volunteering over in Uganda.” He paused. “I guess you already knew that.”

“So why was she there?” Sabine’s tone wavered between confusion and frustration, and Patrick in turn seemed baffled by her bafflement.

“I invited her.”

“Maybe you should start from the beginning,” Christoph said.

Patrick sighed. “I keep a blog, right? About my day-to-day life in Congo, the project I’m working on, weird food in the canteen, etcetera, etcetera. WiFi is pretty good on site. The blog is mostly for my family and friends back in Texas, but I guess Lily found it. She e-mailed me around Thanksgiving and asked a bunch of questions about the area, like if I’d done any traveling outside the mine, if the roads were secure, that kind of thing. She seemed nice, you know.” A little sheepishly, he continued, “Look, I’ve been out here for nine months with no home leave and only a couple runs to Kampala. Do you know how many girls there are on site at Lakwali? Seven. None of whom, I might add, speak English, and my Lingala isn’t so hot, either. So when a cute American girl e-mails me out of the blue about traveling through this general vicinity, I’m gonna pull whatever strings necessary to have her make a detour.”

“You did all this for a date?” Sabine said.

“Hey now,” Patrick said. “I was a perfect gentleman. And she had this guy with her anyway.

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