The Shores of Spain by Cheney J. Kathleen

Author:Cheney, J. Kathleen [Cheney, J. Kathleen]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2015-05-21T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

TUESDAY, 28 APRIL 1903; BARCELONA

Alejandro hadn’t run off in the night, as Marina had halfway expected. In the morning he’d been in his bed in the sitting area, feigning sleep. When she’d told him to get up and get dressed, he acted as if that was an order. He had a disconcerting tendency to do as told and a disregard for his own privacy that made her suspect he’d learned never to protest anything.

He hadn’t given them many answers the previous evening, and they hadn’t wanted to press him too hard. He had nothing of his mother’s that Joaquim could use to find her. He had seen the journal; his mother still had it in her possession when she left him. He didn’t know who, if anyone, had hired them to steal the book. He didn’t know Iria Serpa and hadn’t ever met Dr. Serpa or Father Salazar. As for his situation at the prison, he’d been born there, had lived his whole life there until he and his mother went to the islands. He didn’t like to talk about it, Marina could tell.

He also never asked questions, which she found odd. He didn’t ask Joaquim anything about his family in Portugal. He didn’t ask why they were in Spain hunting his mother. He didn’t ask how long they would stay or where they would go. He didn’t complain either. He donned the new clothing that Joaquim had purchased, never commenting on the fact that his sleeves were too long.

His old garments were nearly worn out, some of the grime so embedded that Marina didn’t think it would ever come out. She folded each piece as neatly as possible to have the hotel staff launder them. The key rattled in the door, and Joaquim came back in. His eyes went to the small bed against one wall, and then he looked at her, one eyebrow raised.

“I sent him into the dressing room to make himself presentable,” she said.

“Ah.” Joaquim shook his head, looking bemused by their new responsibility. They’d lain abed late into the night, trying to decide what to do with the boy. Whispering, because they worried he would overhear them. “I placed a call to the consulate again. They had a message from Duilio. It turns out they’d discovered Alejandro’s name and that he must be related to Duilio and me.”

“We already knew that,” she said.

“Yes, but he couldn’t have known that we knew. But the message was sent yesterday, so it’s helpful to know the Americans can get word from the islands to Barcelona that quickly.”

“Can they send word back?”

“That, they didn’t tell me. Also, they’ve not found the man from Paris or Leandra herself.”

Marina sighed, unable to hide her frustration. “The Americans seem to have fouled up everything.”

“Yes, this fellow from Paris has done more harm than good.” He came over and wrapped his arms around her from behind, briefly resting his chin atop her head. “Since they have nothing for us, what would you

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