She hoped so.
An hour later, with newly brown hair, Zita went to sleep in Maria’s guest bedroom.
Zita’s alarm woke her when it was still dark. She reached for her phone while her brain struggled to remember where she was. She was so damn tired. Why had she set her alarm for the middle of the night? Then it hit her.
She was in El Salvador.
It was early morning, and would soon be light. She needed to be ready to go when it was.
She dressed quickly. She needed a double-strength coffee to clear her head, and then she had to be at the laundry when Johanna started work so she could find out where they were keeping Manuela and somehow get them both away.
The house was quiet as she tiptoed into the kitchen to get a glass of water.
Someone banged on the front door and the noise made her jump. Who the hell was outside at this time of the morning? Maria hurried out in her dressing gown, her face pale.
“Zita, are you in there?”
She swore. It sounded like David.
“You know him?” Maria asked.
Zita went to the front door, peeking through the peephole to check. It was definitely him. She opened the door. “What are you doing here?” Her heart hurt. He looked as if he hadn’t slept.
He frowned. “Zita? You’ve dyed your hair.”
“What do you want?”
“Carmen told me where you were. I want to help.”
Maria pulled him inside and shut the door behind him. Zita walked back to the kitchen without answering him.
“Please, let me explain,” David said.
Zita closed her eyes for a moment before turning to him. She couldn’t let herself be distracted. “I don’t have time for explanations.”
He ignored her. “I’m so sorry this happened, Zita. I had no idea Bob had taken my file.”
Was he telling the truth? “Why did you even have a file?” She couldn’t sit down. She paced the kitchen as Maria started making breakfast.
“It’s what I always do when I work on something.”
“And you showed it to your father?”
“He asked me about the cases and I had to check some information. He saw it then.”
“You told him confidential information?” She shook her head, her heart more bruised than it had ever been.
“I trusted him. I wanted to show him he was wrong.”
“And what did you think he was going to do with the information?”
“I thought he’d change his mind.” David ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I made a huge mistake, I know it. After you left, I confronted him in front of the whole room.”
Zita raised her eyebrows. “How did that go down?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t wait to find out. Mom called me when she’d calmed Dad down. She’s not going to tell Dad I’ve taken the company plane.”
“What?” Her anger was fading and she clung on to it.
